https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/will-trump-join-the-strongman-club/
Putin grew up the lonely child of parents traumatised by war, with few toys, chasing rats to kill them for fun. He survived in the dangerous world of the Leningrad gopniki– street hooligans – despite being physically small and weak. He became a modern tsar, photographed bare-chested in the Russian wilderness, though wearing lifts in his heels to make him look taller. Erdogan, meanwhile, tells a story of how his ‘authoritarian’ father once punished him for swearing by hanging him from the ceiling by his wrists. It was 15 to 20 minutes before an uncle cut him down. As a small boy, it’s said he would calm his father’s rages by kissing his shoes. He spent his teenage years in Istanbul’s Kasimpasa slum, which was run by gangs who had an honour code of humiliating their enemies. He took that code with him into politics.
President Xi of China fits the pattern. There was plenty of misery and humiliation in his childhood. As the son of a senior party official arrested in the Cultural Revolution, he was called the ‘child of a black gang’. Bookish and shy, he was paraded on stage at a struggle session, wearing a metal dunce’s cap. His own mother was forced to raise her fist and chant ‘Down with Xi Jinping!’ along with everyone else. Then he was sent to do hard labour at a school for delinquents. Now he is the man who says he feels called by destiny to reunite China. A war over Taiwan could blow up any moment. Trump certainly believes that: it is one reason he is rushing to dump Ukraine and make friends with Russia.
https://archive.ph/QGwsA
Flick 🇬🇧 /
npub1ux…xujtm
2025-03-29 20:12:02
Author Public Key
npub1uxmmyz2nw8ys8npflt93m9yu5c8ewckp00xsu5g3aykvn836jt7qyxujtmPublished at
2025-03-29 20:12:02Event JSON
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"content": "https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/will-trump-join-the-strongman-club/\n\nPutin grew up the lonely child of parents traumatised by war, with few toys, chasing rats to kill them for fun. He survived in the dangerous world of the Leningrad gopniki– street hooligans – despite being physically small and weak. He became a modern tsar, photographed bare-chested in the Russian wilderness, though wearing lifts in his heels to make him look taller. Erdogan, meanwhile, tells a story of how his ‘authoritarian’ father once punished him for swearing by hanging him from the ceiling by his wrists. It was 15 to 20 minutes before an uncle cut him down. As a small boy, it’s said he would calm his father’s rages by kissing his shoes. He spent his teenage years in Istanbul’s Kasimpasa slum, which was run by gangs who had an honour code of humiliating their enemies. He took that code with him into politics.\n\nPresident Xi of China fits the pattern. There was plenty of misery and humiliation in his childhood. As the son of a senior party official arrested in the Cultural Revolution, he was called the ‘child of a black gang’. Bookish and shy, he was paraded on stage at a struggle session, wearing a metal dunce’s cap. His own mother was forced to raise her fist and chant ‘Down with Xi Jinping!’ along with everyone else. Then he was sent to do hard labour at a school for delinquents. Now he is the man who says he feels called by destiny to reunite China. A war over Taiwan could blow up any moment. Trump certainly believes that: it is one reason he is rushing to dump Ukraine and make friends with Russia. \n\nhttps://archive.ph/QGwsA",
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