Monthly Archives: November 2011

Keep your friends close….

Posted on November 29, 2011 by

…but your enemies closer. This Eurasianet story about Armenia’s border with Iran being closed reminded me of Armenia’s Wikipedia page: Foreign relations Armenia presently maintains good relations with almost every country in the world, with two major exceptions being its … Continue reading →

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Дарт Вейдер

Posted on November 23, 2011 by

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/darth-vader-claims-land-in-ukraine/448270.html Darth Vader Claims Land in Ukraine 22 November 2011 Reuters KIEV — Welcoming the local authorities’ move to the dark side, Darth Vader has asked for a land plot in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa to park … Continue reading →

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Posted on November 22, 2011 by

The first time I saw a clip of something like this it was funny because it was just so unexpected and absurd. This time around, though, I’m starting to wonder if there’s just something seriously up with Russian news anchors … Continue reading →

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What Nabokov thinks of OWS?

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

Brutes, bores, class-conscious Philistines, Freud, Marx, Fake thinkers, puffed-up poets, frauds and sharks. Personally I disagree….

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New Jersey Nyets, cont.

Posted on November 19, 2011 by

Never one to pass up a clip related to basketball, Russia, or Russia and basketball, here is a short video of New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov running the floor. Based on the clip, I have my doubts that he … Continue reading →

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Mind in the gutter

Posted on November 15, 2011 by

I literally laughed out loud on the metro when I read this passage of the New Yorker’s review of the new George Kennan biography: When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, twenty-two months later, Stalin was completely unprepared – one reason … Continue reading →

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Rock the voting booth

Posted on November 15, 2011 by

Via Gawker comes this over-the-top get out the vote video from the pro-Putin United Russia party. The clip is cheekily titled “let’s do it together.” http://gawker.com/5858365/vote-for-putin-while-getting-laid

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I’m no detective…

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

…but I think I would have cracked the case before now. Post courtesy of LP: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/29-mummified-bodies-found-in-flat/447274.html 29 Mummified Bodies Found in Flat 08 November 2011 The Nizhny Novgorod historian had always been open about his interest in the dead and … Continue reading →

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Dmitri Medvedev = Mark Corrigan

Posted on November 6, 2011 by

It is exceedingly easy to find direct parallels between Russia’s lame duck President Dmitri Medvedev and Peep Show protagonist Mark Corrigan. Stories that Medvedev likes to drive the streets of Moscow after hours so he can feel like an ‘ordinary … Continue reading →

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A nemzetközi helyzet fokozódik

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

A while ago I linked to some articles about the post-modern aspects of Russian politics and how in many ways would-be non-conformists have been co-opted by the establishment. There was Peter Pomerantsev’s defense of artiste Serebrennikov‘s interpretation of Almost Zero, … Continue reading →

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