Zhirinovsky's Russian Empire

Far far too late to mention this now, but in October 1991, the Labour party leader was Neil Kinnock. Tony Blair was nowhere in the frame at that time. John Smith succeeded Kinnock, who then died and was replaced by Blair in 1994.

It is of course alternate history :) Blair would have needed a bit more of a stella rise even so
 

Pesigalam

Banned
I suppose this TL may give a preview of things to come now that America may have a Zhirinovsky of its own!;)
Funny you should say that...

c5f813b787e04e43846d75f8691aefd2.jpg


A caricature from this article.

Have an excerpt:
Vladimir Zhirinovsky runs his hand over a CD of 50 songs composed by a fan in his honor. He is clearly pleased.

“All of humanity knows me,” he says. “My name is in encyclopedias, in registers and databases. Books have been written, films recorded. I’m happy, I’m satisfied.”
I'm honestly wondering if he read and enjoyed this very TL at some point...
 
Funny you should say that...

c5f813b787e04e43846d75f8691aefd2.jpg


A caricature from this article.

Have an excerpt:
I'm honestly wondering if he read and enjoyed this very TL at some point...

If he did, that'd be one hell of a case of self-depreciation; though in regards to his admiration of Trump, I have a feeling that Zhirinosky's antics would be far worse (and showed to be worse ITTL) than what Trump would do.
 
If he did, that'd be one hell of a case of self-depreciation; though in regards to his admiration of Trump, I have a feeling that Zhirinosky's antics would be far worse (and showed to be worse ITTL) than what Trump would do.

Don't confuse Pellegrino's Zhirinovsky with real life Zhirinovsky.

Roman Alymov said:
I was able to observe this man very closely in person - in early 2000th one car dealer company hired Kubinka's PzIV for their show, and Zhirinovsky was invited speaker at this show, dressed in Soviet VDV uniform and giving one of his hysterical "we will reach Indian ocean"-style speeches for the crowd from tank turret we were sitting next to him. What surprised me was that he was immediately "switching off" his hysteria when going behind curtain out of public eyes, and "switching on" again when back on public. He is very wise and self-controlling man. Is he good man? Definitely not. Is he self-serving? Definitely yes. Hysterical? No way. His hysteria is well-calculated public behavior allowing him to stay on Rus political scene for 25+ years now. By the way in your example Zhirinovsky going "hysterical" after asked about selling Duma seats and taking money (everybody know his party is doing it) - as result, everybody remember his hysteria, nobody remember why it started. In general, current Rus politicians mostly made their career during years when price of mistake was not loosing elections but death, and it is not surprising "community organizers" could not stand against them.
 
AFTER ZHIRINOVSKY, TRAILER...
The man shifts uncomfortably in his chair. He looks at his wristwatch before pushing the curtain aside to look outside the window. It’s a cold day in Kazakhstan and he is visibly irritated at being made to wait.


The door opens and the middle aged man walks in wearing a thick coat and holding a briefcase.


“My apologies Mr. Putin, it’s my first time back in the UIS since, well, since I was at your Dacha back in 2011…nearly six years ago. My Russian is a bit off and, well, I got lost.”



“Lost?!” Putin said icily. “How do you get lost in Kalashnikovgrad. It’s on a grid and all the signs are in English and Russian!”


“Well, I won’t lie; I was expecting a bit more for the headquarters of the Unity Party of the UIS. It seemed like your party had made something of a comeback in the last federal election. Your party even won several key races here in Kazakhstan. I assumed that you would have moved somewhere…larger.”


“Well we still have to contend with Alexander Lebed and his goons in both the LDP and Radical People’s Party. They have shut down our finances.”


“Right then. Well it looks like we are going to pick up right where we left off in 2011 then: with another conspiracy theory.”


“Conspiracy theory?!” Putin shot back angrily. “Have you been asleep the last six years?! How can you see what’s happened in the world and not recognize the role Lebed and the LDP has played in creating this instability?!”


“Hold on Mr. Putin, I need to set up-“


“The BBC made me look like a madman in 2011! I was told my interview would be a, what did you call it?”


“A blurb.”


“Yes! A Blurb! Instead I’m made to look like a lunatic! I saw the story on the webpage! You called me the Lyndon Larouche of Russia!”


“Well I didn’t call you that. I just said others had called you that.”


“I should kick you out right now!”


“We both know neither of us have the time for posturing. If you were so upset about the interview you wouldn’t have agreed to see me again. And everything I quoted you on was recorded. I didn’t misquote you or misrepresent anything you said.”


“We both know that’s not true!”


“Mr. Putin, despite the unfortunate trend in the UK, the USA, and quite frankly the UIS, screaming doesn’t make a lie true. I know it seems to have worked wonders for Mr. Zhirinovsky in The Hague but we at the BBC still adhere to the basic tenants of journalistic integrity. And the first tenant is to call out a lie. So is this how you want to start this interview? By denying you said what we both know you said in 2011? If you want I can sit here and play you the endless hours of tapes from our first interview but again, we don’t have time for that. So let’s just get back to the matter at hand.”


“I can’t believe you can still deny what should be obvious by now. After the mistrial in The Hague. After the US election scandal. After what happened in Zaire…in Libya…in Syria…in South Afghanistan…and in the former Saudi Arabia…you still think this is all just happenstance?”


Well Mr. Putin…I won’t lie. A lot of what you said…makes more sense than in did in 2011. Now admittedly some of it was a bit much. But that’s why I’m here. Because maybe, just maybe, I have developed…some doubts.”


“Well, where do you wish to start?”


“Well Mr. Putin, let’s start with the big one. Let’s start with Korea.”



(TO BE CONTINUED)
 
Possibly. It could be bad (Islamic State bad) or it could be little more than a name change due to a weakening monarchy or even due to democratic reform. Keep in mind however that when we left off Saudi Arabia was in a very perilous position. Iran and Bahrain were democratic nations with stronger ties to the US than OTL and Dubai was a constant thorn in the side of the Gulf States. Also, we still see an Arab Spring in Iraq, Syria and Libya and we know it goes south in Libya.
 
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