In relation to the previous post, I am catching all this news of a new mobile phone being released in Moscow by Nokia which features an image of Stalin - perhaps in the style of one of those U2-branded iPods. After some hard searching, I came across one exclusive image from The Cell Freak.If this is true, and not just another hoax, it would really be a breathtaking moment for cultural politics - the appropriation of communist icons for opportunistic commercial gain. Almost as good as the $2,000 Red Army coats or the Kalashnikov bedside lamp.
Musings aside, it is pretty disgusting that a dictator whose death toll we conservatively estimate at 20 million people (other estimates point to 50 million) should become a fashionable pocket accessory. Oddly, Nokia is a Finnish company, and it is not hard in Finland to locate someone whose relatives perished in Stalin's two wars against the tiny country during World War II.
Nokia is not making these phones, and there probably aren't too many of them around. This one was spotted by Ekho Moskvy journalist Vladimir Varfolomeyev in a Moscow shop called Ion, and he posted the image in his blog:
http://varfolomeev-v.livejournal.com/55394.html
Later, a representative of the shop told RIAN news agency that the phone was a specimen which had been displayed "accidentally" and was no longer for sale.
http://www.echo.msk.ru/news/562976-echo.html
Actually (if true), it would simply symbolize the complete and utter victory of capitalism - assimilating even its enemies into its body, and reworking them in its own image.
Actually, NOKIA has officially stated, that they have nothing to do with it. That they would never produce such a phone, even if they would be going broke. And that these phone will have their warranty voided. This, obviously, is a private initiative by some "patriotic" Russian company.
Actually, NOKIA has officially stated, that they have nothing to do with it. That they would never produce such a phone, even if they would be going broke. And that these phone will have their warranty voided. This, obviously, is a private initiative by some "patriotic" Russian company.