Conspiracy theory . . . Maybe it’s because I’m a fan of Foyle’s War (TV series) or because I once dated a spy . . . but I’m doubting that I am the only person who thinks someone in Russia was trying to send a message to foreign diplomats in that nation when they arranged for a Dutch diplomat to be lightly roughed up by two Russian men — he sustained minor injuries, according to a report in the Independent — and the acronym “LGBT” was scrawled in lipstick on a mirror in his Moscow apartment.

Says the Independent: “The attack came a week after Russia alleged one of its envoys had been assaulted at his home in the Netherlands.”

Tit for tat, perhaps. But why the “LGBT” message?

Sounds like another case of bullying — see Pussy Riot, Greenpeace ship, anti-LGBT legislation and violence, ethnic nationalism protests — by Russia to me, and a veiled warning to foreign diplomats to turn a blind eye to the oppression of LGBT people and others in that country. In other words, “butt out, or we hurt you.”

Yes, Russia does seem to be flexing its muscles — albeit, on harmless people — in the leadup to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. But does anybody honestly think they are going to go off without a hitch? Without demonstrations by LGBT activists? Without riots? Without people getting hurt? Without arrests? Without injustice? Without more bullying by, umm, someone and their henchmen?

Possible storyline for a PBS Mystery in the works, no doubt.

Jillian