Vladamir Putin -- The World's Most Interesting Man

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

In 2008, Russian President Vladamir Putin surprised many Russia observers by stepping aside after two consecutive terms in office instead of "requesting" a special set aside of Russia's Constitutional limitation on anyone holding the office for more than two CONSECUTIVE terms. It was less surprising that Putin protege Dmitri Medvedev succeeded him in office, and it was even less surprising when Putin won the office of Prime Minister, leading to the "tandem rule" of Russia's top offices.

President Medvedev's first term in office is up in 2012, and he has indicated that he will run for a second term. But complicating this are strong signals that Putin intends to stand for President again -- as is allowed by Russian law. Putin has cultivated quite an image for himself since he came into the public eye, and he has an extensive portfolio of photographs speaking to that image that he can use in an upcoming election in March of 2012:



Putin, test driving a Formula 1 race car:



Putin, and a Siberian tiger:



Putin, knowing Kung Fu:



Putin, on an archeological dive in Greece:



Putin, surfacing with ancient artifacts:



Putin, Bond Villain:



Putin, bending a frying pan with his bare hands:



Putin, shooting a crossbow....AT A WHALE



Putin, concert pianist:



Putin, piloting a submarine to 1400 feet below:



Putin, hugging a Bulgarian shepherd dog...possibly the nicest thing any Russian politician has done for anyone from Bulgaria:





The complete archive can be found at The Atlantic magazine.

Now, let me be clear: Americans are certainly not immune to being swayed by images of the macho man of action. Theodore Roosevelt made much of his subsequent career, including the Presidency, on The Battle of San Juan Hill. In more recent memory, Americans were treated to many photo ops of President Ronald Reagan chopping wood:



President George W. Bush clearing brush:



And the need for SOME manly credentials disasterously put Army veteran (but not combat veteran) Michael Dukakis into a tank for a photo op in his failed bid for President in 1988:



Looks like a Muppet, right?

On the other hand, the sheer vastness of Putin's photo stories and the presentation of him as practically an Ubermensch on par with anything either Nietzsche, Ayn Rand or Hitler could dream up is more than a little jarring to my own sensibilities, raises titters of laughter among American commentators --

-- and seems to work in Russia. The man has approval ratings most Western leaders would personally kill their own grandmothers to get.

Does the Putin phenomenon say something in general about politics around the globe...or something quite specific about Russia?

Comments

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

This is interesting, but please could you cut more, good Sir?

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Awww sheperd puppies! Gotta love them Russkies.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

I think it says more about the place he used to work at. Bush, Reagan, Dukakis....none of them ever heard or aimed a shot fired in anger. Putin was an agent of the KGB, the guys who made mass murder the business of the Soviet state. Means him doing this is more believable than the others.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

It says that people are dumb in their vast majority, and pandering to the lowest denominator is a flawless path to election victory. Next question please?

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Well, then why don't more American politicians (or British or French...) put together portfolios as varied and ubermenschy as this? Most of our pols will have one or two "manly" activities photographed periodically -- Putin literally comes off as James Bondavich here.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Excuse me, virtually every presidential candidate or president has at some point tried to create a macho image of themselves. Only they've done it during election campaigns which makes it even more ridiculous. This one is a bit more extreme, he has started believing in the fantasy he has tried to create. It could be also something about the Russian psyche which puts such macho images on a pedestal, but that's present in American society as well.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

I even wrote about pols doing some of that and did not spare my own country. The question which I think is still open is the depth and breadth of Putin's which actually seems pretty darn unique. Not even Teddy Roosevelt went to this degree.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Really? What about Boyko Borisov, our prime minister (who by the way was the guy who gifted this Bulgarian shepherd dog to Putin).

Boyko, while he was the personal body-guard of communist dictator Todor Zhivkov:


Super-Boyko, showing his biceps and triceps:


Boyko = Don Corleone from The Godfather:


Boyko the football superstar:


Boyko knows how to tame beasts:


Boyko is a General, and the rest of us are Crappy Material(tm) (his words, literally):


When Boyko looks at you, the sky starts crying:


And God said, "Let there be light!" ... And Boyko said, "Sure thing, buddy!"


Boyko's tears can cure cancer. Too bad he never cries.


You don't care about Boyko? Doesn't matter. Boyko cares about YOU!

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

See below comment. Putin is far from unique in this respect.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

What about Berlusconi? Bunga-bunga, strippers at home, sex scandals with under-age hookers, and the Italian public is loving it because it gives them something to gossip about during those endless coffee breaks in the afternoon.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Holy crap.

Is is a Slavic thing, then? Can you imagine Cameron doing this? I cannot even imagine Bush like this.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Teddy Roosevelt was not a former CIA operative acting behind enemy lines. And neither did he attempt an overhaul of the oligarchic structure, substituting his predecessor's circle of oligarchs with his own puppets. That sort of process tends to make you believe you're invincible, hence the extremity in Putin's machism.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Why should it be a Slavic thing?

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Yah, I wonder about that although he seems caught up maybe 50% in denials.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Interesting...to my knowledge our spies tend to not go into politics anywhere near as much as our generals. Although we haven't had a general in the White House since Eisenhower.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

The sheer overtness of it. A lot of Western pols play up machismo, but not as out in the open and in your face as this.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Have you looked on the political process south of your border lately? I mean down to Antarctica.

[brockulfsen.livejournal.com]

I suspect it is directly proportional to vodka consumption.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Bush Sr a former CIA chairman, or whatever you call the top spy in the US?

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Two brothers, John, and Bob, who lived in America and were members of the communist party, decided to emigrate to the USSR. Even though they didn't believe the American media's negative reports on the conditions in the USSR, they decided to exercise caution. First, only John would go to Russia to test the waters. If, contrary to the media reports, the living conditions would be found good, and the reports about persecutions by the KGB false, than John would write a letter to Bob using black ink whose color would signify that the letter is to be taken at face value. If, though, the situation in the USSR happened to be bad, and John would be afraid of writing the truth, he would use red ink thus indicating that whatever he says in the letter must not be believed.
In three months John sent his first report. It was in black ink and read, "Dear brother Bob! I'm so happy here! It's a beautiful country, I enjoy complete freedom, and high standard of living. All the capitalist press wrote was lies. Everything is readily available! There is only one small thing of which there's shortage, namely red ink."


/also:

awww, cute puppy!!

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

5-6 years of working mainly with Russian customers have taught me one few things:

1) In Russia, the man makes the money and brings it home.
2) The woman rules in the house, the man is anonymous.
3) The man goes to work, returns home, drinks to oblivion, then goes to work again next day.
4) The woman looks after the kids, washes, cooks, and goes to the hairdresser.
5) After some years, the man has run out of money, has run out of a liver, the woman gets a divorce and takes the apartment and the kids. The man is left with his stockpiles of vodka, and possibly the car (Lada or Moskvich).

Whenever there's a Russian family coming here to buy property, it's always the woman who does the talking. The man does the nodding and the paying. When the notary documents are being signed, the woman always features first in the document, and her share (at least 50%, if not more) of the ownership on the property is always explicitly stated in the documents. To avoid further misunderstandings, that is. ;-)

Otherwise, Russian men like to be macho, and Russian women like to see machos around. At least in public, that is.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Isn't he Vladimir? Misspelling his name could get you into big trouble, you know! You wanna have a knock at your door late at night, eh??

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

That's a good one :)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

It's not a military position. Bush served in WW2 but he wasn't a general either.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Yep. Ditto that.