MOSCOW, November 14 (Sputnik) - Commenting on the Russian warships sailing through international waters off Australia’s coast on Thursday, The Australian posted a hilarious article on Friday about a small northeastern Australian town that has been waiting over a century to fight off “the return of the Russians.”
The article, twice erroneously referring to the Russian ships as “Soviet" military vessels, explained how Cooktown, a town in the country’s Queensland province, “has been waiting for 127 years” for the Russian navy to return; the article refers to a motion passed by the town’s municipal council in 1885 requesting supplies of arms and ammunition to fight off potential Russian naval attacks.
Cooktown is described by the Australian as “a northern bulwark against the Russian menace.” The town’s mayor, Peter Scott, told the newspaper that despite the lack of modern armaments “the townsfolk were ready to do battle again if need be.”
Mr. Scott explained that while the town’s 19th century cannon only has three cannonballs, the situation did not discourage him in the event that the Russians come. “We’re going to have to take two of them out with the one shot,” Scott said.
Intimating that he was serious, Scott added that “people can laugh about the cannon, but it worked” in defending the country from Russia, and that “there haven’t been any Russian invasions of Cooktown since then, have there?”
Reflecting on reports that the Russian ships, which are passing 400 kilometers off Australian waters, would be out of range of the town’s cannon, The Australian noted that Mayor Scott “sounded disappointed.”
I can't decide which tabloid cover is my favourite today - but I think Rash Putin is currently in the lead. pic.twitter.com/KkQxTdhUaq
— Sally Whyte (@sallywhyte) 12 ноября 2014
The ships, which are passing off the eastern coast of Australia during the ongoing G-20 Summit in Brisbane, have sparked a hilarious outcry from the country’s tabloid press, with the well-respected newspaper The Australian appearing to catch some of the shrapnel as well.
Australian blogger ‘Jack the Insider’ noted the Australian media’s frantic reports about Russian warships “bearing down” on Australia, saying that his readers would have fun “bask[ing] in the confected hysteria.” He added that one local television network had actually linked the ships’ presence to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s remarks about shirtfronting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Abbott himself spoke about Russian “assertiveness and aggression” on Friday ahead of the summit, noting the country’s “heavy responsibility…to come clean and atone…whether it’s the bullying of Ukraine, whether it’s the increasing Russian military aircraft flying into the air space of Japan [and] European countries, whether it’s the naval task group which is now in the south Pacific.”
