US PRESIDENTS: FROM FIGHTERS TO ARMCHAIR WARRIORS

Once upon a time, great leaders were the best among the fighters. Alexander the Great, Constantine the Great, Peter the Great etc… did not earn that epithets in history by sitting in their palaces and reading speeches which someone else had written. Their command to the troops was: “Follow me!” And then they led the charge against the enemy. 

Early American presidents were also fighters. George Washington wrestled and boxed, as did Abraham Lincoln. And Teddy Roosevelt, well, he was something else. They don’t make them like that anymore. Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barrack Obama… well, they would not be worthy of even licking his boots.

Teddy Roosevelt: Only US President to Practice Judo

Ted Roosevelt exercised regularly and took up boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. Even Singlestick – a martial art that uses a wooden stick as its weapon. He also continued his habit of skinny-dipping in the Potomac River during the winter. 

As governor of New York, he boxed with sparring partners several times each week, a practice he regularly continued as president until being hit so hard in the face he became blind in his left eye (a fact not made public until many years later). 

As president, he practiced judo in 1902 and 1904, not attaining any rank. Roosevelt began to believe in the utility of jiu-jitsu training after training with Yoshitsugu Yamashita. Concerned that the United States would lose its military supremacy to rising powers like Japan, Roosevelt began advocating jiu-jitsu training for US troops.

And yes, that’s the American president who was also famous for saying, “speak softly but carry a big stick.”

Smart. Not just tough.

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Putin: Blackbelt in Judo, Hunted Bear, Fished and Roughrode Horses

The PBS documentary I watched today about Vladimir Putin’s life made me think about how different he is from the recent American presidents. By “recent,” I mean in the last 120 years. The last US president who may be likened in some ways with Putin was Teddy Roosevelt (his term in office was 1901-1909). 

Like Teddy Roosevelt, Putin practices judo. But unlike Roosevelt, he is a black belt in this ancient Japanese martial arts discipline. As a child, while training judo, Putin said he had learned that if he goes into a fight, he must fight as if his life depended on it,

So what, you may say? Is that good or bad? Is Putin an anachronism? A man who stumbled into the 21st century from the 19th?  So what if Putin could throw Zelensky on the mat with his right thumb and Biden with his left toe? Today, technology rules the world. 

Technology has indeed surpassed the sword. But Russia also has the technology. Some even more advanced than the American. And Putin, unlike Biden, a senile lawyer, or Zelensky, a former comedian, or any of the EU hens who pose as prime ministers, evidently has a steely mind of a warrior. 

Why is that important? Because of a Serbian proverb, “battle is not fought by the shiny armor but by the heart of the warrior” (“Boj ne bije svijetlo oružje, vec boj bije srce u junaka.” – Petar Petrovic Njegoš). 

Putin is a cock in a barn full of heads and chickens. And yes, he has become a dictator. And yes he is ruthless. And yes, he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about democracy. 

But neither do the American and the EU leaders. Democracy is a farce (see my Washington Times’ 1996 column  “American Demofarce”). Neither the EU nor the US have ever been less democratic and more autocratic than now. If they were to practice what they preach, i.e., if their people really had a voice, they’d be out on their asses by next spring. 

At least Putin is more honest, less perfidious. He does not hide his ruthlessness behind a mask of a “humanitarian” like the western leaders. Putin, arguably the richest man in the world with assets of about $20 billion (according to the PBS documentary), does what he thinks is good first for himself, then for Russia. 

As does Biden. And Johnson/Truss/Rishak. And Macron and Scholz. And that EU hen Ursula Van Something.

Can you honestly say that any of the western leaders are acting in the best interests of their nations?

At times of war, there are no “good guys.” Just the living and the dead.

Take a good look at these 80 photos of Putin. I took them while watching this PBS documentary. They show an evolution from a little Soviet apparatchik to one of the three most powerful people on earth. That took guts, cunning and ruthlessness. I would not want to bet on this guy losing the war against Ukraine.