Putin Increasingly Seen As “Pootie” By Russians Who Matter

Once feared Russian dictator Vladmir Putin has had a bad week.  He’s not winning the war in Ukraine which means he’s losing.  South Africa has remained in his corner and initially was prepared to ignore a warrant from the ICC to arrest him (South Africa is a signatory) if he showed up at a conference there he was supposed to attend.  International pressure cause them to soften their stance enough he decided to stay home.

Then he had a big conference set to be held in St. Petersburg this week – one at which he’d host a bunch of African leaders since Russia still has a lot of clout on that huge continent.  (More on that in a bit)  Last year over FORTY Heads of State showed up.  This year less than twenty did – the others sent some minister that would be the equivalent of our Sec State.  If that.  Ouch.  Talk about a diplomatic slap in the face.

Then we have Prigozhin in Russia, seemingly moving about with impunity.  The guy who almost drove his Wagner forces to Moscow to (ostensibly) “get rid of” Putin’s top two military leaders.  I for one have no trouble believing Prigozhin wouldn’t have left it at that!  Still, given all the oligarchs and even generals Putin has had murdered in just the last six months, the fact that he didn’t long ago have Prigozhin strung up outside the Kremlin with his entrails hanging out says plenty.  As in he’s not got anyone he can count on to do the job!

Now, at the end of the week we have this report from radaronline.  It’s not a long article and well worth the couple of minutes needed to read it but it boils down to this:

Russian military leaders are sick and tired of the war in Ukraine and want it over with.  They aren’t the only ones.  So are the Russian people, and while the article doesn’t specifically say it so are people with money and power – the oligarchs.  That makes sense since their cronies keep falling from high places to their deaths, or suddenly dying in other ways.  I’ve been wondering for a while when a group of them would finally get together and say “Any one of us will be next.  He’s sick and maybe even dying, if not in a few months then within a year.  It’s time to do it to  him before he does it to us.”  The aborted coup no doubt increased that sentiment.

There are still quite a few in the Russian military command who look at their colleagues that have been killed in Ukraine in battle, or knocked off on Putin’s orders who also wonder if their turn is coming.  Mix some people from both these groups, the oligarchs and the military leadership and the premise of the article that more coups are coming is hard to argue with!

I’ve mockingly referred to Putin as “Pootie” in the past.  I think a lot of people in Russia, including people he has good reason to fear are starting to look and think of him the same way.  Using whatever the Russian version of a mocking modification of his name would be.  For a dictator, having that kind of thinking even with a few people is bad.  Having it become widespread is REALLY bad.

Not the path to a long and happy life and dying someday long in the future, peacefully in one’s bed.

It might be a tad early to start the countdown clock on when Putin will find himself in hell (if there is one), or at least fed into a crematorium (perhaps while still alive) and scattered in various far-flung parts of Russia which is a vast country.  By far the largest one on the planet.  Will that make things better or worse?  That’s a huge question and will occupy the thinking and planning in countries around the world.  Not to mention amongst the regular Russian people.

But the article suggests we’ll be finding out by fall what the endgame for Pootie’s reign will be.  Stay tuned.