“Vedomosti”: “Man of the week: Vladimir Putin”
Putin's live phone-ins during which he talks directly with the citizens is becoming the longest and one of the most popular annual TV extravaganzas. Although it appears to be improvised, in fact everything is planned in advance and nothing is left to chance. It is a win-win lottery when Putin hands out gifts and brings good tidings. The timing (December) is not accidental and is designed to show that Putin is Russia's main Santa Claus. There is no misfortune that cannot be solved at this magic hour, Putin has a way of turning black into white in our lives. Crisis? The worst of it is behind us. Second: it is a good occasion to provide some enterprises with money, others with state orders and others again with long-term contracts. To the delight of his TV audience, the Prime Minister deals out billions, without any damage to the budget (all of the moneys have already been pledged, item by item), but with a great plus for his approval rating.
Terrorist attack on the railway? Even here the common grief is not without a bright side: a courageous old woman gets her pension doubled as a result. And there is good news for all of us: terrorism's back has been broken. You can pause for breath. Provided of course you do not think too deeply about the underlying meaning of these words and do not try to imagine the villain who (like the robotic killer in The Terminator) continues to haunt us and make mischief even with a broken back.
Even if our Santa Claus makes a mistake, nobody will expose him. For example, when he claimed that Renaissance Capital was a shareholder in AvtoVAZ (confusing it with Troika) everybody kept mum, including Renaissance: the party leader is always right.
Such mass hypnosis sessions keep the Prime Minister's approval rating high. The same cannot be said of the government's rating. Sociologists attribute this unusual phenomenon to the fact that Putin is a leader of hope. People need hope and need to hear kind words from somebody.
The show may survive several more years. But it is clear that the day will come when either the magician grows tired or the audience grows bored. Once they wake up from the hypnosis they will discover that the terrorist attacks, economic stagnation and unemployment are still with us. Sociologists prefer not to forecast how they may react.
Maxim Glikin
