This is a story of one mans wounded pride and his revenge a man who experienced russias loss of superpower status and who wants to restore his homeland to its former glory. In twenty twelve bloody murder putin was elected russian president for another six years. The former k. G. B. Agent had now already ruled the country for twelve years during which he restored order to a country facing disintegration silence the opposition and brought the media into line but the pomp of the inauguration ceremony was deceptive the election had left putin weaker than ever before. The largest demin. Since the collapse of the soviet union spread across the country the protesters condemned alleged Election Fraud and called for putins resignation Falling Oil Prices were causing widespread Economic Hardship and corruption was rife couldnt himself was accused of becoming one of the richest men in the world through graft. The ruler in the kremlin was very worried and hid himself in his palace. And he started to fight back using a tried and tested method accusing the west america and the cia of conspiring against him. And we do have serious concerns about the conduct of the elections russian voters deserve a full investigation of all credible reports of electoral fraud and manipulation and we hope in particular that the russian authorities will take action on the recommendations that come forward put in had heard this statement by the american secretary of state on t. V. The night before as had most of russia he called it a declaration of war. Due to him. And you to signal solution. To maintain his power and mobilize the russian public putin wanted to make russia a world power again and recover the status lost to the west twenty years earlier with the collapse of the soviet union but in order to achieve that he first needed to reconfigure his own power structures. He shut out liberals and surrounded. Himself with hard liners many were either former k. G. B. Agents like him or loyal. His friend vladimir a former k. G. B. Officer a wealthy businessman and pious creditor joined the inner circle that an officially advises the russian president. With a dissolute ration of the system it seemed that there were no any ground for more. Of struggle when somebody decides that he possesses the troops which is truce to everyone. That is the malaysian debt can lead to actual error over you warm water or you know or are your logical warm or cold war whether. This new cold war is of course directed against the winners of the previous one against the us and its armed extension in europe nato. Since the collapse of the u. S. S. R. In one thousand nine hundred ninety one the Transatlantic Alliance has encroached on moscows spear of influence poland romania and the Baltic States which were occupied by soviet forces sought nato as protection. Nato carried out a series of large scale maneuvers in response to putins nationalist rhetoric a rhetoric that worried his neighbors. The United States pushed ahead with plans for a new state of the art Missile Defense system throughout Eastern Europe putin saw that as an unacceptable challenge to his quest for power. In june twenty twelve he confronted the western alliance at the g twenty in mexico and economic summit that brings together heads of state once a year. Behind the scenes these summits give the participants a chance to weigh each other up to negotiate and to display their own strength a modern equivalent of the battle grounds on which the great powers used to meet. This is the military and political system of the western world from this point a few if you know the threat of communism disappeared this simple question is why why that talk is growing. Hooten hopes natos de facto leader would listen to what he had to say he was meeting u. S. President barack obama on the International Stage for the first time three years earlier obama had signaled a desire to reset relations with russia. It was a tense meeting it was not warm in any way putin lectured president obama at length about all the misdeeds of the United States over the years going back to the Clinton Administration in nato enlargement president obama always engaged mr putin a spirit of logic and the logic that we saw in the relationship was not necessarily the same logic that mr putin saw when somebody is trying to assure you listen i come with my tanks i come with my you know military equipment to your big heart but because that is not against you would you believe and then there was also i think a geo political argument that the west should take advantage of this time to move east and to make sure that poland and hungary and a stone are for ever outside russias sphere of influence free states should be able to say were in nato our not in nato were in the e. U. Were not in the e. U. Who is russia to tell them how they should behave. The deployment of the Missile Defense system was no longer negotiable thats what obama told putin the press conference was frigid. It was good to be. Noticed he also discussed international up at all interested parties in trying to find a resolution to this problem. From obamas point of view how important was putin the leader of a country with a Gross Domestic Product that barely matched that of spain. The meeting ended on a noted deep discord. But they did not consider russia the equal partner good nor bad good but equal. There to be only behavior was a clear sign who for the feeling of superiority and kind of fear in all. Would you languish to show this is your on hold with me so if i did not feel that there was a good personal relationship between president obama and of water near putin that for some reason that relationship was straight and the result was that i think in part it contributed to a breakdown in the relationship between our two countries. Putin is very russian. Theres a thing inferiority complex about how the west doesnt take us seriously days c. S. Says the kind of retarded little brother that they can just kick and insult all the time they had been a great power that was on par with the us that was calling the shots all over the world and now people dont even listen to them. Not only was the west not listening to russia it was also moving closer and closer to russia with its bases in summer two thousand and twelve the syrian president Bashar Al Assad an old ally of russia faced an uprising his opponents received weapons from europe and the u. S. There was no doubt in putins mind that the west had ordered a regime change as it had done in two thousand and three in iraq and in libya where the deposed president won more gadhafi had just been killed. When Vladimir Putin got a hold of the video of khadafi being killed lynched in the streets. So he watched that video on repeat he just watched over. And over and over again. And apparently he did the same thing with the video of saddam husseins execution i think he takes these things very personally i think putin was watching it to understand that should someone stand up to the United States should there be a real fight real confrontation why should expect no mercy. The events of the arab spring also reminded putin of the demonstrations against him that had taken place a few months earlier in order to counter western ambitions in syria he threw his weight behind a regime on the verge of collapse. Two years later ukraine twenty fifteen. In the capital city kiev the population rebelled against a corrupt and pro moscow leadership the crowds loudly called for closer ties with the European Union. Even worse for putin the americans were there and obama adviser personally handed out food to opposition activists on my town square. Or to the putin believes that after the fall of the soviet union the United States should have committed itself to never integrating ukraine into the western camp. That we had a coup detat. Estate in. Some some people would prefer to interpret it as air current over. Reaction of the whole population of your grief against corrupt authorities and this is a false description. Feb fifteenth everything came to a head the Russian Hockey Team played a decisive match against the United States. In ukraine the protesters opposition was increasingly undermining the government it was a nightmare for putin who feared that the country would soon turn towards nato which would place the Alliance Just over five hundred kilometers from moscow. To the russian president s great anger the u. S. One in the penalty shoot out. Putin called a meeting of his Security Council in moscow his plan was to invade crimea which was part of ukraine its population is russian speaking and there is a Russian Naval base on the peninsula. But a military invasion of a european country was not an easy step to take. Put into liberated and sought counsel. In the upper echelons of power the hardliners demanded that he take the offensive. One of those making the case was constantine malouf a of. A young oligarch and an ultra nationalist champion of the great christian russia. That was seized decision. And i can again you know just to tell you i. Well what i heard that it was not easy and of course you know dead horse debated and lies there what would happen after and what would be their reaction from from the west from from americans who support a sort of. This in kenya and of course there is their reaction the soldiers. Three nine year old tree. Which in believe that obama would not dare to oppose him and gave the green light. On the twenty third of february putin attended the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games and three days later the crimea awoke to find itself in the hands of Russian Special forces went landed during the night. One sovereign state ukraine had been invaded by another russia. When he went in for me and we saw that this was a potential. But it was a surprise that he did in the way he did his goal is to keep ukraine destabilized and to make sure that it never completes any kind of western orientation hes not as we like to think of him especially here in the us a grand strategic thinker in chess player he plays blackjack you know its a very high acceptance of risk and thats a very russian mentality theres a russian word called a voice which is like basically a wing it and see what happens. Obama called putin and talked for more than an hour threatening him with sanctions if he went ahead and annexed crimea but who didnt ignored the threats from the west and went even further. In the summer of twenty fourteen Russian Troops without uniforms started arriving in dawn by. At the Eastern Region of ukraine to support progress in separatist rebels against the new government in kiev it started a dirty war. Feel. Feel. What do they want five hundred miles from moscow they wanted us to stay and see how they would kill our people there so we have to protect ourself and it means that to protect our interests near our borders the west suspected malouf a. F. Of financing separatists and imposed sanctions on him. For putin and his entourage the war came at a price. Nobody was remake religion machine here to feel. No pain no cattle creamer for the timber but he was afraid he would election of the around fifty people from putin circle were banned from traveling to the west and their Assets Abroad were frozen both europe and the us imposed heavy sanctions on oil exports banking and armaments. She. Is going to. A. School to finish fifth. In feb twenty fifth scene put in finally agreed a ceasefire negotiated with the western powers in minsk he had the upper hand in a conflict that he could ratchet up at will he had ensured that ukraine wouldnt join nato or the European Union in the near future but at what cost. May twenty fifteen saw great celebrations to mark the seventieth anniversary of the soviet unions victory over national socialism. But the pomp was deceptive. Western sanctions had had an impact on the economy the ruble had collapsed and even the military budget had had to be cut back. And had promised the russians glory but they had paid dearly for that vision. Prices were rising poverty was increasing but he remained deaf to the worries of russian business leaders. What mainly preoccupied him was the fact that he had become a pariah at the head of an ostracized state. The refusal of western leaders to participate in this important anniversary was a devastating humiliation. Still the man who wanted to rebuild russia as a world power was even excluded from the g eight the summit of the worlds leaders. He fancied himself a great world leader when he was denied a platform around the world and when people wouldnt meet with him i think that had an impact. So putin was left with only provocation to remind the world that he at least still had a powerful army. For the First Time Since the cold war russian jets buzzed american ships in the baltic. But that brought putin nothing but contempt from the president of the worlds only superpower i think the overwhelming majority of the world rejects russia is a Regional Power. That is threatening some of its immediate neighbors. Not out of strength but out of weakness see crazy you know if you play best of all too much the you know best to look at the globe the few read anything in the history about style and growth you know he really believes that we have Regional Power they are the only poet in the world he shares equal. Power minute apollo to the United States of america at least it would be wise even if you think so dont tell it then yes but i say to them lets look at this look at the look you did you did over in your little in need it in using you yeah but if you didnt that shes good for you thats it still sort of middle of shit which is who you saw in two years yeah because they got stood. At the end of summer twenty fifteen in his luxurious villa on the black sea putin suddenly seemed quite relaxed. He had understood that direct confrontation was not a good strategy for breaking out of isolation and he had a plan. The time for revenge to come. The orders of all the war going to sylvias the water was bitterly. Its over was it william that was the got a war it was first of all he pushed ahead with a daring move in syria. Ordered a massive intervention in support of Bashar Al Assads regime. Hundreds of missions were flown to destroy any resistance against the syrian dictator in months of bombing. The west was surprised but nevertheless allowed putin to carry on not without its own alter your motives our calculation was that russia risks being in a situation where it was stuck like afghanistan where over time it would have to spend more and more resources to prop up assad and thus far russia has not become unfortunately exhausted by its intervention in syria. Although the russians wanted to avoid getting bogged down in syria and their intervention enabled the assad regime to fight the rebels the war in syria was also a war of images. During the syrian conflict putin saw how much he could use communications for his own ends. When your military budget is ten times lower than that of the United States then it is a weapon of the week so he asked his new chief of staff general valery gas him off to come up with a new military doctrine that we knew was going to shoot all i want to shoot was once you open christmas toughness with it you will do it as a musician of the students and with the shoes you suffer with the ship thats sure to get us to move doctrine is one of hybrid warfare subversion espionage propaganda and Cyber Attacks are designed to influence the shape of an opponents political and social landscape. Mission the most important one i think is is information because it never stops if the mission of warfare is twenty four by seven. It never stops. And that information was fear of the west nearly the United States of the designated the enough the story or even the many pushing used to compute. The way look dozens of numerous guests hooten celebrated the success of state television which he had created to spread russian ideas throughout the world because personally i knew smugglers originally from every source torts terrorist threat and the stay out of iraq you are going to let us have a day if you just see me me you will notice that he can be easy when they go to this leads to put almost doesnt slow. You to solution it. Just like rockets and pipelines russia today is seen by moscow as a strategic instrument. Russia today is broadcast in five languages to about one hundred countries. On the internet the technology at the heart of russias strategy more people view its video clips than those of c. N. N. And the b. B. C. For. A primary target of russia today is the us. Its where the station has its most important bureaus worldwide. For shows viewers are leaving the Mainstream Media by so it looks like people are turning elsewhere to get their news for example a couple days after i had started it there was a protest movement here called occupy wall street and i had covered that we were weaker. Actually extensively. Police brutality running wild in new york we blew it out of proportion and now i realize why its there a jury of. Americans protests and americans themselves voicing their distrust of the system of american democracy and capitalism and americans themselves saying that the system isnt working. Guten had understood that Public Opinion was the achilles heel of western democracies. In the early summer of twenty sixteen he surely had this lesson in mind when obamas secretary of state visited him in the kremlin. Well this president were very persian is for the opportunity to have a serio