Putin is afraid of girls

EDITORIAL

Published: 20 Aug 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

In 1931, the tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the destruction of the main Christian church in Moscow. The Church of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and levelled to become the site for a monument to his horrific brand of communism.

When that ideology was inevitably overthrown 60 years later, the Russian leader Boris Yeltsin had the Russian Orthodox church rebuilt in garish, golden form.

In the past decade, the church has been used by Vladimir Putin as a centre of power and force. Last week, that power was challenged by Mr Putin's political opponents and world leaders _ but mostly by a female punk band.

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robins
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Discussion 9 : 20 Aug 2012 at 15.099
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@Discussion 6 The absolute nonsense and violation of people's freedom of expression that is verbal "hate speech" actually makes me feel slight patriotism to my home Country. Disparaging someone for their race may be rude but making it a crime is pure liberal insanity. At least freedom of speech in the USA has not been gutted like that, at least not yet.
As for Putin, he seems like an intelligent man, surprising he does not care how ridiculous this makes him look in the eyes of the World and how it spreads these girls message and comments to far more people than if he had just ignored them.
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tommylee
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Discussion 8 : 20 Aug 2012 at 14.368
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Western mass media have a hysterical aversion to Putin. If the editor had done some background research he/she might have found out why, and might have come to a more balanced opinion.
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raimund
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Discussion 7 : 20 Aug 2012 at 13.387
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Putin was never a friend of human or democratic rights and will never be.
Dis 1 you are wrong, in Thailand Pussy Riot would be acquitted,because they did not show bare breasts.
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wakeup
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Discussion 6 : 20 Aug 2012 at 12.246
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In Europe, had this been skinheads doing the same thing in a Jewish synagogue (these girls actually specifically mocked Orthodox Christians as well), it'd be called a "hate crime" and they'd have been sentenced to 3 or more years in prison. People have right to speak - but not at the expense of violating people's rights to be left alone while minding their own business. And so they go to jail - and would have in the West had the script been flipped.
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bonzo
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Discussion 5 : 20 Aug 2012 at 12.085
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Remember: this is the same man who demanded an apology just because some people said he looks like Dobby the House Elf. But he has a black belt in judo (Putin, not Dobby), so obviously not to be messed with.
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bern1005
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Discussion 4 : 20 Aug 2012 at 10.494
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While I do agree that the clear motive here is suppression of political opponents (rather than protection of religion), do we not see laws misused in the same way in our country?
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Eggmeng
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Discussion 3 : 20 Aug 2012 at 10.073
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The best thing about this whole story is getting to watch the news commentators on TV struggle to say Pussy Riot with a straight face.
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pquinlan
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Discussion 2 : 20 Aug 2012 at 09.352
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I just love the headline. Beautiful.
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windhorse
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Discussion 1 : 20 Aug 2012 at 07.571
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2 years jail!Thats nothing In Thailand it would be 20
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Putin is afraid of girls | Bangkok Post: opinion