And although this weekend my criminal activity and I were the hit of practically every “wrap-up” and “analytical” program on air (there was plenty to choose from), this report is unquestionably the leader in my own permanent contest called “I Love This Stuff”: I didn’t see it in zomboyashchik (slang for TV; literally “zombie box”)—someone sent me the link—but I can read it and hear every intonation. A magical, astonishing song. All these Vladimir Solovyovs ought to have been thrown overboard from the steamship of modernity long ago. Olga Skabeeva—now there is the true benchmark of state “journalism.” High class.
*Events in the nearly year since Bolotnaya (the 2011–2012 anti-government protest movement centered on Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square): Udaltsov ally Konstantin Lebedev struck a deal with investigators and admitted that he received $250,000 from Targamadze (that is, from abroad) to organize protest rallies; Olga Romanova, a member of the Opposition Coordination Council, invented a new form of political protest: having lunch and then not paying at the restaurant; while thousands of people took part in elections last year and, after winning at various levels, entered the Russian government system, the leaders of the Bolotnaya movement failed to put forward a single competitive candidate—not at the village level, not at the city level, not for governor, and certainly not for president; €1.5 million was found in Sobchak’s safe. It was later returned. By Christmas, Sobchak had left Yashin for someone else. a demonstration was held in Moscow under American flags in support of sending our orphans to the United States; Dmitry Gudkov started raising money for a Sunday analytical program on the TV Rain channel and suggested that Parfyonov become a pay-TV attraction. Now anyone can listen to him breathe. Navalny says he wants to become president of the whole country. According to polls, the public is категорически against it. Navalny’s supporters, meanwhile, believe that their hero, as a future president, is now beyond prosecution. the ex-wife of opposition blogger Rustem Adagamov accused him of pedophilia. Adagamov fled to the Czech Republic. Incidentally, the blogger also, rather strangely, did not disdain state money. Boris Nemtsov supported aggressive gays in protests against the law banning their propaganda—claiming that Russia would win the laurels of the Netherlands, the country of triumphant homosexuality. Vladimir Putin met with the well-known lesbian and opposition activist Masha Gessen. The president wanted to hear her out, but she apparently failed to tell him anything of substance. active Bolotnaya participant Alexander Dolmatov left for the Netherlands, but his asylum request was denied. The Dutch concluded that nothing threatened him at home. After writing a letter of repentance, Dolmatov took his own life. During the funeral, Udaltsov got “a beating” from the National Bolsheviks, so he wouldn’t use the event for self-promotion. the Opposition Coordination Council wrote a letter to the U.S. State Department. So that, essentially, is the opposition’s news feed for the year. Maybe something was missed? The scandalous trip to the United States. And what was the result? Nothing. The Bolotnaya leaders have microscopic support. As a rule, their name recognition is many times greater than public sympathy for them. VTsIOM (Russia’s state-run public opinion research center) head Valery Fyodorov put it exactly right: “We are recording that the increase in name recognition has not produced an increase in popularity for these leaders.” The main complaint against the opposition figures is that they have tarnished the very proud word ‘opposition.’ Russia urgently needs an opposition—its president, its government, the main party in the Duma (parliament). These people were not up to the task. *Full text here. Update: So it was Dmitry Kiselyov, not Olga Skabeeva, who delivered this masterful text. Here is the video
Starting at 54:59 http://youtu.be/WY3C9QRyFHk?t=54m59s