I didn't think anyone was making that big a deal over it. Just a joke or two. Maybe I missed something?
The fact that it is acceptable behavior elsewhere therefore it must be OK everywhere does seem odd to me though. Arranged marriages are common in India. Does that mean that someone in the US shouldn't feel that there is something slightly odd about parents arranging their daughters marriage when she is 10 years old? If "lots" of men in Russia married 12 year old girls would the same thing still apply? Is the converse true as well in Russia? 50 year old women marry 20 year old and no one bats an eye? 50 year old men marrying 20 year old women is not uncommon in Czech but the converse is certainly looked at quite differently. Why are Eastern Europeans so overwrought by 45 year old women with 18 year old boys? This Eastern gender difference with regard to marriage is weird.
The biggest difference may be that 18 years old in Russia is different than 18 years old in the US, the land of extended adolescence in my opinion. When men in the US think of 18 they may predominantly think of high school cheerleaders. When men in other countries think of 18 they may predominantly think of mature women. I don't see why one though has to be right and the other wrong. They might both be accurate.
John Thornton