Category Archives: Russia

Overheard

Posted on September 21, 2007 by WorldWideWeber

A website I don’t visit often enough is Подслушано в России [Overheard in Russia]. A number of such “Overheard in …” sites exist, actually. They remind me of the Metropolitan Diary in the New York Times, where readers share conversations, … Continue reading →

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Август

Posted on September 1, 2007 by WorldWideWeber

Well, we made it through the doldrums of August. In an apparent attempt to inject some drama into this perennially languid month, a Russian journalist, Roman Trunov, tried to paint August in Russia as fraught with history-altering events. Four of … Continue reading →

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Certitude

Posted on December 11, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

I’ve been holding off commenting on the Litvinenko case, because … well, because I can’t make heads or tails of it. As international mysteries go, this one is particularly murky. But that doesn’t keep the preternaturally astute Charles Krauthammer from … Continue reading →

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Silencer

Posted on October 10, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

It’s hard to imagine a more cowardly act than the cold-blooded murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. “The pen is mightier than the sword”—and, presumably, mightier than the bullet. Whistling in the dark. Bullets and bombs continue to make the … Continue reading →

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Armor

Posted on July 13, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

I was exploring the hotels of Saint Petersburg on the web and found one called Brothers Karamazov. It opened in 2004 and has 28 rooms with all the modern amenities, including internet access. The hotel boasts four special rooms with 19th-century decor, … Continue reading →

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Prediction

Posted on July 3, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

In a recent documentary shown on German television entitled “Russia in a Vise,” and in a book of the same name, the German military expert and journalist Peter Scholl-Latour expresses his certainty that Russia will soon cease to exist as … Continue reading →

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Triumphalism

Posted on June 29, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

Stephen Cohen has written an excellent piece on America’s wrong-headed (and dangerous) approach to Russia, well worth reading in its entirety. I’ll cut to the chase and quote the end. After noting areas in which Russia is still capable of … Continue reading →

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Rogues

Posted on June 2, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

A couple of months ago, we asked (and tried to answer) a few questions about Russian music download services—specifically: are they legit? Yesterday the International Herald Tribune addressed the same issue, again in the context of Russia’s attempt to join … Continue reading →

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Scoffing

Posted on June 1, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

The Russian online newspaper Kursiv has returned—sort of. (See this post for background.) After a week of “page not found” errors, the curious reader was rewarded with success today at www.cursiv.ru: a single page of text. Here it is in … Continue reading →

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Phages

Posted on May 31, 2006 by WorldWideWeber

We have a problem with bacteria. They can make us sick. Sure, we have antibiotics, but it turns out the little buggers are smarter than we gave them credit for. They keep changing, making our medicines ineffective. We also have … Continue reading →

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