
Putin on the Ritz - yoha
http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/595-Putin-on-the-Ritz.html
======
sz4kerto
Haha, the modified photo appeared in a satirical post on Index.hu, there's
nothing to see here people, move on. :)

[http://index.hu/szarvas/2014/02/11/ader_alair/](http://index.hu/szarvas/2014/02/11/ader_alair/)

Here're the other posts from the same series:
[http://index.hu/szarvas/](http://index.hu/szarvas/)

All entries are simple montages, they're only funny for people who know
Hungarian politics, but for them they're quite obvious.

Edit: the man in the middle of the photo is the Hungarian President of the
State, and well, he probably won't kneel when signing an agreement -- even if
Putin's there. :)

~~~
wozniacki
PRESIDENT OBAMA ON PUTIN:

    
    
      I don't have a bad personal relationship with Putin. When we have
      conversations, they're candid, they're blunt, oftentimes they're
      constructive. I know the press likes to focus on body language and
      he's got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back
      of the classroom. [1]
    

Putting Russia-United States relations aside, I thought that was a spot-on
description of Vladimir Putin's body posture, that he uses to great effect,
when he wants to be perceived as not being terribly interested in what's going
on.

It is quite funny.

[1]

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewUXm_gqzrU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewUXm_gqzrU)

[http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-usa-russia-
obam...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-usa-russia-obama-
idUSBRE9780XS20130809)

~~~
yapcguy
This article offers an interesting look at Russia-US relations:

 _" Diagnosing Sochi Media Coverage: Virulent Russophobia...

The water, the toilets, the hotels – nothing pleases our pampered media divas,
whose hatred of all things Russian oozes from between the lines of their
"reporting" like pus from an old wound."

All the antipathy we saw aimed at Russia during the cold war years is now
being revomited up by the political class, albeit in a new flavor: instead of
genuine martyrs like Andrei Sakharov and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn being lionized,
we see the professional provocateurs of "Pussy Riot" elevated by Western media
to the status of "dissident" stars._

[http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/02/09/diagnosing-
soc...](http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/02/09/diagnosing-sochi-media-
virulent-russophobia/)

------
TeMPOraL
The main angle of the post (dressing exactly the same all the time) is a very
interesting one, but the end points are somewhat scary.

Think of it: if it's so easy to fake color photos so that people won't notice,
isn't it easier to fake black&white photos? How do you know this is real:
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Yalta_Con...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Yalta_Conference_%28Churchill%2C_Roosevelt%2C_Stalin%29_%28B%26W%29.jpg)?
I don't. If we routinely don't trust colour pictures in newspapers, why should
we trust historic photographs?

We've reached a point in time when we can start actually faking history. The
only way to check if something happened now would be to find original copies
of old photographs and books. But it's only matter of time before they'll be
gone forever, or stuck deep in museum vaults, to be accessed by selected few.
We could rewrite the history for next generation and no one would likely
notice it.

~~~
rayiner
> We've reached a point in time when we can start actually faking history.

It has always been possible to fake history, inadvertently or intentionally.
There was a narrow stretch of time when photography became widespread which
made it a bit harder to fake history, but photographs were being faked and
staged long before we had computers to do digital editing of them. And before
we had photographs, it was possible to fake manuscripts, etc.

~~~
robmcm
There is an interesting thoery called Phantom Time
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_hypothesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_hypothesis)
related to a preiod in the middle ages that may not have existed. supposedly a
king wanted to be on the throne during the millennium so faked a few hundred
years of history.

If true we would only be in the 17th or 18th century. Which may explain why
the world didn't end in 2012, or why there still aren't hover boards.

~~~
twoodfin
Your last sentence makes it clear you are joking, but just so no one is
confused: Without even reading the Wikipedia article, it's trivial to imagine
how that hypothesis could be readily disproven. Recorded astronomical
phenomena, correspondence of cross-cultural events—even carbon dating is
accurate enough to catch a discrepancy of several centuries like that.

~~~
robmcm
Yes I think Halley's comet appears in the Bayeux Tapestry which I assume has
been linked to an appearance in the 12th century. Better check the stitching
on that to make sure it wasn't modified ;)

[EDIT] Halley's comet apparitions are roughly every century so not that
conclusive... cue twilight zone music

------
aleyan
Trust is something hard to come by and when dealing with foreign sources you
have to rely on translators and their issues. What is worse, even if the
translators are reliable, alterations can be made after the fact, but
verification is difficult because of language barriers.

Here is an example that my father found about Putin's person of the year
interview with Time. Time published a full transcript [1] in English and
Kremlin published the full transcript [2] in Russian. The very first question
is different! Kremlin's version includes a question where the reported bungled
the Putin's birthday and though he was born in 1946 instead of 1952, but Time
omits it. It wasn't a very substantive question, but it did set the tone for
the interview and the difference is upsetting. As far as I know this
particular issue has not been widely discussed for the past 7 years.

If media and/or governments alter the smallest records for reasons of
incompetence, what do they do to hide larger errors?

[1]
[http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/a...](http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1690757_1695787,00.html)
[2]
[http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=ht...](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.kremlin.ru%2Fappears%2F2007%2F12%2F19%2F1607_type63379_154772.shtml&sandbox=1)

~~~
Shivetya
Truth is hard come by with non foreign sources as well, we just comfort
ourselves by thinking its foreigners who seek to deceive us.

~~~
malandrew
This is why I really like the points Glenn Greenwald made in his debate with
Bill Keller from the NYTimes. His meta point was that there is no such thing
as being objective in reporting and any attempts to be objective just
functions to obfuscate the bias that is unavoidable. At least when sources are
openly biased and wear that bias on their sleeve, it becomes much easier to
separate fact from opinion.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/opinion/a-conversation-
in-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/opinion/a-conversation-in-lieu-of-a-
column.html)

------
PakG1
The cool digital analysis aside, what if people who do this aren't pulling a
Kim Jong Il, but rather are pulling a Steve Jobs?

[http://gawker.com/5848754/steve-jobs-on-why-he-wore-
turtlene...](http://gawker.com/5848754/steve-jobs-on-why-he-wore-turtlenecks)

No need to feed conspiracy theorists unnecessarily. Always look for the story
behind the story too. Now of course, all of that evidence of digital
alteration is another thing. And it may very well have been simply a newspaper
who wanted some kind of photo, but didn't have the photographer to get a real
one (or the opportunity didn't exist). Maybe Putin ordered it. Maybe he
didn't. Maybe his people did. Maybe they didn't. Likewise on the Hungary side.

------
stoolpigeon
"... with some guy in the middle signing papers."

His name is in the tags with the photo. He's the president of the country. All
that effort but can't be bothered to identify the president.

------
return0
I think the storywriter's distortion lens is always more powerful than some
altered digital photos.

------
sp332
Daniel Radcliffe annoyed paparazzi by wearing the same outfit every day. They
couldn't sell the photos since it looked like they were all taken the same
day.
[http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0051271/](http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0051271/)
Video of the interview
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJT0hq3lHDE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJT0hq3lHDE)

------
karon
The middle figure in the picture is János Áder, president of Hungary. The
image was created by a Hungarian blogger/artist named szarvas:
[http://szarvas.tumblr.com/image/76316693473](http://szarvas.tumblr.com/image/76316693473)

The news portal index.hu regularly republishes his work, this is where the
confusion may have originated from:
[http://index.hu/szarvas/2014/02/11/ader_alair/](http://index.hu/szarvas/2014/02/11/ader_alair/)
you can see the post among other posts here:
[http://index.hu/szarvas/](http://index.hu/szarvas/)

Here is a thread where a commenter points out how photo manipulation is
frowned upon by professional photographers on their forum, and they can't
believe "how a political journalist can do this while a war correspondent
can't draw smoke near an explosion.", linking to his republished image on
index.hu.

Of course szarvas is not a political journalist, he is a funny guy with a
tumblr: [http://szarvas.tumblr.com/post/76316693473/nyomomneki-
lvnte-...](http://szarvas.tumblr.com/post/76316693473/nyomomneki-lvnte-
regisztralva-vagyok-egy)

I wonder how the article talks about clues detectable only by applying filters
to the image, yet misses the most obvious sign of retouching: the middle
figure's knees, the blur around them can be seen with the naked eye, not to
mention the irregular shape.

Regarding the other conclusion of the article (the outline around Orban and
Putin seen in the histogram image), to me it simply looks like sharpening. I
may be wrong.

------
Grue3
Huh, I live in Russia and I never noticed that Putin always wears the same
clothes. Fascinating. I certainly wouldn't put using Communist-era photo-op
tactics past him.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Putin admires the USSR and used to be part of the KGB. More likely than
unlikely!

------
edoloughlin
_However, the biggest clue appears when we apply a basic color histogram to
the picture_

Can anyone explain what this means? It doesn't match my understanding of what
a histogram is (i.e., a graph of values vs frequency of occurrence).

~~~
ronaldx
I can't see the images in the article but you have it right - the histogram is
color values against frequency.

You can then use the histogram to identify and highlight particular color
values in the image. This would identify the simple artefact described in the
text.

Link to Photoshop example use: [http://www.ephotozine.com/article/using-the-
histogram-in-ado...](http://www.ephotozine.com/article/using-the-histogram-in-
adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4-21589)

------
milliams
I'm not sure about that rainbow colour-scheme used.

[http://www.research.ibm.com/people/l/lloydt/color/color.HTM](http://www.research.ibm.com/people/l/lloydt/color/color.HTM)

------
thearn4
` PCA measures JPEG artifacts.`

Just for some clarification - how does that work, exactly? If you decompose an
image using PCA/SVD and find a cliff in the spectrum, is that a fingerprint of
JPEG compression?

~~~
Havoc
The name doesn't ring a bell, but judging by the pic its this stuff:

[http://29a.ch/2012/4/15/image-error-level-analysis-with-
html...](http://29a.ch/2012/4/15/image-error-level-analysis-with-html5)

------
bergie
Interestingly, Steve Jobs was also known for wearing the same outfit year-by-
year.

[http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/steve-jobs-is-too-
busy...](http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/steve-jobs-is-too-busy-to-
change-clothes_b119688)

------
coldtea
> _Kim Jong Il rarely appeared in digitally altered photos. Instead, he did a
> different type of misdirection. In almost every photo of him, KJI wore the
> same clothing. It 's as if he only owned one set of clothing (or a closet
> full of the same discount gray suits). This wasn't because KJI had no taste.
> Instead, it allowed his counter-intelligence people to publish any photo of
> him over the decades as if it were a recent photo. People couldn't just look
> at a photo and identify when it was taken._

And that's a feature we intended to get by wearing the same clothes because?

How is the ability to publish any old photo as recent relavent at all?

~~~
the_french
As the author said "counter-intelligence". It allows Kim to post pictures of
him visiting a factory in one city when he is really at a completely different
one. The less any one knows with certitude about him the safer he is.

~~~
coldtea
OK, this makes more sense I guess. Or, you know, he just likes the outfit.
After all it worked for Steve Jobs.

------
xentronium
Russian contemporary novelist Victor Pelevin explored a similar theme in his
"Generation P" book (1999). The idea was that there were no "real"
politicians, because all of them were fabricated digital images to sell more
ads. Quite an entertaining read.

On goodreads:
[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9667484-generation](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9667484-generation)
/
[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337672.Homo_Zapiens](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337672.Homo_Zapiens)
(translated version)

------
yoha
The author has up a website [1] that gives an overview of what forensics can
do with photos.

[1] [http://fotoforensics.com/](http://fotoforensics.com/)

------
robmcm
Didn't Steve Jobs always wear the same outfit? Perhaps that's so if he's in a
photo now they could say it was taken years ago!

------
xenonite
The one table leg being longer can be easily be attributed the lens
distortion.

One would expect that, being in a room, a fisheye lens has been used in the
original picture. But that would have led to a barrel distortion. Instead, a
zoom lens was used. This has an interesting side effect: Putin, sitting at the
border of the photo, then appears larger.

------
anonymfus
If you enjoy conspiracies theory about Putin, I heard about two.

First is very realistic, that in 2013 he fabricated fishing in Tyva:

[http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/3926168.html](http://avmalgin.livejournal.com/3926168.html)

Second is that he has multiple doubles, including one mongoloid.

------
ohwp
Searching for 'putin heineken' gives me images of Putin dressed as an
astronaut drinking beer:

[https://www.google.nl/search?q=putin+heineken&tbm=isch](https://www.google.nl/search?q=putin+heineken&tbm=isch)

So there are your pics and it did happen

------
jmnicolas
What never cease to amaze me is how secret services around the globe waste so
much time on trivial things like that.

I read somewhere that the US president always traveled with its own toilets in
fear of spies analyzing his "production" oO

Meanwhile people are still dying of hunger ...

~~~
rmc
Some of these security reasons make sense. I've heard whenever a US embassy
needs equipment (e.g. a photocopier), they get it delivered from the USA,
rather than use a local supplier. The USA used to set up fake local suppliers
and was able to get a compromised photocopier in a Soviet embassy.

~~~
bluedino
And the USA snuck a printer into Iraq in the first Gulf War with a virus on
it, or was that a hoax?

~~~
sitkack
Some hackers p0wn3d printers at the Navy and sent duplicates of all print jobs
overseas. Seems like a great hack.

------
koshak
Hello, Generatin "П".
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_%22%D0%9F%22#Conspir...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_%22%D0%9F%22#Conspiracy_theory)

~~~
aaronem
Huh. So, reincarnation exists, and Robert A. Wilson's spirit speaks Russian
now. Who knew?

------
kyrra
Totally offtopic, but the title reminded me of:
[http://putintheritzon.ytmnd.com/](http://putintheritzon.ytmnd.com/) (has
audio)

------
bayesianhorse
On a very long list of Russian transparency problems, faking photos of
diplomatic meetings is one of the least objectionable.

Not everyone can take a selfie with Obama!

------
joebo
The whole pose looked off to me. It seemed odd that important papers would be
signed kneeling. Is that customary anywhere?

------
tragomaskhalos
I am currently reading Orwell's 1984 to my daughter. I am able to tell her
that it is _mostly_ fiction ...

------
noel82
IMHO even the one with Gheddafi could be a fake, the light is not the same on
the subjects..

------
Jeremy1026
Are the photos appearing for anyone? Or are we all getting unable to load?

------
artumi-richard
Putin died three years ago, fact.

Maybe.

------
gadders
Obligatory: [http://www.ifmelranthezoo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/put...](http://www.ifmelranthezoo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/putin_on_the_ritz.jpg)

------
puppetmaster3
ras-Putin:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRWiqjgOyX0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRWiqjgOyX0)

You can thank me later.

------
almosnow
I don't get the connection between Putin wearing the same clothes and the
photo manipulation explained at the end.

Looks like he wanted to write about two different things but smashed them into
just one without coherence...

~~~
freehunter
I think the implication he failed to properly address is that Putin wears the
same suit specifically so it's easier to photoshop him in to other pictures.
That was my interpretation.

Another interpretation that requires less guesswork on my part is that his
interest was piqued by noticing that Putin wears the same suit, and that was
what led him to start investigating other pictures of Putin, culminating in
his analysis of this doctored photo.

