Voloyda Putin stood atop a staircase looking down at the toilet that was fixated against the bottom stair of the communal apartment. He gripped the freezing metal handrail with his left hand and shifted the large wooden stick in his right. He had spotted another one. With his eye on the target he was ready to go in for the kill. Voloyda made a quick lunge down the stairs, chasing the large, filthy rat around the hallway. The chase was on, but the pursuit was about to change direction. Suddenly, the rat lashed around and began to pursue the young boy, who was immediately taken by surprise, and, barely escaping the slimy creature, darted into the next open room. There was a resounding crash and yelp as he shut the wet, gray nose of the rat into the heavy door. Voloyda learned the meaning of the word cornered that day.
Forty-seven years later the target was Chechnya, and Vladimir Putin pursued the aggressor with the same swift precision, but this time he did not retreat in the face of danger. It was 1999 and tension in the Northern Caucuses was rising as Russia braced itself for an inevitably dangerous power transition. Putin was able to emerge from the conflict as the new leader of the Russian Federation. Putin's portrayal of his role in the Second Chechen War in First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President epitomizes the traits that allowed him to create for himself a political identity as a legitimate Russian leader.
[...] Nearly half a century after the rat chase in the stairwell Vladimir Putin had learned how to free himself from the corner. Putin legitimized his authority and heightened his appeal by making the decision to take the strong hand in Chechnya. His handling of the situation in the Northern Caucus characterized him as a powerful leader with the ability to face the challenges of modern Russia. Vloyda successfully avoided the mousetrap. Works Cited Putin, Vladimir. First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President . Translated by Catherine A. [...]
[...] A war for identity: Vladimir Putin's image as a product of the war in the Northern Caucuses Voloyda Putin stood atop a staircase looking down at the toilet that was fixated against the bottom stair of the communal apartment. He gripped the freezing metal handrail with his left hand and shifted the large wooden stick in his right. He had spotted another one. With his eye on the target he was ready to go in for the kill. Voloyda made a quick lunge down the stairs, chasing the large, filthy rat around the hallway. [...]
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