The Tribune

DONALD Trump and Vladimir Putin have managed to push other world leaders and most unrelated news from the front pages of newspapers for significant parts of the past eight months, since the first information about Trump’s business ties to Russia and possible Russian interference in the US presidential election began to leak out last summer.

There is some new headline relating to the US-Russian relationship, it seems, almost every day. In some respects, this is exactly what Russian president Putin and US president Trump want, for different reasons.

Trump has often expounded his view that no publicity is bad publicity, and his electoral success seems so far to have largely reinforced his view. While he goes through momentary pauses in promoting himself and his opinions, he seems to still believe that it’s a good thing to be in the headlines.

For the Russian leader, the new Russian notoriety recalls national glory he clearly misses. Putin, an ex-KGB official during the Cold War, openly yearns for a period 30 years ago when the then-USSR stood at the centre of the world stage, sharing it only with the United States. The two nations were the world’s superpowers, due in significant measure to their military might. Post-World War II generations of Americans took for granted their status at the epicentre of world events - and largely continue to do so today.

For post-war Russians, the experience has been different. Spectacular achievements in rocketry, such as the launch of the first Sputnik and steady military development, kept the USSR in the spotlight, even as the inherent social and economic weaknesses of the centralised Soviet system eroded the structure of the USSR. Then, in 1990, the Soviet Union collapsed.

By the time of the disintegration of the Soviet empire, Russians already had been reduced to the status of an ethnic minority in the USSR.

Under the USSR, rigid centralised control from Moscow may have engendered calamitous economic inefficiencies, but it also provided a predictable structure for the empire’s populace. Ambitious citizens could see a way forward for themselves and for their families. That way was service to the Communist Party, and advancement through its ranks to positions of privilege and relative wealth was possible through loyal and able accomplishment. Most crime was committed by the state. The result for most law-abiding average citizens was a daily life unburdened by uncertainly in many areas.

In more recent times, an atmosphere more akin to the Wild West in the US has prevailed. Lots of governmental and private actors have jumped into graft, corruption and crime. Reputable Western academics have been describing Russia as a hollowed-out shell of a nation, almost entirely dependent on commodity prices - particularly in oil and natural gas - for its economic buoyancy.

To Western eyes, it is almost as though the Putin regime has kept some of the worst features of the old Communist - and even Tsarist - regimes while introducing the worst features of an economy more like the Western free enterprise model.

Meanwhile, Russians remain a proud people. Putin’s domestic popularity is said to derive mostly from his restoration of Russia to a place of international prominence. His annexation of Crimea, widely condemned, felt good to most Russians. Similarly, his meddling in eastern, largely Russian-speaking, regions of Ukraine makes his countrymen proud. He is credited with restoring Russian prominence in the world.

So Russia’s new place at the centre of attention, displayed for the Russian people mostly through the lens of a state-controlled media, is seen in a much different light than in the West, where Putin’s aggressive meddling in the US, Europe and elsewhere is universally condemned.

Against this backdrop, questions continue to arise about Trump’s business ties to, and perhaps vulnerability to, Russian blackmail. Acrimonious US-Russian disagreements boil over numerous geopolitical issues ranging from NATO policies to Syria to the Baltic Sea. In Washington, investigations continue to examine Russian interference in the US election. The American House of Representatives, the US Senate and the FBI are among those doing the investigating.

So US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits the Russian capital and the world holds its breath. It won’t be the last time the two old antagonists command the world stage.