Putin has proven genius in leveraging at least two NATO states his way using both his state cards — energy and technology — and affinity-based appeal to the egotism — malignant narcissism — of his targets in political “bromance”. Both Viktor Orban and Recip Tayyip Erdogan appear to have the Ceausescu strain of self-concept: one-of-a-kind brilliance, each God’s gift to mankind, to be nested in mighty impressive mansions as among the world’s Presidents-for-Life.

“Different Talks — Same Walk.”

Competition and warfare for each has become a state technology that can be governed to good effect and made a part of totalitarian political theater, the same as on display today in Syria.

Putin knows “the masses” are not going to see what he has created in its totality, and those that may will be in no position to challenge his authority and worldview. The same applies to Erdogan, who has been making certain that there will be no opposition to his will as he turns history’s clock backward in Turkey.

Is renewed medievalism our future?

Considering the forces of corruption in modern governments and the amplification of political passions along the Red-Black-Green (Marxist) and Brown (Nationalist) axis, it’s very likely that a state of violent conflict has been cultivated (I would blame Russo-Iranian agitation and influence for that) and we will exist in states of wars of all against all.

I think I’m on the right track — and I could turn this into another Awesome Conversation post on Back-Channels — but the public may not take it up and rediscover and reaffirm their own investment in a modern worldview.

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Another thought expressed in the awesome conversation online and now entombed on this blog.

The worlds that keep dictators in business are those of fear and greed as projected by the dictator himself.  “Putin’s World” may be “Russian Nationalist” today and Khamenei’s representative of “Shiite Islam”, and the Christian should be at war with the Muslim, but, lo, at the top: kleptocracy.

The possession of absolute power defines each “autocrat”, and what they must have of interstate fighting are the wars that change nothing, wars that generate income and heat and good headlines — glory for themselves! — but have the effect of keeping each in business to the natural end of their days.

Related in the News

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37018562?SThisFB – “Putin mends broken relations with Turkey’s Erdogan” – 8/9/2016.

Related Online

Kabbani, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham.  “The Globalization of Jihad: From Islamist Resistance to War Against the West.”  The Islamic Supreme Council of America, 2006:

(2006) During the Cold War, the world was divided into two camps: one aligned with the United States, the other aligned with the Soviet Union. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, America emerged as the sole superpower. But another camp is again emerging to challenge the United States and its allies. It is not a great superpower like the Soviet Union, but a loose coalition of forces united by a common opposition to the United States and its policies.

Islamist groups like al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood are part of this movement against the United States, but it is neither a religious movement, nor one comprised of Muslims alone. Today, these groups are increasingly making common cause with anti-U.S. forces in Latin America and elsewhere. They are rethinking their rhetoric to appeal to a broader audience at home and their new allies abroad.

Readers will find eight virtual pages to the end of the piece, and they appear to agree with what this blog has been saying about “Red-Black-Green (Marxist) and Brown (Nationalist)” impulses and related Russo-Iranian influence.

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