A Russian Riot

Three members of the Russian punk band "Pussy Riot" have been sentenced to two years in jail for the crime of hooliganism. Who woulda thunk it? Seems to me, if you're of the "let the punishment fit the crime" school of thought, a slap on the wrist with a wet noodle would have sufficed. Whatever silly thing they did that turned them into hooligans--something about mocking Vladimir Putin inside a Cathedral--must have been fairly innocuous; after all, hooliganism rarely results in death or disfigurement, usually causing only embarrassment, humiliation, annoyance or perhaps a keyed car. But that's the Russians for you--my parents always said they were bad dudes.

Growing up as I did during the Cold War era, I learned that the Ruskies were our mortal enemies. Over dinner, my sister and I were taught the basics every Jewish child needed to know: Hate the Germans, fear the Russians, Santa's a fake and don't eat pork. I would ask what was so bad about the Russians, and couldn't there be a nice little Russian girl name Svetlana somewhere just like me-- only wearing a babushka and picking potatoes-- that I could play with, and they always said, "No! The Russians are bad! Russia is a terrible place to live--it's cold all the time and there are bread lines and the police will lock you up for doing the least little thing." Secretly I scoffed at this, thinking my parents were crazy, but who could blame them after surviving Hitler's reign. Still, those Russian nesting dolls were so cute and I loved all the pretty buildings with those swirly tops. "But you guys love vodka," I pointed out helpfully--surely there was something good about Russia. "Nyet!" they insisted.

And so here we are, all these years later, my mother and father dead and gone, and these three misguided and spunky young Russian women have already been in jail for five months for the crime of "undermining social order," causing many citizens across Europe to stage protests on their behalf. Even President Obama is pissed, and he never gets mad at anyone except a Republican. Who knows--maybe my parents were right about Russia, and maybe about  some other things too.