Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
Essential to Russia’s economy are exports of raw materials and intermediate goods: crude oil, gas, oil products, steel and pipes, non-ferrous metals, timber, and so on. Naturally, Russia needs to import a whole lot, including consumer goods. Nowadays, it is…
Germany bombed Kiev, and the war that was to last for nearly four years began. It was a Sunday morning, and on Saturday night, graduation balls had begun at high schools all across the country. Some lasted into the first…
60 years ago yesterday, the Allies landed in Normandy. This year, Russia’s president was at last invited to join the festivities. Let’s hope this will bring all the former Allies one step closer to recognizing the true significance of the…
Translate a poem, word by word, into another language and see if it still makes sense. If it does, that’s a good sign for the original thing; not a necessary or sufficient condition of its goodness, but a sign of…
By December 1991, the USSR was out, and so was its anthem. A year earlier, the Russian Federation adopted its own anthem: a re-orchestrated version of Mikhail Glinka’s sketch, known as The Patriotic Song. Glinka, the author of the first…
Russia’s official anthem is, speaking carefully, eclectic. Its story goes back to the 1940s, when German troops were still controlling Ukraine, Belarus, and big chunks of Russia proper. When the USSR was on the brink of defeat, Stalin turned away…
From February 30: Why isn’t the current ruler of Spain known as King John Charles in English? We have King John I of Aragon and Kings Charles I to IV of united Spain, but the man who claimed the throne…
Tim Newman of We the Undersigned has published an account of his visit to Russia — of all places, to Moscow and Nizhnekamsk. I enjoyed reading it so much that I recommend Tim’s travel notes without reservation; I have a…
Just for fun, a quote from a 2000 article in Transitions Online, by a lady who was apparently born and grew up in Russia: “Tiring the world with boasts of how well-read and literate we are, we learn elementary vocabulary…
Lex Libertas Owen, a South Californian and UCLA graduate, is staying in St. Petersburg, Russia, these days. South California, with its Mediterranean climate, lovely landscape, and man-created opulence, is one of the best places for a human being to enjoy…
1. Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford imitate a Russian accent in K-19. Fine. How about that old Viking, Hamlet, doing his hit number, “To Be Or…” with a deep, sore-throat Danish tinge? Or imagine a 2050 Iraqi production, a film…
Some well-meaning bloggers seem to believe Pravda is a somehow important publication. In fact (supposing I’m the factfinder here), no one reads Pravda in Russia. Well, someone does, since it gets published, but it’s not a major-league paper, not even the…