When it comes to pure theatrics and over-the-top vitriol, nobody can put a candle to professional wrestlers.  When my sons were growing up I recall watching the masters of the genre such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage (RIP), and the Ultimate Warrior talk trash, intimidate, and prime the audience for a bruising.  The “smackdown” interviews before the actual matches soon became the most popular and recognizable feature of this bizarre entertainment product:  they were fantastic and unrestrained and of course, totally phony.

Another kind of phony anger was on display this week from Russian diplomats, prompted into performance mode following intentionally leaked documents from the Obama Administration referring to a visa blacklist for certain Russian officials involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

The Russian government – the vast majority of whom have nothing to do with the criminals behind the Magnitsky and Khodorkovsky cases – was nevertheless apoplectic.  Deputy Chairmain Leonid Slutsky feigned confusion over the sudden appearance of a visa blacklist, wondering why the Americans would want to damage the reset. “Maybe it’s a provocation,” he said.  Deputy Dmitry Vyakin said he suspected that Americans produced this blacklist as a red herring for the domestic audience, seeking to distract from the debt crisis (good luck with that argument).  A statement from the Foreign Ministry promised payback:  “Attempts to interfere in the course of the investigation and pressure judicial bodies are absolutely impermissible. (…) We will not leave such unfriendly steps unanswered and we will take adequate measures, protecting the sovereignty of our country and rights of Russian citizens against unjustified moves by foreign states.”

As for the most likely smashmouth candidate Dmitry Rogozin, perhaps he didn’t get the memo on the right talking points.  Instead today he harshly denigrated two Republican senators “monsters of the Cold War” and (kind of) praised the Obama Administration as the better option.  It was a more accurate and honest statement of the Russian government’s position, but it broke with the media games they are hoping to play this week.