Putin

Does Putin speak English? 

I ask Siri; she doesn't understand the question.

So I go to Wikipedia and ask the question Siri didn't understand.

Wikipedia says Putin speaks German fluently but that his English is limited to things like asking where his slippers are.

Does Putin have a Facebook account? I wonder.

I ask Safari.

Not only does Putin have a Facebook account, Putin Tweets too, or he has in the past, according to Safari.

Furthermore, Safari says Obama was unhappy when Putin unfriended him on Facebook.

The big question: is Putin the richest man in the world?

(I ask because I'd heard from my friend John M, an Irishman re-located to San Francisco, that Putin had a 20-acre spread in Woodside, a wealthy little unincorporated enclave in San Mateo County.)

The answer to the question, is Putin the richest man in the world, is inconclusive; there's no mention on Safari of Putin owning property in California, but Putin does own a mansion in the south of Spain and I was able to find pictures of it on-line.

Putin's famous for not answering questions. Many Russian journalists have mysteriously disappeared or been murdered with impunity during his regime, many of whom asked questions Putin didn't want to answer. 

Putin's a dictator, so there's no need to ask, is Putin a dictator? Putin is slightly ahead of his time in this regard: Putin's refined the concept of dictatorship, stylistically, to the degree that western leaders now feel comfortable copying him. Putin's both brazen and secretive: he puts Russia first and Putin a close second.

Putin's full of contradictions, like every human being. When he built his private residential Italianate palace on The Black Sea--for a reported $1 billion--he neither confimed or denied building it, instead having spokespeople dismiss any connection Putin may or may not have had with the property. 

There are so many more questions to ask Putin, at least a a baker's dozen. 

I'm going out on a limb here--I kind of like Putin. Not to the degree that I'd want to be his Facebook friend--I don't really want to be anyone's Facebook friend--but to the degree that I understand his type. I wouldn't want to be like him, but I understand how he became Putin, why he acts the way he acts, and that's enough for now.