Irony, absurdity, or pehaps the cold weather and crappy liquor?

A Russian human-rights activist, Lev Ponomaryov, was beaten up in Moscow. The attack followed the killing of a human-rights lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, earlier this year.

Really? Well, I've heard these peaceniks can be quite confrontational.

A prominent Chechen, Sulim Yamadayev, was reportedly shot dead in Dubai. Mr Yamadayev had fallen out with Chechnya’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov. He would be the fourth well-known opponent of Mr Kadyrov’s to be killed since September.

You know, sometimes I think I might have been better off staying in the land of my ancestry, eastern Ukraine and up through the Baltic states, beating up dissidents and murdering political opponents... maybe it's in the blood. Or maybe I just need to eat lunch.

(Thanks to The Economist for the italics.)

The above is an old Soviet propaganda poster of a supposedly common phrase back in the day: "And you are lynching Negroes," a response directed at America's hypocrisy for it's treatment of blacks while criticizing the USSR for it's lack of "freedom."

From Russia with masochistic love

In a countrywide vote of 5m people, Russians chose Alexander Nevsky, a medieval prince, as the greatest Russian of all time, only a little ahead of Joseph Stalin, the front-runner in early polling
-The Economist

A seeming paradox, but indeed, despite espoused ideology both historical figures share Orwell's image of "a boot stomping on human face -- forever."