Paul Goble
Staunton, June 1 – In Soviet times, Russians often joked that “friendship of the peoplens” meant that members of several nations would get together to beat up members of another. Now, they say, in Putin’s times, the term has taken on a new and entirely different meaning, one that is captured is a new anecdote.
The true meaning of friendship of the peoples is epitomized today by the situation at the Moskvich car factory, Muscovites are saying. There a German who recently headed a plant in Tatarstan and who has just taken Russian citizenship is overseeing a plant in Moscow that produces Chinese cars.
That is just one of the anecdotes Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova offers in her latest collection (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/46183/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:
· Putin has so many doubles that one can easily imagine a scene in the bunker where one of them awards another for good work and then all of them applaud and gather at the same long table to tell stories about their adventures.
· For Russia’s development, two steps are becoming ever more essential: Russians need to recognize that there will be life after Putin, and they must have the right to talk about what it will be like.
· The Prigozhin affair ended because a swindler from Belarus managed to take a PMC from a gullible Russian pensioner.
· Putin has kept only one promise and in fact has kept it three times: He once said that anyone who is president for seven years can go crazy.
· The situation on the currency exchange markets highlights the fundamental difference between Russia and the US. In Russia, the ruble is falling to positions carefully prepared in advance while the dollar just keeps rising without any planning being involved.
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