Russia and the Ides of March
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is known to have something of a penchant for history.
Even before he launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine to reclaim allegedly historically Russian lands, Mr Putin has often reached deep into Russia’s past to explain his aggressive foreign policy decisions. In 2021, he wrote an essay on the “historical unity” of Russians and Ukrainians.
Then, in February this year, Mr Putin gave an interview to US media personality (I hesitate to call him ‘journalist’) Tucker Carlson. In the interview, he waxed eloquent on his view of thousands of years of Russian history. One commentator subsequently described it as Mr Putin’s attempt “to underline his status as the world’s most dangerous amateur historian”.
Quite so.
So what’s Mr Putin doing with a selection (I hesitate to call it ‘election’) scheduled for a March 15 start? The Russian presidential selection will run through the weekend, sans mystery or suspense considering all of Mr Putin’s opponents are either in exile, in prison, or dead. In fact, as the Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief has reported (paywall), the other names on the ballot have admitted “they’re not trying to win”! Some opposition supporters of Mr Putin’s late rival Alexei Navalny said they would turn up simultaneously at polling stations at noon to show each other how many they are. Which is kinda heartening but ultimately ineffectual. As things stand, Mr Putin will win the election and remain in power until at least 2030.
Unless…the Ides of March. Remember the best-known story about the Ides of March, which is March 15 on the Roman calendar?
It’s about the defining event that eventually led to the end of the powerful Roman republic.
March 15 was the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar, who ruled the republic with an iron hand. In the best telling of the best-known story about the Ides of March, Shakespeare noted that Caesar had been told by a seer of looming danger to his person. “Beware the Ides of March”, said the seer, but Caesar, so certain of his strength and invulnerability, was inclined to be jolly and disbelieving. On the actual day, Caesar joked to the holy man, “Well, the Ides of March are come”. The seer replied “Aye, they are come, but they are not gone”. We all know what happened next. The great man was stabbed to death at a senate meeting and the republic riven by civil war in a final dismal phase before its collapse.
Now, Russia doesn’t live out its days according to the Roman calendar. Russia today is hardly in the state of Caesar’s Roman republic and Mr Putin seems to have none of the problems that beset that strongman ruler.
Even so, why start the presidential re-selection process on the Ides of March? It evokes memories…gives people ideas.
Originally published at https://www.rashmee.com
