Putin’s democracy is turning into dictatorship. There are many who believe that he should be held criminally responsible for corrupting the American election system. The former recon-centered KBG man shows his colors when his relationship to organized crime show through the elimination of opposition. While it’s easy to acknowledge that Putin is taking steps to create a illiberal democracy, some would say that Russia doesn’t want to be democratic in the first place. In the time of the collapse of the soviet union, Putin was in charge of St. Petersburg which is known as the gangster capital of Russia. Under him, they had terrible food shortages, the promised food never arose. There has been evidence that Putin and his inner circle have used public funds to build private summer houses.
But the worst atrocity that is linked to Putin is Russia’s equivalent to 9/11, which was an apartment bombing which he used to wage war on a nearby region. All investigators involved in the apartment bombings have wound up dead or in prison. The president is above the law, this is the Russian style, closed systems fortified by bribery and corruption. Kleptocracy has had its influence outside of Russia through deliberate economic warfare. No investments happen unless Putin gives the word, he is fabulously wealthy through hiding his money through proxy companies. After the Arab spring, Putin was worried about his safety after leaving office so he didn’t back down.
According to the Kremlin’s playbook, “corruption is the lubricant on which this system operates.” This is indicative of the exploitation of state resources to further Russia’s network of influence. This should be considered a national security threat due to democratic backsliding. They call it Next Generation Warfare, where you cannot differentiate between government and organized crime and erode the foundations of democracy within. Sometimes Russian influence in another state’s economy can average more than 12 percent of its entire GDP. This influence disrupts faith in the structure of government, and the institution of election. Confusion, coercion, and paralysis is the name of the game in Russia’s overt and covert economic warfare. They want to collapse the countries from within because Russia wants to make the rules on the international stage again, so they use propaganda, espionage, blackmail, and subversion as their strategy of influence. They aim for Energy and economics in order to get a culmination of politicians friendly to them. By corrupting our systems they aim to “break internal coherence of the economic system” and threaten the moral authority of western democracies.
All in all, campaign interference is linked to economic influence and undermining the institutions in which US global leadership operates is the best way to weaken democracy. Information and economic wars in some respects are more powerful than traditional warfare. But it is within our power to stop Russian interference and New Generation Warfare. Watchful eyes may benefit us when our democratic institutions are at stake.
