ARTHUR'S MAN OF THE YEAR 2009
Vladimir Putin
2009 was a horrendous year for manliness. The weakest and most effete President in history was sworn into office, our Congress is poised to pass a nanny-state health care bill and movies like Twilight dominate mainstream culture. Manliness is an endangered state of being and if this year does not prove that to you, nothing will. All is not lost however, Arthur's Hall of Viking Manliness continues to grow and attract members and readers from all corners of the Earth. The only way to save this world from the seemingly inevitable march towards complete feminine subservience is to band together and form our own communities. This site continues to be the leading exporter of manliness and with your help, will continue to be. Speaking of exporting manliness... there is a man alive today whose mere image defines manliness. He rules his nation with a tight grip while the people applaud his every action. He is loved, respected and feared at home and abroad. The first Arthur's Hall "Man of the Year" for 2009 is none other than Vladimir Putin.
I generally assume that readers of this great site are literate and know the basic details of Vladimir Putin's background and life. That being said, there are probably some of you who don't know Putin from Chavez. Vladimir Putin was a member of the KGB who primarily served in East Germany. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he slowly worked his way up the Russian political ladder which at the time was rife with corruption and instability. His early posts in the nascent Russian government were related to investigating and granting business licenses. This put Putin in a position to meet business leaders and build lasting relationships with them. It also gave him intimate knowledge of the businesses themselves and authority to shut them down. He was eventually appointed to the head of the FSB (a Russian version of the Soviet KGB) where he used his security apparatus to discredit and embarrass people who were deemed enemies of standing administration of Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin was a notorious drunk and like most Russian leaders corrupt and paranoid so he enjoyed using Putin as an attack dog on his opponents. Yeltsin nominated Putin for Prime Minister in 1999 and was given "successor" status by the departing Yeltsin. From this day forward, Putin has been the unquestioned leader of Russia.
He served as President from 2000-2008 and Prime Minister since. He was Constitutionally limited to two terms and to the surprise of many he did not override the Constitution to remain in the Presidency. Instead, he named Dmitri Medvedev, a long time Putin understudy, as his successor and in typical Russian fashion the people gladly elected Medvedev. No observer of Russia has been fooled by this game of political musical chairs. Everyone in Russia and the world knows that Putin holds the power of the Russian state. The consolidation of power under Putin has been one of the most impressive displays of manliness I can remember. His inner circle, made up of former KGB spies, control every aspect of the Russian economy and political apparatus. It is even rumored that Putin is the richest man in the world via unspoken ownership of Gazprom and other monstrous Russian energy corporations. In response to these concerns Putin said the following...
"This is true. I am the richest person not only in Europe, but also in the world. I collect emotions. And I am rich in that respect that the people of Russia have twice entrusted me with leadership of such a great country as Russia. I consider this to be my biggest fortune. As for the rumors concerning my financial wealth, I have seen some pieces of paper regarding this. This is plain chatter, not worthy discussion, plain bosh. They have picked this in their noses and have smeared this across their pieces of paper. This is how I view this."
Now that is manly. Not only did he turn the question around and talk about his paternalistic care of his people but also insulted the people who had reported it. Putin is legendary for his crass insults and obnoxious language towards reporters, foreign leaders and anyone who dares disagree with him. This is probably the greatest thing I have seen a world leader say in decades.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S1ZfjZmjgA
Repressing people and organizations that don't agree with you is something any worthwhile man does and Putin does this on a legendary scale. The Russian people are accustomed to being told what to think by news outlets directly controlled by the Kremlin. They embrace this state control because it gives them stability. Since Putin's ascension 20 or more news reporters who dared question The Kremlin have disappeared or been murdered. Not one of these crimes is solved. Putin's iron fist knows no bounds within Russia. He prosecuted the richest man in Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, for tax fraud and corruption. Not coincidentally, Khordorkovsky was a loud critic of Putin's increasing reach for power. To put this in American terms this would be like George W. Bush jailing Bill Gates for supporting John Kerry. Obviously, the rule of law and Constitution apply here in America (most of the time) but in Russia only Putin's interpretation of the Constitution counts for anything.
Putin's reach and grip on power is not restricted to Russia. It is widely known that the Russian security apparatus regularly watches and influences Russians living abroad. The most obvious example of this was the case of Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB operative who accused Putin of plotting to murder another prominent Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky. Litvinenko fled to Great Britain before the Russian government could get him to trial and, in London, he was part of a group of Russian exiles who accused Putin of repression, corruption and murder. Litvinenko then met with two Russian officers over lunch and fell ill and died of Polonium 210 poisoning. On his death bed he accused Putin of ordering his assassination. Great Britain requested extradition of the two agents and Russia flatly refused with Putin calling the extradition request "An insult to Russia".
There have been other reports of Russian business leaders disappearing, being exiled, or murdered. It is fairly commonplace in Putin's Russia. Political party leadership (outside of Putin's United Russia) is a dangerous job as well. Long story short....Do not fuck with Vladimir Putin. Never in the history of the world has a government been so dominated by former spies. Murder and extortion is part of the job description for spies and it is obvious that Putin and his inner circle have extended those ideals to running an entire nation. While I do not condone the use of murder by a President I have to admit to being awestruck at the brazen manliness of the Putin administration. Putin does exactly what he wants to do, at anytime and no one dares say a word. That is fucking manly.
Speaking of brazen manliness, in the past year Vladimir Putin has taken to setting up photo ops in the Russian wilderness while shooting guns, swimming, riding horseback shirtless, doing Judo and so on and so forth. It seems that Russia has one thing right, it wants its leaders to be virile, tough and masculine. Those three words would never be associated with Chief Obongo at the White House. Here in America we chose a leader based on his absurd name and white guilt. In Russia, they pick a leader who shoots tigers, swims frozen rivers, kicks kids ass in Judo and fishes in waist deep water with no shirt on. So are we really better than Russia? We pretend to be but when you look at the actions of this current administration like nationalization of the auto industry, leveraging government money into firing CEOs and invalidating elections based on "racist" principles it looks strangely like the totalitarianism in Russia. At least their totalitarianism is done by a real man not a race baiting effete coward.
There are those who will read my celebration of Putin's manliness as an endorsement of his political ideology. This is not the case. Obviously, totalitarianism and repression of the media is not something I would want in America. A man like Putin in America would be much more like Ronald Reagan than Josef Stalin. Russia has no tradition of self-determination or self-rule. Russians are used to being ruled and they don't trust their fellow people to elect a leader. They flat out mistrust democracy. Putin has taken full advantage of that to make himself the "Father" of modern Russia and that is to be celebrated. A real man knows that he has the best ideas for his country (or family) and does not care about how he is able to rule, just that he does. The ultimate in the pursuit of manliness is total control of your situation. No one in 2009 exemplified this more than Vladimir Putin and that is why he is the Man of the Year for 2009.
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