Who cares whether Nixon or Giscard ever smoked — or ever shared Brezhnev's company together? Their function in the tale was simply to underscore Russians' jaundiced view of their own rulers. I was reminded of this joke from my youth by the furor over President Putin's recent acquisition of a unique piece of jewelry. At the Russian president's reception for American tycoons, Robert Kraft, the owner of this year's Super Bowl Champions New England Patriots, showed Putin his 2005 Super Bowl ring. It's a 14-karat, four ounces white-gold piece, studded with 124 diamonds arranged to form the team's logo and the words "World Champions." A lesser ring from a previous Super Bowl sold for $49,000 last year. "Kraft," writes Russia's business daily Kommersant, "shoved something shyly into Putin's hand ... Putin tried [the ring] on ... but noticed that cameras were pointing at him, quickly took it off and held it in his fist."
The media had a field day, reporting that while Kraft thought he was just showing his ring to Putin, the Russian president assumed it was a gift. To avoid embarrassment, Kraft released a statement later to the effect that Putin had been so taken with the ring that, "At that point I decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people and the leadership of President Putin."
No harm done, either way: Putin got the ring — and properly turned it over to the state depository for gifts, according to his staff. Kraft made the ring a gift to Putin to demonstrate his respect — and, one hopes, his intention to invest in Russia to his and Russia's mutual profit. However, the morning after this ring-giving, I heard a remake of the 30 year-old Brezhnev joke: Putin, Bush and Chirac meet at a party. Bush shows off his steel ring, inscribed with: "To our leader from the GOP." Chirac sports a silver band, inscribed with the words "To my dear Jacques." Not to be outdone, Putin silently produces a white-gold ring, studded with diamonds shaped to read: "World Champions."