(My commentary on the text in red italic)
If Bill Nichols has correctly read Putin intentions in March of 2002 one might reasonably conclude that the present lack of cooperation between Russia and the West, is mostly our fault. And also that Bush’s reading of the man, ten months earlier on June 16 of 2001, was not completely whacky. That is, Bush’s words following his first meeting with Putin whem he said that he, Bush, "looked the man in the eye," and "was able to get a sense of his soul."
Perhaps, although I’ve never believed it until today, what Bush saw was not unreal. In any case by our actions since then we’ve helped to bury under a renewed and hardened and darkened antagonism whatever light Bush may have seen in the man. Nichols’ account makes me think that whatever Putin is today it’s in good part because of us. Certainly we’re to blame for the crazy idea to install missile defenses in two of the former Republics of the Soviet Union. Whose daft idea was that anyway?
In what follows I cite passages from Bill Nichols profile of Putin done for USA Today on March 27, 2002. Why the Russian translations? Probably that’s mostly for me. But we Americans sometimes seem to forget that the Russians do speak another language. English is not yet the world’s language, and the Russians, like many others still want to be heard in their own language. Nichols’ words are in bold, following by the Russian translation. If you know a little Russian it might be fun to follow along.
Bill Nichols’original text is in bold characters,
Followed by a Russian translation in normal text size.
Several weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin confronted an historic choice.
Через несколько недель после нападений террористов на
Соединенные Штаты 11 сентября российский президент Владимир Путин встал
перед историческим выбором.
His top advisers pushed him to extract concessions from Washington in exchange for Russia’s help in the U.S. war on terrorism, officials close to Putin say. His response was startling: No. Instead, the Russian president would offer unconditional cooperation to strengthen bonds with the West.
По свидетельству официальных лиц из ближайшего окружения г-на Путина,
его высшие советники подталкивали его к тому, чтобы он выбивал у
Вашингтона уступки в обмен на помощь России в войне Америки с
терроризмом. Его реакция была поразительной. Нет! Вместо этого
российский президент предложил безусловное сотрудничество в целях
укрепления связей с Западом.
”He said to this crowd, ‘This is not about price lists. This is not
about bargaining. This is about something else,’ ” says Grigory
Yavlinsky, a leader in the Russian Duma, the lower chamber of
Parliament.
"Он сказал этим людям ‘Тут неуместно заводить разговор о прейскурантах. Мы не собираемся торговаться. Тут речь совсем о другом.’", – вспоминает Григорий Явлинский, один из лидеров Государственной Думы Российской Федерации.
The ”something else” Putin seeks is a new Russia, a Russia that is
regarded as a full partner by the same Western nations that were mortal
enemies of the Soviet Union.
То, другое, к которому стремится г-н Путин – это новая Россия, такая
Россия, в которой те самые западные страны, что были заклятыми врагами
Советского Союза, будут видеть полноправного партнера.
Just as earlier this week our own intelligence services told our government that Iran’s nuclear bomb initiative had been on hold since 2003 (meaning that during the time since then our government has not been aware of what was really going on at Iran’s nuclear facilities) so reading Nichols’ reporting from Moscow, one year earlier, in 2002, makes us painfully aware now of just how much we perhaps missed a golden opportunity to cooperate with Putin and Russia.
Apparently we just as incorrectly read the man Putin, as Bush did Iran. Has 9/11 blinded us to just about everything else that was and is going on in the world, including, perhaps, a more cooperative Russia?
Quick, name one important, beneficial, and well thought out international action that our government has undertaken during the past six years, that is, since 9/11. Can you? I can’t.
That this former KGB officer — who marked the second anniversary of
his election on Tuesday — would try to build such a Russia has shocked
diplomats around the world, turned traditional East-West relations
upside-down and left global leaders wondering what Putin will do next.
То, что этот бывший офицер Комитета государственной безопасности (КГБ) СССР – который во вторник отметил вторую годовщину своего избрания на пост президента России – намерен попытаться построить такую Россию, шокировало дипломатов во всем мире, перевернуло традиционные отношения Восток-Запад и заставило лидеров нашей планеты гадать, каким будет следующий шаг г-на Путина.
Well, at least some things don’t change. The elections in Russia are just over (last Sunday, December 2) with the crushing Putin victory, and now everyone is wondering what Putin is going to do next.
Perhaps nothing surprises Westerners more than Putin’s success in
turning around his nation’s economy, particularly in Moscow, where a
once drab and listless communist capital has come alive with glittering
streets and vibrant commerce: sushi bars, store windows displaying
trendy designer clothes, Manhattan-like traffic jams.
Пожалуй, ничто так не удивляет представителей западных стран, как успехи г-на Путина в деле перестройки экономики страны, особенно заметные в Москве. Когда-то серая и апатичная коммунистическая столица сегодня полна жизни: сверкающие улицы, бурно расцветшая торговля – суши-бары, одежда от модных дизайнеров в витринах магазинов – "пробки" на улицах, как в Манхэттене.
We need to hear this sort of thing more often. The city Moscow is now right up there with Paris and London in regard to glitz and show, and its citizens, no less than those of the other European cities, will surely fight to hold on to what they now have (a material prosperity they never knew during Soviet times). So in spite of the apparent incomprehension between Putin’s Russia and the West there will be no return to the closed Soviet society of before.
Russia was on the verge of economic ruin and political anarchy during Boris Yeltsin’s last years as president. Now, Putin wants his rejuvenated nation to be at the table with other Western nations.
В последние годы президентства Бориса Ельцина Россия стояла на краю
экономической разрухи и политической анархии. И вот теперь г-н Путин
хочет, чтобы его обновленная страна была за одним столом с другими
западными странами.
The difference between when Nichols was writing and now is that Putin is evidently thoroughly convinced that order and security trump democracy, at least in Russia. And it’s hard to quarrel with him in that regard. In 2002, his second year in office, Putin may have felt that a Russian democrat in office was possible, although Yeltsin’s example ought to have told him the opposite.
Now he knows there’s no place in present day Russia for the democrat. The Russian people are not ready. Putin has become, whether he knows it or not, a disciple of Hobbes, and he’s going to make sure that his country has a strong ruler at the helm.
Western leaders, however, aren’t sure whether to trust Putin. Many still question whether he is committed to a Russia that embraces capitalism and democracy.
Однако западные лидеры не уверены, стоит ли доверять г-ну Путину.
Многие все еще сомневаются, действительно ли он хочет, чтобы в России
восторжествовали капитализм и демократия.
Putin, now we know, while he has turned his back on democracy, does embrace a kind of state capitalism. See my earlier piece below, Putin and Kasparov.
Russia’s new prosperity, for example, is limited to Moscow and a few other large cities. Critics at home and abroad say Putin’s record is poor on civil liberties, such as press freedom. Rights groups say Russian troops continue to commit atrocities in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Senior U.S. officials here say they question whether Putin believes in democracy at all.
К примеру, новообретенное процветание России пока ограничивается
Москвой и несколькими другими крупными городами. Критики дома и за
рубежом говорят, что г-н Путин плохо зарекомендовал себя в вопросе о
гражданских свободах, например, свободе печати. Правозащитные
организации говорят, что российские войска продолжают творить злодеяния
в мятежной республике Чечня. Американские высокопоставленные
официальные лица здесь, в Москве, говорят, что не уверены, верит ли
вообще г-н Путин в демократию.
Most of what Nichols has to say could have been said today, with few changes being necessary. The new Russian prosperity is limited to Moscow and a few large cities. The new found oil wealth has done little to raise a good half of the population out of the depths of poverty. There is little or no press freedom, but, and to the good, people are able to travel abroad, and as far as we know the latest representatives of Putin’s own KGB are not torturing and murdering dissidents in the basement of the Lubyanka.
Chechnya is no longer the "breakaway Republic", its people, those that are still alive, having been successfully pacified. Putin has succeeded with the Chechnyans whereas we failed with the Viet Cong, although admittedly the two situations are not comparable. But most of all we didn’t have the stomach to do in Vietnam what Putin has done in Chechnya.
Finally, when Nichols wrote Putin watchers weren’t sure, but now they are, that Putin is much more the Tsar of a fallen Russian empire trying to hold on to past glories, than the President of a new liberal and democratic Russia reaching out to the West. Helas! But we really couldn’t have expected anything else.
Some Russians have the same doubts and question whether he is merely building a new authoritarian system. ”(Putin) has started to restore what we had before, but in an even uglier way,” says Tatiana Chubrikova, 52, a translator for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. ”He thinks he knows what is good for everyone and then tries to impose it.’‘
Некоторые россияне испытывают аналогичные сомнения и задаются вопросом,
а не выстраивает ли он новую авторитарную систему. "Путин начал
восстанавливать то, что у нас было раньше, но в еще более скверном
виде, – говорит 52-летняя Татьяна Чубрикова, переводчик Верховного
комиссариата Организации Объединенных Наций (ООН) по делам беженцев. -
Он думает, что знает, что хорошо для всех, и пытается навязать это
людям".
Now six years later Putin no longer thinks, but knows what is good for everyone, and no longer does he try, but simply imposes his own thinking on everyone else. We see this today in the pictures coming out of Russia of the large numbers of Russian youth attending youth camps. They’re not yet, thankfully, comparable to the frightening Chinese youth formations of Mao’s cultural revolution, but they do remind us of that time in China.
Many Russians, long accustomed to living under a schizophrenic communist system that delivered far less than it promised, say the inscrutable Putin is another enigma for them to unravel. Officials close to the former spymaster say a normal day might find him talking to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a group of his former KGB cronies — and giving equal weight to each conversation.
Многие россияне, давно приученные жить при шизофренической
коммунистической системе, которая делала куда меньше, чем обещала,
говорят, что непостижимый г-н Путин является для них еще одной
загадкой, которую нужно разгадать. Официальные лица из окружения этого
бывшего шпиона говорят, что в любой обычный день он может беседовать с
президентом США Бушем-младшим (George W. Bush), с премьер-министром
Великобритании Тони Блэром (Tony Blair) и с группой бывших дружков из
КГБ – и каждой беседе придавать равноценный вес.
”Putin’s very far away from us,” says Eugin Dashkin, 52, a department manager in a sugar production company. ”It’s very difficult to tell the difference between his deeds and his words. It’s difficult to feel if it’s real or not.”
"Путин от нас очень далек, – говорит Евгений Дашкин, 52-летний менеджер
отдела в компании по производству сахара. – Очень трудно делать
различие между его поступками и его словами. Трудно понять, реально это
или нет".
Few Muscovites doubt that the economic turnaround is real. The economy has improved steadily since Putin, 49, became interim president when Yeltsin retired on New Year’s Eve, 1999. Putin was elected three months later.
Немногие москвичи сомневаются в том, что перемены в экономике реальны.
Устойчивый рост экономики отмечается с тех пор, как 49-летний Путин
стал временно исполнять обязанности президента страны, когда в конце
1999 года, накануне празднования Нового Года, ушел в отставку г-н
Ельцин. Через три месяца г-на Путин стал законно избранным президентом.
If you want to read Bill Nichols’s full account of Putin’s Russia in 2002, which I encourage you to do, go to the USA Today article here.