Except under Putin, Only an Army can Discredit Itself, Russians Observe

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 21 – None of the great military leaders of the past ever thought of punishing people for discrediting their armies because they understood that only the army itself can discredit itself on the battlefield. But Putin has decided that anybody can discredit the army just by talking about it, some Muscovites are now saying.

            That is just one of the anecdotes in the latest collection offered by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/46110/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Russians are being taught all kinds of ways to become millionaires, but these training sessions involve everything except actually working.

·       32,000 criminals from the Wagner PMC are now back home. Everyone has to sew up their pockets and lock their doors lest these people do what they do best.

·       The Kremlin wants those who fled Russia to avoid serving in Ukraine to return and walk about the streets with a sign around their necks declaring “I was a traitor.” Perhaps then they will be forgiven.

·       A Moscow court has ruled that attentive reading of the Russian Constitution is an activity which undermines the foundations of the constitutional system of the country.

·       Russian censors aren’t very effective: they can a single word and then when journalists use another, everyone has to wait for the censors to issue a new order. If it is prohibited to speak of a sale of property in a particular place, it isn’t  to speak about the purchase of property.

·       Except for perhaps the Spaniards, every nation has an illegitimate leader if Putin’s standard is applied. He says that Zelensky is illegitimate because he came to power via a coup. Almost all leaders in the world did if you trace their predecessors far enough back.

·       Russian cameramen in Ukraine are saving space on their flash drives and so often can’t provide photos that confirm Putin’s claims about the amount of Ukrainian weaponry destroyed. “We’re saving it for a picture of five Zelenskys in a coffin,” they say.