Russian Memes

So you may have heard that Russia has clarified a policy on internet media to better protect the ‘honor, dignity, and business of public figures.’

This policy has already been the subject of much amusement in the Western world, and will probably continue to bounce around until late night comedians find some other piece of stupidity to single out for attention.

Overlooked in all the analysis I’ve seen so far is the boundary between allowed and not allowed.  To be illegal under the new policy, the material must ‘have no relation to [the figure’s] personality’, which I’m guessing is a somewhat poorly translated way to say that the Russian government wants to ban portrayals contrary to the real personality.

Interesting.  I’m not in Russia, but as a respectful human being, maybe I have some ethical obligation to at least tar people with the right brush?  Let’s see what I know about Vladimir Putin off hand, just so I know what I can post.

He’s ex-KGB, the Russian internal security service with a brutal reputation and a storied Cold War history.

Under his leadership, Russia has taken bits of land from Georgia, taken the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, started, funded, and supplied a civil war in Ukraine, and maintained a loyal semi-autonomous puppet government in Chechnya with a history of repressive violence and laughably faked elections.

Under his leadership, there have been a number of deaths linked to government agents, including opposition reporters, opposition politicians, and even defectors living abroad (the rather dramatic poisoning of Litvinenko in London).

Hm, well, that’s quite a collection of bold leadership choices there, Putin.

I guess it’s perfectly safe to post this, then, as suitably consistent with his personality.

Glad we cleared that up, Russia.

For those of you who have the time and desire to mock the letter as well as spirit of the policy, may I suggest bringing back that wonderful diplomatic issue that was ‘Dobby Looks Like Putin’?