The Russian people worry me more than Putin

We know that Putin is a self-centered, myopic man with no sense of morality. Frankly, it's not surprising that he'd annex Crimea. After all, the west made fun of Russians for not knowing how many toilets go into a private bathroom. Putin will never get over that. I knew he'd strike out at something (though I thought it would be gay people rather than an entire country). But you expect this sort of nonsense from Puti. It's what he does.

What worries me more is the Russian people.

Pro-Russian crowds seized two Ukrainian warships Thursday and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the European Union considered new sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.

The Russian people seized two Ukrainian warships?! The people, not the army? Maybe we should take a closer look at these folks. From what we've seen on newscasts, Russians enjoy taunting and beating gay people. Their glee is obvious. It seems they don't seem have a moral center, like other people do. It's all about making fun of others and harming them (while surrounded by Christian crosses and Coptic priests; just saying). And now they've seized a warship?! 

When I see Vladimir Putin on the news, speaking to a (pre-picked, I assume) group of people in a hall in Russia, and the camera shows the audience, I'm chilled. That sea of white faces gazing up at Puti with glazed, adoring eyes, reminds me of something.

It's like a scene from German history -- to be precise: the week before Kristallnacht. Hitler's atrocities could not have taken place without a craven populace who cheered his every abuse as they queued up for jobs at the concentration camps. The Russian people love what Putin is doing. They enjoy the abuse of gays, they relish the illegal move into Crimea. And hey, they seize warships.

This won't end well.

Another view of "Czar Vladimir"

Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, has an interesting op-ed in today's New York Times. In "Czar Vladimir's Illusions", we see a different view of Vladimir Putin. I found it fascinating so I'm providing a link to enable you to read it for free. (The NYT has gotten crabby about page views recently.)

Here's how it begins:

NEW YORK — As the Winter Olympics begin in Sochi, a close Russian ally in Ukraine is suppressing and shooting pro-democracy protesters. 

One could be forgiven for thinking that the hour of triumph for autocrats and the retreat of democrats is at hand as the world gathers to celebrate the shining rule of Czar Vladimir.

Veddy inteddesting. And good morning, ya'll. Big snowstorm settling over my area (New York) right now. If I disappear, it means we lost power. Don't worry. I'll be back.

Aravosis beat me to it

I was going to rip Russia from stem to stern this morning, but John Aravosis at AmericaBlog beat me to it. Just go read this.

Take that, Vladdy!

Pussy Riot comes out swinging

I love these women. Seconds after their release, they condemned Putin. I mean, they didn't even take a deep breath first. They were ready.

Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, were released from jail Monday under an amnesty allowing their early release from two-year sentences for a protest in a church against President Vladimir Putin.

Tolokonnikova shouted "Russia without Putin" after she was freed from a facility in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Alyokhina was released from a different jail hours earlier and dismissed the amnesty move. "I do not think it is a humanitarian act," she said to Russian Internet and TV channel Dozhd. "I think it is a PR stunt."

Seriously, these two women are stellar human beings. May they live forever and bring positive change to the pig sty we refer to as "Russia".

Torch for anti-gay Sochi Olympics gets around

A Russian rocket soared into the cosmos Thursday carrying the Sochi Olympic torch and three astronauts to the International Space Station ahead of the first-ever spacewalk for the symbol of peace. 

The unlit torch for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi is to be taken on a spacewalk Saturday, then return to Earth on Monday (late Sunday EST) with three departing space station astronauts. 

Last month, the Olympic flame traveled to the North Pole on a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker. Later this month it will sink to the bottom of the world's deepest lake, Lake Baikal. In early February, it will reach the peak of Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 meters (18,510 feet) the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. 

And finally, the Olympic Torch will make its way into Putin's body, to a top-secret place where the sun don't shine -- a fitting end for the world's first anti-gay Russian Olympics.