Main Subscribers

The Russian presidential campaign looks like a play staged much more interestingly than the Ukrainian one. The guys know how to work, and to work creatively, and one begins to realize that in such a thrilling situation only the worst and most unqualified of them set off to Kyiv, so that we here do not get bored either

For example, after a retrospective screening of a film about the sexual adventures of the Russian Federation General Prosecutor (however, young people should not see it, for sex in reality is something more exciting than what is performed in the film), the host of Sergei Dorenko’s program reports news about the state of health of the former Russian Prime Minister. Thus, we learn that Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov has health problems, and, thus, we should conclude that he is not able to be President of Russia. Why, of course, as one might think that the country has always been governed by healthy people! Well, Mikhail Gorbachev really was sound and vigorous, but just recall our emotions: we did not like him talking that much. But do you really think it would have been better if he had been hiding somewhere in a Gorky health facility or undergoing dialysis?

However, Yevgeny Primakov became highly upset. Yevgeny Primakov phones, on the air, to another Yevgeny, the host of another author’s program and says, in everyone’s hearing, that he is quite all right. “Did you see? Did you hear?” he keeps asking his interlocutor. The host, who had been broadcasting all that time, explains to Mr. Primakov, broadly known for his analytical capabilities, that he was on the air. The point is not that a person wishing to become President should not act like a Soviet era Communist Party Central Committee instructor declining a meeting with the incumbent head of state, or calling on the air to a television channel close to him. The point is what, sorry for this word, democracy they have there! With us, we have one main subscriber, who is at the same time candidate number one. And there is no need to phone. But with them there are several main subscribers! Boris Berezovsky can take the liberty to call ORT (Public Russian Television) before Sergei Dorenko’s program. Yevgeny Primakov simply phones NTV on the air. Yuri Luzhkov has become more than frequent on his dear TVC: when the chief editor of the “Face to the City” program tried to restrain the host’s complimentary elation, the Moscow mayor fired him. Nobody prevents him from being praised, to be sure.

Well, with one main subscriber or several there seems to be no luck all the same. Maybe we could do without them? Although this would be a different television, a different elite, and different communities. The main thing is that we would then live in a different way.