“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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Is Hitler’s Ghost Driving Vladimir Putin?
In my February 28 SnyderTalk editorial, I said that Vladimir Putin copied Adolf Hitler’s engagement plans for takeovers of Poland and Czechoslovakia when he invaded Ukraine. That was a colossal blunder, because it attracted the immediate attention of Western leaders. All of them understand the events that led up to World War II, and they don’t want to repeat the mistakes made by Western leaders in 1939.
In my March 1 SnyderTalk editorial, I said that Western leaders will become even more determined to punish Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine if he doesn’t cease, desist, and withdraw Russian troops. I explained that Western leaders see Putin as a Hitler prototype, and they are applying the lessons learned from World War II. Giving Hitler one inch of territory was a mistake.
As events have unfolded in Ukraine, it’s clear that I was correct. Western leaders don’t just see Putin as a pariah. They see him as the modern-day equivalent of Hitler. Putin is bent on conquest to recreate the “greatness” of the Soviet Empire. Ukraine is his immediate target, but other countries are in his crosshairs. A couple of days ago, we learned from the President of Belarus, a Putin ally, that Moldova is next in line after Ukraine.
Western leaders can’t make Putin get out of Ukraine without declaring war on Russia. That’s not likely to happen, because no one wants a nuclear war. Thus, they applied crippling economic sanctions on Russia and the oligarchs who buddied up to Putin and became billionaires in the process. In the past few days, those sanctions have started to take effect:
- Yachts owned by oligarchs have been seized.
- Palatial homes and apartments owned by oligarchs have been targeted for seizure.
- The SWIFT ban has made it difficult if not impossible for Russia to engage in global trade.
- The value of the Russian ruble has fallen to less than one penny.
- Inflation in Russia is soaring.
- Russian businesses in the West have shuttered their doors.
- Russian products for sale in the West are sitting on shelves gathering dust.
So far, the sanctions have had no effect on Putin’s behavior. He has shown no signs of letting up. In fact, he is pressing the invasion of Ukraine even harder. Today, he called the sanctions “an act of war”. He’s right, but it’s a war using other tools besides tanks, jet fighters, bombers, artillery, and bullets.
A couple of days ago, Putin’s forces attacked and set fire to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It’s the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. It’s located 65 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital. The attack raised concerns about the possibility of another Chernobyl incident. As of Friday afternoon, Ukrainian engineers were running the nuclear facility under gunpoint from Russian soldiers.
With Hitler as his role model, Putin has blocked Facebook, Twitter, the BBC, and Voice of America in Russia. The Russian people are smart. They can see where Putin is heading, and you can bet that they don’t like it.
Soon, Putin may decide that it should be illegal for Russians to own radios, televisions, computers, smart phones, and anything else that can be used to obtain information that doesn’t line up perfectly with government authorized propaganda. Don’t rule that out. I have a strong hunch that the Russian people don’t. Memories of the Soviet Empire live on in Russia, and for most Russians, they are not fond memories. They are more like nightmares.
Yesterday, Putin signed a law that makes “spreading fake news” in Russia a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. As a result, Western media have stopped reporting from Russia, and some journalists are leaving the country.
See “Major news networks halt Russian broadcasts after Kremlin moves to jail reporters”.
Ordinary Russian citizens are most at risk, though. They can be arrested, charged with crimes, tried, convicted, and sent to prison for sharing their thoughts about Putin’s actions with other Russian citizens. That’s exactly what Germany was like during the Hitler era and what the Soviet Union was like before 1991.
Russians have long memories. These things may sound farfetched to Westerners, but to Russians, they are real possibilities that must be taken into consideration. Their lives are at risk, and they know it.
As Western sanctions on Russia take effect and ordinary Russian people begin to feel the pain, the pressure inside Russia to depose or eliminate Vladimir Putin will grow. I’m not suggesting that anyone should try to assassinate Putin. I’m simply telling you what will happen. Putin has no one to blame but himself. There will be consequences.
Russia’s military leaders are watching things very carefully. They have long memories, too. In the Soviet Union, military leaders could be charged with treason and executed for sharing their opinions if they diverged from state authorized propaganda. You can bet that most of them don’t want to return to those days, but that’s exactly where things are heading. All Putin needs to do is give the order to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), the modern-day equivalent of the Soviet KGB, and the die will be cast.
As I said in my March 2 SnyderTalk editorial, Vladimir Putin has to go. The Russian people are beginning to see it. So are many if not most of Russia’s military leaders. No matter how strong and ruthless the FSB is, it can’t fend off masses of Russian people and the country’s military.
Soon, we may see a replay of Boris Yeltsin’s confrontation with the Soviet dictatorship. That led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ironically, Putin was Yeltsin’s protégé and his hand-picked candidate for President of Russia after his resignation.
Vladimir Putin is out of step with the times. He’s using Hitler’s pre-World War II strategies and tactics in an age of mass communication at the speed of light. Putin’s days are numbered. In short order, most Russian people will agree with that assessment.
I wonder if Putin has even considered what happens to country leaders who do what he is doing. Hitler did, but it was late in the game. When Hitler finally saw the light, he killed himself. Regrettably, dictators seem to think that they are invincible until their end is very near.
Interestingly, Soviet troops were closing in on Hitler when he decided that he needed to kill himself. Now, Hitler’s ghost seems to be driving Putin to make the same mistakes Hitler made.
The Italian people lowered Benito Mussolini’s pants and hung his corpse by the ankles from a pole in Milan. Then, they celebrated his death. It was a joyous occasion. That’s something dictators and would-be dictators should keep in mind. It can happen to them, too.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
