March 26, 2022

"Vladimir Putin has claimed the West is trying to 'cancel' Russia for its traditional views, much as it did to JK Rowling for her views on trans rights."

"'They cancelled Joanne Rowling recently. The children’s author — her books are published all over the world — fell out of favour with fans of so-called gender freedoms, just because she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights. Today they are trying to cancel a thousand-year-old country,' Putin said during a televised meeting with Russian winners of cultural prizes. 'I am talking about the progressive discrimination against everything connected with Russia, about this trend that is unfolding in a number of western states, with the full connivance and sometimes with the encouragement of western elites.... We remember the footage when they were burning books.... It is impossible to imagine such a thing in our country and we are insured against this thanks to our culture. And it’s inseparable for us from our motherland, from Russia, where there is no place for ethnic intolerance, where for centuries representatives from dozens of ethnic groups have been living together.'"

The London Times reports.

Putin also got in on our what-is-a-woman debate: "If someone thinks that women and men are the same thing, then be my guest. But there is common sense.... I stick to the traditional approach that a woman is a woman, a man is a man, a mum is a mum, and a dad is a dad.'"

70 comments:

Joe Smith said...

Sad state of affairs when a communist KGB lieutenant colonel is the sensible one in the room.

Michael K said...

Maybe he has been listening to Daleep Singh, our deputy NSC.

…”Strategic success in the 21st century is not about a physical land grab of territory; that’s what Putin has done. In this century, strategic power is increasingly measured and exercised by economic strength, by technological sophistication and your story – who you are, what your values are; can you attract ideas and talent and goodwill? And on each of those measures, this will be a failure for Russia.

Baffle em with bullshit. It doesn't matter if you don't know what a woman is.

Rollo said...

Getting tired of idiots saying Putin is a devout Christian. The guy has two families. And then the billions and the KGB thing.

traditionalguy said...

Interesting that the science of brain washing was a Communist tool but that the Russia that escaped from communism 30 years ago calls it out on sight when it is used by the Progressives 24/7 disguised as liberal media.

Bender said...

Russia has been using American leftist/progressive talking points against the U.S. for years. China too.

Their most brilliant psy-op was to make themselves the bad guy in feeding the whole Trump collusion farce to the Dems.

Joe Smith said...

'Getting tired of idiots saying Putin is a devout Christian.'

Biden is a devout Christian and he wholeheartedly supports the funding and practice of abortion.

What's your point?

David Begley said...

Oh, that Vlad! He’s a clever one! Put him on the Supreme Court.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Try telling the person from Mars that neither Trump nor Biden are drunk all the time. Supposedly they don't drink at all. Hillary is a different story. Now Putin: assassinations and invasions make him evil, but much of this is marbled with bullshit. I don't know about the radiation poisoning, but how can Putin be the only one who tries to kill with Novichok, and fails? His alleged victims are hale and hearty, going about their lives.

madAsHell said...

KGB lieutenant colonel

My Dad retired as a Lt. Colonel from the US Army. Of course, he wasn't in rank long enough to collect a Lt. Colonel's retirement, but Lt. Colonel is written on his tombstone.

Because of this, I've always thought the Lt. Colonel rank was a participation award.

It's hard to believe that Vlad could wield so much power from such a position.

It's also hard to believe that Vlad would send out such a poorly prepared Russian Army.

Mikey NTH said...

Vladimir really needs to fire his Minister of Propaganda.

Lincolntf said...

I watched this statement and immediately called a friend and said something like "This is the first time Putin has sounded defeated". Just churning through buzzwords, blah, blah, blah. He might actually be entering Biden territory in terms of clarity and coherence.

Inga said...

He sounds like an American conservative.

Static Ping said...

What Putin is doing makes sense if you think about it. In the United States and elsewhere, the left and the right are united in support of The Ukraine. Why not try to try to put a wedge between them? Dividing your opponents is a tried and true strategy. It probably will not work here for a variety of reasons, but from his perspective it is worth a shot. At the moment not much else is working for him.

It does not help that some of the Left's enthusiasm, at least in the Twitter set, has the same vibe as the enthusiasm they put into canceling people for not accepting any other positions they hold. It is just another mob for justice for them, which will be quickly forgotten once they get to the next outrage. It is cheap and easy and requires no sacrifice except for people they don't like or don't care about or will never meet.

JPS said...

Her response made me like her even more.

n.n said...

Progress.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Sad state of affairs when people let themselves be played by a communist KGB lieutenant colonel who used to be a big funder and creator of the kind of lunatics no cancelling J K Rowling

Look up Gramscian Damage, children. The "woke" are all direct offspring of people like Putin

The US is blocking Putin because:
1: Putin has proved repeatedly that he's an enemy of the US
2: He's a corrupt dictator attempting to expand his corrupt dictatorship, and who will continue expanding it until he's stopped with force / violence
All of human history has taught us that when face with such a person, the early he's stopped, the less it costs.
that letting him get more resources just means he'll go after more targets

And that's what I fully support Ukraine, and hope to see the Russian Army destroyed there (lots of surrenders make even better destruction than lots of deaths. I'm not necessarily rooting for lots of Russians dead, although I find that infinitely superior to Putin getting to keep ANY part of Ukraine as defined by its 1994 borders. But I do want the Russian Army crushed, defeated, humiliated. And if that leads to Putin getting assassinated, that's a double win).

Greg The Class Traitor said...

traditionalguy said...
Interesting that the science of brain washing was a Communist tool but that the Russia that escaped from communism 30 years ago calls it out on sight when it is used by the Progressives 24/7 disguised as liberal media.

Don't be such a sucker.
Putin's just recognizing the disease he helped inflict on the US

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Static Ping nails it at 12:41

Chris Lopes said...

Historically speaking, invasion and conquest are traditional Russian values, so he isn't wrong per day. It's just not something a world leader should brag about.

n.n said...

32... 33 trimesters since the birth of the Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring and sustained assaults on the Ukrainian people, and, NOW, the mindful care about the progress that has befallen them? And probable Wuhan-style labs, too. Throw another baby on the barbie, it's over. One step froward, two steps backward.

Wince said...

Biden called for regime change in Russia.

Putin thinks Biden is doing just fine.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

How’s Putin invasion of Ukraine like J. K. Rowling saying heretical things?

This Putin pretzel is making me thirsty.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

To paraphrase; With friends like Putin who needs enemies?

MadTownGuy said...

I think his statement is more a function of how power works in a socialist state. The state (and therefore its leader) is the final authority on all matters. He could have just as easily agreed with the Wokerati and no one in hos country would have a real say in disagreement.

But as to cancel culture, considering that most woke folk are the ones opposing his kinetic action in Ukraine, he may be right; if Progressives would accede to power here, they could just as easily declare any subgroup non-persons at their whim. Orwell was right: power is about power.

Candide said...

Putin is trolling the “liberal” West very effectively. Careful reading shows he is talking about suppression of all things Russian. Indeed, there were multiple examples of that. Some idiots removed Tchaikovsky from concert program, other idiots expelled Russian cats from international show, there were more idiotic gestures… Each of these inanities give free propaganda points to Putin.

For example, some idiot doctor somewhere put up a sign, ‘Russians and dogs not allowed’. Immediately, there is a popular song by Russian group against discrimination, that is approaching 3,000,000 views by latest count:

https://youtu.be/FeIjDxbAZeM

JaimeRoberto said...

He's got a point. Some of the reactions against Russians has been way over the top. Banning Russian athletes, banning Russian musicians, removing Yuri Gagarin's name from an event, vandalizing Russian restaurants. It plays into Russians' paranoia about the West. Of course Putin has given just cause for sanctions, and it's silly to think there's no ethnic intolerance in Russia. Furthermore, in Putin's Russia when you get cancelled, you really get cancelled. But maybe some people should dial it back a bit.

veni vidi vici said...

"And then the billions and the KGB thing."

Nazi Pope and the Vatican's trillions set the standards on these aspects of the One True Christian paradigm, methinks.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

It's also hard to believe that Vlad would send out such a poorly prepared Russian Army.

His underlings told him that the army was in tip-top shape. Despite the fact they'd been stealing readiness funds for their yachts and dachas. To tell him otherwise would result in a very short future life expectancy. That's the chief weakness of dictatorships: too many yes-men.

They also told him Ukraine would be a push over. More yes-men ass covering.

Sebastian said...

"the progressive discrimination against everything connected with Russia, about this trend that is unfolding in a number of western states, with the full connivance and sometimes with the encouragement of western elites"

Correct. Of course, "the elites" will turn the other way when it suits them--reset the reset of the reset. Even their hatred of Russia is entirely instrumental.

"And it’s inseparable for us from our motherland, from Russia, where there is no place for ethnic intolerance, where for centuries representatives from dozens of ethnic groups have been living together.'"

This depends on what the meaning of "together" is.

William said...

I bet Rowling really appreciates the shout-out from Putin.... Putin has caused ten million people to be displaced from their homes and 3.5 million to be refugees in foreign lands. But that pales in significance when you compare such trifles with the anguish that Rowling has inflicted on trangendered athletes who wish to compete in sports...Well, maybe she'll find common cause with him. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact enabled WWII to get going in earnest. Who knows what horrors a Rowling-Putin Pact will unleash upon the world.

n.n said...

What is a woman? What is a man? What is a child? What is a fetus... baby? Is it a Slavic Spring or summer? The Great Cover-up in Progress.

Witness said...

I remember when OBL ranted about climate change. This makes about as much sense. Randomly trying to appeal to the opposition based on whatever signals they see.

Meanwhile Americans don't care enough to even ask what the Russian opposition's platform is, and Russia lacks the cultural force projection capacity to change that.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Rollo said...
Getting tired of idiots saying Putin is a devout Christian. The guy has two families. And then the billions...

Wow, God has really blessed him...

Browndog said...

Joe Biden is a bigger security threat to the United States than Vladimir Putin. If they would tape his mouth shut a put him on a plane before he gets a lot more people killed, that'd be great.

Readering said...

Yeah, Putin authorizing war crimes against people, all of whom he considers Russians (except maybe the Cosmopolitans), but let's talk about idiots pouring out Russian vodka.

Browndog said...

Rollo said...

Getting tired of idiots saying Putin is a devout Christian.


About that-

Can you take a moment to educate the idiots the difference between a 'devout' Christian and a Christian?

Bob Boyd said...

Putin is right.

"A western network swarm has rapidly mobilized to oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, escalating it into a war of survival with the world's foremost nuclear power."

Bob Boyd said...

You can listen to John Robb explaining more about open source warfare, network swarms and the situation currently unfolding globally over the Ukraine invasion on this podcast. Well worth the time.

Darryl Cooper also interviewed John Robb on Martyrmade podcast. It's behind a paywall, but learning from Darryl Cooper is very much worth the price of admission.

Critter said...

The is part of a very interesting development where foreign countries, especially America's enemies like Russia and China, are getting much better at tweeting like American progressives, and communicating like them. They know the hot buttons and the slang. It must be killing progressives to have their twitter techniques and language coming back at them. In a few cases, I have had to double check that the statements came from China and not a progressive in the U.S. Not sure where this will lead but it makes for interesting discussion and observations when the Chinese should like never-Trumpers.

Bob Boyd said...

Xi to Biden "Let he who tied the bell on the tiger’s neck take it off”

MB said...

I hope that just because Putin says some sensible things this does not mean that agreeing with them is siding with Putin.
However, I am sure this is what the two sides, Putin and the US and UK left, want.

As for Russia's tolerance and especially ethnic tolerance, it is a complete lie. Both Russia and the Soviet Union sometimes did terrible things to conquered peoples. Russia drowned several Polish rebellions in blood and banned the use of Polish in public (and same for other nations); the Soviet Union conducted purges of non-Russian intellectuals.

Tina Trent said...

He should stop bombing them and just talk about mums and dads. Not that Ukraine's leadership is that much better.

I still think Lyndon LaRouche and his multi-national intelligence psych-ops fed this collective wolf for many decades.

Totally different from one of the greatest wartime books, How to Cook a Wolf, by MFK Fisher.

Howard said...

Vlad Putin is directly appealing to trumpers and Fox News viewers because he views you people as his main allies in the west to help him conquer Ukraine.

Browndog said...

Odd, isn't it?

The United States of America, with it's Constitutional protection of the "free press" covers the Biden administration the exact same way Russian state news cover Putin.

Lyle Smith said...

Putin is going to fight to the death to not be cancelled. We have the smartest elites running our foreign policy and military.

Jupiter said...

Howard, Fox News has gone the way of Drudge Report. If you think you have what it takes to troll Trumpers, you need to get with Gateway Pundit, Revolver News, CitzenFreePress ...

Fox is your grandmother's right wing news.

wildswan said...

Trying to achieve clarity on how it has happened that suddenly Howard, Inga and I are on the same side opposed to Achilles and Tucker Carlson and Putin.
In eugenics it happened that after the year 2000 there was a change in the type of eugenics being promoted by the English and American eugenics societies. The version in power from 1945 to 2000 used IQ tests to measure "inferiority" and abortion and contraception to decimate the ranks of groups adjudged "inferior." It supported population control and pushed the narrative of the population bomb. After 2000 it dropped all that. It's promoting polygenic scores to measure how much assistance an individual needs from pills and society and it's promoting behavior modification while it opposes IQ tests and population control and Planned Parenthood denounces Margaret Sanger as a racist eugenicist.

In other words, the eugenic societies in all their power and glory are suddenly in my lonely sniper rifle pit with me like a squadron of tanks because the societies changed in some ways. And now the Commies - more tanks crowd in. I'm assuming that the Commies have changed in some way as did the eugenic societies But how?

Iman said...

Potato is good, Inga?

Jupiter said...

The history of the last century argues against placing much reliance on the ability of Russian Culture to resist tyrannical ideologies. But perhaps it is exactly that history that makes Russians recognize a tyrannical ideology when they encounter one.

Iman said...

Go stroke your re-set button, Howie, your brain is stuck.

Drago said...

Howard: "Vlad Putin is directly appealing to trumpers and Fox News viewers..."

The regression continues and it appears to be accelerating.

Dave64 said...

These are people who think they’re clever enough to deal with powerful foreign countries run by sane people. They’re not, and those foreign powers have taken note of that fact. The kind of Americans the world fears or respects have been put out of government and military leadership and replaced by a menagerie of nursing home patients, human resources ladies, affirmative action hires, sexual degenerates, and obese four-star generals angling for board seats on the next Theranos start-up. The day of reckoning has arrived. Leaders like Putin, Xi, and Mohammed bin Salman are no longer amenable to being pushed around and morally browbeaten by the circus freaks that constitute the United States Government.

The Washington cabal has long treated Ukraine as their own personal playground. From Hunter Biden’s adventures with Burisma to U.S.-funded bioweapons labs to Ukraine’s status as the top source country for Clinton Foundation donations and child sex slaves, the place is a base for the most corrupt of the Western elite. They don’t want to let it go, which is partly the reason they’ve propagandized the entire Western world into a frenzied mania over a military operation that has thus far avoided the civilian population to a far greater extent than NATO’s past operations in Libya and Yugoslavia.
Benjamin Braddock

Dagwood said...

No, Howard, he's appealing to conservatives because he realizes how ape-shit crazy you and your fellow America-loathing lefties have become.

BUMBLE BEE said...

I'd wager old Vlad has "Fired" almost as many of his generals for lying and losing as the Soetoro kid did of his generals for supporting the constitution.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Howie n Inga siitn in a tree.

Skeptical Voter said...

Hey in Putin's view, the Ukraine has "traditionally" been a part of Eastern Europe that Moscow controlled. Of course if you go back far enough in time Kievan Rus was a cosmopolitan empire while Moscow was a little village in the snow and forest and surrounded by howling wolves. And Stalin starved the Ukraine and appropriated its grain for the rest of Russia during the 1930s.

So Putin's view that Russia is facing a "cancelling" of its tradition is not altogether ludicrous. Now for you hypersensitive types that doesn't mean I support Putin's invasion of the Ukraine. Things were fairly stable until good old Joe (not Uncle Joe--the Slow Joe) started talking about admitting Ukraine to Nato last spring and summer. That sort of talk by our diplomat expert Biden is the sort of thing to make an Russki nervous.

Bender said...

Nazi Pope and the Vatican's trillions set the standards on these aspects of the One True Christian paradigm, methinks

What Vatican trillions are those? Are you counting in pennies? The Vatican whose annual budget is about $900 million? That's million, with an "m," a fraction of many American cities. The Vatican whose "treasures" are held in trust and actually cost money to maintain?

And what Nazi Pope? The Pope who hid Jews and smuggled them out of Rome? The popes who secretly worked via underground means against the Nazis? The popes who suffered under the Nazis?

Or are you using "Nazi" in the same way as leftists/progressives, the isolationists and anti-globalist nutjobs here, and Putin and the Russians? to mean anyone who is opposed to your way of thinking?

Chris Lopes said...

"Vlad Putin is directly appealing to trumpers and Fox News viewers because he views you people as his main allies in the west to help him conquer Ukraine."

If he does, he's making the same mistake you are.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Vlad Putin is directly appealing to trumpers and Fox News viewers..."

Well, no. He’s directly appealing to anyone who saw the photo of Lia Thomas and the two runners-up and instantly registered the mind-blowing absurdity of it all. Now, no one is going to excuse the invasion of the Ukraine on that basis, but it was clever (or ham-handedly obvious) to throw in something that any sane person can agree with.
Putin clearly made a geopolitical mistake with his Ukraine adventure but there’s no question he’s a keen observer of Western idiocy. He may be an evil Emperor but he recognizes that he, at least, has some real clothes.

rehajm said...

It seems like Vlad is upset and a bit shocked at being cancelled like he’s a Republican. It hurts I guess…

Michael K said...

Howard, at least Putin does not have his crazy statements walked back by his regime almost before he gets off the stage. Slow Joe is going to get us killed.

Jupiter said...

Blogger wildswan said...
"Trying to achieve clarity on how it has happened that suddenly Howard, Inga and I are on the same side opposed to Achilles and Tucker Carlson and Putin."

You have been consuming Globalist propaganda, is how. They told you that Ukraine is a free, modern, Western democracy. You could easily discover that the government of Ukraine was installed by a coup planned and carried out by the US State Department, and is run by a comedian who is bought and paid for by a corrupt oligarch. Who, BTW, was the owner of Burisma when it passed bribes to Joe Biden by way of his son Hunter. But for some reason, you prefer to wallow in the WaPo-NYT mire that our hostess finds so appealing, and so your head is stuffed with Jeff Bezos' lies.

Jupiter said...

That help?

Drago said...

Now would be a good time to recall the wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth by Howard and Inga over Trump ordering the hit on Iran leading terrorist general Soleimani.

You would think Trump had killed Howard and Inga's best friends.

Balfegor said...

This is a hyperbole that exceeds even the hyperbole of transgender activists. True, they may shriek that Rowling's words endanger their very lives, but I don't think any of them has yet tried to claim that criticising transgender ideology is pretty much the same thing as a massive armed invasion of another country.

veni vidi vici said...

"What Vatican trillions are those? Are you counting in pennies? The Vatican whose annual budget is about $900 million? That's million, with an "m," a fraction of many American cities. The Vatican whose "treasures" are held in trust and actually cost money to maintain?"

I was today years old when I learned that the Vatican uses the same accountants as the entertainment companies and film studios in Hollywood. Everything loses money, no matter how many hundreds of millions or more at the box office!!!!!!11!!!!!!

You naif, mistaking your own unquestioning obeisance for piety; you're utterly unpersuasive.

Doubly so regarding the Nazi pope, as you speak like this is completely settled and there's no second side to the story. You're blowing more smoke than the Vatican chimneys on papal-selection days, and all the bungholes of altar boys who dutifully serviced the clergy's every earthly need, combined.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-find-evidence-pope-pius-xii-ignored-reports-holocaust-180974795/

Rusty said...

Howard said...
"Vlad Putin is directly appealing to trumpers and Fox News viewers because he views you people as his main allies in the west to help him conquer Ukraine."
You voted for this. So just dial back your beta male posturing because you voted for this.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Dave64 has a way with words.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Witness said...
Meanwhile Americans don't care enough to even ask what the Russian opposition's platform is, and Russia lacks the cultural force projection capacity to change that.

1: There IS not "Russian opposition", Putin the dictator has eliminated it in any meaningful sense of the word
2: Putin's been able to get his story out. The problem is that it's such utter crap that it takes a delusional fool to buy it

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Howard said...
"Vlad Putin is directly appealing to trumpers and Fox News viewers because he views you people as his main allies in the west to help him conquer Ukraine."

Howie, it wasn't "trumpers and Fox News viewers" who cut US oil production, removed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, killed teh Keystone XL pipeline, shut down nuclear power plants in the US and Europe, or invited Putin to engage in a "limited incursion" of Ukraine

All that was your side, Putin's actual allies