Popularity of 'Putin the Shiite' Sky High in Iraq

W460

Russian President Vladimir Putin's bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighboring Iraq, where some await "Hajji Putin" like a savior.

Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad workshop, painter Mohammed Karim Nihaya touches up a portrait of Putin he copied from the Internet.

"I have been waiting for Russia to get involved in the fight against Daesh," he says, referring to the Islamic State group that last year declared a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

"They get results. The United States and its allies on the other hand have been bombing for a year and achieved nothing," the bespectacled artist says.

The U.S.-led coalition has had some successes in helping Iraqi forces reconquer territory lost to IS in 2014 but overall the campaign has also suffered setbacks.

Russian warplanes began bombing targets in Syria on September 30 and on Wednesday Moscow ramped up its air war, unleashing cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea.

Some of them crossed Iraqi airspace and many here, especially among the Shiite majority, would welcome a bit of Russia's firepower on home soil as a much-awaited game-changer.

Only a fraction of Russian air strikes in Syria may have been destined for IS but Mohammed, a young jobless man outside the painter's shop, does not let statistics cloud his enthusiasm.

"We don't want the international coalition, we want only Russia and we will slaughter a sheep to welcome them," he says.

Some Iraqis see Moscow -- which has staunchly backed Damascus and Tehran in recent years -- as a more natural ally than the United States, that occupied the country for eight years.

Putin's patented leadership brand of bare-chested antics and cold determination is a also hit in Iraq, where the cult of the strong leader is alive and well 12 years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.

On social media, many have already made him an honorary citizen, with one widely circulated joke even detecting phonetic evidence of Iraqi antecedents in the Russian president's name.

It goes like this: Putin's father was an Iraqi grocer from the Shiite south, near Nasiriyah, who introduced figs ("tin" in Arabic) to local markets and thus became known as "Abu Tin".

After World War II, he moved to the Soviet Union, married "a blonde Russian girl" and named their son Abdulamir. That proved a bit of a mouthful for locals who Russianized it into Vladimir.

The apocryphal nature of the story appears lost on some Facebook users, who have embraced "Putin the Shiite" and even replaced their profile pictures with a portrait of the Russian strongman.

"We should give Putin Iraqi and Syrian citizenship because he loves us more than our own politicians," says Mohammed al-Bahadli, a student walking on a street in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.

"Muslims bomb us because we are Rafidha," says Saad Abdullah, who owns a convenience store in Najaf, employing a term which means "rejectionists" and is used by IS to refer to Shiites.

"Meanwhile Putin, who is an Orthodox man, is defending us... Maybe he really is a Shiite and we didn't know about it," he says before flashing a huge smile.

Taxi driver Ali al-Rammahi says Putin is the only reason he hasn't already joined the thousands of Iraqis fleeing the country to knock on Europe's doors.

"I thank Putin because he convinced me to stay in Iraq... Hajji Putin is better than Hussein Obama," he says, using the title given to Muslims who have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca.

"Putinmania" has also gripped some of Iraq's politicians, creating some confusion over Baghdad's stance on a Russian intervention.

Hakim al-Zamili, the head of parliament's defense committee and a leader in a Shiite militia that once fought U.S. forces, has suggested Baghdad has decided to request Russian air strikes.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is supported by the West, has been more equivocal but has not ruled out enlisting Russia's help.

Moscow recently increased its footprint in Iraq by joining a coordination cell set up in Baghdad to pool intelligence on IS fighters with non-coalition members Syria and Iran.

Comments 18
Default-user-icon hajj putin (Guest) 08 October 2015, 12:46

good article

Thumb _mowaten_ 08 October 2015, 14:03

lol yea, excellent read for a goat party in riyadh

Default-user-icon mowaten.fantoura (Guest) 08 October 2015, 14:05

is spamming your favorite hobby mowaten?

Default-user-icon mowaten.darta (Guest) 08 October 2015, 14:06

please don't tell me that was a political opinion, mowaten?

Default-user-icon mowaten.najas (Guest) 08 October 2015, 14:06

i hope you don't think you are funny?

Thumb _mowaten_ 08 October 2015, 14:07

"Muslims bomb us because we are Rafidha," says Saad Abdullah

This article and the included "quotes" seem like they were written by 3ar3our himself. Shiites consider themselves Mulsim, and therefore would never say something like "Muslims bomb us". Nice try AFP, but you're not fooling anyone

Missing peace 08 October 2015, 14:28

it's only because you have trouble reading in English that you cannot understand correctly the articles and jump to conclusions to suit your BS....

Default-user-icon Rita Nahas (Guest) 08 October 2015, 15:00

even on this article i find you!!! Who pays you to post mowaten? I demand answers and Now!

Thumb _mowaten_ 08 October 2015, 15:23

In the mean time, it seems that (despite your mastery of the english language) you're unable to answer the specific point I raised.

Missing peace 08 October 2015, 20:09

why should i try to teach English to a ignorant fool?... as you claim to be above everyone on this site, if you cannot understand this article it only means that truth hurts you once again so you try once again to make fun of it... like true cowards do....

Default-user-icon ayatollah vladimir abdulamir (Guest) 08 October 2015, 12:46

i always knew putin was shia

Default-user-icon ignorant shias (Guest) 08 October 2015, 12:48

DO these ignorant shia in iraq, lebanon, and elsewhere know how the russians treat an arab in moscow? Anything these shias will do to fuel their sectarian hate

Default-user-icon illegitimate & illiterate.southern (Guest) 08 October 2015, 13:48

you always give the best political and cultural analysis.
well said
Bravo

Default-user-icon kol khara southern (Guest) 08 October 2015, 13:49

did he ask for your opinion?

Default-user-icon tourist (Guest) 08 October 2015, 14:07

have you ever been to paris, london, or new york southern?

Default-user-icon Abu Nuss Lsein (Guest) 08 October 2015, 15:09

stop pretending you are a socialite; you can hardly read or write.

Missing peace 08 October 2015, 13:06

sure when you side with russia you will say that they get results... otherwise you would look like a fool supporting them. it is called propaganda.
it is not a few days of bombings that can achieve anything so those praising russia had better wait and see.....

Missing peace 08 October 2015, 18:21

"especially the Shiites in Iraq (but NEVER attacked Israel). "

just like assad but hezbis call him a "resistant" LOL

"The ONLY solution in Lebanon and the Arab world is for the NATIVES to unite and throw out the American (Zionist) puppet dictators, and other selfish dictators. "

true but hezbollah does not want to throw out assad the dictator and love him... double standards i guess...

and assad used to interrogate prisoners from guantanamo for the US after 9/11 as syrians are masters in torture techniques... so that the US wouldn't be blamed of using torture.... don't forget that too...

assad used to Harbour many islamist fanatics to manipulate them and used them for their interests... now people only see saudis as financing islamists when assad did the very same thing...