
I've been told <ahem> that the website in question has several partner/affiliate/sister websites (probably with the same content), I wonder if they're also on ze list?
Russia's telecommunications "supervisor" Roskomnadzor has banished Canadian smut-floggers PornHub from the nation's networks. The decision to block 11 pornographic websites was made following a district court ruling in Krylovskogo, in the Crimea-bordering Krasnodar region, according to a Roskomnadzor press release. Among the …
> It took me some time to work out that they seem to be deadly serious.
With good satire it's hard to tell.
The caption "Putin controls his dog without a leash. Look at his eyes. That dog KNOWS who is the master!" is accompanying a picture of Putin and Tony Blair...
Putin: tries far too hard to look manly, hates gays, probably banning pornhub for those videos.
Obama: comfortable with his metro-sexuality, might look a bit that way but almost definitely isn't.
If I had to pick one of them for out for being in the closet, it would certainly be Putin.
"Based on his holiday snaps I think Putin likes that kind of video more than he would like to admit"
Yes, I've absolutely no idea why, but Putin going on about the evils of homosexuality always reminds me of someone senior in the Irish catholic church going on about what a grievous sin paedophilia is.
Reminds me of a word, oh what is it? It's on the tip of my tongue, rhymes with patent...
"[...] but Putin going on about the evils of homosexuality always reminds me of someone senior in the Irish catholic church [...]"
Cardinal Keith O'Brien in Scotland was well reported for his vitriolic sermons against gays. His subsequent downfall torpedoed the various allied Churches' campaign against same-sex marriage. It wasn't his being gay that was the problem for the general public - but the apparent hypocrisy.
I like to think that he was playing a long game. In order to become a Cardinal he had to forget his previously liberal public utterances and set himself up as a staunch conservative in the Vatican mould. It was possible he could have become Pope - and then shown his true colours in a liberal encyclical recognising artificial contraception, divorce, and same-sex love as human rights.
Err, Cardinal O'Brien's downfall was more related to his use of his elevated position to coerce younger priests into relationships.
It's fantasy to suggest he would somehow have pivoted into being some sort of liberal hippie Pope permitting same-sex marriage, divorce, and contraception !
"It's fantasy to suggest he would somehow have pivoted into being some sort of liberal hippie Pope permitting same-sex marriage, divorce, and contraception !"
He was apparently quite liberal before he started to climb the greasy pole of Vatican intrigue. A politician never reveals their true intentions until they have the levers of power firmly in their grasp. That intention can be liberal or otherwise.
No one expected the USSR to be dismantled by the actions of a good member of the Party when he became President - but that is what Mikhail Gorbachev did. The same shock factor when P W Botha dismantled Apartheid in South Africa. In England no one would have predicted a Tory Prime Minister introducing same-sex marriage.
<<He goes on about "the evils of homosexuality" because it wins him votes. I really doubt he actually cares.>>
I'm pretty sure that Putin is on record reminding commentators that homosexuals are protected under the anti-discrimination sections of the Russian constitution just like in any other country. Transgendered people are also protected and are able to change sex medically if they wish and can afford it.
What is illegal in Russia is promoting non-traditional sexuality to minors, much like in Britain up to the early 1980s if I'm not mistaken. A little old-fashioned, perhaps, but not at all repressive. It certainly mirrors the will of the majority. Unfortunately, this majority can be hostile to open displays of homosexuality, and you can be sure that if an official suddenly decided to enlighten them with rainbows, they would make very short work of him or her electorally.
Please try to stick a little closer to the truth and lay off Russia bashing as a sport. It is no more civilised than bashing homosexuals.
"[...] usually offered as "naturist" family shots"
Which is probably what they were. Many countries in the Eastern Bloc had a naturist streak (no pun intended).
In East Germany it was prized as a freedom that the authorities didn't bother to control. There is a group of statues now overlooking the Spree in Berlin that is effectively a monument to that freedom - Wilfried Fitzenreiter's "Drei Mädchen und ein Knabe" (Three girls and a boy) made in 1979.
West Germany had the same heritage of the FKK movement from the 1920s - but are apparently more pedantic about having rules that enforce nudity once you cross the line in the sand.
There is a difference between being naturally naked and pictures intended to tiitillate. It often seems that some people see titillation in just about anything - and they are usually the ones wanting to ban everything.
just as long as there is one.
The Kremlin's recent moves (including the seemingly wanton destruction of cheese at the border) may seem bizarre to us but it's part of an orchestrated campaign within Russia to stir up patriotic sentiment as the economy slides. As such anything Russian is good and anything Western is bad.
Now if only the Russians were serious about dealing with the exploitation that accompanies a great deal of porn. Or the people traffickers smuggling young women within and out of Russia into European brothels.
The story I heard from a very reliable source is that Putin was looking for somewhere to improve his riding skills, Googled "Russian bareback" and was annoyed when he spotted a couple of his Kremlin bodyguards exhibiting their prowess and size on PornHub.
Also I heard that RedTube is next on the ban list, after Putin viewed it while looking for a map of the Moscow underground network.