And now, another episode of “Fun with Dictators!”

Political humor is unknown concept for me. I not understand what is this “satire”? What is this “parody”?

On a talk show last autumn, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail Delyagin offered some tart words about Vladimir Putin. When the program was televised, Delyagin was not.

His remarks were cut and he was digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo. (The technicians may have worked a bit hastily; they left his disembodied legs in one shot.)

Bol’shoe spasibo, tovarich!