Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
I have translated a blog entry by Natalia Samorukova, a Russian artist who lives in France. The title is “Why there’s no point in mounting barricades”. I’m not happy about the way she talks about the mentally ill but that’s…
From the 1990s until very recently, domestic critics of government policies repeated the mantra that Russia was but a resource appendage of the West. Now that Russia’s use of Western financial markets and petroleum technology has been restricted, China seems…
Putin’s supporters are touting him as a defender of a “Russian world” (russkiy mir). In an earlier post, I have mentioned “Russian-worlders” abusing a patriotic Ukrainian lady. She has been freed and the BBC has some details on her ordeal…
Novorossiya is a historical and geographical, rather than political, term. It has recently been much abused by Russian demagogues. The term dates back to the 18th century, when it referred to the steppes north of the Black Sea where agricultural settlement began about…
I have freely translated pieces from a recent interview by Vladimir Bukovsky, the famous Soviet dissident, with Ukrinform. The subject is how to deal with Putin: tell him to go hang himself. To clear things up from the start, poslat’ na khuy…
Earlier this week, reporters from several Russian media outlets, including Novaya Gazeta, Colta.ru, and Gubernskie Vedomosti, found two fresh graves of Russian servicemen in the Pskov region, where one of Russia’s famous paratrooper divisions is stationed. From interviews with witnesses…
After seeing the photos (1, 2) of hate-infested Donetsk residents violently abusing a lady accused of being a “Ukrainian spy”, I could not help wishing that Donetsk might meet the same fate as Dogville. In the words of Brecht’s Jenny,…
More Ukrainian flags put up by Russian activists today, Ukraine’s Independence Day. Two by the Kremlin, and one in St. Petersburg. Six activists showed up in Lubyanka Square, by the KGB/FSB building, holding flags of Ukraine, Georgia, and Chechnya (Ichkeria)…
To begin with, a video of Russian activists hanging a Ukrainian flag from the Bolshoy Kamenny bridge near the Kremlin and getting detained by cops. This very Sunday morning. On to Yulia Latynina on Ekho Moskvy: The “tower desecration” case.…
In the quote below, the workers are not merely being investigated – they were detained yesterday and police were planning to bring a misdemeanor charge: Six workers are being investigated after they accidentally painted a high-voltage transmission tower in southern…
Gazeta Wyborcza quotes Latvian politician Artis Pabriks speaking at a conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Chain: [Russia] has responded to the EU sanctions so as to damage small countries. The majority in our countries is in…
Twenty-three years and two days ago, on August 19, 1991, people started flowing to the square by Moscow’s “White House”, the seat of Yeltsin’s Russian government, to show support for the recently elected president and prevent the Communist hardliners who…