As Putin destroys food, he is finally exposing his true nature to the Russian people

Brian Whitmore says that,

"War may be politics by other means. But Vladimir Putin also understands that politics can be war by other means.

Having failed to achieve the destabilization of Ukraine on the battlefield, the Kremlin leader now appears to be trying to achieve that goal politically -- by forcing the separatist-held parts of Donbas back into Ukraine, with broad autonomy, as a Trojan horse." (RFERL : July 31, 2015) (my emphasis)

An inhuman indicator of Putin's failure to destabilize Ukraine on the battlefield is his recent signing of a decree to destroy all western food that has been smuggled into Russia.

As Sarah Rainsford reports,

"The sight of vast amounts of banned foreign food being bulldozed, buried or burned is causing controversy in Russia.

 .....

Tens of thousands of people have joined a protest petition to President Vladimir Putin. 

...

As the presidential decree came into effect on Thursday, state TV ran reports accompanied by vivid images of huge, round cheeses being dumped and crushed.

Reporters hailed a crackdown on contraband, but many Russians are deeply disturbed by the development." (BBC News : 7 August 2015) (my emphasis)

And whilst Putin is destroying food as the number of Russians falling below the poverty line rapidly increases (cf also: Moscow Times),

"A new batch of coal in the amount of 80,000 tonnes has been supplied to energy-starving Ukraine from South Africa, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Voschevsky said on Tuesday at a round table discussion on preparations for the 2015-2016 heating season." (UNIAN : 04.08.2015) (my emphasis)

Bear in mind that South Africa is a member of the BRICS group, an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. 

 One would have thought that the BRICS countries would have somehow supported Putin in his war with Ukraine. Not so in the case of South Africa.

And as TASS reports,

"The purchase of additional coal volumes [from South Africa] is on the agenda" (TASS : August 4, 2015) (my emphasis)

Adding to Putin's current headaches over his war with Ukraine, 

"Poland together with Ukraine's other neighbors should be involved in resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine, Poland's president-elect Andrzej Duda (right) said." (Wiktor Szary : Reuters : Wed Aug 5, 2015) (my emphasis) 

This would blow up the rather cozy relationship that Putin has so far enjoyed with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande during the Minsk talks that have so far have taken place. 

If either Putin, Merkel, or Hollande, publicly baulk at this suggestion of Polish President elect Andrzej Duda, then this will particularly expose Merkel and Hollande as having being soft on Putin all along.

And yet again, the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko (right), has once more stated that,

""When I met with [Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr] Turchynov, I assured him that this would never ever happen. Nobody will attack Ukraine from our territory unless our interests have been infringed or Ukraine has been first to attack. But this will never happen," Lukashenko told non-governmental Belarusian media, euroradio.fm broadcasts." (UNIAN : 04.08.2015) (my emphasis)

Added to which, Pavel Aksenov reports that,

"Last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told parliament that Ukrainian components were used in the production of 186 types of Russian military equipment.

That is a serious problem, he admitted, and Moscow could resolve it only by 2018." (BBC News : 8 August 2015) (my emphasis)

From frigates to helicopters to Antonov transport planes; Russia needs the critical Ukrainian components for all of these war machines of Putin's.

 It would now seem that Putin has created for himself the perfect storm.

No matter how much his propaganda machinery tries to gloss over the fact that he is destroying tons of food, the Russian people are not fools. This action of his is doing him no favours with the Russian people. Rather, it is slipping the mask from his face and exposing his true nature to the Russian people.  No amount of the beating of the drum of 'Russian Nationalism' will make the Russian people forgive him for destroying food.

The suggestion of  the president-elect of Poland, Andrzej Duda, that he, together with others, join in on resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine, is a diplomatic move that neither Putin, Merkel, nor Hollande dare ignore.

The fact that key elements of Putin's war machine are no longer supplied by Ukraine should also give him pause for concern.

Ukraine is now stocking up coal for the winter months from sources other than Russia. It has also been stocking up gas from sources other than Gazprom.    

Perhaps, most critical of all,

"Ukrainian security officials have renewed their request for U.S. weapons while meeting with a visiting congressional delegation headed by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi." (Fox News (Associated Press): August 05, 2015) (cf also: Nancy Pelosi)(my emphasis)

(to be continued)