When it increased repression — rather than loosening up — a supine International Olympic Committee barely offered a protest.
Certainly, there were others who spoke out forcefully against the decision, but Barack Obama, the preferred candidate of the nation's most committed gun control proponents, did not offer a syllable of protest.
Given Netanyahu's warm reception on Capitol Hill when he visited the United States a few weeks ago, I fear that most members of Congress will not offer a peep of protest, even as Israel, a key American ally that bills itself as "the only democracy in the Middle East," strays into undemocratic and clearly bigoted lawmaking.
Did these people offer a peep of protest?
At the same time, a young activist and very well-known blogger, Aleksei Navalny, offered a different protest strategy for the elections.
When it was pointed out how expertly the color of his beard matched the color of his hat, he offered a mild protest: "Oh, it's really not deliberate…this is simply the hat I usually wear".
Regional elections offer a chance to register a protest vote or an abstention, since for most voters the stakes are low.
As the marchers passed Pine Street, some shouted profanities at a man who stood on the sidewalk yelling, "Support the war!" The man, John Price, a meat cutter here, said he served in the Navy during the first Persian Gulf war and wanted to offer a counterpoint to the protest.
I'm here to offer a less obnoxious suggestion: Protest all you want, but when you're talking to a Trump supporter, first decide exactly what you want.
For the outside world, Chinese officials this year offer a tenable excuse: the protests, they say, threatened China's stability.
Even if they serve only as inspiration, the protests offer a rare example of success to activists stymied at almost every turn in bringing about change in their own countries.
