In weird news today:

[xiphias]

Vladimir Putin stole Robert Kraft's (the owner of the New England Patriots) Superbowl ring.

No, I'm not making this up.

No, this isn't a result from one of those on-line "make up a random headline" sorts of Javascript programs.

Nope, I actually mean that Vladmir Putin stole Bob Kraft's Superbowl ring. Bob was showing Vlad his cool, nifty bling, and he took it off, and handed it to Vlad, who pocketed it and left.

Comments

[elynne.livejournal.com]

...

........

wait what

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Apparently, Putin didn't actually steal the ring. Kraft says he gave it to him as a gift.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

'Course he did. The fact that Putin is ex-KGB and probably kills kittens for breakfast had nothing to do with it.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

I'm far from Vladimir Putin's biggest fan, but, really, I seriously doubt he could have intimidated Bob Kraft to the point where he would have given him the ring unless he had actually wanted to do so.

[cheshyre]

I like how Think Progress juxtaposed this story with an old Bush quote:

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy."

[navrins]

Someone on NPR yesterday attempted to explain the incident by saying that, when one meets with an important world leader, it is customary to offer him a gift, and it is reasonable to suppose that that is how Putin interpreted Kraft showing him the ring.

I make no statement myself about the plausibility of this explanation.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder what kind of person expects as his due a >>$15,000 ring encrusted with over 124 diamonds. To me, this implies an attitude of corruption.

[alaria-lyon.livejournal.com]

My assumption is that Putin misinterpreted the showing of the ring as gift giving, or possibly stole it, and in order to make things right, Kraft now says it was given as a gift. I'm sure it wasn't initially, but it's better for Kraft to just get a new one than to cause an international incident. I highly doubt there was intimidation involved, just a diplomatic decision on Kraft's part.