Russia: Putin Warns of Dirty Tricks

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/world/europe/russia-putin-warns-of-dirty-tricks.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 8:02 AM
Subject: re: Russia: Putin Warns of Dirty Tricks
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

  In the hall of mirrors that is Putin's Kremlin, government thugs no longer need even the cover of darkness to intimidate, beat or kill dissenters. Their boss has preemptively established the narrative. Any violence that befalls a government critic will be treated as theater meant only to embarrass the government. That's potentially a death warrant for anyone speaking for good governance, and a get-out-of-jail free card for the perpetrators.

Barry Haskell Levine