I’ve found a new example of a media-affiliated organization clumsily pranking itself–Vladmir Putin’s political operation. According to this New York Times article, in trying to discredit Alexsei Navalny, a blogger critical of the Russian’s regime, Putin and corrupt media allies made an absurdly bad alteration of a photograph that included Navalny, pasting in beside him the imprisoned oligarch, Boris Beresovsky. In reality, Navalny’s counterpart in the photo had been Mikhail Prokorov, a declared candidate in the coming elections versus Putin. . . . Since the discovery of the clumsy forgery, with the original photographer Alexey Yushenkov quickly confirming that his photograph had been altered, Putin’s critics have been unrestrained in their mischief. They’ve made mirth, and much political satire, placing such characters in the picture beside Navalny as Stalin; a space alien; Napoleon; a very buff and nearly naked, strongman; and of course, Putin himself. // more…