Putin Views Iran as a Possible Refuge if He has to Flee Russia, Some Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 17 – There are likely many reasons why Vladimir Putin has chosen to go to Iran just now, but perhaps the most important one is something few are talking about: he is considering it as a place he and other members of his regime might flee if things get too hot in Moscow, some Russians say.

            In their view, Iran has every chance of becoming for the Putin ruling class something like Argentina for Nazis after they lost the war. To be sure, the ayatollahs may require them to convert to Islam, but that’s hardly a problem for real Russian patriots! After all, their main concern is hardly democracy or human rights.

            That is just one of the anecdotes Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova offers in her latest collection (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/43437/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Fruit sellers in Russia’s south are now listing the prices of their goods for each half kilo. People think that the price is for a whole kilo and rush to buy. When they discover their mistake and complain, the sellers respond that they shouldn’t complain: after all that is what the powers that be in Moscow have been doing for a long time.

·       Kremlin media re reporting that because of difficulties, the British are having to give up eating meat and fish because of rising prices. “Hurrah,” they say, “we have at last become British.” 

·       The most obvious enemy of Russia has been in power in the Kremlin for 20 years. He has reduced the population to poverty and siphoned and sold all the resources. Then to avoid responsibility, he has invaded neighboring countries, accusing them of his own misdeeds.

·       Russians may soon lose access to the Internet, a most serious restriction in their rights and freedoms. But thank God, they say, we Russians have Crimea and Donbass at least for the time being. But perhaps in a year, we will have to lose to do without them as well.

·       A man who was given a car for the loss of his son in Ukraine noted that he has two other patriotic sons and plans after their service to start a taxi business. In the past, Russians put stickers on their cars declaring “Thank you grandfather for Victory!” Now, they will put ones up instead which say “Thank you son for the car!”

·       There are many questions for which there is no clear answer, but there is one thing Russians should always do: stockpile buckwheat so there will be something to eat.

·       A Russian health official has assured Putin that the government has the flu situation under control. After all, “thanks to the efforts of Russian doctors, there is enough flu for everyone.”

·       Russians first had to get used to “gray” salaries. Then, after sanctions, they learned about “gray” paper for printers. “If bleach doesn’t arrive soon, then they may have to learn to live with “gray” snow.