March 17, Vladimir the Short

 

What is the likely legacy of Vladimir the Short?

What can be said in his defense before the World Court?

“War Criminal!” the charges read; the pictures do not lie,

Mass murderer of women, children: hear their nation cry.

 

Ivan the Terrible was known for all his evil deeds, (1)

Vlad the Impaler, likewise, but their memory recedes.  (2)

They lacked technology possessed by Vlad the Short (and Pale,)

To atomize his “enemies,” not merely to impale.

 

He sent his army to Ukraine; his troops did not know why,

They’re poorly led and ill supplied and thousands of them die.

So Vlad attacks the cities with his missiles, bombs, and shells.

Apartments, even hospitals reduced to smoking hells.

 

Vlad’s Russian subjects are protesting; they don’t want a war.

Will Vladimir kill them in millions?  Stalin did before.  (3)

Will Vladimir the Short be like Ivan the Terrible?

A Tsar whose reign will be remembered as unbearable?

 

Now Vladimir the Short wants to rebuild the lost empire,

And not with votes in plebiscites but poison, bombs, and fire.

The people serve the State and now the State is Vladimir.  (4)

And those who will not serve the State will feel Vlad’s hellfire sear.

 

How long must this world tolerate the reign of Vlad the Short?

Is this not time the reign of Vladimir should be cut short?

He’s a malignant narcissist, which should not qualify

This man to be a leader, as his murders testify!

 

• Ivan the Terrible, Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533=1547 and self-proclaimed Tsar of all Russia from 1547-1584.
• Vlad the Impaler, sometimes called Vlad Dracula, ruler of Wallachia between 1448 and 1477.
• Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953. He was the architect of Soviet totalitarianism.
• Recall Louis XIV of France, 1643-1715. He once said, “L’etat, c’est moi.”

“ The state is me.”