UT Professor Jeremi Suri: 'The Best Way to Think of Putin is Mussolini'

[TexasTowelie]

Texas Standard host David Brown spoke with Jeremi Suri, professor at UT-Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and the Department of History on what could be next.

"My prediction is that we'll see more Russian aggression, not less, in Eastern Ukraine," Suri says. "There will be a call from our allies, Poland, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic – countries that have reason to fear – will be calling for more … American military action in the region. We should expect to see that."

Suri also placed Putin in a historical context.

"The best way to think of Vladimir Putin is Benito Mussolini," Suri says. "This is the leader of a state who has made himself into a dictator, popular at home, by thumping his chest and flexing his muscles. This is a society with an economy that's going in the wrong direction, and the way he builds support at home is by expanding around him."

"He does not have an aim for world domination as Hitler did, and he does not want to challenge the United States in all corners of the globe as the Soviet Union did," Suri continues. "He wants to be the dominant force in Eastern and Central Europe. We can't let that [happen] because we have too many of our own economic interests, and too many allies of our own in the region."

More at http://kut.org/post/ut-professor-jeremi-suri-best-way-think-putin-mussolini .