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The Politician And His Rolex, A Timeless Morality Play

From Fidel Castro to JFK to Barack Obama, world leaders have long sported expensive watches. Does that create a distance with the people they lead?

The Politician And His Rolex, A Timeless Morality Play

Fidel Castro "watching" in 1962

Peter Heinz Junge/DPA/ZUMA Press
Mattia Feltri

-Essay-

ROME — I love the way social networks give you the real-time pulse of society. Here in Italy, for example, the plight of Afghans has apparently become boring and we've heard enough about anti-vaxxers — and so the online crowd has focused its unquenchable thirst for justice toward Roman Pastore, a young political candidate pictured wearing a Rolex watch.

It actually wasn't even a Rolex, but that doesn't matter: Rolexes have now become a political talking point for the nation. Some might have been taken aback by the sheer number of self-appointed judges sentencing a single defendant — guilty of belonging to a very solid tradition of Rolex-wearing politicians. But I was more surprised by the reasons for the conviction: how can a politician wealthy enough to wear a Rolex at a young age, the reasoning goes, understand the frustrations of the people?

That's a great question. Fidel Castro had a Rolex, and did the people think he understood their plight? Debatable. Che Guevara was also a Rolex wearer, as was John F. Kennedy. Who can say for sure if either really was in touch with the people?

The Dalai Lama owns a pair of Rolexes as part of a collection of about 15 luxury watches, and just how knowledgeable he is in terms of people is still to be ascertained. Another fancy watch aficionado is Barack Obama, though to be precise he was spotted wearing not just any Rolex, but a Cellini, priced well above $10,000. And let us not forget another great American, Martin Luther King, who seemed to understand people in his "dream" well before his times. Yes, he wore a Rolex — it was a gold Datejust, very similar to the gold Datejust of another notable icon of the 20th century: Pope John Paul II.

Perhaps the tale should be reversed, to discover which politicians do not own a Rolex. For example, the leader of Italy's far-right Lega party, Matteo Salvini, famous for shuttering ports to refugee rescue boats, is said to understand people so well he can even pick up their scent. And no, he doesn't wear any watch at all.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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