Presidential ballet

Dictators can't take a joke; those who are evil can't laugh - especially not at themselves. Turkish President Erdogan is apparently still not over Jan Böhmermann's nasty poetics. It is true that the German satirist initially paid tribute to the Turkish, highly democratically elected president after the hype surrounding his diatribe by anxiously going into hiding and suspending his broadcast. Now, however, the case against Böhmermann has been dropped and the sharp-tongued man will not have to spend the rest of his life on bread and water, as Erdogan had hoped. After all, blasphemy must be avenged!

And now Putin. Against Robbie Williams. The beau, drinker and hooligan (I mean the latter) just proves with a new single that he has more up his sleeve than at least I gave him credit for (yes, I've really never been to a Robbie Williams concert, but that could change now!).

"Party like a Russian" he sings, putting a quote on Russian male choirs (in the video ballet dancers with deep male voices) and Sergei Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" from the opera "Romeo and Juliet" with the piece. With this, however, Williams delivers less a piece of musical history than a highly ironic, satirical, biting song with the matching Video; it takes the Russian way of life in the most beautiful way on the grain and may be understood therefore as a small politics piece. When I heard the song for the first time, I thought: "Oh nooo, Plempermusik, heard, forgotten!" But listen carefully to the lyrics and watch the video: gloriously mean and full in the pit of the stomach. Röbeli sings what everyone thinks:

"It takes a certain kinda man with a certain reputation / To alleviate the cash from a whole entire nation / Take my loose change and build my own space station ... Party like a Russian / End of discussion / Have it like an oligarch."

Putin reacted accordingly disgruntled to this piece of music and immediately threatened Williams with a performance ban in the whole of Russia. After all, blasphemy must be punished!

Putin is right: if you want to be taken seriously as a ruler, you shouldn't laugh; seriousness and a claim to power don't tolerate facial expressions; and evil people don't have songs - at least not songs like this. But they will soon have a common gas pipeline.

Bearing all this in mind, one can attest the presidential candidate in the US election campaign Donald Trump a certain human greatness, not in meters, but in attitude. Despite the numerous jokes about his hairstyle, his non-existent style and his passion for various parts of the female body, he remains quite sovereign: criticism cannot harm him. Alone, Trump is not evil either. Just a bit plain.

It's a pity that the wonderfully cheeky and maladjusted Williams is British. I could imagine him as president of the United States of America. Have it like an oligarch!

Anne-Friederike Heinrich, Editor in Chief

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