generalspeaking

Wishful Thinking

Just too good to be true. And wishful thinking wouldn't make it so. The woodpecker has dutifully returned Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin. And there he is, basking in the limelight he so briefly abandoned.

"Have you all seen the broken, paralyzed president, who has been kidnapped by generals? He’s only just flown in from Switzerland, where he attended a birth, as you know."
Dmitri S. Peskov, President Putin's spokesman

"With your permission, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to add something here. Just now, Vladimir Vladimirovich drove me around the grounds, he was sitting behind the wheel himself. This was to dispel the rumors. I often hear different rumors about myself, this isn’t right. That is, the president of Russia not only walks, he races around, he gives guests rides."
president of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev

Vladimir Putin the disappeared, appearing with Kyrgistan's president

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Amazing, how many news sources, how many people in Russia and internationally were invested in speculating where the inimitable world leader had got himself off to. The rumour mill really did churn out an amazing array of hypotheses, some quite novel and engaging. And hopes were high that the man really was out of commission. That being so, what would happen with Russia's foreign relations?

Rumours that embassy staff at Russia's London mission had flown the roost, in emulation of that busy woodpecker giving rides to all and sundry. An announcement was imminent that their boss had kicked off this mortal coil, and they didn't want to miss the Kremlin announcement and the following introduction of a replacement regime. Likely they were all in their London digs, gritting their teeth with the agony of themselves having no idea...

In Austria, there was a newspaper claim that a Viennese doctor was in Moscow treating the great man's back problems; transferring that spike impaling him lower down to straightening his back in the position he so much prefers, the impervious, imperious dictator whose posture is ramrod erect, daring any to confront him for his imperialist actions toward his cowering neighbours.

Perhaps he needed a break after extending himself to such a prodigious degree of concentration, in his drive to solve the mystery of just who it was who assassinated that irritating mosquito of an opponent, Boris Nemtsov. Having arranged the arrest of the Chechen suspects, he fulfilled his obligation to Mr. Nemtsov's mother, and all is well once again in Moscow; so, time for a break -- or a breakaway.

"He has meetings all the time. He has meetings today, tomorrow. I don't know which ones we will make public. We've already said this a hundred times, this isn't funny anymore", protested Dmitri Peskov testily, last week. But back then the rumour mill was just revving up. Since then so many suggestions were posed on Twitter with the hashtag "Putin is dead", you'd think the public was actually invested in that death becoming reality. Someone conferred with the Chechens over this?

Well, of course, he was in Tichino, the Swiss canton where his girlfriend was giving birth at a clinic catering to wealthy Russians. And this is one fabulously wealthy Russian. The man who excels at disappearing those he is fed up with deliciously himself disappeared. And hopes were high. Was he scaling Mount Everest in bathing trunks? Did he join the cosmonauts on the space station circling Earth, and might he be there for awhile and leave the international community some breathing room?

"After 15 years in power, Putin has so personalized the system that it becomes increasingly difficult for his subjects to envision a Russia without him", wrote Washington Post's Julia Ioffe. "It is NOT normal for heads of state to disappear for several days, especially those with nuclear weapons", tweeted Michael McFaul, former American ambassador to Russia.

Wrong, all wrong, there is a) nothing amiss, or b) everything amiss, for the man has returned, looking amused and sweetly adorable in a cuddly mood of appreciation that he has been so missed by people who longed to see his dashing figure and reassuring visage on the world stage again.

Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles, during his meeting with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev in the Konstantin Palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia, on Monday. Putin resurfaced Monday after a 10-day absence from public view, looking healthy.  Associated Press

Labels: Celebrity, Russia, Vladimir Putin

posted by Pieface @ Monday, March 16, 2015