Vladimir Putin’s regime is best understood not in political terms, but in criminology terms. Countries dealing with Russia have conformed again and again to the corrupt practices institutionalized by Putin: The system is not corrupt; corruption is the system.
Russia is pursuing a Middle Eastern policy designed to reduce Western influence in the Middle East, even at the risk of Islamist terrorism, a growing problem in Russia. The Obama Administration needs to convince Moscow that its disruptive policy is self-defeating.
but so is the notion that military officials, higher ranking ones, have offered some criticism of the military. reporter: yeah, there was a remarkable move by the head of the chechen republic. he doesn t set kremlin policy but rarely spoke out. you don t get the sense between the russian elite at all and he named and shamed the russian commanders in charge of lyman and the retreat from it. and says russia s response to that should be using low yield nuclear weapons. i say he done set policy but remains a remarkable moment where we have this criticism, didissent and debate and russia retreating with this backdrop of nuclear force. extraordinary. nickck paton walsh, thank you s much. coming up next, we ll return to southwest florida.