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Quote by Masha Gessen

“You risk everything if you so much as join a legal protest demonstration in Russia. It raises the stakes.”

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Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist known for her in-depth reporting on Russian political and social issues. Born on January 13, 1967, she has been living in the United States since the early 1990s. more

“For the first ten years, Vladimir Putin was constructing his power structure, and now he's defending it. He's retrenching, mobilizing a shrinking constituency, constructing an enemy that's really scary. It's war. And when you look at the anti-gay campaign, it's a classic case of war rhetoric: demonstrating an immediate and extreme danger.”

War Enemy Danger Scary Classic Rhetoric Really Scary

Author:Masha Gessen

“We have the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church talking about how gay marriage is a sign of the apocalypse, or Russian TV talking about how meteorites are coming to punish Russians for homosexuality.”

Church Gay Orthodox Homosexuality Apocalypse Gay Marriage

Author:Masha Gessen

“When I was touring with my Vladimir Putin biography, which was published all over the world, people would ask me, How come you're still there, why haven't you left? I would say, I'm staying, it's my home. He can leave! It felt very good to say that. But now - he wins. It's not natural for people in the opposition to leave. It's always a personal catastrophe. And yet he's gotten people out of the country. That's the most terrifying thing about the current situation, and for the future of the country.”

People World Country Home Winning Natural Situation Very Good Ask Me Catastrophe

Author:Masha Gessen

“One of the things that I really value about Russian culture is that on the private level it allows for a huge amount of variety and individuality with regards to family structure.”

Values Culture Individuality Variety

Author:Masha Gessen

“The reason Vladimir Putin released Pussy Riot, the Greenpeace activists who were kidnapped in international waters and kept in prison for two months, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's best-known and longest-serving political prisoner, was because he finally started panicking and realized that he may not have anyone to take pictures with.”

Reason Political Water Prison Activist Prisoner Riot

Author:Masha Gessen

“I received the Media for Liberty Award from Swedish PEN, and the prize was awarded by the Swedish minister of culture, who also happens to be the minister of sport. When she handed me the award, I said, Thank you, it's wonderful to be recognized, but we journalists always want more. So madam minister, I have a personal favor to ask you: Do not go to Sochi. And she announced that she was going to Sochi, but she's not attending the ceremonies, for political reasons. It's a very pointed stance.”

Reason Political Culture Sports Liberty Wonderful Journalist Prize Pens Ceremony

Author:Masha Gessen

“With Pussy Riot - this was a prank! It was a brilliant, artistically gifted prank. But they didn't expect to go to prison! They were college girls who became political prisoners for two years. That makes them very similar to the people who were "just going to a protest one day" and got arrested. They had no idea they were risking the rest of their lives. Because you're never the same after you've spent two years in a gulag.”

People Political Girl College One Day Prison Brilliant Protest Prisoner Riot

Author:Masha Gessen

“Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's a hell of a lot to do in a forty-second performance.”

Art Political Church Hell Changed Assumption Riot

Author:Masha Gessen

“It's a deep and all but certain truth about narcissistic personalities that to meet them is to love them, but to know them well is to find them unbearable. Confidence quickly curdles into arrogance; smarts turn to smugness, charm turns to smarm.”

Knows Wells Certain Turns Personality Smart Arrogance Charm Unbearable Narcissistic Smugness

Author:Jeffrey Kluger

“The rest of Russia is watching the same television that Vladimir Putin is watching. As far as they're concerned, Pussy Riot was rightly convicted of blasphemy, and Putin has now finally showed some mercy and let them out early so they could spend New Year's with their kids. He was nice to them even though they are really nasty. That's the dominant view. This really is a war and the front line is really firm.”

War Kids Nice Concerned Mercy Firm New Year Nasty Riot Blasphemy

Author:Masha Gessen

Quote by Masha Gessen

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