Poor Vladimir Putin. He wanted to Make Russia Great Again, but he only succeeded in trashing what was left of poor old Russia. Russia is now more thoroughly devastated than Ukraine. All Putin can do now is to drop more bombs, killing more people and continuing the reduction of Ukraine to rubble, but he can’t win any battles, and there is no hope of ever retaining any of Ukraine’s territory for very long, let alone of returning the Prodigal Son back to the fold of Mother Russia. Russia’s standing in the world is totally destroyed; its economy is ruined; its military prowess is humiliated; it is isolated and ridiculed. It is still feared the way one fears a mad dog, but it has lost all respect. Poor Vladimir Putin is like a little boy throwing a tantrum, breaking his toys in anger and frustration.
So what next for poor old bedraggled Russia? There is not likely to be much chance for any meaningful negotiation ~ no one is going to want Putin to take away any face-saving victor’s spoils. He will just continue to thrash around in his anger and madness until finally there is either a Palace Coup or someone mercifully puts him out of his misery. But this has to happen from within Russia. There can be no question of any external force, like NATO or the USA, working for regime change. No one is going to send in any hit squad to take out the villain; it must come from within Russia, by Russians, for Russians. I hope it happens soon, because there can be no forward movement until Putin be finally assassinated or packed off to the Gulag (or the International Criminal Court in the Hague).
Then what? It can only be after Putin has finally left the stage, pondering the grim treatment he will receive at the hands of future historians, that anyone in Europe or the rest of the world can begin to move forward again. For Putin’s sake, I wish him a swift and merciful death, rather than the prolonged agony of sinking into the mire of trial and condemnation. But then what happens? In an earlier article (Restore the Tsar !), I suggested a parliamentary democracy under the titular head of a restoration of the Tsar, but that, while being an immeasurable advance over the reign of primitive barbarity currently despoiling the Russian people, could still be considerably improved by implementing a very old idea of mine, which I have usually proposed as an institution designed to oversee the government of the whole world (vide: New Solutions, 1992), but the same principle could just as easily (in fact, quite a bit more easily) be applied to any smaller political entity, such as Russia.
So, after Putin’s final and ignominious exit from the stage, in the ruins of what was once Russia, some visionary patriots could set up a Seminary consisting of a selection of about thirty or forty of the best and brightest Russians from the ages of about six to ten, and provide them with the best education they can manage. Then, after about thirty years or so, they could themselves choose one of their number to hold the position of Head of State for a parliamentary democracy. In this case, the head of state would not be simply a figurehead, as any restored Tsar would have to be ~ he or she could provide the primary direction for the state, as it slowly reinvents itself. A Prime Minister could occupy the role originally envisioned for such a post, as executive management implementing the policies indicated by the new head of state (who may as well hold the title of Tsar, just for historical continuity).
Perhaps, in one or two hundred years, some of these ideas of mine may yet be taken seriously, on the off-chance that life on earth should last that long. In the meantime, go ahead and come up with a better solution.
