Putin Using Patriotism the Way Other Authoritarian Leaders with Falling Ratings Do, Gallyamov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 2 – Vladimir Putin may be unusual in many ways, but his use of patriotism is typical of all authoritarian leaders e who, if they want to remain in power at a time of falling ratings, have concluded that they have little choice but to gin up a kind of patriotism they can use to justify repression, Abbas Gallyamov says.

            In such regimes, the former Putin speechwriter and current commentator says, patriotism become “an instrument for the formation and promotion of a foreign enemy which then is used as a pretext for the tightening of screws with regard to domestic critics” (publizist.ru/blogs/112974/44807/-).

            An authoritarian regime which doesn’t do this won’t long survive because only by declaring “the opposition a collection of traitors and foreign agents” can it repress them. And if it doesn’t do that, it will have to face them in upcoming elections and may lose out to them, Gallyamov says.

            Like to many others, the commentat continues, Putin has done so not because of some innate disposition but rather because, at a time of falling ratings, he like them has made “a cynical choice to hold onto power “by declaring himself the only patriot and all of his critics enemies of the Fatherland.”

            In fact, of course, what Putin is promoting is “not patriotism at all.” Genuine patriotism is about a willingness to sacrifice and must less about instrumental goals. “A real patriot is one who as a result of service to the Fatherland loses something and not he who thanks to his ‘patriotism’ has power, money, palaces, servants and other pleasures.”