Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin as Ivan the Terrible

This morning.

Via Lara Marlowe in the Irish Times:

Prof Lucjan Fac traces the cause of the war, and a pattern of Russian aggression, back to the 16th century.

“Vladimir Putin is the reincarnation of Ivan the Terrible,” Fac said as he showed me through the local branch of the Polish National Museum yesterday.

Ivan the Terrible (1547-1584), also known as Ivan Grozny, was the first tsar of all Russias, who tried to unite fragmented territories held by Slavic tribes.

“Ivan believed the religious and political doctrine which saw Moscow as the Third Rome, after the ancient Roman empire and Constantinople,” Fac explains. “This doctrine caused wars for centuries, and Putin is steeped in it. He thinks like the tsars. He sees democracies as unstable, because presidents and prime ministers come and go while he remains in power.”

Fac’s friend and fellow historian, Jan Jarosz, the director of the National Museum, believes Putin wants not to reconstitute the Soviet Union but to create “Great Russia”.

“In the tsarist mentality,” Jarosz says, ‘Big Russia’ [present-day Russia] plus ‘Little Russia’ [Ukraine] and Belarus equals Great Russia. Putin wants all eastern Slavs to unite in one Great Russia.”

Jarosz cites a press conference given by Putin five years ago. When asked what he would do about Ukraine, Putin responded: “Have you read the memoirs of General [Anton] Deniken?”
Territorial claims

The early 20th century Russian general wrote that whoever rules in Moscow must consider Ukraine to be a part of Russia.

‘Putin is Ivan the Terrible’s reincarnation’: The historical roots of the war in Ukraine (Lara Marlow, Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

Fight!

Illustration by Tahni Österman

Gulp.

Meanwhile….

Yesterday.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin sitting at a great distance during a meeting in Moscow, Russia yesterday.

Meanwhile…

Ah here.

Macron refused Russian COVID test in Putin trip over DNA theft fears – sources (Reuters)

Getty

Stop that.

This afternoon.

Geneva, Switzerland.

The first meeting between US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin has concluded after nearly two hours.

Meanwhile..

President Biden called Russia a “great power” and appeared to nod when asked if he trusts Russian President Vladimir Putin, sending the White House into damage control amid a chaotic introduction to the leaders’ high-stakes meeting.

The head-nod from Biden happened as US reporters and Russian security got into a near-brawl before him Wednesday in the stately Villa de la Grange in Geneva. The shoving match drowned out most of Biden’s opening remarks and appeared to confuse the 46th president as he sat near Putin.

Biden seemed to put Russia on equal footing with the US, saying in barely audible remarks, “We’re two great powers” — before nodding after a reporter asked if he trusts the Russian leader.

Biden and Putin face off in Geneva amid elevated tensions (NewYorkPost)

Getty

The jabski.

Gulp.

Any excuse

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar  (left) and Russian President Vladamir Putin

The topless thing.

You’re doing it wrong.

Via Jason O’Toole at RT [full article at link below]:

If it weren’t bad enough having to stomach the smugness of the Irish PM flouting his own rules, I reckon the sight of a topless Varadkar splashed all over the Irish papers on Tuesday morning would’ve put anybody off their breakfast.

You’d understand it better if he looked like Putin in his prime, but the only thing the PM, a qualified doctor, has to get off his chest here is a public apology.

…I can’t recall any other Irish PM in living memory who has made so many embarrassing slip-ups or as many remarkable volte-faces as Varadkar…

…I still laugh at how Varadkar was left with egg on his face when he once said he “wouldn’t be keen” on Donald Trump visiting Ireland – only then to become PM himself and end up fawning all over the US president in the Oval Office and even promising to learn how to play golf if the Leader of the Free World ever popped over to Ireland.

As I’ve always said, if an MRI scan was carried out on Varadkar, I doubt it would find any backbone. I believe he’s a spineless character willing to disregard once strong-held convictions to hold on to power.

I certainly couldn’t see any backbone on display in those photographs. Forget just needing to learn how to keep his big mouth shut, Varadkar should also keep his shirt on. Because the Covid-19 pandemic is certainly no picnic.

FIGHT!

Hypocritical Irish PM tells his people not to picnic during lockdown, then sunbathes bare-chested while picnicking 9Jason O’Toole, RT)

Yesterday: Picnicked

Gulp.

It’s probably nothing.

Trust the plan

Save yourselves, for pity’s sake.

More as we get it.