Jul

23

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

July 23, 2008 | 191 Comments

Two references to Russia being the next Nazi Germany in two days. The one from the left came yesterday. Fortunately, Daniel Silva is no intellectual heavy hitter and his Russia paranoia is likely to quietly dissipate into the ether.
Today’s however comes from someone who carries a big intellectual bat.  Namely, the ever loving Richard Pipes.  [...]

Popularity: 8% [?]

Jul

22

The Many Days and Many Lives of the Gulag

July 22, 2008 | 11 Comments

Steve Barnes, Assistant Professor at George Mason University, has set up a invaluable site called Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives.  Barnes is an expert in the history of the Gulag.  I had the pleasure of hearing paper of his at the “The Relaunch of the Soviet Project, 1945-1964” conference at the University College London in [...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Jul

22

Obamamaniacs on Russia

July 22, 2008 | 141 Comments

I usually don’t waste my time with babble but Daniel Silva’s “President Obama and a 3 am Phone Call about Russia” struck a cord. It’s just another example that Russia is one thing American liberals and conservatives can embrace over.
Silva’s argument is simple.  “Russia is now a fascist country,” he writes. He hopes soon to [...]

Popularity: 8% [?]

Jul

20

Mass Graves, Football, Labor, and Prisons in Russia

July 20, 2008 | 107 Comments

As regular readers can see, my blogging has been sparse over the last few weeks.  I just finished a three week teaching blitz of a Western Civilization course at Santa Monica High School.  The class was part of Santa Monica Community College’s dual enrollment program which allows high school students to take classes for college [...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Jul

12

Crowned in Kitsch

July 12, 2008 | 13 Comments

Are there any more questions about who’s in charge? I think this says it all . . .
Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Jul

11

Shame on Russia

July 11, 2008 | 153 Comments

Maybe it’s some kind of gangster code.  All gangsters, of whatever stripes, stick together.
Russia and China took a steaming dump on the Zimbabwean opposition and much of the world by vetoing a UN Security Council Resolution that would place sanctions on Robert Mugabe and 13 members of his gang.  Nine countries backed the proposal, the [...]

Popularity: 8% [?]

Jul

11

Ah, my neighborhood.

July 11, 2008 | 1 Comment

So the ghetto bird has been hovering overhead all morning.  Now the local news vultures are here to feast.
It all started this morning around, I think it was, 5:45 a. m. Pack! Pack! Pack! I say to myself, “Those were gun shots.”
The neighborhood has been a clusterfuck since.  Two major LA thoroughfares closed. The dreaded [...]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Jul

10

The G8 was Boring

July 10, 2008 | 5 Comments

It was Dmitri Medvedev’s coming out party to the other leaders of the G-8.  It seems that he didn’t fail to impress.  Bush called him a “smart guy,” which should apply to pretty much everyone when next to the outgoing American President.  Medvedev stood his ground with Britain’s Gordon Brown when the latter raised the [...]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Jul

8

Poisonmania!

July 8, 2008 | 40 Comments

The Russians are evil and pose a clear and present danger to Britain.  That’s at least what being spewed in the British press.  Recent days have been a reminder of the frozen relations between Britain and Russia.
First there was the short but tense meeting between British PM Gordon Brown and Russian President Medvedev at the [...]

Popularity: 5% [?]