HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice, better known as Game of Thrones, is much more than a terrific piece of entertainment. Beneath its continuing subplots and the personal dilemmas each character suffers is the supreme quest for unbridled power and influence between the mighty kingdoms.
The twists and turns that transfer authority from one kingdom to another are written brilliantly and devised with a cunning, almost demonic quest for domination that seems impractical, if not pure fantasy, in the real world.
How on Earth could we equate anything remotely plausible in today’s world to a television show populated by dragons, witches, and the undead?
Let me introduce you to Vladimir Putin, the President and supreme ruler of the Russian Federation.
Russia’s Intriguing Saga
One of the most fascinating narratives to develop in the United States since the Trump Presidency is the idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not as much of a bad guy as others have made him out to be.
The shift occurred after Trump embraced the man for whatever reasons he felt important while ignoring Putin’s routine atrocities, such as his penchant for assassinating enemies and locking up any potential political threats to his power or presidency. Trump took those indiscretions in stride, which meant that Republicans far and wide did the same thing.
Then Trump loses the election and the evil Joe Biden becomes President, giving ol’ Vlad an excuse to start a war with the Ukraine under the guise of protecting Russia from the nasty people in the West (primarily the United States).
We all pretty much thought that was a power grab by Vlado, so we pumped up the great American war machine and started spitting out billions of dollars in munitions and super advanced techno war stuff to beat back the nasty Russians and their President, who seemed to lose his way.
The Big Mistake
In a rare miscalculation, Putin didn’t think all of NATO would back Ukraine, nor did he count on the Ukrainians fighting with every last breath to save their country from Russian occupation. This error in judgment has cost the Russian President dearly, as he is now bogged down in a conflict that could last a decade and that he will quite possibly lose.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Russia’s Ties
Vladimir Putin and Russia, by association, have developed some powerful ties to countries that Hillary Clinton might call undesirable. Those include Iran, Turkey, North Korea, Syria, Lebanon, and a host of terrorist groups with fun names, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, who are famously controlled, aligned with, or just take orders from Iran. (Yes, I deliberately left China out of this group because most of their human rights abuses are kept within their own country, shrugs.)
The Horrific Attack on Israel
That brings us to the unprecedented attack upon Israel in which one of the aforementioned groups, Hamas, to be exact, conducted what most experts are calling a chillingly sophisticated, despicable massacre of human beings ever perpetrated against the Jewish State.
Without question, we blame and despise Hamas for their actions (which we should), but we don’t look at the strategic considerations of the attack. Who benefits in the broader sense, and most importantly, who is involved and why now?
First of all, there can be no doubt in the minds of any terrorist, with even the slightest sense of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that Israel will literally destroy every last one of you and anyone connected to you in retaliation for the attack. So, your life expectancy as of Saturday, October 7th, 2023, can be calculated in terms of hours and days instead of years and decades.
You choose this path because you hate Israel, and you have been brainwashed into believing killing others and dying yourself is somehow beneficial to Palestine.
Who Really Called the Shots?
The problem is that you didn’t make this decision, did you?
We can’t discount the possibility that it was made for you by someone who used their influence and desire for global power to distract the world at large and the United States, in particular, from focusing on the war in Ukraine.
Putin’s Game of Thrones
In this potential “Game of Thrones” scenario, Putin has teamed up with the arch-enemy of the United States, Iran, to devise and execute a stunningly complicated attack upon a favorite target in the Middle East.
The objective would be to create a new and more urgent conflict to distract world attention and resources away from the Ukrainians battling to save their country from what Ronald Reagan once dubbed “The Evil Empire.”
For its part, Iran is pretty much down for anything that causes the United States political and economic strife, so it was probably an easy sell for Putin to get Iran to go along.
Evidence in the World’s Reactions
As calculated, the world is outraged and denouncing the attack as barbaric. The United States is sending aircraft carriers and weapons to aid and arm Israel. President Biden is condemning everything he can remember. The House Republicans are still trying to figure out their daddy issues, and the last thing on anyone’s mind is the Ukrainians who are struggling for their very survival.
In the meantime, Russian television is marching a parade of Palestinian leaders and sufferers of Israeli wickedness across the airwaves to explain the pure evil committed against them. Meanwhile, Putin’s armies kill, maim, and destroy a country that existed harmlessly on its border as he desperately seeks to reunite the old Soviet Union and reclaim the title of King in The Game of Thrones.
While no solid evidence connecting Russia to this heinous attack has yet come to light, given the current state of the world and each country’s reactions to the events, it’s not something to rule out completely.
D.G. Allen is a political commentator and writer.