The author then states that Putin, while he was in East Berlin, must have never imagined the Berlin Wall to ever collapse, that the democratic and Soviet Germanys would ever unite and be led by an iron lady like Angela Merkel, that the Soviet Union would ever cease to exist and that he would be President of this new Russian Federation.
“The Soviet Union emerged from Germany defeated… the Russian’s loss of East Germany was the start of the loss of their presence and their domination in majority of East European countries. And the fall of the Berlin Wall was the fall of the Soviet Union,” the author argues.
He then states that Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan was a major blow which resulted in deadly repercussions for Moscow. The author likens the invasion of Afghanistan to Russia’s current invasion of Syria, predicting similar outcomes.
“The Russian argument of intervening in Syria is the same argument used to send troops to Afghanistan; maintaining the structure of the state and battling Islamic extremism,” the author argues.
He then refutes Russia’s argument, stating that “Moscow’s true motives for this new invasion, and the old one, are its lust for expansion – the temptations of gas, coal, iron and oil – and facing what it calls as Islamic extremism since it is afraid of the latter’s influence from spreading to parts like Chechnya, Dagestan and some other Islamic republics.”
The author continues by explaining that when the Russians sent their troops to Afghanistan, the fight was supposed to take only a few days, but it stretched for over 10 years, draining them financially, physically and mentally. This overwhelming defeat in Afghanistan was one of the factors that collapsed the Soviet Union in 1990.
He then states that Vladimir Putin is supposed to know that recklessness and miscalculations are the reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union; therefore, it is surprising that Russia is behaving again in the same manner and committing the same mistakes in Syria.
The author then gave reasons for Putin’s invasion of Syria: First, to restore Russia’s international status; secondly, to get military bases on the shores of the Mediterranean; thirdly, to gain American waiver for his country in Ukraine, Crimea and Eastern Europe and finally stop the expansion of “Islamic” extremism.
He then concludes by stating that the Russian president must take into account that his loss is inevitable!
Saleh al-Qallab in Asharq al-Awsat.
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