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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPutin couldn't make Russia a great power, so he made it a geopolitical racketeer
Putin couldn't make Russia a great power, so he made it a geopolitical racketeerby Max Fisher at Vox
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/26/7381413/russia-putin-racketeer
"SNIP....................
Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University who studies Russia, suggested an answer: Putin is remaking Russia from a former world power into a geopolitical racketeer. Galeotti is not the first person to suggest this theory, which is gaining traction even among Russia experts who tend to be more sympathetic to Moscow, but he put it awfully succinctly in a great interview with the Swiss-based International Relations and Security Network.
Galeotti made his point when asked how Russia's role as an international actor had evolved since the end of the Cold War (I've added line breaks and bold for
emphasis):
Russia is now regarded not as ineffective but as toxic; it has shown that it can act, but above all as a spoiler.
Its main tactic in eastern Ukraine, in Syria, and elsewhere is not to fix problems, nor even to build coalitions, but to create problems in the hope that this grinds down the will of the other party or parties until they decide that making some kind of deal with Moscow is the least-worse option.
....................SNIP"
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Putin couldn't make Russia a great power, so he made it a geopolitical racketeer (Original Post)
applegrove
Dec 2014
OP
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)1. Russia: The Republican Party of countries.
yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)7. Putin:The Dubya of Russia,
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)2. DU rec...
Fuck Putin and his boot lickers.
Sid
Cha
(295,914 posts)3. I agree with the author.. Russia is toxic" .. oh and Putin is a ****** ******* ******** ********.
thanks applegrove.
apple~
Fuck the asshole homophobic dictator.
Cha
(295,914 posts)15. That sounds
familiar!
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)6. Fuck that fascist war criminal.
Russia deserves better.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)8. Well said!
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)12. agreed
It's just a matter of when Russians figure that out and get fed up with him. I have to wonder how much of his "approval rating" is bloated by his own people.
bhikkhu
(10,708 posts)9. How exactly are "Great Power" and "geopolitical racketeer" not synonyms?
I can't think of any good examples...
edhopper
(33,208 posts)10. But, but but....
what does Russia Today say????
applegrove
(118,021 posts)11. Typical psychopathic bully.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)13. Fuck Putin, he's a homophobic, fascist piece of filth. nt