Topum

So King Michael I of Romania died. He was 96 years old. His father Crown Prince Carol II was a royal dick and abdicated when he decided to elope with his mistress. His mother (Queen Mother of Romania) Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark was the daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife Sophia of Prussia.

Michael hated his father because of the humiliation and pain he put his mother through via his countless public affairs and even refused to attend his funeral.

Michael had a difficult reign full of questionable compromises and he now left a rather embarrassing succession mess behind. I personally think that the signs of trouble were there very early on, just look at this childhood picture of Michael with his mother:



Yes, I mean those socks of course.

So Vladimir Putin decided to run for president of Russia again. What a shocker. The suspense was killing everyone. But it was worth it. Wow, what a surprise! Nobody expected this at all.

So now the big question of whether he will win the election will keep us all on the edge of our seats of course. And also whether the opposition leader (the guy who was hastily locked up after a third of Moscow suddenly voted for him in mayoral election even though he could not campaign like Putin's candidate could) will be allowed to register as a candidate. It is going to be just as exciting as the Brexit vote and the US election. Yay!

Oh wait, it won't. I know that dictatorships are awful in many ways but as a true son of the age of entertainment, my main beef with them is that they are fucking boring and predictable. And there won't be any debates either, because Vladimir does not like the debates. Fair enough, he just doesn't like to be asked questions, that's all. The other candidates do the debates I was told but not Vladimir. Come on Vladimir! If you are going to be a dictator at least don't be a boring and cowardly one, do at least one debate (pssst: you can have all the questions agreed with you but not with the other candidates (if there will be any real ones) in advance and you can strike out the inconvenient ones too).