The surreal central-Asian remake of Green Card continues. From The New York Times:
Days after he appeared in person with his friend and fellow Russian citizen Vladimir Putin, the French tax exile Gérard Depardieu made a virtual appearance alongside the daughter of Uzbekistan's authoritarian leader, Islam Karimov, in a new music video.
The Uzbek first daughter, Gulnara Karimova—described as "something of a robber baron" and "the single most hated person in the country," in a 2005 American diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks—is engaged in an elaborate effort to make herself into an international pop star, under the stage name Googoosha.
Over the weekend, Ms. Karimova took a break from arguing with a BBC correspondent on Twitter about forced sterilizations in Uzbekistan to post a message in her alter ego's name announcing the release of her latest music video, which features a Gainsbourgian spoken-word cameo by Mr. Depardieu….In a Twitter message to a fan of the video, Ms. Karimova wrote that the duet was Mr. Depardieu's idea, and he was reading from a book of her poems.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that when Putin offered Depardieu a Russian passport, "Some of Putin's critics said the passport move was a stunt and pointed out that the president announced last month a campaign to prevent rich Russians keeping their money offshore."
