Neither right nor wrong

Finally, J.P. Zmirak got himself a blog, or, rather, a place to store links to his articles. Right here, on Blogspot. Much as I resent some of his opinions, it is no waste of time to get familiar with all…

Robert Locke on American Aristocracy

He surely has some points that warm my heart. Note that Bush Jr., especially in his cowboy variety, looks like a parody of his patrician father. Al Gore has a patrician look, too. The problem with WASPs was not only…

The bad guys from Birthday Girl

Of all the four front-row characters in Birthday Girl, the English fiancé looks the most Russian. Yes, you can find types like that among bank clerks and even computer programmers in Moscow. I thought only Russians wear short sleeves with suit…

Gun control in Iraq

As seen on Russian TV… “Toy Kalashnikovs are not in demand in stores now; but (or for) almost every Baghdadi family has a real one at home.” Fair enough. But what for? To shoot into the air in celebration of…

Illegitimacy

Once again: for a social scientist, marriage is a nexus of commitments, personal, social and legal; marriage vows are only important inasmuch as they contribute to those commitments. Hence one can easily imagine a society where de-facto and de-jure marriages…

Existential social facts

Locke again: “Therefore America is not just founded on its Constitution, but on the existential social facts of 1789 and since.” Well, too bad for America. Or at least such is the neocon — and the moderate liberal — view.…

The best have no zest

America is not a Propositional Nation, according to Robert Locke. Locke, like Zmirak, is a writer whose opinions I both enjoy and hate, but the very appearance on the virtual scene of serious thinkers who are so profoundly conservative —…

Zhivago mini

Colby Cosh, watching the new Doctor Zhivago mini, admits, “I have zero familiarity with the book or the legendary film”. Well, I have some familiarity with the book, having read it at the age of 15 or 16 and taken…

West good, East bad

An amazing example of consumer whimsicality and downright stupidity. Not unlike the earlier French wine example. Is it just overly picky American consumers? I can’t think of a Russian settling for anything Chinese in the presence of a Canadian alternative…

If love be love

Why do Russian women stick to their destitute, decrepit husbands? Out of — not pity but duty. It may be true that peasant women in old Russia did not know how to say “I love him”; they said “I pity…

Global Significance

Mine may not be the first English-language blog of a Russian, but the first one of Global Significance! And very likely the first by a Russian living in Russia and writing in English. I’ve run Google searches like Russia+weblog and…

Little room for gain?

If Washington lets Turkey occupy Northern Iraq, i.e. Iraqi Kurdistan, the moral underpinnings of the war will be shattered. But since I am skeptical about their existence beyond the blogosphere, I’d rather focus on Russia’s optimal strategy. Whatever the Russian…