Why Americans Don't Understand Vladimir Putin

Prompted by a wave of missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities which killed 12 and injured dozens over the weekend, President Trump expressed his frustrations with Vladimir Putin on Monday, saying “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!”

This is an interesting theory. Before we examine it in detail, it is worth pointing out that numerous US Presidents have attempted to believe it. President George W. Bush famously “looked into Putin’s eyes and saw a soul”, while Bill Clinton insisted that Putin could be relied on to stick to their agreements. US Presidents prefer (or at least pretend) to believe this because it prevents them from having to face the reality of who Vladimir Putin has always been, and what that means for America and the West. But, far more importantly, I think this belief is also a product of the American psyche, which makes even the most cynical US politicians susceptible to manipulation by those who operate within a different moral framework.

Regular readers will know that you will not find a bigger fan of the United States than me. Spending time in the US is always a joy - one cannot help but be inspired by the culture of openness, cooperation and positivity. The story of America is that anything is possible, especially when good people get together to do business, make money and thrive. While most Americans take these cultural traits as given, the reality is they are rare and, in no small part, the foundation of America’s success. Americans are widely regarded around the world as extremely friendly, welcoming, proactive and constructive.

But every coin has two sides. The trade-off of this business-focused, open-minded, good-faith, let’s-make-money approach is a consistent failure to contend with the reality that not all cultures and not all people are like this.

My Western friends often say that I come across as “intense”, “unsmiling” and even “angry” in interviews. By American standards they are certainly right. Which is why they are always surprised when I tell them the story of showing a Russian family member a school photo of mine. “Why have you all got that idiotic American smile?” she asked.

The open, welcoming and positive attitude that is the default setting in America is widely regarded in many parts of the world as evidence of gullibility, unseriousness and naivety. It is seen, sometimes justifiably, as an attitude that leaves people vulnerable to deception. Not because Americans are stupid, but because their desire to believe in the good of others makes it harder for them to recognise when others are not, in fact, good.

To fully grasp the cultural chasm between Russia and America, you need to understand history.

The United States is a nation of people who conquered a continent. It is filled with the descendants of those who left their homelands to seek a better life on the other side of the world. Facing immense hardships, they did not just overcome, they triumphed. In a few centuries, successive waves of newcomers banded together to build a nation out of nothing through hard work, a go-get-it mentality and a high-trust, collaborative society. Americans have no genetic memory of being invaded by powerful enemies, of being held down and oppressed by foreign conquerors, of mass persecution or extermination by their own governments, of totalitarianism, of famine, of failure. The American ethos is defined by overcoming the challenges the country has faced in its history: the Great Depression was merely a precursor to the country’s explosion into an economic and manufacturing superpower. Pearl Harbour was followed not only by overwhelming victory in WWII but by America emerging as the world’s dominant nation and the centre of Western civilisation.

Anything is possible, problems are challenges to be solved and the future is bright.

Now consider the history of Russia. One of the founding experiences of the Russian nation is being occupied by the Mongols. The descendants of Genghis Khan wiped out anyone who resisted and subjugated everyone else. If you are struggling to understand what this meant, imagine your country is invaded by ISIS or Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. They butcher, rape and torture their way through every major city. They force everyone else to bend the knee.

In Russian, this period is called the “Tatar-Mongol Yoke”, a yoke being a device used to join two work animals, such as oxen, together to pull a load.

This period of time lasted around 240 years, as long as the entire history of the United States. To this day, the Russian language contains many Mongolian words, especially those related to taxation, weaponry and war.

Another formative period in Russian history is called Smuta, or Times of Trouble. Ivan the Terrible, infamous for killing his only viable heir in a fit of rage, passed on his crown to a feeble and incapable son, Feodor. When Feodor died without an heir, Russia was thrust into 15 years of chaos in which a succession of usurpers and false claimants battled over the throne. Combined with famine, disease and a series of foreign invasions, the Times of Trouble saw at least a third of Russia’s population wiped out in just fifteen years. One of the key conclusions Russians drew from this is that whatever else he is, a ruler must be strong to maintain order. A weak ruler leads to chaos. And chaos is to be avoided at any cost.

How poorly this is understood in the West is ironically and perfectly encapsulated in the different names Russians and English-speakers have for Ivan the Terrible. The word “terrible” is a telling mistranslation: his moniker in Russian is much more accurately translated as “Fearsome”.

In the centuries since, Russia has been repeatedly invaded by its Western neighbors including the Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles, Finns and, famously, Napoleon and Hitler. While these attacks were ultimately repelled, they left deep scars in the Russian psyche. There is little triumphalism about defeating Napoleon, whose invasion saw Moscow burned to the ground. And while victory in the Great Patriotic War, the Russian name for WWII, is much celebrated, it came at the cost of around 20 million lives. For contrast, the United States lost just over 400,000 people in the same conflict.

Compare also the revolutions and civil wars which took place in the two countries. The Russian Revolution which sparked the Russian Civil War resulted in the installation of a tyrannical, murderous communist regime which exterminated its enemies, expropriated private property, and instituted a decades-long reign of terror ending in economic collapse and Cold War defeat in 1991. Meanwhile the American Revolution is a story of a successful fight for independence, while the American Civil War, although bloody and painful, is seen as the price of progress on the path to ultimate unification.

While American baby boomers lived through a period of economic expansion, success and triumph, their Russian counterparts—like Putin, born in 1952—grew up in the aftermath of a devastating war, Stalin’s slave labour camps, and economic stagnation. By the time they were in their prime, their country collapsed all around them creating chaos, instability and a sense of loss, humiliation and exploitation.

These historical experiences inevitably produce people who see the world through such different lenses that it might as well be a different world. Centuries of pain, poverty, famine, war, brutality, suspicion and humiliation do not produce happy, smiling, positive go-getters.

Which brings us back to the claim that the normally reasonable, rational and pragmatic Vladimir Putin with whom we can do business has suddenly become a different person and gone “CRAZY”. This claim is convenient for a number of reasons.