Putin's Hitler Playbook

It takes one to know one

Some pigs are still more equal than others.

After George Orwell

Karma Police, arrest this girl

Her Hitler hairdo is making me feel ill

And we have crashed her party

Radiohead

***

IN the wake of the interregnum that was Boris Yeltsin’s fragile tenure, Russians were of a mind to assume the familiar position, that is, prostrate before the next authoritarian. They are amenable: King, Queen, Czar, Dictator. Authoritarians. When Russians here the boss say jump, they say: “Out of which window?” It’s Hobson’s choice, the old zero option. Refuseniks end up with minus-5 Star accommodation in Vorkuta, a terrifying name synonymous with the worst of the Gulags, the undiscovered country from which no traveler returns.

Here is a brief rehash of the little dictators rise to ultimate control of Russia. A colonel, expert in KGB and Stasi tactics, stationed for  years in Dresden, he  honed his skills in intelligence, manipulation, and power dynamics. There are also  rumors that he also studied Mein Kampf, Hitler’s manifesto as part of his intelligence work. Makes sense to me. It’s one thing to read the book with academic intent to measure the mind of Hitler. It’s another to eventually be in  position to implement what you learn. Read on.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, he worked as the director of foreign affairs for the mayor of Saint Petersburg where the future supreme leader met influential future oligarchs and political insiders while earning a reputation as a shady dealer with an eye for the main chance in the rickety Russian state. Vladimir Putin was a welcome problem-solver in a time August 1999 Yeltsin “surprisingly” appointed Putin Prime Minister. Yeltsin was highly unpopular due to corruption scandals and economic crises and struggling with poor health. Yeltsin and his inner circle (known as the "Family"), including king-making oligarchs and political insiders, needed someone who could succeed Yeltsin while protecting their interests and ensuring stability.

The tippling, reclusive Yeltsin was increasingly shy and soon to-be-retiring. Not that inebriation or double-dealing has ever in itself kept a Russian from stumbling in or out of power – at any level.

And the greatest challenge lay dead ahead, accent on dead  for those who opposed Putin. Chechnya! Here was a chance to reassert Russian power against a wayward and comparatively puny Islamic-style adversary. Fire and sword subdued the upstart Islamic state in brutal order. This ruthless putdown was a strategy that would become a Putin trademark as he  maneuvered to replace the drunken has-been, Yeltsin. Putin was acting-President before you could say, Bob’s your uncle. So far so good.

And: Vladimir Putin knew things. He was no ordinary Joe. He’s been around. He knew that Vodka was not to drink. He knew that this drink had destroyed Russia. He knew that Vodka was another Oil, a formidable Russian commodity as currency, and he was determined to marshal these potent currencies (and others) within so that he could concentrate on projecting power without.

This time the teetotaler was not alcoholic but a tippler of that most traditional of despotic elixirs: Total Power.

Yeltsin was no one to Putin:  His role models defined epochs. Indeed, the glorious visions of puissance forming in Putin’s head were inspired by Ivan (founder of the modern Russian state), Peter (architect of St. Petersburg), Stalin (author of the  totalitarian Soviet state), and an implacable traditional enemy of the Russian Empire, not Napoleon, but the most recent loser in the Conquer-Russia-Sweepstakes, Adolph Hitler, the one who haunted him. And yet, and yet, despite the Nazi’s humiliating failure before Soviet arms, Putin thought there was something superior to learn from the German self-styled emperor.

  ***

Dresden, December 1989

Picture Vlad, German-fluent, thumbing his way through a dog-eared, ink-annotated paperback copy of Mein Kampf in the vernacular. He’s firmly ensconced behind his desk in his office and engrossed. He’s been there since early in the morning, and: massive things are happening in Germany right now! The Berlin Wall is crumbling and Germans on both sides are uniting by a show of hands, held high with victory signs. The Soviet Satellites (good name for  post punk band) led by Poland are opting out, vociferously but not violently.

Putin’s exile in service of Mother Russia is ending. (Not the first time the Germans have lent a hand to unprecedented seismic ructions in Russia. Lenin the revolutionary was foist on Russia by German machinations to inspire the 1917 revolution in Saint Petersburg.)

The foreign intelligence expert is putting the finishing touches on his Hitler primer, telling himself he’s boning up on Hitler out of historical research. Need to know, what? For His eyes only is this smutty political porn. It’s been part of his job as KGB in the Kremlin’s most loyal satellite to know the enemy’s mind, to root out their coarser nature, in order to exploit them of course. We have seen it all before. Did you know that the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA ,studied Hitler intensely. See A Psychological Study of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend, produced during the war and written by Walter C Wanger with three psychiatrists. The paper became available to the public in 1999.

Of course! Could he have come across, between those pages, the stuff that tweaked Putin’s imagination in that moment of crisis as implosion reduced the Soviet Union from imperial bully boy to basket of currencies case. That’s got to hurt. Fast forward to the Yeltsin years and the failed capitalist transition, the rising robber barons, ex-spies, and louche government officials on the make. Gob smacked Gorby   keeping his mouth shut to stay alive.

Let’s say that Putin’s duties involved gathering intelligence, spying on political dissidents, and maintaining close relations with the Stasi, East Germany's secret police. He was responsible for monitoring Western activities and helping to support the East German regime.

He didn’t hunt with the biggest dogs, but Putin had a significant role in KGB intelligence operations aimed at controlling and manipulating political and military information in East Germany.  This included a close working relationship with the Stasi, the East German secret police. The Stasi and KGB worked side by side, exchanging information, tracking dissidents, and ensuring that East Germany remained loyal to the Soviet Union.

But all this takes a back seat to the Sturm und Drang of this evening.

That night, there’s an almighty stir!

The proverbial shit is hitting the fan!

Holy Zeitgeist!

There’s something happening here.

Protesters are storming the Stasi headquarters, bent on destruction and vengeance. Putin rushes over to secure KGB documents, preventing them from becoming protester property.

This building is under the protection of the Soviet military, he warns, even though Soviet forces were nowhere in sight.

You must hand it to him. The man has balls.

***

The paranoia still eating at his guts stems for his German sojourn. Putin's time in East Germany was formative. Let’s say His experiences in East Germany, where he witnessed the disintegration of the communist regime, influenced his later views on state control, strength, and nationalism, which have shaped his policies as President of Russia. The Dresden  years helped shape his strategic mindset and worldview, as he experienced first-hand the chaos and uncertainty that comes with political upheaval and the collapse of a superpower’s influence. Oh yes and as tortured as he was by this knowledge, Putin might as well have had the Gods require him to gnaw forever on his constantly regenerating liver.

( So much for the mythology of dictators.)

Move on.

***

Warsaw 2024 –ten years after Maidan protests and first invasion of Ukraine,

16 years after Georgia’s invasion,

25 years after the Chechen War 2,  

The subject is now up for discussion, chaps. And the question is why? Why has Putin spent years—especially since his Kremlin surrogate absconded in 2014—accusing Ukraine’s government of being Nazis, thereby twisting history with that now signature Putin pretzel logic into a fallacy that would almost make the shameless Big Brother blush. Talk about ham-fisted propaganda. It’s the kind of bare-assed nonsense you’d expect from a man who claims to be saving Ukraine from Nazism while torching same Nazi-style and ignoring that his presidential Ukrainian opponent is in fact, Jewish.

You almost feel sorry for the swine! There he is snorting sweet nothings out of both sides of his snout! (If I published this in Russia, I’d be shipped off to Siberia or simply expunged.)   De-Nazify Ukraine! This is what Putin demands as he unleashes his own rendition of storm troopers, not just on soldiers, but on civilians, on women and children.

Putin’s an equal opportunity exploiter. He’s no racialist in the manner of Hitler. If Vladimir Putin studied Mein Kampf during his time in the KGB, it is likely he did so for tactical insights rather than ideological inspiration. The key elements of propaganda, control through fear, suppression of opposition, and expansionist ambitions may have resonated with Putin’s later policies to maintain power and ensure stability within Russia. However, the parallels are primarily in tactics and methods of power consolidation, rather than in the specific ideological goals espoused by Hitler.

Think back to Dresden. Is that where this Nazi obsession began? Sitting there pouring over the Fuhrer’s scribblings. Did Putin absorb by osmosis or was it conscious because there is no doubt, as we shall see, that Putin’s actions mirror those of Hitler as previewed in Mein Kampf.

It this pure projection? This attitude toward Ukraine? As Freud said: What the ego refuses to accept is split off and placed in another. In Freud's concept, projection is a psychological defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or impulses onto someone else. For example, someone has feelings of anger but is uncomfortable acknowledging them, so they might accuse others of being angry. Or: So, one feels inclined to invade another country Hitler-style, so you accuse the invaded of threatening you with invasion. Of you are feeling kind of Hitlerian yourself, so you accuse the Others of being Nazis.

Projectionists, Let’s call them, practice victim shaming and bullying  as a matter of course.

Indeed.

***

Part II

Madcap Recap

Vladimir Putin, the judo-fascist, the Tarzan-aping horseman, has been building his empire for decades now, and if you squint hard enough through the stifling smoke of his half-truths, you might just beyond the whites of his lies catch a glimpse of his blueprint: a combination of Stalin’s iron grip and Hitler’s maniacal thirst for expansion. And don't mistake this for some lazy armchair analysis. I was in Tbilisi in 2008, Afghanistan & Pakistan in 2001 and Kyiv Maidan 2013 & 2014.

So, listen up.

It’s all there in the tactics—consolidation of power, control of industry, aggressive military moves—it’s like he committed to his copy of "My Struggle" back in Dresden, and now he’s using it to crib for his BIG EXAMS.

***

Power Grab for Dummies

First, let’s talk about how Mad Vlad muscled his way to the top. You see, just like Adolf "I’m the Chosen One" Hitler used the Reichstag Fire to declare a national emergency and tighten the noose, Putin had Russia's post-Soviet meltdown and the Second Chechen War. “Look at this mess,” he said, rolling up his sleeves, “let Daddy fix this.” And fix it he did—by silencing any opposition faster than Scarface in Miami. Alexei Navalny, his most vocal critic, got dead. Coincidence? I’m like Philip Marlowe: I don’t believe in them.

Putin’s version of Hitler’s Enabling Act? Controlling the Duma. Whatever laws he needs to stick around forever magically materializes. Extend my term? Done. Limit political freedoms. Why not! Just like that, Putin’s presidency has no expiration date. Because why leave power when you’ve just gotten comfortable?

Economy on Lockdown

Oligarchs, Gazprom, and a Pot of Gold

Now, what’s a proper dictator without a stranglehold on the economy? Hitler had his industrialists like Krupp and Siemens bankrolling the blitzkrieg. (He was following the Mussolini handbook.) Putin? He’s got Gazprom and Rosneft, Russia’s gas and oil giants. After coming to power, he cracked down on those annoying oligarchs who thought they could just run wild with their ill-gotten fortunes. Take Mikhail Khodorkovsky—he got too big for his britches and ended up in a Siberian cellblock. The rest of the oligarchs? They took the hint and started “playing fetch” with the Kremlin, becoming loyal pets in exchange for the right to keep their billions. It's the kind of backroom deal that Putin used his KGB techniques to perfect while in Saint Petersburg. And that’s not even the half of it. Putin’s turned Russia’s energy sector into a geopolitical battering ram. Western Europe, especially Germany, had depended on Russian fuel for its fix, and Vlad knew it. If you wanted to mess with him, get prepared for your lights to go out. Like a piratical oil baron. He held Europe for ransom.

Remember in the 1930s how Hitler weaponized German industry to build his war machine? Putin’s been doing it with pipelines and Petro-dollars.

He’s playing chess, and The West is playing checkers.

Tanks, Cyberwar, and Hybrid Mayhem

Putin's real playbook might as well be "Blitzkrieg for Dummies." Look at Crimea. Look at eastern Ukraine. Hell, look at Georgia in 2008. Putin doesn’t just roll in with tanks and troops, though that happens too. He’s a fan of the hybrid approach: a little cyberattack here, a disinformation campaign there. Make sure nobody knows what’s real and what’s Kremlin fiction. By the time you realize Russia’s soldiers are in your backyard, you’re already getting eviction notices in Cyrillic.

Sound familiar?

Hitler destabilized Austria and Czechoslovakia before rolling in, too. Putin did the same thing with his “little green men” and propaganda squads. And when the West protested, he shrugs and smiles—"What invasion? We're just helping our Russian-speaking brothers!"

If you buy that it’s time to sign up for that beachfront property in Siberia.

Making Russia Nasty Again

Here’s where things really get freaky. Putin, like Hitler, wraps himself so tight in the Russia flag it’s hard to tell where the man ends, and the shroud of Putin begins. It’s a messianic mess. Hitler sold Germans on the idea that he was bringing the Fatherland back from the brink, erasing the humiliation of Versailles. Putin’s got his own “Greater Russia” —bringing the glory of the Soviet Union back to life, minus that passe communism (too passé). What’s in the pipe dream he’s smoking? He’s tap dancing in Red Square and the crowd loves it. He’s the shirtless Czar, wrestling bears, diving for treasure, commanding armies. His carefully cultivated image of macho-man leader keeps Russians laughing with him at the enemy instead of at him. It's a cult of personality fit for a Tomorrow belongs to me youth movement. The Putin Youth. Victory Day parades are his personal holidays, where tanks roll down the streets and he’s grinning like Russia’s just won the World Cup.

A Punchline in Your Face

So here we are. It’s 2024, and Vladimir Putin is running Russia like his own personal kingdom, playing a game of geopolitics that echoes the darkest pages of 20th-century history. The West waffles, sanctions apply, and yet the man marches on, shirtless and smiling, convinced that the world is his chessboard.

While we’re busy shaking hands and making speeches, Putin’s sharpening his knives and laughing in the Kremlin, dreaming of empires. And in moments of reverie interrupted, Putin rattles on till he’s blue in the face about peace while bullying the West with nuclear threats. He gets away with it, even with some Western pundits who should know better if only by the evidence of their eyes. Try Izium. Think of Mariupol, Bakhmut & Marinka. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to connect the dots. So, what’s the Putin-apologist’s excuse? Oxygen deprivation from keeping their heads stuck so deep in the sand that they miss the line drawn in it. Search me. I say the proof is in the pudding. If he invades like a Fuhrer and he talks like a Fuhrer, he might just be a Fuhrer.