{"id":167649,"date":"2018-03-23T08:07:19","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T08:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=167649"},"modified":"2018-03-27T06:26:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T06:26:16","slug":"russian-election-western-demonization-of-putin-has-made-him-more-popular-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=167649","title":{"rendered":"Russian election: Western demonization of Putin has made him more popular in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Bryan MacDonald &#8212; Russia Today March 21, 2018<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_167650\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Putin-2018-election-rally.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167650\" class=\"wp-image-167650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Putin-2018-election-rally.jpg\" alt=\"Putin 2018 election rally\" width=\"540\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Putin-2018-election-rally.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Putin-2018-election-rally-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-167650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rally celebrating Putin&#8217;s 2018 election win. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Western leaders and opinion formers believed sanctions and economic pressure would encourage Russians to turn against Vladimir Putin. They couldn\u2019t have been more wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">If you\u2019re not Russian, you probably haven\u2019t heard of Aleksey Pushkov. He\u2019s an influential academic, politician, and media personality who once ran the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Duma (the lower house of the parliament) and is widely considered to be close to the Kremlin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In the early hours of Monday morning, as the extent of Vladimir Putin\u2019s latest presidential victory became clear, he took to Twitter to make a very important point: \u201c<em>western demonization of Putin inspires the opposite effect in Russia. Instead, citizens rally around him. And the election results confirm this<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Influential Russian politician &amp; commentator Alexei Pushkov says western demonization of Putin causes the opposite effect in Russia. Instead, citizens rally around him. And the election results confirm this. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IPgDfW8Zsb\">https:\/\/t.co\/IPgDfW8Zsb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bryan MacDonald (@27khv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/27khv\/status\/975683662439223297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 19, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Pushkov is correct. Because Putin\u2019s latest landslide was partially made in the West.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Slowing Tide<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">To understand why we need to rewind the clock to 2011. Back then, on the surface at least, Russia was doing well economically. The ruble was trading around 30 to the US dollar and the price of oil was high. While the country\u2019s reliance on the latter resource was always a poor long-term strategy, it provided easy money. And this meant Russians could afford to travel to places, and buy imported products, which Soviet citizens could only have dreamed of, two decades earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Despite this, a considerable amount of people weren\u2019t happy. And when the sitting president, Dmitry Medvedev, announced in September that he was stepping aside to support Putin\u2019s (who was serving as prime minister) return to the Kremlin, anger grew in some sections of society, especially the pro-business and liberal factions. You see, for them, Medvedev represented the promise of liberalization and westernization, and the return of Putin was seen as a step backwards towards nationalism, conservatism, and even authoritarianism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In December, the Duma election took place, with United Russia, the party associated with Putin and Medvedev, failing to win a majority of the vote. Some alleged the contest had been falsified and the party\u2019s real share was even smaller.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As a result, protests kicked off, largely centered in Moscow. But there were also demonstrations in many provincial cities, including Khabarovsk, more than 8,000km from Moscow, where I resided at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">At this moment, one thing was very clear: many Russians sought a new sense of identity, and the various post-Soviet factions were heading for a showdown. One which took place over the following months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In December, the Western media had decided to christen the unrest as the \u2018<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/europe\/russia\/8948414\/Bloggers-who-are-changing-the-face-of-Russia-as-the-Snow-Revolution-takes-hold.html\">Snow Revolution<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2019, a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/snow-revolution#entry-more\">meme<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>which conjured memories of similar events in Ukraine and Georgia, labelled \u2018Orange\u2019 and \u2018Rose\u2019 respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">And this was a serious error because Russians weren\u2019t looking for the overthrow of their state. And, at least in the heartland, many feared a return to the anarchy of the 1990s. Thus, while certain capital city circles sizzled with talk of revolution, where I was living, people seemed horrified by the very idea. \u201c<em>This is the rich Moscow elite marching, these guys have nothing in common with me,<\/em>\u201d was a typical statement. While others seemed to think the protestors were ungrateful, because, after all, their very prosperity was mostly down to Putin, who had inherited a basket case economy in 2000 and greatly improved living standards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Nevertheless, things became very tense for a while, with no less a figure than Mikhail Gorbachev publicly <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/europe\/russia\/8977219\/Mikhail-Gorbachev-calls-for-Vladimir-Putin-to-resign.html\">calling<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>for Putin to resign.\u00a0 Of course, Putin didn\u2019t heed Gorby\u2019s call. Instead, he continued his presidential campaign and in March 2012, won handsomely, with a score of 63% nationally, but only 46% in Moscow.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Mixed Signals<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Now, this is where I need to explain something: the 2011\/12 protests were, more or less, a \u201c<em>big smoke<\/em>\u201d phenomenon. And it explains\u00a0 why Western media correspondents, who are all based in Moscow and have little understanding of the rest of Russia, beyond its <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/7f6da330-2715-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0\">occasional<\/a><\/strong><\/span> novelty value, made their readers and viewers believe something substantial was stirring when the reality was less dramatic. Because, in a place like Khabarovsk, the movement gained no traction beyond a bit of muttering in cafes and between close family and friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Putin realized this and learned a lesson. In his first two terms, he\u2019d probably spent too much time worrying about the Moscow elite. From now on, he was going to focus on his base, the ordinary folk who keep Russia working. And little did he know at the time, but the West was about to lend a helping hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Kremlin <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-russia\/putin-says-u-s-stoked-russian-protests-idUSTRE7B610S20111208\">believed<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Hillary Clinton had interfered in Russia\u2019s 2011\/12 unrest, but her influence was limited, even if Putin\u2019s team regarded it as a betrayal. However, America\u2019s behavior in Ukraine in 2013\/14 was another matter entirely. This was the US openly intervening in street protests in Russia\u2019s neighbor and Clinton\u2019s former assistant secretary of state, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fbjNJbjEy04\">Victoria Nuland<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, was leading the charge \u2013 eventually even going so far as <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-26079957\">choosing<\/a><\/strong><\/span> a new government in the aftermath.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">For Russians, it was incredible. Ukraine, home to entire regions where ethnic Russians constitute a significant majority, was, as they saw it, being destabilized in a Western-backed coup. Something which meant that Crimea, part of Russia for hundreds of years until Nikita Khrushchev signed it away in the 1950s, could have feasibly wound up housing NATO bases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Thus, when Putin decided to reabsorb the peninsula in the spring of 2014, his popularity ratings reached unprecedented levels. Because Russians believed the West had betrayed them. And, since then, the EU and the US have played into his hands.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Wide Awake<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Russians are fully aware of Western scaremongering about their country and the demonization of their president. They see it on news sites, across social media, and on TV. And the ones who can\u2019t understand English can even read Russian translations of the Western press on a dedicated website, Inosmi (which, incidentally, is state funded). Furthermore, in addition to the constant barrage of media delirium, the NATO countries\u2019 sanctions policy has created a besieged fortress mentality in Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Indeed, Andrey Kondrashov, Putin&#8217;s campaign spokesman, summed this up on Sunday night. \u201c<em>Turnout is higher than we expected, by about 8-10 percent, for which we must say thanks to Great Britain<\/em>,\u201d he <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/efab0a30-2ad4-11e8-a34a-7e7563b0b0f4\">said<\/a><\/strong><\/span> with tongue surely in cheek, referring to the fallout from a spy poisoning drama in the UK. \u201c<em>We were pressured exactly at the moment when we needed to mobilize [voters]. Whenever Russia is accused of something indiscriminately and without any evidence, the Russian people unite around the center of power. And the center of power is certainly Putin today<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In 2012, Putin was under pressure in Moscow, but this weekend he secured over 70% of the vote in the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/opinion\/articles\/2018\/03\/20\/754254-moskva-progolosovala\">capital<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. And in St. Petersburg, where he managed 58% six years ago, he can now boast a 75% score. And it has happened at a time when Russians have endured a deep recession, with falling real wages, during a painful, but necessary, economic restructuring after the previous resource-driven model exhausted itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Today, even liberal, educated, and cosmopolitan dwellers of the two big cities generally support the status of Crimea and now resent the West for its anti-Russia hysteria. Whereas in 2011-12, many saw the US as a country to aspire to, now they are disappointed with Washington and believe the US to be fundamentally opposed to respecting any of Russia\u2019s vital interests.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Thus, ironically, a Western policy aimed at weakening Putin and reducing Russian resolve has completely backfired. Eighteen years after he first entered the Kremlin, the president\u2019s position has never been stronger, or more secure. And he can thank the dysfunctional and self-destructive policy of the United States and the European Union. A lot of which is influenced by too much reliance on \u201c<em>Russia experts<\/em>\u201d who don\u2019t really understand the country at all. And it shows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Bryan MacDonald is an Irish journalist based in Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-ed\/421944-putin-election-demonized-west-victory\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Irish writer based in Russia explains why the western campaign to demonise Putin has backfired so spectacularly in Russia  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary","category-russia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167649"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167653,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167649\/revisions\/167653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=167649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=167649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}