Sunday, September 9, 2012

It's His World

A couple days ago I saw a news item about a group of Siberian cranes (the birds, not the machinery), which had gotten lost and had to be guided south for the winter. It was a complicated effort because the birds appeared to have lost their sense of direction and needed a guide to follow. So, what the animal experts did was modify an ultralight airplane in the hope they could coax the birds into following it while flying in formation. This has worked before, even being made into a particularly boring Disney movie. However, what made this particular story of bird migration noteworthy was the pilot of the ultralight: Russian President Vladimir Putin. I'm no expert when it comes to foreign politics, but this doesn't seem like the kind of thing which falls under Presidential responsibilities, so I can only assume Putin took the controls because he wanted to. It also appears like this kind of thing happens a lot.

At this point it seems like President Putin does pretty much whatever he wants in Russia. Skirt consecutive term limit laws by making yourself Prime Minister so you can still control the country behind the scenes? Sure, why not. Run for another term as President and then make that term longer by two years? Of course. Put punk bands that sing anti-Putin songs in jail for two years? I think that goes without saying. But, even more than that Putin appears to be treating Russia like his own personal playground where he just takes what he wants and does what he wants. For example, he just assumed the Super Bowl ring Bob Kraft showed him was a gift and kept it. Honestly, it is like he is a giant toddler and the people around him are afraid to tell him no because they don't want him to throw a tantrum. You know some scientist probably worked for months to get these cranes used to following this plane, poured their heart and soul into saving these birds, probably even made some kind of connection with these animals and then on the day of the flight Putin just showed up and was like, "Yeah, change of plans. I got this."


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