Somebody needs to give Putin a history lesson
(CNN)Vladimir Putin fancies himself a historian, or certainly a historical figure — one destined to rewrite or restore history in his own image. Now, with the might of the Russian military machine behind him, he has begun what could turn into as bloody a rampage as any in Russia’s historical past.
Monday night, on the cusp of declaring portions of Ukraine as stand-alone “people’s republics,” he embarked on a rambling, distorted and utterly chilling hour-long rewrite of Russian and Soviet history in a televised speech to his nation.
Above all, it is a frightening insight into the deep thinking of the path Putin would like to follow. It should send chills across the Baltic states through the Stans and beyond — all once republics of the Soviet Union, amalgamated at gunpoint from the time of the Russian Revolution to the end of World War II. Putin seems to believe it is his mission to recreate the old Soviet Union. And apparently, he intends to start with Ukraine.