“I’ll be back,” Arnold Schwarzenegger said in one of the most famous movie lines of all time. There has been a great deal of speculation in Russia lately about whether President Vladimir Putin–who likes to present a Schwarzenegger-style persona to the world–would follow the same script and come back. Rumors included scenarios of a cancer-stricken Putin seeking treatment in isolation, his sudden unexpected death, and time recovering from plastic surgery.
But today after an 11-day hiatus from the public eye, Putin appeared at a meeting in St. Petersburg. Putin might have reappeared even earlier, but was likely intrigued by the drama caused by his own absence. He’s a showman, after all, who likes to be photographed shirtless (like the old Schwarzenegger) and who clearly enjoys the spotlight.
