On Sunday August 17 my DH and I watched The Putin System a documentary on CBC. (A surprising about-face for a network often referred to as the "Communist Broadcasting Corporation.")
I was suspicious of Vladimir Putin's political motives from day 1, and of course his 8 years as Russia's president only confirmed those suspicions. I rarely watch TV, but I guess I decided to watch that program to get a bit of smug comfort in seeing the MSM confirm them for me.
Little did I expect to be shocked and frightened by what I saw. But I was. Totally. This is one ruthless, menacing and evil dude.
What really drove it home for me was Putin's answer to a western journalist asking about the war in Chechnya and the murder of civilians by Russian troops.
Narrator: Putin is so sure of his hold over European countries that when, during a summit, a French journalist criticizes the war in Chechnya, he hits back, below the belt.
Putin: If you want to become an Islamic fundamentalist and be circumcised, come to Moscow. We are multiconfessional, we have very good specialists.I can recommend one for the operation. He'll make sure nothing grows back."
There was dead silence in the room as Putin (smugly) sat back and put his earplug back in.
I would have liked to see the Ukrainian viewpoint represented a bit better, seeing as Ukraine is the second-largest ex-soviet republic and as such, vital to rebuilding the old empire.
It doesn't look like this documentary is available for purchase (couldn't find anything on the CBC website) but for those who missed it, some good soul put up a few segments on YouTube. (Sophisticated downloaders can get it from bittorrent but you're on your own if you want to try it.) Perhaps the CBC can be convinced to air it again in the near future, and/or make it available for sale.
Some pretty interesting comments from Putin fans on those YouTube sites, a few are even civil.
The Putin System - Part 1
The Putin System - Part 2
The Putin System - Part 3
The Putin System - Part 4
The Putin System - Part 5
The Putin System - Part 6
The Putin System - Part 7
The Putin System - Part 8
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6 comments:
Advocating P2P piracy. Hmmm....
Not very responsible for a media person!
How am I advocating P2P piracy?
While bouncing from blog to blog on a daily basis I have to applaud when people are upholding and pointing out copyright violations that are so rampant now on the Internet. Like the guy over at uamuzik, he pointed out some other site that was pilfering articles from all over the net and putting them on a blog.
You clearly stated "Sophisticated downloaders can get it from bittorrent but you're on your own if you want to try it." What do you think bit torrent is? It is P2P file transfer of music, video, software etc. All illegal, well mostly all illegal!
Maybe you should read what you write a little more carefully before replying "How am I advocating P2P piracy?"
Well, thanks for clarifying.
I know what bittorrent is, and the message I was trying to send (perhaps too subtley?) with that bittorrent comment was in fact not to download it ... it's there and I can't stop you from using it, but I don't recommend doing it just because you can.
That's what I meant by "you're on your own."
Obviously, I didn't communicate my message well. So, 10 lashes with a wet noodle for me. I'll be more careful with my wording in future.
And thanks for allowing me to clarify as well.
Thank you, Pawlina for sharing that link to YouTube. I saw it couple months ago on CBC and now, after Russia invided to Georgia it looks much more actual.
Hey Stan, you're welcome!
I must admit I was surprised when I went to the CBC site and saw that it had originally aired in Nov 2007. Obviously they updated it as there were references to events in 2008.
Still, pretty ominous, eh?
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