‘Foreign Agent’ Label Russian Equivalent of ‘Banned in Boston’ for Writers – a Guarantee of Success

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 1 – Russian writers are desperate to be labelled “foreign agents.” As in the US, where “banned in Boston” once guaranteed success, so being called a foreign agent in Putin’s Russia is the surest path to success, an ironic Russian commentary on one of Putin’s most prominent campaigns.

            That anecdote is just one of the stories Russians are telling each other that have been online by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/46859/77). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Another success for Putin: he wants to destroy the US dollar as the international trading currency, but last month the dollar rose to a record 48 percent for such settlements.

·       Putin has told the health ministry to find domestically produced continuous glucose monitoring devices for diabetics within a week, but he hasn’t told them where these are to be found. Sort of like those in some Soviet novels who were sent out to find communism somewhere in Russia.

·       Russians needn’t ask how are you because they all live in the same country.

·       Putin’s press spokesman has stopped stupid questions from journalists by announcing that he isn’t interested in politics.

·       It now would be interesting to publish a short list of things for which Russians won’t be imprisoned instead of the growing list of those they will be sentenced to serve time behind bars.

·       If you don’t buy anything, then prices in Russia are indeed stable.

·       Russians have good reason to welcome the growing dominance of China in their country. After all, the Communist Party of China will never allow Ramzan Kadyrov to impose shariat law on Russians.

·       VTsIOM says that more than 70 percent of Russians trust Putin, but it doesn’t say how many Russians trust VTsIOM.