Jul
31
"Ivan’s" Nashi
July 31, 2007 | 34 Comments
They have been called “Putin’s Generation” and “neo-Komsomol.” They have served as evidence of a rising Russian fascism. But little reporting about Nashi in English goes beyond what its Commissars give reporters. The following interview gives a different picture. Kommersant Vlast reporter Anna Kachurskaya spoke to “Ivan” (not his real name) [...]
Jul
30
Tensions Linger, Ghosts Reappear
July 30, 2007 | 20 Comments
Theories a-go-go
Diplomatic wrangling between Russian and Britain continues as no resolution over the Andrei Lugovoi extradition seems in sight. Writing in the Russian weekly Ekspert, Andrei Gromov argues that the whole mess lies with the British, who has gone “beyond the framework of legal and diplomatic logic.” Gromov sees British demands as nothing less [...]
Jul
29
Oppositionist Gets a Trip to the Mental Ward
July 29, 2007 | 3 Comments
Some habits die hard. The practice of forcing Soviet dissidents into psychiatric hospitals seems to continue in Putin’s Russia. Marina Litvinovich of Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front told the Associated Press that police have forced Larisa Arap in to psychiatric clinic.
Arap, 48, a member of Kasparov’s group in the northern port city of [...]
Jul
28
Ivan Made Me Do It
July 28, 2007 | 7 Comments
NASA has been hit with another scandal. Intrigued, I watched the CNN coverage today only to repeatedly roll my eyes at all the references to the “Right Stuff”. God who writes this copy? Kind of makes me sorry for Wolf Blizer who has to read that swill. Well maybe not that [...]
Jul
26
Don’t Call it a Comeback
July 26, 2007 | 2 Comments
Mikhail Gorbachev has come a long way since he wrote in a high school essay, “Stalin is our glorious fighter, Stalin is the iron of our youth (“Stalin – nasha slava boevaia, Stalin – nashei iunosti polet)” But his love for Stalin faded with Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech.” Also gone are the days when [...]
