Killer Vlad

 Being publicly called a killer by the leader of the free world is not an honor sought by many people. And perhaps that is why it was not very much appreciated by this year's recipient, Vladimir Putin. By all of the reports I've seen, Vladimir Putin, leader of Russia, was upset with Biden when he called him a killer. Here, we might want to think of how Steve Urkel's trademark comment, 'Did I do that?' would sound like in a thick Russian accent. So Putin's reaction, though understandable because who wants to be called that in public, did not match the facts on the ground.   Whether via assassination directives or policies, Vlad is a killer.

But why was Putin surprised at Biden's accusation? Was he surprised because, though true, making such a public accusation was considered to be 'bad form.' If so, did Putin consider it bad form because Biden's claim about Putin was like the pot calling the kettle black?

After all, does Putin order the assassination of individuals? Does the US has a drone strike assassination program? Certainly the targets are chosen for different reasons, but the end result of murder is shared.

Has Putin's policies led to the indiscriminate killing of people? Guess who can join him in doing the same? At least every American President I lived under and that goes back to Ike. As for Ike, we really don't think that innocent people were indiscriminately killed in American aided or directed regime changes that brought brutal dictators to both Iran (1953) and Guatemala (1954)?

Though the name 'Killer Vlad' does not have the ring to it for Putin that  'Killer Joe' would have for President Biden, and that might be partially due to the Benny Golson composition (click here for the music), those names would be accurate, real world descriptive monikers for both men. And perhaps that is why to be publicly called out for his killings by Biden seems to have struck a nerve for Vlad.