Who's Afraid of Vladimir Putin?

In a long interview I did last night for Bob Brinker's show Money Talk, a man asked me whether I think that Vladimir Putin is the most dangerous man on Earth. I replied that I could think of five men more dangerous.

But the exchange raises a question: How has Putin -- a glad-hander of rogues to be sure, a petro-nationalist definitely, an intolerant autocrat at home as well -- managed to earn the impression of a menacing figure abroad? He hasn't started any wars; as far as I know, he hasn't sold nuclear weapons or fissible materials to anyone he shouldn't have.

A more sensible view of the 55-year-old Putin -- whose party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections yesterday, and appears likely to be the country's leader for some years to come -- is that he's a politician who one underestimates at one's peril. He is indisputably dangerous to his domestic enemies, both directly and in the atmosphere of impunity toward murder that he has created at home.

Human Rights Watch should harangue him about his human rights policy. The British should continue to demand the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi in last year's Alexander Litvinenko assassination. And Washington and the European Union should move to prevent Gazprom from gaining a bigger foothold in the European natural gas market.

But Putin is not likely to provoke a war. I also don't think he believes he's contributing to Iran's nuclear weapons capability -- he lives in the neighborhood, and could be among those to suffer most directly in a nuclear exchange.

Photo: azrainman
Rights: Creative Commons