Bad Vlad Back in the USSR

Vladimir has gone back in time to the days of the Soviet Union.

How else to explain the Russian prime minister’s assertion that the US and not people from his own country are behind the protests of vote tampering that have arisen since Russia’s recent parliamentary elections?

Putin is increasingly going back to his happy place, where war was peace, reality was conveniently airbrushed out of existence, and every domestic unpleasantness was the fault of the United States and its allies.

Xenophobia and a collective national inferiority complex toward “the West” have been strong strains in the Russian psyche since at least Peter the Great.

But you don’t need to go that far in explaining Putin’s accusations. It’s the oldest shell game in the world: Blame “outsiders” for the wrong you’ve done.

Is it too much to hope for a Russian Spring? These protests may say it’s not.

[I blog regularly here.]