I’ve made some changes to the blog over the last few days. Most of them have been cosmetic. I’ve changed the color of the fonts, etc. However, there is one change I feel I need to explain. And that is the news feeder you see on the right. The news feeder culls stories from Mosnews.com, an English language Russia news site. I don’t exactly remember how I found Mosnews, but I remember the first story I read from it: “Stray Rocket Kills Bull, Cuts Power Supply in Russia’s Far East.” At first, I thought Mosnews was the Russian answer to The Onion. After all, how else to you explain stories like: “Drunk Scuffles With Bear in Ukrainian Zoo” or “Breasts Betray Cross-Dresser Trying to Pass Moscow University Exam for His Sister“? The strange thing is that along with these stories there are rather serious one’s like today’s “Chechen Warlord Basayev Admits to Being Terrorist, Promises More Attacks“. This story is coupled with this one: “Police Detain Vampire in Russia’s EU Enclave” Terrorists and vampires? Are these stories even real? It is hard to say. The scary thing is that many of these inane stories come from Russia’s Interfax News Agency.
(Just as an aside, I noticed on Interfax that ABC News broadcast an interview with Shamil Basayev, the admitted mastermind of the Beslan massacre. Broadcasting an interview with Basayev is like if the main Russian TV news, Vesti, showed an interview with Osama Bin Laden.)
Since the tone of the blog tends to be serious political commentary on Russia, I wanted to make some space for some of the lighthearted and comic elements of this country. Mosnews seems like a perfect place to introduce these. Some other “stories” of note are:
Russian Schoolboy Dies After 12 Hours of Computer Gaming
Russian Woman Bitten by Pet Piranhas
Russian Villagers Blame U.S. as Lake Disappears
Russian Man Hammers Nail Into Head After “Hearing Voice”
and,
2 Tramps Detained for Cannibalism in Russia’s Far East
Until I actually see a stray dog riding the Moscow Metro and makes a transfer, as many I’ve talked to claim, enjoy Mosnews.
