VLANDIMIR PUTIN is probably the most unlovable man in the world today. He personifies the secret police as a method of government. He entered the KGB at an early age and has remained linked to it ever since. Its his religion, insofar as he has one.
The military and economic rise of China in recent years has been so spectacular that we tend to forget about Russias presence on the international chessboard. Yet it would be wise to remember that though Russia may have fallen in the ranks of the major powers when judged by economic criteria, in military terms it is much stronger than China and is in some ways even more powerful than the U.S.
Russia has the worlds largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, including scores of multirocket superbombs. The fact that three-quarters of them are now targeted at China, which Russia fears far more than it does America, in no way diminishes the threat to the West. Russia also has ample H-bombs capable of inflicting terrible damage on the West.
In sole charge of this devastating armory is Putin. Whether hes serving as president or prime ministerroles he alternates for devious reasons of his ownhis is the finger on the nuclear button. Wherever he goes, the command apparatus of the Russian nuclear strike force goes with him.
This helps explain why Putin is such an expensive item in the Russian budgeta figure of over $5 billion a year has been quoted. About 250,000 security officials from the secret police and other agencies are believed to be involved in protecting him. That, curiously enough, is about the same number of people charged with protecting the paranoid Joseph Stalin in his last years.
Theres another item in Putins dossier that recalls Stalin. Putin has for his own use a collection of 20 palaces, apartments, dachas and country houses, each fully fitted with security devices and staffed at all times. This is the same number of residences that Stalin had. Some of Stalins homes were secret, their addresses never disclosed in his lifetime. All of Putins are knownor so we think. Of course, its entirely possible he has others for use in times of war or emergency.
Stalin wasnt interested in money or luxuries; he usually slept on a sofa. But Putin is quite different. His villa on the Black Sea, which is valued at about $1 billion, has every conceivable expensive device. He also has a yacht valued at around $50 million, as well as dozens of aircraft, including an Ilyushin jethis customary mode of travelthat has an estimated $18 million in cabin fittings.
Stalin, in contrast, was terrified of flying and never used the four jets allocated to him. He flew only onceto and from the Tehran Conference with Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.
Putin loves wealth and accumulating possessions, though his tastes are extremely vulgar. Hes proud of his watch collection, which is said to be worth more than $600,000 and includes one that belonged to Marshal Zhukov, which Zhukov wore when he took Berlin.
Since Putin likes to ape Stalin in some ways, we might ask if hes secure in his position. The answer would be no. Stalin was as safe as human ingenuity could make him: He controlled the telephone system, including the secret networks used by the KGB. It was impossible even for Lavrenty Beria, head of the secret police, to make a phone call without one of Stalins security staff knowing about it.
No such communications monopoly continues today. Potential plotters against Mr. Putin can contact one another without his knowledge. If Putin continues to rig elections its likely his enemies will mount an assassination attempt, and such a drastic way of resolving the Putin problem will have as good or as bad a chance of success as such things ever do.
Meanwhile, Putin is riding high and seems to be running his own propaganda machine. Curiously exotic stories featuring him and animals appear in the press, something with which Stalin never had to bother. Publicity in his day was all handled by the state. My guess is that Putin will eventually be ousted by one of his rivals. But he wont go without a fightand its likely to be a murderous one.
Vladimir Putin: The World's Most Unlovable Man - Forbes
The military and economic rise of China in recent years has been so spectacular that we tend to forget about Russias presence on the international chessboard. Yet it would be wise to remember that though Russia may have fallen in the ranks of the major powers when judged by economic criteria, in military terms it is much stronger than China and is in some ways even more powerful than the U.S.
Russia has the worlds largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, including scores of multirocket superbombs. The fact that three-quarters of them are now targeted at China, which Russia fears far more than it does America, in no way diminishes the threat to the West. Russia also has ample H-bombs capable of inflicting terrible damage on the West.
In sole charge of this devastating armory is Putin. Whether hes serving as president or prime ministerroles he alternates for devious reasons of his ownhis is the finger on the nuclear button. Wherever he goes, the command apparatus of the Russian nuclear strike force goes with him.
This helps explain why Putin is such an expensive item in the Russian budgeta figure of over $5 billion a year has been quoted. About 250,000 security officials from the secret police and other agencies are believed to be involved in protecting him. That, curiously enough, is about the same number of people charged with protecting the paranoid Joseph Stalin in his last years.
Theres another item in Putins dossier that recalls Stalin. Putin has for his own use a collection of 20 palaces, apartments, dachas and country houses, each fully fitted with security devices and staffed at all times. This is the same number of residences that Stalin had. Some of Stalins homes were secret, their addresses never disclosed in his lifetime. All of Putins are knownor so we think. Of course, its entirely possible he has others for use in times of war or emergency.
Stalin wasnt interested in money or luxuries; he usually slept on a sofa. But Putin is quite different. His villa on the Black Sea, which is valued at about $1 billion, has every conceivable expensive device. He also has a yacht valued at around $50 million, as well as dozens of aircraft, including an Ilyushin jethis customary mode of travelthat has an estimated $18 million in cabin fittings.
Stalin, in contrast, was terrified of flying and never used the four jets allocated to him. He flew only onceto and from the Tehran Conference with Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.
Putin loves wealth and accumulating possessions, though his tastes are extremely vulgar. Hes proud of his watch collection, which is said to be worth more than $600,000 and includes one that belonged to Marshal Zhukov, which Zhukov wore when he took Berlin.
Since Putin likes to ape Stalin in some ways, we might ask if hes secure in his position. The answer would be no. Stalin was as safe as human ingenuity could make him: He controlled the telephone system, including the secret networks used by the KGB. It was impossible even for Lavrenty Beria, head of the secret police, to make a phone call without one of Stalins security staff knowing about it.
No such communications monopoly continues today. Potential plotters against Mr. Putin can contact one another without his knowledge. If Putin continues to rig elections its likely his enemies will mount an assassination attempt, and such a drastic way of resolving the Putin problem will have as good or as bad a chance of success as such things ever do.
Meanwhile, Putin is riding high and seems to be running his own propaganda machine. Curiously exotic stories featuring him and animals appear in the press, something with which Stalin never had to bother. Publicity in his day was all handled by the state. My guess is that Putin will eventually be ousted by one of his rivals. But he wont go without a fightand its likely to be a murderous one.
Vladimir Putin: The World's Most Unlovable Man - Forbes
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THALI KAY BAINGAN 
