Irish Examiner view: Time might be running out for Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin's administration is under more pressure now than at any point since he took control in 1999. Picture: Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/AP
The pithy truth about politics is that everyone — from democratic demigods to autocratic madmen — is that your time is finite.
No matter how popular you are or how much you’ve invested in making yourself untouchable, your time will come.
That may not be the case at this present moment for Russian president — for life, it would appear — Vladimir Putin, but it certainly seems his administration is under more pressure now than at any point since he took control in 1999.
He has been Russia’s de facto leader for coming on 30 years now and has been as brutal a leader as any of his often-horrid predecessors in the Kremlin, suppressing opposition with as much vigour and enthusiasm as fabled dictator Soviet Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.
For Putin, however, his time in office appears to be under greater threat than at any time since he assumed power.
Last weekend’s annual commemoration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany was nothing like as triumphalist as was the case for each of the previous 80 years.
There were no vast military parades in Moscow and little of the pomp and ceremony that traditionally marked the occasion when the Red Army marched into Berlin in 1945 to put the last nail into Adolf Hitler’s coffin.
Why?
Well simply put, Putin and his generals were afraid that increasingly effective Ukrainian long-range drones now have targets many thousands of kilometres into Russia well within their capabilities. That the Ukrainian armed forces have created a virtual stalemate on the frontlines in the war between the two nations and home front angst created by economic challenges and internet restrictions, is another factor.
Even in the face of the biggest week of Russian bombardment of its towns and cities in the nearly four-and-a-half-year conflict, Kyiv’s army still has resilience and fight; its response to Russia’s deadly onslaught was to seek out and strike targets deep inside enemy territory with an unexpected ferocity.
While Putin created headlines by saying last week that “I believe this matter is coming to a close”, the fact is that he is far away from any capitulation, but the statement was indicative he is trying to thread a needle as he continues to wage a war which has largely failed to meet his strategic ambitions.
What he was saying effectively was that he realises the war needs to end, but on his conditions.
However, seasoned Kremlin observers now reckon that in a year when Russians have faced tax increases and inconvenient internet restrictions — both a by-product of war — as well as frustration at a sputtering economy, they’re tiring of his rule.
There is also the fact that Russian casualties are mounting faster than has been admitted and there are indications that Putin has no appetite for a second mobilisation in the wake of the social unrest caused by that in 2022.
Time, it appears, is becoming finite for Mr Putin.
The recent travails of British prime minister Keir Starmer have seen him lose an embarrassing number of local authority seats in the recent council elections and will also most likely see one or more challenges to his leadership of the British Labour Party.
The person who is expected to benefit most from Starmer’s close quarters in-house battle is Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
For all his assumed political muscle with an evisceration of the Tory party seemingly nearing completion and a general election demolition of Labour forthcoming, Farage is nevertheless fighting many personal battles and has plenty of questions to answer about financial donations to Reform and to him personally.
There’s the issue of his use of a donor’s personal helicopter, which is not going away and there is also the small matter of a £5m donation to him personally by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Political opponents are increasingly keen to get to the bottom of Harborne’s links with Farage. The Thailand-based Reform mega-donor is as reticent as the party leader to answer questions about their financial relationship.
Farage has form when it comes to this sort of forensic examination of his private finances and has been rapped on 17 occasions for rule-breaking by Britain’s parliamentary watchdog.
His laissez-faire attitude to such matters reflects those of one of his biggest cheerleaders, US president Donald Trump, but may not be acceptable to the broad number of disenfranchised voters he is hoping to appeal to in the UK.
Seamus Coleman is that very rare thing: A hugely accomplished sportsman who is completely unaffected by his fame, popularity, and talent.
The Killybegs native announced last week that his time at Everton FC, where in 17 years with the club he has engendered near devotion from the club’s supporters for his never-say-die attitude, his loyalty, and his unashamed love for the club and its fans, is coming to an end.
Here in Ireland too, football fans continue to be amazed not alone by his resilience, but his willingness to put his body on the line for the national cause, often in less-than-ideal circumstances.
Tributes have rightly flowed Coleman’s way since the announcement he will end his time at Everton, not least from manager, David Moyes, the man who brought him to the feted Merseyside club on a £60,000 transfer from Sligo Rovers, a move reckoned to be one of the greatest bargains of all time.
“Speaking as his manager over two spells,” Moyes commented, “it has been a genuine privilege to watch him grow as a player, a leader, and a man.
"He needs a lot of credit as a human being for what he has done for Everton.”
That Coleman has stated he wants to continue playing so he can still represent his country tells us everything we need to know about his loyalty and conviction. His humility and his fidelity to both club and country are something that should admired and revered by any young player making their way in the oft-times not so beautiful game.
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