Reflection on Dr. Robert English GIP Event

Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/vladimir-putin-orders-investigation-into-russian-doping-1.2426952

Tonight (Feb 25, 2019), I attended the culmination of a fellow Global Scholar's global capstone project, which featured an engaging discussion with Dr. Robert English, an expert on Russian Studies. Going into the night, I was unsure if I would be able to keep up with the conversation, as I am no expert on Russia myself, but very interested in learning more. And I am happy to say that, for the most part,  I understood what was discussed while still learning a lot.

Dr. Robert English began by describing the factors that shaped much of Vladimir Putin's mindset, which was something I never really thought about. In the U.S., we always hear catchy soundbites like the "evil Putin" or the "Russian threat" and obsess over the future of Russia's relations with the U.S. (especially with the dynamic duo of Putin and Trump), but we generally do not (or at least I generally do not) take a moment to question why Putin is so anti-America or what has generated the anti-west sentiment in Russia. Dr. Robert English described Putin's background, something I did not know much about, and I learned that his first job was as a KGB member (a fact that makes his "tough guy" mentality/personality more understandable). Dr. English then went on to describe how Putin came into politics during the '90s, when Russia went through a horrible catastrophe (apparently around 5-10x worse than the Great Depression in the U.S.). I was unaware of how bad the Russian depression was; Dr. English said that their economy retracted by over 50%, whereas the U.S.'s economy dropped 25% during the Great Depression. Putin lived during that time, and to a great extent, he and many other Russians blame that decade-long depression on the West. There is now a deep resentment of the lost decade (some older Russians apparently refer to the decade as a genocide, as several million Russians died prematurely due to disease, poor health, general misery, etc.). Since people are still bitter (as everyone knew somebody that was affected by the depression, whether it was somebody who lost a friend/loved one, lost a job, etc.), it makes much more sense why older Russians can be so anti-American or anti-Hillary (since Clinton was president during the time), especially since Putin also demonizes the U.S. in the Russian media/news.

Dr. Robert English also went on to describe Russia's involvement in the Middle East (Syria, etc.), their use of cyber technology, and the controversy over the INF Treaty. What really stood out to me was when Dr. English said that "the only thing worse than a brutal dictator [Assad] is what comes after." After Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq (and during/after the Iraq war), Iraq was full of instability, and all of the surrounding countries (including countries in Europe, etc.) felt the effects of that turmoil. What surprised me was when Dr. English described how yes, part of Russia's involvement in Syria is for prestige (want respect, a naval base on the Mediterranean, etc), but the other part is defensive. Russia does not want another Iraq, where the surrounding regions are rife with instability, etc. I was also very interested in the differences in perspectives between the U.S. and Russia. Dr. English repeated numerous times how we always complain that Russia is intervening in our democratic elections (which, yes, they did), etc., but Russia would respond that we do similar things in other countries (just under the guise of NATO, etc.).

Another thing that surprised me during the presentation was when Dr. English said that in the U.S., we always make Russia out to be 10 feet all when he really believes that they are more like 18 inches. He repeated numerous times how they're weaker than we give them credit for (I'm not saying that they are not a regional power, just that in terms of pure military might, the U.S. is stronger/more advanced). I found this perspective interesting because in my head, I always think of Russia as this humongous, threatening power, which reminds me the power of history (the Cold War, etc.) and the influence of modern day media.

Dr. English also described how Putin's popularity has been decreasing in recent months, as younger people are now more oriented on their ability to travel, make money, etc. Putin is not getting as much automatic credit for helping get Russia out of the '90s. Putin will most likely need to change some of his tactics (make more concessions, etc.) if he hopes to remain in power. However, Dr. English also said that even if Putin loses power after his current term ends, his legacy could potentially live on (due to his demonization of the West), so even a democratic election might yield a leader worse than Putin.

There were two aspects of this presentation that stood out to me the most (aside from all of the new information I learned). One: there is truth to both side's points of view. The problem is that we (Americans) tend to see black & white while they (Russians) see white & black. What I mean to say is that we view each other's opinions as polar opposites when we are really just missing the overlap (the gray areas). Two: we need to re-humanize each other. We need to foster civilian diplomacy, where we learn about one another and learn to respect and recognize each other's humanity. Dr. English mentioned how part of the reason many people support Putin is because there is a lot of discontent, suffering, and misery in Eastern Europe due to underlying socio-economic problems, which is why some of Russia's propaganda sticks/resonates. The Russians and the Eastern Europeans are facing their own problems and we need to try and understand them (meaning both the people and the problems) in order to see past all of the nasty rhetoric that can be found in the news and instead see the truth/reality of the situation. I was very interested in this presentation, learned a lot, and now feel more motivated to learn about Russia and Eastern Europe in the future.