Putin
Ally Warns Americans To Vote For Trump Or Face Nuclear War
12 October, 2016
The
name of what is arguably Russia's most flamboyant, ultra-nationalist
politician, and according to some the local incarnation of Donald
Trump, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a deputy in the state Duma and leader
of the nationalist LDPR party, is familiar to frequent readers: he
most recently made an appearance on these pages two months ago, when
he warned Germany that it risks utter destruction if it continued on
its present track of operating Bundeswehr forces in the Baltics.
Zhirinovsky also shares another feature with Donald Trump: both are
outspoken to a fault. Which is why we were not surprised to read that
as Reuters reported earlier, Zhirinovsky urged Americans to vote for
Donald Trump as president or "risk being dragged into a nuclear
war."
In
an interview with Reuters, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, known in Russia and
Europe for his fiery rhetoric, said that Trump was the only person
able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington.
On
the other hand, Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said the
Russian who received a top state award from Putin after his
pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in
Russia's parliamentary election last month.
"Relations
between Russia and the United States can't get any worse. The only
way they can get worse is if a war starts," said Zhirinovsky,
speaking in his huge office on the 10th floor of Russia's State Duma,
or lower house of parliament. "Americans voting for a president
on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth
if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It
will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis
everywhere."
Well,
we said he was outspoken. And, Just like Trump, Zhirinovsky tends to
polarize his fellow countrymen. According to Reuters while "many
Russians regard the politician as a clownish figure who makes
outspoken statements to grab attention" he is also "widely
viewed as a faithful servant of Kremlin policy, sometimes used to
float radical opinions to test public reaction."
Zhirinovsky's
comments come at a time when relations between Russia and the US are
at generational lows, as a result not only of the conflicts raging
over Syria and Ukraine but also the recent White House accusation
that Russia was responsible for cyber attacks against Democratic
Party organizations. In turn, an amused Putin replied his country was
not involved in an effort to influence the U.S. presidential
election. Instead Putin accused the US of "starting this
hysteria, saying that this (hacking) is in Russia's interests. But
this has nothing to do with Russia's interests," in a speech
during a business forum in Moscow. He added that the accusations were
a ploy to divert U.S. voters' attention at a time when public opinion
was being manipulated. "Everyone is talking about 'who did it'
(the hacking)," said Putin. "But is it that important? The
most important thing is what is inside this information."
*
* *
But
back to "Russia's Trump": according to Reutersi,
"Zhirinovsky likes to shock liberal public opinion and he has
frequently heaped scorn on the West, which he and other Russian
nationalists regard as decadent, hypocritical and corrupted by
political correctness.
His
combative style, reminiscent of Trump's, ensures him plenty of
television air time and millions of votes in Russian elections, often
from the kind of blue-collar workers who are the bedrock of the U.S.
Republican candidate's support.
Zhirinovsky
once proposed blocking off mostly Muslim southern Russia with a
barbed wire fence, echoing Trump's call for a wall along the U.S.
border with Mexico.
Zhirinovsky,
who said he met Trump in New York in 2002, revels in his similarities
with the American businessman - they are the same age, favor coarse,
sometimes misogynistic language and boast about putting their own
country first. Zhirinovsky has even said he wants a DNA test to see
if he is related to Trump.
Where
the two differ, is that unlike Trump, an "anti-establishment
candidate in the U.S. presidential race with no past political
experience", Zhirinovsky is a consummate political insider who
has sat in the Duma for more than two decades; he is also more
diplomatic when he needs to be, such as in this interview in which he
continued to praise Trump: "(Trump) won't care about Syria,
Libya and Iraq and why an earth should America interfere in these
countries? And Ukraine. Who needs Ukraine?," said Zhirinovsky,
who once counted himself a friend of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libyan
dictator Muammar Gaddafi and whose deaths he still laments.
"Trump
will have a brilliant chance to make relations more peaceful ... He's
the only one who can do this," he said, adding that Trump could
even win a Nobel peace prize.
And
if he likes Trump, he must dislike Hillary. Sure enough Zhirinovsky
described Clinton as "an evil mother-in law" and said her
record as secretary of state under Obama in 2009-2013 showed she was
unfit to lead her country.
"She
craves power. Her view is that Hillary is the most important person
on the planet, that America is an exceptional country, as Barack
Obama said," said Zhirinovsky. "That's dangerous. She could
start a nuclear war."
He
did not stop here: "Most Americans should choose Trump because
men have been leading for millions of year. You can't take the risk
of having one of the richest, most powerful countries led by a woman
president," he said.
Asked
about lewd comments Trump made about women in 2005 that have harmed
his campaign, Zhirinovsky defended the Republican: "Men all
round the world sometimes say such things that are just for their
comrades. We must only consider his business (and political)
qualities."
Zhirinovsky,
who believes that although Putin and Trump have never met they could
establish a close working relationship, had a very binary conclusion:
"victory for Trump would be a gift to humanity. But if Hillary
Clinton wins it will be the last U.S. president ever."
Only
time will tell if he is right.
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