Tales of Russian Barbarism, Unbound
Filed under: Russia
Russia's ability to surprise you (always in a bad way) is quite breathtaking. No matter what horror you see laid before you today, you can be sure that tomorrow Russia will produce something that will make today look like afternoon tea.
Just open today's issue of the Moscow Times, and look what you find:
(1) Not only is Vladimir Putin not stepping down from power after his presidential term ends, not only is he becoming Prime Minister and assuming vast new powers for that office, including direct control of regional leaders, but now, just as in the good old Soviet days, he is also becoming chief of the United Russia party of power. So much for the dastardly lies told by his sycophants about how he would retire to Gazprom or some other background position!
(2) Even more evidence is put forth regarding the blatant electoral fraud carried out by the Putin regime in order to thrust its hand-picked successor upon the nation as an absolute autocrat.
(3) Playwright Natalia Pelevine (pictured above) has her drama about the Dubrovka theater attack canceled "moments after the curtain came down on the play's first performance in Russia." Apparently, it dared to identify the hostage takers as human beings, and this couldn't be tolerated.
(4) Lawyer Boris Kuznetsov, granted political asylum in the United States earlier this year, is charged in absentia for "divulging state secrets." The paper notes: "Kuznetsov has defended numerous high-profile clients against government charges and claims that the case against him is a politically motivated attack orchestrated by the Federal Security Service."
(5) The body of Kremlin critic Anna Mikhalchuk was found "in the Spree River near the Muehlendamm bridge in the capital's central Mitte district of Berlin."
It's almost as if Russia's barbaric dictatorship is trying intentionally to churn out so much horrifying bad news that it will inundate the West's perceptions and cause it all to get washed under the bridge. There's so much of it, it has to be numbered. One has a rich choice of what to be most outraged about, as if from a grand buffet at the Tsar's court.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | 
digg | 
technorati | 
stumble upon | 
furl | 
reddit