The New Republic

The New Republic

Julia Ioffe examines the black humor of the Pussy Riot trial. On the morning of February 21, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mria Alyokhina, and Ekaterina Samutsevich walked up the steps leading to the altar of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, shed their winter clothing, pulled colorful winter hats down over their faces, and jumped around punching and kicking for about thirty seconds. By evening, the three young women had turned it into a music video called “Punk Prayer: Holy Mother, Chase Putin Away!” which mocked the patriarch and Putin. (“The head of the KGB is their patron saint,” they sang, by turns shrieking and imitating a church choir.) The video went viral: it was two weeks before the presidential election and Putin, facing a wave of unprecedented protests, was feeling shaky. Three days later, a warrant was issued for the girls’ arrest. According to their indictment, their trial promised to be a decisive moment in the history of Christianity; officially, they were being tried for hooliganism, but the mumbling prosecutor clarified that they stood accused of “insulting the entire Christian world.” Julia Ioffe —  “Pussy Riot V. Putin: A Front Row Seat at a Russian Dark Comedy” 
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Julia Ioffe examines the black humor of the Pussy Riot trial.

On the morning of February 21, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mria Alyokhina, and Ekaterina Samutsevich walked up the steps leading to the altar of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, shed their winter clothing, pulled colorful winter hats down over their faces, and jumped around punching and kicking for about thirty seconds. By evening, the three young women had turned it into a music video called “Punk Prayer: Holy Mother, Chase Putin Away!” which mocked the patriarch and Putin. (“The head of the KGB is their patron saint,” they sang, by turns shrieking and imitating a church choir.)

The video went viral: it was two weeks before the presidential election and Putin, facing a wave of unprecedented protests, was feeling shaky. Three days later, a warrant was issued for the girls’ arrest. According to their indictment, their trial promised to be a decisive moment in the history of Christianity; officially, they were being tried for hooliganism, but the mumbling prosecutor clarified that they stood accused of “insulting the entire Christian world.”

Julia Ioffe —  “Pussy Riot V. Putin: A Front Row Seat at a Russian Dark Comedy” 

What explains the paradoxical views of Russian protesters? “Another protester, Andrey Ershov, an international relations student at a Moscow university, told me that his motivation for attending the rallies was to register his keen disappointment with the parliamentary elections held last December, which he viewed as rigged in favor of Putin’s United Russia Party. But he was not, he stressed, part of any anti-Putin opposition. “I think Putin is the person who is the most fit for this political system, which is now in Russia,” Ershov said—a system in which a tiny elite rules both the political and business realms. “Me personally, I would like the system to change and for a president to be more democratically oriented. But, for now, I think it is logical that Putin won.”” - Paul Starobin, The Putin Generation Photo courtesy of The Guardian
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What explains the paradoxical views of Russian protesters?

“Another protester, Andrey Ershov, an international relations student at a Moscow university, told me that his motivation for attending the rallies was to register his keen disappointment with the parliamentary elections held last December, which he viewed as rigged in favor of Putin’s United Russia Party. But he was not, he stressed, part of any anti-Putin opposition. “I think Putin is the person who is the most fit for this political system, which is now in Russia,” Ershov said—a system in which a tiny elite rules both the political and business realms. “Me personally, I would like the system to change and for a president to be more democratically oriented. But, for now, I think it is logical that Putin won.””

- Paul Starobin, The Putin Generation

Photo courtesy of The Guardian

Why is Obama giving up his human rights leverage against Russia?“The history of Jackson-Vanik should persuade Congress to update rather than abandon American support for human rights in Russia. An alternative to Jackson-Vanik, tailored to current conditions, already exists. Introduced by Senator Ben Cardin and supported by more than two dozen senators from both parties, a bill now pending would deny visas for and freeze assets of Russian officials responsible for corruption and human rights abuses. The bill was inspired by the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a tax lawyer who was arrested in Russia after decrying official corruption, and subsequently died in jail from abuse.”- Ellen Bork, Why Is Obama Giving Up His Human Rights Leverage Against Russia?Photo courtesy of Now Public
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Why is Obama giving up his human rights leverage against Russia?

“The history of Jackson-Vanik should persuade Congress to update rather than abandon American support for human rights in Russia. An alternative to Jackson-Vanik, tailored to current conditions, already exists. Introduced by Senator Ben Cardin and supported by more than two dozen senators from both parties, a bill now pending would deny visas for and freeze assets of Russian officials responsible for corruption and human rights abuses. The bill was inspired by the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a tax lawyer who was arrested in Russia after decrying official corruption, and subsequently died in jail from abuse.”

- Ellen Bork, Why Is Obama Giving Up His Human Rights Leverage Against Russia?

Photo courtesy of Now Public

Why are liberals lending credibility to RT, a zany Russian TV station? “My general impression is, whenever they have me on, it’s to criticize the American government,” says Jacob Sullum, a senior editor at Reason. “Of course, that’s no big surprise because that’s pretty much what I do. That’s how I make my living. But I did start to wonder after a while what they were saying about the Russian government.” Sullum says he’s OK with appearing on RT because he, personally, hasn’t seen “anything beyond the pale” when he’s been a guest of the network, but “it would trouble me if they were drawing a moral equivalence between Russia and other countries like the U.S.” - Jesse Zwick, “Pravda Lite” Photo courtesy of Foreign Policy
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Why are liberals lending credibility to RT, a zany Russian TV station?

“My general impression is, whenever they have me on, it’s to criticize the American government,” says Jacob Sullum, a senior editor at Reason. “Of course, that’s no big surprise because that’s pretty much what I do. That’s how I make my living. But I did start to wonder after a while what they were saying about the Russian government.” Sullum says he’s OK with appearing on RT because he, personally, hasn’t seen “anything beyond the pale” when he’s been a guest of the network, but “it would trouble me if they were drawing a moral equivalence between Russia and other countries like the U.S.”

- Jesse Zwick, “Pravda Lite”

Photo courtesy of Foreign Policy

Mikhail Prokhorov is owner of the New Jersey Nets, part-owner of a Russian society magazine called “Snob,” and is reportedly looking for a girlfriend “who can cook.” Is this eccentric billionaire capable of winning the Russian presidency? “Well known as a party boy—a Muscovite quoted in a New York profile notes, ‘It used to be that you go to certain clubs and if at some moment about fifteen barely legal girls show up all at once, you could tell that Prokhorov is about to stop by’—Prokhorov nevertheless claims that he has never tasted vodka or for that matter been drunk at all.” -Matt O’Brien and Darius Tahir, “Meet the Gun-Toting, Teetotaling, Jet-Skiing Russian Billionaire Running Against Putin” Photo courtesy of Forbes.
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Mikhail Prokhorov is owner of the New Jersey Nets, part-owner of a Russian society magazine called “Snob,” and is reportedly looking for a girlfriend “who can cook.” Is this eccentric billionaire capable of winning the Russian presidency?

“Well known as a party boy—a Muscovite quoted in a New York profile notes, ‘It used to be that you go to certain clubs and if at some moment about fifteen barely legal girls show up all at once, you could tell that Prokhorov is about to stop by’—Prokhorov nevertheless claims that he has never tasted vodka or for that matter been drunk at all.”

-Matt O’Brien and Darius Tahir, “Meet the Gun-Toting, Teetotaling, Jet-Skiing Russian Billionaire Running Against Putin”

Photo courtesy of Forbes.