A Specter is haunting Europe, the United States, and the rest of the World: It is the Specter of Putinism

People thinking their leaders do not connect with them.

These same people are finding it harder to survive on the salaries they bring home.

They also think their future is grim and reminisce about days long gone when life and the dignity of work were better.

They yearn for a leader or political group that makes their lives better.

Are these people in the United States? Britain? Europe? Around the world?

Try all the above and most are being manipulated by Demagogic (mostly ignorant) Populist useful idiots who have become willing pawns in a game of revenge and power against the N.A.T.O. alliance being conducted by the ultimate chess master Vladimir Putin.

Similar to the rise of Fascism in the 1920’s and1930’s, mainstream political parties (the Republicans in the United States,) who pursued elitist, obstructionist and dogmatic programs in their countries, have themselves to blame for resuscitating this Putin sponsored brand of Authoritarian Fascism by not taking care of the people left behind by globalization.

As a result, Vladimir Putin is in a position to accomplish, through his “Populist”-Fascist proxies in European capitals and the United States, what former Soviet Union leaders dreamt about during the Cold War: the break up of the European Union and the fracturing of the N.A.T.O. alliance.

Putin has already partially succeeded in his mission in promoting chaos and division by helping (either openly or covertly) Nigel Farage win Brexit and the Trump team and its Electoral College victory in the United States with Paul Manaforts memo to Russian social media operatives who targeted Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

This week, the European Parliament will have elections from May 23 to May 26. Many Putin allies and the political bloc they have formed called European Alliance for People and Nations are running. These include known Euroskeptic members like Italy’s separatist League Party, Germany’s Alternative for Germany Party, France’s National Rally (formerly known as the National Front), the Finns Party, and the Danish People’s Party. The leaders of these parties (including Matteo Salvini of Italy’s League Party, Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally Party, and the previously mentioned Nigel Farage’s of Britain’s Brexit Party) are all known admirers of Mr. Putin who have created links with him.

If successful, the election of these Pro Putin Euroskeptic candidates and their bloc could further destabilize the European dream and the N.A.T.O. alliance.

Voters in Europe should not believe the promises these false prophet candidates have made about reforming the European Union and improving their lives

. They want to tear it down and break it up. Look at Britain and the political turmoil and paralysis after the Brexit referendum. Look at the United States and the presidency of Donald Trump.

If people vote in this Euroskeptic bloc, the elected candidates will advance their own extreme nationalist, separatist and ethnocentric agendas.

This agenda only serves the interests of one person and that is Vladimir Putin.

Europeans should realize this and vote for candidates who, hopefully, have learned from the mistakes from the past, will govern in a way that serves and protects all people and put out the flames of anger that fueled the rise of these false populists in the first place.

The above title is a parody of the opening lines of The Communist Manifesto

Cartoons courtesy of Karsten Schley and Patrick Chappatte