And there they are: a pair of 21st Century snake oil peddlers, offering their particular brands of medicine to anyone with an ill to be cured — say, a war in Gaza, or better yet, Ukraine.

First one off the starting line was Turkish President Erdogan, who has been playing the field between East and West for as long as anyone can remember. He is a dyed-in-the-wool Putinista; but his pragmatic side won’t let him risk losing his protected NATO status in the event of . . . well, if the worst should ever happen. And sitting on that fence must have been really starting to chafe.

So earlier this week, while attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, he managed a bit of one-on-one time with Vladimir Putin, and offered Turkiye’s help in ending that interminable “special military operation” in Ukraine.

But Putin doesn’t appear to have been in the market for snake oil this week.

In fact, without going into details as to the reason, my man Dmitry Peskov (the Kremlin’s adorable spokesman) summed it up in just five words: “No, it is not possible.” (Actually, in Russian it’s just three words.)

Thank you, Dima . . . you always manage to clarify things for us, and so succinctly.

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And then it was back to Moscow for Putin, where he managed to find time to receive Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday, for a meeting that has been heavily criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . . . not to mention leaders of the European Union (EU), where Hungary has just assumed the rotating presidency of its Council.

In fact, EU leaders have taken great pains to stress that Orban is not — repeat, NOT — authorized to act on behalf of their organization in attempting to negotiate peace terms between Russia and Ukraine. As the EU’s only government leader to have kept close ties with the Kremlin since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Viktor Orban appears more than willing to share that fence with his friend Erdogan.

They also, thus far, are sharing in the failure to impress Vladimir Putin with their offers of help in Ukraine. Following the Putin-Orban meeting, which lasted some five hours, all Orban had to offer was that Russia and Ukraine were still “far apart” in any peace discussions: “Many steps are needed to end the war, but we took the first step to restore dialogue.” [Jaroslav Lukiv and Nick Thorpe, BBC News, July 5, 2024.]

Putin settled for calling it a “frank and useful” conversation — whatever that’s worth. I’m guessing, just about as much as that handshake.

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And as a footnote, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFW/RL) reported yesterday that the Hungarian Foreign Minister had suddenly and inexplicably cancelled a meeting with his German counterpart scheduled for Monday, July 8th in Budapest, for “technical reasons,” adding that, “Due to an unforeseen change in the minister’s calendar, the Foreign Ministry has requested that the visit take place at a later date, hopefully in the near future. The reason is purely technical and not political.”

The German Foreign ministry said that “it was ‘astonished’ by the cancellation, and a ‘serious and honest’ discussion was needed after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the same day.” [RFE/RL, July 6, 2024.]

It would appear that I’m not the only one who treats “coincidences” with a healthy dose of skepticism.

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And what do I have to say about all of this? Actually, Shakespeare said it far better than I (or nearly anyone else) could:

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” – Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5

So go home, Messrs. Erdogan and Orban — your hour upon Mr. Putin’s stage has, at the final curtain, signified absolutely nothing.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/7/24