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19th February 2014

Photo reblogged from Aboriginal Press News Service (APNS) with 36 notes

standing6four:

Why Did Someone Put a Giant Wooden Cock on a Kremlin Critic’s Car?
Last Monday, when Katya Romanovskaya left her Moscow apartment for work, she discovered that her car had a giant phallus strapped to it with a metal chain. Upon further examination, she discovered that the shaft was made out of one tree trunk, the veins elaborately, carefully carved. Two other, smaller pieces of wood were attached to either side. It was hard to remove: the thing weighed well over 200 lbs.
But Romanovskaya understood exactly why it had been put there. “Finally,” she wrote under a picture of the phallus on her Facebook page, “the day has come when my work has been noticed and appreciated.”
Romanovskaya, along with her co-author Arseny Bobrovsky, runs the hugely popular satirical Russian Twitter account, @KermlinRussia. The two are central characters in this week’s cover story about the failure of the democratic revolution in Russia.

When I’d first interviewed the duo back in December 2010, they had refused to tell me their real names or show me their faces, not even off the record. At that point, they were just beginning to generate excitement with their Twitter account @KermlinRussia, the handle of a Stephen Colbert–like entity called the “Persident of Ruissia,” who savagely mocked the government for its many lies, thefts, and absurdities. “The Russian state doesn’t have to beat you with a stick,” they tweeted once, adopting the tone of a benevolent ruler addressing his subjects. “We can fuck you up with a carrot, too.”

The Kermlins had launched the handle in June 2010, after then-President Medvedev, who was infamous for his simpleton’s love of high-tech gadgets, traveled to the Silicon Valley offices of Twitter and set up an account, @KremlinRussia. By January, the Kermlins’ antic alternative had more than 50,000 followers, and Medvedev was forced to change his handle to @MedvedevRussia to avoid confusion. Over the next three years, the Kermlins’ fan base exploded to more than 700,000 followers. The Kermlins became celebrities among the outspoken ranks of “Internet hamsters,” the denizens of the Web ghetto who then became the core of the protests. Last spring, they finally unmasked themselves in a glamorous spread in Russian GQ.

The “Kermlins,” as they’ve come to be known, have been providing the comic relief and political satire so sorely needed in a media landscape scorched by Putin. There is no Jon Stewart, no real comedian who can speak truth to power; it’s just the Kremlins.
Which is why power strikes back. With a massive, wooden cock.

Why Did Someone Put a Giant Wooden Cock on a Kremlin Critic’s Car?

Last Monday, when Katya Romanovskaya left her Moscow apartment for work, she discovered that her car had a giant phallus strapped to it with a metal chain. Upon further examination, she discovered that the shaft was made out of one tree trunk, the veins elaborately, carefully carved. Two other, smaller pieces of wood were attached to either side. It was hard to remove: the thing weighed well over 200 lbs.

But Romanovskaya understood exactly why it had been put there. “Finally,” she wrote under a picture of the phallus on her Facebook page, “the day has come when my work has been noticed and appreciated.”

Romanovskaya, along with her co-author Arseny Bobrovsky, runs the hugely popular satirical Russian Twitter account, @KermlinRussia. The two are central characters in this week’s cover story about the failure of the democratic revolution in Russia.

When I’d first interviewed the duo back in December 2010, they had refused to tell me their real names or show me their faces, not even off the record. At that point, they were just beginning to generate excitement with their Twitter account @KermlinRussia, the handle of a Stephen Colbert–like entity called the “Persident of Ruissia,” who savagely mocked the government for its many lies, thefts, and absurdities. “The Russian state doesn’t have to beat you with a stick,” they tweeted once, adopting the tone of a benevolent ruler addressing his subjects. “We can fuck you up with a carrot, too.”

The Kermlins had launched the handle in June 2010, after then-President Medvedev, who was infamous for his simpleton’s love of high-tech gadgets, traveled to the Silicon Valley offices of Twitter and set up an account, @KremlinRussia. By January, the Kermlins’ antic alternative had more than 50,000 followers, and Medvedev was forced to change his handle to @MedvedevRussia to avoid confusion. Over the next three years, the Kermlins’ fan base exploded to more than 700,000 followers. The Kermlins became celebrities among the outspoken ranks of “Internet hamsters,” the denizens of the Web ghetto who then became the core of the protests. Last spring, they finally unmasked themselves in a glamorous spread in Russian GQ.

The “Kermlins,” as they’ve come to be known, have been providing the comic relief and political satire so sorely needed in a media landscape scorched by Putin. There is no Jon Stewart, no real comedian who can speak truth to power; it’s just the Kremlins.

Which is why power strikes back. With a massive, wooden cock.

Tagged: russia patriarchy yes patriarchy there's a reason power and erect penises are linked in our minds hello technology politics