EDITORIAL: Putin’s Russia Fails, and then it Fails some More

EDITORIAL

Putin’s Russia Fails, and then it Fails some More

If you had to name three sports where Russia is supposed to reign supreme, they would be tennis, ice hockey and chess.  Yet the Russia governed by Vladimir Putin has suffered stunning, humiliating defeats in all three areas recently.  In this way, we see sports as being the perfect microcosm of Putin’s larger failure to govern his nation.

In chess, Russia was checkmated from claiming the world team championship, once again relegated to the sidelines before the finals were even contested.  In junior ice hockey, the Russian squad was spanked by the American side and likewise denied even a hope for a championship. And in women’s tennis at the year-end tournament of tournaments, as we previously reported, Russia’s humiliation could not have been more absolute.

As if all that weren’t enough, a Russian figher lost a heavyweight championship bout to a British boxer nearly a foot shorter, vastly lighter and who injured his hand in the third round of the bout. Yikes.

One can only wonder how many times Russia would have to experience sensational defeat before it would realize something was wrong and start reforming.  In fact, if you know your Russian history, then you know that even after three-quarters of a century Russians never wised up to the horrific lapses of the Soviet government, and simply waited for that regime to collapse upon itself. They then blamed us in the West for the suffering that resulted from the collapse.  It’s Russia in a nutshell, and we do mean nut.