[katana]

I have to think Putin is taking a very dim view of converting Hagia Sophia back to a mosque.

I doubt KGB officer Putin cares at all. But by enthusiastically turning the Russian people back to their church, a much more effective unifying bond than Communism ever could be, he certainly set the stage for his people to demand action.

[Nothingburger]

I see your point. I like to say this: Putin may be an SOB, but he’s an SOB for Mother Russia.

How could I possibly hate a culture that has given us Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich ... among many others?