Uncle Vova

Op-ed

In my adolescence, when my peers and I were among the regimented Young Pioneers with burning red ties around our delicate communist necks, I remember we worshiped our ideological icons like Uncle Lenin and Uncle Stalin – the kids would never mention those enigmatic names in any other way. The day Uncle Stalin died, one of my classmates and fellow Pioneers was visiting me. My mom gave us money and asked us to bring a canister of kerosene from the neighborhood store. We did so, but with very solemn faces and slow movements in token of the overwhelming sorrow that the devastating death had cast upon us, poor little souls. On our way home, burdened with the valuable merchandise, my buddy gave a chuckle for some unknown reason, something which angered me so much that I severely castigated the brash friend of mine for smiling at the moment when Uncle Stalin had passed away because nothing more disastrous could have happened to us and to the entire soviet country. I was understood correctly, and my friend apologized obediently in recognition of his inadvertent blunder.

Nothing has changed since those strange and scary times in Russia. Russian kids do not have uncles like Lenin and Stalin, but they now have a new Uncle Vova. Unless my ears have failed me completely, I heard this maudlin appellation on the television the other day. The newly reelected-for-the-umpteenth time Russian President was swept back into office via a landslide election almost a week ago. He’ll probably be there for the next election, too. Please don’t take my slight sarcasm as another mockery directed against the overall Russian political reality. This is what Russians want to have, and let them enjoy it for as long as they think it is good for them. Putin was reelected once again following those long 18 years in office. And the most interesting part of the entire Russian electoral shtick is that the results were not rigged. He genuinely received over 76% of votes all over the country– the Russian People wanted him to be on top of national matters once more. And, folks, this is all happening when the 21st century is well into years and right in front of the eyes of the entire world where even the worst autocratic regimes have heard and learnend what freedom of speech and democracy mean. In reality, it would have been much, much more complimentary for the Russian electorate if they had badly doctored the poll numbers, thus triggering the healthy criticism of the world. No, the figures are right and all is OK in the empire – the elated people are hailing the beloved sovereign who, for some reason, is being elected by people’s vote in the imperial democracy that the Russian land happens to be today.

Russians are not even asking why one person should rule the country forever. George Washington, in his own time, refused to be nominated for a third presidential term, thus making way for a limited term of office in the American government. Why should Russians have this strange habit of turning lowly people into gods and icons, letting them rule the country single-handedly for an unlimited period of time? What makes them become so pathologically loyal to just one person who rules for everybody else to follow and be happy with what they have? This is the largest and the heaviest question mark in the universe today after the famous perpetual question – ‘Does God exist?’ Russians are known as intellectually advanced people who successfully supply the world with scientific and computing minds. Those Russian smarts are scattered all over the world, significantly influencing the process of global development. The Russian talent is appreciated by the contemporary world. And they have a very interesting political history, too. So what’s wrong with them? Why should they desire to have the same Uncle Vova at the helm forever? Could this be a national hobby? Or something that runs in their blood? Or just a regular deficiency of the relevant cadre?

Nugzar B. Ruhadze