Putin’s rape ‘joke’ wasn’t just lost in translation

What is going on with Russian President Vladimir Putin? In a conversation last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Putin said of Israeli President Moshe Katsav, an alleged rapist: "Greetings to your president. What a powerful man he turns out to be. He raped 10 women. I would never have expected this from him. He surprised us all. We all envy him." Putin’s spokesman later said it was a "joke in Russian that actually does not reflect the automatic translation into English." But it’s difficult to believe that rape is funny and fun in any language — just as it’s getting more difficult all the time to believe that Putin is the right guy to foster freedom in Russia.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

11 Comments

  1. Mary Caruso
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 9:09 am | Permalink

    Putin is the right guy to foster freedom in Russia? The guy is doing anything but. Amazing how anyone who critizes him automatically disappears off the face of the earth. He reminds me a lot of Stalin. The guy has totally let the power go to his head, and anything outrageous he says doesn’t surprise me in the least.

  2. CapnAmerica
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 11:57 am | Permalink

    Better than Bush’s unwanted back rub of German PM.

    What a maroon.

  3. Mary Caruso
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 1:58 pm | Permalink

    Bush is a moron, Putin is evil.

  4. Ben Huie
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 2:13 pm | Permalink

    Remember – Bush looked into Putin’s eyes and saw a man he could trust and work with.

  5. Will
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 2:59 pm | Permalink

    heh! That’s Russian humor for ya!

  6. heartlander
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 4:19 pm | Permalink

    The Israeli police alleges it has information that the Israeli president committed rape. Seems like there’s a lot of sociopathy going around in leadership circles.

  7. Mary Caruso
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 7:32 pm | Permalink

    Like I said before, half of the anti-social personalities are in prison, the other half are holding political office.

  8. CF
    Posted October 23, 2006 at 9:18 am | Permalink

    Exactly. Putin was just intemperate to say what they all think. Or maybe not so intemperate.

    If you think you can handle something like the truth about this and other matters, I give you…Rigorous Intuition.

    http://www.rigint.blogspot.com

  9. gster
    Posted October 23, 2006 at 9:29 am | Permalink

    Mary- I agree with your comment- don’t you think the 2 groups you mention should change places every so often?

  10. Mary Caruso
    Posted October 27, 2006 at 7:52 pm | Permalink

    Actually, I’d rather see them all in jail!

  11. JWink
    Posted October 29, 2006 at 8:41 pm | Permalink

    It has occured to me in the past but I never asked … is it just coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name is similar to the old Russian mystic, Grigori Rasputin, who caused so much trouble in the days of the old Russian Czars. Rasputin was murdered in 1916 by a group of Russian aristocrats. I presume this coincidence in names hasn’t been overlooked in Russia.