US always been a
benevolent country. Would Putin accept
to live in Puerto Rico after the Russian's people give him a coup d'état? Why would the people and Russian's military
generals would overthrow him? Vladimir
Putin is sinking the Russian' economy supporting the movement of a large army
that is consuming large quantity of food, fuel, and ammunition in war practices
while the Russians citizens does not agree with what he's doing. Russians are commenting that what Putin
should do is pay attention to the inflation the country is just starting and
going through ...pay attention to local hospital, school repairs and the
country agronomy and stop creating or seeking for wars to neighboring countries
not looking for problems with Russia. That
what he, their president should seek is to export their petroleum and gas to
invest the money in the reconstruction of their beloved nation instead. People are commenting that amongst them with
"a voice under the table".
From:
A
retired Russian general's criticism may signal a larger problem for Putin
(msn.com)
“Ivashov believes that NATO is a hostile
power, but his experience has taught him that the NATO/U.S. threat is under
control and no external threat is imminent from the Western powers. The massive
buildup of Russian troops on the Ukraine and Belarus borders, therefore, is not
to deal with a threat from the West. Rather, it is to divert attention from the
internal health, demographic challenges, living-standards collapse and
pervasive corruption that the Russian citizenry is suffering under the
mismanagement of an incompetent Putin regime.
Ivashov points out that the Putin model has in
no way demonstrated its superiority to Ukraine, to Crimea, to the two
"separatist" Ukrainian republics or to anyone else. Under
Putin, Russia has become an international "pariah," he says. Its
annexation of Crimea is not recognized by credible nations, and Russia is
widely viewed as a rogue state because of Putin's "criminal policy of
provoking war."
Ivashov distinguishes between Russia's highly
trained professional officers' ranks and the Kremlin's military
"elite," headed by what he considers to be non-entities. If Putin's
policies -designed only to solidify his internal power - indeed push Russia
into a "catastrophic war," he adds, it won't be Putin's Kremlin
soldiers who pay the price; rather, it will be the professional officers and
the tens of thousands of young Russian conscripts who will be killed or
crippled in the fighting.
Adding to Ivashov's concerns is his fear that
Turkey could join with Ukraine in a military alliance if war does break out.
That, of course, would be an entirely different ball game for the Russians to
confront.
Ivashov's solution: Fire Putin if he can't be
forced to resign and, if necessary, put him in prison for his "criminal
policy of provoking war."
Of course, all of that is highly unlikely to
occur.
And yet, according to Ivashov's account, he is
speaking for a significant portion of Russia's professional military, the one institution most trusted by
the Russian people. If his claim is true, then those military men, retired or
still in uniform, must feel very strongly or else they would have remained
comfortably quiet, enjoying their pensions and privileges, rather than
incurring the wrath and inevitable punishment of Putin.
Putin undoubtedly will find a way to punish
Ivashov for his outspoken criticism, and perhaps other members of the
All-Russian Officers Assembly as well. But he cannot wipe out all those who
believe what Ivashov has said. Nor can he afford to alienate his professional
military.
It just may be that with all his
saber-rattling and gamesmanship over Ukraine, Putin may have created an
opposition that he cannot silence so easily.
Paul Roderick Gregory
is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of
Houston, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University and a research fellow at the German Institute for Economic Research.
Follow him on Twitter @PaulR_Gregory.”
