WI: Putin Caught Calling Obama...a name

Expat

Let's say there's a hot mike or a camera Putin doesn't know about and the Russian president gets caught calling president Obama a very derogatory term. I don't know if there's something (in)appropriate in the Russian language that would work, or if maybe he uses an English term that he claims he didn't know the full connotation of.

Is this just a flash in the pan or could this cause an escalation?

Does this have any effect on domestic politics in Russia? (I'm guessing not.)

How does the world respond?

How does right-wing America respond? I'm guessing pretty vocally- in defense- of the president. I can see most of Fox News (up to but not including Hannity) willing to take this one to the parking lot to defend the president. Likewise most of the mainstream print columnists. Talk radio...might be more divided.

I'm betting this reaction among conservatives on there being a lot of..."territoriality" around bashing the president. That's *their* privilege! Who does Putin think he is?

What sort of a bump can Obama expect?
 

EternalCynic

Nothing much. I doubt anyone will even remember a week later. There's no reason to make hay out of it since I'm sure Obama privately called Putin various unflattering names.

Right-wing talk radio will complain this is more proof that Obama is driving the country down the drain, since he is so weak that even Putin is willing to call him something unflattering. I recall last year, the right-wing praised Putin as a strong leader even when he was playing Civ in Ukraine.
 

Expat

EternalCynic said:
Nothing much. I doubt anyone will even remember a week later. There's no reason to make hay out of it since I'm sure Obama privately called Putin various unflattering names.

Right-wing talk radio will complain this is more proof that Obama is driving the country down the drain, since he is so weak that even Putin is willing to call him something unflattering. I recall last year, the right-wing praised Putin as a strong leader even when he was playing Civ in Ukraine.
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I feel like you're echoing what I initially surmised about talk radio. I'm interested to hear how you think the rest of the conservo-sphere might react.

You really don't think the media - remember, this is the media we're talking about - is going to make hay over this? I realize you have a username to live up to :p but for serious??
 

EternalCynic

Expat said:
I feel like you're echoing what I initially surmised about talk radio. I'm interested to hear how you think the rest of the conservo-sphere might react.

You really don't think the media - remember, this is the media we're talking about - is going to make hay over this? I realize you have a username to live up to :p but for serious??
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Of course the media will make hay over it. But, there are so many mini-scandals on a daily basis that it will be quickly be forgotten. How many times has Obama said something which can be taken out of context to portray him as elitist/EVILCOMMIEMUSLIM/Machiavellian/weak etc (never mind these factors are inherently contradictory :rolleyes:)? It won't change anyone's minds.
 

CaliBoy1990

Unfortunately, even though most moderate conservatives probably would rally around the President(although a few might just sit on the sidelines), many hardliners will actually use this as an excuse to jump on Obama for being "weak", or, worse, probably even start singing their praises of Putin again, in a lot of *those* cases. :(

Other than that, though, I'd agree with EternalCynic; it may not be remembered by most people within a week, maybe two or three, tops.
 
Yuelang

Yuelang

Banned
Even if Putin explicitly called Obama meddling F-ing N-word in front of entire UN assembly. There will be no reaction from non American governments, because that will be merely deemed as funny things that Putin said.

US opinion will be enraged though.
 
Zek Sora

Zek Sora

Donor
Yuelang said:
Even if Putin explicitly called Obama meddling F-ing N-word in front of entire UN assembly. There will be no reaction from non American governments, because that will be merely deemed as funny things that Putin said.

US opinion will be enraged though.
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I would think that other governments would condemn him for, you know, using a racial slur in front of the entire UN General Assembly.
 
Yuelang

Yuelang

Banned
Zek Sora said:
I would think that other governments would condemn him for, you know, using a racial slur in front of the entire UN General Assembly.
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Or actually praise him for having the "courage" to stand up American government trying to meddle in another nation's affair. Seriously.

Opinion about US Foreign policy in Asia is not too high, and believe it or not, Obama's policy is even seen as more self righteous and meddlesome than Bush.
So yeah, maybe western Europe and some African countries will condemn that, but majority of Asians, Latin Americans, and even some closer to Middle-Eastern Africans will laughing their ass off over Putin calling Obama and watch Obama lose his cool with amusement.
 
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Shurik

Shurik

Zek Sora said:
I would think that other governments would condemn him for, you know, using a racial slur in front of the entire UN General Assembly.
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Actually, the most common Russian word for individuals of African decent is, basically, the n- word.
Granted, "африканский" (Afrikanskii) is technically correct, but "негр" (pronounced "nyeger") is the only word I ever heard being used. And it was never meant with derogatory connotation.
 
Yuelang

Yuelang

Banned
Shurik said:
Actually, the most common Russian word for individuals of African decent is, basically, the n- word.
Granted, "африканский" (Afrikanskii) is technically correct, but "негр" (pronounced "nyeger") is the only word I ever heard being used. And it was never meant with derogatory connotation.
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Oh... :eek: then Putin didn't really meant to call the Africans N-Word when he talk about Africa? I'm sorry then... I only heard him said "Neyger" several times,,,
 

Cosmedian

Banned
The way the title says "...a name" makes me think of elementary school aged kids fighting :p

"B-b-but Mrs. Windsor! Vlad called me a butthole!"
"Nuh uh! Barrack is a liar liar pants on fire!"
 
LHB

LHB

If he called him the word I'm thinking of (as that's the only one that would do the trick) then you'd probably see US media rally around him, some sternly worded statements come out of several capitals, and by the end of the week not much will change. The US and Russia are already effectively in a freeze, diplomatically speaking, anyway thanks to economic sanctions, Crimea, and all. Putin dropping the N-bomb on international television would up the temperature for a couple of days but beyond that not much else would happen.

I mean it's not like we're in an era where wars are started over fits of pique or personal slights. It's not like we're talking King Barack and Tsar Vladimir here.
 
Yuelang

Yuelang

Banned
aye, no wars over personal slights, except when Good Ol' Vlad try a Berlusconi and seduce Michelle Obama as Berlusconi seduce Tharja Harkonnen.
 

Scotty

if Putin uses the N word the Deep South would probably try and change the constitution to vote for him as the next prez

;-)
 

Expat

LHB said:
If he called him the word I'm thinking of (as that's the only one that would do the trick) then you'd probably see US media rally around him, some sternly worded statements come out of several capitals, and by the end of the week not much will change. The US and Russia are already effectively in a freeze, diplomatically speaking, anyway thanks to economic sanctions, Crimea, and all. Putin dropping the N-bomb on international television would up the temperature for a couple of days but beyond that not much else would happen.

I mean it's not like we're in an era where wars are started over fits of pique or personal slights. It's not like we're talking King Barack and Tsar Vladimir here.
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This was mostly my thinking as well (I just called for speculation on international response to see if anyone actually thought there would be one.)

Internationally it's not going to be news for too long. Most of the planet is decades behind the US on race. I know that's a bold statement, given the state of police violence in the nation, but it's a problem we started tackling decades ago, whereas most countries haven't even started tackling it. So it's just not an issue they're even willing to talk about or see as a problem.

I really am wondering if there might not be more domestic knock-on effects. A poll bump, a bill on the immediate radar gets pushed through, maybe. If it had happened a few months ago, the new AG could've easily seen an earlier confirmation.

A lot also depends on Obama's reaction.
 

abc123

Banned
What Americans ( US citizens ) mostly don't understand is that if they have problem with certain words, because they had Africans as slaves and later as opressed minority, other countries ( mostly ) do not have that same problem- because they had no African slaves/opressed minority, so they are not so sensitive about such terms like Americans are.

Other countries have other words about wich are they sensitive.
 
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