real nice guy that Putin

Vlad "the Impaler" Putin is really on a roll these days. Last week when he met Israeli PM Ehud Olmert he made another one of his characteistically thugish comments this time involving Moshe Katsav, Israel's president, who is soon to be charged with "rape, aggravated sexual assault, indecent acts without permission and offenses under the law to prevent sexual harassment," by Israeli police. [Boston Globe]

Putin is reported to have said to Olmert, as they wrapped up their meeeting: "Say hi to your president. He turned out to be quite a powerful person! He raped ten women! We’re all amazed. We all envy him." [MoscowNews]

This is the same guy who W. said "he looked in the eye" and got a "sense of his soul."

This isn't the first time Putin has made off-color "jokes" which really show what kind of soul he really has. When he's not pulverizing neighboring countries, threatening to pulverize neighboring countries, killing journalists, jailing political opponates or cutting off energy supplies to neighboring countries in the middel of winter he's shocking his "partners" by saying things like, "We all know that African countries used to have a tradition of eating their own adversaries."

Last week in Finland he defended Russia's nortorious crime ridden buisness climate by saying "The word mafia was born in Italy, not Russia." [MN]

Is this guy really our friend?