This issue is the 9th for 2023 and the 19th since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. « False brothers », « false pretences». There are many expressions to describe ambiguous situations, or intentionally intended to deceive, to “make bladders look like lanterns”. Since the 12th century, it means that an «idiot» can take dried and inflated pork bladders for real lamps, the shape is identical. Advertising in the 20th century speaks of the “Canada dry” effect, a soda that has the appearance and taste of alcohol and can easily abuse the naive, the “absolute beginners” (1). The “Goodfellas” (2) are not taken in, they know the music. Yet, sometimes, because of too much trust, they are the “dummies”. The violent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin on Wednesday 23rd of August 2023 is a meaningful illustration. We will evoke a literary reference, borrowed from Oscar Wilde, who was able to describe with a biting irony the torments of the human soul in an original book, less classical than it appears «The portrait of Dorian Gray» (3). We will mention the rather caricatural distribution of roles in the Russian war against Ukraine between a Russian «false gentle» and an Ukrainian «false villain». We will conclude by questioning the risky strategy of sorcerer’s apprentices.
1- Dorian Gray syndrome
2- Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the « false gentle »
3- Volodymir Zelenski, the «false villain »
4- The risky strategy of the sorcerer’s apprentices