My Take | Failed coup makes Putin even more dangerous
- Instead of weaponising the Ukraine crisis against China, Washington should work with Beijing to prepare for any Russian fallout
US President Joe Biden, whose mental competence is increasingly being questioned, declared this week that Vladimir Putin is “losing the war in Iraq”.
He was commenting on the coup that wasn’t quite a coup staged by the Russian Wagner mercenary group.
Biden might have named the wrong country, but his sentiment is widely shared. The news and op-ed headlines in the mainstream Western media display an amazing uniformity of judgment. But given their almost total support for Ukraine before the “coup”, theirs is a foregone conclusion.
These are just some typical examples: “Ukraine can now end Putin’s crumbling regime”, from The Telegraph; “The Putin system is crumbling”, the Financial Times; “Prigozhin’s mutiny against Putin’s reign of lies”, The New York Times; “Putin’s international devaluation”, Le Monde; “Is blocked coup Putin’s last gasp?”, Financial Post in Canada; “Putin Is Caught in His Own Trap”, The Atlantic; “Putin looked into the abyss”, The Washington Post.
Unless you are already a member of the choir they are preaching to, you may legitimately ask whether their readers are well-served by such a uniformity of opinion.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are wrong. Still, it’s worth digging a little deeper than just declaring, “Time’s up, Putin”. There is an interesting alternative school of thought that may be labelled as “Be careful what you wish for”. Putin’s downfall may result in worse outcomes for everyone.