Vladimir Putin
Written by Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Wars disturb and delude. The Ukraine conflict is no exception. Misinformation is cantering through press accounts and media dispatches with feverish spread. Fear that a nuclear option might be deployed makes teeth chatter. And the Russian President Vladimir Putin is being treated as a Botox Hitler-incarnate, a figure worthy of assassination.
The idea of forcing Putin into the grave certainly tickled South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Liberated by more generous rules regarding hate speech (freedom in Silicon Valley is fickle), Graham took to Twitter to ask whether Russia had its own calculating Brutus willing to take the murderous initiative. Moving forward almost two millennia for a historical reference, the Senator pinched an example from the Second World War (when else?). “Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” The only way to conclude the conflict was “for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.”
In support of the proposition came Fox News host Sean Hannity, using long discredited logic in dealing with the leaders of a country. “You cut off the head of the snake and you kill the snake. Right now, the snake is Vladimir Putin.”
Armchair psychologist types tend to suggest that homicidal fantasies are fairly common. Julia Shaw of University College London told those attending the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2019 that this was to be expected from humans, enabling them to think through “the consequences” of their actions, obey a moral code and “develop our empathy.”
Shaw might have missed a beat on this one, especially regarding the harm wished upon the Russian leader from a certain number in self-declared Freedom’s Land. Empathy has been in short supply, and the moral code, if it can be called that, has gone begging.
Graham’s homicidal call did bring out its critics, but the outrage was far from unconditional. To have shown balance would have betrayed the cause and revealed solidarity for wickedness. There were the mild, spanking rebukes from Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota. “As the world pays attention to how the US and its leaders are responding, Lindsey’s remarks and remarks made by some House members aren’t helpful.”
Republican Senator Ted Cruz thought it “an exceptionally bad idea”, preferring “massive economic sanctions”, boycotts of Russian oil and gas, and the provision of military aid to Ukraine. Democratic Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, wondered if a certain number of people had lost their minds. “I have seen at least a half a dozen insane tweets tonight. Please everyone keep your wits about you.”
Billionaire financier Bill Browder, the inspiration behind the Magnitsky Act of 2012, preferred to diminish Putin as “a very little man. He’s very scared of everybody, and he’s very vindictive. And so he’s constantly looking around for betrayal.” Hardly worth assassinating, it would seem.
One should give Graham some leeway here, despite the flat assertion by White House press secretary Jen Psaki that assassination was “not the policy of the United States.” Given that the US has not been averse to assassinating leaders or prominent figures, why be squeamish now? President Abraham Lincoln thought it morally appropriate to condone the assassination of leaders who had caused suffering for an extended period of time, and could not be ousted by peaceful or legal means. With Cleo’s irony, he would himself be assassinated along the lines of such logic by thespian John Wilkes Booth.
For decades, Washington wished to do away with Cuba’s obstinately resilient Fidel Castro, bumbling along and eventually failing. (Such oafish, nursery incompetence surely demands a Netflix production.)
With the People’s Republic of China starting to make its mark in the 1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower thought it appropriate that a blow be struck by singling out one of the Communist state’s brighter lights, Premier Zhou Enlai. The Central Intelligence Agency’s murderous effort involved blowing up an Air India flight for Bandung in 1955, killing 16 passengers. Zhou never boarded the flight. A second effort at attempted poisoning was aborted.
The CIA did not always fail, even if it gave an excellent impression of doing so. There was more success in operations against Congo’s Patrice Lumumba and the Dominican Republic’s Rafael Trujillo.
During the absurdly named “Global War On Terror”, drones became the weapon of choice to target high profile figures, a murderous policy given a bubble wrapping of weasel words. As recently as January 2020, President Donald Trump went so far as to order the killing of one of Iran’s most popular figures, the legendary leader of the Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani.
At stages, US officials have shown remarkable candour on the policy of targeting heads of state, despite the existence of Executive Order 12333 which states that, “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.”
In 1990, Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Dugan promised that, in the event of war between the two countries, US planes would make a special point of targeting Saddam Hussein, his family and his mistress. It must have then come as a surprise to him that a certain Secretary of Defense, the usually amoral Dick Cheney, would sack him for making comments possibly in violation of the assassination ban. Dugan should have stuck to generalities, such as targeting the country’s leadership. It’s all in the presentation.
What of the point of assassination, that most severe form of censorship? Stephen Kinzer is solid in pointing out that liquidating that man in the Kremlin will hardly guarantee a more accommodating replacement. “No one who hopes to secure power in Moscow […] could ever accept Ukraine’s entry into NATO or the presence of hostile troops on Ukrainian soil.” But Kinzer is even more on the mark for pointing out that US efforts tend to be hallmarks of stunning failure.
All this chat about purported tyrannicide should not detract from the pattern of US history, which has affirmed that the imperium will dispose of leaders and prominent figures it does not like, even if it fails along the way. Little wonder that Graham and his ilk are urging Russians to fulfil their blood-soaked fantasies.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
Graham is a war mongering joke, bought and paid for by that one foreign country, you know the one and the arms makers. All credibility has been lost and the Biden regime is floundering. It’s actually quite outrageous that this is coming from a US Senator but we haven’t had any real true statesman for some time now. You would never hear this in any other civilized country, it’s just mind blowing what’s happened to the US. The louder these politicians scream about assassination the more you can gauge their desperation. America’s age of dominance is coming to an end.
Yeah politics are for circus, what’s more important is the standard of ordinary citizens life.
The puppet politicians in the West and in Russia are both deserving of death.
Putin is no better. He is sitting on a fortune and ruling over a nation with poor living conditions. China has even worse conditions of life, unless you are holding CCP membership that allows you to find better employment.
Apparently a wealth of resources doesn’t do much on raising the people’s living standards. Tell me this, if they are better than the west’s loathsome governments, why are the living standards lower for the general public? Why do they lack building codes that result in very little renovation and upkeep, allowing them to construct buildings cheaper and more likely to collapse?
ZOG run North America (politics and media) has morally and ethically declined dramatically since mid 1990’s. It is now just a crass trash talking and hopelessly corrupted state. It no longer has serious political debate and reasoned political leaders in any tradition relating to a Constitutional Republic. Just the crude and overweening influence of ZOG oligarchs and ideologues, and their ethno-suprematist obsessions (securing Israel at all costs and undermining all other countries not onboard with the Zio-agenda as first priority).
Hey everyone, Ukrainian here. I am just absolutely hyped to DIE so that rich American oligarchs can keep milking our country and keep the status of our country in-tact as the CP capital of the world and black market organ trade capital of the world. Our ultimate dream is to use 20 million of our country’s finest as cannonfodder for the NATO regime in the hopes that Soros will be able to promote LGBTQ+ values here without opposition from the conservatives. Anyone else with me?
YOU understand what is going on. how many the ukrainian understand too? For my feeling the majority of ukrainian do not understand what is happening. Putin is fighting the deepstate. I need a discord group with Z warriors, dont care where they come from, i have something to say.
Go on the battle field and recruit them in person.
How exactly Putin is fighting ‘deep state’ by attacking countries like Poland? Independent, strong, conservative and made of free people!
When Americantski and Not so Great Britain tell the Po-landers to get on their knees and suck, the Po-landers not only willingly obey they say. “for how long sweet master?”
What a silly pesrsons these are. Especially that blocke from Sc Lyndsey.
I need a discord group with Z warriors, dont care where they come from, i have something to say.
Say it here mate
That idiot is allergic to not invoking evil in public, apparently. At least he didn’t threaten to nuke an American city (again) if we don’t play along with him this time. Anyone who believed it when their wonderful televisions informed them that we ‘elected’ that idiot needs to stop believing their wonderful televisions.
Well the U.S. killed its own president and that of many other countries. Thats standard procedure in the crumbling americant empire. I only hope they wont whack me than blaming it on Russia. Im too young to die.
I once met Graham at the local gay club in Kiev. He wanted me to give him an oral. But after seeing his 1inch pee pee I laughed and refused. It looked like a small shrimp.
Compared to the crumbling americant empire pirates I really look like the Leader of the Free World 🌍 Your best most honest most patriotic most excellent President ever ✌️💪😎🍷
Americans showing off their impotency, their humiliation, and how powerful toothless and weak they are these power horny and miserable hypocrites are getting their ass kicked and being booted out of Ukraine like a bunch of amateurs US is so pathetic and their squealing bi…es of senators makes it so enjoying witnessing their demise and dying nation fall apart. Go Russia
If people wanted Putin so much, why wasn’t he there on the streets with all the people in Cherson? Too scared? 😉
Seems like, the protests were against him, all the people sporting Ukrainian flags. 🤷🇺🇦
Thats right. Slava Ukraini. Praise Adolf and Bandera.
Is it better to price Stalin? Or maybe Katyn Massacre? 🇵🇱🇺🇦 Slavic Brothers Forever!
Sigheil
Sorry for you not having any argument.
Allies wanted the small bearded guy dead too, no surprise with that. 🤷
Hasn’t the u.s been assassinating world leaders with drones, why not do it now, instead of its stupid crocs begging somebody to do their homicidal urges? Maybe because u.s simply can’t anymore.
Now, nobody even listens to u.s dictates anymore, not Saudi, not UAE, not India, Venezuela and Iran, and certainly not China who is no fool, and knows very well that it is the next main target of u.s, if Russia is gone.
u.s/e.u can’t push, threaten or dominate the world now, other than its vassals. Maybe a “propaganda superpower”, winning and projecting power in the media, but lies are cheap; in reality a toothless superpower nobody listens to.
RMB/Yuan is rising fast or is simply that u.s petrodollar is falling like a stone because in reality it has no petroleum or control over how the world will produce or sell its petroleum, and u.s can’t just grab them now.
What it can do instead, and now doing in earnest, is make its people and its vassals people suffer more and more, in the hope that they will scream at Russia for all their sufferings.
Drone killing Maduro already failed in Venezuela, not so easy anymore. Venezuela is the story of a failed coup.
They had interesting talks lately, in order to replace Russian oil with Venezuelan oil.
It ain’t easy to fool oil producing states into war against each other anymore, but Russia nevertheless did. How comes?
It’s only the elite, the rich, and shyster politicians of the west who want a President of Russia assassinated. This because he is spoiling their plans of world domination and control of everything.
These are the people who want you to own nothing, and for them to own it all. Peaceful protests and dialogue is not the antidote to these people. Ukraine is a prime example. The NWO pays everyone lip service and carries on regardless with the plan to either control us or kill us.
‘South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.’
Graham is owned by AIPAC and the Neo-Cons. Owned by the Israel First Lobby factions. It has long been speculated Graham is a closet homosexual, and that his hidden activities have been used against him to force him to work for foreign interests. Bear in mind Graham is an elected representative from a Conservative southern state, where such known preferences would not be welcomed by the electorate. In light of the recent glimpses into the Epstein events, this is no longer so far fetched a ‘conspiracy theory’. As clearly Epstein was just one cog in a broader world of honey trapping, albeit his variant specializing in illicit grooming and trafficking underage girls, where such clandestine activities could be used against the various participants at a later date. The fact that Jew Epstein’s partner in procuring and trafficking was Jewess Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of Robert Maxwell, the Jewish corporate criminal and lifelong Mossad operative is rather telling glimpse into these links.