Putin puts in a put down on divorce talk

Quite rightly Vladimir Putin has dismissed rumours that he is going to divorce his wife in order to take up with a 24-year-old former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, who is now a member of parliament. On a visit to see the newly re-elected prime minister of Italy, one Silvio (I've got a good election strategy) Berlusconi, Putin said, "I have always reacted negatively to those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others' lives." Well said, sir!

If Mr.Putin thinks Ms Kabeyeva is a cracker, it doesn't automatically make him an adulterer. I know Jimmy Carter once said he committed adultery in his heart. He said, "I try not to commit a deliberate sin. I recognize that I'm going to do it anyhow, because I'm human and I'm tempted. And Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. Christ said, 'I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery. I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do--and I have done it--and God forgives me for it." And which man in the world - heterosexual, that is - hasn't looked at a woman fondly? Certainly the tongue-wagging journalists and snotty-nosed critics have, without a doubt.

Putin says there is "not a single word of truth" in any of it. What is true is that tabloid journalists do have erotic fantasies and they do prowl into others' lives. Putin is dead right there.