His True Colours

 I think its fair to say that Vladimir Putin has shown his true face to the world ....

Darth Vladimir Has Been Fully Unmasked

... Now don't get me wrong, no one could seriously think that an ex KGB Lieutenant Colonel would really be a soft man, but initially after assuming power he had tried to convey himself as not being a soviet era cold war leader.

But you don't get to be a Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB by being a soft pussy cat, and indeed I doubt  that even his mother wouldn't confirm that he has proved to be a ruthless political player in the treacherous world of post soviet politics. After all rising from just a Mayors assistant, to the post of President of all Russia (a post he has held four times now), is not the easiest of career moves.

He has in that role (or as Prime Minister), ruled Russia since 1999, and it has been apparent from almost the beginning that his aim was to restore what he considered to be Russia's due, 'respect' (or if not respect, then fear). Its fair to say that after his stabilisation of the economy and military interventions in first Chechnya and then Syria, he could be said to have restored the 'respect/fear' that he wanted.

But the secret itch, the one which he has never been able to scratch, was the goal of restoring the lands of the USSR ... if not under direct Russian control, then at least under Russian patronage, with Pro-Moscow governments, such as that in Chechnya and Belarus. That is obviously his ultimate aim with the invasion of the Ukraine, a land Putin thinks is a non country, and actually part of Mother Russia. 

Following independence in 1991 the Ukraine had declared itself a neutral state, and formed a limited military partnership with Russia and other CIS countries, while also establishing a friendly partnership with NATO in 1994. 

The reason why he ridiculously calls the elected government in the Ukraine, 'Nazi's,' is that before 2014 there was a pro-Moscow puppet regime in place under Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had become President in 2010. In 2013 President Viktor Yanukovych tried to cancel economic and military ties with the EU and NATO, in favour of closer economic ties with Russia, triggering mass protests and demonstrations in 2013.

However in 2014, President Obama and V.P. Biden’s decision to help press for the removal of President Yanukovych via supporting a popular street revolution, was viewed by President Putin as a 'Nazi coup,' and as a foreign inspired and sponsored regime change, that didn't recognise what he considered to be Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding the Ukraine. 

He has reiterated all his paranoia over NATO (a defensive alliance) in recent speeches “ ... the disregard for our security demands and concerns, NATO’s continued expansion, withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, after the US destroyed the INF Treaty, the Pentagon has been openly developing many land-based attack weapons, including ballistic missiles that are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 5,500 km. ..... If deployed in Ukraine, such systems will be able to hit targets in Russia’s entire European part.”

So any discussions to admit the Ukraine in to NATO (which actually wasn't likely to happen anytime soon, if ever, for precisely the reasons Putin had outlined - too provocative), and the even remoter possibility of the planting of a U.S. nuclear deterrent there, have been viewed by Moscow, in much the same way that the U.S. viewed it in 1962, when the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in to Cuba, just off the US Florida coast.  

Now even in these paranoid views, some right wing US commentators, and politicians of various hues have partially agreed with Putin. Such as former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (Democrat Hawaii), who said in a February Twitter post: “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border…” 

'Heroic Soviet Man' As Putin Heroically Sees Himself

However, those odd supporting views aside (after all NATO already shares a border with Russia in the NATO Baltic states), I think that no one now will have any excuse not to see the real Vladimir Putin for what he really is .... Soviet Man ..... for like the proverbial Leopard, the KGB Officer can't changes his spots.