American Defector in Russia

Circa 1974 the Kirov Ballet was performing in Vancouver and I and some friends had tickets, to see the amazing Baryshnikov perform.  When we got there we learned Baryshnikov had defected the night before in Toronto.  No Baryshnikov.  The performance was not very good, for the very bad effect his defection had had on his colleagues.  We were back the stage door when three ballerinas bolted out and began running down the alley.  "Devyooshki!" a large woman called.  They stopped.

In effect, Snowden has defected from the USA to to Russia.

Snowden “is in a safe place,” but the location will remain secret out of concern for his security, his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told Russian news agencies. The systems analyst who revealed himself as the source of reports in the Guardian newspaper of a vast U.S. Internet surveillance program needs time after his ordeal in airport limbo to figure out his next steps.

What a strange turn of events.  The USA is the new Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union is the new USA.  I expect more defections, now that Snowden has paved the way.

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