NYT: Putin’s Asides on Israeli Sex Scandal Overheard

[DeepModem Mom]

Putin’s Asides on Israeli Sex Scandal Overheard
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: October 19, 2006

MOSCOW, Oct. 19 — President Vladimir V. Putin has a penchant for making pithy, acerbic, sometimes coarse comments. On Wednesday a microphone inadvertently left on during a brief appearance with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel captured his views on the sex scandal involving Israel’s president.

According to published accounts by Agence France-Presse late Wednesday and Kommersant and The Jerusalem Post today, Mr. Putin was heard saying, “Say hello to your president,” to Mr. Olmert, referring to President Moshe Katsav, who could face criminal charges that he raped and assaulted two former employees. Mr. Putin added, “He really surprised us.” The microphone was quickly turned off as reporters were ushered from the room, but the news organizations reported that Mr. Putin went on.

“We did not know he could deal with 10 women,” he said, according to the Post and Agence France-Presse accounts, apparently referring to the complaints by several women that Mr. Katsav harassed them or worse.

Kommersant’s version — citing the remarks in Russian — was cruder. “He turned out to be quite a powerful man,” the paper’s reporter in the official Kremlin pool, Andrei Kolesnikov, quoted Mr. Putin as saying. “He raped 10 women. I never expected it from him. He surprised all of us. We all envy him.”

The accounts suggested that Mr. Putin’s remarks prompted laughter from the Russian and Israeli diplomats in the gilded conference room inside the Kremlin, where the two leaders went on to discuss Middle East policy and other issues for two and a half hours. The Post reported that Mr. Olmert responded by saying, “I wouldn’t be jealous of him.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/world/europe/19cnd-putin.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Bwaaa....

:rofl:

[Lurking Dem]

2. "envy"?????????

Good G-d.

[ThomCat]

5. My thought to.

:wtf:

Envying someone for raping 10 women? If he raped 100 women would they make him a international hero? :grr:

[rodeodance]

3. i wonder if there were any women chuckling!

[Zybelline]

7. so only Puttin' in for Putin is foot in mouth ?

yes I agree yeeeccch
the complicit atta boy ! admiration for someone in power hitting on subordinates is very yucky

[Fredda Weinberg]

10. I did

And am delighted to see social mores change.

[Katzenjammer]

13. I bet there weren't

Except maybe out of fearful syncophancy

[TroglodyteScholar]

4. Big surprise that Putin is a sexual deviant...

Just like his right-wing power-hungry counterparts in the US.

I will ALWAYS believe that conservatism breeds sexual deviance and aggression. When you're SO concerned about stopping the inevitable change in the world, there HAS to be a negative impact on the way your libido is expressed outwardly.

[Karenina]

8. "The rules don't apply to ME!"

This is the clarion call of (paticularly) men who get acute testostorone poisoning from monetary power and/or celebrity status. Their sexual predilictions tend to become more and more extreme, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THEY CAN WITH IMPUNITY. It's a phenomenon I've observed for DECADES.

[Straight Shooter]

6. The "envy" comment, no doubt, stems from Putin's lack of a penis?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[David Zephyr]

9. I wonder if when Bush "looked into Putin's soul" he saw a wannabe rapist?

After all, he says he "looked into his soul."

[YankeyMCC]

11. Putin's 'rape joke' played down

(snip)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has been overheard joking about the virility of his Israeli counterpart, who is accused of multiple rape.

A Russian journalist said Mr Putin joked that President Moshe Katsav was a "mighty man", adding "we all envy him"
(snip)

(snip)
As the leaders prepared to leave, the microphone caught Mr Putin saying "greetings to your president".

The microphone then went dead, but journalist Andrei Kolesnikov told the BBC he heard the rest of the comment.
(snip)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6069136.stm

More and more it makes sense that when bush first met Mr Putin that he found a 'soul mate'

[Behind the Aegis]

12. Dupe.

dupe

[ShortnFiery]

14. Biting Sarcasm but his "Where's your WMDs?" to Bush tops this. :-)