Protest: St. Petersburg Style

       Alexei Navalny, erstwhile candidate for high office in Russya, led protests that occurred countrywide yesterday.  He was arrested in St. Petersburg along with a number of his fellow protesters.   This was predicted and expected and Mr. Navalny was not disappointed by the police. Decked out in typical riot gear fashion, police units waded in among the youthful protesters and dragged them off to waiting vans to then be taken into custody.   Seems normal routine.  But here in St. Petersburg not much is normal these days.   The old city is attempting to re-establish itself as a European-style cosmopolitan hub of western, or European Russya.   This is not a new quest.  A quick look at the history of the place indicates that these efforts go back to the time of the Czars, when Russya had some culture or a semblance of culture.
      It is common knowledge that the sitting president of the Federation, Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, was the deputy mayor of the city less than 20 years ago when he also served as a KGB operative designated as the political watchdog of the mayor.   From that position, somehow, he ended up in Moscova and, lo and behold, next stop the presidency/prime minister/top oligarch/top despot/top military officer/top lion tamer/top judo expert/top international bon vivant/top horseman/top leopard trainer/ top election manipulator/top Trump handler/top China negotiator/ and top interview subject(Oliver Stone subject).
     So, the Kremlin fake news office is working hard now, pumping out drivel to pacify the everyday Russyan consumer of Kremlin fake news/alt facts.
     Ahh, life in Russya, it's different; just ask anybody who lives there.