Amazing stuff on Russian state TV

Boris Johnson gives the Russians a case of hysterical laughing

When I first heard that the ex-Mayor of London Boris Johnson had won an anti-Erdogan insult competition I was not too interested.  But when I saw that this was reported on the hyper-official “Weekly News with Dmitri Kilesev” I was quite amazed.  But when Kiselev then visually showed the original English language limerik I was amazed.  Kiselev was careful to specify that he was acting according to the letter of the regulations of the Roscomnadzor, the Russian media regulatory agency he then showed the original English text full screen.

But then Kiselev went even further.  He then quoted the (superb!) translation of the limerik by the Russian website Inosmi:

Один озабоченный турок
Все время дрочил свой окурок,
Пока ранней весной
Не слюбился с козой
Без всяких прелюдий придурок

At that point I was speechless.

You have to realize that the Russian media is much, much more prudish than the western media and that this kind of language is quite unthinkable, especially on the hyper-official, quasi state run, Russia 1 state channel, and especially on the most “official” of all news shows – the Sunday evening Weekly News with Dmitri Kilesev.

And then came the crowning moment.  Kiselev ended up by suggesting that the “goat” in the limerik could possibly be a thinly veiled reference at Angela Merkel.

WOW.  Just WOW!

It is one thing to have Maria Zakharova dance at a very serious diplomatic meeting, but to have one head of state called a “wanker” and another a “goat” on a mostly very stuck-up and constipated looking Russian TV that I have to wonder what this indicates.  Not that I don’t totally approve of it.  Neither Erdogan nor Merkel deserve any respect, and neither do the fools who voted for them or support then today.  But still, “wanker” and “goat”?

Maybe it is a sign of a further “Putinization” of the Russian society.  Putin has been known to throw in some rather slangy, if not outright crude, words or two in his otherwise very polished language.  That kind of “people talk” also contributed to his popularity.

But still.  WOW.

We leave in amazing and, at times, even funny times.

The Saker