A new home for Putin?

It is one of the great ‘what ifs’ of the modern era. What if the West had properly and constructively engaged with Mikhail Gorbachev, rather than eyeing up a capitalist free-for-all under the drunken dystopia Boris Yeltsin inaugurated? Of course with 20/20 hindsight one can see where things went wrong, and how they may have gone a lot better. But still, with hindsight, one can also see how the West contributed to the creation of the current Russian ’bogeyman.’ Even the recent report of the Intelligence and Security Committee bearing down with kid gloves on the Russian influence on ’democracy’ can’t avoid touching upon our role in facilitating Russian corruption and lack of interest in stemming it. The question is, why would Putin give a toss about what the West proclaims is the standard of behaviour expected of him? If push comes to shove, and his crimes begin to emerge in prosecutions in his own country, he could always escape here. Maybe even the house General Pinochet stayed in could be made available.