This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

It’s way too early for this notion to have crossed my mind, but it did.  Does what Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine conjure up images of what Adolph Hitler did in post-World War I Germany?

The notion arose as I read a good story in the New York Times, one reported from Moscow, Russia, by a seasoned reporter.  The story appeared under the headline that leads this blog.

And, this admission — what I know about the Ukraine-Russia issue revolves around what I read in such publications as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and The Atlantic.  Not, to state the obvious, personal experience.

Hitler’s abhorrent view of history was that he wanted to restore Germany to pre-World War I power, given that he believed the allies had set out to punish Germany after the war ended.  Of course, Hitler also rose to power by hating the Jews and murdering millions of them.  Hitler’s animas appeared to be trait exemplified by many in Germany during his time in power.

Now, several analysts believe that Putin has similar goals for Russia.  He appears to be angry about the dissolution of the Soviet Empire starting in 1990 and wants to retore it to a previous standing in the world.

According to the New York Times:  “The collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago gave birth to democracies across Eastern Europe — and to Putin’s grievances.  He once described the Soviet breakup as ‘the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century’ — a time period that included two world wars and the Holocaust.  He has suggested he wants to reverse that collapse.”

It is not clear whether Putin has views about a certain race of people as Hitler had for the Jews, but that could emerge in the future.  [But, while there is no indication that Putin is going after Jews, there is this strange coincidence.  Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and has given the world a Jewish hero.]

Notice that I have used the word “appears” because there is the “fog of war,” even as smart analysts assess the reasons for what’s happening as bombs fall.

Here are excerpts of the NY Times article:

• The autocrat who has steered Russia for 22 years was embraced by many Russians for what they saw as his rationality and astute risk management.  That image has been upended.  Russians thought they knew their president.  They were wrong. 
• For most of his 22-year rule, Vladimir Putin presented an aura of calm determination at home — of an ability to astutely manage risk to navigate the world’s biggest country through treacherous shoals.  His attack on Ukraine negated that image and revealed him as an altogether different leader:  One dragging the nuclear superpower he leads into a war with no foreseeable conclusion, one that by all appearances will end Russia’s attempts over its three post-Soviet decades to find a place in a peaceful world order.
• Many Russians had bought into the Kremlin’s narrative that theirs was a peace-loving country, and Putin a careful and calculating leader.  After all, many Russians still believe, it was Putin who lifted their country out of the poverty and chaos of the 1990s and made it into a place with a decent standard of living and worthy of international respect.
• During the pandemic, analysts had noticed a change in Putin — a man who isolated himself in a bubble of social distancing without parallel among Western leaders.  In isolation, he appeared to become more aggrieved and more emotional, and increasingly spoke about his mission in stark historical terms.  His public remarks descended ever deeper into distorted historiography as he spoke of the need to right perceived historical wrongs suffered by Russia over the centuries at the hands of the West

So, what does all this say about how any of us should react?  Well, not sure because, as individuals, there is not much we can do about a new, major war. 

However, we can continue relying on major, credible media outlets – the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the NY Times and The Atlantic – as we try to separate fiction from fact.

And, we can hope that the Russian people will not give Putin the same kind of room to move as the Germans did for Hitler in post-World War I Germany.

President Joe Biden is facing a reality as a war-time president, though the conflict is overseas.  Still, he must face this new reality, one he led with as he gave a credible State of the Union speech this week.  The Ukraine reality probably could end up dwarfing such issues as inflation and the pandemic, two other realities Biden faces.

I continue to be glad he is in the Oval Office, especially in comparison to his predecessor.