Madonna's arrival in Moscow, which has prompted an unprecedented frenzy for tickets and police detail (“About 3,500 policemen, including 400 Omon fighters, as well as police with dogs, bomb technicians and soldiers from the Dzerzhinsky special task division, will be ensuring security.”) is being touted as a victory for free speech in the country.
While “there have been protests, kidnapping threats aimed at Madonna and warnings of a terrorist attack” because of the singer's performance of “Live to Tell” while crucified on a giant mirrored cross, the spokesman for Madonna's Russian tour tells the NYT that though thousands of people are eager to see the concert, the threats are also a sign of the country's progress toward Democratic ideals:
Said spokesman Anton G. Atrashkin: “This is a country where anyone can go into the street and say they hate Madonna.” Which, of course, has become something of a spectator sport in the United States. And hate usually spells economic victory for the Material Girl.
Yet while other parts of Russian seem to be showing signs of social progression, the Orthodox Russian movement still doesn't approve of gay culture. And their drag impersonations are just so off.
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