Latest Russian Anecdotes Suggest that Demanding People Obey the Law has Become Illegal

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 17 – Every Russian joke opens a little window on Russian reality, often allowing those who hear them to understand more about what is going on than any number of learned articles and books. The latest collection offered by Tatyana Pushkaryeva certainly demonstrates that (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/41650/-).

            Among those she offers in addition to the one referred to in the title of this post are the following:

·       Ordinary Russians know that the elite engages in corruption and even organized crime. But that’s when they are at work. People would like to know what those at the top of the pyramid do with their free time.

·       All the problems Russians suffer from have a simple explanation: the problems of the poor are addressed by the rich, the problems of the starving by those who are well fed, the problems of peace by generals, and the problems of scholars by idiots. Only the interests of thieves and murderers are looked after by thieves and murderers.

·       RT head Margarita Simonyan says that those who reveal the property held in secret by the Russian elite are committing treason. After all, if NATO finds out where all the villas and yachts the wealthiest of Russians have, they will know just where to target their missiles.

·       Russia suffered in 1941 because Stalin did not believe anything his underlings told him about Hitler’s plans. But it is unclear that Russia will avoid that now that Putin apparently believes anything his supporters say without considering the evidence,

·       Russians have received some early Christmas gifts with the arrests of various regional officials. But they haven’t lost hope that as the calendar approaches the end of the year, they will be given similar gifts at the federal level.

·       A middle-aged Russian woman asks Father Frost only for an answer to one question: why has Father Frost satisfied the requests of the elite and raised prices on everything for everyone else.

·       A Russian says he has irrefutable proof that Russian medicine is the most effective in the world. He hasn’t turned to the doctors in three years. That is because he is afraid of doing so.