Robert Urbanek
Platinum Member
Modern autocrats and despots are often film buffs. Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a former officer of the KGB, the Soviet Union spy agency, may fancy himself a Russian James Bond, an action hero astride the world stage.
Putin bears some resemblance to Daniel Craig, the current incarnation of Bond. Publicity photos preceding the release of Casino Royale (2006) showed a shirtless Craig emerging from the ocean. Shortly thereafter, photos emerged of a shirtless Putin fishing in a river.
In the last few years, Putin has used many photo ops to show himself as a man of action: shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer dart, scuba diving at an archaeological site, climbing a wall at a summer youth camp, arm wrestling, riding a snowmobile, piloting a motorboat, descending to the bottom of a lake in a mini-sub, and flying a motorized hang glider.
All of this might seem harmless preening except that Putin likely feels he is free to copy another Bond trait: a license to kill. Furthermore, the synchronicity between Putin and Bond may convince the Russian leader that he is blessed by providence and will be successful in all his international “adventures.”
And, of course, Bond took on Pussy Galore; Putin took on Pussy Riot.
Putin bears some resemblance to Daniel Craig, the current incarnation of Bond. Publicity photos preceding the release of Casino Royale (2006) showed a shirtless Craig emerging from the ocean. Shortly thereafter, photos emerged of a shirtless Putin fishing in a river.
In the last few years, Putin has used many photo ops to show himself as a man of action: shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer dart, scuba diving at an archaeological site, climbing a wall at a summer youth camp, arm wrestling, riding a snowmobile, piloting a motorboat, descending to the bottom of a lake in a mini-sub, and flying a motorized hang glider.
All of this might seem harmless preening except that Putin likely feels he is free to copy another Bond trait: a license to kill. Furthermore, the synchronicity between Putin and Bond may convince the Russian leader that he is blessed by providence and will be successful in all his international “adventures.”
And, of course, Bond took on Pussy Galore; Putin took on Pussy Riot.