AMERICA'S FOREIGN POLICY MUSCLE: OVERLY SKEWED AGAINST RUSSIA.

ICHEOKU says but that notwithstanding, Vladimir Putin has no sympathy of most people because of what he represents, the old Soviet Union and its reclusive and repressive mindset which does not augur well for economic emancipation. His fanatical believe in using weapons, threats of warfare and intimidation as instruments of cohesion and that the developing hypersonic missiles will give him an edge in any war with the West and/or bestow him international respect is imbecilic and obsolete thinking. Which problems have such tools ever solved?

China is not receiving such drummed-down treatment from Washington DC because they have economic muscle, and money still talks as bullshit continues to walk. The United States of America always shows some deference in dealing with Beijing, afraid that any disrespectful highhandedness might force Beijing to turn off the faucet of manufactures which waters America's economic and social wellbeing. The fact that China also holds a lot of America's treasury bills and bonds helps their leverage as the saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tunes; or as Murphy's law would rather put it, he who has the gold has the power. 

So, yes, Russia's maximum leader Tsar Vladimir Putin is oblivious of the consequential facts of the 21st century that economic might commands more respect and deference than all the weapons of warfare a country can muster, especially when the citizens of his country are not living happily ever after and would readily flee Russia given the slightest opportunity. But how exactly does Vladimir Putin plan to expend all those weapons which he is depriving his country men and women the essentials of good living just to produce. Except that he is a dictator and exerting fear is his only asset of maintaining his power hold; and therefore he must have weapons and make occasional threats in order to keep Russians and their neighboring countries in check and captive to his desire to lead them for life. 

A thoughtless third world-like mindset because he selectively forgot that he will eventually die some day and with no apparent successor groomed and ready to step into his oversized Russian shoes on day one, his absence will leaving Russia quaking in its boots. Why anybody would stay in power as long as Vladimir Putin have stayed in power and still expects to be respected by the international community is simply numbskull. Even as anti democracy as China and Iran are perceived to be, both countries still periodically changes their leaders, irrespective of how the outcome was reached. 

The important thing is that unlike Vladimir Putin and his Russia, there is no single individual in either China or Iran who parades himself or herself as the lifeblood of the country, without who the country will perish. It reminds ICHEOKU of the erstwhile Romanian despot Nikolai Ceausescu who got so power drunk that he proclaimed himself the spirit of the Danube river, without who the river will stop flowing. What an idiot he was who selectively forgot that when he was born he met the river flowing and long after his pitiful demise through a public execution several decades ago, the river is still flowing. 

But it is power and power corrupts absolutely that some people get drunk on it, one of its current victim being Vladimir Putin of Russia who is steadily morphing into a Russian version of Nikolai Ceausescu. It is a shame of Russia that they have tolerated this fella for this long and continuing, that he is now possibly the longest serving head of government anywhere in the world. Vladimir Putin came into power in 1999 when Bill Clinton was president of the United States of America and four presidents later, George Bush junior, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and now Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin is still dictating to the Russian Federation. He killed off the opposition and any risen voice of decent, he summarily silences.

How does anyone, especially Vladimir Putin and his minions and sycophantic enablers explain this aberration that in a supposedly developed world Russia, one man has been in charge of affairs therein and for over two decades. Is he the only one who can lead Russia; and even if we are to accept that premise for the purposes of this essay, what then becomes the fate of Russia the day he finally takes his last breath as every mortal is bound to do some day? People do not like what Vladimir Putin is dragging Russia through and this is why certain decisions are always taken against Russia on protest of Vladimir Putin to drive the message that he needs to yield power and step aside. 

So, it is understandable when Washington DC treats Vladimir Putin with less respect than should be deserving of a Russian leader as he has diminished himself so much by perpetuating himself in power, and without much improvement in the lives of his Russian citizens to show for it. China is booming and actively competing with the United States of America in nearly every sphere, particularly in the internet technology based space. Almost every breakthrough technology which America has, China has an equivalent competitor, regardless of how they acquired it; which often times come from stealing American technology through active poaching and reversed engineering. 

But what does Russia have to show for their life under Vladimir Putin, practically nothing; as Vladimir Putin is concerned more with perpetuating himself in office rather than creating the enabling environment for brilliant Russians to thrive and flourish by exploring the limitless potentials of the internet technology and taking its fullest advantage. This wondrous science gift to mankind has left Russians behind as they are still lagging much behind comparatively. Now, he has amassed thousand of young Russians soldiers at the border with Ukraine and trying to order them into a certain early deaths, in a war which he can foolishly start if he chooses to, but which he can never win nor be able to end on terms dictated by Kremlin. 

Why Vladimir Putin is still bogged down in the old Soviet Union prism with rigid borders and demanding to maintain or rather retain the control of the ancient boundaries is beyond ICHEOKU and at best, stupidity defined. Why must he dictate to Ukraine which countries and alliances Kiev can maintain friendship with or join. So what, if Ukraine used to be part of the old Soviet bloc, it is an independent country and free to make its own foreign affairs decisions as it sees fit. For a man who divorced his first wife to insist that Ukraine cannot divorce Russia is simply laughable and the height of convolution. Or is there something in the waters of Sochi that  alters mindsets and impairs rational thinking. 

In as much as ICHEOKU does not believe that war is the best way to solving problems, but Vladimir Putin has become such a twisted fella, bordering on nauseating, that if he wants war, let war be given to him. He stole Georgia's Ossetia and Abkhazia; and most recently, Ukrainian Donbas and Crimea; and now he is threatening further forceful land grabs in Ukraine. It is good that the United States of America and NATO have taken a firm stand to help Ukraine defend its territory from any Vladimir Putin's stupid order on his soldiers to commence a forward eastern thrust into Ukraine. 

ICHEOKU says Vladimir Putin should be checkmated and not allowed another inch of any Ukrainian territorial space, land and sea; and if such a decision leads to a third world war, so be it as the rest of the law abiding world can successfully meet such a challenge frontally. Enough of Vladimir Putin's despotic roguery. Ukraine shall be free and so shall Russia be also free some day, both countries forever freed from the Bonaparte-ic Vladimir Putin's suffocating stranglehold. Viva Ukraine! Long live the Russian Federation, with Vladimir Putin in its rearview mirror of freedom and economic progress. #DeEscalate