Recent events show the similarities among Putin, Netanyahu and Trump. One a dictator in fact and the other two being wannabee dictators. But they all share several traits worthy of note. All deny any responsibility for erroneous decisions, and none will accept blame for their own actions and inactions. All have failed to act on information available to them, and that failure has lead to consequences for their citizens or in Trump’s case, his prospective citizens.
Putin started his war in Ukraine seeking to expand Russian dominance and to resurrect his notion of the former Russian empire. But he miscalculated from the first days of the war and has followed with miscalculations throughout the war. He never thought the West would arm Ukraine, and though the West was slow, they have brought substantial military equipment to make the Ukrainian army a serious fighting force that has been able. for the most part, to hold the line.
But Putin still lives in his own lies now with tragic consequences for the 133 or more killed at The Crocus City Hall. Putin was warned by U.S. intelligence that an attack was probable in Moscow at a concert hall, but Putin ignored the warning and in fact said it was another Western conspiracy and lies about Russia. But on Friday night, a group of ISIS-K terrorists attacked the concert hall killing 133 and wounding at least 100 more, some of whom may not survive their injuries. Putin did nothing to heighten security or protect the audience despite the U.S. warning of a concert hall attack being imminent.
Putin being a consummate liar has now blamed Western countries for the attacks despite a complete lack of evidence. Then he said that the killers had intended to take some route to Ukraine to hide, and this fanciful claim, without evidence, made no sense as four of the gunmen were arrested in Moscow. But Putin is so wrapped in lies that he has still not blamed ISIS-K for the attack despite being provided with evidence that ISIS-K were the perpetrators. Putin cannot bring himself to admit any error, and his focus on his made-up war in Ukraine has deflected attention from real threats to Russia coming from a resurgent ISIS-K
If Putin were smart he would agree to an end of the Ukrainian war but not with any grant of territory. He might then fight a real enemy in ISIS-K. Instead Putin continues to talk about Ukraine being led by neo-Nazis despite the fact that the President of Ukraine is Jewish, and everyone knows that. But Putin continues with his obvious falsehoods to stir up some elements of the Russian population, though it is doubtful that many really believe his lies. What will ISIS-K do next after their successful attack on the Crocus City Hall?
Netanyahu focused on assisting Jewish settlers illegally seizing land in the West Bank to build more settlements, displacing Palestinian residents. His far right-wing government made it their policy to support settlement expansion and to refuse to consider any plan for a two-state solution giving the Palestinians a real country of their own.
So on October 7, with Israel’s guard down, the supposed invincible barriers were broken in several places by the gang of Hamas soldiers. They killed soldiers in guard areas, disabled sensors and monitors and had free reign to enter Israel where they committed murders, rapes, and abductions without any IDF intervention and not even local police could stop them. Hamas committed mayhem and brutal murders without the great Israeli defense force being present, and many Kibbutz residents kept calling to find out where was IDF?
If ever there was a major security failure, this was it. Israel’s guard was down because Netanyahu was focused, like Putin, on expansion, as Netanyahu wanted to convert the West Bank to be part of the Jewish state by land seizures by armed settlers. Netanyahu and his ultra right-wing government wanted expansion through illegal land seizures backed up by armed settlers who had no hesitation in killing Palestinian residents.
Netanyahu, like Putin, allowed a major attack on their citizens due to their focus on illusory and illegal crusades: Putin in Ukraine and Netanyahu in the West Bank.
This breach of Israel’s vaunted security caused major Israeli condemnation of Netanyahu and loss of his political support. Knowing he was in serious political trouble, and caring mostly about preserving his own political power, Netanyahu organized a massive assault on Gaza, knowing that it was densely populated and would become a difficult area to attack without causing major Palestinian casualties. But vengeance was in Israel’s blood after the horrendous attack by Hamas, and Netanyahu and his military embarked on massive bombardments in Gaza, sometimes using 2,000 pound bombs capable of decimating buildings and leaving large craters in their wake. Such intense bombardment in a densely populated area was guaranteed to lead to massive civilian casualties, and that is precisely what it did. The military rationale for using large bombs in this area was never explained, but Israeli’s desire for vengeance certainly played a part.
Israel now says that it has modified its strategy to use more targeted attacks, and they claim to have killed a significant number of Hamas’ military leadership. Then coupling this military strategy with the cut-off of water and electricity and imposing barriers to delivery of food to Gaza has resulted in substantial world condemnation of Israel.
President Biden has pushed Netanyahu to modify their tactics and to allow food and humanitarian assistance, but Biden has not conditioned delivery of military equipment to Israeli modification of tactics or allowing greater delivery of food and medicine to Gaza. Now Netanyahu plans to attack the southern part of Gaza where thousands of civilians have gone after Israeli warnings for them to leave homes in the north, and these Palestinians really have nowhere to go as Egypt will not allow them to go through the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Biden has sought to prevent a southern Israel attack, but Netanyahu says that substantial numbers of Hamas troops are in that area.
Part of Netanyahu’s problem is that he has set a far too expansive goal of completely eliminating Hamas, and with Hamas troops in underground tunnels, that objective will probably never be achieved. He has already reduced Hamas strength, and he needs to refine his objective to make it attainable.
Netanyahu offers no long-term peace plan as he vigorously opposes a two-state solution. There also is no plan for government of Gaza even when Israel declares victory. Some say that Netanyahu wants the war in Gaza to continue as his political power will decline if there is peace.
Netanyahu seems to have little regard for the remaining hostages. A cease fire and prisoner exchange should be a priority, but it is not. Netanyahu does not show much concern about the hostages well-being, and in that respect he acts like Putin, showing little care for the harm to ordinary citizen hostages.
Then there is the Great Mendacity: Donald Trump. He is the consummate liar. He tells us that he wants to be a dictator after his election. He shows no respect for U.S. law, customs or cultures. His narcissism is extraordinary and never yielding. His focus is always on Donald Trump, and in that respect he is like Putin and Netanyahu all of whom have immense egos. But a major difference is that Putin and Netanyahu have moderate levels of competence while Trump has shown himself to be largely incompetent to implement his own policies: Is this Infrastructure Week, we kept asking of Trump.
Trump outdoes both Putin and Netanyahu on the lying factor. He cannot avoid telling lies about anything and everything. Does he even know what the truth is on any subject? A great, recent example is Trump’s need to post a bond in the New York civil fraud case. His attorneys argued to the appellate court that it was impossible for Trump to post a bond for the necessary $465 million as no surety would assist him, and he did not have that much cash. But Trump turned around and knifed his own lawyers on Friday saying that he had $500 million in cash available to him. Some said this marked Trump as the stupidest defendant ever.
While Trump was president he was early on advised about the high contagion through air transmission of Covid, but he hid that information falsely claiming that it would just disappear in the spring or that you could drink bleach and kill off the Covid virus. He famously said that a cruise ship with many passengers with Covid should stay at sea so as not to increase “his” Covid numbers. A Million people died as a result of Trump’s neglect and incompetence.
Trump has announced that he will be a dictator on election. He has threatened retaliatory vendettas against federal and state prosecutors and judges, media personnel, members of Congress and anyone who has ever opposed the Great Mendacity. He has called for the elimination of our Constitution. He wants to impose political tithing on federal employees. He wants to have the U.S. withdraw from NATO even though it has been effective in holding back Putin, and several nations have joined increasing the zone of mutual defense from Putin military marauding.
Trump’s immigration policy calls for closing the borders to everyone in an America First resurrection. He sees no advantage to immigrants though they are necessary for our economy in light of declining birth rates, and he is pleased to hire immigrants on temporary visas to work in his properties including Mar-a-Lago, and his wife is an immigrant.
Trump is a supporter of Putin, for unknown reasons, and he also supports Netanyahu, so Trump is helpful to both of them in promoting their agendas. Trump is known to hold dictators in high regard: Putin, Xi, Kim Jong Un, and the anti-democratic Orban.
All three of Putin, Netanyahu and Trump seem to be spinning out of control of late due to the various pressures that each is under, some of their own making, especially for Putin. Stability is not their current behavior. But Putin could declare victory claiming he got rid of the neo-Nazis in Ukraine and leave, and Netanyahu could claim victory through IDF killing 75% of Hamas’ senior military leadership.
Trump faces four criminal trials with 91 counts of indictment. His delay strategy has worked somewhat, but he still may be tried on at least two cases before the election: the New York business record falsification and the D.C. insurrection cases. Judge Cannon needs to be removed from the national security documents case by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals if Jack Smith would file the mandamus petition for removal based on may factors but highlighting her order last Monday for the attorneys to address two hypotheticals for jury instructions when she has not set a trial date and her hypotheticals misstated the law.
Putin could face trial in the International Court of Justice, Netanyahu has criminal cases for which he seeks to remain president so as not to be convicted, and Trump has his four criminal trials.
So, on so many indicators, Putin, Netanyahu and Trump share many of the same attributes. At least there is a possibility that Trump will get defeated. Netanyahu may be removed by election from Israeli voters disillusioned with his tough guy rhetoric. Putin may have a longer reign with his recent re-election. But in Putin’s case it reminds me of a story of an elderly man in Moscow who everyday buys a newspaper, reads the first page, and immediately tosses it away. After this repeats for many weeks, one day the news dealer askes the man: why do you buy the paper every day, look at the front page and throw it away? The man says he is looking for the obituaries. But the news dealer says they do not put obituaries on the front page. And the man replies, “This one they would.”