22 May 2011

RUSSIA/ TEXAS: Blogger With "Man Crush" On Putin Gets Exclusive But Wordy Interview.

NYTIMES/ E.BARRY

    Gayne C. Young, a blogger for OUTDOOR LIFE and high school English teacher, lives not far from Austin...about 65 miles away in the Hill Country in quaint Fredericksburg.
     But his blog for the hunters and fishermen who read the magazine recently carried an exclusive 3,000 word written interview...with Russian PM Vladimir Putin.
    Most in the media would not qualify this Putin interview as a "get"...since it featured mostly "softball questions".
    But it was "exclusive."
    Young reports that he obtained it after blogging repeatedly about his “man crush” on Putin.
    Observers say by agreeing to such an interview, Putin may be trying to soften his image in the West where he is viewed as Russia's "bad cop" -- a problem if he decides to return as president.
     “There is some truth in this argument, and I think Putin has realized he needs to care about his image in the West,” said a Russia specialist. “The only argument which really speaks for Medvedev is this Western thing. That is his trump card. Putin has to counter it.”