When the teenager in a red coat, Julia Lipnitskaia, became the buzz girl of the Games, with a performance lighter than air as Russia won gold in the team figure skating, what was her reward? A pinch on the cheek and a pat on the head by president Vladimir Putin, who told his 15-year-old pixie: "Great job. Very beautiful."
All too often, it seems as if the primary job of Russian women is to be beautiful. Nothing more. Arguing against gender equity in the new Olympic sport of women's ski jumping, Russian coach Alexander Arefyev told the Izvestia newspaper in a recent interview: "If I had a daughter, never would give in to jumping. It's too hard work. Women have a different purpose — to have children, do housework, to create a family home."
Magnitsky’s death was something of a sensation. To citizens weary of corruption he was a martyr. In America, Browder brought Magnitsky’s mother, wife and son to Capitol Hill.
John McCain: Nice to see you again my friend.
Browder told his version of Magnitsky’s death to Congress and in 2012 convinced members of the Senate and House to pass the Magnitsky Act.
Bill Browder testimony: We’ll never be able to bring Sergei back…
The act bans 18 Russians from entering the U.S. including Artem Kuznetsov and other police and tax officials allegedly involved in the theft of Brower’s companies.
Days later, in retaliation, the Russian parliament banned American adoption of Russian children. U.S./Russian relations haven’t been the same since.
In a news conference, Vladimir Putin, who has run Russia for 14 years, insisted Magnitsky’s heart had failed. And he added, "Do you think no one dies in American jails. Of course they do. So what?"
When the teenager in a red coat, Julia Lipnitskaia, became the buzz girl of the Games, with a performance lighter than air as Russia won gold in the team figure skating, what was her reward? A pinch on the cheek and a pat on the head by president Vladimir Putin, who told his 15-year-old pixie: "Great job. Very beautiful."
All too often, it seems as if the primary job of Russian women is to be beautiful. Nothing more. Arguing against gender equity in the new Olympic sport of women's ski jumping, Russian coach Alexander Arefyev told the Izvestia newspaper in a recent interview: "If I had a daughter, never would give in to jumping. It's too hard work. Women have a different purpose — to have children, do housework, to create a family home."
Were those words really uttered in 2014?
I was watching the ice dancing yesterday morning while listening to the KSHE Classics show. The male announcer with Tara Lapinski, I don't remember his name, was so over the top gay (I assume as a slap in the face to Russia) that I had to chuckle.
I'm trying tiptoe around this, and not painting with too broad of a brush. At my work there are many Russian's, so I have learned quite a bit about the culture. My first office mate was a Jewish women who left Moscow when she was 20, she probably had an impression on me because she didn't hide her feelings very much.
Culturally I have a very tough time with this group. Sometimes kind of a tough group to work with. I'll leave it at that.
RE: corruption...Yeah, the Soviets are technically no longer in charge, but that is kind of beside the point. The real problem during the Soviet era was corruption, and the underlying corruption never really left. It just changed forms and maybe got reduced somewhat. Getting rid of corruption of that magnitude doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't go away because some wall in another country got knocked down. And you probably never get rid of some of it. There is some level of corruption in every country on the planet, even ours. I hope they can further reduce it in the future but they have a long ways to go to get to the lower level of corruption like the USA or Europe.
jim wrote:I'm trying tiptoe around this, and not painting with too broad of a brush. At my work there are many Russian's, so I have learned quite a bit about the culture. My first office mate was a Jewish women who left Moscow when she was 20, she probably had an impression on me because she didn't hide her feelings very much.
Culturally I have a very tough time with this group. Sometimes kind of a tough group to work with. I'll leave it at that.
i am a product of the cold war....i hate russia....I still don't trust them.....you can add cuba to my list also along with arabs...