Putin sings "Eve of Destruction" at the Luzhniki Stadium
It was like halftime at the American Superbowl when the Russian state staged a rally in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Friday. The rally was supposedly intended to celebrate the annexation of Crimea in 2014 but mostly it was connected with the military operation.... war in Ukraine.
What better way can there be to mark the killing of children, the destroying of apartment blocks, the bombing of hospitals and the creation of millions of refugees than to wave flags, sing patriotic songs, cheer and generally have a happy time?
The star of the show was Vladimir Putin who came on stage in a creamy white polo necked sweater and a blue parka jacket in order to sing his repertoire of cover songs:-
- "From Russia With Love" - originally sung by Matt Monro
- "King of the World" - by Jason Robert Brown
- "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley
- "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire
- and "Back in the USSR" by Lennon and McCartney:-
Well,
The Ukraine girls really knock me out (... Wooh, ooh, ooh)
They leave the West behind (Da, da, da)
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout (... Wooh, ooh, ooh)
That Georgia's always on
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind
Maybe it's a cultural thing but I would like to think that in most societies what has happened in Ukraine would have provoked weeping and wailing with heads bowed, shame and the wearing of black clothing. The waving of giveaway national flags and all that whooping and laughter seems not just inappropriate but extremely cruel.
A good number of Russians have visited this blog in the last seventeen years - though none have ever commented. If there are any Russians reading this blogpost right now I say that what Putin is doing in Ukraine is barbaric and it's nigh time that the Russian people rose up against him to create a new kind of government for a new age.
And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
I read that bosses made their workers attend the rally. 80,000 or 203,000, they could have all been part of the bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious that the rally was all about camouflaging the truth.
DeleteIn wars truth disappears from both sides. Lack of truth changes daily. lack of truth fits with the daily events. Yes, he really jazzed this rally up all the while people suffer.
ReplyDeleteA flag waving rally and the obliteration of Mariupol. You could not make it up.
DeleteThe ones that are flag waving and cheering are the same brainwashed types that cheered on Trump in America. They BELIEVE their leader! It doesn't help that he has banned media from reporting the bad stuff, so many of them just don't know about it. They believe Ukraine has started this war and are bombing their own people.
ReplyDeleteI want to believe that there are many thousands of Russians who refuse to swallow Putin's doo-doo.
DeleteI want that too.
DeleteI watched, with mounting horror just part of the film of that event. I turned it off, in disgust, after about 30 seconds and was left thinking what a wonderful opportunity that would have been to shoot the little runt. I'm not normally given to such violent thoughts, but the invasion and subsequent bombing of innocent people has left me hoping that the vicious perpetrators will all come to a very nasty end - as quickly as possible.
ReplyDeleteSurely the majority of those people at the rally were totally unaware of the true reason for the invasion of Ukraine. Do they realise what a madman he really is?
Many were there because they had been given paid time off work to attend the rally. I also imagined a sharpshooter with his/her rifle aimed at Putin's ugly little waxy head.
DeleteI saw Barry McGuire sing at Greenbelt Christian music festival in about 1981. His song Eve of Destruction is from the nineteen sixties but it is still relevant and prophetic today.
ReplyDeleteIt was a follow up to his earlier hit..."Adam of Destruction".
DeletePutin's presentation style, his timing and the way he held up his head and the microphone, I thought bore a strong similarity to that of Bernard Manning.
ReplyDeleteI wish the odious Bernard Manning had lived long enough to be The President of Russia. Even he would not have been as tyrannical as Putin The Baby Killer.
DeleteI can't. I can't.
ReplyDeleteYou mean you can't bear thinking about this?
DeleteDon't authoritarian strongmen always do this? Stage fake rallies to show fake public support?
ReplyDeleteTrump certainly did it.
DeleteThe first casualty of war is the truth. There are no words bad enough to describe this evil excuse for a human being. I don't believe in hell, but for Putin I would make an exception.
ReplyDeleteWars are also very bad in relation to global warming. Clearly, Putin doesn't care a toss about this planet.
Delete"War, what is it good for?...Absolutely, nothing!"
ReplyDeleteSay it again Ellen!
DeleteIt's completely astonishing that this is happening in the 21st century. And yet sadly, when I think more calmly, perhaps it isn't... the world seems to be full of evil. And yet, whenever I have been to a supposedly corrupt and autocratic country, the attitudes and actions of the people I have I met seem to bear little or no relation to their leaders.
ReplyDeleteI loved your call to Russian readers - more blogger should do that I think!
You are right to point out the yawning gulf that usually exists between ordinary people and their leaders.
DeleteDownfall is the way of all good dictators. Putin will get his comeuppance. We can all pray it will be soon.
ReplyDeleteBut Putin isn't a good dictator ADDY! He's wicked.
Delete