Vladimir Putin Has Vanished

[Cali_Democrat]

Putin Has Vanished, but Rumors Are Popping Up Everywhere

MOSCOW — Where’s Putin?

The question obsessed Moscow and much of Russia on Friday, as speculation mounted as to why President Vladimir V. Putin had not been seen in public for more than a week.

He abruptly canceled a trip to Kazakhstan and postponed a treaty signing with representatives from South Ossetia who were reportedly told not to bother to fly to Moscow. Most unusually, he was absent from an annual meeting of the top officials from the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic intelligence service.

The rumor mill went into overdrive, churning out possible explanations from the simple to the salacious to the sinister. He had been stricken by the particularly devastating strain of flu going around Moscow just now. He sneaked off to Switzerland for the birth of his love child. He had a stroke. The victim of a palace coup, he was imprisoned within the Kremlin. He was dead, aged 62.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/world/europe/russia-putin-seen-in-public.html?_r=0

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. ...

[NYC_SKP]

2. I suspect I'll see him tomorrow morning, same as usual.

It's like clockwork, very regular.

[HuckleB]

3. He's been seen with Elvis and Hugo Chavez at a super secret Paul McCartney concert.

Did you hear the rumor that Paul is dead?

[Scootaloo]

4. He's finishing the final leg of a multi-year prank on Sarah Palin

[greyl]

5. Trolls troll.

edit to add: Putin being the troll, of course.

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. He's training for Wrestlemania to help Rusev beat John Cena.....

...I read it on the internet!

Oh, wait... actually I just made that up so I guess I wrote it on the internet




Ghost

[mikehiggins]

10. What an amazing stunt that would be!

Get a couple of actors to play Obama and Putin and have them sit at ringside at Wrestlemania. There are any number of guys out there who look enough like either man, and can talk like either man, to raise a question with the audience. Top it off by not letting anyone talk to either or ask any questions and I'd be willing to bet there'd be a lot of people who'd believe it.

Just sayin...

[bigtree]

7. swimming with the fishes

meanwhile:

Killer secret-agent dolphins go AWOL in Ukraine

[elleng]

8. My favorite rumor:

A Swiss tabloid reported that Mr. Putin had spent the past week accompanying his mistress, the Olympic gymnastics medalist Alina Kabayeva, to give birth in a clinic in Switzerland’s Ticino canton favored by the family of Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister. (It would be the third child, none confirmed.)

Imagine that!!!

[CTyankee]

15. AGH....I can't imagine any woman getting anywhere near that little creep!

Love child? OMG, no way...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. Hanging out with Kim Jong Un

They both ate some bad kimchee.

[edbermac]

11. Maybe he's on the Appalachian Trail.

[bigtree]

14. yep

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. He's on the Ritz.

?w=800

[zappaman]

16. I love this image but

It's better in motion!

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. Me too but I'm on my cell phone in ID instead of my PC in CA.

It's just so hard.

[Half-Century Man]

25. That is a very disturbing image. nt

[Cha]

23. LOL

[TwilightGardener]

13. Smells like a stunt by Pooty Poot. See how the world reacts, perhaps?

[pinboy3niner]

18. He's just waiting for another_opportunity

Hey zappaman, where are you?

[zappaman]

21. ...

[Purveyor]

19. Wherever he is without a doubt, he is laughing his ass off over the attention he is getting.

[Rex]

20. In one of Cheney's slightly used undisclosed bunkers somewhere?

Did he give those back?

[HeiressofBickworth]

22. Hey, cut the guy some slack

Even despotic dictators need a vacation now and again.

[MADem]

24. FACELIFT? Pectoral reduction? Liposuction? Hair implants?

Or it could be flu--he looks like shit in these pics:



:large

Then again, he looks a bit jowly too--and he's a vain guy.



Or maybe they're replacing him with "Viktor Petrov" from House of Cards? Hey, he's big enough, he's tough enough, and damn--people are intimidated by him!!!

[still_one]

26. Where's Waldo?

[Warpy]

27. I'm betting on flu

Going shirtless isn't a great idea most of the time, no matter how macho you want to think you are.

[PoliticAverse]

28. "Has Putin gone missing while his lover gives birth?"

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/563703/UPDATE-Russian-President-Vladimir-Putin-baby-rumours-insider-warns-Kremlin-coup

[Rex]

29. No doubt he has learned a new jedi mind trick.

I heard he is riding on the back of a rocket toward an asteroid heading toward earth. He will take it on, bare chested (his preferred style of fighting) armed with just a knife.

Didn't Russia and North Korea get wood over each other? Maybe he is teaching the new Kim how to do a proper high and tight.


I have power bar hair dammit!

[PCIntern]

30. I know exactly where he is:

He's binge-watching House of Cards wherein the Russian President continuously outfoxes the Americans and, as a bonus, gets to kiss the First Lady on the lips for an extended period.

[MANative]

34. Coffee spew! LOL

Best reply of the day!

[hobbit709]

31. He's gone underground helping all those oppressed people that want to be annexed by Russia.

[bemildred]

32. I love these "try to start a rumor" stories. nt

[randome]

33. Quick! Someone interview Ed Snowden! He'll have the answers!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]