Why Trump and Putins relationship is headed for a divorce
Roman Dobrokhotov, Al Jazeera
After the inauguration of Donald Trump, media attention will be fixed on his first steps towards Russia. A lot has been said already about the difficult choice Trump faces after the hacking scandal: on the one hand, he promised voters he will improve relations with Moscow; on the other, any overture towards the Kremlin will be interpreted as a confirmation of the rumours about the alleged influence Russian President Vladimir Putin has over him. But little has been said about the dilemma that Putin himself faces, and that one is even more difficult.
On the one side, Trump's victory was an unexpected gift for the Kremlin, and it seems no one is trying to hide the fact. Russian state media are going out of their way to compliment the newly elected US president and smear his opponents. For example, Russia's Channel One news reports portray Trump as a defender of the working class, who is harassed by deceitful media and attacked by paid demonstrators, and who will finally rescind an "unpopular" healthcare reform and defend the country against migrants. In other words, the Kremlin's propaganda defends the US president with such dedication, as if he were the Russian president. One can understand why this is so. After all, many painful political issues are at stake. The main one is, of course, the repeal of the sanctions, which are harming not so much the Russian economy, as individuals in Putin's closest circle.
Another important issues is Ukraine. The Kremlin hopes to have Crimea recognised as Russian territory and not to have any weapon systems installed on Ukrainian territory. Of course, there are also expectations about the resolution of the Syrian question: Moscow hopes that Trump's administration won't demand that Assad steps down. The Kremlin is happy about Trump's statements on NATO and it hopes that its expansion will stop and military deployment close to Russian borders will be curbed. But there is another side to this coin: Trump's presidential victory could be a headache for Vladimir Putin as well. The past 10 years, and especially since 2014, all internal Russian propaganda has been built on the concept of the external enemy - the West led by the US. The whole world believes that Russia is fighting in the Donbass region against Ukraine, but Russian media says Russia is fighting in Ukraine against the US. The whole world thinks that in Syria,Russia is defending Bashar al-Assad. But Russian media reports that in Syria Russia is resisting Washington's attempt to spread chaos through the armed groups it controls.
The US is the answer to all painful questions. If the opposition in Russia organises marches, of course, it is the US which wants to destabilise Russia by paying activists to protests. An economic crisis in the country? No, the problem is not corruption and ineffective governance, it is Western sanctions! And if a law banning "homosexuality propaganda" is being voted on, then that is justified with protecting society from the "corrupting influence of the West". In fact, there is not one problem which the sharp-tongued Russian TV hosts cannot link to the US. For example, if you get detained without any reason, even beaten up in the police station, you wouldn't blame it on Washington. But it can always be pointed out that after all, in America the police would shoot you on the spot for even the slightest resistance.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-trump-and-putins-relationship-is-headed-for-a-divorce-2017-1
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