Putin’s rule may soon be history
Novel coincidence
RCANDID Angelina Jolie has revealed three aspects of herself this week: she says she’s a bit of a bore, a foreign policy wonk and a rubbish stayat-home mum. Actually, I think that makes her sound quite interesting – and normal too.
RHOW frightened would you be if you wereVladimir Putin right now? I don’t mean worried, I mean frightened. Sure, this quasi-dictator is a tough guy (they all are, aren’t they?) but even the toughest of the tough can be toppled, often astonishingly quickly.The potential for sudden and sometimes violent overthrow hovers constantly in the wings when a despot bestrides the stage for an age.
I read somewhere that Putin is a closet Abba fan. In that case, he’ll be familiar with the line in their breakthrough hit,Waterloo:
“The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself…”
History shows that most democratic leaders die peacefully at home.Tyrants have a tendency to experience more colourful conclusions to their careers.
There’s an uprising fomenting in Russia right now, across 11 time zones from east to west, as protesters risk police beatings and jail for coming out onto the streets in support of imprisoned opposition leaderAlexei Navalny.The former Soviet Union has seen nothing like it since ex-KGB ironman Putin swept to power almost 21 years ago. There’s simply no telling how this will end.
Or perhaps there is.We may be witnessing a timeless gavotte, a last dance when ruthless power meets unremitting revolt. Go back as far as you like. Charles l ruled supreme for about the same number of years as Putin. But Charles’s greed,
JMAYBE the BBC has taken note of criticism of its relentlessly pessimistic news features from hospital ICUs. There are signs of good cheer, even cuddliness.
On Tuesday lunchtime, news presenter Simon McCoy finished the bulletin saying he had something to cheer us up. “It’s 45 seconds of pandas. That’s all you need to know.”
And indeed, out of nowhere, came a joyful snippet of two pandas sliding around in the snow. It was brilliant. Thank you, Simon. corruption and arrogance did for him in the end. Locking up knights who refused to loan him money; bypassing parliament... his severed head and body lie, unquiet, in St George’s Chapel,Windsor.
For decades exotically-uniformed, sunglasses-wearing Colonel Gaddafi seemed unchallengeable as Libya’s all-powerful head of state. His authority evaporated in a fingersnap. Check out his final moments on YouTube, dragged out from a drain culvert and beaten to death in the gutter by a vengeful mob.
Saddam Hussein appeared untouchable inside his Iraqi stronghold, from where he tweaked theWest’s nose and bullied and invaded his neighbours. Saddam’s last moments are on the internet, too, as he’s strung up by thuggishlooking men in bomber jackets.
I’m not suggesting for a moment that Putin will meet such a grisly end. But ruthless autocrats like him have a far more tenuous hold on power than it may seem during their strutting, crisply-saluted days of glory.We know democracies are fragile – look atWashington’s near-insurrection last month – but at least they’re flexible.Autocracies are rigid and usually shatter eventually under internal stress.
Currently, Putin has the support of his formidable security apparatus. But that could melt away in a weekend if the forces now propping him up decide that they’re backing the wrong horse.
I’m old enough to remember how permanent the Soviet Union and its eastern bloc seemed.The whole arrangement imploded faster than anyone could have imagined. Putin has had years of unadulterated power. It could crumble as quickly as the Berlin Wall did. In fact, history tells us it probably will.
RHOW’S this for weird. This week I was sitting at the kitchen table, writing my fourth novel. For plot reasons, it became necessary to introduce a home-help into the storyline.
I was right in the middle of describing my main character’s search for a housekeeper when suddenly there was a knock at our front door.
I opened it to find a middleaged woman on the doorstep. “Good afternoon,” she said. “Are you looking for a cleaner?” I have never written about a cleaner; one has never come to our door. My jaw’s still on the floor.