hi I'm Daryl Kegel and this is the kegelcas where we're all about political cartoons and today we're talking about Vladimir Putin and we have four great cartoonists that we're talking to our first cartoonist today is Vladimir kazanesque has probably won more awards at International cartoon competitions than any other cartoonist in the world he's Ukraine's most noteworthy cartoonist and he recently at an exhibition in Paris of his cartoons about the war in Ukraine Vlad is a long time contributor to Kegel cartoons and he is a refugee from his home in Kiev living in Slovakia now and Rick McKee Drew for many years for the Augusta Chronicle he draws comic pluggers and we've syndicated Rick for 20 years Imad hajaj draws cartoons for the alarabi al-jadid al-gad newspaper I think imod is the best known Arabic language cartoonist certainly to Americans we've syndicated iman's work for nearly 20 years also and Bill day draws for Florida politics.com he's worked for many years as the cartoonist for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Detroit Free Press and we've also syndicated a bill for 20 years I mean this is this is a 20 years group gentlemen it's very nice to have you all here could be here to be here well let's start off with Vlad I'll show a couple of each of your cartoons Vlad this is an impressive one so are these all of the the Russians fleeing from the Russian bear and Putin or it says everybody in the world fleeing from the grip of the Russian bear yes it's well known that as a beer is a symbol of Russia for any centuries announced mobilization many many young Russians have out from Russia and rebuilt a great Empire after it's stable is the Russia will destroyed after our weekend Ukrainian well we wish you all the best and I should say when the war first started and bombs were going off near vlad's apartment he left and is living near the border in Slovakia and you still have your sons in Ukraine and Ukraine to us on television looks terrible but you're telling me that life is getting back to normal in Kiev and you've been back to visit and uh do you want to tell us a little bit about how you're doing and how you see things in Ukraine yes I I visited the key City it did this book and the lift the King City over two weeks and I have seen many people look like 50 people because it's spring it's some and you name it barbecue the restaurant The Walking medicines walking transports are working on their City it is a real terrible War but the Ukrainian people it's strong well that's great and we're going to show a bunch of your cartoons in just a minute this is Rick McKee Rick one thing I appreciate about your work is you take every opportunity to draw lots of teeth are deep yeah I like drawing monsters I think you know when I was little kid always like drawing monsters and this one is from uh 2014 so this is a kind of an older one it seems I think right after the Russians Annex trying Obama was getting it in the media for the perception of being weak so Putin's got his bear with all the teeth and Obama's got his bear which is less intimidating I think in retrospect Obama really was weak and regrettable that he didn't do more at the time yep seems that way here's a more recent one of yours I should say that this podcast is an audio and a video podcast and most people hear just the audio on the podcast platforms so I need to describe all of these cartoons in words here you've got the Frankenstein monster Ukraine war taking a bite on Putin Putin says my bib is a year old it's a great cartoon another opportunity for teeth yeah more tea I was in my teeth face that seems like a career log phase an excellent phase and all right well Iman here's a couple of years to introduce you here is Putin at his famous long table which is one of his destroyed tanks and dead soldiers very nice looking cartoon thank you actually you know we can honestly love find key features in any character and just represent the character through that future when I saw the table for the best time I thought it could be a good thing to start and if you're singing like a big weapon look to you like the big Rocky this is one variation of many cartoons I did about Putin's big table and still will see it here as a big great washing tank with an Essence neonate destroyed and you will find Mr Putin sitting there trying to look that he's in control but he's not you are drawing from Amman Jordan and your cartoons appear in an Arabic language paper that's published in London what is the view of Ukraine war in the Middle East is Russia universally seen as the evil aggressor as it is in most of the world I think let me it was a black misery here that you know also in the Middle East and Polo balls Iraq I did the cartoon about this one but it was really really annoying feeling sometimes to see the world pops up in a distant place Sometimes some people here will make a joke about it oh at last it's out outside New Delhi but of course all work is a very open and terrible thing for me as a Cartoonist my family and we were part of our Lives as Refugee and I know how difficult it is for refugees have helped the suffering how it is difficult to change their name and the world is very very championship and Netflix is my world solidarity with the Ukrainian nation in this horrible thing that we are moving that's why when I started drawing about which I was already drawing about his horizontal beats in Syria he was bombing cities and schools and hospitals and he did the same in your king so it was for me it was going on the same continuous need about Mr Putin now with his big table it does take attention away from the Middle East when the world is quiet in the Middle East is always having terrible troubles unfortunately uh we're we're used to the Middle East dominating the news and now we don't get much Middle East News at all the rest of the world has gotten worse yes it is also it's my my problem as a Cartoonist right and you see I I deal with editors and they sometimes they they wouldn't ask for ask me to draw cartoon about local issues who thought something about Syria in like one I want sometimes to do something about you and I should say this and to be ranked and play it with you unfortunately I think the majority at least in Jordan most of the first naked people will be in favor of Mystic Putin we are short-sighted yet there is many many people here are with Ukraine I am one of these people I support you clean people but it's not a popular opinion view most of the people there let me say they believe that Russia will make a balance in the world and that wouldn't be Justice to begin and he says I believe it's totally wrong and what many appears building own kind of work all kinds of violence all kinds of big nation just swallowing small nation this has to stop it's interesting to me this third world notion about Russia being a balancing force and the eagerness to do business with Russia looking at the West leaving as an opportunity it doesn't seem like there are enough Horrors that Russia can perpetrate to get it through people's head it's very disturbing to see the third world reaction to Russia we had to note something that the worst part of this world yet that is that medium

and unfortunately it's it's making some effect big effect in many many cities and some people do believe some kind of propaganda I know I know this because I I've engaged some somehow with discussing pbd with the people who on my page of Facebook and Twitter and on another social media platform and I spent lots of time just to try to figure out what is really happening and we'll discover that many people are discussing fake news rumors their own page photos and unfortunately it's very very popular view the our region Arabic region we should we should we should know that there is a high level of magnitude and there is a big frustration because we don't have peace we don't have political Justice in our vision we think we stated about the West about the head States we are not being objective with us and that's why we find many of them adopting Russian narrative or the Russian way of looking that beautiful sport I'm gonna show a couple here from Bill day hey you've got Vladimir Putin pointing it his third nipple Ukraine I gotta say I don't quite understand the third nipple I I saw that James Bond movie where the bad guy was it scaramanka the The Man with the Golden Gun has a third nipple and James Bond puts a third fake nipple on himself that's the only third nipple reference I know what's what's going on here I don't remember exactly uh what was going on at the time because I drew this so long ago but um I think I was trying to say that he they own the Ukraine he owes the Ukraine it belongs to him very good uh here's another one of yours I noticed too that Putin and the Ukraine war kind of gets American cartoonists drawing more at an international style I mean this could have been a world cartoonist and of course Putin is a monster that fits into many situations basically I'm having his gasoline pump we're we were trying to cut off the oil the gasoline oil for painting so that was the time I was drawing it okay well I've got some bigger batches of your stuff here's a couple of mine Putin with his buddies Modi and Xi Jinping and uh here is Putin with all the countries he wants to devour and digest and reconstitute the USSR this is one of those cartoons that no editor is going to print I was gonna you know sometimes sometimes we draw cartoons just for ourselves and I'm guilty of that too but I'm very tolerant of it when you guys draw cartoons just for yourselves have you noticed that sure yeah all right so bill here you've got uh Putin and he's uh vampire Putin in his uh teeth or his fangs or Hammers and sickles vladula this is a international cartoonist Trope they draw a whole lot of vampires internationally and we don't really do that very much in America I think that's because we draw a lot of devils That You Don't See around the world in international cartoons as much as the vampires here you've got octoputin he's got all of his arms but two cut off so six chopped off arms as he's grabbing Ukraine and Crimea well I think I'm trying to remember exactly uh I cut off the arms because while I'm in the collapse of the silver Union you didn't have many armed left so Russia itself's rib Crimea and he's now placed at gravity crane so this is a 2014 cartoon we thought it was pretty sophisticated to figure out that's why his arms are chopped off well at the time it makes sense here you've got uh Putin flexing his muscle and he's not uh doing very well as the muscle droops Vladimir Schwarzenegger boiling oil practices hurt rushing especially their economic system we have sanctions against them but they don't be working very well they don't it's interesting how well Russia does with all of the sanctions that we thought would do so much more here's a cartoon no one would print you guys know whenever you draw Hitler nobody prints it and any kind of Hitler metaphor you put a swastik in a cartoon that just doesn't get printed anywhere you know that I do then yeah well that doesn't keep up from drawing uh you know Trump either does it they don't like to print Trump they'll print a few trumps but they won't print Hitler's they also don't like to print bodily fluids you know we get lots of blood in cartoons about the Middle East blood Ukraine cartoons that doesn't get printed maybe it's different around the world you see a lot of blood and Hitler cartoons in the Middle East don't you mod yes now I guess yes in case it's different in all of Legion there's a definite standards the way you look at them what these what you find

let me say it frankly even in Arabic newspapers good Arabic newspaper now we have some something that matched in Western Standard in journalism they are not accepting uh very exactly capitals as they used in the past that Bloody scene or cartoon that have the logic graphic seals in capture are not printed anymore we didn't say even iflock will be not beefed up sometimes he's rejected to Arabic newspaper not because maybe maybe some newspaper wouldn't be hesitating to publish it for other reason some other cartoonists tell you that many cartoons about Israel and Israel and many newspapers now or don't published and stuff some of them do if you asked me I don't use this I really use this ensembled not this simple unless there's something bad in your epic happen or an idea that I wanted to be yeah I had to do it this way but if you ask me cartoonists or that have old freedom to represent their Idol these are dictators

we had a very bad people it's our guidance cartoons too we could play them and draw them in many ways and I think it's it's part of our freedom by cartoons the way we want but Daryl would we say the newspapers in general have grown more timid than the last 10 years or so I mean you know I mean in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s cartoonists were drawing you know a lot more provocative stuff in the United States and it just seems like with the collapsing industry editors are more timid and they're they're afraid to of losing readers so they they don't want to they don't want to print anything at least fit for thought of it you know we saw all of the gannet papers drop uh editorial cartoons entirely because they didn't like having left versus right in their papers that's what they said you know that's disturbing as cartoonists we like to have strong views and hit people over the head with our ideas and editors prefer soft little jokes um another thing we're seeing from editors is that they are not interested that much in the rest of the world cartoons about Ukraine don't get printed much cartoons about Putin don't get printed much there is a local Focus let me say in our case in community after the if you remember the Danish Mohammed cartoons and what came at you like Charlie Abdul Olympic events I think in Allen many people became very sensitive that includes evidence too and they are they becoming very sensitive when you talk about and unit if you put any religion assembled in Newcastle it will be rejected I'm talking about the use of the newspaper that I will throw if you draw I use in the past I used to have a character called Abu Muhammad which is I use it just like it's very very popular Abu Muhammad is just somebody in the streets and I used to draw that character for a long long time without any problem after this there are two places we Danish cartoons and many editors will reject that type that amen you have to change that name it's not good it's a name of prophet you gotta find another name this is one of the most annoying cases that I faced and I think the reason is people are becoming very sensitive about anything cartoons is a wonderful for art a cartoon is we tend to have creative way to make and I think it's our right to work is against and insulting people and their holy things nobody can do that but it's our right as a catch unit with our visual world I am uh and human being I see a most it's my life to do it in my careful I'm not insulting this life I didn't say you can say you can still think about the churches or the religion is part of our online and being should have right to go about it well I I think you make a good point it's not just editors that are more sensitive about controversial stuff it's the readers as well it's not at all hard to get the readers angry you see or the meal we get and I think they're more sensitive than they used to be more intolerant of views that are different than their pre-existing views if it's the social media who makes people like with the word itself is changing I know but as you said if you look at the cartoon that will publish in the Apes separate beat would I look at my old works sometimes I ask myself can I return this capture now what would happen if I tilt it I wouldn't even dare to publish it Bill here's another one you've got uh Ukrainian soldiers shooting a missile into the mouth of the vulture who's labeled Putin I gotta say it's awfully easy to draw Putin Woody could just write the name on Putin and that's named Putin on anything and that's Putin this is actually a follow-up cartoons from what I did earlier where actually I had cranus and Dove like sitting on the beak of a vulture that was Putin and as it turned out ukrainians certainly did not become doves they are fighting back and clearly uh shown the Russians that they are the force to deal with now they did not roll over not fill their arms up they they're playing back with great courage very inspiring to see them fighting back yes very much so that was what that's about so we're up to you Iman it is the big pushing stable again and this time as a rocket launcher macaron I put it this way he was more like threatening him and we see his debit is [ __ ] up with

I like to portray him with that thanks Soldier hat I love the Siri it gives Boutique

you know very fun this is very good curious uh driving the Eraser tank looking to erase Ukraine I was inspired by one of the Russian tanks of soldier caliot it looks just most likely we defensive at least the old one and the I find it a good idea just to make it as a vehicle that Mr Project is riding and he is using a Miss tank as an eraser he's using the borders between the country it's variety to the team lead other countries on Rectify them this one was published in Lomond

is to you know is to respond to be a Russian propaganda that try to portray to Jin as in civilized man who plays piano and District artists so uh in the country that I portray him in that photo that portrayed him as a piano player yes he is but he's playing he's playing a very or very horrible horrible Weapon It's not a piano it's a rocket that's killing people yes so yes it somehow looks like a piano but it is a killing machine there aren't very many notes on it yeah yeah here he is driving his uh bloody Hatchet tank exactly it's the same team it's the same trick or twist I love to do it we finally get matched with some weapon or tank on adapted to another object to give you some kind of indirectly I like that I like the Z

here's another big table cartoon but the table is reminiscent of a nuclear bomb explosion yeah you got the world hanging on and Putin uh comfortably hanging on yes because he pushed the whole warp on that bench and that way until getting horrible in their address his his big devil now seems to me as much on cloud explosion he's threatening the world with him able to help you often but here he is uh driving his missile like a motorcycle and muddying up the world again yes as us want one wins portal he was either a motorcycle yeah

rocket launcher so yeah a Rockets are getting to be a metaphor for Putin here he is as a jet with a big bloody knife and his bombs flying over Ukraine and have a very simple touching for its thing and that it's very dangerous I think his face is difficult to draw because you know just a few years ago he looked very much he looked very much like a bond villain he had this more angular face like you've drawn here but now his face is round and puffy and he looks kind of like an elk our colleague Marianne kamansi the Austrian Catholic yeah something about this subject why they put you look so loud he said because he's using lots of products instead maybe an evil but if you asked me and I'll tell you that we in basic shape of Mr coaching very to to be sketched and very easy to be manipulative well he used to be angular he used to have these hard uh jaws and now he's just a certain mod I see you worked Isis into the flag yeah yes which is um you know I'm trying to morph or mix the uh Isis flag with the Russian

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well I just wants to build up this caliphate over the whole region and uh Putin wants to rebuild the Soviet Union ironically ironically represent himself as the as the fighter of Terror in Syria that is but what I want to say in this cartoon that he's doing the same he just yeah it's some kind of a state they are just a smaller group and and Mr portrayal is hating a big state with big capability at doing the same thing while killing innocent people from pointing US cities and committing Warcraft and Vladimir now we have a bunch of your cartoons you've got a lot of grim reapers on their knees worshiping the Putin bomb uh yes I mean put in with boobs are made for this it's a great job and for this put in the putinism OR on politics of modern Russia it's like religion because there is this way putting troops killed many many people and uh it's a new religion snowing in the world the putting this drug to the Vault and the converted without substance speaking perfumes and they hear made his great job yeah I think it's I would like to sing about some new reusable you know we we get news here about the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and how that's really like a branch of the Russian government fully pro-war and fully controlled by the Russian State we have some voices here that are U.S support for Ukraine and that's one of the points that they like to make a lot is that Ukraine is suppressing freedom of your religion uh by suppressing this church

but you have to understand that religion in Russia Orthodox and for example Ukraine uh we have a big problem with Russian propaganda echos Russian church song called Ukrainian Church

but Moscow it means that many military

for the support for supporting Russia so-called Russian war and right now we increase where we are fighting against this orthodoxing Russian religion it does seem that this church is just a branch of the Russian government operating in Ukraine yes yes across across religion they made propaganda across religion and this cartoon means that this is a religion are going across the across propaganda across religion here's another one of yours which would not get printed here just because it's got a swastika in it but you've got a swastikaans and uh Star of David blinders on Putin who is um dragging his uh his Kremlin along On Wheels with steam pipes and I wonder if you could tell us about this one uh

I find the way they're all in the way to wall uh in this wall and here I go in the like a cross and cannot see the outside anything because he have ideology or fascism so-called racism in in Ukraine our parliament make a rule the racism it like fashion and in our country official except Russians more is ideology of Russia and the second part the second site it's a star or Soviet star it's all fashion and that's a Soviet story because that look that looked to me like a Star of David you see the little uh bit here by his nose at the the bottom it star star from Soviet Bank oh okay oh I like I like the drawing of the character is really nice thank you of course the gas and oil it's the main power of all Soul Mr Vladimir have a very distinguished way in portraying great Putin I should date and say that and I love the way he put cream put him basically his mouth

you have beautiful work with Vladimir I'm just always impressed by your work here you've got Putin and he looks like he's using a missile like a piece of wood to rub and start a fire but he's doing that on the big red button that destroys the world with nuclear bombs as he sits on the Kremlin and he has to put him multi the notices that he will use a nuclear weapon

times that he will use the nuclear weapon and he's like primitive for men who are speaking about by war in Ukraine he would like to say that I will destroying the wall and I would like to symbolize his idea and he is sitting on Kremlin you see he's really simple old man without glosses very primitive and then not stupid but he is very clever he is crime well but we will see what he will do with nuclear weapon we've learned that his military is pretty lousy and it's like he doesn't have enough tools and his tool just left it makes it much look more likely that he's gonna do something with a nuclear weapon that's pretty scary

nuclear weapons nuclear but I'm stationed to say about nuclear weapon so I would like to say about this cartoon that would began to ball to a King City at four o'clock at the morning and Hitler at four o'clock in the morning and the first day of War when I have seen my watch and thought that the Hitler at the same time boom Kick City like putting and Hitler and there after that the first day I thought the Putin it's so real Hitler off nowadays the Reiki was making a statement and by doing that at four o'clock in the morning with that in mind yes and today just today they bump at four o'clock as the morning keeps it looks the same way so all time they prefer to bomb King City at night about four or five o'clock at the morning and the like o'clock we will put in a clock it's a bumper block so here you've got Putin like the cuckoo clock popping out of the Kremlin spitting three missiles out of his mouth he seems pretty evil in calculating I don't know how cuckoo for example today about 25 missiles City and the 23 was killed by a Ukrainian power I'm very impressed with how good your brain is at shooting down the missiles but put in every day uh doing and doing this and the word is stupid because he if we're here we will use versus more Rockets or these missiles you know the front in the real world maybe he will be fair for a big factor well more big success than bumped civilian people here you have a lineup with the Putin pointing a gun at his head presumably to kill himself as all of his people are lined up to be killed at the same time by the same bullet and a whole big crowd of people are watching ZTV with all the propaganda this is kind of complicated

prone to use until for example when I visited Japan Brazil you say friends and many companies I have seen on television in the hotel the Russian programs Russian propaganda

and I understand that the Russian people saw zombies on before by Russian propaganda the null about 70 percent of Russian people support putting in this war and saying in my vision this the soul mainly zombified

himself together with Hotel because the beginning of this war it means that he will destroy Russia stay and the cute many many own people because he got calculated how many Russian people get in the swore here's a very impressive one from you Vlad with Putin sitting on top of a giant Z that's made up of it looks like a hellscape of people living some horror propaganda it's

a means symbol of the idea of putting a way over this whole idea of healing people

by ukrainians troops but they already been new and new soldiers are going to Ukraine from Russia because they absorb Define and they are real in every the BQ well you know we have an increasing number of politicians here in the United States that oppose American support for Ukraine but what they seem to have in common is that their crazy right-wing Republicans and I think they kind of are the stupidest Republicans yeah we got one here in Florida named Matt Gates I'm in his district well we laugh at that but that's terrible are you serious we also have we also have a governor who came out saying that well we need it's really just a territorial Institute not really a we should vault in it you know which is which is important to run for president yeah but when when uh the santis was a congressman he was he was all for supporting Ukraine which is really odd that he's switched positions now but he's just pandering to that far right side of the party right that's what he's doing it is pandering to isolationist Republicans he's backed off of it he the purpose was to put it out there to start so he doesn't have to actually say he believes it but he put it out there for them anyway so here's another nice one for me of Vlad you've got Putin yanking a teddy bear away from a child as he dreams of this teddy bear being militarized evil teddy bear with some creeps only puppet future but Focus militarism

and many many young people will established negatives going to school is from the first class for us from the one range and put in the road like to be a team or to put out the childhood or Russian children because he would like to go to the inquire and they know who understands that it's very serious problems therefore Russia built a new vegetarian Society okay here's one of my I've got the world this is what the world says cease fire and what the Putin dog he hears is a Reload you say maybe and here's uh Putin holding up Ukraine with his gun and the gas tank holding up Uncle Sam this is all that a lot of Americans care about Rick we're up to you this has drawn right I have to be a liquid sir I was the Olympics were coming to a close and yeah they have their Olympics in Russia can you imagine that now I can imagine Russian getting the Olympics how far we come at least got his Olympic torch well you know the Olympics are pretty vile about putting their stuff in countries that it should not be in that's true you know after what he's done now I just can't I can't see it and there was a protest going on in cubed as the Sochi Olympics were coming down in and of course you know he sent his third gender whoever protests he's got Putin sitting on Santa's lap with his wish list and an office holding the naughty and nice Intel book and says this is what happens when you skip your briefings yeah this is referring to Trump was president of elect and he was just bragging about how he was skipping his Intel briefings and how he intended to skip them when he became president so uh which is sort of mocking that so here you've got uh Putin and Trump and Trump says he didn't do it case closed and that's the Perry Mason moment as Putin's pointing his gun at the 2016 election Putin had quite an influence on the 2016 election yeah he did and uh Donald Trump denied it took Putin's word for it and uh Putin said he didn't do it that was good enough for Donald Trump yeah in spite of what his intelligence told him in the military totally right here you've got Putin and he's got Trump as a puppet to marionette that he's walking around Syria gadry this right after Trump withdrew our troops from Syria which basically allowed Putin to just slide right in there it seemed like Trump had his stray thing pulled by Putin he got Putin hoisted by his own petard I wondered what a petard was and now I can see that it's his underwear hanging on hang on the hammer and sickle on the old Soviet flag yeah like will said earlier those symbols are so great and uh Drew this ride for Russia and invaded Ukraine and it was obviously not going as well as he had hoped here you've got his Ukraine failure blowing up behind him and Putin says I'm being canceled yeah oh cancel culture in the news or I thought that was a good juxtaposition with those wild eyes so gentlemen that was our last cartoon I hope uh hope I do sometime in the near future we we can stop having to draw him about putting putting face I am after that so tired that I had easily Sip and to drink after the some whiskey but they don't follow me well gentlemen thank you for being with us and uh I appreciate all your cartoons you all draw just great Putin cartoons well I very much enjoy this Terrell thank you and thanks to all of you thank you very much for joining dudes thank you very much support you well very good and let me say that you should remember to subscribe to the Kegel cast subscribe to the kegelcast remember that our cable cast is available in both video and audio versions so if you didn't see the cartoons you've just been listening to the words you want to see the cartoons go to kegel.com or apple podcasts or YouTubers Spotify or cablecast.com and you can see the video podcast thank you for coming today and we will see you next week I think we're gonna do a couple more editions because so many cartoonists have been drawing so many Putin's gentlemen thank you again thank you thanks sir all right and I will see you soon