Of course he did it. All you gotta do to be popular in Russia is say “f*ck you” to the West. It’s the most obvious populistic move he could make. It has nothing to do with democracy or civil rights. If Snowden had done this in Russia, he’d be dead, plain and simple. It just has to do with telling Obama “f*ck you.” Russians love it.
Putin did Obama a favor. Obama really doesn’t want to prosecute him. Obama said he’d protect whistleblowers and run a more transparent government. If Snowden went to trial this would be a prolonged disaster for Obama. This is the best case for Obama.
I was actually wondering why they called it pike and not the catfish. To me it looked like a huge catfish - I’ve seen a bunch of those in my childhood. It’s a common fish at where I am from.
Russia’s behavior is pretty predictable really. When you have a right wing government that is unabashed about defending its interest and doesnt hide behind the language of “human rights” and crap like that, it’s pretty obvious what they’re going to do…
And US may have “cooperated” in this regard. Or maybe I’m just cynical.
I think the U.S. had to put on a show like “hey, give us Snowden you russkie bastards.” The whispering, “no, you guys can keep him. He’s a total pain in our collective ass. We’ll buy you a beer at the next League of Nations softball game.”
What about the fact US might cancel Putin/Obama meeting in September?
Sure, there’s some flexing of the muscles going on here. It’s a really tough position for Obama. On one hand he wants nothing more than to get rid of the Snowden situation for the above mentioned reasons, and on the other he can’t appear to let Putin walk all over him. It’s just my opinion but I think Obama is probably finding the latter the less problematic political path.
My bet is they’ll still meet up. It all will cool down by September.
^no, not only this, the cowboys will boycott the Sochi Olympics haha
I think unless the gay issue is resolved the Winter Olimpics should be moved to different country altogether.
hey krnyc, you probably watch too much gay porno, slow down
Cause that’s the only reason I would have this opinion of course…
Why is it people only advocate boycotting the Olympics when the Russian are hosting. It’s not like they invaded Afghanistan.
^LMAO. Maybe Obama can order the entire nation of Russia to go to “sensitivity training”.
This was posted by u/Pinwurm on Reddit the other day…actually it was in the subreddit “explain it like I’m 5.” The question was why Russia is so homophobic? Here’s his top rated response. Sums it up quite nicely I thought…Link for those that would like to read the whole thread.
Former russki here.
There are three main reasons why Russia is homophobic.
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Russia is a country far from the forefront of modern psychology. It has historically viewed homosexuality to be a_psychological problem_, akin to disease. Russian mentality would dictate its easier to “lock these people up” than to unleash them into society. The mentality is deeply ingrained into the culture and language of Russia. Expressions such as, “йти в сумасшедший дом!” (get to a crazy house!) are very common and belittling when someone says something eccentric. This mentality creates a massive stigma against seeking help for psychological problems. It creates a culture of misunderstanding for the general populous, and a culture of fear for homosexuals.
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World War 2. The Soviet Union lost 30% of its population due to World War 2 and suffered the heaviest causulties. It’s so bad that to this day, Belarus has never fully recovered. As part of a mass nationalistic campaign, citizens were encouraged to make BABIES for the good of the homeland! Homosexuals, not being able to reproduce, were seen as enemies of the state.
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General ignorance. Outside of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk - the HDI of Russia is on par with rural Mississippi. Isolation, poor education, poor access to information, poor people, etc, etc. This is a recipe for ignorance.
At the end of the day, Russia still faces many socio-economic struggles. This includes underpopulation and low growth. Putin and other top officials have made it a mission to distract the general public with such ignorances and persecute its own citizens. This is extremely shameful and backwards, considering the progress places like Moscow have made in terms of quality of life, education and freedoms. Disgraceful.
What? This does not at all look like a catfish:
http://editor247.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gp3_full_article/putin_pike1.jpg
You are right. I confused it in the video.
That’s my dawg, Vova. He’s straight up Michael from the Godfather. Kills mofos. Gets bitches. Loved by everybody in his community.