Roger's picture from his early days at Kutztown University.
Roger took the time out of his busy schedule to bring us up to date on his thoughts on Russia and Putin today. He gave some interesting ideas about Putin and what the world thinks of him today. However Roger believes that we as the western world need to take some responsibility for the way that Putin is acting on the world stage today. Roger explains that while Putin was rising to power the Russian people a proud people were subject to decolonization, De- Add to dictionary, De collectivism, few societies have ever undergone such a transformation in such a short period of time. Result of all this change along with economic destabilization it produced an angry society. Yeltsin turned to the West for help received a lot of theory but no monies to back the theories. Putin was the person that could change the landscape. In 1998 there was a severe economic downtown in Russia, giving Putin the ability to rise in the Russian world. Yeltsin handpicked Putin. In 1999 Yeltsin came on to TV gave an emotional speech describing his tenure in his Presidency.
The event that gave Putin his power was the war in Chechnya. Putin proved he could stop the De Colonization of Mother Russia. Dr. Roger Whitcomb did an incredible job of explaining why Putin and Russia are where they at today.
Please see Roger's who Speech on You Tube to be available in two weeks on Emmaus Rotary You Tube.
If you have some interest in what Roger had to say please take a moment and read his book "The Cold War in Retrospect: The Formative Years".
Dr Whitcomb spent 34 years as a Political Science Professor at Kutztown University. He has also spent considerable time traveling back and forth to Russia where he lectured at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He spent considerable amounts of time doing research in the archives of the Former Soviet Union. Today Roger is Retired and spends a lot of his time traveling with his wonderful wife.