HOW STUPID IS PUTIN?

Ever since I beat Vladimir Putin in an arm-wrestling match (yes, it’s a true story, told in Arm Wrestling With Russia), I haven’t had a high opinion of him. He was an officer in the KGB, and bemoaned that the collapse of the Soviet Union was “the greatest catastrophe of the 20^th century” (no, Pootie-Poot, the existence of the USSR was the century’s greatest calamity.)

But not until now has it become fully apparent how stupid he is.

Let’s say you’re the CEO of a company that supplies businesses with a product critically important for their operations. What’s the last thing you’d want to do? Get your customers to question the reliability of your supply so they’ll look elsewhere for other sources to get what they need – right?

How stupid a CEO would you be to do that? How quickly would the Board dump you? If you could hold a gun to the heads of the Directors, they’d be reluctant to fire you – but with no gun pointed at your customers, they’d run for the exits. Putin is this CEO.

As we saw last week in The Next War In Europe, Pootie tried to screw Ukraine for bolting from his imperial clutches in the Orange Revolution. I predicted this would fail if Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko stood up to him and called his bluff.

Sure enough, once Viktor did so, and showed the Euroweenies what it looks like to be a mensch with a backbone, Europe exploded in anger against Putin.

Hundreds of newspapers across the continent denounced Russia this week, with headlines blaring “Irresponsible!”, “Spiteful!”, and “Resurrecting the Cold War!” The French La Tribune stated bluntly:

“Instead of using the persuasive power of tanks as was once the case in Budapest and Prague … Putin’s Russia is today using the economic weapon in the same unscrupulous manner to bring to their knees those who refuse their allegiance.”

By not bending his knee, Yushchenko forced Putin to blink, to back off from extortionist gas shut offs and price rises. Yet the damage is done. Once your customers cease seeing you as reliable, they never trust you again.

A key aide to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was quoted as commenting that Putin’s behavior is either “inexplicable or crazy.” Everyone in Europe agrees.

Bush famously looked Putin in the eye once and liked what he saw. No more. When GW met him in Bratislava, Slovakia a year ago, he told Pootie, “You better decide which side you’re on (i.e., with us or against us regarding China, Iran, Syria, et al). You’re going to need us someday to help prevent Siberia from becoming part of China – for example.”

But Pootie continues to solidify a military alliance with China, continues to support the nuclearization of Iran, continues to prop up Syria, continues the systematic dismantlement of democracy in Russia.

All the while, Russia continues to die. Due to epidemic drunkenness, AIDs epidemics and other health disasters, an unwillingness to have children or have much hope for the future, Russian men have a life expectancy of 57 years now. Russia’s population will be halved within a couple of decades. From a peak of 160+ million at the Soviet fall in 1991, Russia is under 140 million now and heading towards 70 million by 2025.

Russia is on its way to extinction.

And Putin is not only too stupid to prevent it, he is stupid enough to accelerate it. And he is stupid enough to learn nothing from the gas fiasco with Ukraine. His rule remains entrenched. There’s not much hope for Mother Russia.