tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post116222762524133964..comments2023-08-16T12:07:22.995+00:00Comments on The Daily (Maybe): Putin his foot in itJim Jeppshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-1162299247642319872006-10-31T12:54:00.000+00:002006-10-31T12:54:00.000+00:00First off, yes I think it's all about it being in ...First off, yes I think it's all about it being in Israel - a country that exists - than about Chechnya which doesn't (in the eyes of the BBC) What's interesting is the Israeli press don't seem to have registered Putin was there at all - let only made a "gaff"<BR/><BR/>Hmmm. I suppose he *could* have been criticising Katsav with biting satire - however, it seems unlikely given his hilarious Chechen joke book coming out this June (not really)<BR/><BR/>I think the thing for me is that he made this in the context of a real rapist that he is doing business with. I think it demonstrates the imperialist mindset - where the only issues are power and wealth, not how you use them.Jim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-1162260592309288562006-10-31T02:09:00.000+00:002006-10-31T02:09:00.000+00:00now I was talking to my Russian housemate about th...now I was talking to my Russian housemate about this, and <A>she</A> says that in Russian this would come out as <A>extremely</A> sarcastic, and is fairly typical of his kind of humour. So in a sense it does mean something a little different because we only get the words without the context, and most jokes are all about the context.<BR/> <BR/>But she also tells me that compared to the jokes he tells about (Muslim) Chechens this is nothing. Particularly the one about how Russians would be happy to circumcise them - they'd happily chop it all off, balls and all. Or the ones that make use of the dirtiest type of prison slang when describing 'flushing terrorists down the toilet'. (She's a linguist and gave me a detailed description of quite how rude this is in Russian, which I promptly forgot most of. But anyway.)<BR/><BR/>The point is that he's known for his rough humour and plays on it as part of his image. How much of it being suddenly reported now, as opposed to the equally inappropriate 'jokes' about Chechens, has to do with it being aimed at an Israeli minister?mollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12982342923331850388noreply@blogger.com