Vladimir Putin and his remaining allies sure are a sensitive bunch. Perhaps those fancy “rings of power” do something to the psyche? There’s no telling if that’s the case, but Putin’s ego has led him to persist in reportedly planning to draft another 500,000 Russian recruits for his ill-fated Ukraine invasion. And from there, the massive casualties look to pile up even further.
The Daily Beast relays how the Kremlin currently has its nose out of joint after David Pressman, the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, referred to Putin as a “small man” who can only “can only lead through fear and intimidation.” Pressman also credited Ukrainians for refusing to “return to a broken, abusive system that had failed them for so long.” And from there, the Kremlin apparently spurred up a response from a Russian embassy regarding Pressman’s remarks:
In a Telegram post on Tuesday, the Russian embassy in Hungary went on a tirade against Pressman’s “unacceptable” remarks about “the personality of a foreign Head of State,” calling his comments “an outrageous violation of basic diplomatic protocol and practice,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.
In addition, Pressman (and his “lack of professionalism”) received a recommendation to absorb the works of Henry Kissinger, including Diplomacy. It’s bizarre! There’s no word on whether Vladimir Putin was in on this bookstore push, but he’s also got enough to clean up, considering that his war has been going for nearly a year with zero signs that a Russian victory is in the cards.
(Via The Daily Beast)