Humor Idiocracy Chronicles: a Worm infiltrates the Kremlin

[SiberianTiger]

Are you over with your breakfast, aren't you?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHhXa-dl80Q"]YouTube - Worms in salad at Kremlin dinner[/ame]

Unexpected fresh meat: official finds worm in his salad

Dinner at the Kremlin usually offers the very best for those lucky enough to be invited. But a recent banquet had a rather unexpected guest: a worm made its way onto a platter.

The discovery was made by the governor of the Tver region in central Russia, Dmitry Zelenin, who got rather more than he expected when tucking into his salad.

It happened during a reception hosted by President Dmitry Medvedev for German President Christian Wulff.

The governor rushed to post a picture of the worm enjoying himself on a heap of salad on his Twitter account, although the picture was later deleted.

But far from complaining, the governor said the unexpected ingredient showed that at least the salad was extremely fresh.

The fate of the worm is unknown.

“The leaders of the country prefer healthy food these days,” said the Kremlin’s head chef Anatoly Galkin. “They eat more vegetables, green foods, less meat, less fat. So they are really into healthy eating.”

Worm Armageddon: Kremlin grills governor over dinner tweet

On Thursday, the Department of Presidential Affairs said the notorious photograph was likely to be a fake, and that it certainly wasn’t taken at Wednesday’s dinner in the Kremlin.

The Federal Guard Service is analyzing the picture now, the Department said, and if it is proved a fake, Zelenin will have to respond.

Meanwhile, presidential aide Sergey Prikhodko called Zelenin’s post irresponsible and foolish. He told RIA Novosti that it is time to introduce “discharge for half-wittedness” as a new reason to firing governmental officials.

This is not the first time a tweet has landed a Russian governor in trouble. In August, President Dmitry Medvedev publicly told off the governor of Kirov region for updating his Twitter account during a State Council session.

 

[jedidia]

Interesting... I rather expected the official in question to make a scene and feeling insulted, but he took it quite humorously. Instead, the gov itself is throwing fuel at the public flame by making a scene out of the official being humorous about it. I don't get it...

The Federal Guard Service is analyzing the picture now, the Department said, and if it is proved a fake, Zelenin will have to respond.

They got to be kidding. I mean, as far as I can gather, the question is not if there really was a worm, but rather if this is a picture of the worm and the salad in question. What use is that supposed to have? at least noone is suggesting firing the chef over such a ridicoulusly innocent incident.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Interesting... I rather expected the official in question to make a scene and feeling insulted, but he took it quite humorously.

Probably, if he did make a scene over it, and haven't attracted much publicity to the incident, the events would follow a natural way... But he decided to make fun out of the Kremlin in public, and them are touchy about looking any different than awesome in public eyes. However, I don't understand why did he decid to blow up a chair under himself, regardless of whether the worm really was there or not. He is not an oppositional politician, but an indirect subordinate of the President, so what his reason for, so to speak, drilling a worm hole through the symbol of power may be?

Instead, the gov itself is throwing fuel at the public flame by making a scene out of the official being humorous about it. I don't get it...

Simple: the Presidential Administration officials are trying to return Zelenin a favour and publicly call him an idiot. But probably, they are right, because an official who can't predict immediate reaction of his surroundings to his public actions, or does not regard social networks an environment that real people use, is an idiot indeed.

The sad side, however, is that making your boss angry at you appears to be the only reason why an official can be removed from his position in Russia. Zelenin (of Tver) is facing a penalty for making a practical joke at worst, and meanwhile Shantzev (of Nizhny Novgorod) due to whose mismanagement tens of people burnt alive in forest fires last summer, is considered a candidate to be put on the chair of Mayor of Moscow. Isn't that a really evil idiocy?

 

[RisingFury]

At least he found the whole worm, not only half of it...

 

[jedidia]

But he decided to make fun out of the Kremlin in public

ah... I didn't consider it as making fun of the Kremlin, but I understand how the impression might arise (and maybe he really was...).

I guess I'm just not a serious enough person. If I'd have someone over for dinner somewhere, and he found a worm in his salad and goes like "wait, I have to post this on twitter" we would probably all have a good laugh...

 

[SiberianTiger]

I guess I'm just not a serious enough person. If I'd have someone over for dinner somewhere, and he found a worm in his salad and goes like "wait, I have to post this on twitter" we would probably all have a good laugh...

And I strongly believe it's a sign of your normality.

 

[Urwumpe]

Maybe the problem is rather, that the worm was a North Korean assassination worm...

 

[SiberianTiger]

Maybe the problem is rather, that the worm was a North Korean assassination worm...

If it was North Korean, then it's no suprise that it lost all its cautiousness at sight of that salad...

 

[Urwumpe]

If it was North Korean, then it's no suprise that it lost all its cautiousness at sight of that salad...

Well, you can't be choosing if you have only midget-submarines, midget-soldiers and midget-aircraft...