Vladimir Putin
On Friday, Vladimir Putin (Vladimir Putin) is about to celebrate his 70th birthday. As a leader of Russia, he cannot live without seven critical moments in his life.
1. Start Judo , 1964
Young Vladimir was born in Leningrad and was still scarred by the 872-day siege in World War II . He was a grumpy, aggressive boy in school - his best friend recalled, "He can fight with anyone" because "he has no fear" .
Nevertheless, in a city where street gangs are rampant, a thin but aggressive little boy needs an advantage, and at the age of 12 he first learned Sanbao, a Russian martial art, and then judo. He was determined and disciplined, and won the Judo Black Belt at the age of 18 and finished third in the national youth competition.
Of course, this has been used as part of his carefully planned masculinity, but it also confirms his early belief that in a dangerous world you need to be confident, but also realize that in his own words, when a fight is inevitable, “you have to fight first, and fight so hard that your opponent can’t stand up.”
2. Working with KGB , 1968
Overall, people avoided going to the KGB political police headquarters in Leningrad 4 Liteyny Prospekt. During Stalin's time, so many people entered the Gulag labor camp through the interrogation room, so a bitter joke was that the so-called Bolshoi Theatre, the "big house", was the tallest building in Leningrad, because from it you can see Siberia .
Nevertheless, at the age of 16, Putin walked into the red carpet reception desk and asked the rather confused official behind the table how he should join. He was told he needed to complete a military service or a degree, so he even asked which degree was the best.
law, he was told-from that time, Putin had made up his mind to graduate from law, and after that he was formally recruited. For Putin, a smart street thug, the KGB is the biggest gang in town, providing security and progress even those who have no relationship with the party.
But it also represents an opportunity to be a promoter and shocker—as he himself said of the spy films he had watched as a teenager, “a spy can determine the fate of thousands of people.”
1971, Vladimir Putin (Part 2) fought with a classmate in St. Petersburg
3. A group of thugs surrounded him. 1989
Although full of hope, Putin's KGB career never really took off. He is a hard worker, but not a high-ranking person. Despite this, he was committed to learning German , which led to him being appointed as the liaison office for the KGB in Dresden in 1985.
There, he lived a comfortable life as an expatriate, but in November 1989, the East German regime began to collapse at an alarming rate.
12 On December 5, a group of thugs surrounded the KGB building in Dresden. Putin desperately called the recent Red Army garrison to request protection, and they answered helplessly: "We can do nothing without Moscow's orders. Moscow is silent."
Putin learned to be afraid of the sudden collapse of the central government - and was determined not to repeat what he believed was the mistake of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , rather than responding quickly and resolutely in the face of opposition.
4. Agent " Oil for Food " plan, 1992
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin later left the KGB, but soon obtained a position arranged for the reformist new mayor in St. Petersburg.
The economy is in a free fall state, Putin is responsible for managing a transaction that tries to help the people of the city through the difficulties, exchanging oil and metal worth $100 million (88 million pounds ) for food.
In practice, no one saw any food, but according to a survey, it was quickly suppressed, with Putin, his friends and the city's gangsters taking the money.
In the "wild 90s", Putin quickly learned that political influence is a monetizable commodity and that gangsters can become useful allies. Why shouldn't he be when everyone around him is profiting from his position?
V. Invasion of Georgia , 2008
When Putin became the president of Russia in 2000, he hoped to establish a positive relationship with the West - on his own terms, including in the sphere of influence of the former Soviet Union. He quickly became disappointed and then angry, believing that the West was actively trying to isolate and belittle Russia.
When Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili promised his country to join NATO , Putin saw the red, and Georgia tried to regain control of the Russian-backed South Ossetia separatist areas became an excuse for the punishment action.
South Ossetian woman mourned her son
Within five days, the Russian army defeated the fragmented Georgian army and forcibly achieved a humiliating peace in Saakashvili.
The West was irritated, but within a year, US President Obama proposed to "reset" relations with Russia, and Moscow even obtained the right to host the 2018 Football World Cup .
It is obvious to Putin that this may be true--a weak and capricious West would boast, but would eventually retreat in the face of a firm will.
VI. Moscow protests, 2011-13
A common and credible belief that the 2011 parliamentary election was manipulated sparked protests, which only sparked when Putin announced that he would run for reelection in 2012.
is called the "Bolotnaya protest" after the Moscow square they filled, the biggest expression of public objection during Putin.
2013 Pro-opposition protests held in Moscow in 2013, Getty Images
He believes that the rallies were initiated, encouraged and directed by Washington , and accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally.
For Putin, this shows that the gloves have been stripped naked and the West is rushing directly at him. In fact, he is in a state of war now.
7. From Covid Quarantine, 2020-21
When Covid-19 swept the world, Putin entered an unusual state of isolation, and anyone who met him was isolated for two weeks and then had to walk through a corridor bathed in sterilization ultraviolet rays and fog in disinfectant.
During this period, the number of allies and advisers who were able to face Putin face to face decreased dramatically, leaving only a few responders and hawkish partners.
Facing less dissenting opinions, and even hardly seeing his own country, Putin seems to have "understood" that all his assumptions are correct, that all his prejudices are reasonable, and that the seeds of invasion of Ukraine have been sown.
