Shifting sands in Russia

During the nineteenth century, Russia was perceived to be a backward society by western standards, with a peasantry within an aristocratic feudal system beholden to a Tsar.

Aligned with the state was the Russian Orthodox Church that was reportedly formally born in Kiev (Kyiv) in 988 AD.

The peasantry was loyal to its aristocratic masters, by and large, and the turn towards socialism at the end of the nineteenth century took a lot of people by surprise.

The long and short of it was that Russia became the primary guinea pig of a social revolution exploited by Vladimir Lenin and his fellow bolsheviks when they grabbed power in Russia (with lots of foreign help) in 1917.

This history has not been lost on Vladimir Putin, an astute strategist, who sees himself as the new father of Russia, the Great Motherland.

Accordingly, he has aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and enjoys its full support which is significant because of its resurgence following the demise of the communist brainwashing experiment.

Now the Russian establishment perceives another threat from the outside, the onslaught of a new brand of nazism, where any pretense of adherence to traditional values has been abandoned.

And to add insult to injury, Kiev of all places has become the epicenter for this within the area of Russian influence.

So, when Vladimir Putin effectively says that he wants to "clean up that nest of evil", take him at his word. He has the power to do it.