Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
Alexander Adams has reviewed a number of books on architecture in the Soviet block (aka the Second World) and the Third World. It’s in the Critic, one of those Save Western Civilization mags whose writers are generously paid to keep…
As I used to say on this blog, most early stories of Trump’s connections to the Kremlin seemed to have no legs to stand on. Almost always they came from unscrupulous journalists, biased academic or self-serving politicians. In the summer…
To quote myself: Vietnam’s quarantine, I imagine, was much facilitated by the people’s apprehension of threats and dangers coming from the north. That is, from China. Back in 1979, China invaded Vietnam, devastated the borderlands and withdrew in the face…
Not that I know much about Joseph Beuys‘s work but this episode from his younger years – perhaps invented – keeps interjecting itself into my random thoughts. Actually, I’m pretty sure he did invent it now. Here’s the deal: When…
Here’s Sophie Pinkham for The Nation, reviewing The Future of Immortality: Remaking Life and Death in Contemporary Russia by Anya Bernstein: Aleksandr Bogdanov, a prominent early Bolshevik and science fiction writer, investigated the rejuvenating properties of blood transfusions in the…
A fund manager running a private equity fund out of Luxembourg writes: Regarding what happened on the ground, one can assume that Saudi Arabia had prepared a plan A and a contingency plan before entering the talks. Plan A was…
The BBC’s Russian service reported on Monday (the translation is my own): The prosecution in the MH17 crash case has claimed that at least two Buk missile launchers were dispatched from Russia to Ukraine in 2014 but one of them…
Two weeks ago, Steve Rosenberg at the BBC quoted the Russian political scientist (and historian) Valery Solovei: “Yeltsin believed he had a mission, and so does Putin… Yeltsin saw himself as Moses: he wanted to lead his country out of…
A few more comments on Putin’s latest foray through tight formations. But first, a look back at his remarks in April 2013: Furthermore, extracting shale gas and shale oil, which is also possible, is tied to enormous – I want…
Vladimir Bukovsky, the courageous and outspoken Soviet dissident, has died. His last years were marred by a bizarre prosecution that had likely been triggered by an FSB (ex-KGB) frame-up operation. Here’s Jay Nordlinger’s 2019 interview with Bukovsky in Cambridge: parts…
When Russia holds elections, whether national, regional or municipal, the votes are first counted at the polling stations. Each station serves a polling precinct, the minimal unit in the system so to say. Each precinct has its own electoral commission,…
Russians haven’t gotten politically smarter in the past decade, according to the latest Pew report (as compared with these polls from 2009). Only 38% believe that free media are important, a negligible increase from 37% in 2009. Only 40% believe…