Giles Whittell at the Times says “Dmitri Medvedev is no stooge, as everyone seems to think.” Is that really what everyone thinks? Not from what I have been reading. I’ve always had the impression that Medvedev has a very positive, well guarded, and expertly crafted public reputation, even among the normally hostile Western press. I don’t think that anyone reading all the positive news coverage following his political debut, as it were, way back when during the World Economic Forum at Davos, would ever think him to be just a “stooge.” Take a look at Medvedev’s terrific English skills, which most certainly aren’t shown on Russian TV. The most typical descriptions I recall reading in the popular press include words like “soft-spoken”, “intelligent”, “polite”, “deferential”, “modest” – and plenty of other disarming qualities that seem sure to please even the coldest critics. But perhaps Giles Whittell is just putting forth this false negative as a rhetorical device to deliver one of the better lines I’ve seen during this dead news week: “Dmitri Medvedev looks like someone who might sell you a flat-screen TV in John Lewis.” That’s about the most interesting contribution from the article…
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One Comment
I think there is a bit of confusion here. A “stooge” is defined as “one who allows oneself to be used for another’s profit or advantage; a puppet.”http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stoogeThere is no necessity of a stooge being either an idiot or an incompetent, though that might make it easier to be a stooge.The point about Medvedev is that he is the stooge (puppet) of Vladimir Putin. The point is that Medvedev, when he becomes president, will not be able to discharge Putin as prime minister as Putin and Yeltsin repeatedly did to their prime ministers, and with him in government will not be able to depart from any of his policies. Many cartoons have been shown depicting Medvedev as a puppet on Putin’s lap, and there is zero evidence in the record to show that he has ever challenged Putin on anything.Medvedev is far more dangerous as a stooge the more lucid and intelligent he appears, and the more Western, and may well have been selected for that reason. But none of these qualities amount to independence or courage. We see plenty of people around us every day who are very intelligent but don’t take risks, confront power or struggle against great odds (indeed, a high probability of failure would lead an intelligent person to take no action if intelligence is their only standard).