The Dirty War

Who would have thought that the Soviet Union would dissolve one day? No one thought it would happen and it came as a shock to most people. When Prime Minister Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev gave the Kremlin to Ukraine in 1964 without holding a referendum; he had never thought that Ukraine would one day become an independent country and gain sovereignty. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Russians suddenly woke up to nightmares. They had just suddenly become a minority from being a majority. It happened to over 20 million Russians who suddenly found themselves in this situation.

Putin was one of the Russians who experienced the decline of the Soviet Union. He was in East Germany working for the KGB at the time. A dream he had had as a child and was realized after studying law. Former President Boris Yeltsin was the opposite of Putin. He was very Western-oriented and was not afraid to appear alongside US President Bil Clinton on TV. He often danced and got drunk; he was not the charismatic leader Russia needed. Unlike Putin, he advocated decentralization and privatization of the country, which allowed the great merchants to rule over it. In 1999, Putin was able to take over the presidency from Boris Jeltzen when he retired.

Putin changed the rules and centralized the country so that it was no longer the people who could make a decision. It created more control over the country, but also made it harder for separatists and criminals to act. The Soviet national anthem was allowed again, and by putting pressure on traders he saved Russia’s economy. Today, Putin is the richest person in Russia and has control overall. He has control over the media, so they can present a good picture of him. In short, Russia has become a propaganda machine for Putin. Let’s not pretend that fake news does not exist in the United States or elsewhere in the world. As North Korean leader Kim Jong, Putin acts as if he has expertise in everything. He is simply an expert in everything and he can both bike and swim at the same time. In short, the purpose is to form a picture of a strong leader to the people.

In 2005, Putin launched the “Russia Today” channel, as a propaganda machine against Western propaganda. Such a television propaganda competition also existed during the struggle for the Arab leadership between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Under George Bush, the United States chose to start a good relationship with Russia. In fact, it was so good that Putin and Bush were often together and played golf together. Bush said Putin is a credible person that we can trust. It seemed that the Americans had not learned anything from the oil crisis, where Saudi Arabia in a transition used oil as a weapon against the Americans because of the hostility to Israel. This also meant that the Americans closed their eyes to what Putin was doing. His crimes against humanity were not seen. He made a similar maneuver as the Americans did when they started a war in the Middle East. It later emerged that the bombing in Moscow and Volgodonsk was an obvious attempt (Russian intelligence FSB ) to exterminate Chechen rebels. It was almost like what we experienced during the World Trade Center (9/11) incident where the war on terrorism started.

Soon all of Putin’s criticisms disappeared one by one; examples include the journalists Cynthia Elbaum, Vladimir Zhitarenko, Nina Yefimova, Jochen Piest, Farkhad Kerimov who were all shot and wounded. Boris Nemtsov’s policies and criticisms of Putin suffered the same fate. Striking criticism was something that the Soviet Union did in its time. No matter where they were in the world, they were in danger of being killed. Chechnya declared independence in 1990 as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 1999, when Putin came to power, Russia cracked down on Chechnya, killing 80,000 Chechens. Putin said he wanted to exterminate Chechen rebels at all costs. In the end, Chechen leader Shamil Basayev was killed during a Russian auction. He had a desire to establish an Islamic emirate in the Caucasus. He had been condemned by international leaders including George Bush for the terrorist attack by Beslan. Journalist Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya, who fought for human rights in Russia during the Chechen wars, was subsequently shot after the publication of her book “The Dirty War”.

Russia has also carried out terrorist attacks on Chechens in Istanbul and Dubai.

It turns out that Putin has used every opportunity to get closer to the West in order to make the West more dependent on itself, including the Nord Stream project. Putin is developing good relations with the United States and the West, under Republican leadership while trying to divide the West by creating panic. Putin knows very well that neither the West nor the United States will go to direct war with Russia. The United States and Russia will never go to war with each other as they both possess nuclear weapons. Also in Syria, they warned each other during the various attacks.

The current US President, Joe Biden, has said directly that they will not support Ukraine militarily. What we are experiencing with Ukraine is nothing new. Georgia experienced the same in 2008 where Putin did the same manor. Georgia, like Ukraine, had a desire to join NATO. That is Putin’s red line as he does not want NATO closer to Moscow. When ex-Russian countries gained their sovereignty, the Russians had accepted that they could decide for themselves, but Putin would not accept that because he sees Ukraine as an artificial country when the borders were determined by Stalin after World War II.

His recognition of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively) was contrary to international rules but again showed that Putin does not respect borders, but considers all the places where there are Russians as part of Russia. The same is true for Turkey which is trying to protect the Turkish speakers in the territories and expand its territory. After the coup in Turkey, Erdogan began to develop good relations with the Russians when he accused President Obama of the coup. It seemed that the United States / Obama was initially trying to support Turkey in a war against Russia when Turkey shot down the Russian plane. No doubt the people of Donetsk and Luhansk want peace and a return to normal life. Putin legitimizes his actions by accusing Ukraine’s fight against separatist genocide. He also does not believe that he has violated the Minsk peace agreement, as the Russian military presence in occupied territories is peacekeeping. To strengthen his propaganda, Putin offers the Russian crowd that was evacuated from Dongles and Luhan’s 10 thousand rubles, plus Russian citizenship.

The conflict in Ukraine started in 2014 after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in a color revolution (Maidan revolution) when he denied Ukraine as an EU country. Since fleeing to Russia, Putin has chosen to support separatists in eastern Ukraine. The conflict has cost thousands of lives. The invasion of Ukraine is the end of an 8-year war that started in 2014. It is the start of a new cold war.

Joe Biden calls Putin a murderer as soon as he takes over the presidency. This was not a good start for the United States.

The United States has been aware that war in Ukraine is on the way. Donald Trump began to strengthen the borders of Eastern European countries and Joe Biden pulled the troops out of Afghanistan to be ready for the new war. Most likely, Ukraine will become the new Syria with civil war and war.

The United States helped Ukraine with more than $ 600 million in the military build-up. The aggression from Russia is a coup in response to American provocations. The occupation of Ukraine will not be well mentioned in history, and that is not good for Russia’s history.

The west and the USA have started financial sanctions against Russia. Putin said he does not care about sanctions because they would be sanctioned no matter what. He also said this last time, when Obama called Russia’s aggression unacceptable and imposed sanctions. Of course, Putin does not care about sanctions or if it hits his popularity. Sanctions will lead to high prices which can be felt by the weakest in society. Of course, Putin does not need the people. Like Iran and China what he needs is the survival of the state ideology.

The characteristic of countries like  China, Russia, and Iran is that they do not need the people because the state owns almost everything and is in possession of gas and oil resources. Unlike those countries, the West needs the people because they pay high taxes, and the state is dependent on taxes. Therefore democracy exists more in the West than in the aforementioned countries. The sanctions to Russia’s gas will not affect Putin, because gas makes up only 10% of the Russian exports. China has also declared its support for Russia. China and the Arab oil countries like Qatar are definitely the big winners in the crisis, as they sell their products and can take over large parts of the market.

China, Iran, and Russia are allies but have internal disagreements. Russia and China do not like Islamic influence in the region (Chechnya) and (Uighurs). Russia is not happy with China’s economic empire, but as China and Iran supported Russia in the war in Syria, we can well expect the same scenario perhaps even with Syrian mercenaries.

It seems that the same scenario is repeated all the time. Countries are waging war because of their interests and trying to get their people into war through disinformation and propaganda. Places like the Kremlin, Arcic, and the Persian Gulf are extremely interesting because of their strategic position.

Harper Harrison

Harper Harrison is a reporter for The Hear UP. Harper got an internship at the NPR and worked as a reporter and producer. harper has also worked as a reporter for the Medium. Harper covers health and science for The Hear UP.