Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided this week to put his bid for yet another “run” on the Internet, where he has been hanging out lately to try to charm his people following December’s huge and quite unified protests in the country. Pleasantly, his website, whose main photo (this one) looks like Putin’s attempt to pose for a Swiss watch ad, was flooded with so many angry comments that the Kremlin community cossack had to temporarily take down the site. And, of course, delete all the comments. But the thing is, says a Putin spokesperson, the people of Russia didn’t mean to be mean. They were just playing “a computer game.” What?
In a Reuters article on the site crash, Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded by denying that the comments had been removed to save face:
All this fuss with calls for resignation is a kind of computer game that children are playing at. It has nothing to do with constructive dialogue.
Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that “the children,” in Russian, is a more complex diminutive term meant to flatter and make the people feel safe. Also “computer game,” perhaps, fine, maybe a reference to hacking, which has been happening to Russian government sites lately.
Luckily, the comments were spared from digital Siberia: Radio Free Europe has gathered a few of the best:
Please leave politics. We understand that power is like a drug, but this would be a dignified act.
I’m tired of you. I’ve already tolerated you for 12 years and it’s still the same. If you win [another term] a lot of my friends are thinking about leaving Russia. Do you need this? Do we? I don’t. I want to live in a normal country. So get out before it[']s too late.
Shockingly, Putin still has a kind of staggering approval rating of 51 percent, as of December. Peskov has no doubt of Putin’s success in the first round of elections:
We are sure that he will be president. We have no doubts about it. Bad are the campaign headquarters staff who do not believe in their candidate’s victory in the first round.
And bad are the children! Stop it with your opinionated Pac-Man games. [Atlantic Wire]
{ 101 comments }
I'm waiting for the Anna Chapman computer game.
In case you've forgotten:
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20111124/169002337.html
I think that is a DVD where you just wind up playing with yourself.
I'm good with that.
We are sure that he will be president. We have no doubts about it. Bad are the campaign headquarters staff who do not believe in their candidate’s victory in the first round.
Translation: Vee have vays of making you vote.
Russia, Germany, meh. Same difference, right?
Swiss watch ad? At first I thought it was a still photo from the next Daniel Craig flick. Putin is probably one of those egotastic lurches who'd deadpan the names of celebrities he'd like to have play him when his bio eventually makes it to celluloid. Titled something like "Tiger for Breakfast."
yes, check the alt text. GREAT MINDS.
check the alt text
d'Oh!1!
Elin Nordegren's already reserved that title.
You (and Liz) are correct. He does be looking like the Daniel Craig. (Weird!)
They are good at Chess.
"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."
Wait, the Wonkette comments aren't a computer game?
I thought at 100p you get an extra life.
I know I'm aiming for a extra life.
An extra life? Please, no. I honestly don't know what the fuck to do with this one.
I think it's more like pin ball.
I have long assumed we are all just figments of some bad programing.
Wonkette doesn't allow comments.
do me a favor show this letter to the rest of your presumpteous, arrogant, monsters, have a laugh at this letter. Sarcastic, nymphs.
His website also apparently has a section devoted to "Shit I've Shot, Killed, and had Mounted in the Past 24 Hours." Shockingly, it doesn't include any protesters. Yet.
He's mounting protestors? Actually, doesn't surprise me.
Sounds like OWS, from what I've heard.
His wife is not among any of those things. That guy is so self-envolved that no one can statisfy him but his lonesome.
The Beast with Two Backs remains his most elusive quarry.
He may be a dick and a dictator, but his approval rating is 50% higher than either Barry or Romney. Plus, he's the ultra conservative alternative to Romney
"It has nothing to do with constructive dialogue."
Yes. How can you have constructive dialogue in Russia without Molotov cocktails, Kalishnikovs and armored tanks?
I think the "constructive dialog" he has in mind more involves a small, underground cell with a single chair and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
I tried playing Putin Pyramid on his site, but the graphics sucked.
And you thought DHS watching us was dangerous.
Where do you think they're getting the ideas?
hey everybody! what's up?
i've been watching popcorn cat since 9:30.
Next month, Putin will make daily viewing of Popcorn Cat mandatory!
Lego totalitarian commies?
This comment has been deleted by the Politburo
This commenter has been deleted by the Politburo.
Putin doesn't have time for computer games while America is intentionally damaging Russian Mars probes!
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,21...
Hey, if the alternative was facing down a firing squad for wasting the
SovietRussian people's money, wouldn't you blame the Foreigns, too?Needs more WOPR!
Shall we play a game?
Oh, took the words right out of my mouth!
I understand he's a hit with the ladies
In Soviet Russia, computer games play you!
In Russia, blog comments make you!
Try the hot tea. Tastes like Polonium.
Out of an abundance of caution, I will forgo making a comment of any negative nature about this incredibly handsome, capable, selfless leader. You know, to avoid the whole glowing toxic radioactive tea and biscuits thing. gee, he's handsome. so handsome.
Where's the Bond girl in the photo?
Yes, where is the venerable Irish Bond girl Tigg O'Bitties?
Putin's fixing to start shootin' and the naysayers.
In Moscow, the Wonkettezkiya reads you!
Putan would make a good Republican and by good I mean Newt-like asshole.
"Russian Prime Minister" sounds so much more technocratic than "Dear Leader" or "Dictator For Life".
What you do is go the Qadaffi route where you collect as many titles as you can think of. After all, why choose?
Putin is to Catherine the Great as George Bush is to Abraham Lincoln.
Or as Michele Bachmann is to Mr. Ed.
Mr. Ed is so much smarter, he can speak in complete sentences.
Didn't Catherine the Great fuck Mr. Ed, though?
Wrong country. I think you have that mixed up; it's Prince Charles who is fucking Mr. Ed.
Or Sarah Palin is to Margaret Chase Smith.
The Russian Trail
Instead of cholera, you die of polonium!
"Putin still has a kind of staggering approval rating of 51 percent, as of December. "
The other 49% are marching to the Gulags.
Or poisoned.
Speaking of computer games…perhaps Putin is just being nostalgic for this old school film:
WarGames (1983)
114 min – Sci-Fi | Thriller – 3 June 1983 (USA)
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Ah, that movie always brings back some of my earliest fapping memories.
Where did Putin finish in the New Hampshire primary?
He may be Orthodox, but at least he ain't Mormon!
Rosa Klebb will kick internetz vith shoe.
Here's a computergame Ostrich-legs:
…………………./´¯/)
………………..,/¯../
………………./…./
…………./´¯/’…’/´¯¯`·¸
………./’/…/…./……./¨¯
……..(‘(…´…´…. ¯~/’…’)
……………………..’…../
……….”…………. _.·´
……………………..(
…………..………….…
It sorta looks like someone's left hand is giving me the finger. Which I understand ostriches have a method of doing, in their own unique way.
That 51% approve because they can't look away from those eyes. He's like the Hypnotoad of Russia.
Please leave politics. We understand that power is like a drug, but this would be a dignified act.
Can we pass that message along to Boneheader and Co?
Who am I kidding, the closest that crowd gets to "dignified" is when they sit on the toilet…
Hey Vlad, pssst, don't friend Janet Napolitano on Facebook or Twitter.
He can say anything he wants. He can do anything he wants. He could grapple reality itself and choke the bitch out like a mewling kitten. Putin is the guy Chuck Norris makes Chuck Norris jokes about. I'd stick to saying only nice things about him, is what I'm saying.
Pshaw! He is no Carlos Slim of Mexico!
I guess I better stay away from the soup now.
Hmmm — scrubbing negative comments from his webpage, ineptly trying to manipulate public opinion, attributing base motives to his constituents who disagree with him, and proposing band-aid reforms to a deeply flawed and corrupt system — maybe Sarah Palin was telling the truth when she said she conducted international relations.
And all that kerfuffle on wall street this fall was really just a giant game of duck duck goose.
In Russia "Go fuck yourself= angry birds"
I'm glad to see you've calmed the fuck down.
I wanted to get ALL the B.L.s out of my system for ever and ever and ever and ev….
The only winning move is not to play.
"In a Reuters article on the site crash, Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded by denying that the comments had been removed to save face:
All this fuss with calls for resignation is a kind of computer game that children are playing at. It has nothing to do with constructive dialogue."
Moose and squirrel use to play same game comrade.
And to think, FOX News missed the change of dismissing OWS as just a series of games of kick the can.
Do you own a Baller Franchise, Putin?! All the big Russian Oligarchs have one. Maybe you and Fiddy can buy the Bobcats off of MJ.
Shouldn't a Russian Oligarch buy a team called the Bears?
Boom!
… sorry Chet, too much time on the ESPN boards
He's got Georgia on his mind.
Now keel moose & skwirrel?
My doctor has recommended a polonium-free diet, so I got nuthin' to say about good 'ole Pooty-poot.
If there's a Russian version of Wonkette, are you supposed to stop drinking when you read a new post?
Also: Swiss watch ad? Putin looks like he just lost out on the gold to Brian Boitano.
And children who play computer game very good get free game called gulag
As to the 'charm offensive' strategy, he's mastered the second half. Nearly 51%!
And bad are the juju to anyone running against Vlad the Impaler. Yeah, I'm lookin' at you, Prokhorov. Stick to your less dangerous hopeless cause. New Jersey fans might hate you, might even throw plastic shit at you. But they probably won't put Polonium in your tea.
Wait! What was I thinking?! Get back to Russia NOW!
Jersey fans don't fuck around with soup. He better get back to Russia before he finds a cap in his ass whilst at the bottom of the Hudson.
Alt text ftw
Fearless Leader has been flying under the radar for a while!
Just from reading this small amount of commentary, I see a business opportunity in Russia: SNARK. They need to get bitter and dress that drab shit up. And I'm not talking about those queer-lookin' Cyrillic letters.
Got to be in the closet. The only dude trying to butch himself up more is our own Little Ricky Perry.
Glad to see Radio Free Europe still exists. How come when we talk about slashing funding for public radio, we don't talk about that station?
try this: we divorce you, we divorce you (works for some people)
All that you need to know about this man is that Dubya thought he had a beautiful soul. Honestly, what more is there to say beyond that fact that this former KGB agent is a sociopath? The Republicans in Congress are always bitching about metaphorical czars; in Russia, they actually have and honest-to-goodness czar, again.
Ender's Game libel!
BTW, the comments seem unusually tame. Maybe, something was lost in translation? I was expecting more "we hate your fucking guts, Pootmen." Instead, we get well reasoned, and sometimes subtle criticisms.
All this fuss with calls for resignation is a kind of computer game that children are playing at. It has nothing to do with constructive dialogue.
Welcome to the Internet, doofuski.
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