“Whatcha gonna say now, Elon Musk?”

It seems to me that quite a few Russian speakers have appreciated the comic quality of the latest address by the Russian president-for-life. It fits nicely with the latest surge in grotesque Russian news – including cocaine smuggling by presidential airplane – but let’s not forget the classics, such as the grand conspiracy of urine snatchers. I suggest skipping the first part of the speech (it takes some knowledge of Russian goings-on to fully appreciate its occasional hilarity), and to move over to the climactic ode to peace…

…as seen and heard by the irreverent:

– Now we have rockets to bring down their Teslas.
– How do you like that, Elon Musk?
– Russia’s strategic task for the next six years is to build a Death Star.
– Guys, Putin has just announced a prequel to Fallout.
– Putin is asking to listen to Russia but the new rocket is flying faster than sound.

To be clear, the first part of the speech wasn’t bad by itself – on the contrary, some of it makes perfect sense, such as the risk that Russia’s technological gap with the first-world West will become unbridgeable and fatal. The irony is that the speaker has been president or prime minister for the past eighteen years.