Sinyavsky exploits the alien metaphor to the fullest by making his narrator an exotic plant that can barely survive in the harsh Moscow winter and the harsher Soviet communal apartment.
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The Satisfaction supporters are definitely fighting for something, but it is not LGBT rights
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The ECHR ruling plays right into the Kremlin’s favorite narrative: Western liberalism is not only offensive to traditional values, but also out to get Russia.
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North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory may not be as good at riding horses topless, swimming in Siberian lakes, and flying with cranes, but his ability to bend logical reasoning almost matches Putin’s.
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It’s no secret to those who study Russia that the culture of vertical control here affects everyone – not least human rights workers and lawyers fighting good fights.
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A healthy government can be relied on to reject conspiracy theories. An unhealthy government helps disseminate them.
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It’s not easy keeping an open mind about what’s going on in Russia when government officials are so intent on keeping minds closed.
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Strangely enough, fears of violence against gays can act as good PR for Russia by drawing attention away against a real threat: terrorism from the Caucasus.
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An Imam in Kazan had prayed to prevent Elton John from performing because of his homosexuality. This is about as peaceful and spiritual as protests get.
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Chelyabinsk is about the last place in Russian you’d expect to find any kind of gay movement, and comedians have taken advantage of this.
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When Mitt Romney declared Russia the “number 1 geopolitical foe” during the recent US presidential campaign, he would have been on much firmer ground had he simply added “of Madonna and Lady Gaga.”
Continue reading...Authoritarian Fun Fact: when the political culture and mechanisms of power all revolve around one man (sexist language intended), the accidental consequences of that man’s actions can be both disheartening and hilarious (when they are not tragic and reprehensible).
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