Posted on 10/08/2014 3:35:59 AM PDT by wetphoenix
An outpouring of Russian patriotism has accompanied the war in Ukraine and Russian support for the rebels fighting the Kiev government's forces in the east.
In some cases, Russian antagonism towards the Kiev authorities and the West has spilled on to the streets. And Muscovites themselves have been the target.
Journalist Anna Ratafyeva was travelling on the Moscow metro when she was slapped in the face by an elderly woman who didn't like the picture of cartoon character Snoopy waving a Union Jack on the front of her sweatshirt.
The incident happened in September, Ms Ratafyeva wrote on her Facebook page.
"(The woman) approached me, called me 'an American whore' and slapped me in the face. Welcome to the new reality," she wrote.
Anna Ratafyeva's decision to wear a union jack Snoopy sweatshirt prompted an unprovoked attack
That new reality involves a Russian ban on many food imports from the European Union and the US, in response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in the Ukrainian crisis.
Another unpleasant incident emerged during the annual Moscow marathon on 21 September.
One of the runners, Alexandra Boyarskaya, was wearing a T-shirt in the yellow and blue colours of Ukrainian flag and carrying the word "Ukraine". When she stopped during the race for a drink, she was attacked.
A woman leapt from the cheering crowd, knocked the cup from Ms Boyarskaya's hands, spat in her face and shouted: "You bastard! Go back to your country. You dishonour my city and have no right to run in our marathon!"
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
And we Americans can look forward to when the state owns our media, too.
I guess the old woman didn’t realize that the Union Jack was a symbol of the UK, not the US. I guess this shows that the Russians need to improve their education system.
On the other hand it is BBC reporting. So it might have happened or not, or maybe it has happened in some different way.
Oh, and the Union Jack (I.e., British flag) is VERY fashionable in Russia. You’ll see it everywhere on clothing.
Maybe Russia Today will tweet what really happened. /s
I’ll bet the old hag was a Chechnyan.
How much do you want to bet?
~Maybe Russia Today will tweet what really happened. /s~
I appreciate your irony, rude.
Yep, I have a couple shirts with it, too.
~I’ll bet the old hag was a Chechnyan.~
Pretty unlikely. Probably an old communist, but the story seems unlikely to me anyway.
Irony? It is the most misused word in the English language. And you misuse it, which is surprising, because Russians do irony well.
So tell us, is the BBC trying to gin-up a pretext for invasion? By NATO/EU/US/George Soros perhaps?
Can you blame them? They are only protecting themselves from the influx of political correctness that they unleashed on us.
BBC+Ukraine+Union Jack.. hmm..got to take what BBC says with a grain of salt, always.
~So tell us, is the BBC trying to gin-up a pretext for invasion? By NATO/EU/US/George Soros perhaps?~
When TASS was reporting from America in 1980s all they were showing was riots, ghettos, racism and so on. They interviewed victims of racists, gangsters, bankers and so on.
America was a scary place.
BBC might do the same in reverse. I don’t know is it about invasion or something else.
BBC or not, truth or fantasy, the fact is that Russians need to hate something. Usually they hate everything non-Russian, but sometimes make exceptions, to be compensated by double-hate towards the chosen few.
Bottom line, the story is believable and could actually happen.
The state does control our media now.
Free Republic is alternative media grown up to circumvent the massive propaganda apparatus.
Well, BBC as another govt owned news agency usually has an agenda, and not only regarding Russia. It can act as an agitator. — “the fact is that Russians need to hate something. Usually they hate everything non-Russian,” — that’s quite a generalization in my view & experience. Am curious, why do you say it’s a fact?
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