Putin's Disturbing View of History

Vladimir Putin, the one-time Soviet spy, now president of Russia, apparently waxes nostalgic for the "good old days" of the Soviet Union. An article from CBC reports this about a Putin speech delivered to both houses of the Russian Parliament:

The collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest political catastrophe of
the last century," Russian president Vladimir Putin said Monday as he delivered
his annual state of the nation address.

and

The former KGB agent said the 1991 breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics was a "true drama" that left tens of millions of Russian people
living outside Russia, in breakaway republics formerly under Soviet control.

In one paragraph, Putin describes the end of Communist control of Russia and its enslaved republics as a "catastrophe" apparently outranking such twentieth century tragedies as World War Two and the Holocaust, World War One, and the worldwide depression of the late twenties and thirties, to name just a few events that might rightly be seen as "catastrophes." I might also add the Bolshevik Revolution, the Stalin reign of terror, and seventy years of a Soviet regime as great catastrophes as well. Far from being a catastrophe, the collapse of the Soviet Union is a legitimate cause for rejoicing, except among those who like authoritarianism.

In the second paragraph, Putin seems to be creating the case for Russian military adventurism. Remember that someone named Hitler undergirded his case for invading other countries not only to give Germany "liebensraum," but also to bring into one nation all those Germanic peoples scattered around Europe. Putin, whose popularity has been sagging of late, appears to be appealing to Russian nationalism in the same manner Hitler appealed to German nationalism.

If Putin's statement is simply a bit of red meat thrown at a society bristling under various "reforms" imposed by his regime and looking back fondly on Czarist and Soviet authoritarianism, he's playing a dangerous game. He could very well fuel expectations and movements toward the "bad old days" which, once incited, he might not be able to contain. Frankly, I doubt that he wants to contain them.

I agree with Glenn Reynolds, who cites the CBC article at Instapundit, we need to watch this guy. Great care must be taken that we not become so focused on terrorism that we forget the very real threat to world peace and stability represented by nation states with hegemonic ambitions. In that category I would include Russia and China.