1115.org

Anyone who came in late (say, in the last year or so) will find this hard to credit, but once upon a time, George W. Bush, President of the United States, was also the king of the world, and strutted cockily through life, having his ass kissed dozens of times every single day.

During this phase of his life, he famously declared that he had looked deep into Putin’s soul, and found him to be a true soulmate.

Unlike most things Bush was saying around that time (statements about WMDs, for instance), this one looks even truer today than it did back then. From today’s vantage point, we can recognize that we hardly knew these men back then. And as they emerged from their shells, they did indeed come to look more and more like soul mates. For instance, there’s the lusting nostalgically for the good old days of ruthless totalitarianism. And, within his own modest sphere of influence, each has worked tirelessly to bring those good old days back to life.

Now they have one more point of commonality. Putin is widely regarded to be not above using radioactive poisons, turning political assassination into worldwide theater. Bush was widely regarded as being radioactive poison himself in the lead-up to the midterm elections, which constituted its own brand of worldwide theater.