Monthly Archives: November 2008

My participation in the Paul Klebnikov Fund’s event “What is Russia Thinking? The Word from the Last of the Independent Media” was a great honor. Paul’s widow Musa Klebnikov and his brothers Peter and Michael were amazingly gracious and thankful for my participation. The pleasure however was truly all mine.  They’ve built a vary warm, lively, sophisticated and touching community around Paul’s memory. Being a part of it was certainly an emotional and intellectual experience. For those who’ve never read Paul Klebnikov’s work, I highly recommend it.

What of the event itself?  I would say that well over 100 people were in attendance.  Being in a crowd of such politically well connected people was intimidating at first.  I still consider myself a lowly graduate student who lacks the proper credentials to mix with such a crowd.  But thankfully people were incredibly nice and any nervousness I had wasn’t anything that a ..read more

President Bush sent a gushing statement to Georgia on the fifth anniversary of the “Rose Revolution.”  Bush said in White House press release,

One of the most inspiring chapters in the history of freedom was written by the Georgian people during the Rose Revolution. Thirsting for liberty and armed only with roses in hand, citizens throughout Georgia peacefully staked claim to their God-given right of liberty. These demonstrations proved once again, that when given a choice, people choose to live in freedom.

On this anniversary, Americans honor the brave Georgian citizens who defended freedom, and we renew our commitment to supporting Georgia’s democracy, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. We also look forward to the day when the light of liberty shines on all people throughout the world.

Blech. Under normal circumstances, one could, in fact, one should ignore Bush’s blathering.  His days are numbered, he’s the lamest of all lame ducks, and frankly ..read more

When Kommersant reported a few days ago that the Russian Orthodox Church was planning on creating Orthodox militias to patrol Russia’s streets, the story was immediately seized by the Russian media, including this blog.

Now according to RIA Novosti, the Church has denied such claims.  “The church is not setting up a private army and would never attempt to do so. It is nonsense. The Russian armed forces already consist of 80% Orthodox believers,” said Dmitry Smirnov, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s military relations department. He also rejected Kommersant‘s claims that the Church had any discussions with the MVD on the subject.

Smirinov did add that if there are such militias they are of local initiative only.  “It could be a private public initiative put forward by local parishes. If they want to patrol the streets – let them do it. If they want to sweep the streets – even better.”  ..read more

Here’s a new one.  The Moscow Patriarch announced that it plans to create an “Orthodox People’s Militia” under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church. The militia, according to Father Vsevolod Chaplin, will be

Small groups which will literally dominate the street life of districts, small cities, and villages.  And here, I think the Orthodox militia can maintain order in their hometowns.  Now there exists military-patriotic groups who are physically fit under many church communes and parishes.  They could show a good amount of civil activity.

The groups, which seem to already have been created, will make their official debut on 1 December.  And what will be their most immediate task?  According to Father Kirill Frolov, the leader of the Moscow division of the Union of Orthodox Citizens, the militias will “in some degree be dictated by the possible outcomes of the financial crisis, in particular unemployment.  The militiamen will uphold civil ..read more

Oil drops below $50 a barrel.  The global auto industry slashes jobs in France, Thailand, Japan, and the United States. The world’s investors look for a safe haven to run to but none is to be found. Perhaps it’s time to stop referring to the current economic situation as a “financial crisis” and call it a general economic crisis?  For those still wondering what the hell has happened, I suggest reading Niall Ferguson’s cogent explanation of how “Planet Finance” imploded in his “Wall Street Lays Another Egg.”

And what of Russia?  It was only a few weeks that we were told that the crisis was sparing Russia’s “average Joe.” After all, few average Russians have invested in the stock market so the losses were concentrated at the top.  Very true.  But I’m sure Russia’s oligarchs can withstand having a few billion shaved off their paper stacks.  However, for the average Russian, ..read more

Evgenii Kolesov, one of the jurors in the Politkovskaya murder trial, was on Ekho Moskvy today and said the following about the sudden closing of the trial to the media:

“I can’t say that the initiative originated from us.  In no way did any of us demand this,” the juror emphasized.  According to him, the court secretary came to the jury room before the trial and asked them to sign a request to conduct the trial without the press, but “yesterday no one signed this request.” Today, the jurors for the Politkovskaya case addressed the court with a request to allow the print media into the trial.

It appears that the plot is thickening.