About artistic whistling

“The artistic whistling about my resignation does not bother me,” Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov commented on the 9 thousand signatures of Russians in favor of his resignation.

It must be admitted that Minister Ivanov is absolutely right. He had worse challenges in life. They didn’t fire him for two missiles that failed to take off first from Novomoskovsk and then from Karelia right in front of President Putin.

They also didn’t dismiss us for the remarkable exercises, during which terrorists in the Far East occupied a separate hill (sic!). By chance, the exercises scheduled for June 22 coincided with the attack of real terrorists, who flooded not the hill at all, but the night Nazran, and shot whoever they wanted for eight hours, while the troops entrusted to the minister sat in the barracks.

So Minister Ivanov could rightfully say: “Masters of artistic whistling” running with machine guns through the streets of Nazran will not achieve my resignation.” Or: “The artistic whistle” of rockets that didn’t take off will not lead to my resignation.”

Moreover, in Russia, no one has yet been fired at the request of the population. Look, when seven people were shot at the dacha of the son-in-law of the President of Karachay-Cherkessia, the people occupied the Government House! They didn't fire me. This is somehow not customary in our democratic state: to listen to the demands of the population. This seems to be considered weakness. It’s easy to listen to your surroundings. It’s easy to read out the slipped analytical report that the power accident in Moscow occurred because the head of Mosenergo did not purchase 4 transformers for 6 thousand dollars. And if it’s not your own people’s ears that are dripping, but pressure from outside, that’s already weakness.

So Minister Ivanov could rightfully say: “If the “masters of artistic whistling” did not fire Patrushev after Beslan, then I certainly won’t be fired even after 9 thousand signatures.”

In fact, the situation of Sergei Ivanov is not at all cloudless. Because, on the one hand, missiles that don’t take off, shot down old women and failed army reform greatly strengthen his position as Minister of Defense in a country where incompetence is the first requirement for a leader.

But, on the other hand, Sergei Ivanov is considered one of Putin’s potential successors. And in this capacity, he may well become a victim of the bulldogs’ fight under the carpet. In the Kremlin, where the right hand fights the left heel, there are a lot of people interested in sighing and saying to President Putin by 2008: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, yes, we were preparing Ivanov as a successor. But I couldn’t cope! This is horror, not a person: shot down old women, rockets that don’t take off. You’ll have to stay for a third term!”

I even strongly suspect that among these people is Vladimir Putin himself. It’s very pleasant to be against a third term yourself, but to hear others say that this is simply necessary to save Russia from Sergei Ivanov.

In this sense, I don’t like the strange coincidences that surround the figure of the minister. That criminal case will be opened against the relatives of the old woman who was hit by his son (although in our country it is not Sergei Ivanov who has power over the criminal case, but his, let’s say, opponent Igor Sechin). Then Marina Litvinovich will be beaten on the eve of the day when she, as the organizer of the action, must present 9 thousand signatures with an “artistic whistle” to the authorities.

It is simply amazing how Sergei Ivanov plays into the hands of his enemies. Thanks to the Defense Minister’s statements about Andrei Sychev or “artistic whistling,” his negative rating among the public will soon exceed Chubais’s. And the bulldogs under the carpet will be able to safely say: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, but not this one!”

After all, in fact, there is no point in dismissing the Minister of Defense after 9 thousand signatures. Or it would be stupid to resign the French Minister of Education after student demonstrations. But if the French Minister of Education had said after the demonstrations that this was an “artistic whistling,” he would have flown off before finishing the sentence.