Civics classes, if they still existed, would be a good place to begin educating the students of the world as to how a country ends up with a leader, so powerful, he and he alone can develop an ideology so powerful and persuasive, as to convince enough people in the “right places,” a need — no, a “must have” — situation has presented itself and requires action.
A man this powerful is able to manipulate military leaders, as well as the nations’ power brokers, into following his lead, and work to invade Ukraine, which is the second-largest country in Europe, back into “his” mother country.
Putin, who’s been in power in Russia one way or another since 1999, was scheduled to leave office in 2024. However, the Russian leader had other plans.
More: Rockford family describes final ‘terrifying’ hours in Ukraine
In 2020, in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis, Russia’s parliament rolled out several constitutional changes. They included a tweak that would reset presidential term limits, which could effectively keep Putin Russia’s leader for the rest of his life, or at least most of it (he’ll be 83 in 2036).
Here is where his cunning really kicks in.
Putin proposed holding a national vote in April of 2020 to get popular backing for the proposed changes.
The truth: Putin didn’t actually need the Russian people to back these changes in the vote. He’d already gotten the necessary approval from Parliament, regional governments and the courts.
In fact, not only had the constitutional amendments already been enacted, the newly amended constitution had actually been printed and sent to bookstores for sale, before the vote even happened.
Putin didn’t need the peoples’ votes, he wanted them — to try to legitimize his power grab, and to signal, especially to Russia’s powerful elite, that he is still the guy.
All of these moves fall into what is called, “Extending Executive Power,” and all by the use of “legal” means, ultimately giving somewhat of a legitimacy to the power grab.
Along the way, Mr. Putin used his prowess to capture the support of the elite, or, when needed, demonize them. After gaining power, Putin began working towards complete control.
The TV channel NTV was destroyed, other channels passed into the hands of Putin’s “pals.” Once in charge of the TV output, a strict regime of censorship came into effect.
From that point on, Putin was in control of the media output at home as well as generating misinformation abroad. One to suffer under the Putin regime was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the head of the richest, most powerful company in Russia.
Khodorkovsky was arrest and imprisoned for 10 years. His company Yukos, was looted by Putin’s friends. The actions against Khodorkovsky intimidated other oligarchs. Some choose to leave the country, others, fell in line and swore allegiance to Putin. (Either choice was self-preservation.)
Leaders such as Mr. Putin, have learned how to share, what has been termed as “autocratic learning” by scholars. Leaders from Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and other places have developed and are sharing models for containing threats of revolutions.
Mr. Putin, and leaders like him have done their homework. The leaders of the aforementioned countries have spent their adult lives mastering the “control” of others. What we are witnessing in Russia is not new.
The world has seen evils, similar to this invasion, rear its’ head since before the adoption of the Georgian Calendar in 1582. This brings me back to those missing Civics classes.
One study of great importance would focus on how vulnerable at any given time, we, or any other country, is to this type of individual.
George B Graham Jr. is a Rockford resident. He is past president of the Kishwaukee Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, lifetime associate member of the Korean War Veterans Association and member of the Macon Historical Society, Macon, Missouri.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Studying how Putin came into power should be taught in schools
