On October 10, 2012, an appellate court in Moscow announced the conditional release of Pussy Riot’s Yekaterina Samutsevich, the punk rock dissident imprisoned alongside band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina for charges of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” The “religious hatred” involved a musical protest, a “punk prayer” staged inside Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February, less than a month before Russia’s elections. Appealing to the Virgin Mary to banish Vladimir Putin, the performance artists called attention to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s explicit endorsement of Putin as “a miracle from God,” highlighting the entangled powers of church and state.

You can argue that some of this has stopped, although the better way to put it is that we leave the dirty work to other countries these days. You cannot argue that this has not damaged US credibility around the world, and given those who want to deflect from their own human rights failings an easy out.

Why does the Grey Lady continue to employ David Sanger, didn’t they learn anything from the sordid Judith Affair…?

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches/videos on current issues that may be of interest.

The love affair with Pussy Riot shows no sign of slowing down since the trio of punk women were sentenced to 2 years in prison. Neither has the legal system’s attack on their actions, with Russia Today reporting two more members of the group now under fire.

In Russia, the all-girl punk band Pussy Riot has been found guilty of protesting Vladimir Putin at a cathedral in Moscow. The charge could carry up to three years in prison.

The court case has generated international outrage about the curtailing of free speech. Prosecutors in Russia argued that Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin “punk prayer” violated religious strictures, and the court agreed. The specific charge is “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.”

If you’ve ever wondered why all the angry political rhetoric about high gasoline prices has so little effect when you’re paying around $4 a gallon, give a read to Steve Coll’s incredibly well-researched book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. At numerous points in the 685-page exposé of the largest U.S. energy company, Coll makes clear how ExxonMobil puts its interests behind no others, including those of the American public.

“I’m not a U.S. company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.,” former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond says.

Fighting in the Syrian capital of Damascus raged for a third straight day, the most sustained challenge to the seat of power of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government has escalated their response as a result, and there appears to be no end in sight.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s continued survival is predicated on their Russian patrons to a large extent. So this shift from Moscow is really a crushing blow.

The US has expelled Syria’s top diplomat in Washington, just one of many Western countries to throw out Syrian envoys after the Houla massacre. The name missing from that list is Russia, whose Foreign Minister yesterday said that the rebels share the blame with the government for the massacre. This Russian roadblock prevents serious action by the UN Security Council.