Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Russian leader implies Putin is more masculine than Obama. His proof: their pets

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

Russian leaders can seem awfully eager at times to compare their masculinity to that of American leaders. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin happened to make the comparison a little more overtly than Russian leaders typically do, in this tweet today (the photo at right is, yes, a fake).

When I joked on Twitter that it was almost as if they felt insecure about something, my colleague Matthew Yglesias answered, “Their nation’s declining geopolitical relevance?”

This was actually what I meant, for the record — Russian leaders, who've been a bit insecure about their nation's greatness since the end of the Cold War, often seem to go out of their way to prove that they're as or more tough or masculine than their American counterparts. You may have seen some of Putin's "Boy's Life" style wilderness action shots, which turn out to have been to some degree staged.

450177210

Obama appears to smirk at Putin during a World War Two anniversary commemoration in France (CHRISTOPHE ENA/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is one of the world’s great geopolitical trolls, but he was one-upped pretty hard a couple of months back when Obama referred to Russia as a “regional power,” which you just know got under some skins in Moscow.

Rogozin is well-known in Russia as a crazy person; in April, he advocated colonizing the moon.

See More:

More in archives

archives
Ethics and Guidelines at Vox.comEthics and Guidelines at Vox.com
archives
By Vox Staff
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will decide if the government can ban transgender health careThe Supreme Court will decide if the government can ban transgender health care
Supreme Court

Given the Court’s Republican supermajority, this case is unlikely to end well for trans people.

By Ian Millhiser
archives
On the MoneyOn the Money
archives

Learn about saving, spending, investing, and more in a monthly personal finance advice column written by Nicole Dieker.

By Vox Staff
archives
Total solar eclipse passes over USTotal solar eclipse passes over US
archives
By Vox Staff
archives
The 2024 Iowa caucusesThe 2024 Iowa caucuses
archives

The latest news, analysis, and explainers coming out of the GOP Iowa caucuses.

By Vox Staff
archives
The Big SqueezeThe Big Squeeze
archives

The economy’s stacked against us.

By Vox Staff