Putin turns into art critic

[Vympel]

Link

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been raising eyebrows by telling one of the country's most famous artists how to paint better.

Visiting 79-year-old artist Ilya Glazunov, Mr Putin stopped in front of a large painting of a medieval knight.

"The sword is too short," he is reputed to have said. "It's only good enough for cutting sausage."

Not wishing to displease his powerful guest, Mr Glazunov immediately agreed to correct his mistake.

Oligarch humiliated

In North Korea, they call it "on the spot guidance".

It is when an all powerful-ruler drops by to give soldiers, scientists, farmers even artists advice on how to do their jobs properly.

However, it is not only artists that have been getting a tongue-lashing from Mr Putin.

Last week, he humiliated one of Russia's richest men on live television. He forced the billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska to reopen an aluminium plant after protests by laid-off workers.

As the cameras rolled, Mr Putin threw his pen on the table and ordered Mr Deripaska to sign the paperwork.

It was a brilliant piece of political theatre, which went down extremely well with Russia's public who were delighted to see Mr Putin bringing the hated oligarch to heel.

This is a pretty stupid criticism. It sounds like just the sort of thing I would say when looking at a picture of a knight with a wonky sword.

[KlavoHunter]

This article would be far better with a picture of the painting in question.

[K. A. Pital]

"Humiliated" Deripaska? People really know fuck nothing about politics in Russia. Deripaska has been extended another 4 billion of credit. "Humiliation" he'll gladly take for that money now. Putin and Deripaska are members of the same mafiosi circle, so it's not like the oligarch is not a member of the "family". He knows that scorn means nothing - it's for show, because some factories are on strikes, etc.

[Feil]

Serious reply:
This is a pretty stupid article. "Here's one instance of Putin telling someone how to do their job better (oh and you can trust us that the guy didn't need the advice, because we wrote right up there that he's a great artist, never mind that we don't include a photo of the painting in question), therefore Putin is the same as Kim Jong Il. We don't have any other good instances of this to show you, but look! For proof we have a powerful political leader intervening in big business! Where has this ever happened before in the world but NORTH KOREA and SOVIET RUSSIA????!!!!"

Natural reply:
Vladimir Putin: enlarging Russian swords since 1999.

[Kane Starkiller]

Like naughty schoolboys sent to principals office. Good show for the masses in any case: slays wild tigers one day and saves towns the other. The trouble is Russia is riddled with such one-factory towns and I doubt Kremlin has enough cash to ride to the rescue of them all.

[Memnon]

The trouble is Russia is riddled with such one-factory towns and I doubt Kremlin has enough cash to ride to the rescue of them all.

Is this situation roughly analogous to the historical melt down of the US's Rust Belt, in that there are certain regions where the industrialization of the early USSR prompted towns to be built around single plants? Seems would that be in the Urals/Siberia, though I admit that I don't know much about modern Russia.

[K. A. Pital]

Yes, you are correct - there is a certain Rust Belt in Russia. I live in it.

However, it's more the malaise of the state and the economic collapse at fault than the actual non-performing factories - many factories were forced out of business simply for lack of funds, not because their products are not needed in Russia.