{"id":7591,"date":"2022-04-06T15:58:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T15:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=7591"},"modified":"2022-04-06T15:58:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T15:58:31","slug":"war-crimes-charges-could-help-putin-not-hurt-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=7591","title":{"rendered":"War Crimes Charges Could Help Putin, Not Hurt Him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The role of popular elections as the source of ruling legitimacy is just one way in which it is hard to categorize the Russian political system. For all the talk of Putin\u2019s<\/a> dictatorial personality and<\/a> wide latitude to crackdown on civil liberties<\/a>, the institutions of Putinism were built by his democratic predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, enshrined in his 1993 constitution. Flawed and imperfect in practice<\/a> during the tumultuous 1990s, these foundations were democratic in principle: Grassroots civil society flourished alongside a lively media environment, as legislators and leaders were chosen from a variety of contenders. Even as those liberties have subsequently been eroded and independent media curtailed, the institutions still specify that Russia\u2019s leaders serve at the will of the people. Indeed, the ratcheting-up of Kremlin propaganda<\/a> is meant, more than anything, to reassure Russians that Putin\u2019s leadership is worthy of their continued support. Such peans to the people would be unnecessary in a classic, run-of-the-mill dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, political scientists are at odds with how to describe Putin\u2019s Russia. Some call it a \u201ccompetitive authoritarian<\/a>\u201d regime, where democratic institutions and procedures simply provide a facade of legitimacy for the dictatorship. Others label it an \u201cinformation autocracy<\/a>,\u201d in which the powers of state-run media are marshaled to build a public image of Putin as a competent leader, deserving of political support, and it works to generate the popular support he needs. What these different perspectives have in common is what Peskov said: that Putin\u2019s political sovereignty ultimately lies with the Russian people, however manipulated or misinformed they might be.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Western hopes that the Russian people would rise up and topple Putin in a popular revolution seem further from reality today than at the start of the war. The smattering of protests across Russia during the first weeks of the war have largely fizzled out. Between the Kremlin propaganda machine in overdrive and criminalization of expressions of opposition, Putin\u2019s approval in nationwide polls is now up to 83 percent<\/a>, with 81 percent support for the \u201cspecial military operation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, Russian elites appear to be consolidating behind Putin. Rather than diversifying internationally and finding safe havens<\/a> abroad, powerful oligarchs and cosmopolitan elites\u2014many of them under Western sanctions\u2014now understand that they are tethered to Russia and to Putin personally. Once-feuding factions are realizing they\u2019re all now in the same boat. Few will bolt for greener pastures in Europe or the U.S., even if they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an eye-opening account by independent Russian journalist Farida Rustamova<\/a> on the tribulations of Russia\u2019s political elites since the war, she quotes a high-ranking source<\/a> in a sanctioned Russian company as saying \u201cAll these personal sanctions cement the elites. Everyone who was thinking about a new life understands that, for the next 10-15 years at least, their lives are concentrated in Russia, their children will study in Russia, their families will live in Russia. These people feel offended. They will not overthrow anyone, but will build their lives here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the war, the dominant narrative of Kremlin-controlled media was that Russia is a mighty superpower\u2014besieged on all sides by enemies and conspirators, both Western and homegrown<\/a>\u2014and only Putin could lead them<\/a>. Lamentably, the coordinated international response to Putin\u2019s bloody war has only solidified and reinforced that us-against-the-world narrative, and largely rallied the Russian people behind Putin<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, the Russian response to the accusations of genocide<\/a> in Ukraine have been predictable: It is all a Western \u201cfake<\/a>\u201d meant to further impugn the dignity of Russia and its leader. Pro-Russian social media accounts have claimed that the corpses are either fake, or are actors, or were killed after the Russians left. The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed \u201cnot a single local resident has suffered any violent action\u201d while Bucha was under Russian control. These are all claims that have been easily debunked<\/a>. By parroting the official line of the Foreign Affairs Ministry that it could not have been Russia that committed such atrocities, but rather the United States staging<\/a> a \u201cprovocation<\/a>,\u201d Kremlin state-run media only reinforces and retrenches the us-against-the-world narrative already widely accepted among the Russian people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2022\/04\/04\/war-crimes-help-putin-narrative-not-hurt-00022829<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The role of popular elections as the source of ruling legitimacy is just one way in which it is hard to categorize the Russian political system. For all the talk of Putin\u2019s dictatorial personality and wide latitude to crackdown on civil liberties, the institutions of Putinism were built by his democratic predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, enshrined in his 1993 constitution. Flawed and imperfect in practice during the tumultuous 1990s, these foundations were democratic in principle: Grassroots civil society flourished alongside a lively media environment, as legislators and leaders were chosen from a variety of contenders. Even as those liberties have subsequently been eroded and independent media curtailed, the institutions still specify that Russia\u2019s leaders serve at the will of the people. Indeed, the ratcheting-up of Kremlin propaganda is meant, more than anything, to reassure Russians that Putin\u2019s leadership is worthy of their continued support. Such peans to the people would be unnecessary in a classic, run-of-the-mill dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Consequently, political scientists are at odds with how to describe Putin\u2019s Russia. Some call it a \u201ccompetitive authoritarian\u201d regime, where democratic institutions and procedures simply provide a facade of legitimacy for the dictatorship. Others label it an \u201cinformation autocracy,\u201d in which the powers of state-run media are marshaled to build a public image of Putin as a competent leader, deserving of political support, and it works to generate the popular support he needs. What these different perspectives have in common is what Peskov said: that Putin\u2019s political sovereignty ultimately lies with the Russian people, however manipulated or misinformed they might be.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Western hopes that the Russian people would rise up and topple Putin in a popular revolution seem further from reality today than at the start of the war. The smattering of protests across Russia during the first weeks of the war have largely fizzled out. Between the Kremlin propaganda machine in overdrive and criminalization of expressions of opposition, Putin\u2019s approval in nationwide polls is now up to 83 percent, with 81 percent support for the \u201cspecial military operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Russian elites appear to be consolidating behind Putin. Rather than diversifying internationally and finding safe havens abroad, powerful oligarchs and cosmopolitan elites\u2014many of them under Western sanctions\u2014now understand that they are tethered to Russia and to Putin personally. Once-feuding factions are realizing they\u2019re all now in the same boat. Few will bolt for greener pastures in Europe or the U.S., even if they could.<\/p>\n

In an eye-opening account by independent Russian journalist Farida Rustamova on the tribulations of Russia\u2019s political elites since the war, she quotes a high-ranking source in a sanctioned Russian company as saying \u201cAll these personal sanctions cement the elites. Everyone who was thinking about a new life understands that, for the next 10-15 years at least, their lives are concentrated in Russia, their children will study in Russia, their families will live in Russia. These people feel offended. They will not overthrow anyone, but will build their lives here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the war, the dominant narrative of Kremlin-controlled media was that Russia is a mighty superpower\u2014besieged on all sides by enemies and conspirators, both Western and homegrown\u2014and only Putin could lead them. Lamentably, the coordinated international response to Putin\u2019s bloody war has only solidified and reinforced that us-against-the-world narrative, and largely rallied the Russian people behind Putin.<\/p>\n

In this context, the Russian response to the accusations of genocide in Ukraine have been predictable: It is all a Western \u201cfake\u201d meant to further impugn the dignity of Russia and its leader. Pro-Russian social media accounts have claimed that the corpses are either fake, or are actors, or were killed after the Russians left. The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed \u201cnot a single local resident has suffered any violent action\u201d while Bucha was under Russian control. These are all claims that have been easily debunked. By parroting the official line of the Foreign Affairs Ministry that it could not have been Russia that committed such atrocities, but rather the United States staging a \u201cprovocation,\u201d Kremlin state-run media only reinforces and retrenches the us-against-the-world narrative already widely accepted among the Russian people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1416,1104,552,790,431,660,167,314,1545,972,316,1448,311,158],"class_list":["post-7591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-atrocity","tag-authoritarianism","tag-conflict","tag-courts","tag-democracy","tag-dictatorship","tag-government","tag-international-relations","tag-invasion","tag-murder","tag-putin","tag-trial","tag-ukraine","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7592,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7591\/revisions\/7592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}