Putin Lost the Narrative by Al Sikes

Vladimir Putin has lost the narrative. He and his brand managers carefully crafted a god-like image. He was virile, strong, savvy; almost a mythic character. Former American Heads of State had been cowed; the most immediate one pronounced him “smart” “savvy”, and “genius”. His brand managers were showered with titles and riches. He, not just Russia, was impregnable.

By contrast President Joe Biden’s spin doctors have seemed transactional. Ready to move here and there as necessary. And the retreat from Afghanistan that he led was catastrophic. In reflecting on Putin, Biden called him a “worthy adversary.” Worthy? Putin’s brand managers had to be pleased. But then Putin underestimated the President and the foundational values of the free world.

So, Putin smoking his own dope, decided to take over Ukraine. At first their leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russia will not invade. It’s hard to know whether this was simply a tactical maneuver or an analytical one (what, is he crazy?).

The god, Putin, had to be surprised when Ukrainians didn’t kneel. He menaced and they didn’t capitulate. He began and once again they pushed back. Now two weeks into Russia’s invasion—its war of choice—Putin has not just lost the narrative, he bombed it.

His brand managers must have told him the contrast with Zelenskyy was terrible. Or maybe fearing banishment they didn’t. Putin, isolated at the end of a football field sized table in a regal room lecturing a few generals betrayed weakness. Zelenskyy, after all, was on the fighting field looking like he had just removed his Kevlar vest. He was resolute and the war’s images underscored his words and revealed his courage. The dead, and the wounded, and refugees fleeing were his backdrop while Putin, concluding he needed a new look, sought to burnish his image by meeting with youthful airline stewardesses. Is this insanity?

War is revealing. The spin masters are quickly overtaken. They lose the carefully crafted narrative. Their gods turn out to be just humans—preening ones unable to disguise a terrible hangover from their own intoxicating exhaust.

The problem is that gods can’t suddenly act like humans. So they flail about with pronouncements and weapons and in the case of Putin choose to demolish people and buildings. You wonder, what are the Chinese saying to him? Their lofty perch is being imperiled by an ally who has spun out of control. Maybe they can help talk him down.

Russia’s most celebrated literary figure Leon Tolstoy wrote a short story called “How Much Land Does a Man Need”. It’s the story of a peasant named Pahom who believes if “I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself.” After an unsatisfying effort to get more land that he actually owns, he is introduced to the Bashkirs and is told they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. As he attempts to negotiate with them for more land, they make an interesting proposal. Pahom can walk around as large an area as he wants starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he returns to his starting point by sunset that day, all the land his route encloses will be his.

I would urge you to read it. But, (spoiler alert) the story’s conclusion has Pahom dropping dead at the starting point just as the sun sets. His servant buries him in an ordinary grave only six feet long, thus answering the question of “how much land a man needs.

Putin is not a modern day Pahom; he rules over nine time zones but he acts like one. Unless free people impatient for a conclusion provide an escape route, Tolstoy’s tale captures where Putin will end up. Unlike Lenin he will not have his own mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow Centre.

But, of course, Putin is not a character in a Tolstoy story. I believe his allies by circumstances will ultimately abandon him. In the meantime, what is now collective leadership of the free world, needs to carefully support Ukraine making sure it has the resources for their fight and plentiful support for the tragic circumstances faced by Ukrainians. Initial days are encouraging.

Finally, the world needs a new international organization built around fundamental rights and certainly sovereignty would be one. The nations that agree to sign up would sign up for peace and unity. There would be covenants that all would act to blunt the kind of criminal takeover Putin is attempting. Certainly the failures of the United Nations speak clearly; structures that allowed a member nation to subvert the mission would not exist.

Secretive Tightrope

There is day-to-day reporting that the United States will, or won’t, make it possible for Poland to supply MIG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. Apparently the planes under discussion are now at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The issue seems to be that the United States worries that such a transfer would cause Russia to use nuclear weapons.

Regardless of the merits of such a transfer, this is an episode that we should find out about because an enterprising writer does the leg work to write “the story never told”, some years later.

Hopefully there are Biden Administration or NATO operatives who, very much behind the scenes, are giving Ukraine all the aid it needs.

And now, according to The Wall Street Journal, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has called for people to be more circumspect in discussing arms supplies, at least domestically. “Please do not spread the word that certain countries provide weapons to our country. Refrain from commenting on this.”

Enough said.