Without Putin, Navalny Film Would Never have Won an Oscar, Russians Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 13 – Putin deserves the thanks of a grateful nation, Russians say, because if he hadn’t acted as he did, the film about imprisoned opposition leader Navalny would never have won an Oscar. Meanwhile, a Russian court awarded Oscars to Putin himself in all categories; and Putin’s spokesman said he wouldn’t watch a film about “that gentleman.”

            Those are just three of the jokes and anecdotes Russians are telling these days that have been collected by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/45355/- and publizist.ru/blogs/107374/45360/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Margarita Simoyan of RT said Russia really did defeat Ukraine in two or three days. Since then it has been fighting NATO.

·       Russians must shed more blood in Ukraine so that all the blood shed so far won’t be in vain.

·       Last year for the first time ever, no Russian prisoners escaped from pretrial detention centers or camps. The reason? They had other ways to get out but not of course to survive.

·       Nothing makes the life of Russians worse than the efforts of the Kremlin to improve things.

·       Dmitry Medvedev plans to install a personal anti-aircraft system in the house where he lives to protect himself against western attacks.

·       The Russian mint is now issuing US dollars as part of its import substitution campaign. The mint says that Russian dollars are as good or perhaps even better than American ones.

·       Because Moscow doesn’t clean the streets, some people falling from high buildings are surviving because the snow drifts below are so deep. Much deeper than in Western countries.