And now everything is illuminated!

After posting the story about Zhirinovsky's visit to Israel, I have forgotten about it quite quickly, assuming that we'll see the next chapter of the saga in a year or two. However, the chief Russian anti-Semite with a Jewish father cum chief clown of the Duma exceeded all expectations. And here it comes:

Russian politician to sue Germany for family's death, says the new headline.

Russian right-winger Vladimir Zhirinovsky has said he plans to sue Germany for killing his family during WWII.

The leader of Russia's ultra nationalist Liberal Democratic party and a deputy speaker of Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, also said he would sue Israeli doctors for failing to save his father, Volf Eidelstein, after being critically wounded in a car accident on 1983 in Tel Aviv, where he was later buried.

So, as you see, the thrill of waiting for the next turn of events subsided somewhat. Still, after reading the above quoted news item, I got a feeling that I have missed something in the longish article linked in the previous post. After a search I stumbled on it:

Reverently, Zhirinovsky opens a transparent plastic folder. In it is an official Interior Ministry death certificate, bearing the symbol of the State of Israel. He then removes from the folder photographs of his mother, his father and of himself, a two-month-old infant, in his mother's arms. Again he breaks into tears.

Eureka! Now the reason for the tears described above is clear: these are simply tears of happiness of a man translating the lump amount of German Euros and Israeli shekels into vodka bottles.

It is certainly reassuring to know that with this character there is no need in changing the initial diagnosis: dreck.

And thanks to Jonathan Safran Foer for the borrowed title. Great book, by the way.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com