Baghdad

What the heck is going on in Baghdad? Is the war over or not yet? A great number of Russians don’t seem to believe CNN coverage because they mistrust US government and media as much as they mistrust their own.…

Harris on Nussbaum

Lee Harris on Marth Nussbaum’s famous essay, Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism. This is surely not the first criticism I have come across, but, honestly, I can’t remember whether I read the essay in question. Nussbaum: “nationalism and ethnocentric particularism are not…

War as usual

It’s easier to defend American interests that promote American values. US politicians tend to pretend they are engaged in the latter when their actions are but the former. Too bad. US Army’s “setbacks” in Iraq seem setbacks only against the…

According to the plan

A shallow but entertaining piece from Russian Journal (not to be confused with The Russia Journal). An inelegant translation of some excerpts follows. It looks like the anti-Iraqi allies did not realize indeed what they were getting into. Americans planned…

So who was involved?

US believes Russian technicians helping Iraqi defense: official I told you so a few posts ago. This piece is also amusing: U.S. Concerned About Russian Weapon Sales. Surely the US has known all along that a) Russia sold weapons and…

And nobody came

Kommersant reports that about 20 (!) people showed up to protest against the war in Voronezh, and a tiny few in Vladivostok. Nothing of note in the capitals, Moscow and St. Pete. Being an anti-anti-Americanist, I’m nonetheless not amused by…

The Soviet proles

In case you didn’t know, the word Proletariat was nearly a swearword in Soviet Russia in the 1970s–1980s. The well-off and the educated so labeled the drink-loving, foul-mouthed, good-for-nothing working classes. Well, not exactly good for nothing — when it…

A minor character’s complaint

It looks like Russia’s birth rate is still dwindling, but it is hardly the case in Moscow. And there is immigration – from the Caucasus, China, Ukraine, Vietnam, Africa, etc. Not that I’m worried “we” might lose our identity –…

McCartney’s first Red Square concert

Sir Paul is coming to Moscow. How come it will have been the first time, uh? The Beatles should be given greater credit for the downfall of Communism than Carter, Reagan, Bush I with all their men and horses and…

Russian reactions to the war

Typical Russian responses to the Iraq war? I don’t know how typical, but I’ll offer a few. Why? It’s unneeded and unnecessary. Wars should only be fought when there’s no alternative. It’s no good when one country plays cop, judge…