Well, there we have it: the solution to the question of what brought about the supposed change in Dmitri Medvedev. And that answer is that he never actually changed at all. He has always been Putin’s puppet, the ventriloquist’s dummy: reacting to the pulling of the strings, the words being put into his mouth by the clever puppetmaster.

You’re probably thinking that this is no surprise; we’ve always known who was in charge. During the four years that Medvedev served as president (2008-2012), it was well known that he did so at Putin’s pleasure. But in those days, he played the part of the “good cop.”

What seemed strange was the apparent change in his public persona. Recently he has peppered his hawkish speeches with undisguised threats of nuclear warfare. Was he stepping up his own game? Or was he perhaps losing his marbles?

Then, today, his boss came forward with his own overt threat: the general director of Roscosmos (Russian Space), Yuri Borisov, announced that the Sarmat ICBM has been deployed: “put on combat duty” were his exact words. And you know as well as I do that that did not happen without the express authorization of Vladimir Putin himself.

Sarmat — also referred to as “Satan II” — was first introduced to the world by Putin in 2018. The system “is capable of carrying at least 10 nuclear warheads and is intended to replace the R-36 ICBMs that are known by the NATO reporting name of Satan.” (Quoted from Brie Stimson of Fox News, September 1, 2023.) And now it has been deployed: the system that Putin once said would make the world “think twice.”

Well, isn’t that special? Just what the world needed to hear.

Happy weekend, everyone,
Brendochka
9/2/23