Posted by
Xavier Cougat on Saturday, November 08, 2008 2:06:25 PM
Like his namesake Vlad The Impaler, famed vampire of old, Vladimir Putin plans to rise from the crypt of figurehead Premiership to, once again, lead Mother Russia as her beloved and strong-armed President in the coming year. The timing is curious. And, perhaps, ominous. Would I be straining the metaphor to refer to Mr. Putin as blood-thirsty? Maybe. How about we settle for power hungry? The argument could be made that he is an ultra-Nationalist with a grudge, fed by a wounded and paranoid psyche that keeps reminding him that his country has been dissed by the world community, and a territorial instinct that most mammals would envy.
Could it be that, with the neophyte Obama about to enter the arena of geopolitics, Putin, the scrappy street cat, wants back in the game so he can toy with and bat around the new mouse in the neighborhood? Joey Biden practically promised us as much.