Media sources a few months ago said Vlad skipped a key G20 summit amid a swirl of rumors that another world leader was planning to humiliate him with a monstrous slap to the face in front of flashing cameras. Who knows if these stories are true, but it does make me wonder: What might have happened next – after a crush of NFL-sized Russian bodyguards gave the slapper a world-class smackdown?
Has anything like this happened in recent times? It’s hard to imagine Putin lodging a strongly worded verbal protest and leaving it at that. Do you see him ordering an agent to go after the slapper with a poison? Putin is all about projecting strength and machismo (and trading on his cult of personality), so it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he doesn’t go totally Billy Jack on the offending leader and his country.
ETA: The source of this story is the Daily Mail, who got it from a Telegram channel, “which has regularly claimed that Putin is suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease and a schizoaffective disorder.” This sounds to me like a psy-op, but the OP’s question still works as a hypothetical. MSN
The only G20 members I can imagine this being are (a) Emmanuel Macron, who himself was slapped by a fellow French citizen in mid-2021 during a campaign stop, and is hard to predict, or (b) Turkey’s Erdogan, who redefines erratic, yet is probably not suicidal.
I think Putin’s reaction would be best described as volcanic. He would have gone completely, stark-raving unhinged.
Regarding Putin as The Great Judoka, yes we’ve all read those press releases. I imagine Putin’s judo opponents have long known the perils of fighting back. It’s like the venerable, half-blind, 87-year-old Aikido master who easily throws 3 burly attackers during a media demonstration.
Yeah, I can’t see Putin going all Chris Rock. He seems calm and under control, but just under the surface I bet he’s wound up tight. I am sure he’d lose his shit if someone slapped him at a public event, or in any way made him look weak.
At an estimated 5’7", I think Putin has Short Mans Syndrome. Makes for a dangerous situation considering the power he has at his disposal. More so now that he is finding out that his military is somewhat less capable than he probably thought it was.
I don’t think Putin fears being humiliated by a slap; he could just hit back. What would be humiliating is every other world leader deliberately ignoring him.
7th Dan (7th degree black belt), conferred by the Aikikai school.
Pro: For a foreigner to earn a high degree from a Japanese school is a legitimately impressive feat.
Con: His dojo was owned and operated by his father-in-law.
By the way, a black belt does not mean that you are a bad-ass killing machine. It means you are qualified to teach. A higher degree black belt means you are qualified to run a larger school. Most instructors are 1st or 2nd degree. The head of a local school is often 3rd to 5th Dan. The head of a regional organization will be 5th to 7th degree. The head of a national organization is 9th Dan. A few organizations confer a 10th degree, but 10th Dan is usually an honorary “lifetime achievement” award that they give you after you retire.
I don’t know if you follow the news. There has been talk of detaining Putin if he appears in certain nations. One is cautious with countries that have nuclear weapons, and South Africa in particular will be very reluctant to do so (and will not) should he appear there as planned. Given this, a hypothetical question becomes much more so, as it is hard to see where it could happen.
