Prime Minster Tony Abbott’s boasting might have finally caught up with him yesterday when the Oxford boxing Blue failed not only to “shirt-front” Judo Black belt (6th degree) Vladimir Putin, but to hold the Russian President accountable for the downing of Malaysian Airliner MH17.
Although the Australian media has breathlessly reported every detail leading up to and following the fateful meeting, Russian media reports during the event have focused less on Abbott’s pre-bout trash talk and more on the latest Russia-China gas deal, the possibility of US President Barack Obama choking on his gum, and the moment “Putin reminded the world of his ‘machismo’ as he made a polite gesture”, wrapping a tan coat around China’s First Lady, Peng Liyuan.
While in the average Russian’s mind Abbott’s comments might be less interesting than Putin (single since April this year) wooing the wives of international dignitaries, there was still plenty leading up to and during the summit on Abbott.
Russian newspaper Pravda (Truth) outlined that Putin has a “very busy work schedule this week”, attending not only the APEC and G20 summits, but the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit of the top five growing economies. Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted in saying, “The Australians submitted an official inquiry for the meeting in the course of the APEC summit. We gave consent for a brief meeting and are currently co-ordinating the timing.”
RIA Novosti (RIA News) quoted press secretary/attache for Putin Dmitry Peskov: “There was a brief conversation on the sidelines with Australian Prime Minister Abbott, as it was, in fact, announced,” he said.
The same quotes were echoed by Gazeta (Newspaper) and the Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper), although the latter two mentioned that “Abbott didn’t try to grab Putin by the chest”. The Russian media, it seems, is not ready to fully embrace AFL terms into its daily lexicon.
Popular Russian weekly newspaper Argumenty i Fakty (Arguments and Facts) summarised the meeting: “The main agenda of the conversation with Prime Minister Abbott featured the catastrophic fate of the Boeing shot down over Ukraine — said Peskov”. Both leaders allegedly argued for a “real investigation”, with Putin pointing out that Russia was the first to “demanded an impartial, prompt and effective investigation” of the downing.
State-funded news network Russia Today briefly covered the meeting on its English news site, using the same Peskov quotes as above. Russia Today also cleared up any confusion surrounding the term “shirt-front” — “an illegal technique in Australian Rules football for a front-on chest bump or rough handling aimed at knocking your rival backward to the ground”.
The Russian version of the site largely avoided reporting on the meeting, focusing instead on who projected himself better: Putin or Obama? “President Barack Obama hit the camera lens as he walked behind the procession, talking to leaders of small countries.” Putin, on the other hand, “kept closer to the centre”. Suggesting Putin might be Chinese President Xi Jinping’s favourite guest following their gas deal, the site reported:
“At the photograph ceremony, he [Putin] was standing next to President Xi Jinping. It remains a mystery why the dinner table was decorated in such a way that there is an association with the Russian flag.”
Newly launched Russian media outlet Sputnik’s report of the meeting between Abbott and Putin was just as brief as the meeting itself, saying the two found some common ground, both hoping “all information about the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine will be made public”.
It appears the Russian media, much like Abbott himself, has toned down their rhetoric in the past day. Accounts of the meeting are a far cry from what was published on the English edition of Pravda last month, when UK-born Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey penned an open letter to Abbott, calling him a blatant example “of childishness, incompetence for the position, criminal intent, downright nastiness and an indication of a disturbed mind crying out for therapy”. Bancroft-Hinchey went on to goad Abbott to “put up, or shut up”.
Fortunately, Abbott didn’t “put up” — he sat down and had a discussion with Putin, albeit quickly. Perhaps the G20 summit next week might provide a chance for further “robust conversation”.
19 thoughts on “From ‘shirt-fronting’ to ‘the sidelines’: how Russia reported the Putin-Abbott chinwag”
Norman Hanscombe
November 12, 2014 at 11:16 pmCripes, good to see someone who’s not [like Alan Cameron] asserting the qualifications for being a politicians is to “not have a brain” then proceeding to provide grounds (if this assertion were true) for his own candidacy. Nor do you have anything in common with Philip Rice whose elitist (in a non-intellectual sense) attitude results in him dismissing the “Bogan Vote” types while he himself indulges in comments which an educated “Bogan” wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.
Please keep posting in the hope that devoted True Believer posters might just learn how to analyse articles a tad better.
CML
November 13, 2014 at 1:38 amCripes… You need to read more widely than ‘publications’.
Most of the extensive research on the MH17 disaster, which has been done by experts and published in tertiary/science reports on the net, would say that your statement is incorrect.
The Russians, and Putin in particular, do not appear to have had any part in this incident. Presumably you are aware that the Russians released ALL of their relevant satellite data to the world around a week after the crash. Despite all the bluster from the yanks, we are still waiting for their satellite data. WHY???
Abbott is exactly as described by Bancroft-Hinchey – a bloody dill, in other words!!
MJPC
November 13, 2014 at 7:29 amThank you for this summary of the spin behind the political spin. Maybe Commander Abbott is waiting for Putin to come to safer ground before he shirt fronts Vlad and threatens invasion.
I am with CML, let’s see all the evidence before shirt fronting (but that’s not team Australia’s style- jump right in unless its Ebola). After all, we are still awaiting the news that the other MH was found, despite being promised it was found by the commander about a week after it went missing.
AR
November 13, 2014 at 7:49 amPhilR – one would like to think the bogan vote would be affected but, unless a meme is constantly repeated by mudorc’s minions in their tabloids, they wouldn’t even remember.
Norman Hanscombe
November 13, 2014 at 8:16 amAR, if you and others need to raise self-esteem by sneering at what you call bogans, why don’t you make an effort to write at a level most schoolchildren from that area managed without difficulty in the third quarter of last Century?
CML, if you are able to raise your self-esteem to a point where you don’t need to reassure yourself by calling Abbott “a bloody dill”, it could become part of your personal ‘well-being’ programme.
GideonPolya
November 13, 2014 at 8:42 amUS lackey PM Tony Abbott’s behaviour is disgusting, dishonest, offensive and demeaning of Australia.
While the Australian Government was certainly right to be indignant and forceful over the criminal downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 (298 dead) , the need for proper investigation, and for punishment of the guilty, it was contemptible in exploiting this tragedy for Cold War, US lackey, ideological reasons, repeatedly and crudely attacking the Rebel Ukrainians, the Russians and Putin and indeed joining with the pathologically dishonest Americans in publicly effectively proclaiming the guilt or complicity of these parties.
In this the Coalition was enthusiastically joined by the Murdoch-Fairfax duopoly and the craven ABC that reached a new low of incorrect, jingoistic and biased reportage even for the Yellow Press of White Australia.
In marked contrast, the Netherlands (nearly 2/3 of the victims were Dutch) , Malaysia and Labor’s strong but temperate and humane Tanya Plibersek expressed their outrage in a dignified manner and pointedly refused to attach blame to any party until the expert investigation is done.
Indeed in terms of Means Opportunity and Motive (MOM) , it is rather more likely that the US-, UK-, EU-, Australia- and neo-Nazi-backed Ukrainian Government forces were responsible: (1) they had Buk missile systems in the vicinity and skilled operators, (2) they have leaped to join the US-led anti-Russia lynch mob, (3) they immediately benefited from the US-led media blitz, (4) the MH17 downing provided cover for the war criminal invasion of Gaza by US-backed Apartheid Israel – 2,200 Palestinians killed, 10,000 wounded, 450,000 homeless and 1.8 million traumatized in response to zero (0 ) Israelis killed by Gaza rockets in the year before the invasion, and (5) in 2001 the Ukrainians had actually shot down a Siberian Airlines passenger airliner Flight 1812 with a missile killing all 78 on board (see “Siberian Airlines Flight 1812”, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812 ).
In contrast, the pro-Russia Rebel Ukrainians had not been supplied with Buk missiles, lacked skilled operators, had nothing to gain by this atrocity and , contrary to utterly offensive media reportage and Abbott claims, were the only people attempting to secure the bodies.(the Ukrainian Government has escalated military action in the vicinity).
Here is the official statement of the Russian Defense Ministry: http://www.globalresearch.ca/mh-17-crash-in-ukraine-official-statement-from-russian-defense-ministry/5392000 .
For a detailed analysis by an Australian law expert see Professor George Venturini, “The Downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 observed from Australia”, Countercurrents, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/venturini031014.pdf .
For a detailed analysis of the MH17 disaster as a likely US false-flag operation (like 9-11; see “Experts: US did 9-11”: https://sites.google.com/site/expertsusdid911/ ) see “MH17 verdict: real evidence points to US-Kiev cover-up of failed “false flag”, Global Research: http://www.globalresearch.ca/mh17-verdict-real-evidence-points-to-us-kiev-cover-up-of-failed-false-flag/5393317 .
Another reason for decent Australians to utterly reject the mendacious Coalition and wedged, neoliberal, US lackey Labor Right (aka the Lib-Labs or Liberal-Laborals) , vote 1 Green and put the Coalition last.
Karen
November 13, 2014 at 11:17 amWhat does Abbott and the Australian media expect? That Putin is going to admit responsibility for MH17 for which it will agree to pay compensation?
Even if it could be established that the russian separatists used russian weaponry (now a matter of dispute) at the behest of Russian authorities (another area of unresolveable dispute), this incident amounts to, at best, “collateral damage” in a civil war zone.
No other country has had to pay for civilian casualties on foreign soil, other than Germany in WW1 (and look where that led the world).
All that has now happened is that Abbott has engaged in hypocritical cringeworthy bullying behaviour, while Putin has chosen the moral high ground by coolly staring down his opponent and engaging in acts of chivalry with China’s first lady.
And Shorten should have kept his cool too, instead of playing a light version of “me too”.
And how hypocritical is it that the Australian Government has not also criticised Malaysia Airlines for flying over a war zone?
Bohemian
November 14, 2014 at 1:59 pmIf Putin were in any way responsible don’t you think the western lackey media would have been draining it for all it was worth every day in attempt to marginalise the Russians even further? However, they seem to have gone quiet. Imagine if Putin was actually telling the truth and the Nazi regime that seized power were the ones who, whether by mistake or deliberately, did the dirty deed? After all, the missiles that were supplied to Ukraine are about 25 years old. Nope doesn’t add up to me..all rhetoric and no evidence means the West have no leg to stand on I suspect.And have you seen the level of destruction to Eastern Ukraine lately! Ughhh
Kevin Herbert
November 15, 2014 at 2:28 pmNice work CML & Gideon Polya.
Your views, unlike most of the dross in the above posts, are based on the available facts.