Last spring the international news scene exploded with news of the trial of the somewhat uncouthly named Russian punk band Pussy Riot. 
PR was accused of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” which the Wall Street Journal reports has a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
The story broke back in February when the band (approximately 12 members) did a Putin protest prayer in Moscow’s main Orthodox Church building the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The story received more international coverage, however, when three members were arrested and put on trial for their dissent. 
They have all received two-year sentences, though early this month, Moscow courts dismissed one woman’s charges. Russian Premier Dmitiry Medvedev has criticized the trials as being “very strong” and a “horrible burden.”
The stunt has come to embody the Russian peoples growing dissatisfaction with the Putin regime and its often tyrannical policies, as well as the support he is receiving from the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the trial, reporters and protestors were arrested for their involvement.
 Paul Kemp, Johnny Depp’s character in the “Rum Diary” film based on Hunter S. Thompson’s novel of the same name, is a journalist who talks about using a “voice made out of ink and rage” to “speak for his reader” and “let the bastards know that he does not have their best interests at heart.” 
This may be a flamboyant way of putting it, but I think it captures the fervor with which journalism is supposed to seek the truth. These arrests do not seem to belong in today’s Russia. They harken back to the Soviet Union, when people would just “disappear” and would likely never be heard from again.
This is not something we expect to hear from a developed, G8 nation that we do business with.
One would expect news like this to come from Venezuela, where two-time president and longtime strongman, Hugo Chavez, was just elected by a margin into a third six-year term as president of Venezuela.
The past three weeks, stories of corruption and “hyperinflation” have surfaced, as well as pictures of pictures of (not a typo) the former Venezuelan vice president glad handing with the infamous communist leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro.
Oct. 18, the Wall Street Journal reported the Kremlin crackdowns and investigations have persisted on opposition groups in Moscow.
The situation could certainly be worse in Moscow, but the fist Putin is bringing down is a bit disturbing. 
I am neither endorsing nor bashing either candidate in the upcoming United States presidential election, but perhaps Gov. Romney’s “Cold War” foreign policy stance is not so silly and outdated with these clouds of the Cold War creeping into view.
I am not saying a second standoff with Russia is imminent, but I do think some discussion and recognition of world news and politics is necessary to understand how America fits into the world today.