Obama’s War Against Russia Backfires

Obama’s War Against Russia Backfires

By Eric Zuesse
Global Research, August 09, 2014

U.S. President Barack Obama’s war against Russia isn’t only causing Russia to cooperate more strongly with the other BRIC countries to break the U.S. dollar’s reign as the global reserve currency, but it’s also causing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s job-approval rating in Russia to soar, and the confidence that the Russian people have in their own Government to soar likewise.

The latest of these signs came on 5 August 2014 in a report from Gallup Analytics (by subscription only) headlined “Russians’ Confidence in Many Institutions Reaches All-Time High.” Especially sharp has been the rise in “Confidence in national government,” which was only 39% in 2013 prior to the overthrow by Obama in February 2014 of Ukraine’s government which had been friendly to Russia, but which confidence-level stands now at 64% — a gain of 64/39 or 1.64 times higher than it was a year ago. Confidence in the military has risen from 65% in 2013 to 78% now.

Confidence in the “honesty of elections” has risen from a very low 23% in 2013 to 39% today (which is 39/23 or 1.70 times higher), as increasing numbers of Russians have come to conclude that their political system is producing better results for them than they had expected, perhaps better than in the longer-established “democratic” nations, such as the United States, whose President Barack Obama is far less highly regarded now by Russians, after his overthrowing Ukraine’s Government, than he was prior to that. Remarkably, more Russians than ever before, 65%, answer “Yes” when asked “are you satisfied … with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?” Last year, only 56% did, down 2% from the prior all-time high of 58% in 2006.

A Gallup poll issued on 18 July 2014 headlined “Russian Approval of Putin Soars to Highest Level in Years,” and reported that “President Vladimir Putin’s popularity in Russia is now at its highest level in years, likely propelled by a groundswell of national pride with the annexation of Crimea in March on the heels of the Sochi Olympic Games in February. The 83% of Russians saying they approve of Putin’s leadership in late April/early June ties his previous high rating in 2008 when he left office the first time.” Furthermore, “The 29-percentage-point increase in Putin’s job approval between 2013 and 2014 suggests he has solidified his previously shaky support base. For the first time since 2008, a majority of Russians (73%) believe their country’s leadership is leading them in the right direction.” Pointedly, Gallup says: “At the same time that their faith in their own leadership has been renewed, Russians’ approval of the leadership of the U.S. and the EU are at all-time lows. The single-digit approval of the leadership of the U.S. and EU at least partly reflects Russians’ displeasure with the position each has taken on their country’s ongoing involvement in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.” Moreover, “Despite U.S. and European sanctions earlier this year over Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine, more Russians see their economy getting better now than has been the case since 2008.”

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