JRL NEWSWATCH: “Moscow attack: ‘The Russian population seems doomed to endure the Kremlin’s hunt for imaginary threats'” – Le Monde
“… If there’s one mistake the West made in its relationship with Russia, it was not paying enough attention to or taking seriously the rhetoric coming from the Kremlin and Russia’s political-military elites. Putin’s anti-Western, paranoid and virulent speech in Munich in 2007 was not out of character. Russia’s beliefs and ideas have never really changed since 1991. An analysis of its speeches and archives would have enabled the West to avoid many unpleasant surprises. What is remarkable about post-Soviet Russian politics, as the reaction of the Kremlin, the political scientist elites and the Russian media made clear, is not its unpredictability but its continuity – that of the ruling elites and their cognitive frameworks, which was partly shaped by the Soviet era. They almost immediately accused Ukraine, and therefore the West, of having masterminded the attack, despite the Islamic State (IS) Khorasan Province (IS’ Afghan affiliate) clearly claiming responsibility, and Washington being altruistic enough to warn Moscow of the imminence of the attack despite the prevailing hostility. Putin does not gamble; he is acting predictably and consistently with a stance that is traditional among the politico-military elites from which he originates. …”