Thread: Russia, Putin and the Ring: Властелин Колец

Honestly, they can't think of anything better than to accuse him of steeling somebody's American football ring or whatever it was? (baseball?)

Hardly anyone in Europe -- and Russia, no doubt --- knows these sports or cares about them! What would he want with the ring?

I'm sure Putin has enough gold to satisfy his tastes in that department, and he doesn't strike me as a jewellery kind of of fellow..

Those pictures in the video; so phony and cheezy. Yeltsin playing along. I look forward to seeing Obama backslap Hassan Rouhani and Kim Jong Un next time he sees them. Not all cultures are into that style of behaviour for goodness sake.

But the joke in the end, was very funny!!! "my precious"

Originally Posted by Hanna

Honestly, they can't think of anything better than to accuse him of steeling somebody's American football ring or whatever it was? (baseball?)

Hardly anyone in Europe -- and Russia, no doubt --- knows these sports or cares about them! What would he want with the ring?

I'm sure Putin has enough gold to satisfy his tastes in that department, and he doesn't strike me as a jewellery kind of of fellow..

Those pictures in the video; so phony and cheezy. Yeltsin playing along. I look forward to seeing Obama backslap Hassan Rouhani and Kim Jong Un next time he sees them. Not all cultures are into that style of behaviour for goodness sake.

But the joke in the end, was very funny!!! "my precious"

The ring thing was such a joke! I can't believe how many Americans actually bought into it. I actually thought Jason Oliver ( the man in the video clip) did a good job of spoofing it, because it's such nonsense. Why would Putin need to steal a superbowl ring. Sheeesh. Oh - and this clip is from The Daily Show which is normally hosted by Jon Stewart. It's a political comedy show, very popular in the US.

On the other hand, I kind of liked the friendly exchanges between Clinton and Yeltsin. It may be cheesy, but I'd rather see a return to that than the cold, hard stares our leaders have for each other now. By the way, Obama has cancelled the upcoming summit meeting with Putin. I called that a childish move on facebook and was immediately piled on by raging angry russophobes and blind Obama supporters. I voted for Obama twice, but that does not mean I am in lockstep with everything he does. Cancelling the summit smacks of cold war antics to me.

I did read about it. The very situation looks somewhat insane. If at the official meeting you pass something valuable to another party it normally means an official gift. The practice of official gifts is a part of international diplomacy tradition. AFAIK there is a giant and thoroughly documented depository of gift items in Kremlin (of accepted gifts as well as of valuables specifically crafted or selected for future gifting). Any official that makes any kind of international negotiation is obliged to transfer accepted gifts there, because it is a property of the state rather than a personal gift.

If that billionaire guy enjoy dealing with high rank diplomatic officials he should know very well about those mechanisms. And if he in several yeard starts making broadcast claimings about stealing... Well, I believe he risks to be silently banned from diplomatic events worldwide.

On the other hand how did it happen that Putin "doesn't remember" about that ring? It should be mentioned in the protocol, listed in the inventory and kept in the depository. Or... did he in fact steal that ring from Russian Federation?

I perused the story in several tabloids a while ago. And it's outrageously hilarious I should say.

According to Mr Kraft he received a call from the George W. Bush-run White House, saying, 'It would really be in the best interest of US-Soviet relations if you meant to give the ring as a present.'

According to Mr.Kraft George W. Bush believed the USSR was still alive and kicking at the time.)))

'I really didn’t [want to]. I had an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it. I don’t want to see it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the voice repeated, "It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’”

And soviet leaders sell out gifts on eBay.)))

I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, “I can kill someone with this ring,”’ Mr Kraft told the crowd.

They also publicly boast killing people using rings. )))

I remember that I was handed some souvenirs. If this is such a great value for Kraft and the respective team, I have a proposal,' President Putin said. He suggested that a Russian factory could create a replica, using 'good metal and stone' so a copy of the ring can be given to Mr Kraft and the team.

However, the ring decidedly has a modicum of magic powers that stop sending it back to the USA.))) Maybe, it’s a modern Moonstone.)))

Putin offers to replace 'stolen' Super Bowl ring with specially made fake from Russian factory | Mail Online

Originally Posted by it-ogo

On the other hand how did it happen that Putin "doesn't remember" about that ring? It should be mentioned in the protocol, listed in the inventory and kept in the depository. Or... did he in fact steal that ring from Russian Federation?

Probably it was a really insignificant event for him, and he forgot it!

(I honestly don't believe that he joked about being able to kill somebody with the ring... that seems like the fantasy of an American who watched too many spy films with "evil Russians"). If Putin DID joke like that, it was a silly joke!

I guess he could have passed it to a bodyguard, or some admin person, or it was just left somewhere and somebody ELSE in his entourage picked it up and stole it.

I suppose it's possible that it was discovered later that the ring genuinely had disappeared, and rather than have an embarassing scene the Russian delegation brushed it under the carpet. Either way it seems really unlikely that Putin was involved at all.

It's the kind of totally ludicrous thing that gets thrown at Russia though. Because nowadays it's quite hard to find genuine faults to point at in Russia, that the USA or Europe aren't equally guilty of!

Like recently this gay thing!
The same Europeans who happily go on shopping trips to the Arab Emirates where it's illegal to even BE gay... now can't even drink vodka because Russia banned gay parades. They are also so poorly informed about the question that they assume it's the leadership imposing the laws instead of realising that it is in fact the majority of the public that support the no-Pride legislation.