Bob McCarty Writes

Few should be surprised by the actions of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. If, however, you find yourself among those who are surprised, below is a chronological review of some of the newsworthy events leading up to the invasion and to a return to a Cold War-style relationship with the former Soviet state:

• I reported in a March 5 post that Putin “seems to be continuing his campaign to purge the planet of individuals who speak ill of the leader and government of the former Soviet state.” In that post, I made my readers aware of the cases of several journalists — both inside and outside of Russia –who had met with untimely deaths under strange circumstances after criticizing the former KGB director’s regime.

• In a March 6 post, I shared news that the death of one of those journalists came likely as a result of him having gained knowledge of arms deals Putin had transacted with Syria.

• On April 12, I published a post about a Russian multimillionaire, Boris Berezovskya, and his plan to overthrow Putin’s government. Sadly, it appears Berezovskya’s plan has yet to be executed.

• On April 15, I published Putin Strangling Freedom, Democracy in Russia, a post about Putin ordering riot police to beat anti-Kremlin demonstrators in both St. Petersburg and Moscow.

• On April 18, I issued an alert about Putin’s desire to build a tunnel to connect Russia to Alaska.

• On April 21, I published a post about Putin further tightening restrictions on the Russian press. In short, he began requiring a minimum of 50 percent “good news” from the press and portrayal of the United States as an “enemy” of Russia.

• On April 30, I wrote a post about Putin suspending his country’s compliance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CAFE). Notably, I offered these thoughts:

Some speculate Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CAFE) could signify the beginning of a new Cold War-style arms race. Whether it does or not remains uncertain. In any case, the news makes a Cold Warrior like me take pause.

• In a June 4 post, I laughed at the comments attributed to Putin in a Reuter’s report:

“Of course, I am an absolute, pure democrat,” Putin said during an interview with Western media representatives. He added, “…there just aren’t any others in the world.”

• On August 20, my post, Future of Former Soviet Republic Hangs in Balance, highlighted a well-written editorial, Demanding Justice in Georgia, by the folks at La Russophobe, a blog that touts itself as “the #1 English-language Russia politics blog in the world.”

• I reflected on an aspect of Russian life explained in the headline of my Aug. 22 post, Putin’s Military Push Leaves Russian Faucets Dry.

• On Sept. 12, Putin dissolved the Russian government and I explained things in this post.

• In a post Sept. 15, I highlighted the fact that Putin was taking a trip to Tehran. Eleven days later, and, following the trip, a second post included speculation by one Asian journalist that Putin had reached an accord with Iran that would result in Russia viewing an attack on Iran as an attack on Russia.

• Twice during November, I relied once again upon my friends at La Russophobe for news about Russia. A post on the 14th focused on the fact that foreigners were being “purged” from the country while a post on the 21st highlighted a German newspaper’s observation that Josef Stalin was being used as a “pitchman” for Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

• By itself, the headline of a post Dec. 3 explained the outcome of Russia’s latest national election event. That was followed on Dec. 7 by another La Russophobe editorial about how the ‘People of Russia Have Disgraced Themselves’.

Today, the world waits to see what actions the United States and its allies — if they have any spines, that is — might take in response to Russia’s Soviet-style aggression toward the people of Georgia. Meanwhile, the Russian people continue to disgrace themselves by allowing Putin to be their “face” to the world.