Sean's Russia Blog

Sean's Russia Blog http://seansrussiablog.org Russia Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:21:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 Russia Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow no Sly Uncivility http://seansrussiablog.org/2010/01/13/sly-uncivility/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2010/01/13/sly-uncivility/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:02:06 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1672

Forget about "civil society" destroying Communism in Eastern Europe, says Stephen Kotkin in this interview about his new book, Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment on New Books in History. It's a myth. The Communist establishments in Eastern Europe were quite politically stable and were hardly challenged by widespread opposition (except in Poland). Instead, Kotkin attributes the collapse of Communism to "uncivil society", that is the elites who became disillusioned with their own system and by 1989 simply let it melt away. Lively and pointed, this interview will change your views on the collapse of Communism in the East. ]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2010/01/13/sly-uncivility/feed/ 0 <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/uncivil.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1673 alignright" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;" title="uncivil" src="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/uncivil-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></a>Stephen Kotkin has always been a bit of an iconoclast in Soviet Studies. He was one of the first to apply a Foucaultian analysis to Stalinism in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Mountain-Stalinism-as-Civilization/dp/0520208234/ref=pd_sim_b_21">Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization</a>. The work was so influential it gave birth to the one of the most deployed concepts in Soviet historiography: “speaking Bolshevik.” Kotkin has since moved into investigating the fall of Communism. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195368630/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0192802453&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HDGM0WCWZD8MNYM2TP4">Armageddon Averted</a>, his first foray into the late/post-Soviet era, addressed the collapse of the USSR in social-institutional terms. This implosion didn’t end in 1991 but continued well into that decade. His new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Uncivil-Society-Implosion-Establishment-Chronicles/dp/0679642765/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b">Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment</a>, is the second volume in assessing the collapse of Communism. In it, Kotkin puts forward a bold thesis: forget about “civil society” destroying Communism in Eastern Europe, he says. It’s a myth. The Communist establishments in Eastern Europe were quite politically stable and were hardly challenged by widespread opposition (except in Poland). Instead, Kotkin attributes the collapse of Communism to “uncivil society”, that is the elites who became disillusioned with their own system and by 1989 simply let it melt away. <a href="http://newbooksinhistory.com/">New Books in History</a>’s Marshal Poe recently interviewed Kotkin about Uncivil Society. I highly recommend listening to this thought provoking and lively discussion. Can we expect “uncivil society” to become another Kotkinian watchword? Time will tell. <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1672&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2010/01/13/sly-uncivility/"><img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/uncivil-150x150.jpg" title="" alt="" /></a> Forget about [...] An American Physicist in Tuva http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/08/17/an-american-physicist-in-tuva/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/08/17/an-american-physicist-in-tuva/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:22:41 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1392

Richard Feynman, famous American physicist, atom bomb maker, father of nanotechnology, and Tuva lover. Feynman discovered the remote region and its nomadic people from stamp collecting during the dark days of the Cold War. Feynman began a long correspondence with one of its residents. Feynman wanted to visit Tuva, but never did. The Cold War [...]]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/08/17/an-american-physicist-in-tuva/feed/ 6 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#Personal_life"><img class="size-full wp-image-1393 alignleft" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 2px 5px;" title="richard-feynman" src="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/richard-feynman.jpg" alt="richard-feynman" width="174" height="174" />Richard Feynman</a>, famous American physicist, atom bomb maker, father of nanotechnology, and Tuva lover. Feynman discovered the remote region and its nomadic people from stamp collecting during the dark days of the Cold War. Feynman began a long correspondence with one of its residents. Feynman wanted to visit Tuva, but never did. The Cold War prevented him from getting a visa which he documented in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tuva-Bust-Richard-Feynmans-Journey/dp/0393320693/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250539751&sr=8-1">Tuva or Bust</a>. In pure Soviet bureaucratic fashion, the his visa approval arrived the day after he died. Feynman didn’t make it to Tuva, but his daughter Michelle did. BBC Radio’s Ilona Vinogradova chronicled her incredibly emotional journey, Feynman’s fascination with Tuva, and the life, customs, and hospitality of the small province on the Mongolian border. Never did Michelle think that she would be slaughtering goats in her father’s honor. <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1392&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/08/17/an-american-physicist-in-tuva/"><img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/richard-feynman-150x150.jpg" title="" alt="" [...] Losing and Finding Russia http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/07/15/losing-and-finding-russia/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/07/15/losing-and-finding-russia/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:10:21 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1275 I made reference to Susan Richards’ book Lost and Found in Russia: Encounters in a Deep Heartland in my last post. I have not read the book, nor can I buy it unless I want to pay extra shipping from England. Lost and Found has yet to be published in the US. Too bad. As [...]]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/07/15/losing-and-finding-russia/feed/ 15 I made reference to Susan Richards’ book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Found-Russia-Encounters-Heartland/dp/1848850239">Lost and Found in Russia: Encounters in a Deep Heartland</a> in my <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/07/13/exploring-the-russian-religious-fringe/">last post</a>. I have not read the book, nor can I buy it unless I want to pay extra shipping from England. Lost and Found has yet to be published in the US. Too bad. As this Guardian review <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/11/lost-found-russia-richards">suggests</a>, it sounds like a worthwhile read: <blockquote>In the great tradition of Chekhov or Dostoevsky, her subjects live in the anonymous provinces, in the appropriately named town of Marx (what a great choice – at one point she was categorically informed by a telephone operator that “Marx does not exist, but Engels does”). The opening chapters are ones of pure despair. Richards describes struggling to capture the weird reality that just when we all thought the Russians should be celebrating the advent of democracy and freedom, their lives were collapsing around them. Provincial Russia knows a thing or two about hopelessness. The subsequent 16 years of change have tested her characters to the limits – throwing some off into Siberia, a couple to the Crimea. Richards kept on going back, doggedly and affectionately following the lives they offer up.</blockquote> Or you can get a taste yourself. OpenDemocracy has published a few excepts from the text: <a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/lost-and-found-in-russia-2-building-heaven-or-hell">Lost and Found in Russia: a visit to Marx</a> <a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/lost-and-found-in-russia-2-building-heaven-or-hell">Between Heaven and Hell</a> <a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/lost-and-found-in-russia-3-my-dream-house">My Dream House</a> And if that isn’t enough, Richards recently spoke at OpenDemocracy’s Russia evening in London. Anatol Lieven provided commentary. <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1275&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/07/15/losing-and-finding-russia/"><img src="" alt="" title="" /></a> I made reference to Susan Richards’ book Lost and Found in Russia: Encounters [...] The Ballads of Mikhail Gorbachev http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/06/22/the-ballads-of-mikhail-gorbachev/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/06/22/the-ballads-of-mikhail-gorbachev/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:12:51 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/06/22/the-ballads-of-mikhail-gorbachev/ Mikhail Gorbachev has had many roles in his seventy-eight years. He’s been a Party aktiv, a First Party Kraikom Secretary, Politburo member, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Louis Vuitton model, and global philanthropist. Gorbachev, of course, is best known for concocting perestroika and glasnost, two reforms which aided the collapse of the Soviet Union. [...]]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/06/22/the-ballads-of-mikhail-gorbachev/feed/ 2 Mikhail Gorbachev has had many roles in his seventy-eight years. He’s been a Party aktiv, a First Party Kraikom Secretary, Politburo member, General Secretary of the Communist Party, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05vuitton.html">Louis Vuitton model</a>, and global philanthropist. Gorbachev, of course, is best known for concocting perestroika and glasnost, two reforms which aided the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now Gorby can add another role to his long CV: recording artist. Yes, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev has recorded an album (with Russian rock star <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Makarevich">Andrei Makarevich</a>) of romantic songs titled Songs to Raisa in dedication to his wife. The album, of which only one copy exists, has already sold out. An unknown British philanthropist bought it for a whopping $169,940 at an auction to raise money for the <a href="http://www.raisafund.com/">Raisa Gorbachev Foundation</a>. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/22/mikhail-gorbachev-debut-album">Reports</a> Sean Michaels in the Guardian: <blockquote>An “anonymous British philanthropist” bought what we suppose is Mikhail Gorbachev’s “debut album”, Songs for Raisa, in London this week, bidding $164,940 (about £100,000) at an auction to benefit the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation. Nearly 350 luminaries were present at the private event, including Gordon Bown’s wife, Sarah, London mayor Boris Johnson, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, actor Vanessa Redgrave and Russian ambassador Yuri Fedotov, according to the newspaper Pravda. Gorbachev was there too, and he brought his singing voice. The former Soviet leader warbled a song called Old Letters. “The performance … was greeted with delight and a storm of applause,” said Pavel Palazhchenko, chairman of the Foundation’s press service. You can judge for yourself by listening to Old Letters. Like the rest of the tracks on Songs for Raisa, “Old Letters” is an old Russian romantic ballad. Gorbachev’s wife, Raisa, died 10 years ago. The foundation established in her name is dedicated to fighting childhood cancer. </blockquote> Two songs are available for download : <a href="http://www.novayagazeta.ru/file/audio/01_doroxhka_1.wav">Old Letters</a> <a href="http://www.novayagazeta.ru/file/audio/darknight.wav">Dark Night</a> And they aren’t that bad! Who knew? <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1237&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/06/22/the-ballads-of-mikhail-gorbachev/"><img src="" alt="" title="" /></a> Mikhail Gorbachev has had many roles in his seventy-eight years. [...] Bifurcated Memory http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/04/05/bifurcated-memory/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/04/05/bifurcated-memory/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:53:02 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1149 Thinking Allowed’s Laurie Taylor has an interesting discussion with Mikhail Ryklin about the historical memory of Stalinism. Ryklin’s most recent work looks at Communist ideology as a “substitute” or “political” religion which “gave millions of people all over the globe an ultimate meaning.” Indeed, Marxism, with its eschatological narrative based on the fall and rise [...]]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/04/05/bifurcated-memory/feed/ 14 Thinking Allowed’s Laurie Taylor has an <a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/ta/ta_20090401-1708a.mp3">interesting discussion</a> with Mikhail Ryklin about the historical memory of Stalinism. Ryklin’s most recent work looks at Communist ideology as a “substitute” or “political” religion which “gave millions of people all over the globe an ultimate meaning.” Indeed, Marxism, with its eschatological narrative based on the fall and rise of Man, class concepts of the Good and the Evil, and the importance of Revolution as the apocalyptic moment, stood as a secular replacement for the Christian religious narrative at the moment when liberal capitalism was in crisis. And what is the state of Stalinism now? Ryklin argues that Stalin’s rehabilitation cannot be seperated from the Soviet victory in WWII. Current so-called “Stalinists” are trying to explain the Terror with the Molotov thesis: Terror was necessary to rid the county of a potential Fifth Column in case of war. As Molotov, the ever loyal and unapologetic Stalinist, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Molotov-Remembers-Inside-Kremlin-Politics/dp/1566637155">told</a> Felix Chuev in 1982, <blockquote>It is interesting that before the events of the thirties, we lived all the time with oppositionists, with oppositionist groups. After the war, there were no opposition groups; it was such a relief that it made it easier to give a correct, better direction, but if the majority of these people had remained alive, I don’t know if we would be standing solidly on our feet. Here Stalin took upon himself chiefly all this difficult business, but we helped properly. Correctly. And without such a person as Stalin, it would have been very difficult. Very. Especially in the period of war. All around–one against another, what good is that?</blockquote> As Ryklin adds, this thesis goes well with Russians’ split memory on Stalinism. Millions perished, but the time was also a period of social mobility, perceived order, and most importantly, Russia’s victory over its external enemies. “There are very different images of this time depending on what group in society your family belonged,” Ryklin tells Taylor. The so-called revival of Stalin in the present is an appeal to this positive memory of period. It’s an interesting discussion with a fascinating thinker. Unfortunately, ten minutes just doesn’t do the Ryklin’s views justice. <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1149&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/04/05/bifurcated-memory/"><img src="" alt="" title="" /></a> Thinking Allowed’s Laurie Taylor has an interesting discussion with Mikhail Ryklin [...] Internal Terror http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/03/17/internal-terror/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/03/17/internal-terror/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:24:58 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1096 Cynthia Hooper gave a fascinating talk titled “Terror from Within: Brotherhood and Betrayal in the NKVD” at UCLA in February. The Center for European and Eurasian Studies has kindly uploaded the podcast. I offer it here for readers’ intellectual enjoyment. ]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/03/17/internal-terror/feed/ 31 <a href="http://www.holycross.edu/departments/history/website/facultyandstaff.htm">Cynthia Hooper</a> gave a fascinating talk titled “Terror from Within: Brotherhood and Betrayal in the NKVD” at UCLA in February. The <a href="http://www.international.ucla.edu/euro/index.asp">Center for European and Eurasian Studies</a> has kindly uploaded the podcast. I offer it here for readers’ intellectual enjoyment. <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1096&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/03/17/internal-terror/"><img src="" alt="" title="" /></a> Cynthia Hooper gave a fascinating talk titled “Terror from Within: Brotherhood and [...] Beatlemania Soviet Style http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/14/beatlemania-soviet-style/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/14/beatlemania-soviet-style/#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:19:05 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1048

The BBC World Service has an interesting documentary on Beatlemania in the Soviet Union. When the Fab Four hit the international scene in 1964, youth in the Soviet Union were no exception in succumbing to their tunes. But unlike fans in the West, the Beatles’ aficionados had to record songs off the Western radio, smuggle [...]]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/14/beatlemania-soviet-style/feed/ 61 <img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1055" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;" title="beatles-back-in-the-ussr" src="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/beatles-back-in-the-ussr-300x299.jpg" alt="beatles-back-in-the-ussr" width="300" height="299" />The BBC World Service has an interesting <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/02/090204_beatles_ussr.shtml">documentary on Beatlemania</a> in the Soviet Union. When the Fab Four hit the international scene in 1964, youth in the Soviet Union were no exception in succumbing to their tunes. But unlike fans in the West, the Beatles’ aficionados had to record songs off the Western radio, smuggle their records and then copy them ton x-ray machines (the new hit movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1239426/">Stilyagi</a> opens with how this was done.), and pass the copies hand to hand or peddle them in underground markets. To be a Beatles fan in 1960s Russia meant you had to be in the know, have connections with those “above,” or just have plain luck. The Beatles were more than just a past-time; it was a way of life. The Beatles’ penetration into the Soviet Bloc was more than just a symbol of Soviet youth’s hunger for the imagined West. If anything the Beatles’ popularity proved that the Iron Curtain proved quite porous in the face of globalization. Put simply, for many hearing the Beatles for the first time was a transformative experience. In an <a href="http://www.hf.uib.no/russisk/steinholt/articles/vasin.pdf">interview</a> with popular music scholar <a href="http://www.hf.uib.no/russisk/steinholt/main_index.html">Yngvar Steinholt</a>, Nikolai Vasin, <a href="http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=752">Russia’s No 1 Beatles Fan</a>, recalled his first time hearing John, Paul, George and Ringo: <blockquote>When did you hear about The Beatles for the first time? It was in the beginning of 1964. I had just finished school, I was still a teenager, I was 18 years old. And I remember that I met, I even, I didn’t learn about it from the radio, not from the papers. But I learned it by the way of what we call the jungle telegraph [narodnaia molvá]. I tell you that radio is the most important radio – the jungle telegraph. And so I met this friend of mine from school. And he asks: -Have you heard the Beetle-beaters [zhuki-udarniki]? I say: -I don’t even have an idea what that is. I know Bill Haley, I know Little Richard, but the Beetle-beaters I don’t know. -How can that be! That band’s a must! It’s the newest, coolest band in England! That’s what he told me, and he goes: -I’ll bring a tape player over to your place tomorrow and we’ll listen to it! And so he comes to me with a little Aides-player, a player from Riga, and we listen to a recording made from BBC radio, the frequency changes, noise, cosmic interference hardly lets the music through. I remember hearing a kind of music that I had never heard before. I had a feeling of utter [nevizny] and unusualness and I even leaned over to him and said something like: -Now I’ll be damned, that’s something new, there wasn’t anything like that before! And that’s it. That’s how it began. And from then on the further the more. A whole cardboard box of recordings of the Beatle-guys were brought to me, that is the Beetle-beaters [...] <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/14/beatlemania-soviet-style/"><img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/beatles-back-in-the-ussr-150x150.jpg" title="" alt="" [...] Thinking Privatization Allowed http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/08/thinking-privatization-allowed/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/08/thinking-privatization-allowed/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:24:50 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1042 Laurie Taylor briefly interviews the authors of the controversial Lancet article on Post-Soviet privatization on his Thinking Allowed. His discussion with Megan Comfort that follows on women who have boyfriends and husbands in prison is worth a listen too. ]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/08/thinking-privatization-allowed/feed/ 1 Laurie Taylor briefly interviews the authors of the controversial Lancet <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/01/24/the-private-killer/">article</a> on Post-Soviet privatization on his <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/">Thinking Allowed</a>. His discussion with Megan Comfort that follows on women who have boyfriends and husbands in prison is worth a listen too. <object classid="clsid:cfcdaa03-8be4-11cf-b84b-0020afbbccfa" width="403" height="53" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/rams/thinkingallowed_20090128.ram" /><embed type="audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin" width="403" height="53" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/rams/thinkingallowed_20090128.ram"></embed></object> <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1042&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/02/08/thinking-privatization-allowed/"><img src="" alt="" title="" /></a> Laurie Taylor briefly interviews the authors of the controversial Lancet [...] Wither Nashi? http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/01/31/wither-nashi/ http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/01/31/wither-nashi/#comments Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:02:32 +0000 Sean http://seansrussiablog.org/?p=1019 For those interested in Nashi, I recommend listening to this interview with Dr. Regina Heller from the University of Hamburg Institute for Peace and Research (a recent article of hers on Nashi can be found here). I think Heller’s discussion serves as as good primer for understanding the many aspects to the pro-Kremlin group. I [...]]]> http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/01/31/wither-nashi/feed/ 110 For those interested in Nashi, I recommend listening to this <a href="http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Podcasts/Detail/?coguid=9C879A60-8A40-14E8-76C3-2C016AE9096C&lng=en&id=95750">interview</a> with <a href="http://www.ifsh.de/IFSH_english/personal/m_hel.htm">Dr. Regina Heller</a> from the University of Hamburg Institute for Peace and Research (a recent article of hers on Nashi can be found <a href="http://se2.isn.ch/serviceengine/FileContent?serviceID=RESSpecNet&fileid=7857CF61-21D3-9689-EBDD-069FF9AD347F&lng=en">here</a>). I think Heller’s discussion serves as as good primer for understanding the many aspects to the pro-Kremlin group. I find it puzzling that the interviewer is surprised that the state is mobilizing youth for support. She seems to think that youth are somehow inherently against the state and for change. This must be some kind of post-1960s myth because historically youth have more often than not been used for rallying nationalist and pro-government support. Groups like the Boys’ Brigades, Boy Scouts, Wandervogel, Hitler Youth, and Komsomol were not known for their anti-government rhetorics. One issue Heller timely takes up is whether Nashi’s days are numbered since it’s “served its purpose” and is now “politically obsolete” for the Kremlin. I don’t agree with this. Nashi may be in crisis (interestingly not unlike like the Komsomol was after the Russian Civil War) and is searching for its role in Medvedev’s Russia. I think I would count on its death anytime soon. Especially if Lyndon <a href="../2009/01/30/nashi-to-monitor-iraqi-elections/comment-page-1/#comment-172301">is correct</a> and “colored revolution” continues to be a specter that haunts the political elite. <img src="http://seansrussiablog.org/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=1019&type=feed" alt="" /> <a href="http://seansrussiablog.org/2009/01/31/wither-nashi/"><img src="" alt="" title="" /></a> For those interested in Nashi, I recommend listening to this interview with Dr. Regina [...]