Russia seems to emerge victorious from most international geopolitical conflicts, and the reason behind the tremendous success is President Vladimir Putin’s brilliant education, Le Figaro says.
The French daily newspaper, Le Figaro, has suggested that the success of the Russian strategy abroad is largely linked to the profound knowledge of geography that President Vladimir Putin has shown.
The publication cited an illustrative example that took place in October 2017, when Putin interrupted the speech of Alexander Tkachov, the agriculture minister, who was addressing pork exports to Indonesia. The Russian president explained that he was wrong because Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country (about 87 percent of the population), which means Russia cannot sell them pork.
Unlike his Western counterparts, President Putin has an excellent understanding of cultural differences due to the high quality of Soviet education, as well as his personal interest in geography, which allows him to conduct a more elaborate policy, Le Figaro noted.
The media outlet also stressed that, for instance, former French and US presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and George Bush, couldn’t distinguish between Shia and Sunni Muslims at the beginning of their tenures, which led to catastrophe in the Middle East.
In a similar way, Le Figaro wrote, the current French president, Emmanuel Macron, made a geographical blunder, by calling Guiana, a French overseas territory in South America, an island.
SPUTNIK
R.S