Putin takes the lead in the international dance of death and destruction. Original illustration by SOFREP.
In the greasy shadows of geopolitical turbulence, where the blood-iron scent of conflict pervades the winds from Israel to Ukraine, a sinister symphony plays to the tune of exploding rockets and rattling Russian and Chinese-made Kalashnikovs. We should zero in, not on the obvious players – the relentless terrorism of Hamas and the iron-clad Israelis, nor directly at the tear-soaked soils of Ukraine, but rather at the ice-veined spymaster: Putin.
Today’s world stage is a chaotic battleground, a grim opera where every explosion, every political maneuver, carries a twisted harmony echoing through the White House’s decades-long failed foreign policy and nation-building and the Kremlin seemingly destined to double down on America’s mistakes abroad. Similar to our own failed campaign in Vietnam (theirs now in Ukraine) and our decades-long Afghanistan campaign that ended embarrassingly with the Taliban back in power with Billions of US weapons and equipment under their control. More importantly, there is ZERO accountability for this, which sends a terrible signal in any organization.
Meanwhile, the vodka-chilled winds from Moscow fan the flames in Tel Aviv and Gaza. As rockets soar and buildings crumble, the bear awakens, sensing an opportunity amidst the chaos and Russia’s close ties with Iran, a long-time state sponsor of terrorism and Hamas.
In the ruthless calculus of war, the Israeli-Hamas conflict creates a massive distraction for the West, a bloody sideshow that sways global gazes and headlines away from Ukraine’s cries. Perhaps Zelinski’s worst nightmare is unfolding with a war between Israel and the two-headed snake of Hamas and Hezbollah.
The world’s eyes are shifting away from Ukraine and now glued to the Middle East, allowing the Russian bear to move, silent and deadly, on the Ukrainian battlefront.
Russia could exploit the Israel-Hamas conflict to:
Push narratives that Western support for Ukraine will decline.
Exploit distractions to promote different narratives on Ukraine.
Benefit from Iran using the conflict to advance its objectives, indirectly aiding Russia.
Strengthen its partnership with Iran, fueled partly by the conflict.
Exploit the conflict to maneuver geopolitically and strategize against Western influences and sanctions.
Most importantly, it diverts critical resources and financial support from Ukraine to Israel.
As the economic gears grind, oil and gas flow like lifeblood, and sanctions tremble on the brittle edges of diplomatic indecision. The Israeli conflict serves as a smokescreen, a strategic haze allowing Russia’s economic engines to rumble quietly, maneuvering through the sanctions’ nooses, and finding clandestine pathways in the global market.
In this savage ballet of war and diplomacy, where bullets and political gambits dance in a macabre embrace, Putin seems to emerge from the shadows, cold eyes gleaming with the icy precision of a sniper’s scope, capitalizing on the world’s diverted attention and a divided America that he continues to exploit for his own legacy gain.
A Great Video on Regional History
America remains divided as ever, with groups like Black Lives Matter coming out to support Hamas after their brutal murder of innocent civilians publicly. Violence for violence is not the answer. Nobody demonstrated this better than Nelson Mandela when freed from prison in South Africa.
BLM’s and other’s Pro-Hamas statements illustrate an ignorant worldview of a profoundly complex situation and overlook fact-based historical nuances, like the displacement of Jews by historical invasions in their ancestral lands.
America’s divisiveness continues to rot at the core as the US comes into the 2024 election season with a sequel very few want: Biden vs. Trump.
The US must rise as a beacon of resolve, guiding the turbulent waters of conflict toward the shores of peace and stability. The problem is this takes strong leadership, and as of now, America’s ship is sailing into multiple storms at once with nobody competent at the helm, and this should keep us all up at night.
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