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Editors' Blog

Cossacks!

by
02.19.14 | 2:44 pm
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is pulled away by a Russian security officer after she and fellow members of the punk group Pussy Riot staged a protest performance in Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. The group had ... Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is pulled away by a Russian security officer after she and fellow members of the punk group Pussy Riot staged a protest performance in Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. The group had gathered in a downtown Sochi restaurant, about 30km (21miles) from where the Winter Olympics are being held. They ran out of the restaurant wearing brightly colored clothes and ski masks and were immediately set upon by about a dozen Cossacks, who are used by police authorities in Russia to patrol the streets. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) MORE LESS

Good Lord. When I heard that Russia was bringing in Cossacks to brutalize their underpeople and undesirables, I thought it was a metaphor. But no. Cossacks.

Not just for raping and killing Jews in the late 19th century any more …

Josh Marshall is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TPM.
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