What It Was Like to Watch the Russian Meteorite(s) Fall
- “I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day. I felt like I was blinded by headlights.”
— Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg, where the meteorite hit in the Urals Mountains- “What was it? People said it was a plane that fell and exploded. I saw a bright blast from behind me. Everything was lit up, very bright light. It was like from Armageddon movie when the meteorite rain started, I really thought it was like doomsday. It was so scary especially the explosion. It was very strong. I am speechless. It was so strong. My camera couldn’t reproduce how strong the bang was.’”
— Gulnara Dudka, a woman in her 20s
Wow.
![Russian Prime Minister Calls for the Release of Pussy Riot
A new, unlikely voice has been added to the ‘Free Pussy Riot’ refrain: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who said on Wednesday that any more time spent in jail for the three band members would be “unproductive.” The three Pussy Riot members sentenced to jail time have already served five months behind bars, before and after the trial. The Associated Press reports that they have an appeal scheduled on October 1, which — if Medvedev’s comments signal the Russian regime’s thinking — could mean that their release could come in a couple weeks.
Read more. [Image: AP]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma8z0xVpo31qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Vladimir Putin Has a $75,000 Toilet, Among Other Things
Intended to paint Putin as an out-of-touch playboy who doesn’t understand the plight of average struggling Russians, the report, called “The Life of a Galley Slave” (because Putin said in 2008 the work of ruling Russia was like being a galley slave), reads like a spread in Town & Country. Or at least it looks like one. The PDF of the original is in Russian, but the photos are easy enough to understand, and its details have fortunately made their way into the English-language press. ”As well as 15 helicopters, the 43 other aircraft available to Putin include an Airbus, two Dassault Falcon executive jets and an Ilyushin Il-96 airliner that features an $18-million cabin fitted out by jewelers— and that toilet which, the report says, cost close to $75,000,” Reuters’ Steve Gutterman reports. “One 53.7-metre yacht with a designer interior, a spa pool, waterfall and wine cellar is relegated to second best.” There are three others to choose from, including a five-decker “with a Jacuzzi, barbecue, a maple wood colonnade and a huge bathroom faced in marble.”
Read more. [Image: The Life of a Galley Slave]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9haztBGpX1qcokc4o1_1280.png)
![A masked demonstrator attends a demonstration in support of Pussy Riot, whose members face two years in prison for a stunt against President Vladimir Putin, outside Russia’s embassy in Berlin, on August 17, 2012.
[Image: AP]
See more scenes from Pussy Riot protests around the world.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m92m5tKyZR1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Manic Pixie Dream Dissidents: How the World Misunderstands Pussy Riot
Imagine this: The three men sit in a Moscow court, awaiting their verdict. The youngest, an experienced dissident described by Western media as a “sultry sex symbol” with “Angelina Jolie lips,” glances at his colleague, an activist praised by the Associated Press for his “pre-Raphaelite looks.” Between them sits a third man, whose lack of glamour has led the New Republic to label him “the brain” and deem his hair a “poof of dirty blonde frizz.” The dissidents — or “boys” as they are called in headlines around the world — have been the subject of numerous fashion and style profiles ever since they first spoke out against the Russian government. “He’s a flash of moving color,” the New York Times writes approvingly about their protests, “never an individual boy.”
If this sounds ridiculous, it should — and not just because I’ve changed their gender. These are actual excerpts from the Western media coverage of Pussy Riot, the Russian dissident performance art collective sentenced to two years in prison for protesting against the government. Pussy Riot identifies as feminist, but you would never know it from the Western media, who celebrate the group with the same language that the Russian regime uses to marginalize them.
Read more. [Image: AFP/Getty]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m92c8zWuxK1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Russian Punk Band Pussy Riot Found Guilty of ‘Holliganism Motivated by Religious Hatred’
The three members of the band have been given two year jail sentences, dating from their arrest on March 15. The women laughed and rolled their eyes as the sentences were read.
[…] Putin himself said he hopes the women are not treated “too severely,” though few believed that sentiment given that their performances (and their very existence as a band) were a direct challenge to his return to power earlier this year.
Read more. [Image: REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8wmkdHFcm1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
