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You will never see an ad here. If you want or need something, we trust you will be able to want or need it without us planting the urge or ache. You certainly do not need our help finding what your heart desires on the internet.- “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”—H.G. Wells
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Category Archives: Russia
Searching
Now that warrantless wiretaps have apparently become part of the American way of life, can physical searches without a warrant be far behind? [Cartoon by Andrey Bilzho] (who? here!)
Khrushchev
Today is the 50th anniversary of Nikita Khrushchev‘s historic “secret speech” at the 20th Communist Party Congress in which he denounced Stalin and his brutal ways. The American historian William Taubman notes the “unintended consequences” of the speech: Khrushchev’s goal was to … Continue reading
Thaw
According to the New York Times, if you want to have fun at the 2006 Winter Olympics, hang out with the Russians. Outside the Russia House, headquarters for the Russian delegation in Turin, a horde of people gathered at the … Continue reading
Afghanistan
Last Wednesday Moscow News somberly noted the 17th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the course of the ten-year war, more than 14,600 Soviet soldiers died and some 50,000 were wounded. Since the US entered Afghanistan in 2001, … Continue reading
Hamas
Vladimir Putin has invited Hamas leaders to Moscow, and the world press has dutifully reported the yowling from certain quarters of Israel and from their amen corner abroad (most particularly, in the US government and mainstream American media). As usual, there … Continue reading
Hazing
A particularly vicious form of hazing had existed in the Soviet army for years. I remember friends in Moscow in the late ’80s desperately trying to get their draft-age son into an American university. It was the dedovshchina (дедовщина) they were … Continue reading
Zvuki Mu
This morning I had a simple, nostalgic little thought: What ever happened to Звуки Му? Well, with the internet at my fingertips, it didn’t take long to discover that, far from going up in smoke as a flash in the … Continue reading
Konchalovsky
Last year the acclaimed Polish actor Daniel Olbrichsky turned sixty, and the mayor of Warsaw gave him a present he still hasn’t gotten over: he could pick any theater, any play, any actors, any director, Olbrichsky would play the lead, and … Continue reading
Ratings
Two Soviet-era literary giants went head-to-head on Russian television and battled to a draw. The miniseries based on Aleksander Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle drew about the same number of viewers as The Golden Calf, based on a work by the … Continue reading
Cold
While much of North America basks in unseasonably warm temperatures, Russia is enduring one of the coldest winters on record. As usual, Russians are doing more than coping. In Moscow, snowmen appeared in the Arbat and thousands protested against nationalism. … Continue reading
