Lower Ranks of Power Vertical May Be Even Worse than Those Above Them, SerpomPo Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 23 – A scandal in which officials sent their offspring on a trip to a Turkish resort that was intended for seriously ill children calls attention to something most people would like to forget: those at the lower ranks of the Putin vertical feel even more entitled and behave even worse than those above them, the SerpomPo Telegram Channel says.

            It is bad enough that the children who were supposed to go on this trip were pushed aside, but it is even worse, the channel continues, that the parents of those who pushed them aside in favor of their own felt completely entitled to do so and have shown contempt at calls to bring them to justice (echo.msk.ru/blog/serpompo2018/2338907-echo/).

            In this scandal, SerpomPo says, there is clear evidence of the rise of “a new type of Putin official, bold and aggressive” and confident that he or she can do anything he wants against those below them because they are “the powers” and the people are nothing, a glaring violation of the sense of justice for which Russians are known. 

Because of such actions, it continues, “the vertical is rotting, from the top to the bottom and back again. 

            This case has become a media sensation – see, among others, the commentaries at snob.ru/news/170077, vz.ru/society/2018/12/23/956788.html  and cont.ws/@Zergulio/1169341 -- and that suggests there may be consequences: Either the Kremlin will sweep in to try to “bring justice” in order to save itself, or popular anger at such elites will grow.

            But of course, there is a third possibility, one that is tragically more likely. Neither the powers that be nor the population will take action in this case, allowing the trend to fester and a course that means that when retribution comes, it will be far worse for both sides.