On Russia
I think The Washington Post has always had good coverage of art, even though I haven’t agreed with their politics usually.
This is from a new WaPo article on Russian artists and dissidents:
“Decades before a member of the all-female Russian band Pussy Riot escaped from Russia after criticizing President Vladimir Putin, the Soviet Union’s top ballet star, Rudolf Nureyev, made a dash for freedom at the Paris airport.
Just before the prestigious Leningrad State Kirov Ballet troupe boarded a plane to London in June 1961, the 23-year-old Nureyev broke away from KGB agents and ran, shouting in English, “I want to be free! I want the French police to protect me!” France gave him political asylum, and he went on to international stardom.”
I said to a social-media contact from Russia recently that U.S. people find Russians attractive and intelligent but sometimes too extreme. Witness Putin.