The article appeared in The Atlantic April, 2019, adapted from his book The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal.
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Remarkable to witness the establishment of a caretaker government--really, that's what Putin is President of. The Russian government faltered under Yeltsin after the Empire collapsed, then Putin was installed; and his dicta have been followed ever since, making him a very rich man with several palatial estates.
There could be no rapprochement with the West afterward because Russia is the land of the Czars--the elegance of aristocrat-dominated Europe. The best in music, ballet and opera. A heritage that should not be cast aside to become embroiled in a market economy of an up-and-down stock market and risky future. I saw Russia first-hand in the 1990s during the demise of the Empire; and it was depressing to see.
Who came on the scene early during the changeover was the Mafia--Burns has it right. People were hungry and disparate for a staple existence. And, I believe that early on in Putin's government the people did well in recovering. But then he longed for more; he longed for what only an Empire resurrected would give him. To him, Russia became his resource for personal attainment of Czar status, even when there was no czar any longer.
When you look upon his face you see a depressed man (at least, I do)! When I was there, everybody knew oil was there in the ground for production and selling. Their future was not gloom and doom; but nor was it that other nations' would do obeisance to a tarnished star.
Today, he is floundering, yet popular among his people. He cannot rid NATO from his their station near Russian shores nor gain allegiance from the former Russian satellites. He is victim of an age in which there are many dictators but none the ruler of an Empire. Even Ukraine, that once did the bidding at Russia's beck-and-call resists takeover by some puppet regime Putin might otherwise establish, possibly waiting in the wings. Today, the small state of Ukraine resists his power that rules now the Crimea but now not in Ukraine's capital.
Burn's exhortation to us all: Don't give up on Russia after Putin.
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