We long ago passed the point where Vladimir Putin qualified as a war criminal. He'll certainly make the history books as one. Just consider that General Pinochet is reviled for having either "disappeared" or killed 3,000 people over a 17-year reign  teach them to arbitrarily select frightened people from crowds; to put these frightened people into pits dug in the ground, or make them perform oral sex, or stomp on their testicles; and then demobilize them back home and abandon them?

I suspect the World Cup riots are just the beginning of the whirlwind Russia is about to reap. — GVNN/Moscow Times

Matt Bivens, a former editor of The Moscow Times , is a fellow with the Nation Institute.