Much to my dismay, the genre of "hey, let’s go after Navalny and get ourselves some publicity" is becoming more and more popular. A whole horde of pointless idiots, instead of doing something useful, comes at me with all sorts of demands (or “exposés”) and sends those demands (or “exposés”) to the media in search of nationwide attention. Why these idiots choose me in particular, I have no idea. They’re just drawn to it. And I’d ignore it, except journalists immediately start calling: Alexei, so-and-so is threatening to sue you because he’s discovered that you don’t work for the Kremlin, but for the Patriarchate and the International Government of Notaries. Any comment? Would you like to debate it? It’s hugely distracting from actual work. I’d much rather be dealing with Gazprom and Transneft than with these clowns. Take State Duma deputy Pavel Zyryanov, for example.
He’s a deputy from the Party of Crooks and Thieves. There are plenty like him in the Duma, and Zyryanov suffers greatly from the fact that he’ll serve out his term there and nobody will ever know who he is. They won’t show him on TV. They won’t write about him in the newspapers. And even on the internet, deputy Zyryanov is of absolutely no interest to anyone. That has to sting.
So he came up with a Cunning Plan. He found the biggest problem in Russia. It is the logo of the RosPil website.
It—the logo—is criminal.
(source)
Deputy Zyryanov was outraged. He is demanding an investigation and prosecution.
though in practice, of course, what he really wants is for some newspaper to write about him and, ideally, for there to be posts about him on LiveJournal
I’m not even going to dwell here on the fact that RosPil exists precisely because, unfortunately, deputy Zyryanov and his Party of Crooks and Thieves exist.
I’d like to address the residents of Sverdlovsk Region (that’s where Zyryanov is a deputy from):
Dear friends, did you not get much snow over there? Why the hell is this overfed hog, instead of clearing the streets of Yekaterinburg with a shovel, wasting your money on nonsense?
Here’s the guy’s biography:
Born on December 24, 1983, in the city of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).
Education:
From 1991 to 2001, studied at Gymnasium No. 166 in Yekaterinburg.
From 2001 to 2006, studied at Ural State Mining University.
Completed postgraduate studies there as well.
Professional activity:
In 2004, chairman of the university’s student trade union organization.
In 2006, winner of “POLITZAVOD-2006.”
In 2007, elected deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, 5th convocation, as part of the federal candidate list put forward by the All-Russian political party “UNITED RUSSIA.”
He became a deputy by accident through the “youth quota” — he was 10th on the regional party list. It had been expected that the region would get 7 seats.
Member of the UNITED RUSSIA faction.
Member of the State Duma Committee on Youth Affairs.
Member of the Coordinating Council of “Young Guard” (the youth wing of United Russia).
Now let’s visit the website of this young layabout, with its heart-rending subtitle: “Youth is not only the future of the country, but also its present.”
Let’s take a look at what a deputy’s everyday life looks like: business trip to Cuba Germany 2010. Young politicians Sakhalin Island Seliger 2010 Taiwan Shanghai State Duma football team Damn, being a “young deputy” is pretty nice, huh? A big salary, a guaranteed huge pension, wonderful free trips at the taxpayers’ expense, and in the time left over you can hang out at Seliger or play football.
(from the series “business trip to Cuba”) I’ve never been to China. Never been to Taiwan either. And I haven’t been to Sakhalin, though I’d gladly go there for free. Can’t do it. Work won’t let me. RosPil, this and that. You leave for Taiwan, and deputy Zyryanov’s colleagues will loot absolutely everything in the country. So, dear residents of Sverdlovsk Region, I have a big request for you: please rid us all of deputy Zyryanov. Let him finally find himself a real job instead of engaging in free political tourism. Kick this United Russia out in the next election. Update. The “young deputy” has a LiveJournal. Update 2. Popular creativity works fast.