Do you recognize this man? If you do, you know that he is now dead. Taking a dirt nap. I wanted to write about this guy a couple of months ago but got sidetracked; I was going to say then that he is the stupidest man on the planet.
His name was Yevgeny Prigozhin and he was the CEO of Wagner Group, an organization of professional mercenaries that have wreaked havoc around the world and as of late was used by Vladimir Putin to rape, maim, torture and kill their way through Ukraine.
Well a couple of months ago, apparently frustrated by the lack of support he was receiving from the Russian military, he staged and then aborted a mutiny against Vladimir Putin.
Now, I don’t profess to be the smartest man on the planet, but I do know this. If you poke Vlad in the eye you immediately become a target for assassination. Unlike the Clintons, who have their enemies suicided, Vlad not only kills you but does so in a way to set an example. He will exterminate anyone that embarrasses or double crosses him with impunity. So, two weeks ago, under mysterious circumstances, Prigozhin and some other Wagner Group officers died in a plane crash. A little bit of a departure for Putin because he usually uses poison, but the result was the same.
A very short history lesson about The Vlad. Boris Yeltsin appointed him Prime Minister in 1999 and he quickly made his mark by using his KGB experience to take care of Russia’s enemies. Indeed, there is a belief held by some that he staged a series of bombings of Russian apartment buildings and blamed the Chechen rebels so that he could then avenge the deaths by brutally squashing their rebellion. I do not doubt this one bit. He is also on a mission to reassemble the member nations of the old USSR so it may rise again to its former superpower status.
Once again, I digress. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not lamenting Prigozhin’s death. I only wish that he could have suffered at least a little while so that he could understand what his victims endured at the hands of his troops. Maybe he is getting his now that Satan has him. I don’t know.
I guess the only question I have is, when will it be Putin’s turn?
I didn’t know he was sick with skin cancer. But then it never occurred to me that he was 76 years old. In my mind he is still the same young man leading the crowd in singing Margaritaville with giant beach balls being unleashed on the crowd. His passing makes me old too. He was one of a kind. His book “Where is Joe Merchant” was given to me by Brenda as a Christmas present one year. He was no Ernest Hemingway, but who is? But I enjoyed it very much. Margaritaville is not even my favorite tune of his. It is “Come Monday” followed by “A Pirate Looks at 40”. I look forward to having my book signed, getting wasted and watching the sun go down with him one day. Godspeed Jimmy.