Russia

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    The Moscow Times

  • Kadyrov Takes Mom's Advice, Drops Libel Case

    9 Feb 2010 | 7:19 am
    Kadyrov had filed libel suits against Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Oleg Orlov, head of rights watchdog Memorial, and Novaya Gazeta - all having accused the Chechen leader of ordering kidnappings and killings in the North Caucasus republic.

  • Cops Force Man To Take Bank Loan to Pay Bribe

    8 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm
    The latest in consumer credit products in Russia: Loans for bribes.

  • Pro-Kremlin Parties End Weeklong Dispute

    8 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm
    United Russia and A Just Russia agreed that both would approve laws about foreign policy and the political system as a whole, while A Just Russia will continue its independent line on social and economic issues.

  • Medvedev Proposes 4 New Governors

    8 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm
    President Dmitry Medvedev nominated local lawmaker Magomedsalam Magomedov, the son of a former long-serving regional ruler, to lead the volatile Dagestan republic.

  • Pushkin Square Face-Lift Criticized

    8 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm
    A transport hub is to be built under the square, as well as a four-story underground parking complex with shops and entertainment facilities.
 
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    World news: Russia | guardian.co.uk

  • Scrap UK's wind farm plans, says Gazprom boss

    Tim Webb
    9 Feb 2010 | 11:07 am
    Deputy chairman of Russia's Gazprom argues plans for renewable energy are irrational and should be replaced by more gas-fired power stationsPlans to build thousands of wind farms in the UK are irrational and should be scrapped in favour of more gas plants, according to the deputy chairman of the Russian energy firm Gazprom.Alexander Medvedev said the UK and other countries should adopt a more "pragmatic" approach towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions following the impasse at the Copenhagen climate change summit. He argued it would be impossible to meet the UK's target to generate a third…

  • Iran begins enriching higher-grade uranium, says state TV

    Haroon Siddique
    9 Feb 2010 | 1:50 am
    Russia may back further UN sanctions after Tehran announces Natanz plant has begun production of 20% enriched uraniumIran began enrichment of higher grade uranium today, state TV said, ignoring the threat of further UN sanctions by the US and its allies.Iran's Arabic-language television channel, al-Alam, said production of 20% enriched uranium had started at the Natanz plant.Ali Shirzadian, a spokesman for the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, told ­Reuters that "preparatory work" had began at 9:30am in presence of representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).The…

  • Ukraine: Unhappy return

    8 Feb 2010 | 4:05 pm
    The presidential election in Ukraine was free, mostly fair, and the Russians kept their hands off the whole proceedings. In those important respects, the orange revolution that shook the nation five years ago has left its mark. But unfortunately for those who like happy endings, the wrong person won. Viktor Yanukovych, whose rigged election in 2004 triggered the mass protests in Kiev, is heading back to power as the duly and fairly elected president. The villain of the piece five years ago is the orange revolution's chief beneficiary.Yanukovych's victory has set off much ­wailing and…

  • Trial hears Boris Berezovsky suffered 'savage libel' over Litvinenko murder

    Chris Tryhorn
    8 Feb 2010 | 10:21 am
    Oligarch sues Russian TV channel for claim he was involved in polonium poisoning of former Russian agentThe Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was the victim of a "savage" libel that aimed to "muddy the waters" of the investigation into the death of the former secret agent Alexander Litvinenko, a court heard today.Berezovsky, who has lived in the UK since 2001 and was granted asylum two years later, has taken legal action over a claim that he was complicit in Litvinenko's poisoning with polonium, a radioactive element.On the first day of a libel trial at the high court in London, his…

  • Ukraine's future wasn't orange | Colin Graham

    Colin Graham
    8 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am
    The pro-western 'revolutions' that were supposed to mark post-communist politics have failed to materialiseThe future for Ukraine used to be orange in 2004 and now it is a lot more grey, or, according to a lot of commentators, white, blue and red – the colours of the Russian flag. Now that voters have almost certainly backed Viktor Yanukovich, the country's apparently pro-western stance that was supposed to have gripped the nation in 2004, with its hyped-up "orange revolution", doesn't seem to have occurred at all.In 2004, Yanukovich was deemed to be history but now he is back, and with a…
 
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    Russian Athletics: News

  • Isinbayeva debuts with 4.85m leap in Moscow

    8 Feb 2010 | 5:04 am
    Russian Athletics News. Yelena Isinbayeva’s 2010 debut capped the 19th edition of the Russian Winter meeting on Sunday (7)

  • Russian Winter – 2010: Preview

    5 Feb 2010 | 10:19 pm
    Russian Athletics News. Isinbayeva, Silnov, Borzakovskiy, Bungei, Lolo Jones and other stars at “Russian Winter – 2010”

  • Chernova and Drozdov lead in season

    4 Feb 2010 | 9:35 am
    Russian Athletics News. Tatyana Chernova and Aleksey Drozdov won at the 2010 Russian Combined Events Indoor Championships held in Penza on 2-4 February

  • Starry Winter

    4 Feb 2010 | 4:05 am
    Russian Athletics News. Russian Winter Meeting Director, Mikhail Butov, gave an exclusive interview to Rusathletics.com and spoke about participants and innovations in the competition program

  • Shkolina wins in Gothenburg

    2 Feb 2010 | 10:05 pm
    Russian Athletics News. Svetlana Shkolina won the women’s high jump at the Samsunggalan meeting held in Gothenburg, Sweden on 2 February. She cleared 1.92m
 
 
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    The Beet Goes On

  • One Week From Today . . .

    8 Feb 2010 | 8:42 am
    . . . and what'll we do with Luxembourg?

  • I'm So Tired, I Can't Even Come Up With a Funny Title for This Blog Entry

    4 Feb 2010 | 10:05 am
    Oy, such a day I've had of it.Yeah, I'm going to complain a little. But man, oh, man, it was TOUGH out there today.Oh, it was deceptively pretty outside because the temperatures were, once again, rather mild. Only -7C, which, in the sun (of which there was plenty), was right nice. As long as the wind wasn't blowing. Which, unfortunately, it was. This, combined with the Zamboni-ed quality of our city sidewalks . . . well, to quote a favorite blogger of mine, JESUS FISHSTICK CHRIST! Somewhere, and I swear it was this week, I read that Russia or maybe just Moscow is having the worst winder…

  • In Which I Pay It Forward

    2 Feb 2010 | 10:16 pm
    With temperatures soaring in Moscow this week (we are hovering right below freezing as I type) the hot debate among the expat crowd here is whether (geez, I can't stop the puns) we prefer last week's bitter cold (super cold = sun, blue skies, and relatively clean sidewalks, such as Moscow sidewalks are) to this week's tropical climes.Warmer Weather = Sidewalk HellHonestly, I am sure there are plows in Moscow, but the streets I walk on sure haven't seen any. And this heavy, wet snow, while, um, heavy, is easy to shovel off the sidewalks.Where are all our hardworking Tajiks?And didn't our Mayor…

  • Čizi Piži Redux

    1 Feb 2010 | 8:34 am
    As those of us who travel all know, the best (that is funniest) stories involve embarrassing language snafus. Or horrible foreign toilets. Or both.But I'm just going to talk about food this time.Both The Spouse and I have had our disasters with misunderstanding a foreign menu and ending up with something we did not expect.It happened to me on my First Ever Trip to France. We had been in Paris for several days, and I thought I had gotten the hang of the French dinner menus: you pick a price category or menu, and then you can usually select from several options in that price range. I wanted to…

  • Burning Down the House?

    31 Jan 2010 | 10:08 pm
    I really should be focusing more on arrangements for the move. Or at least washing the breakfast dishes and running the vacuum. I could put a load of laundry in to run while I type.All of which is a lot more useful, at the end of the day, than sitting around thinking about my sweaty elbows.Maybe they are "sweating" elbows.I dunno. All I know is I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and the crooks of my elbows were positively wet.Ewww. Who gets sweaty/ing elbows?I don't suppose anyone really wants to read about my menopause symptoms. At one point I thought that perhaps the blog would be…
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    15

  • Back to the Arctics

    Winter is the time to go to the.. ocean. When the weather is steadily below zero and the sun never rises above the horizon it is the high time. High time to go and see the auroras in the land of no-way-getting-there-in-the-summer. There are no auto roads that way in summer. In winter there is small chance to get there. Even if you have suv or big gas goggler jeep you still can be sure in reaching the shores of the Polar Ocean. Why people try to reach those salty frozen waters there? Maybe taking a look on the photos can give a clue. read more..

  • Building A Metro

    In St. Petersburg they have almost the deepest subway in the world, according to wikipedia: "The deepest metro system in the world was built in St. Petersburg, Russia. In this city, built in the marshland, stable soil starts more than 50 metres (160 ft) deep. Above that level the soil mostly consists of water-bearing finely dispersed sand. Because of this, only three stations out of nearly 60 are built near the ground level and three more above the ground. Some stations and tunnels lie as deep as 100–120 metres (330–390 ft) below the surface. However, the location of the world's deepest…

  • Descend to Kamkinskaya Quarry

    "Kamkinskaya" quarry or "Kiseli" (Kissels) - a system of artificial caves, quarries in the Moscow region. Here limestone was quarried for the construction of "white stone" in Moscow. Located not far from Moscow, near the village Kamkina. The length of the system is not certain, is about 10,5 - 12,0 km. Extraction was conducted mainly in the XVIII - XIX centuries. But probably earlier, until the XVI century. Preserved, uneven areas, characterized by different methods of extraction (kolonniki, zabutovannye kolonniki, solid output). In the XX century, especially since the 60's, it has been a…

  • Wooden Cops Sculptures: Real and Fairy

    Such wooden sculptures of Russian traffic cops can be seen in a nice city Khabarovsk. Don't you agree that it is an unusual idea to make such cute figures and, what is more, to mix the urban reality personages with fairy-tale ones in such a funny way?read more..

  • Jump From the House

    When you have lotsa snow you can have some fun with it like... jumping from five-stored building into a pile of snow, fun isn't it? ">read more..
 
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    Sean's Russia Blog

  • Black PR vs. Black PR?

    Sean
    7 Feb 2010 | 11:03 pm
    As the Power Vertical's Robert Coalson explains, this is the way the game is played. Anyone familiar with Russian politics over the last 20 years, if not the last century, will not be surprised by the revelation a United Russia hatchet-men hired "spin doctors" to spread black PR to smear political opponents of UR power broker and Saratov deputy Vyacheslav Volodin. But is this latest revelation merely black PR about black PR? Yet another example of the Russian elite cannabalizing itself?

  • RT’s Agitprop

    Sean
    27 Jan 2010 | 1:06 am
    When I first saw the ads Russia Today is using in its American and UK ad campaign, I immediately had the reaction that most Americans and British probably had. Comparing Obama to Ahmadinejad? That's like comparing Christ with the devil! Is RT crazy or just stupid!? But then I started to think about the ad, realizing my gut reaction is exactly what it was supposed to provoke.

  • In Russia, Journalist = Protester

    Sean
    21 Jan 2010 | 8:56 am
    According to Vremya Novosti, the local court in Tver district in Moscow set a "precedent which threatens to turn into new accusations that the Russian government is violating civil freedoms." Not only is holding non-permitted gatherings consider illegal, now it's also verboten for journalists to cover them. "According to the [court's] ruling, journalists, who enter unsanctioned protests or marches to make their reports are equated with the participants in these protests and violators of the law." Basically, the government now has the legal means to test the philosophical question: if a…

  • Patriarch Kirill Does a Pat Robertson

    Sean
    20 Jan 2010 | 8:20 am
    Kirill I, the Patriarch of Moscow and all of Rus, went all Pat Robertson in Kazakhstan and declared that God smote Haiti because it lost his "moral face." As if that wasn't enough, a Russian website is claiming that the earthquake that made Haiti ripe for disaster capitalism was caused by a new weapon built by the United States. Why do all the kooks come out when there is a tragedy?

  • Markelov and Baburova’s Murders One Year Past

    Sean
    19 Jan 2010 | 9:07 am
    One year ago, an assassin in a ski masked shot anti-fascist lawyer Stanislav Markelov in the back in the head near Kropotkinskaya metro. The killer then shot Novaya gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova as she went after him. She died in a hospital shortly thereafter. Both were well known antifascists. The memory of these two figures, however, not only reminds us of the plight of human rights activists and journalists in Russia, but also the specter of Russian fascist violence.
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    Siberian Light

  • European Nations Cup 2010 – Fixtures and Preview

    Andy
    3 Feb 2010 | 10:45 am
    This weekend sees the resumption of the 2009-2010 European Nations Cup. As well as the glory of winning the cup, the winning team and second place team in this year’s ENC will qualify automatically for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. At the half-way mark, Russia currently lie second in the table, a point behind leaders Georgia, and a point ahead of third placed Portugal. All three sides have an excellent chance of making it to the finals; either through one of the two automatic qualifier spots, or through the absurdly complex playoff that the third placed team will be entered…

  • Cartoon: Berlusconi in Belarus, Lovestruck Lukashenko

    Andy
    2 Feb 2010 | 11:49 pm
    In this week’s cartoon, Berlusconi visits Belarus, and leaves behind a lovestruck Lukashenko. You can find more of Spanish illustrator Juan Rodriguez Morales’ cartoons at Spanish language Russia blog La Mirada al Este. Check out Russian News Online for the latest stories from all the top Russia Blogs. Cartoon: Berlusconi in Belarus, Lovestruck Lukashenko Related posts:Police – This is a Robbery CartoonCartoon: Layer Up!Cartoon: The East is the East

  • Doctor Who actor David Tennant to play Craig Murray

    Andy
    2 Feb 2010 | 5:24 am
    Former Doctor Who actor David Tennant has just finished recording a radio play based on the autobiography of Craig Murray, the controversial former British ambassador to Uzbekistan. The play, in which Tennant plays the role of Murray, chronicles the former Ambassador’s disgust at what he perceives to be British complicity in tortue in Uzbekistan, his decision to publicly speak out, and his subsequent falling out with the Foreign Office. Playwright David Hare, who is well known for writing political plays (see ‘Stuff Happens’ and, most recently, ‘The Power of…

  • Formula 1 – Renault signs Russian Vitaly Petrov

    Andy
    31 Jan 2010 | 11:43 am
    Formula One team Renault have signed Vitaly Petrov as their second driver for the 2010 season. Petrov, seen here perched uncomfortably on his new car’s rear tyre, will become the first ever Russian to race in F1 once the season’s first race begins this March, in Bahrain, and he’ll be hoping to play more than just a supporting role to Polish team-mate Robert Kubica (pictured, left). Petrov is a well known and very successful racer – he finished second in last season’s F2 championship. He is, according to his Wikipedia page, known as the Vyborg Rocket in Russia…

  • Sukhoi Pak-FA T50 (aka Russian Stealth Fighter) makes its first test flight

    Andy
    31 Jan 2010 | 5:08 am
    The long awaited 5th generation Russian Stealth Fighter, classified as the Sukhoi Pak-FA T50, flew its first test flight on 29 January 2010.  Piloted by Sergei Bogdan, a test pilot for Sukhoi, the T50 made a successful 47 minute testflight, taking off and landing from Sukhoi’s factory runway. On touching down, Bogdan told reporters that everything went well, and that he was impressed by the way the T50 handled: “In the course of the flight we’ve conducted initial evaluation of the aircraft controllability, engine performance and primary systems operation, the aircraft had retracted…
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    Russian Navy Blog

  • Even the Russians know they suck, Part 5 (end)

    9 Feb 2010 | 10:20 am
    Zh. “Other details noted by the French and Russian liaison officers”. 1. There is an identical uniform on surface ships and submarines in the French Navy: dark blue jumpsuit with corresponding stripes. There are service shoes, but in general everyone wears dark “civilian” shoes. They wear the same uniform in the mess at chow time. They go out and stand watch on the weather decks without covers since they don’t have the equivalent to our “pilotkas”(garrison cap?). On the Latouche-Treville, there was a ships laundry with a couple of modern automatic washers where they washed…

  • Even the Russians know they suck, Part 4

    8 Feb 2010 | 11:57 am
    D. Joint Russian-French Training 1. “The Russian side tried to take control of the training”. (…) 2. “Planning was complicated” Questions pertaining to the joint exercise on the Tourville were handled by the operations officer equivalent in rank to Captain 3rd Rank (the responsibilities of the operations officer is similar to our BCh-7, only he is also responsible for combat readiness and doesn’t stand a watch)(Note: Handwritten exclamation mark here). He himself resolved all issues (consulting with the commander for specific complicated problems) and immediately after agreement…

  • Even the Russians know they suck, Part 3

    7 Feb 2010 | 1:21 pm
    C. The Crew 1. “How seniors in rank and position relate to juniors, particularly to the sailors”. This was a topic that the French officers paid special attention to. There was much yelling and cursing on the BPK and subordinates were often belittled (even senior officers in the presence of sailors. The Chief of Staff refused to talk with a Russian communications officer (who had told the COS that he was a Captain 3rd rank) over the HF radio (I.E for the whole world to hear) to resolve some sort of problem. The French interpreter interpreted this conversation for the French servicemembers…

  • Even the Russians know they suck, Part II

    7 Feb 2010 | 12:51 pm
    B. The ship. 1. “Presence on board of unnecessary, but potentially dangerous objects and materials”. French officers paid attention to the presence on board the BPK of a large number of: -large mirrors (which can shatter during explosions and seriously cut people standing nearby; and the shards are potentially dangerous); -plastic and wooden surfaces (which burn well and put out toxic smoke). The sauna is potentially dangerous. In the French Navy, the presence on board of dangerous objects and materials without good reason is categorically and strictly controlled. (Note: Big handwritten…

  • Even the Russians know they suck, Part I

    7 Feb 2010 | 11:54 am
    I ran across an interesting document, an after action report detailing "living conditions on board ships of the Russian Navy, observations by officers in the French Navy during joint Russian-French exercises and a port visit to Brest, France by ships of the Northern Fleet" dated 28 October 2004. There are a lot of interesting observations here, which can be summarized thusly:They have hot water! Shit, the French have water at all! The watch actually stands watch! Goddamn, we're dirty! Paint mixed with sand on the decks so people don't slip and break their necks? Mon dieu! Musters! Do we…
 
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    Timothy Post

  • The Social Media Marketing Blog: Have You Got an App for That?

    timothypost
    22 Jan 2010 | 5:13 am
    Friday, January 22, 2010 Have You Got an App for That? It seems that app development is where it’s at in social. According to a recent eMarketer article, mobile apps for social networks – in addition to phones – are under consideration by more marketers than ever before. As you can see in the graphic below, the leading platform for an app (unsurprisingly) was Facebook, followed by the iPhone. Fewer than half invested in mobile or social apps last year, but most plan to create one this year. Lest you think that this is simply marketers chasing the latest shiny object, or…

  • Facebook Developers | Preparing for the Launch of the Games and Applications Dashboards

    timothypost
    22 Jan 2010 | 4:17 am
    We’re launching the Games Dashboard and the Applications Dashboard in the coming weeks to make it easier for users to interact with your applications and provide you with new communication channels accessible to all users from the home page. Later today, we’re updating the Dashboard API and opening up the Applications Dashboard sandbox and the Games Dashboard sandbox so that you can begin integrating your applications to ensure that your users will see personalized and interesting content from you in their dashboards when they go live. Get started populating the dashboards by…

  • Facebook Post Insights Go Live

    timothypost
    21 Jan 2010 | 5:25 am
    This evening Facebook began rolling out the new post insights product that we wrote about earlier in the week. The service is extremely simple. It lets Page administrators find out how many impressions each story on their Page receives and what percentage of those impressions result in action (likes, comments, or clicks). While not all administrators are seeing them yet, Facebook is expected to roll them out quickly. Often times when you post something to your Facebook Page, you have no idea how many people are seeing your story and/or clicking on it. It’s a minor upgrade but it presents a…

  • Avatar: More than Meets the Eye

    TGP
    4 Jan 2010 | 10:15 am
    Image by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE via Flickr Like you, I had heard the hype surrounding the new movie, Avatar. Normally, I would have simply ignored the movie and perhaps gotten around to seeing it some months hence. However, when the film broke through the billion dollar mark in box office sales and the reviews kept coming back positive, I realized I had to see the film for myself. Over the weekend, we went to a couple of the cinemas in the local shopping malls but the film was sold out. You had to buy tickets for a day or two in advance. Russia actually had the highest grossing box office sales…

  • You Will Always Be With Us

    TGP
    3 Jan 2010 | 12:40 am
    After the airing of the television program, Ukraine’s Got Talent, Kseniya Sobchak is no longer the only famous Kseniya out there in popular culture. The winner of the contest was sand animation artist, Kseniya Simonova, who drew: a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a unique one, is mesmeric to watch. The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about Ј75,000 (approx $125,000). She begins by…
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    La Russophobe

  • February 10, 2010

    larussophobe
    7 Feb 2010 | 3:49 pm
    WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 10 CONTENTS (1)  EDITORIAL:  The Election in Ukraine (2)  EDITORIAL:  The Missiles of February (3)  Yanukovich the Gangster (4)  Goodbye Karelia! (5)  Vladimir Putin and his Crimes Filed under: contents

  • EDITORIAL: The Election in Ukraine

    larussophobe
    7 Feb 2010 | 3:37 am
    EDITORIAL The Election in Ukraine Before voters ever went to the polls in Ukraine last weekend, they had already won. They had already shown themselves to be far more civilized and advanced than their Russian neighbors, for instance, because they had carried out a real election, ousting the current regime and replacing it with a radically different opposition [...]

  • EDITORIAL: The Missiles of February

    larussophobe
    7 Feb 2010 | 3:04 am
    EDITORIAL The Missiles of February Last week yet another nation in Eastern Europe made an emphatic statement of how it feels about Russia:  Romania agreed to host an American ballistic missile defense system starting in 2015. Russia’s representative to NATO Dmitri Rogozin, a crazed nationalist whose nomination itself speaks volumes about whether Russia wants normal relations with the [...]

  • Yanukovich the Gangster, Tymoshenko the Savior

    larussophobe
    7 Feb 2010 | 2:35 am
    Nina Khrushcheva, writing in the Moscow Times: A pox on both your houses” may be an appropriate individual response to frustration with the political candidates on offer in an election. But it is a dangerous sentiment for governments to hold. Choice is the essence of governance and to abstain from it — for whatever reason — [...]

  • Goodbye, Karelia! Warm wishes!

    larussophobe
    7 Feb 2010 | 1:37 am
    Paul Goble reports: The FSB has opened a criminal case against Karelians who have distributed leaflets calling for their land to be re-attached to Finland, a campaign Russian security services say reflects shortcomings in anti-extremist efforts but one others in that northern region argue is the result of the failure of officials to keep the heat [...]
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    Russia Blog

  • Improving Russia's Image and Russo-Ukrainian Relations

    9 Feb 2010 | 12:01 am
    Russia's dynamic duo performing this past January 1, on Russian TV station Channel One Options and Opposing Views Russia's expatriate population is the subject of Alexei Bayer's recent article in The Moscow Times. He ends the article with a general note on how Russia can gain with a return of some of its expatriates. To an extent, this has happened. Some Russians have decided to return to Russia, without the Russian government actively egging them on. In addition, the Russian government has undergone a program to encourage people of Russian origin to live in Russia. It is also advantageous…

  • Orange Carnival is Over. Time to Pay the Bills.

    29 Jan 2010 | 1:38 pm
    The 2004 poster reads "Yushchenko - the People's President." In Jan 18, 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections Mr. Yushchenko received only 6 percent of the vote. On the one hand the stunning defeat of Viktor Yushchenko, and by extension of the whole Orange carnival, is a welcome event for Russia and for Ukraine as well. However, one shouldn’t get too ecstatic because there is also a substantial potential danger ahead. The outgoing president leaves to his successor an economy in shambles, a devalued currency, a huge budget deficit and a national debt of over $33 billion. In addition,…

  • How Many Polish “Patriots” Does It Take to Screw Up US – Russia Relations?

    27 Jan 2010 | 12:22 am
    Patriot missiles Americans are great fans of Polish jokes; there is a whole website boasting hundreds of them: www.polishjoke.com. Arguably the best known is the one about changing a bulb procedure (it takes at least four Poles to do that). This and other jokes on this site are pretty harmless and can be said to apply to almost any ethnic group. However, the much hyped deployment of US Patriot missiles on Polish territory next to the city of Kaliningrad to repulse potential Russian aggression could well make a worthy addition to this particular site, except that this is no laughing matter at…

  • Ten Myths about Russia’s Demography

    19 Jan 2010 | 1:20 am
    By Anatoly Karlin This publication tries to debunk some popular, but misguided, views on demographic trends in today's Russia. These consist of the perception that Russia is in a demographic "death spiral" that dooms it to national decline (Biden, Eberstadt, NIC, CIA, Stratfor, etc). Some extreme pessimists even predict that ethnic Russians - ravaged by AIDS, infertility and alcoholism - will die out as an ethnicity, displaced by Islamist hordes and Chinese settlers (Steyn, Collard). The Myth of Russia's Demographic Apocalypse Think again. While it is true that Russia's current demographic…

  • US-Russia Bilateral Governmental Commissions: Where Are You?

    18 Jan 2010 | 8:22 pm
    Those who feel like gloating over the difficulties America is experiencing fail to understand that many of U.S. problems are shared by the rest of the world. Therefore, it is in Russia’s interests to take a dignified high road policy and to seek and find ways of helping America in solving them. The present moment is singularly auspicious for implementing real projects in the course of much hyped resetting, which, alas, cannot yet boast any tangible results. It is well known that in the wake of the Obama-Medvedev meeting, an impressive number of 18 (!) bilateral governmental commissions have…
 
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    Windows to Russia!

  • Russia Wonders About: America and Snow!

    9 Feb 2010 | 3:55 am
    The playground is a clear as it is because the kids pack the snow even tighter. The park bench is getting ready to go under. The train floats on the surface. I find it interesting how American press has just gone crazy on the snow in East Coast America. As I sit here in Russia and watch it snow again and again! I would say out of the last 60 days it has snowed 55 of those days. The multiples of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • France Hugged Russia: NATO Demands to Know Why?

    9 Feb 2010 | 2:24 am
    I have been posting about the fact that Russia wanted to buy a French made Mistral-class amphibious assault ship! I have posted about the fact that the French agreed to sell said ship to Russia! Now we get to post about France having to defend her decision on why she sold the ship to Russia:French President - Sarkozy told U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a brief meeting on Monday that in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Yulia Tymoshenko Will Go Down Fighting - Poor Ukraine!

    9 Feb 2010 | 1:22 am
    Hot off Russia's Interfax news:"Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc has said it will contest in court the conduct of the Ukrainian presidential election she appears to have narrowly lost. Deputy leader Elena Shustik said the bloc would contest results at some polling stations and ask for a recount, Russia's Interfax news agency reports. Another bloc official accused Viktor Yanukovych's party of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Russian Doughnuts: Ponchiki!

    8 Feb 2010 | 8:52 am
    Russian Doughnuts (Ponchiki) is a wonderful treat and easy to make. Very likely you have all these ingredients available in the household and on a snowy winter day or night these doughnuts are a great treat for kids young and old! So when you can not drive to the store to get your favorite doughnut, try these Russian doughnuts - They may become your new favorite... Lets gather the Ingredients: 2... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • France did it: Sold the Mistral Helicopter Assault Carrier to Russia!

    8 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am
    France OKs carrier sale to Russia: 08 February, 2010 France has agreed to sell the Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia. The Russian Navy also has its eyes on three more similar vessels in the future. The approval of the defense deal was announced Monday by Jacques de Lajugie, the international development director of France’s armaments board Delegation Generale pour l’Armement (DGA). He added... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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    Russia

  • Mironov, or the Matrix?

    Vadim Nikitin
    6 Feb 2010 | 10:07 am
    The escalating war between Putin and House Speaker Sergei Mironov, who is being pressured to resign for daring to criticise the budget and the Prime Minister by name on national TV, may be just the opposite of what it seems. “Do not try to bend the spoon. Try to realize the truth: there is no spoon” To recap:  Mere days after a massive unsanctioned demonstration in Kaliningrad called for Putin’s resignation last weekend, Mironov, the number three figure in the Russian goverment and member of a recently created ‘loyal opposition’ Just Russia party, told a…

  • Russia’s Bread and Butter Riots

    Vadim Nikitin
    3 Feb 2010 | 6:34 pm
    When Tolstoy remarked that “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”, he might have been describing the recent anti-government protests in Russia. On Sunday, I wrote about two ‘riots’: a civil disobedience action against the demolition of homes, and a political rally in defence of the right to organise, organised by the liberal democrats. Around the same time, there was another riot in Kant’s birthplace - Russia’s western enclave of Kaliningrad, against dire living standards. Three groups of people, protesting three very different grievances in…

  • Russia’s Intifada Against the ‘Kompromat State’

    Vadim Nikitin
    31 Jan 2010 | 10:02 am
    “Bailiffs and riot police had been ordered to evict scores of people and tear down their homes, all apparently unannounced”, reports Al Jazeera, describing a scene familiar to anyone who has followed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The bulldozers continued their work,”, continues the BBC, “tearing through the walls and windows of homes, turning them into piles of rubble within a matter of hours. On one mound of shattered concrete, glass and crumpled metal, lay children’s toys and a black, leather shoe”. Yet this is not the Gaza strip,  but central…

  • Does Russia Need a ‘Ukraine Scenario’?

    Vadim Nikitin
    28 Jan 2010 | 4:21 pm
    “If Putin says he’s against ‘Ukrainianization,’ you can translate that as meaning he opposes media freedom and real elections,” says Boris Nemtsov, a liberal politician. He was reacting to Putin’s recent statement that ‘We must continuously think about improving our political system… but we must act with extreme caution [and] not allow our political culture to follow a Ukrainian scenario.” According to Fred Weir’s piece in today’s Christian Science Monitor, which chronicled an unprecedented public disagreement between Putin and…

  • Medvedev’s Police Reform Cop Out

    Vadim Nikitin
    24 Jan 2010 | 2:52 pm
    Recently, I was shocked to hear an American friend name one of the virtues of her new house: “there are many police in the neighbourhood”. You would never hear such a thing come from the mouth of a Russian person, and for good reason. Calling the cops in Russia risks inviting the sort of treatment Alex got from his former droogs-turned-police officers in the closing part of A Clockwork Orange, because Russia’s militsya continues to prefer upholding its reputation for corruption and extreme violence over upholding the law. In fact, over last few months alone, Russian police…
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    From Russia with Love

  • McDonald's Celebrates 20th Anniversary in Russia

    8 Feb 2010 | 12:22 am
    In recent days, McDonald's celebrated 20 years in Russia. Yes, beloved komrades, it's true. On January 31, 1990, when Moscow's first McDonald's opened and 35,000 customers were served, all company records for an opening day were broken. I'm just thinking, that's a whole lot of Welcome-to-McDonald's-ing and smiling in a culture where such is generally reserved for those near and dear.As the video

  • Flashback to the Yalta Conference: February 4, 1945

    4 Feb 2010 | 4:44 am
    Sixty-five years ago today, the leaders of three allied countries - US, USSR and Great Britain - met secretly in Yalta, Crimea to work through plans for wrapping up World War II. This was the second time Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met during the war, their earlier meeting being in Tehran, Iran in late 1943. (Click to enlarge photo.) September of 2008, I spent some

  • And Ze Vinners Are. . . !

    1 Feb 2010 | 1:19 am
    Dear blog-reading friends, thank you so much for helping celebrate my 11 years in Russia by taking a few minutes to stop by and say preev-YET - that's like howdy in these parts. It's been simply delightful to read your comments and learn a bit about you and your interest in things Russian.So here are our prizes to be awarded to three lucky vinners. Oh first, let me explain why we're talking so

  • Eleven Years in Russia: Help Me Celebrate!

    28 Jan 2010 | 11:12 pm
    This morning I'm remembering January 29, 1999 and arriving in Moscow's international airport, Sheremetevo-2. And oh, what an adventure these years have been. Let me reminisce a moment about the travel dramas of Day One. And then there are prizes - yes, genuine Russian souvenirs to give away. So sit back and enjoy this vicariously. Approaching Red Square. Photos: March 2006. (Click to enlarge)

  • Goodbye Maxim Gorky Street: We're Moving

    25 Jan 2010 | 2:38 am
    Since July 1999, our little church has been meeting on Maxim Gorky Street in a building that was quite a fixer upper. It's in a terrific location in the city center but we have known from the get-go that it was in a reconstruction zone.The little white building there on the left is the entrance to our church property. And being in said reconstruction zone, means that the city recognizes the value
 
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    The Last Ditch

  • Why Britain should declare war on Jersey | Mark Thomas | Comment is free | The Guardian

    Tom Paine
    7 Feb 2010 | 10:37 pm
    Why Britain should declare war on Jersey | Mark Thomas | Comment is free | The Guardian. Mark Thomas is joking of course, but the joke makes no sense unless you believe that companies relocating to Jersey would be forced to stay in Britain if the option were removed. Other...

  • If guns are unnecessary, how come our rulers are surrounded by armed police?

    Tom Paine
    6 Feb 2010 | 8:19 pm
    He stepped out of the dark with a gun… | Victoria Coren | Comment is free | The Observer. Victoria Coren is upset that there are too many guns on our streets. Surprisingly, for someone writing in the Observer, the guns she is concerned about are those in the hands...

  • "I had no in-service training"

    Tom Paine
    6 Feb 2010 | 2:25 am
    A man surely does not need "in-service" training to know right from wrong. Or does he? This film is a metaphorical bathyscape from which to peer out in wonderment at the depths of human stupidity. Hard though it will be for anyone capable of reading this post to imagine, such...

  • So much for free movement of goods and labour

    Tom Paine
    2 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am
    FT.com / Europe - Poles returning home face car trouble. As a lover of Poland who lived there for 11 years, I know something about this story. I used to have a right-hand drive car in Warsaw. I drove it from England in 1992 and used it for 8 of...

  • An airship captain writes...

    Tom Paine
    31 Jan 2010 | 11:49 pm
    Lost generation | Andrew Hankinson | Money | The Observer. Andrew Hankinson's article blends common sense, fantasy and bitterness. His central point is one I have often made myself; that the two post-war generations in Britain have been guilty - via an underfunded "national insurance" system - of time travel...
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    blackpurl's knitpickings

  • Maslenitsa

    9 Feb 2010 | 1:22 am
    Yesterday was the beginning of Maslenitsa. One of my students brought in blini (Russian pancakes)and explained that this holiday is about saying goodbye to winter and welcoming spring. Pancakes are to symbolize the sun. Hers were quite tasty. She spread a cream cheese mixture inside and rolled them up. Yum!After this week the Lenten season fast begins here so that is another reason to enjoy pancakes with butter for a full week!

  • Beignets... inspired by The Princess and the Frog

    5 Feb 2010 | 11:38 am
    If you have seen the movie then you know that in the cafe scene this treat is one of the dishes featured when we see Tiana at work. The French word Beignet (ben-yay) means 'fried dough'. After researching recipes from New Orleans, reading about the history of the beignet on line, I started experimenting and came up with a recipe that my two trusty taste testers approved of!Alida's Russian Beignets1/2 cup water2 Tbl sugar1/4 butter3/4 cup flourDash of salt1 tsp vanilla2 eggsOilPowdered SugarTo make the choux:Combine water, sugar, butter and salt in saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil,…

  • Aleksandr has big love for Tanya

    4 Feb 2010 | 12:07 pm
    I found this story on the website Russia Today, enjoy!Biggest ever “I love you” painted with broom on ice Published 04 February, 2010, 13:44 What can be more fascinating than fulfilling a dream? Especially if this dream is writing a love message to your own wife, in giant red letters on ice, and possibly getting into the Guinness Book of Records? Aleksandr Kartashev from the Russian city of Rostov says his 2.5 kilometer-long “Tanya, I love you” is a gift to his wife Tatyana. Read more “I was going to turn this idea of mine into reality last year but the weather was bad and I had no…

  • thought for today

    3 Feb 2010 | 2:52 am
    Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.Thomas Jefferson

  • I have what?

    2 Feb 2010 | 10:06 am
    Before moving here to Russia I had heard of three types of colds. A cold, chest cold or a head cold. Last week I was out of commission for 4 days with back pain. I called a medic (think nurse practitioner) who is also a massage therapist. She gave me a back massage and asked me questions about the type, location and duration of the pain I was feeling. After ruling out anything serious the diagnoses I was given was... a back cold.So that is a new one for my list. Cold, chest cold, head cold and back cold.
 
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    English Russia

  • Back to the Arctics

    Winter is the time to go to the.. ocean. When the weather is steadily below zero and the sun never rises above the horizon it is the high time. High time to go and see the auroras in the land of no-way-getting-there-in-the-summer. There are no auto roads that way in summer. In winter there is small chance to get there. Even if you have suv or big gas goggler jeep you still can be sure in reaching the shores of the Polar Ocean. Why people try to reach those salty frozen waters there? Maybe taking a look on the photos can give a clue. read more..

  • Building A Metro

    In St. Petersburg they have almost the deepest subway in the world, according to wikipedia: "The deepest metro system in the world was built in St. Petersburg, Russia. In this city, built in the marshland, stable soil starts more than 50 metres (160 ft) deep. Above that level the soil mostly consists of water-bearing finely dispersed sand. Because of this, only three stations out of nearly 60 are built near the ground level and three more above the ground. Some stations and tunnels lie as deep as 100–120 metres (330–390 ft) below the surface. However, the location of the world's deepest…

  • Descend to Kamkinskaya Quarry

    "Kamkinskaya" quarry or "Kiseli" (Kissels) - a system of artificial caves, quarries in the Moscow region. Here limestone was quarried for the construction of "white stone" in Moscow. Located not far from Moscow, near the village Kamkina. The length of the system is not certain, is about 10,5 - 12,0 km. Extraction was conducted mainly in the XVIII - XIX centuries. But probably earlier, until the XVI century. Preserved, uneven areas, characterized by different methods of extraction (kolonniki, zabutovannye kolonniki, solid output). In the XX century, especially since the 60's, it has been a…

  • Wooden Cops Sculptures: Real and Fairy

    Such wooden sculptures of Russian traffic cops can be seen in a nice city Khabarovsk. Don't you agree that it is an unusual idea to make such cute figures and, what is more, to mix the urban reality personages with fairy-tale ones in such a funny way?read more..

  • Jump From the House

    When you have lotsa snow you can have some fun with it like... jumping from five-stored building into a pile of snow, fun isn't it? ">read more..
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