Observer in a Black Sea Port, …. with highlighting mpasis imposed by Thuppahi
Broadly speaking, today, there are three types of Russians as follows,
1) Pro-Western Russians. This group love the West, want Russia to be fully integrated in the West, and believe that can only happen if Putin is killed or removed. They use words like “fascist”, “tyrant”, “bloodthirsty”, “war criminal”, and “genocidal maniac” to describe Putin. All of this is dangerous hyperbole because they don’t appreciate that if Putin were removed, a hardcore nationalist would likely replace him — which will be far worse than Mr. Putin.
2) This group consists of Putin’s supporters comprising the vast majority of Russians. This group believe Russia faces an existential threat from the West, and that Putin is taking the right steps to prevent Russia’s demise, and is strengthening Russia’s economic prosperity through multipolarity with likeminded nations such as India, China, Iran, Central Asian states, and many other countries in the Global South from Saudi Arabia to Cuba.
Those in Group 1 above fail to comprehend that Putin is a moderate, a strategic thinker, highly intelligent and rational. He is cautious, not “bloodthirsty” or a “war criminal ” as frequently reported in Western media hyperbole, but a strategic thinker who plans each move carefully and cautiously, akin to a brilliant chess-player.
3) There is a third group which those in Group 1 above neglect to mention, perhaps because those in 1 think those in 3 can be manipulated to remove Putin. This group are the very hardcore nationalists who don’t think Putin is tough enough, that Putin lacks the strength of leadership to neutralise the NATO/US threat by bringing Russia’s immense power to bear on their enemies in a decisive blow – “the blow of oblivion”.
Prominent in this group is Dmitry Medvedev who declared recently that Russia must use every tool to prevent Ukraine joining NATO even if it means destroying both. Medvedev wrote, “We [NATO] will continue to support it [Ukraine] on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”
This is what our enemies said yesterday in the Washington Declaration of the Alliance. The conclusion is obvious. We [Russia] must do everything to ensure that “Ukraine’s irreversible path” to NATO ends either with the disappearance of Ukraine or the disappearance of NATO. Or better yet, both.”
Putin is more cautious – a strategist who is patient, who often chooses asymmetrical options to weaken NATO and Ukraine and throw them off balance, but above all, he is careful to not put Russia at risk in the process.
Of the three groups, group 2 are the true and best representatives of Russia today.
Groups 2 and 3 are closely related, and all support Putin but some would like him to be tougher. These two groups are closely intertwined more than Group 1 who have basically become outsiders, which some argue have been corrupted by Western ideologies and Western geopolitical interests.
The above three groups paint a generalised picture in a simplified way. It is not a complete picture, but rather a sketch. Dig deeper and things get more complicated but I kept it simple for outsiders who think good Russians are “pro-Western Russians” and bad Russians are “Russian-Russians”.
At the time of the Russian revolution in 1917, there emerged “White Russians” and “Red Russians” who were bitterly opposed to each other and fought a terrible civil war. White Russians were loyal to the Tsar and were welcomed in the West. The Reds were the Communists, loyal to Lenin (later Stalin), which the West opposed (except in WW2). Russians have a long history of being divided and at each other’s throats, so what is happening today is not unusual.
What is significant is the attempts by the West to intersect between the different Russian groups to divide them, exploit them, drive a never-ending wedge, and use that as a way to push Western interests, which are always detrimental to Russia’s interests.
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ALSO NOTE
