There's a little frisson that hits the air when you are walking through Moscow and suddenly come upon a group of OMON riot police standing at attention glaring at passers-by. Then you hear the megaphone, and then, you find a public demonstration.
Yesterday, on the way back from the zoo, we stumbled upon a pro-Gaddafi demonstration put together by the LDPR by the monument to the 1905 Revolution outside the Ulitsa 1905 Goda Metro station. It was a little hard to believe at first, mostly because the most prominent photos of the Colonel were more than a few decades old. It just proves this guy is a fashion icon -- his image really changes depending on how you want to see him.
The speaker was reading off a list of European politicians who have condemned the West's intervention in Libya. One sign offered the peculiar statistic that 73 percent of Russians support the Libyan leader (although the thin crowd gathered suggests a definitely silent majority). The subtext, though, wasn't really about supporting a tribal strongman in North Africa, but against NATO and the United States. Frankly, it seems to me that if opposing one thing means you have to line up behind someone like Gaddafi, you ought to rethink your priorities.
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