Even in their darkest soviet days, Russians were quick with a topical joke that cut, cynically, to the heart of a complex political situation. Having lived through putsches, crime waves, terrorist threats and stepped-up security for the past decade, they now jest that Osama bin Laden was detained in Moscow because he did not have a registration permit but the police let him go for 50 rubles (about $1.60).
Although characteristically Russian in its punchline, the joke touches on the ordinary police work and sometimes luck involved in catching terrorist suspects, as well as on the controversial...
