I laughed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron sitting so far apart at a big marble table. It made them look like two wannabe Napoleons. I thought Putin was trying in vain to snub Macron. But then I saw him keeping similar distance in a staged meeting from his own foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Then I knew Putin was just betraying what every autocrat fears: a plot to kill him.
He and Macron were discussing the maddening and insane prospect of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The is as ironic as it is foreboding. After all, Hitler’s invasion of Poland led inexorably to WWII. And it’s all too easy to see such an invasion leading inexorably to WWIII.
This brings me to Operation Valkyrie – the plot to kill Hitler. Because think of the carnage and lives that would have been spared if German army officer Claus von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators had succeeded.
The notoriously isolated Putin clearly fears members of his inner circle might be thinking of sparing the world similar carnage and lives.
Indeed, I would not be surprised if a Russian von Stauffenberg and co-conspirators are lying in wait. And, despite Putin’s efforts to assassin proof his life, I would not be surprised if these Russians succeed where their German predecessors failed.
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