As we raced in the rain to the concert hall so we could make it in time for Zubin Mehta conducting Tosca, we encountered a crowd of people shouting something about Putin.  For or against?  We were too much in a rush to hear, but when the rain stopped the demonstrators put down their umbrellas and raised flags of Ukraine and signs urging Israel to help in the fight.  There are many people here who really identify with Ukraine.  And the Russian people. 

So of course in the opera it was all I could think of – tyrants, loyalty, and what is worth dying for… 

and most of all – the fact that evil is not punished and the good suffer.