Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Vladimir Putin’s hubris has finally met its match.

In the exquisite Ukrainian counter-manoeuvre in Kursk, southern Russia, history has come back to bite President Putin. On much the same ground in 1943, Soviet forces turned back the Nazi hordes in a battle rightly considered to be one of the turning points of WW2. But whereas once Kursk could be assured a special place in the pantheon of Russian pride, Ukraine's current "tactical" operation there means it may now come to be remembered as a source of Russian humiliation. And if the West allows Kyiv to exploit its successes, it may prove to be the locus of another turning point in Russian history, too.

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This article correctly contrasts Kursk's legendary WW2 role in defeating fascism with the high possibility that Kursk 2.0 will become legendary for its humiliation of Moscow's hubris.

But Russians intent on fostering good will with their neighbors and who abhor Russia's own slide into "klepto-fascism" under Putin's system may someday, we all hope, become legendary in turning the tide against fascism again.

This new fascism is home-grown, implemented by a small army of depressed and selfish KGB officers who so wanted glory for themselves when the autocracy they swore to support for the privileges it would reward them with, collapsed.

Instead of readjusting their sights on equality of opportunity and creating a meritocracy that intelligent, enlightened Russians hoped for, these KGB veterans became the nation's robber-barons. Since then, Russians have passively accepted s system of self-dealing, repressive, klepto-fascists from the top of the Russian church down to the corporate oligarch class to the enabling siloviki who uphold Putin's brutal regime. ((https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-security-services-siloviki-putin-regime/ (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-security-services-siloviki-putin-regime/))

Yes, the contrast is good. But hopefully this will mark Kursk's rol e in leading to the collapse of a militaristic fascist threat a stunning second time.

Comments

Nah, the UkroNazis will be destroyed in a Kessel.

Of their own making, just like the Nazi scum were 81 years ago.

Similar outcomes for similar reasons.

#1 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2024-08-13 07:53 PM

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