Today's Czars Need Political Support

A dialogue between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Russian Prime Minister and neo-Rasputin Vladimir Putin, as reported in the London Times:

With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared.

Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. “Hang him?” — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. “The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.”

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu*, tried to reason with him: “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: “Ah — you have scored a point there.”

Proof positive that while Putin may aspire to the role of Czar, he understands that, Augustus-like, he must simultaneously maintain popular support for himself.

Hat tip to Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money.


* For those of you unfamiliar with romance languages, most of them use two different forms of the pronoun "you," one which is used formally, in business, or with people you do not know very well, and is considered polite and respectful; the other for family, friends, or when speaking to young children. In French, the formal pronoun is "vous" and the informal pronoun is "tu." Sarkozy's shift of pronoun is a change in the tone of his remark, one that seems to have been used effectively.