Putin v Russia

November 24, 2011 4:00 AM

Vladimir Putin booed live on Russian TV. Taking a rare evening off from propping up Bashar Assad and threatening to station missiles on EU borders, past and future President - and current Prime Minister - Vladimir Putin relaxed at a mixed martial arts fight last Sunday night at Moscow's Olimpisky Arena. When he stepped into the ring after the bout to address the crowd however, his reception was as hostile as the fight had been. The muzzled Russian media have either ignored the incident or claimed the booing was directed at Jeff "The Snowman" Monson, but thousands of comments on the American's facebook wall tell a different story.

"His corrupted government, muppet courts, punishers in police clothes, pocket electoral commissions and people of his clan at all the most important and profitable chairs - it all drives us crazy!"

posted by joannemullen (29 comments total)

We should be very clear that although the crowd was booing when Putin started congratulating Fedor Emelianenko, they were not booing Emelianenko.

Putin is a dangerous man, but please don't anger Fedor. He can kick the entire crowd's ass.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:16 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow, that's unexpected. Putin's popularity seemed unfortunately genuine to me. This video might be soon taken down for copyright infringement, but there's another.
posted by hat_eater at 4:20 AM on November 24, 2011

Here is something unexpected, from the same source as hat_eater's first link.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:32 AM on November 24, 2011

Fedor used a bodycheck against his opponent and the crowd used a mic check against theirs.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:33 AM on November 24, 2011

I love it when reality distortion fields have glitches like this. I wonder if Putin consciously projects the field, or if he has become a victim of it himself?
posted by Meatbomb at 4:33 AM on November 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

Nothing that blowing up a few apartment blocks won't fix.
posted by scruss at 4:34 AM on November 24, 2011 [8 favorites]

The muzzled Russian media

They have Fox News in Russia?
posted by three blind mice at 4:36 AM on November 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

The muzzled Russian media

They have Fox News in Russia?

No need to muzzle a tame and house-trained dog...
posted by YAMWAK at 4:57 AM on November 24, 2011 [8 favorites]

I was saying "Boo-urns".
posted by WPW at 5:04 AM on November 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

Here is something unexpected, from the same source as hat_eater's first link.
"Лиманова объяснила, что ее жест был адресован членам выпускающей бригады и что она была уверена, что в тот момент не находилась в кадре. "
"Limanova explained that the gesture was aimed at the studio workers and she was certain that she wasn't on air at the moment." (ie that the video accompanying the news was being shown)
Nevertheless, she was fired.
posted by hat_eater at 5:08 AM on November 24, 2011

Wow, that's unexpected. Putin's popularity seemed unfortunately genuine to me.
Seems same to me. Suspect this doesn't necessarily imply much more than that the sort of people who get tickets to an event like this aren't Putin's constituency, which AFAIK remains broad, despite a bit of a slump in popularity. Appears that overall that popularity is most closely related to the state of the economy (stupid) [PDF], which is hardly a surprise. Surely it's not news to anyone domestically that he's an authoritarian, and throwing Russia's weight about a bit in the international arena is hardly going to damage him at home.
posted by Abiezer at 5:18 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Slavic Spring?

Can one hope?
posted by spitbull at 5:49 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

..."muppet court"?
posted by longtime_lurker at 5:53 AM on November 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

muppet court?
posted by dowcrag at 5:58 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was saying "Boo-urns".
posted by WPW at 5:04 AM on November 24 [3 favorites +] [!]

Boooooooooo-tin! Boooooooo-tin!

(cf: "Ladies and gentlemen, come on, give it up for the man, Mr. Bruce Springsteen! [Bruce walks onto the stage and people "Broooce"] Oh man. I mean... I used to do Springsteen songs and they would do that, then I'd say "Oh no, they're booing me"... I'd feel bad until he said that he used to think that too, I'm telling you. Alright?")
posted by chavenet at 6:19 AM on November 24, 2011

So these people are all dead now, right?
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:21 AM on November 24, 2011

Those Facebook comments seem so very Russian.
posted by peacheater at 6:31 AM on November 24, 2011

"His corrupted government, muppet courts...

Mahna Mahna

да даaaa да да да...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:58 AM on November 24, 2011 [11 favorites]

From Abiezer's link (PDF):

"But what role do such [approval] ratings play in illiberal democracies and competitive autocracies, where formally democratic institutions coexist with authoritarian elements? In such states, public opinion is often viewed as more a product of political manipulation than an input into politics. Even when the polls themselves are trustworthy, they are thought likely to capture the effects of rulers‘ political theater rather than reasoned evaluations rooted in material reality. Citizens, fed distorted information by an unfree press and cynical about the possibilities for participation, are expected to focus on image and personalities rather than to soberly evaluate performance by studying economic statistics (Ekman 2009). To rekindle their appeal periodically, incumbents invoke cruder forms of nationalism, exaggerate external threats or terrorist dangers, or even start military engagements (Mansfield and Snyder 1995)."

Is this a difference of kind or degree?
posted by warbaby at 8:17 AM on November 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

but thousands of comments on the American's facebook wall tell a different story.


Well shit, with sources like that.... Is the reason you only posted this crap only now because you had to wait for the noise to accumulate?
posted by c13 at 10:32 AM on November 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

Taking a rare evening off from propping up Bashar Assad and threatening to station missiles on EU borders

Editorializing much?
posted by blucevalo at 11:01 AM on November 24, 2011

I checked that Facebook wall, and there were nothing but Russians clamouring for another season of Community.

Also, OMG MUPPET COURTS
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:11 AM on November 24, 2011

I don't actually mind that the post points out that Putin's a tremendous asshole, but I don't get the Facebook thing. What story is being told? I don't use Facebook much, can anyone tell me if celebrity FB pages usually have a lot of detractors, or are they usually full of fans like Snowman's is?
posted by Hoopo at 11:12 AM on November 24, 2011

Booing? How 20th century. How do you say "mic check" in Russian?
posted by Spatch at 11:56 AM on November 24, 2011

Vladimir Putin exists only to make the old days of Soviet Communism look less bad (not GOOD, just less bad). And also to amass an incredible personal fortune - if he is deposed and gets out alive, he'll probably end up CEO of something in the US.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:44 PM on November 24, 2011

It ain't easy being gr Putin.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:00 PM on November 24, 2011

I Was Saying 'POUTINE'
posted by mannequito at 1:07 PM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

He's not the Prime Minister, he's the "Prime Minister." (Officially, the "Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.") It's a fake title that he invented out of whole cloth as a blatant way of dodging the term limit on the Presidency.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:04 PM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

I wish Fedor was in the UFC.
posted by the cuban at 3:45 PM on November 24, 2011