B D Finch Dec 29, 2012:

@Charles Always bear in mind that, unless you specifically mention the Eiffel Tower or the changing of the guard, a N. American listener could be forgiven for thinking you mean "Paris, Texas" or "London, Ontario"! ;)

veratek Dec 29, 2012:

@Amel "In this specific case, I think the format used is simply a means of saving space."

Totally agree and with Peter (Rome's Caesar, Egypt's Nasser, etc.). I think people are projecting antagonistic political feelings simply because they exist elsewhere, but are not present in the expression queried.

Peter Skipp Dec 29, 2012:

Having commented on the answers below, I have to agree that it isn't even lazy, and retract my "journalese" attribution. Historians write of Rome's Caesar, Egypt's Nasser, Britain's Macmillan, Czechoslovakia's Dubcek, Turkey's Ataturk. Entirely acceptable and long-established English usage!

Arabic & More Dec 29, 2012:

Also, I think the way to determine whether it is derogatory would be to see how that specific news organization handles headlines in general. If they only use this format for Putin and "hated" leaders, or only use it when the story says something negative about a leader, then I think you could make the case that the paper is deliberately being disrespectful. If all leaders are treated the same in the headlines, regardless of whether the story is positive or negative, then it would show that it is just a matter of house style.

Arabic & More Dec 29, 2012:

Found this in a Guyanan paper, though:

Learning from America's Obama

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/features/daily/11/08/learni...

Arabic & More Dec 29, 2012:

Speaking as an American, I do not see the headline as derogatory or even "lazy." It is perhaps a means of alerting readers that the story involves Russia. For those who scan the headlines quickly, "Russia" may stand out more than "Putin." As Charles mentioned, it may also be that the news organization is subtly trying to educate readers who don't know who the president of Russia is. When I worked for a magazine, we were instructed to pack as much information into a headline as possible while also cutting out any "extra" words. I do understand why some people think it sounds tacky, though. "America's Obama," for example, would look jarring and sound really odd to me because that is not ever seen in the U.S.

Catharine Cellier-Smart Dec 29, 2012:

Slightly off subject, but every time I read "Russia's Putin" it reminds me of a German friend who was speaking French and who (mis)pronounced "Putin" as "putain" (whore) ... I now personally can't read 'Putin' without remembering that!

Charles Davis Dec 29, 2012:

They could indeed have said just "Putin" instead of "Russia's Putin". Why mention the country? I don't see it as derogatory; it just seems American to me. I find it reminiscent of the tendency to say "Paris, France" and "London, England" (not always, but it does happen). The European attitude would be that very few newspaper readers need to be told who Putin is, or where Paris and London are, and many would actually be irritated by the suggestion that they do need to be told, but American journalists seem to be in the habit of mentioning the country. Far be it from me to suggest that this is because their readers are more ignorant of geography than those elsewhere, though that is sometimes said (symptomatic, it is often thought, of a general American ignorance of or indifference to the rest of the world). I read "Russia's Putin" as this kind of redundancy. It would be more respectful to say "Russia's President Putin", but I wouldn't read anything derogatory into the omission of his title in a headline.

Jonathan MacKerron Dec 28, 2012:

If it was to save space they could have said "Putin signs US adoption ban". The article itself does have negative overtones vis-a-vis Russia, so IMO "Russia's Putin" is not completely neutral. For example "Obama's America" does not mean the US as such, but what the US has become under his leadership, which nowadays invariably has a negative connotation. "America's Obama" would almost never be used in a US context, since from a US point of view, this invariably refers to (fishy) foreigners.

Arabic & More Dec 28, 2012:

In this specific case, I think the format used is simply a means of saving space.

Oleg Osipov (asker) Dec 28, 2012:

It's all about "Russia's Putin", not the article itself.

Catharine Cellier-Smart Dec 28, 2012:

Not clear From your question it's not very clear whether your query is just about the article title, or the whole article.