Putin's scorecard: some wins, 2 big losses

Vladimir Putin is ambitious and ruthless.   As President of Russia -- but also as a former KGB officer during the old communist regime -- Putin seems to be pulling Russia back into a more rigid, autocratic police state.    The recent anti-gay legislation is one example.

Putin lobbied hard and won the Olympics for Sachi in 2014.   This was part of a plan to renew the image of Russia as a can-do nation, one with athletic prowess as well as geo-political power.

There have been some notable Olympic wins for the Russians.   This week, Russia and the U. S. have been shifting back and forth in 1st and 2nd place for total number of medals won.   They won big victories in ice skating:   gold in both team figure skating and ladies singles figure skating.

But they lost the one that was by far the most important to them.   Finland eliminated Russia in ice hockey even before the semi-finals.   This was a big blow.

Now it seems the latest developments in Ukraine represent a defeat for Putin as well.  He had been trying to pull Ukraine away from the West and closer in trade and political alliances with Russia;  but a sizable portion of the Ukranian people wanted to align with the European Union.

On the eve of joining the EU, President Yanukovich suddenly announced they would not but instead would renew trade agreements with Russia.   He was being portrayed as a puppet of Putin who was pulling the strings.  This led to street protests that have grown increasingly violent.

The latest announcement is calling it a coup.   The Ukraine parliament voted yesterday to oust President Yanukovich and to hold new elections in May.    The former President Yulia Tymoshenko has been released from hospital, where she was being held as a (political) prisoner on trumped up charges.

There is some question about who the protesters are, and therefore whether the U. S. should back them.   But this latest development where Parliament has acted seems reassuring, at least in my uninformed view.

My main point, however, is not in doubt:   This has to be seen as a defeat for Putin, along with Russia's ice hockey team not even making it to the semi-finals.    Remember it was an adage bandied about:   "If we win the hockey gold, nothing else will matter.   If we lose, nothing else will matter."

Still, (fingers crossed for a few more days) the games have mostly gone off well, except for the temperatures being too warm and melting the snow.  And, most important, there have been no terrorist attacks -- so far.    That's got to be a boost for Russia and for Putin -- but Ukraine and hockey keep it from being the triumph they wanted.

Ralph