One step closer...

In an interview yesterday, President Medvedev said that he and Prime Minister Putin would "discuss the political future of our country and our role in it" or, as the headline puts it, that they'll "decide together" the future of their tandemocracy.

The ultimate question in Russian politics is which man (or maybe both?) will be running for President in 2012.

This is a good step, though- expanding the presidential selection base from 1 to 2 brings us one step closer to democracy...

[Article] An opposition party?

"Straining to Define Itself, Russian Opposition Tests Limits" New York Times 22 Feb 2010. Here.

A few weeks ago Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house of parliament, came out against Putin and the United Russia party saying that he and his party "categorically opposed” Putin's budget. This was headline news for a few days as United Russia members called Mironov a traitor and a rat.

The Times article, however, assumes this was true opposition and ends on a giddily optimistic note: "Every time a prominent figure breaks ranks, as in the brief show of defiance after the October elections, it carves out a little more freedom."

It ignores the very popular alternative explanation mentioned here and here: that Mironov and United Russia members staged the entire confrontation to take headlines away from the massive protests in Kaliningrad.

Just sayin'.

[Broad generalization] On Russian drunkenness

"Since time immemorial, drink had been - in the words of the Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev in the tenth century - 'the joy of the Russes'. Successive generations of Western travelers and residents had found drunkenness almost universal in Russia. Peasants, priests, boyars, tsar: all were participants. According to Adam Olearius, who visited Muscovy in the time of Peter's grandfather Tsar Michael, no Russian ever willingly missed a chance to take a drink. To be drunk was an essential feature of Russian hospitality. Proposing toasts that no one dare refuse, host and guests gulped down cup after cup, turning their beakers upside down on their heads to prove that they were empty. Unless the guests were sent home dead drunk, the evening was considered a failure."

 -Robert Massie, from his biography of Peter the Great, pg. 123

[Article] Khodorkovsky, explained

"Cell Block Four," Keith Gessen. London Review of Books. 25 Feb. 2010. Here.

A great, comprehensive summary of the complex issues surrounding the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case. As you probably know, Khodorkovsky was the head of one of Russia's largest oil companies, Yukos, and also one of the country's wealthiest men, until he was convicted of tax crimes and sent to a Siberian prison.

Most westerners though, I think, probably associate his name with a sort of anti-Putin martyrdom, and view his fate through the prism of the corrupt Russian legal system. As with most things in Russia, the issue is more complex. Enter Alexei Pichugin, deputy head of security at Khodorkovsky's Yukos.

"In mid-June 2003, investigators arrested Alexei Pichugin, a former KGB major... and charged him with organising the murders of a number of Yukos opponents.

Pichugin was eventually charged with organising five killings, all of people who were somehow in conflict with Yukos/ Menatep: an outspoken mayor of an oil town, a woman with a little tea shop in Moscow in a building that Menatep wanted, the bodyguard of a business rival whose car was blown up (the business rival wasn’t in it), and a man (and his wife) who supposedly helped Pichugin plan the killings but had become too loose-lipped. The order for the killings allegedly came to Pichugin from Leonid Nevzlin, a senior Yukos executive and one of Khodorkovsky’s longtime partners...

Was any of this true? It’s impossible to tell."

Putin has compared Khodorkovsky to Al Capone, noting that Capone was never convicted of a violent crime - they got him on tax evasion - but he was clearly associated with a lot of it. Whether Khodorkovsky was actually connected to those events isn't exactly beside the point, but its a part of the story a lot of outsiders aren't aware of.

Curling is sexy

Russians have been despairing their lack of medals from this year's winter Olympics; United Russia, Putin's party, has suggested that officials should be fired.

This is all such a terrible loss of prestige and superpower status and sportplomacy, blah blah blah.

Let's focus on the positives. 1 - The men's hockey team beat the Czech Republic last night (take that Prague Spring!) 2 - They're still 6th in medal count, c'mon that's not so bad. 3 - Russia has what may be the sexiest Curling team in the history of a sport known for burly Scottish men. I present to you:

As one of the commentators posts over at CurlingRussia.com, "Our team should get at the very least the viewer's choice award."

Compare and contrast

You know its Russian winter when it's colder outside...

 

...than it is in your freezer...

Medvedev the Reformer?

Interesting news out of the Kremlin yesterday. President Medvedev announced that he would be making major changes to the Interior Ministry, often considered to be the most corrupt in Russia. He dismissed the two top deputy ministers, 16 top police officials and ordered the entire head office cut from 20,000 to 10,000 personnel. These are big changes.

In addition, he has pledged to increase police salaries in an effort to curb corruption.

And exciting news for foreigners in Russia: I'm told that he plans to sign a decree which will forbid police from random document checks on foreigners, transfer the authority to the immigration service.

Moscow Times report here.

[Weird Russia] Medvedev the Merry Gnome?

President Medvedev was in Omsk last week. In an effort to make sure everything was perfect for his visit, city officials "prevented pedestrians from crossing a street for 40 minutes in punishingly cold weather while waiting for Medvedev's motorcade to pass" and "In some places, the sidewalks were covered with fresh, clean snow brought in from outside the city."

The best part: officials removed a poster from an unrelated children's theater production which read "We Await You, Merry Gnome."

According to the Moscow Times, "It was unclear exactly why the poster might have been removed, though Novy Region suggested that officials may have been afraid of offending Medvedev, whose height has been estimated in the media at 162 centimeters." (For metritards, 162 centimeters is about 5'2".)

Putingrad soon with photos?

In response to unpopular demand I'm attempting to find a way to take some digital pictures (i.e. I am trying to locate a cheap digital camera) so you can expect all sorts of amazingly vivid and crisp pictures of the gray, northern Baltic winter. Until then, I'll have to rely on my netbook's webcam. Here's the amazing library in my Stalin-era bedroom:

Free Speech in Russia UPDATE

Remember that journalist who was fined $33 dollars for defaming a World War II veteran? It turns out his article was about a Moscow restaurant which had originally been called "Anti-Soviet," but had changed its name under pressure from local officials, the youth movement Nashi and veterans.

With that in mind, here's a poll from last week's issue of Kommersant Vlast', a popular news weekly:

The question: "Is it acceptable to use the word 'Anti-Soviet' in the name of a hotel, restaurant or other public space?"

Response: 69% - Rather unacceptable; 14% rather acceptable; 17% hard to answer.

[1955 Encyclopedia] Homosexuality

"HOMOSEXUALITY, the perverted sexual attraction to one's own sex. The development of homosexuality plays a role in elements of social order (the corruption of prevailing classes of capitalist society, the incorrectness of bourgeois upbringing) or psychological sickness. Homosexuality is criminally punishable."

The Humor of Vladimir Putin

... is wry and hilarious.

In 2007, a Der Spiegel reporter asked him: "Mr President, former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called you a ‘pure democrat’. Do you consider yourself such?"

His response?

 Am I a ‘pure democrat’? Of course I am, absolutely. But do you know what the problem is? Not even a problem but a real tragedy? The problem is that I’m all alone, the only one of my kind in the whole wide world. Just look at what’s happening in North America, it’s simply awful: torture, homeless people, Guantanamo, people detained without trial and investigation. Just look at what’s happening in Europe: harsh treatment of demonstrators, rubber bullets and tear gas used first in one capital then in another, demonstrators killed on the streets. That’s not even to mention the post-Soviet area. Only the guys in Ukraine still gave hope, but they’ve completely discredited themselves now and things are moving towards total tyranny there; complete violation of the Constitution and the law and so on. There is no one to talk to since Mahatma Gandhi died.  

Full text at the Kremlin website.

LDPR & Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Meet Vladimir Zhirinovsky. You probably don't know him, but he's a household name in Russia as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and perennial presidential candidate. He's on TV on a regular basis, talking about this and that and usually saying something insane.

Peruse his Wikipedia page and you'll see all sorts of craziness. One of my favorites: in 2008, mad at Great Britain, he suggested dropping a nuclear bomb over the Atlantic to flood England.

One of my Russian teachers once told me that he's the only politician who is able to say precisely what he means. He's kind of a calamitous Russian Pat Buchanan.

I have in front of me a leaflet of the 2007 "All Positions" party platform (big up to Evgeny in Vladimir). From the table of contents, you'd think its a normal program - chapters like "Power," "Security" and "Social Questions."

Here are some highlights:

IV. Security
...With regard to terrorists ("Nord-Ost," Beslan) it's worth it to reinstate the death penalty, to carry it out publicly and to punish the relatives in the terrorists' families, otherwise we won't correct this problem and will develop a Palestine-Israel situation.

...Forcefully deport the homeless from large cities to a place of continuous residence and subject them to treatment in special establishments.

VII. Population
8. Abortions. In our country there are 2 million abortions a year. We need to convince women to give birth. Why doesn't she want to have a child? If it's an unwanted baby, we need to convience her to give birth. If she gives birth, it's a plus to her health, and the government will provide her money. 100,000 rubles for the birth, for example, and then the government will take the child away to a childen's home.

10. Artificial Insemination. In every region there's a center of obstetrics and gynecology. Women, who want to get pregnant without the participation of men have to pay 50,000 roubles. They don't have husbands and live by themselves in one-room apartments, and on top of that have to acquire 50,000 to get pregnant. Let's give them 100,000 rubles, a free insemination and demonstrate the priorities of our new program.

23. The Army. Don't want to serve in the army? Have a child. Again you don't want to? Have a second, a third. Until you're 28 years old and a father of three. They could be foster children. Whichever variation.

IX. Foreign Affairs
...the return to Russia of all outlets to the Black and Baltic Seas, the Indian Ocean and the Near East.


(My italics because this is crazy)

* * * * * * *

Apropos - in 2003 Zhirinovsky said he looked forward to the day when Russian soldiers could "wash their boots in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean." In 2008 he received almost 10% of the vote for president. How does Putin look now?

[Weird Russia] Drunken parkour?

Some crazy fools jump from a five-story building into a snow bank.

Check it out, courtesy of English Russia.

[1955 Encyclopedia] Hollywood

"HOLLYWOOD, one of the suburbs of the city of Los Angeles (USA), where 90% of the American film industry is concentrated. The center of reactionary American film propaganda, immediately connected with the ruling powers of Wall Street. Hollywood inundates the U.S., and also the film markets of other bourgeois countries, with reactionary and vulgar standard productions. Hollywood films serve the aims of imperialist propaganda, the rousing of psychosis for war and animosity toward the Soviet Union and countries of people's democracy, and cultivate banditry and criminality."

[Weird Russia] News roundup

• Russian authorities seized 447 bear paws from a truck at the Chinese border.
• A Russian ice-dancing duo favored to win in Vancouver upset aboriginal groups in Australia over a poor costume choice.
• Citizens of St. Petersburg apparently drink the equivalent of 18 liters of pure alcohol a year.
• The Russian ambassador to NATO recently Twittered: "The Americans and their allies again want to surround the cave  of the Russian bear? How many times must they be reminded how dangerous this is!?  The bear will come out and kick the ass of these pathetic hunters?"

[Lecture / Podcast] Don't invest in Russia

Bill Browder tells the rivetting story of how he went from Stanford business grad, to the largest investor in Russia, to enemy of the state in about 10 years. It's the stuff of a Hollywood movie. Check it out while you eat lunch sometime and find out how he lost his billion dollar investments to a convicted murder.



A podcast from the event is also available through iTunes. Go to the Stanford Globalization Project of iTunes U, or just search for it.

[1955 Encyclopedia] Stalin

While rummaging through the old books left in my apartment, I found a treasure: a copy of the 1955 Encyclopedic Dictionary, a product of the State Scientific Institute and the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

There are some real gems in here. I'll translate and post some especially good entries from time to time. I'll start with some choice fragments from the description of Stalin.

* * * * * * *

STALIN (Dzhugashvili), Joseph Vissarionovich (21 December 1879 - 5 March 1953), loyal disciple and comrade-in-arms of V.I. Lenin, great promulgator of his immortal deeds, leader and teacher of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people and workers of all nations...

Imbued with the borderless belief in the revolutionary genius of V.I. Lenin, Stalin followed in his path...

The world-historical victories of the Soviet people were fixed in the constitution of the U.S.S.R., confirmed by the Supreme 8th Congress of Soviets on 6 Dec. 1936. It was a constitution for the triumphing of socialism and of genuine democracy...

During these years the Communist Party, under the direction of the Central Committee headed by J.V. Stalin, finally liquidated the counter-revolutionary nests of Trotskyite-Bukharinist double-crossers, spies, vermin, murders and saboteurs, placed by agents of foreign intelligence...

J.V. Stalin tirelessly worked on the cultivation of questions in the theory of Marxism-Leninism. Generalizing the rich experience of the socialist creation of the U.S.S.R. and the experience of the modern international liberation movement, J.V. Stalin creatively developed Marxist-Leninist teachings applicable to new historical conditions and, in a series of subjects, enriched revolutionary theory with new positions...

5 March 1953, at 9:50 in the evening, after a difficult illness, J.V. Stalin expired. The death of the great leader and teacher, having given his whole life to the selfless, serving work of communism, was a difficult loss for the Communist Party and the Soviet people...

The name of Stalin is immortal. It will eternally be in the hearts of the Soviet people and of all progressive humanity.

[Translation] Stalinism = Nazism?

So I'm going to try, from time to time, to post interesting articles translated from Russian - viewpoints you're unlikely to read in the English-language press. This one is a few months old, but worth the read for a common Russian stance on WWII and the rehabilitation of Stalin. A lot of the statements will probably be controversial for Western readers. It's from the newspaper Zhizn', one of the most common Russian weeklies.

* * * * * * *

"Nazism and cynicism"
Leonid Shakhov, Zhizn', 8-14 Jun 2009

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has equated German Nazism and Stalinism. "In the 20th century European countries tested on themselves two powerful totalitarian regimes- one National Socialist, the other Stalinist- which brought with them genocide, violations of human rights, war crimes and crimes against humanity," reads the council's resolution.

The conclusion is debatable. Not to mention biased. So the already less than warm relations between Russia and the Council of Europe become that much cooler...

Isn't that how it would appear to Russia, whose people suffered more from Stalinism than the rest of all European nations combined? In essence, Stalinism here is entirely secondary - at issue is the equation symbol placed between Nazism and modern Russia. But if I were in the place of the European deputies, I would be careful of parallels between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which produced the decisive contribution in the downfall of fascism.

But if we're even going to discuss this topic, we need to remember all dictators. Regimes like those of Franco, Mussolini etc. were not at all humanitarian. But for some reason no one talks about them. Like no one ever judges the American regime which ensured the atomic anihilation of Japan. Nor are we subject to the condemnation of Lithuanian, Latvian, Romanian and Estonian regimes for the destruction of 100,000 foreign citizens.

Likewise those great democracies - France, Britain, America, etc. - should also be subject to judgment in the lead up to the second World War and Stalin's supposedly secret agreement with Hitler. [ ] Each of them played its own game against (or with) Hitler... to the detriment of the others.

Our losses in World War II wouldn't have been so huge if there hadn't been these backroom, duplicitous dealings. Rather if all European nations had stood with us, and most importantly fought like us, against fascist Germany Hitler would have been sent from this world sooner. But certain European countries played a double game, others surrendered without a single shot, while others even went to the side of Hitler. And because of this Stalin was faced with such senseless sacrifices in order to overcome the common enemy.

Historical conclusions are always controversial. Looking at the past with a naive, open perspective is the fate of the victors. And of the free. But the time to discuss the questions of history came long ago, not in parliamentary but other venues. In the academies. Otherwise you won't find the truth.

In the council's text is contained an appeal for all countries to open their archives. Opening archives is not difficult. But what use is it, if their eyes are closed?

The scandalous decision of the European Council also has a different subtext. A financial one. True, it's not discussed aloud, but, as it appears to me, it dominates the rest of the document.

According to the council Stalinism, alongside Nazism, is guilty of unleashing the second World War. Following  this logical chain, responsibility for the crime of the century lies with the Soviet Union and Russia, its historical successor. Calculating on that, a number of countries are presenting Moscow with financial bills (compensation for occupation, genocide, etc.). The council's resolution adds another weapon to their arsenal.

That means that it's not as sorrowful as it sounds - that the question is really about money. And all the elevated words about human rights and democracy were a smoke screen. The truth is that Nazism isn't as bad as cynicism. You can't beat cynicism...

[Article] 20 years of McDonalds in Russia

"Russia's evolution, seen through the golden arches" The New York Times 2 Feb 2010. Here.

Find out how McDonald's single-handedly turned Soviet farmer Anatoly M. Revyakin into "Pickle King of Russian processed food."

Also - apparently 80% of the necessary ingredients are supplied by private businesses operating in Russia.

Viktor A. Semenov was growing lettuce on a collective farm outside Moscow in 1990 when a representative of McDonald’s stopped by. The company had just opened a restaurant. Could he sell it a few boxes of lettuce each week?

Now his company "has all but cornered the market on packaged fresh vegetables in Russia."

[Article] What the heck is 'Eastern' Europe?

" 'Eastern Europe' - Wrongly labelled" The Economist 7 Jan 2010. Here.

 Interesting article on how the already outdated idea of "Eastern Europe" has been further marginalized by the economic crisis. Specifically, a number of traditionally "Eastern" countries, like the Czech Republic and Slovenia, are outperforming "Western" countries, like Iceland and Greece.

Besides the economic limitations of the term, if Europe stops at the eastern borders of Poland, Slovakia and Romania, what then are the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia?

Death by gutter ice

St. Pete has gotten more snow this winter than in the last 100 years, or so I'm told. The streets and sidewalks are sloppy, and there are huge drifts where shovelers and plows have dumped the stuff. Cars are snowed in, causing people to double and triple park, often reducing the street to a single lane.

Last week the mayor promised to fire the entire department responsible for snow removal if there wasn't an improvement in conditions. Yesterday she fired 11 top officials.

Probably because of that, today has been a snow and ice removal extravaganza. My entire street is blocked off by police. Workers are shoveling out cars and then towing them so the plows can finally reach the the sides.

Workers are on top of the buildings, nine stories up, shoveling snow and ice onto the sidewalks down below. It's quite a sight, and many people stop to gaze. Those unfortunate to live in one of these buildings (like me) need to sprint in and out of their buildings to avoid falling snow.

Other workers are dangling from ropes and taking ice picks to the gutters. The cars that haven't been towed yet have been covered with cardboard and plywood so any stray ice chunks don't do too much damage. I watched as a crumbling brick of ice hit the lightly protected hood of a Ford Focus. Awesome. Some slabs are so big that they would easily kill a man.

Now I'm sitting at my desk, listening to a very satisfying, and very regular - "ka-chunk!" - as anvil-sized bricks of gutter ice hit the pavement below.

Leninaid UPDATE

One of my few but dedicated readers - who wishes to remain anonymous for a dubious association with communist soft drinks - adds to the discussion of Soviet themed sodas:

Leninade. I've had it here (at least in LA.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leninade

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leninade/53627296210

it even has a facebook page.

Compare and Contrast

and...

I'm going to have to look in into these Medvedev as an Armenian rumors...

File this under "Not anytime soon"...

Here's the lead paragraph from today's St. Petersburg Times:

Russia will join NATO and the EU, reduce its military, reintroduce gubernatorial elections and four-year presidential terms and disband its Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service, according to a paper released Wednesday by a think tank close to President Dmitry Medvedev.

In Russia free speech costs $33

A Moscow court recently ruled that journalist Aleksandr Podrabinek pay 1000 rubles (about $33) to a World War II veteran for a phrase he used in an article online. The phrase:

"Your homeland is not Russia but the Soviet Union. Your country, thank God, has not existed for already 18 years."

Somehow this constituted defamation. Article here.

Stalinaid

If Stalin were a soda flavor, what would he be? Lemon, it turns out. A brewery in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) recently released a line of sodas named after Soviet military officials.

Responding to criticism from veterans and human rights activists that a soda named after Stalin makes light of the dictator's repressions, a Duma member said "There’s nothing bad here... I mean, there’s vodka named Putinka, and that’s no problem."

What flavor would your favorite dictator or soviet premier be?

Brezhnev Birch Beer? Lenin Lemon-Lime?

Home Sweet Home

Moved in to the new apartment. It's great. There are 15 foot ceilings and wall to wall shelving. There's a chandelier in every room, including one above my bed. I get all the benefits of being a nomenklatura party functionary without the ill fitting gray suits and fear of a knock on the door in the middle of the night. (Maybe there are still some bugs hidden in the walls, or in my upholstered fringe lamp - neat!)

Still getting settled, but expect updates to follow.