The Emperor Has Had A Face Lift

[poliphilo]

Putin used to be genuinely energetic. It's one of the things people liked about him. More recently he's taken to faking it- inviting the cameras along to witness his bare chested romps through the wilderness and his arm-wrestling matches. I particularly enjoyed the one where he dived on an archaeological site and came up waving amphorae. Then, this autumn, he took his chum Berlusconi's advice and went for plastic surgery (his folks said it was just the lights making him look shiny) and now he's sporting the embalmed look so popular with an earlier generation of Russian leaders. Brezhnev could get away with seeming more dead than alive because he and his people controlled the pictures, but Putin lives in the age of YouTube- and once the Net decides you're a bit of a silly there's no going back. Maybe he'll survive the 12 more years at the top he's just awarded himself, but he's not going to find them comfortable. People are beginning to laugh (and boo and hiss.) Unless he comes down on them the way Stalin would have done, that's only going to get worse. Those who live by photo-ops, die by photo-ops.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Well said, Tony.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Cheers. :)

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Sadly, he appears to have his eye on the Baltics again. Time to brush up my mad singing skillz and book passage to Estonia, I guess.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Has he indeed? Bastard!

[ibid.livejournal.com]

He's blaming Hilary Clinton for stirring up trouble now. Problem is people honestly believe he's the only man who can do anything (ignoring the fact he's had years to do something for this country and he blatently hasn't) but where is the opposition?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Where indeed?

Same in Britain, same in the USA, same in any other country I can think of.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

In Britain, that may be true, but here in the US, no, it is not true at all. You might as well say that Labor and the BNP are not opposed to one another.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You reckon?

They may talk a different talk but once in power they all walk the same walk.

The Obama administration looks pretty much like the Bush administration to me. The same corporate ends are being served, the same wars are being prosecuted...

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Tony, how much longer do you reckon Obama will stay in Iraq? Oh, that's right: he pulled out of that one, just like he promised.

Why lie about something so easily checked?

For the record, I don't think it's personal. In your culture, it is unthinkable that an American would know more about what's happening in American politics than a Brit. You are, by my account, the third Englishman to get-up on his hind legs like this and lecture me on the politics of my own goddamned country, something I personally follow closely with keen interest.

The first time it happened, it rreally pissed me off and I wrote off a man I'd liked and respected for some years. At this point, I'm starting to recognize the more comical aspects and for that I thank you.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

And are you suggesting, sir, that the only differences between Labor and the BNP are purely rhetorical? If so, I shall have to see your work on that one. Feel free to use the back of this web page, if necessary.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Phoey! Anyone can jump on an archaeological site and find an amphora. It's just got to be the right site!

If it had been some Scythian gold headdress decorated with horses and stuff, then I'd have been impressed...