Not of the United States — our election is over for another four years (thank Heaven). And, as a citizen of Belarus, he wouldn’t be eligible in any event.

But he might well be the president that Russia desperately needs: a man with a diabolical sense of humor, who identifies all the government’s crap and cuts right through it. And last week, from his home in exile in Poland, he did it again.

On November 9th, he revealed on Telegram that in July he had sent out what appeared to be an official government directive, instructing schools in the Voronezh region to organize events for the creation of tinfoil hats to “protect against foreign enemies.” (Apparently, the nearby NATO countries were going to be zapping them with some sort of radiation.) The teachers were further told to provide the government (or so they thought) with videos and pictures of themselves wearing the hats, which were to be decorated with a replica of the Russian flag. [RFE/RL, November 11, 2024.]

And the teachers fell for it.

Why do they remind me of these . . . ?

But wait — it gets better. In one of the videos sent by a school to Bokhan’s fake government site, a teacher — wearing what the original order had described as the “helmet of the fatherland” — had this to say:

“Let the helmet that you make with your own hands become a means of protection against foreign enemies of our wonderful country.” [Id.]

And these are teachers of today’s Russian youth! Aren’t they supposed to be smart? Well, yes, but . . .

Bokhan’s purpose in pulling these pranks is to bring to light the fascistic nature of today’s Russian government: issuing oppressive edicts to be obeyed unquestioningly by the people, no matter how blatantly stupid they are. And his hypothesis has proven itself correct by the obedient behavior — the herd mentality — of even the well-educated citizenry.

As Bokhan himself put it, this latest prank was “a continuation of ‘measuring the level of fascistization of Russian society’ based on Italian historian and philosopher Umberto Eco’s renowned essay, Ur-Fascism.” [Id.]

*. *. *

And lest you think Mr. Bokhan is just a one-hit wonder, here are a couple of his earlier successes:

In 2022, he duped several Russian schools into paying tribute to him, a supposed military hero serving in Ukraine, by holding marches in his honor. Demonstrators were seen holding signs reading, “Vladislav is our hero.” [Id.]

Another time, he tricked schoolteachers in a region near Moscow into participating in a municipal cleanup day, carrying “patriotic” slogans . . . which had actually been used by Nazis at concentration camps. [Id.]

And my very favorite, because it targeted Vladimir Putin directly, was when — posing as a Russian lawmaker — Bokhan tricked several schools into sending Putin birthday messages that included a photograph and quotes by one Stepan Bandera: a World War II-era Ukrainian partisan leader whom the Kremlin had already denounced. [Id.]

In all fairness, I sympathize with the poor schoolteachers who have been the instruments of his wickedness. I met with a number of teachers and school officials during my time in Moscow in 1993, and they were lovely people, bright and hard-working and dedicated to giving their students the best possible education. And their jobs are not easy . . . which probably explains the vodka that appeared at the lunch table in the teachers’ lounge.

But aside from his sneaky enlistment of the educators as accessories to his little crimes, I really can’t help liking this guy.

Bokhan for President of the Russian Federation!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/12/24