The first Tsar set the tone for all who followed, including Putin.
The year was 1547. By being crowned tsar, (at age 16) he sent a message to Russia (and the world) that he was now the only supreme ruler of the country, and his will was not to be questioned. He was also a “divine” leader, appointed to enact God’s will. The Old Testament kings were called ‘Tsars”. Christ was “the Heavenly Tsar”.
The newly created title of Russian Tsar was then passed on from generation to generation.
He did some good things — like modernize Russia, bring in the printing press, and revise laws.
During his youth, he also conquered the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. After he had consolidated his power, He dumped his advisers from the “Chosen Council” and triggered the Livonian War, which ravaged Russia and resulted in the loss of Livonia and Ingria but allowed him to establish greater autocratic control over Russia’s nobility, which he violently purged with the creation of the Oprichnina. He agreed to return on condition of being granted absolute power. He demanded the right to condemn and execute traitors and confiscate their estates without interference from the boyar council or church. He created the oprichnina, a group of nasty oligarchs with absolute loyalty to him.
All this history lesson started for me a couple of days ago with Quora, a wonderful web site with Q&A on most everything, including:
A: Torturing and killing people was his hobby, and he used to rape women for fun.
- In childhood, he used to kill birds by piercing their eyes and tearing off their feathers, just to feel relaxed.
- Throwing dogs and cats from the windows, to see them suffer was his pastime.
- He used to rape women and then kill them by burying them alive, or feeding them to starving dogs and bears.
- He formed an organisation, Oprichniki, with mostly criminals as its members, wearing black robes and riding black horses, whose main purpose was to serve his orders and to kill anyone he wanted.
- He used to have women stripped naked as target practice for the Oprichniki.
- He once drowned hundreds of beggars in a lake.
- He killed his treasurer by boiling her in a cauldron.
- In Novgorod massacre, he had killed almost 20,000 people by mutilating them, and roasting them in fire.
- The banks of Volkohov river were filled with dead bodies of men, women and children, who were tied to sleighs and were made to run in the water.
- He killed his 7th wife by drowning her because she wasn’t virgin.
- He had killed almost all his friends, giving them painful deaths.
- Once, he got angry with his pregnant daughter-in-law because of the dress she was wearing, and beat her up, resulting in her miscarriage.
- He had an argument with his son for the same, and for this, he killed his son.
He was the “Tsar of all Russia”, Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible.
He killed more than 100,000 people, the history books report.
From Australia
Wonderful new invention
The Fed hikes rates today
Today is the second day the market is going up . Our stocks (what we have left of them) are gaining.
Mr Market seems OK with the Fed raising rates shortly.
Here’s a chart CNBC put together. It basically says rate hikes are not to be feared.
I do love Ivan’s outfit. I’m guessing he didn’t buy it from Amazon.
See you tomorrow, or so. — Harry Newton
