Birthday message to President Putin

Happy birthday to ya. Happy

birthday to ya. Happy

birthday. Happy birthday-

Okay.

It is the fourth of October.

Um, a young lady called Natalia somebody

or other wrote me a

letter asking me, uh, for a few comments on the occasion of

the birthday of the president of Russia,

Mr. Putin.

And I thought, "Bugger it, why not?" Um, so I wrote

her a letter, and I sent it off a few days ago.

I've no idea what she'll do with it, whether it'll be printed anywhere,

or whether

she cares or anyone cares. But I w- I just read it again,

and I thought, "This is quite important," so I'm gonna,

I'm gonna

make a video. I'm gonna read it out. Okay.

So President Putin. Dear Natalia,

you've asked me to say a few words about your president, Mr.

Putin, for his birthday on October the 7th.

You mention that at one point a couple of years ago, I called him a

gangster, but that I may have modified my

opinion.

Maybe I have.

Um, okay, here goes, and I hope my words do not

fall on gangster's ears.

I write in the sincere hope that Mr.

Putin's heart is actually in the right place.

Uh, I speak no Russian, so I am at a disadvantage, but

I have read much of what he has had to say in

translation, and a lot of it seems to me to make

sense. He doesn't sound like a gangster.

I have one burning question, though.

Why

on the 17th of June, 2026

at the United Nations when the Security Council

passed a resolution that gifted

the part of the state of Palestine that is called

Gaza

to Mr. Trump,

the president of the United States of America, to

share with his family and other members of the ruling

elite, did Russia not exercise

its right to veto on that day?

How would the people of Russia,

who Mr. Putin represents, feel if the Security

Council had gifted St. Petersburg

to the Trump family?

I could ask the same question, by the way, of Mr.

Xi, the Russian leader, the same question because

China didn't exercise its right

to the veto

either.

What if the Security Council gave Taiwan to Mr. Trump, Mr.

Xi?

How would the people of China feel about that?

I am puzzled.

I'm puzzled. A good friend of mine, and I asked this question, I put it

to him, he's called Dmitry Polyanskiy, and he's one of the b- he

was one of the Russian Federation's U- ambassadors at the

UN. Um,

uh, who-- and to give him his due, he was not present in the chamber

on that awful day, okay? Um, he suggested to

me that the lack of a Russian veto was because

Russia was guided by respect for the feelings of

certain unnamed Arab leaders. He's-- he

must be talking about

MSB, and he must be talking about the leaders

of the UAE and people

like that, who we know are fascists themselves.

And c- anyway, what bloody nonsense.

There is right and wrong in this world, Mr.

Putin, and giving Gaza to the Trump

family

was palpably

wrong,

just as

genocide is palpably

wrong,

just as Israel's occupation

of Palestine is palpably

wrong.

So on his birthday, which is in a couple of days' time, I

plead with President Putin to

do the right thing

and pour Russia's considerable

weight

onto the scales of justice

and join the fight

to restore historic Palestine

to its rightful owners,

the people

of Palestine.

Yours sincerely,

Roger Waters.

So thanks for the inquiry, Natalia.

Please pass that on to Mr. Trump. Happy birthday,

eh?

Did I say Trump? Did I say please pass that on to Mr.

Trump ?

If I did, that is obviously

a slip of this loose tongue. No, please pass it

on to Mr.

Putin.

Happy birthday, son.