For many others, it was only ever a matter of time before tensions boiled over in a country that spent the post-Soviet era zigzagging between east and west.
If last year's ceremony went down as one of the dullest ever, last night's showpiece attempted to regain some showbiz sparkle with centrepieces including a 2.8-metre mirror ball, 10,000 balloons and 30 lasers zigzagging throughout the televised show.
However, determined to be a purist, I followed the signs ("Kandersteg: 6hrs") and made the zigzagging ascent on foot.
A policeman told one restless queuer: "Mandela 27 years, you one hour!" Nezi Maqungu, 53, from East London, said the lines zigzagging through the city – a riot of colour including football shirts and African National Congress regalia – reminded her of the first democratic election but with one crucial difference: "That was exciting whereas this is sad.
That contrasts with $1.2 billion in Peru and $19 billion in Mexico.Nevertheless, some economists reckon that Chile's Central Bank has made things worse by zigzagging between worries about growth and inflation.
Worried by China building a railway and all-weather road network on the Tibetan plateau over the past decade, India's border force is upgrading the treacherous, zigzagging track up to Tawang.
In practice, the Gaullist Mr Chirac has governed as a politician of the anti-liberal left, or what the French know as a "rad-soc": radical socialist.A question of principleDespite this zigzagging political trajectory, Mr Chirac has taken commendable stands on certain matters.
An occasional bird of prey swoops by.But over a few weeks each summer, thousands of Indian soldiers ascend zigzagging paths into a series of valleys near the "line of control" dividing India and Pakistan.
Never one to choose clarity over ambiguity if he could avoid it, Mr Hollande has presided since 2012 over a zigzagging economic policy, first raising taxes and vowing to punish the rich and put an end to austerity, then trying to lower taxes, curb public spending and support business instead.
After zigzagging all over the place, Mr Hashimoto eventually agreed just days before the disastrous election to make a permanent tax cut though, over-cautious to the end, he refused to say by how much.
Zigzagging, for example, suggests it is long-lining for tuna.
