LONDON LETTER: Deeper meaning of the Putin love fest

One of the stranger phenomena emerging in these weird times is the number of people in the West saying, albeit in whispers, how much they admire Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

I’m not talking about unrepentant Stalinists, Maoists and Trotskyites who supported communism during the Cold War and thus turned a blind eye to bigger mass murderers than Hitler, but ordinary conservatives who normally admire America.

In other words, dare I say it, guys like me. Although, I hasten to add, not me.

You hear it in the pubs and general conversations, even though it is usually prefaced by ‘Putin may be b@$^!rd’ …. but the general consensus is that at least he is doing something.

Having grown up in an era when the Soviet Union was the ultimate bogeyman, for Westerners of my generation, this is about the biggest U-turn imaginable.

However, when you discard the historical baggage, that is not so unusual. In uncertain times, people like leaders who are certain. And Putin is the only major leader in Europe and America that seems to believe in what he’s doing.

Compare him to Obama, who has taken America’s image of being a treacherous friend and impotent enemy to new heights. Obama has done one-sided deals with Iran that benefit none of America’s allies; he has fawned over the multitude of Arab Springs that have ushered in extremists; he has ignored the Iraqi annihilations of the oldest Christian communities in the world; and he has allowed Syria to become a bloodbath where bizarrely the original bad guy is now better than any alternative.

Obama has also done nothing helpful to stem the tsunami of ‘refugees’ from North Africa and the Middle East who are threatening to swamp Europe and who are repaying the West’s hospitality by groping and grabbing thousands of Caucasian women.

So I suppose the leadership bar is not exactly towering at the moment.

Then along comes Putin. He invades Crimea to support a pro-Russian faction. He bombs ISIS, saying that although Syrian leader Assad may be a sunuvabitch, at least his men don’t stone gays and chop infidel heads off in front of video cameras. And he will only accept refugees that will embrace the Russian way of life. In other words, none.

All the while, he runs rings around the West. Not once has he been caught flat-footed, whereas Obama has a perpetually dazed expression as yet another crisis looms.

Male virility

But perhaps most of all, Putin exudes a type of virility that is lacking in European men today.

This is not me saying this, but a previously bang-on politically correct Danish broadcaster called Iben Thranholm.

This is exactly what she said: ‘To these individuals (North African and Middle Eastern ‘refugees’), strong European women are ‘easy’ and easy victims; they have respect only for strong men – and strong men aren’t exactly thick on the ground in Europe. The deficiency of masculinity in European culture renders it impotent in the face of the political and cultural chaos that has escalated along with growing immigration.’

I can only imagine how many luvvies choked on their skinny lattes when they read that.

Strong men? Masculinity? That is soooo yesterday, dude.

But Putin is today, and the shift of leadership is stark. Countries like Hungary, Slovenia and Ukraine are looking to him rather than the West for guidance as the Middle East explodes into a gazillion fragments.

Even many Germans consider him more of a hope for their country than Angela Merkel.

Iran, the new regional power in the Middle East, is a firm Russian ally, while America’s key partner Saudi Arabia is desperately scrambling around for more trustworthy friends.

But it is England that intrigues me the most. Even here a growing number of conservative Brits who were Russia’s most vehement critics barely a few years ago, are now saying they wish David Cameron was as steady in his beliefs as Putin.

I have no idea how this Putin love fest will pan out. But there is at least one good thing about him: he loves fishing.