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Harry Potter author JK Rowling on Friday publicly rebuked Vladimir Putin after the Russian leader called her a victim of western cancel culture.
“Not so long ago, children's author JK Rowling was cancelled because she, a writer of books that have sold millions of copies around the world, didn't please fans of so-called gender freedoms,” Mr Putin said, in reference to Rowling's contentious tweets about the transgender community.
His invocation of the world-famous UK writer drew a biting response from Rowling herself on Twitter.
She referenced the Kremlin's brutal Ukraine onslaught and its zero-tolerance approach to dissent, namely its treatment of Alexei Navalny, who earlier this week received a nine-year jail sentence for alleged large-scale fraud.
Rowling's inclusion was only a small part of Mr Putin's sprawling polemic in which he lambasted the West for discriminating against Russian culture, which he likened to Nazi supporters burning books in the 1930s.
“Today they are trying to cancel a thousand-year-old country,” Mr Putin said during a televised meeting with Russian winners of culture-related prizes.
“I am talking about the progressive discrimination against everything connected with Russia, about this trend that is unfolding in a number of western states, with the full connivance and sometimes with the encouragement of western elites.
“The proverbial 'cancel culture' has become a cancellation of culture,” he said, citing the exclusion of works by Russian composers from concerts and the banning of books by Russian authors.
“The last time such a mass campaign to destroy unwanted literature was carried out was by the Nazis in Germany almost 90 years ago … books were burned right on the squares,” Mr Putin said.
Watch: Vladimir Putin says West trying to cancel Russian culture
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
More on Quran memorisation:
The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
MATCH INFO
Brescia 1 (Skrinia og, 76)
Inter Milan 2 (Martinez 33, Lukaku 63)
The biog
Favourite book: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Favourite holiday destination: Spain
Favourite film: Bohemian Rhapsody
Favourite place to visit in the UAE: The beach or Satwa
Children: Stepdaughter Tyler 27, daughter Quito 22 and son Dali 19
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
Manchester City transfers:
OUTS
Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Willy Caballero and Jesus Navas (all released)
INS
Ederson (Benfica) £34.7m, Bernardo Silva (Monaco) £43m
ON THEIR WAY OUT?
Joe Hart, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony, Fabian Delph, Nolito and Kelechi Iheanacho
ON THEIR WAY IN?
Dani Alves (Juventus), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
