#Georgie return to me 2024 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

copperbadge · 2 years

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Hi Sam, could you share the timeline for the Shivadverse please? Because the epilogues tend to be little time jump and the books overlap, and Twelve Points confused me a bit in regards to when it takes place, ngl. Like, Eddie went for the coronation, stayed, he and Greg dated for a year(?) and get engaged. Are still engaged when Jess and Noah arrive. Are married during Euro Vision, but engaged (?) when the song is written at the start. And Tiger happens somewhere too, but Alanna and Jerry haven't gotten married yet...

I would love the proper chain of events! How much time has it been since Eddie's arrival and the end of Twelve Points?

Oh sure! I have it all written out (more or less) so find below the cut.

You do kind of have to squint a little in places; they're cramming a lot into a short amount of time and I was deliberately vague with real dates because it makes it easier to sort of slide stuff in, and with the first three books I was shuffling events around a bit. Spring 2022 saw a lot of action and fall 2023 is looking to be the same. :D

To short-answer your question, between the start of Fete For A King (February-ish 2021, don't look too hard at that) and the end of Twelve Points (May 2022) it's been about fifteen months. If we count to the true end of Twelve Points in the epilogue (November-ish 2022) it's been a year and nine months. By the time we hit the end of the planned-out novels (Spring 2024) it will have been three years.

SPRING 2021

Events of Fete For A King (except epilogue): Eddie arrives to cater the coronation; Gregory and Eddie begin a relationship. Michaelis retires and Gregory is crowned king.

Pre-LATT: Jerry is diagnosed with ADHD.

SUMMER 2021

Pre-LATT: Jerry begins medication for ADHD at the start of Infinite Jes.

Events of Infinite Jes (except epilogue): Jes and Noah arrive. Jes and Michaelis begin a relationship in late summer.

FALL 2021

Prologue of Twelve Points: Noah begins school at the Maritime Academy as a Junior. Caleb sees him and Michaelis interacting and composes Young Prince.

Events of the short story Love Like A Freight Train: Gregory and Eddie get frisky in the bedroom.

SPRING 2022:

Events of the short story A Pizza For Purim in March: Eddie makes pizza for Jes and Michaelis.

Epilogues of Fete for a King and Infinite Jes, plus short story Theophile and The Kings: Gregory and Eddie become engaged at Gregory's coronation anniversary ball (April-ish, possibly a bit earlier). Michaelis gives them 18 months before he starts pestering them about grandchildren.

Events of The Lady And The Tiger: Alanna and Jerry travel to Galia; they begin dating and become engaged. Ofelia Ansevali is installed as Duchess.

LATE SPRING/EARLY SUMMER 2022:

Beginning of The Twelve Points Of Caleb Canto: Caleb wins the National Final and meets the royal family; Buck comes to Fons-Askaz to write his next album.

Events of the short story The New Duke: Eddie is made a duke. Michaelis reminds Gregory that they have 16 months left before he starts pestering them about grandchildren.

Events of the short story Gold Digger: Jes fights with their parents about dating Michaelis (prior to attending Eurovision in Turin).

SUMMER 2022:

Ending of The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto: In May, Caleb and Buck compete against each other at Eurovision National Finals.

Noah officially/legally becomes a prince.

PROSPECTIVE: Beginning of The Royals And The Ramblers; Eddie, Gregory, Michaelis, Jes, and Noah visit the Rambler family in California, escorted by Georgie. Monday Rambler is asked to be the royal Surrogate. Monday becomes pregnant circa July.

FALL 2022:

Epilogue of The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto: Buck returns from touring to spend the winter in Fons-Askaz. Noah becomes first mate of the Dychev.

PROSPECTIVE: Royals/Ramblers: Georgie begins a relationship with Monday Rambler. Eddie and Gregory meet and adopt Ioanna. Eddie and Gregory have a huge state wedding.

Events of Cryptofauna Of The Shivadh North: Eddie and Gregory go on vacation and hunt a Svichwurm.

Now, all of that has been written and all but the start of Royals/Ramblers has been published or at least posted. The rest of 2023 is planned out as well so:

SPRING 2023:

PROSPECTIVE: Ending of The Royals And The Ramblers (around late April). The novel spans almost a year, since it begins prior to Monday's pregnancy and ends shortly after she gives birth.

SUMMER 2023:

PROSPECTIVE: The Chicken Salad Wars: Simon LeFevre begins publishing a recipe blog and is recruited into helping plan the Reclamation Day festival. Spans roughly April-August.

PROSPECTIVE: Noah will graduate from the Maritime Academy in June 2023. In theory, if I write his gap year novel, it would begin somewhere around summer 2023. I may not write this one in chronological order (IE, I may write other books set later first, then come back to this one).

FALL 2023:

PROSPECTIVE: Beginning of the yet-untitled Football Novel; Felix Giddings begins building Shivadh RFC and recruiting players for the team's first 11. Spans the midseason gap and will likely end in spring 2024.

PROSPECTIVE: Events of the yet-untitled Roman Ruin Novel; crews hired by Jerry to clear and cultivate portions of the Shivadlakia estate uncover a Roman floor. Unclear how long this novel will span but likely a relatively short period of time.

There are also several stories in the pipeline that have indeterminate dates assigned, but presumably they are further out.

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moonbreezes · 6 months

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"-sickly Georgie (literally trauma bonding through sickness and period accurate “medicine”) he was ill every other month why not use it '

Sounds intresting and I haven't heard that before. What did you mean by that????

I do not know how to present this in a coherent way so allow me to create a vague list of some of the more notable events that revolved around George’s health. And I will restrict myself to only the time that he was James’s favourite.

I will not comment on George’s early years, because I cannot find any source (I might edit this later when I find anything of substance) that comments on his health. (Nonetheless I vaguely remember reading something about his poor health when he was a child.) However, there are records about him being sick whilst being already a favourite. It is especially interesting as King James often personally visited George or sent him gifts (fruits) so that he could recover quickly. There are not only third party records about George’s health and his sickness form outside visitors, but there are also letters from James directly addressed to Buckingham that mention his health.

The first incident oh his health collapsing is around late 1616, when it was speculated that he fell from grace and was not going to stick as a favourite, because of his absence. This is also around the time when he received the nickname Steenie, after St. Stephen who was dubbed as person with an angelic face. At that time, it became imminent that he was prone to being sick during moments of great tension. It might have been a prolonged sickness as it was noted around spring he was not feeling well, perhaps due to the death of one of his promoters – Sir John Graham. Some also speculated whether his poor health and absence was connected to John’s ‘fits of insanity’ (elder brother).[1]

Another incident happens three years later around June 1619. In April, James fell ill, and many feared he might die due to the severity of it. George, fearing his bad prospects after the possible death of the king was immensely relieved once James started to recover. Nonetheless the constant fear and taking care of the king resulted in him felling ill. After quick recovery he overexerted himself once again and a series of fainting spells took place, this forced him to rest much longer. After that James gave him, a stern talking to as he worried about George.[2]

Then, at the very end of Charles’s and his stay in Spain (around the end of August 1622) he, once again, fell ill which resulted in a delay of their return to England. There were rumours that he contracted syphilis while staying in Spain, which was supposed to explain a collapse in health shortly after he returned.[3]

(late April 1624 – June 2024) Then, there was the carriage incident. After the failed Spanish Match, there was a lot going on between not only between James and George but in general (Spanish weaving in accusations against George while talking with James, then there was the Parliament, James not liking what was going on and the influence George was exercising over Charles and the whole popularity thing. There was a lot). Their relationship turned colder.

He was about to leave for Windsor, for the Garter ceremonies on St George's Day, but could not bear to take Buckingham in his coach with him. The Duke, sensing that something was wrong, pressed James to say what was the matter. Thereupon the King, bursting into tears, declared that he was the unhappiest man alive, to be treated with such ingratitude by those who were dearest to him, and told Buckingham of the charges made against him. The Duke, who could not restrain his own tears, protested his innocence and called for a full investigation to discover who had given the ambassadors this false information. But James drove off to Windsor, taking only the Prince with him, and the disconsolate Buckingham was left to return to Wallingford House where he retired to bed and refused to see anybody.[4]

After that George fell ill once again. Charles in letters to Buckingham assured him, that he would mediate with James so that he would forgive the duke and the affection would return once more. Still weak in body and mind, after some time George was allowed to travel with the king in his coach. Nonetheless, his frail health was compromised once more, and illness returned. This time however, it was not entirely certain that he would survive. (James’s head physician tended to him).

Chamberlain reports on 13 May 1624: "The Duke of Buckingham hath ben sicke above this sevenight of a feaver, the jaundisse, and I know not what els, so that besides other phisicke he hath ben thrise let bloud at least, yet the world thincks he is more sicke in mind then body and that he declines apace" (Letters, 2: 558) [5]

After a difficult night, the King, fearing for his favourite’s life rushed to his side and was by his bedside for some hours. As Buckingham steadily recovered James was said to send him gifts (fruits such as cherries, melons, or grapes) daily, for which George thanked him in letters.[6] Then it is also said that at one time, he knelt at his bedside and begged the God to transfer the illness onto him so that the favourite would recover.

Dear Dad and Gossip, Though you commanded me to write no answer, yet, since I should not a slept well this night except I had done it, I hope you will excuse my disobeying of you at this time. I have been the longer a-doing of it because I might send you the certainer news of my health, which at this time is so good, what with your sweet cordial and my seasonable drawing of blood, that I hope tomorrow to wait of you a perfect man. I hope you will not be put to much pains to read this hand, since you have received so many love letters from her who joins with me in humble thanks for your kindness and care of us both. So, craving your blessing, we end Your Majesty's most humble slaves, Kate. Steenie.[7]

And once again, the affections between James and George returned to their, let’s call it, default state. Nonetheless, despite a quick recovery, during his next appearance Buckingham was supposed to be carried on a chair, as he was unable to walk or even hold a pen; his body was simply too weak.[8]

Following that, there were other minor instances when George’s health gave out.

Dear Dad and Gossip, I have not yet been able to acquaint the Ambassador with what you have found in your book, because I received your letter when I was come from him; but before I shall be able to see you, I shall have done it; for what with the rainy weather, my late coming last night, and this day's long treating with him in the garden, I have such a swelling in my throat, and such a noise in my head, that I can neither swallow nor hear well; wherefore I shall be forced for my health, if your service will permit me, to take a little physic. The physicians tells me this is the seasonablest time […].[9]

Sweet heart, Blessing, blessing, blessing […]. Remember now to take the air discreetly and peece and peece. And, for God's sake and mine, keep thyself very warm, especially thy head and thy shoulders. Put thy park of Bewlie to an end, and love me still and still. And so God bless thee, and my sweet daughter, and god-daughter, to the comfort of thy dear dad. JAMES R[10]

In January 1625, whilst dealing with various (war-related) affairs he has once more fell ill, and even the King urged him to leave London and rest in the countryside. Nonetheless this time around, he had to suffer through what was ailing him and carry on working. And lastly the death of king James also affected George, as the grief rendered him so weak in his body that he had to be, once again, carried in a chair.[11]

So there it is. I am absolutely sorry about the amount of my yaaping about George and his health, even if is truncated. I have tried to stay coherent and do not stray from the timeline, so I hope that this little ‘compilation’ is alright. Tldr; George had health of a Victorian street urchin battling with consumption and contemporary medicine.

Bibliography

Bergeron, David M. 2002. King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire. University Of Iowa Press.

Lockyer, Roger. 2014. Buckingham: The Life and Political Career of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham. Routledge.

[1] Lockyer, Roger. 2014. Buckingham: The Life and Political Career of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham. Routledge, 28.

[2] Lockyer. Buckingham, 55-57.

[3] Lockyer. Buckingham, 162.

[4] Lockyer. Buckingham, 187.

[5]Bergeron, David M. 2002. King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire. University Of Iowa Press, 125.

[6] ) Bergeron. King James and…, 208.

[7] Letter form Buckingham to King James (c. 16th June 1624) ) Bergeron. King James and…, 205.

[8] Lockyer. Buckingham, 196-9.

[9] An excerpt from the letter form Buckingham to King James (c. August 1624) Bergeron. King James and…, 207.

[10] An excerpt from King James’s letter to Buckingham (c.1624) Ibid., 176.

Lockyer. Buckingham, 213, 226, 234-5.

#george villiers #king james vi and i #king charles i #kate villiers #mary and george #it's a travesty that he only had pox in the show #and wdym James returned his letters #they conversed about health a lot #ty georgie for making me read about your urin #and yellowish skin #sweet steenie #nothing gets one going like a good health talk #i am sane #i swear

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musingsofabookworm1 · 2 months

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My Last Nine Reads: July - August 2024

My last nine reads have been average at best overall. Hoping for a good crop of books for August!

The Last Time I Saw You by Jo Leevers - 3 stars

Georgie is on the brink of motherhood. She’s just weeks away from her due date when she comes upon a viral news story in which she recognizes her mother: Nancy. Nancy disappeared 20 years prior abandoning Georgie and her brother, Dan. Though she and Dan aren’t close anymore, Georgie decides to take him along to the remote island where their mother was supposedly spotted. She does this without telling her husband, away from work, where she is really going. Obviously with the star rating, this one was average. Good dialog to prose ratio. Neither one anything to write home about. Decent plot. Just nothing I’m bursting at the seams to recommend.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle - 2 stars

Major disappointment. I knew the title location was a conversion camp. This was also billed as horror. However, it is YA, and the genre of horror itself is not what I expected. Horror in the general sense, a conversion camp…that is indeed horrific. This short read also had an unreliable narrator that maybe a true young adult reader may glom onto, but as an adult, it was easy to see what was coming in some aspects. Not worth the time.

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay - 4 stars

The narrator of the story was in a cult movie known as “The Thin Kid” when he was in college playing the title role. The movie actually was never seen by anyone in its entirety. A few select clips made their way online, and the legend of the movie grew. In present day, we’re reading about how the narrator is going to be part of a “remake” of the movie. In the past, we’re reading about the making of the original. I loved that the screenplay of the movie made its way into the book often. Outside of that, the writing was a bit rambling at times. And there are some twists and turns along the way that made this get an above-average rating.

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina - 4 stars

Anna is a teen troubled by the missing girls on her reservation. The book opens with a story told by her uncle that eventually leads her to delving into the myths and stories of her people to help solve the mystery surrounding the girls. Anna, though, has her own problems. She is bullied mercilessly at school. Her grandmother is dying and moves into her family’s already-crowded home. She has a job at the casino where she is surrounded by visitors that make her feel uncomfortable. All of this comes together at the end. I really like the writing: a good mix of dialog and prose that slowly releases clues to the missing girls.

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham - 4 stars

For 20 years, Chloe Davis’ father has been in prison for the murder of six teenage girls in her tiny hometown in Louisiana. She has since successfully started her own psychology practice in Baton Rouge and is engaged. When a teenage girl goes missing, Chloe’s memories of her father’s murder return. Parallels are there. Or so she believes. She decides to privately investigate what is going on, keeping the secrets from her fiancé as she’s never told him her family’s story. Good thriller! A fast-paced, easy read with a solid ending.

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman - 2 stars

Imagine my surprise when I read about a new Josh Malerman book in one of my Facebook book groups. How did I know about it? In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t. This was my least favorite read of his with the most anticlimactic ending. Eight-year-old Bela is the narrator. Her parents’ marriage isn’t perfect, but they both love her. So does “Other Mommy: an entity who lives in their home and asks Bela repeatedly, “Can I go inside your heart?” This gets nearly four stars on Goodreads, but it was just a huge disappointment for me. It dragged on, it got repetitive, and the ending was most disappointing of all.

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons (Millennium #7) by Karin Smirnoff - 4 stars

I also saw this one on Facebook from last year that I’d completely forgotten about after the library not having it upon release. If you’ve read and enjoyed the Millennium series, you’ll like this one. Lisbeth doesn’t come into the story until page 70, but she is left to care for her niece Svala. She’s been named guardian after Svala’s mother dies. Like all of the books in this series, the plot is intricate. Parts that seem unimportant are important as the plot fleshes out. I was thankful for the character guide at the beginning as I did not remember the names and relationships of characters beyond Salander and Blomkvist (whose own daughter is getting married). A little bit of a slow burn but a fast ending. And props to a female author getting to continue this series!

Fire Exit by Morgan Talty - 2 stars

Protagonist Charles lives in Maine and watches things that go on on the Penobscot Reservation across the river. He had a life there once when his mother married one of Native men. But when he passed, Charles, not a Native, could not continue to live on the reservation. For twenty years, he’s watched his daughter. Who does not know she is his daughter. Only one other person knows: her mother. He doesn’t know how much longer he can keep the truth hidden but knows that it will surely upend many lives. This book sounded good, but it was more character driven than I like. Despite it being quite short, it really dragged for me. Not recommended.

80s Ghost by V.S. Lawrence - 2 stars

Thank you Prime Day shipping credits so that I didn’t have to actually pay for this one. It started off fairly strong. In 2009, protagonist Chrissy is a ghost hunter trying to make it big with a vlog. Unfortunately, she is nowhere close to seeing even a bit of success. Out of the blue, she receives an email from a man living in a town called Merlin asking her to come visit the local high school that burned down in the 80s. This could be her big break! So she and her two partners travel to Merlin where there are, indeed, ghosts (this should not be a spoiler due to the title). The 80s tropes included started as enjoyable but got old. As characters’ true stories were revealed, they were too obvious to enjoy. Just another let down. Side note - very cool cover!

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creativemessbyvd · 7 months

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Creative Mess by VD Blog Guide

Welcome to my writing blog! Mostly for writing related reblogs and my fic ideas that might one day become full fics. My main is @Vesta Dragon for all the reblogs of many, many fandoms. Here are some quick links to my most used tags here, my published fics and a complete (and updating!) list of my fic ideas, enjoy!

MY WRITING TAGS

#my writing - posts about any writing of mine, ideas, snippets, chapters, etc.

#VD's fics - published fanfics, chapter posts or related posts of mine

#fic idea vault / fic idea vault ## - anything related to an idea, may include snippets

#my writing BTS - extra information for fics, worldbuilding mostly

MY PUBLISHED FICS ON AO3

The Horror and the Wild | IT Chapter 2 Fix-It fic | COMPLETE

- "If you could, little one, would you help them?” Georgie has never felt more sure of anything in his short life. Even if he had to see the clown again, Georgie would do it. He would be brave for Billy. He nods, and Mat the Great Turtle smiles, and bows down until his nose can ruffle Georgie’s hair. Georgie asks the great Turtle God to let him help out his brother and his friends. Knowing that his power is very limited, that Pennywise will return much earlier being unsatisfied thanks to the Losers’ meddling and that Georgie wishes to keep everyone alive, Mat the Turtle sends Georgie before IT’s return to gather the Losers and help them destroy the alien menace. Georgie’s biggest obstacle will not be the alien, but rather convincing his brother and his old friends that the 18-year-old is the 7-year-old that got eaten by the alien they forgot about. Fix-it fic for the movies-verse! All of the Losers are in their 20’s and Georgie is 18 and back by Turtle Magic. Warning for Character Dead but that’s just Georgie and he is not dead after the first chapter.

Lay All Your Love On Me - Mamma Mia AU | Bagginshield / The Hobbit Movies | UPDATED APRIL 2024!

Frodo Baggins is getting married, and he has invited his three possible dwarrow fathers – but did not tell his Hobbit father. He doesn’t have a death wish. He just wants to fill the hole he has had his whole life. And he’ll know when he sees his father, and everything will be alright in the world. Bilbo already had stress with the wedding, he did NOT need all three of his exes at his Hotel after 20 years. Why would all three show up and on THIS weekend in particular? Valar help him. This will be a weekend no one will soon forget. - Mamma Mia! AU with the Hobbit characters!

At Least Out Loud, I Won't Say I'm in Love - Hercules AU | RadioApple / Hazbin Hotel

After Lucifer's intervention, Roo orders Alastor to find any and all weaknesses of the King, by any means necessary. But with the Sin of Wrath there to help Lucifer and Charlie get back on their feet, this will not be easy. Alastor is sure that his front of snark-turned-to-fondness will not turn into genuine feelings, he has been there and done that. He will get Roo what she wants and get his soul back, but will his head and heart be on the same page once him and the King grow closer? Lucifer must take control of his life, for his kingdom and for his daughter. Staying close to Alastor to keep an eye on him and trying to get along will just be better for his headaches, he tells himself. But Lucifer has never been one to listen to reason when his heart latches onto something, and getting to know Alastor will change a lot of things. Can friendship and love prevail when those closest to us betray us?

'I'm in love with a Jedi' Support Group | Mainly DinLuke, many ships included! / Star Wars

Din gets jumped on the way back home and wakes to find he has been welcomed into a 'secret club' made for those who fell for Jedi and now have to deal with Force Osik.

Fic Idea Vault:

#1 Guardians of Arcadia - post-Wizards idea (Guardian of Arcadia) - Tales of Arcadia Netflix show

#2 Honey, I've changed so much since I last saw ya (Brainwashed Carmen Sandiego) - Carmen Sandiego Netflix show

#3 3 sets of idiots meet to implode the universe + Artoo (3 sets of idiots) - Star Wars (Main 9 films)

#4 I wasn't worth his change (Ahsoka + Good Place) - Star Wars (Clone Wars and The Mandalorian show)

#5 Dinluke Mulan AU (Dinluke Mulan AU) - Star Wars (The Mandalorian show)

#6 Brother Bear Inspired Bagginshiled AU (Brother Bear AU) - The Hobbit films

#7 Padmé Time Travel AU - Star Wars (Prequels, Clone Wars)

#8 Disaster Lineage Encanto AU - Star Wars (Prequels, Clone Wars)

#9 B99 SW AU: The Galaxy's Finest #9 Post 2 Snippet - Star Wars (All media)

#10 A Fix-It Fic set after Jedi Fallen Order and with a slight different Order 66 (Fix-it JFO) #10 Post 2 Snippet - Star Wars (Prequels, Clone Wars, Jedi Fallen Order video game)

#11 The Shadows' Plan - Star Wars (Prequels, Clone Wars)

#12 Getting adopted *name in progress, first fic The Scorpion's Redemption #12 Post 2 Scorpion's Redemption snippet - Star Wars (Prequels, Clone Wars, The Mandalorian show, Obi Wan Kenobi show)

#13 NANDERMO SOULMATES/REINCARNATED/ROLE SWAP AU (I GUESS?) (Nandermo Soulmates AU) - What We Do in the Shadows TV show

#14 Han's brilliant plan - Time travel SW AU (Han's brilliant plan) - Star Wars (Prequels, Clone Wars, Original Trilogy, The Mandalorian show)

#15 Afterlife reunion Bagginshield AU (afterlife reunion) - The Hobbit films

#16 The comeback of Radio - Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss universe

GENERAL TAGS USED IN THE BLOG

#writing tips - anything related to writing itself, from language, to tone, to worldbuilding, etc.

#writing resources - information of any kind that helps in the writing, usually followed by what the resource is for

#writing inspiration - maybe pictures, or a quote or some nice advice or words from and for fellow writers/creators

#writing meme - self-explanatory

#relatable - like memes, but maybe more of a post on something that happened that isn't necessarily a meme

#personal - my own posts, not about my writing or ideas

#publishing - related to real world publishing

#fan events - related to any writing, reading, comment or art event that I may have participated in or just rebloged here because it sounded cool!

#asks games - Any post with questions for people to send me

#personal #blog guide #vd's fics #my writing

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lyndonriggall · 8 months

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Door 34

Photo by Georgie Todman.

A few months ago, I got a gnawing feeling. It felt like the slow rising of a wave of overwhelm, and that the little boat I called my life was floating somewhere in its path.

I was behind on edits working with my wonderful mentor, Mark Macleod, on my children’s novel. I was attending a series of workshops developing a brand new project for a local theatre company. I had just returned from an international holiday, and I had a job application to complete and a stack of creative writing folios to mark, not to mention all of the emails I had to answer. My house was in disarray (never a good sign), and I was recovering from a knee injury that was making running difficult. I was a busy boy, and it felt like everything that had once been a blessing had suddenly become just one more thing to constantly be worrying about.

I sat down on the couch with my head in my hands. What was I going to do?

After a moment (and a big sleep), I thought about everything a little more. What was I really doing? I was writing a children’s book, and in a month’s time I would have the opportunity to pitch its concept to some of Australia’s best publishers. I was creating an original play in an environment where I had an enormous amount of creative support, and it was growing every day. I had been to Japan, where I had driven a go-kart around the streets of Tokyo, undertaken a traditional tea ceremony, and visited the world of Harry Potter at the Universal Studios theme park. I had almost cracked a twenty-minute five km personal best in my running, and I was working at my favourite school, teaching my favourite subject and had a new leadership position. I was co-President of one of Tasmania’s largest literary festivals.

It was a lot to sift through. But, I reflected, Lyndon at 24 would have killed for the problems that I had now. For all of my challenges, I was living the dream of a younger version of me. I am living the dream of a younger version of me, even now.

Much has stayed the same for me in 2023. I wake up in my little house, largely following the same routine in which the clock might be set by coffees in the morning, green teas in the afternoon, and a cup of earl grey in the evening. Some things have changed, though. For the first time in more than a decade, I will be acting in April, in the Launceston Players’ 2024 Production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, a darkly funny comedy about a writer living in a totalitarian state being interrogated about the grisly content of his stories. Georgie and I, as co-presidents of the Tamar Valley Writers Festival, will be heading up our first fully-fledged event this year in October, bringing local and national storytellers to our hometown. After six years teaching English 3, this year I will be taking my first Philosophy class, and will spend at least some of my time unpacking the big concepts of the good life, ethics, and the mind/body problem.

I have been so very spoilt on my arrival at thirty-four. There were messages that my phone buzzed with all day that spoke of me in the kind of way that seemed perhaps to indicate a person I wish I was, rather than the way that I am, but which nevertheless made me feel that I might be doing something right. There was cake, and decorations, and presents that were as thoughtful as they were generous. There were enthusiastic happy birthday declarations at school, a family member who cancelled their plans that night to be able to spend more time with me, and food… food… so much food.

I live the kind of life now where I have almost an entire year laid out before me at every turn. The school calendar ticks forward from day one to exams with a frighteningly predictable progression that always gradually increases in speed and intensity. Trips, activities, performances and adventures start filling in the gaps long before the diary has officially turned from one year to the next. It is a gift, certainly, on some days, to be busy. There isn’t time to worry about the sorts of things that used to turn over in my mind for hours: the things said and unsaid, heard and not heard, the mistakes made and the undeserved successes. There is only time to hold on tight.

Most days, when I wake up, I feel lucky. I used to think of each new day, and each new year, as a blank page, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it is a door… not necessarily something that I get to write for myself, but something that waits for me, and that I only need enter to discover. There are times when it all feels really, really hard. Of course there are. But through all of the challenges I’ve faced, I haven’t yet had a year where I regretted where I've found myself. I have learnt and grown so much. I think Lyndon of ten years ago, and twenty years ago, would be proud of me. I think he’d be excited that one day he would get to be me, and open Door 34 for himself.

If you’re reading this, the chances are that somewhere behind that door you are waiting. Today, as I step through and turn the lights on to face the surprises of the year ahead, I feel so grateful to be here, and so grateful that you are too.

Whatever happens, this place is home now. And as the way back closes behind me, knowing that you are in here somewhere beside me, I am excited to see, and embrace, whatever lies ahead.

#original #birthday

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adventurous-adventures · 9 months

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January 5 2024

First session of the new year! Let's get into it!

We spent ages just going through out-of-context quotes we had collected from various places.

"SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK" Mick dying from the sucking. "Maybe not do that to the person who spilt their drink last year.

River Lea and Raven dump Orc corpses at the butcher: "Wait… what is this guys race?" "Oh god, he's not an orc right?"

Did we mention they are naked? The human butcher is hauling naked Orcs to the back of his freezer.

Oop! An opportunity to get more Australi- I mean Orc Meat.

DM.exe is not responding.

Town Master is pretending not to be home to deal with us.

Juniper threatened to break in and enter through the broken window (courtesy of Cryovain)

Yeah the town master hates us now. (I am not surprised)

Bill Neigh the Cowboy Guy!

"Georgie, stop breaking the DM!" I'm on notes today… 👋Hi! Also, I'm making little quips

We now can't stop laughing at saying we're selling Orc meat.

Mr. Wester is a fucking pussy making us do shit while he hides in his broken house.

(Pussy autocorrected to Pussy-cat and I don't know what's funnier)

Bill and his horse having a Flynn Rider and Maximus 'when he looks at me and I look at him' moment.

Bill and Town Master have similar accents.

Looks like the Orcs are Arsonist but in a Minecraft sense.

River Lea is banned from her dead ex's bakery for obvious reasons.

"Firecunt"… can we say cunt on here because we're kiwi? (Lara here, I say yeah. Our blog, we can do what we want)

they exit with a basket full of bread (of different shapes) and a cheese wheel the size of Juniper.

"What's that jerky made out of?" "Beef" "Are you sure about that?"

The butcher is traumatised so much that the DM forgot Juniper and Iphigenia did not come in with that Orc meat.

Debating who will mount what creature together. Enter Alistair with a shipping chart. Dewdrop & Alistair are plotting.

*insert shipping chart here*

Going back to the Farmer's house.

"Say boyfriend! Say boys! Say boyfriend!" Zain, 2024 in relation to getting the DM to refer to Raven in his dialogue to his child.

Juniper is canonically unhinged (slay). She may be a cleric but she will say unhinge shit to get a rise out of each other.

During our second long rest: "Do you want me to roll perception again?" "Ummm." *rolls dice* "Yes." "I don't like those sounds"

A long rest later: BOOM white cow.

"You notice some bodies on the ground" Everyone chants 'let the bodies hit the floor'.

"Oh look! Orc meat." "They are swarming with flies." "… We're not touching those!"

Australian Orcs have returned.

Zain mispronounced Satyr to Satire.

We bonded with the Orcs over Racism. For once violence wasn't the answer.

Iphigenia is going to pull the dead sister card to get the Town Master to agree to get the folks of Phandalin to help rebuild the ghost town for the orcs

In the tune of Do You Wanna Build a Snowman: 🎶Dewdrop, do you wanna fuck an Orc?🎶

Is Alistair a Furry?

Bonus:

Here is Juniper vs the image the DM had in his head when Juniper and Iphigenia returned with bread and cheese

#the oddballs #session recaps #d&d #dungeons and dragons #shipping chart will come soon

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politicoscope · 5 years

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Mikhail Mishustin Biography and Profile

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/mikhail-mishustin-biography-and-profile/

Mikhail Mishustin Biography and Profile

Mikhail Mishustin Early Life

Mikhail Mishustin (Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin) was born in Moscow on March 3, 1966, head of the Federal Tax Service since 2010 and has worked in government roles related to tax collection since the early days of his career, says a Reuters profile of him. He has won praise for improving tax collection processes and more than doubling tax revenues in the past decade, with 20.4 trillion roubles ($331.92 billion) collected in the first 11 months of last year. The majority of those revenues still come from taxes on the vast energy sector but an increasing share now comes from other forms of taxation after an efficiency drive.

A glowing profile of him on state-run RT.com said that the Moscow-born Mishustin worked in the computer and IT sector throughout the 90s and joined the tax service near the end of the decade, when he began his career as a civil servant. Mishustin holds a doctorate in economics and oversaw the opening of the first special economic zones in Russia and in the early 2000s was put in charge of the Federal Real Estate Cadaster Agency. In 2008, he left the civil service for an investment company but returned in a couple of years to head the nation’s tax service. Mishustin told Vedomosti newspaper in 2018 he did not seek a return to the private sector.

“But if destiny chooses a different path for me, I would work in innovations, with new technologies, in the same field as I have always worked: transformation, related to the digital economy,” Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin said.

“(Mishustin) looks a lot like the technocratic premiers… of the early 2000s,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote on social media.

Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin Biography and Profile

Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin was born in Moscow on March 3, 1966. Mikhail Mishustin, trained as an engineer and has a PhD in economics, according to his official biography. He was appointed head of the tax service in 2010 after being proposed by then-finance minister Alexei Kudrin, known for his outspoken liberal stance.

He has been in the post ever since and is praised for streamlining the service formerly notorious for red tape, mountains of paperwork and long queues. After Putin proposed Mishustin, Rossiya-24 state television reported that he “created the best tax collection system in the world.” He was picked as premier to create a “more competent leadership,” Dmitri Trenin, head of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, wrote on Twitter.

Mishustin is a “neutral figure” and his candidacy cannot be linked to any “ideological platform,” political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann told AFP, adding she doubted he is being groomed as a successor to President Vladimir Putin. While Putin has criticised the internet and is rarely shown using technology, Mishustin has said Russia needs to adapt its economy, making him closer to predecessor Dmitry Medvedev, a keen user of Apple products.

Mikhail Mishustin told the Kommersant newspaper last year that Russia needs to adapt to the era of digital technology and artificial intelligence or fall behind.

“We are entering a fourth industrial revolution, this is already a digital world,” he said.

“If we don’t understand how this world is developing and what its rules are, if we insist our country is part of the old order, this new world will make us its victim.”

Mishustin shares a sporting interest with Putin, as he “regularly plays ice hockey,” said state news agency RIA Novosti.

He is a member of the supervisory council of CSKA hockey club, along with Rosneft chief Igor Sechin and other powerful figures.

The RBK business newspaper reported in 2010 that Mishustin has “good contacts in the law enforcement structures. He has often been seen at hockey matches with senior officials from the FSB (security service) and the interior ministry.”

While much of his career has been at the tax service, he started out in the 1990s heading an organisation set up to promote international cooperation in computing.

He became deputy head of the tax service in 1998 and shortly afterwards was appointed deputy tax minister, a position he held until 2004. After that, he headed federal agencies that worked on the property and special economic zones.

From 2008 for two years he was president of UFG Asset Management, an international group that has been investing in Russia and other ex-Soviet states since 1996. Deutsche Bank set up a joint venture with the company in 2008.

Mikhail Mishustin speaks several foreign languages.

Mikhail Mishustin Education

In 1989, he graduated from Moscow’s STANKIN Machine-Instrument Institute (currently Moscow State Technological University STANKIN) with a diploma in systems engineering. In 1992, he completed his postgraduate studies there. In 2003, he defended a thesis, headlined “Mechanism of state fiscal management in Russia” and received a PhD in economics. In 2010, he received a doctoral degree in economics at the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation (currently Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration).

Mikhail Mishustin Russian Prime Minister

On January 15, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin nominated Russian Federal Tax Service chief Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin for the position of the Russian prime minister.

“He also knows modern technologies better than anyone else,” said Russian hockey-legend-turned-politician Vyachslav Fetisov, praising the PM candidate as “very responsible and systematic, which is very important nowadays.”

“He’s a man who has made a reputation for himself by creating a high-tech Federal Tax Service from scratch with the use of state-of-the-art technologies, the digital economy,” speaker Vyacheslav Volodin pointed out.

President Vladimir Putin proposed a shake-up of the constitution, in a shock announcement that fuelled speculation about Putin’s future plans. The resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev — a longtime Putin ally — came after the president used his annual state of the nation address to propose a package of constitutional reforms that would strengthen parliament’s role.

Speculation has swirled about changes to Russia’s political system that would allow Putin to stay on after 2024, when he is due to step down after a fourth Kremlin term. Some have suggested he could assume a new post or remain in a powerful behind-the-scenes role. Putin quickly named Mikhail Mishustin, the low-profile head of the country’s tax service, to replace Medvedev.

“Russia has entered its period of power transition ahead of schedule,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, head of the R.Politik analysis firm.

Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin Quick Facts

Mikhail Mishustin speaks several foreign languages.

Since 1992, Mikhail Mishustin held various posts in the International Computer Club, a non-commercial organization with a goal to “attract advanced western information technologies to Russia.” Before being promoted to the post of the organization’s deputy director general in 1995, he headed a testing laboratory there. Between 1996 and 1998, Mishustin served as the organization’s board chairman.

In 1998, he served as an aide in charge of information systems to the head of the State Tax Service, Boris Fedorov.

Since August 22, 1998, Mikhail Mishustin served as deputy head of the State Tax Service under Boris Fedorov (until September 1998) and his successor Georgy Boos. On December 23, 1998, the State Tax Service was transformed into the Ministry of Taxes and Duties.

March 1999 and March 2004: Mishustin served as deputy minister of taxes and duties during the ministerial tenure of Georgy Boos, Alexander Pochinok (from May 1999) and Gennady Bukayev (from May 2000).

March 22, 2004, and December 18, 2006: Mishustin led the Federal Real Estate Cadastre Agency, re-organized in March 2009.

December 18, 2006, and February 29, 2008: Mikhail Mishustin headed the Federal Agency for Management of Special Economic Zones, disbanded in October 2009.

2008-2010: Mikhail Mishustin was the president of UFG Capital Partners company and a managing partner of the UFG Asset Management company. He oversaw projects to set up a venture fund and real estate funds and to develop businesses in regions. During this period, Mishustin also served as the academic director of the Institute of Real Estate Economics, part of Russia’s Higher School of Economics.

April 6, 2010, Mikhail Mishustin appointed head of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, replacing Mikhial Mokretsov.

October 2013: Mikhail Mishustin served as the academic director of the Tax and Taxation Faculty at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Mishustin is on the supervisory board of Russia’s CSKA hockey club. He is a member of the academic council of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation.

2011-2018: Mikhail Mishustin was a member of the Presidential Council for Financial Market Development.

2018: Mishustin declared 18.993 million rubles as his income (about $309,000 at the current exchange rate), his wife earned 47.709 million rubles (about $776,000) in the reported period.

Mishustin was decorated with the Order of Honor in 2012 and the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, fourth class in 2015.

Mishustin is similar to his predecessor Medvedev in embracing technology and has been widely credited with digitalizing the Russian tax system. This led to a drop in tax evasion as well as bringing many smaller businesses into the formal economy. Just last year, Mishutin told the Kommersant newspaper that Russia needed to embrace artificial intelligence and digital technology, saying “if we don’t understand how this world is developing and what its rules are, if we insist our country is part of the old order, this new world will make us its victim.”

Sports and Hobby

Like Putin, Mishustin enjoys ice hockey and is on the boards of CSKA Moscow ice hockey club and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. A former ice hockey player-turned-lawmaker said that he is a “decent” hockey player. The PM candidate is said to compose music and plays the piano.

Mikhail Mishustin Family

Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin is married, has three sons and plays hockey as a hobby.

Mikhail Mishustin Net Worth

Forbes estimates that Mishustin earned some 78 million rubles, or over $2 million dollars, in 2009.

Mikhail Mishustin Biography and Profile

#Mikhail Mishustin #Mikhail Mishustin Biography #Mikhail Mishustin Biography and Profile #Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin #Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin Biography and Profile #Russian Prime Minister #Vladimir Putin Biography and Profile

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clusterassets · 7 years

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New world news from Time: Putin Believes He’s Destined to Make Russia Great Again. And He’s Just Getting Started

A few weeks ago, one of the members of the Russian government turned to President Putin and asked, “Vladimir Vladimirovich, well, what will happen to me after March 18?” He asked his question in the presence of other ministers, and the upcoming elections were certainly on all their minds. They were all worried about whether they would keep their positions after the election. The rest, however, knew better than to say anything.

According to my sources, Putin smiled his usual sly smile and replied, “Well, why, even I do not know what will happen to me after March 18.” Everyone there understood that the minister had made a terrible mistake. You cannot publicly demonstrate weakness, and you cannot ask Putin about your future. Not that he would give a straight answer anyway.

Putin has always known what would happen to him after March 18; his re-election for a fourth term was a given. But in the months building up to the elections, the Russian political elite was in a state of tremendous stress, waiting in horror for the day of the presidential election—not because they had doubts about the result, but because they were terrified of what would come next. Even following the attack on former military intelligence agent Sergei Skripal, the ministers were not particularly afraid of potential conflict with the West. The fundamental changes to come were far more serious.

Under the current Russian constitution, this should be Putin’s last six-year term in office. But virtually nobody in the bureaucratic elite of Russia believes that Putin will step down in 2024. “There is a misconception that Putin is tired, needs rest and wants to live the life of a billionaire,” says a former minister who still has personal access to the president. “But Putin is far from being tired. He is interested in everything and digs into every matter, paying attention to all the details. This is his lifestyle, this is who he is. He can’t imagine life without power.”

From the moment of re-election, Putin will start devising a complicated scheme of ruling the country in the future. Perhaps that means finding a loophole in the constitution, or changing it, or building a new structure of the state. All sources speaking to TIME from Putin’s inner circle are certain—at least for now—that Putin will somehow remain in power.

The ruling bureaucracy understands this means an era of turbulence is coming. The question—as the outspoken minister put it—is what this means for the rest of us.

The emergence of a new tsar

Putin has changed considerably during his time in power. He never planned to remain in the president’s office forever. During his first term as president in 2000–2004, he considered refusing to run for re-election. As I reported in my book All the Kremlin’s Men, his friends were future oligarchs amassing great fortunes as businessmen,such as Yury Kovalchuk and Gennady Timchenko, or the heads of special services such as Director of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Patrushev. For them, Putin was the guarantor of omnipotence and they put tremendous pressure upon him at that time.

During his second term, he started to think about his contribution to history and how he would be remembered. In 2008, he yielded the presidential office to Dmitry Medvedev and became prime minister, exercising control from behind the scenes. But the experience rankled him—he was particularly annoyed by how Medvedev reacted to the Arab Spring protests in 2011.

The Arab Spring reminded Putin of the so-called “color revolutions” which took place in the former USSR republics in 2003–2005. Looking at what was happening with the weakened regime of Muammar Gaddafi, Putin believed that Russia should in no circumstances support the international operation against Libya, seeing it as part of a global conspiracy in which Russia would be the next target.

Sasha Mordovets—Getty ImagesA Russian soldier stands in front of poster with portraits of Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin and outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev during a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade near Moscow on April 4, 2012. The parade is dedicated to the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

But Medvedev backed the international operation in Libya, and declined to veto a U.N. Security Council vote authorizing it. To Putin, this illustrated how nobody could be trusted to run the country except him. He would return to the Kremlin in 2012.

From that moment on, Putin’s psychology underwent an irreversible transformation. He came to believe that he had been chosen for a special mission—to save Russia. This more than anything inspired the events of 2014, when he decided to annex the Crimean peninsula in response to a revolution in Ukraine that he believed to be part of a global anti-Russia conspiracy. The Western world reacted with dismay, and the U.S. and Europe imposed steep sanctions on Russia. But for many Russians the annexation of Crimea signified that Russia, for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, was once again a real superpower.

Ever since, making Russia great again has become a new ideology for Putin. State propaganda started to spread the idea that Putin is the only one who can restore the greatness of Russia. This concept was articulated in the most detailed way in the build-up to the presidential election, in a documentary broadcast on the state-owned TV channel Rossiya 1. The film, Valaam, about a once-neglected monastery that has been rebuilt since the collapse of the USSR with Putin’s support, conveyed the idea that Putin is a unique historical leader of Russia—able to unite fervent advocates of the Communist-era Soviet Union with those who dream of Russia’s pre-revolutionary empire, built on Orthodox Christianity.

In the most symbolic episode of the film, Putin says that there is almost no difference between the Orthodox Christianity and Communism, and that the Bolsheviks in fact reproduced the traditional dogmas that dominated the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries. He even compared the preserved corpse of Lenin, which lies in a mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square, to the relics of the orthodox saints, demonstrating that he managed to overcome the longstanding division.

As his former propaganda chief, Vyacheslav Volodin, once put it: “Without Putin, there is no Russia.”

All the President’s men

Putin is preparing for a new era. In the past year, he has begun a process of clearing house. He has fired a number of older governors and installed young and little-known bureaucrats in their place. The most typical appointees of 2017 were the governors of Samara and Nizhny Novgorod. They are virtually indistinguishable, so much so that Russian media compare them to Agent Smith from The Matrix—the self-cloning agent of the all-powerful central computer.

These Agent Smiths represent an archetype of Putin’s new staff. They all are roughly the same age, 40 years old or a little younger; they don’t have any particular political beliefs or opinions; they are merely “technocrats” personally loyal to Putin. The president is slowly building a new generation of Russian bureaucrats in his own image. He too was once a faceless official with no ambition—until he was eventually appointed prime minister and stepped into the role of president after Boris Yeltsin’s abrupt resignation.

However, Putin’s entourage also includes true believers, so-called “orthodox Chekists” who—again like Putin—came from the KGB and built their careers under Brezhnev. Among them are Igor Sechin, chief executive of the Rosneft energy company and considered the leader of this group, and the governor of Saint Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko.

By and large, these figures never believed in Communism, but have now come to believe in God. And if Russia is God’s chosen nation, it follows that Putin is God’s chosen leader. The president himself naturally subscribes to this view.

Together, the new technocrats and older Chekists present an existential challenge to the Russian political elite. It may surprise some, but the upper ranks of Russian politics are filled with what might be called “sleeping liberals.” These are people who came to prominence in the 1990s, during the presidency of Yeltsin. Many of them were members of the teams of democrats and reformers like former Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar or Anatoly Sobchak, one of the most prominent Russian democrats of the early 1990s. Almost all of these people are very wealthy. Their families own property abroad. They are either oligarchs themselves, or friends of oligarchs.

Many of them are convinced that Russia needs democracy, market economy, freedom of speech, fair elections and good relations with the West. They would of course never say that out loud, aware that it contradicts Putin’s stance. And while they remain silent, Putin’s coalition of young technocrats and orthodox Chekhists has been gathering enough power to keep the president in power for a generation still to come.

Members of this “sleeping” faction insist they are ready to wake up as soon as the right moment comes—but some say that time has come and gone. “It is strange that we haven’t even noticed the moment when we lost everything,” says one socially active Russian oligarch. “We didn’t start the fight for our beliefs when it was possible. Now we can do nothing. We can only watch silently as everything is falling apart.”

What Putin wants

You don’t have to look far to find evidence of what Putin will do with his next term in power. Two weeks before the presidential elections, he spoke about a new generation of Russian nuclear missiles that can overcome any kind of defense.

Ignoring tradition, the president made his address from the gigantic Moscow Manege conference center rather than the Kremlin so that Putin could proudly show his video presentation—an illustration with missiles flying toward the U.S.—to applause from Russian officials.

It was hailed around the world as a return to the Cold War, which was exactly Putin’s intention. Russia can’t pretend to be an economic superpower, but it has another asset: nuclear weapons. Putin believes there is no other way to make the West respect Russia.

From his point of view, he exhausted all the possible methods of establishing friendly relationships with Western leaders during the first 15 years of his rule—and still didn’t win their respect. He hoped that George W. Bush, Tony Blair and their successors would consider him their equal. Putin felt insulted by Bush’s attitude toward Russia, feeling he treated it as a ‘big Finland’—or as a large, but secondary European country. A return to the rhetoric of the Cold War is an opportunity to have a completely different dialog, he believes. The Americans will respect him as they did Brezhnev, and other Soviet leaders.

At the same time, Putin also hopes that the relations with the West will improve. Putin doesn’t dream of world war. He dreams of the new Yalta Conference, the peace conference that took place in Crimea in 1944 and brought Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill together. Back then the leaders of the countries that won World War II divided the world into zones of influence. Putin wants new zones of influence and new clear rules of the game. He wants the West to admit that territory that once belonged to the USSR (probably including nearby countries) should be areas of Russian responsibility. He wants to get guarantees and suitable honors.

Western leaders like Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President Barack Obama have argued that these spheres of influence no longer exist in the modern world. Putin rejects that as hypocrisy. He just needs Western leaders who are more ready to negotiate.

Yuri Kadobnov—AFP/Getty ImagesSupporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin gather for a rally to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at Sevastopol’s Nakhimov Square on March 14, 2018.

Putin wants to look like a peacemaker. To do that, he’ll have to look beyond Syria. Nobody in the Kremlin believes that the U.S. will agree to have a large-scale conference about resolving Syria and be ready to meet Putin’s conditions. But his administration is ready to set other tasks for itself, closer to home.

During Putin’s next term he is prepared to resolve the problem of the Donbas, the area of Eastern Ukraine where Russia’s army has fueled a civil war since 2014. Sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry tell TIME that Putin is ready to make Eastern Ukraine an area controlled by an interim international administration—as was the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or Kosovo.

However, he is not ready to make concessions on the Crimean issue. “It’s only fair,” Putin responds to all foreign partners when they ask about Crimea. As far as he is concerned, the population of Crimea is satisfied with the annexation by the Russian Federation, and that means that justice has been served. Nothing needs to change.

“It’s only fair” has become Putin’s new maxim. Ten years ago, Putin would brag that he is a lawyer by training, insisting that an unconditional adherence to the letter of the law is paramount to him. He didn’t change the Russian constitution in order to be elected for a third term, yielding the presidential office to another lawyer, Medvedev, before returning to the presidential office himself. After annexing Crimea, Putin assured in a TV interview that everything was done “by the book.”

But now, Putin has changed. What he perceives as “justice” seems more important for him than the law—and that means that he can change any laws if he considers the outcome to be fair.

How exactly Putin might remain in power is not yet clear. He has six more years to do that and will not start putting any plans into action immediately—at least not until after the World Cup, which Russia is hosting this summer. And he would not hurry to share his plan with his entourage; rather, he likes surprises so the later everybody finds out, the better.

But there is no doubt that he will find a way to stay in control; he thinks it’s only fair. And time at least is on his side. In 2024, when his fourth term ends, Putin will be 72 years old. That’s the same age Donald Trump will reach this year.

Mikhail Zygar is a journalist and writer who was editor-in-chief of Dozhd, Russia’s only independent news channel. His books include All the Kremlin’s Men (2015) and The Empire Must Die (2017).

March 19, 2018 at 03:33PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

#Time #world #news #ClusterAssets #ClusterAsset #Cluster Asset Inc.#ClusterAssets Inc.

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politicoscope · 5 years

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Mikhail Mishustin Biography and Profile

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/mikhail-mishustin-biography-and-profile/

Mikhail Mishustin Biography and Profile