Feb

28

Советское белье

February 28, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Soviet dress is a rather understudied topic. But now we can breathe easier. According to the London Guardian, Professor Olga Gurova from the European University in St. Petersburg is working on a cultural history of underwear in the Soviet period. I have to say, I’ll read it. I find the topic […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Feb

28

Tagged!

February 28, 2006 | 4 Comments

W. Shedd at Accidental Russophile has “tagged” me. So let me indulge him and whoever else is interested.

Four jobs I’ve had:

University Instructor
Waiter
Forklift Driver
Record Store clerk

Four movies I can watch over and over:

Seven
The Matrix
Pulp Fiction
Empire Strikes Back

Four places I’ve lived:

Foster City, California
La Verne, California
Los Angeles, California
Moscow, Russia

Four TV shows I like (ugh, I hate most […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Feb

27

Stalin by the Numbers

February 27, 2006 | 2 Comments

The 50th Anniversary of Khrushchev’s speech has passed but not unnoticed. There was lots of commentary over the week in English and Russia media. Below you’ll find links to English and Russian language articles that have been published in the last few days. The list is far from complete. I won’t provide any detailed commentary […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Feb

23

Cult of Putin?

February 23, 2006 | 2 Comments

The reflection on Khrushchev’s speech continues. This time, Julian Evans gives a fascinating take on the “Cult of Putin.” It’s worth reading. He argues that the Cult of Putin is not just some ancient Russian tradition of worshiping leaders. If anything it might have more to do with the type of […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Feb

23

More on Khrushchev

February 23, 2006 | 4 Comments

Articles and commentary commemorating Khrushchev’s speech to the 20th Party Congress in 1956 continue. Today Anne Applebaum, the author of Gulag: A History, weighs in on the pages of the Washington Post. Unfortunately, her commentary is more about us than about the historical significance of Khrushchev.

I’ll do my best to refrain from ranting on […]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Feb

21

Stalin as Sacrificial Lamb

February 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Boris Kagarlitsky has weighed in on the significance of Khrushchev’s speech in a commentary in the Moscow Times. I think some of the passages are worth noting. Kagarlitsky has an interesting thesis: In order for not only Khrushchev, but the Communist Party to erase their complicity in Stalin’s crimes, a complicity which made […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Feb

20

Remembering Khrushchev’s Speech

February 20, 2006 | Leave a Comment

One of the great things about having a university affiliation is that I have online access to all sorts of newspapers, journals and magazines. One such magazine is Russian Life. I’m not a regular reader. In fact, I know little about it and only stumbled upon it because its Jan/Feb issue features […]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Feb

19

Khrushchev’s Speech

February 19, 2006 | 1 Comment

Next Friday will mark the 50 years since Nikita Khrushchev made his famous “secret speech” at the 20th Communist Party Congress. The speech, which can be found here, denounced the Stalin’s “cult of personality,” his use of mass repression, ethnic deportations, and bungling during the War. Among the many detailed examples Khrushchev used […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Feb

19

KomPrav’s Archives Burn

February 19, 2006 | 1 Comment

The offices of Komsomolskaya Pravda were destroyed by fire on Tuesday. The building was a prime Soviet symbol. A classic 1930s constructivist structure, the building once housed Pravda, the main organ of the Communist Party. For several years it has been home to Komsomolskaya pravda, the former main organ of the Communist […]

Popularity: 2% [?]

Feb

12

The Road to Superpowerdom is Paved with Oil

February 12, 2006 | 15 Comments

Apparently Vladimir Putin is not just President of Russia. He’s not just a karate expert. Or just a lover of blondes. He’s also Vladimir Putin, PhD. According to a REN TV report on February 2, Putin wrote a dissertation, “Strategic Planning of Regional Raw Material Operations in a Market Economy,” in […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

keep looking »