From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/24/2005 6:23 AM
24.05.2005
Puppet festival

A rock-festival is scheduled for July 5, 2005, in Grozny. This exiting news was announced by teenager Abramov who had become “the Chechen government chairman” due to around-the-Kremlin intrigues. A festival in the city which does not exist?! Well, what can we expect from a teenager? They see everything pink and turn into a holiday. Recently, together with another pal, teenager Abramov opened a modern aquapark somewhere near Gudermes, having invited for such solemn event Ms. Sobchak of no specific age and occupation from Moscow. The construction was started, and then it was abandoned. Well, an aquapark can be built, but fire-pumps will be needed to fill it – there is no running water. Judging by the size of this aquapark, at least 1,000 staff will be needed to maintain it. Plus, at least 2,000 guards (half of them swim, the rest – wait for their turn and keep an eyes on belongings of their colleagues)… And they must be paid for it… However, “the government” has money for the aquapark only. It is unlikely to be a profitable enterprise, because residents of neighboring villages won’t be able to pay for entry tickets.

But now, as we have already mentioned, teenager Abramov has another toy – a rock-festival for 6 hours. We do not know its official name, but unofficially it will be called “Marmot Day” or “Surkov Day.” The matter is that the idea of such rock-festival has been discussed for a long time. Several months ago many Russian mass media suddenly reported about it. The next day an influential representative of the Russian presidential administration, certain Surkov, invited ex-“nonconformists,” ex-representatives of Soviet avant-garde of rock-music, and now successful music businessmen. The subject of their conversation has been widely rumored about, including a possible abstention of youth idols from a colorful revolution. “The idols” have kept it secret, giving only common comments: “Well, we talked about life…” If the list of participants includes at least half of those who met Surkov, we can say with certainty – we understand the idea of the meeting.

In fact, musicians are not rare quests in Chechnya. The military have learnt to secretly bring them to Chechnya and then to quickly evacuate them. A sad incident happened only to Gosha Kutsenko, who plays either brave commandos or terrible Chechen-Arab rebels. A military column accompanying the actor, who has played only heroes over the recent years, was attacked in Chechnya. He commented on the details quite vaguely and with a trebling voice. He is unlikely to go to Chechnya again.

After such incident it will be a hard job organizing a festival. Will it be organized at the Khankala military base, will battle helicopters barrage above the stage, will armed people outnumber frightened women with flowers sent to the festival by a special order of “the government” – does not really matter. The main thing is that teenager Abramov will be proud of being able to build decorations of a beautiful life in the devastated, robbed and poured with blood of the Chechen people republic. The problem is that this decor must please “dear Russians” and foreign guests, who are unlikely to visit Chechnya as simply as that. And in this situation the smart teenager found a way out! “The Chechen Republic” opens its own Potemkin village in Moscow where it received a place at the All-Russian Exhibition Center. “President” Alkhanov and “premier” Abramov told about it at a recent press conference. However, as it turned out, they are unlikely to demonstrate anything competitive. But Alkhanov and Abramov are confident that the opening of such exhibition will attract investments. We believe “the president” and “the premier” themselves would have become suitable exhibits as the best puppets of Vladimir Putin’s puppet theater.
The Chechen Times
http://www.chechentimes.org/en/comments/?id=29158