Wow, I think today will go down in Russian history, filed under "bizarre."
From Julia Ioffe in The Nation
Slouching in a fancy chair in front of a dozen reporters, Putin squirmed and rambled. And rambled and rambled. He was a rainbow of emotion: Serious! angry! bemused! flustered! confused! So confused. Victor Yanukovich is still the acting president of Ukraine, but he can't talk to Ukraine because Ukraine has no president. Ukraine needs elections, but you can't have elections because there is already a president. And no elections will be valid given that there is terrorism in the streets of Ukraine. And how are you going to let just anyone run for president? What if some nationalist punk just pops out like a jack-in-the-box? An anti-Semite? Look at how peaceful the Crimea is, probably thanks to those guys with guns holding it down. Who are they, by the way?
. . . Today's Putin was nervous, angry, cornered, and paranoid, periodically illuminated by flashes of his own righteousness. Here was an authoritarian dancing uncomfortably in his new dictator shoes, squirming in his throne.
Obama: Mr. Putin threw a lot of words out there but right now facts on ground indicate he's not abiding by intl law #Ukraine
— Security Clearance (@natlsecuritycnn) March 4, 2014"media representatives" RT @mfa_russia Putin met w/ media representatives to answer questions http://t.co/oySxYDKlUa pic.twitter.com/hq2ZZ3cGpV
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 4, 2014#Putin statement on #Ukraine crisis: "It's absolutely clear that what happened in Kyiv was a coup d'etat".
— euronews (@euronews) March 4, 2014“Military men are walking around in Kiev in masks still now," #Russia President Putin says in presser. #Ukraine
— Mick Krever (@mickbk) March 4, 2014Putin: "Regarding the use of force, at the moment there is no need for that, but there is a possibility."
— Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta) March 4, 2014Someone should tell #Putin that he has already sent troops to #Ukraine.
— Filipp Piatov (@filipp_piatov) March 4, 2014I do love that Putin is acting like he hasn't already deployed forces into #Crimea
— Bradley P. Moss, Esq (@BradMossEsq) March 4, 2014Putin asked about unidentified armed men in Crimea. Are they Russian. "Go to any shop and you can buy such uniforms." Off you go reporters.
— Kevin O'Flynn (@oflynnkevin) March 4, 2014This is a brilliant defense we need to use more often. Invasion of Iraq? That was guys dressed from surplus stores. https://t.co/7o2nFwOG58
— Andrew Exum (@abumuqawama) March 4, 2014@abumuqawama Oh, clearly. And here I thought that all but the first 300 landed on military transport aircraft.
— Herb Carmen (@HerbCarmen) March 4, 2014#Putin refers to #EuroMaidan as "bacchanalia."
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 4, 2014@juliaioffe A regular "carnival of souls"! #ShitPutinSays
— Not Matt Bellamy (@NotMattBellamy) March 4, 2014#Putin to a journalist: “It looks as if you’re not hearing me.” Well, this can’t be good.
— N. Ó Paloff (@n_paloff) March 4, 2014Merkel was right, Putin lives in another reality! #Putin #Russia #Ukraine #Crimea #Usa #EU
— Владислав Шубєнков (@Shubenkov_v) March 4, 2014The new Czar of the world #Putin is telling the world how it ll be in #Ukraine
— Theophilus Chinedu (@TCNEDU) March 4, 2014Putin: Sometimes I think that USA has a department where they perform experiments on the Ukr. people as if they were rats. #Putin #Ukraine
— Andrey Kazankov (@AndreyKazankov) March 4, 2014Putin to Western countries backing Kiev government: "Why are you destabilizing the country? What are you doing?!"
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 4, 2014@SnarkAmendment @kharyp Like minds always find each other pic.twitter.com/WrKqhjxyAz working 4 #taxevading PLUTOCRACY worldwide
— Nancy Mitchell (@NancyWonderful) March 4, 2014Russian President Vladimir Putin says he does not understand why West "wanted to bring chaos and anarchy to Ukraine"
— James Franey (@jamesfraney) March 4, 2014#Putin says Yanukovich asked him to intervene, talks of an "orgy" of lawless nationalists on streets.
#CBC #Ukraine
— Margaret Evans (@mevansCBC) March 4, 2014Putin seems to think the Russian reporters aren't listening closely enough & he expresses frustration they are confused by his positions.
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 4, 2014@lrozen @juliaioffe Easy to be confused: 1. "Yanukovych sole legitimate president." 2. "There is no president in Ukraine."
— Russian Police Watch (@RusPoliceWatch) March 4, 2014Putin gives off the vibe of an exasperated teacher.
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 4, 2014Putin welcomes Tymoshenko to Moscow. In other words, that's his endorsement for who should run #ukraine
— Matthew Kaminski (@KaminskiMK) March 4, 2014Putin says troops not Russian - but apparently unconcerned that well-armed unknown force roaming around near Russian bases in Crimea.
— Tony Halpin (@tonyhalpin) March 4, 2014Putin's press conference reveals that we may have reached the weird moment when the dictator believes his own propaganda
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) March 4, 2014
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