“George W. Bush is a pathetic idiot”: Michael Stipe shares his discovery with us.

Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., spent a great deal of time explicating on Thursday night, good-naturedly turning Madison Square Garden into a lecture hall, writes NYT. Before the final song, Mr. Stipe couldn’t quite help but offer one last mini-sermon. “This,” he said of “Disturbance at the Heron House,” from 1987, “is my rewriting of the novel ‘Animal Farm.’ ” “Ignoreland,” from 1992, was his “barely adult reaction to the Iran-Contra scandal.” And “Man-Sized Wreath,” from this year’s album “Accelerate”(Warner Brothers), was inspired, he said, by the day in 2004 when, met by several hundred protesters, President Bush visited — or, in Stipe’s description, desecrated” — the grave of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “George W. Bush is a pathetic idiot,” he said, then looked forward: “I feel very, very hopeful with 2008.” How that optimism, not historically R.E.M.’s strong suit, will translate into song remains to be seen.

Lithuania was OK...upied

Again, Lithuania has angered Russia. This time by proposing a bill that would prohibit the public from displaying Soviet symbols, including the red flag with a hammer and sickle and the national anthem. Not so long ago, soviet simbols were not rare in Vilnius. And National Anthem of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic survives on the world wide web.

This ban includes flags, emblems and badges carrying insignia, such as the hammer and sickle or swastika.

National Anthem of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

In fact, Lithuanian SSR was first proclaimed on December 16, 1918, by the First Congress of the Lithuanian Communist Party supported by bolshevik armed forces. It failed to create a de facto government with any popular support.The Lithuanian SSR was first proclaimed on December 16, 1918, by the First Congress of the Lithuanian Communist Party supported by bolshevik armed forces. It failed to create a de facto government with any popular support.

What happened later, was not a jocke. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of (August 1939), between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, stated that Lithuania was to be included into the German "sphere of influence", but after the World War II broke out in September 1939 was amended to transfer Lithuania to the Soviet sphere in exchange for Lublin and parts of the Warsaw province of Poland, originally ascribed to the Soviet Union, but by that time already occupied by German forces. The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was established on July 21, 1940.

The United States, United Kingdom, and other western powers considered the occupation of Lithuania by the USSR illegal, citing the Stimson Doctrine, in 1940, but recognized all borders of the USSR at post-World War II conferences.

Several waves of deportations affected Lithuania. only in July 12-16, 1940 more than 500 people were arrested - most of them were public men and politicians, army officers, office employees of the independent Lithuania. In the short run, among the dangerous enemies of the Soviet system were reckoned ordinary members of legal parties, organizations that existed in independent Lithuania, police officers, teachers and even Esperantists and philatelists. The repressive departments established pursuing the example of the Soviet Union took into their disposition Lithuanian archives and looked for the "anti-Soviet elements".

The first mass deportation began on June 14, 1941, at night. People realizing nothing were woken up, sat into lorries and conveyed to the nearest railroad station. Thousands of people woken up from sleep (women, children and old people) were told to leave their homes in a hurry.

The Lithuanian SSR was renamed the Republic of Lithuania again, and on March 11, 1990, all legal ties of sovereignty were cut with the Soviet Union as Lithuania declared the restitution of its independence. The government of the USSR recognised Lithuania's independence one year later.

Till then some rock groups sang "Lietuva yra OK OK OK!" (ok... occupied)

Moscow's official interpretation of history is that Lithuania, Latvia
and Estonia were liberated from Nazi Germany by, then voluntarily
joined, the Soviet Union.

In comparison with other parts of the USSR its economy fared better and
today Lithuania remains one of the wealthiest of the formerly
Soviet-controlled states.

These are the toughest bans on symbols from the Soviet past adopted in any of the 15 countries that emerged from the USSR.Correspondents say equating Soviet and Nazi symbols in this way is certain to infuriate Russia, BBC reports.

Coal and tragedy

5 Injured, 37 Missing in Yenakiyevo Coal Mine Blast, Ucraniana blog reports. A massive methane explosion at a coal mine in Yanakiyevo, Donetsk oblast, comes less than a week after the recovery of 11 bodies from the May 23 accident at the Krasnolymanska mine.

Liberals. Or not.

Russia's economic stability and ability to establish itself as a leading global economy is at the heart of a debate in government, with the liberal faction represented by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin arguing that the economy is expanding at unsustainable levels, Moscow Times reported.

Jim O'Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said his bank predicts that Russia will be one of the leading eight economies by 2020, up from 10th place now, as the rapid jumps in the oil price slow down over the next decade.

Elvira Nabiullina, Economic Development Minister, who was moderating the session and is one of the government's keenest proponents of accelerated economic growth, accused him of "forecasting inertia."

Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister, showed more interest in policy than the intricacies of economic measurement, arguing that the government should take a liberal tack and step back from interfering in the economy if it is to modernize: We have to repeat again and again — the protection of property rights is the top and most important task for the state," he said.

Alireza Ittihadieh said that "Medvedev wanted to emphasize that past and present have nothing to do with each other," , She is CEO of British aviation company Freestream Aircraft, said following the meeting. "The summary of the whole thing was — this is me and this is not somebody else. The country's leadership is changed, so what I am saying is not what my predecessor said … He seemed to be trying to be more open-minded and to move things forward."

A hug? Not now, thanks.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivered an extensive speech to German politicians and businessman during his visit to Germany. It became Medvedev’s first landmark public appearance of international significance. The speech clearly showed which problems the new Russian president considered as vital. One of the most talked-about subjects – the deployment of the US missile system in Eastern Europe and the expansion of NATO – became one of the most important aspects in Medvedev’s speech:

“It is very indicative that discrepancies with Russia are interpreted by many in the West from the point of view of the need to pull Russia’s stance to that of the West. We do not need to be hugged. We are seeking after truly equal relations and nothing more”

The president argued for the removal of barriers for Russian companies looking to invest overseas, stressing that its outward investment is neither "speculative nor aggressive." Existing global institutions are becoming obsolete, he said, demonstrating their inability to tackle pressing global problems like rising food prices.

Is this girl the most beautiful of Russia?

Ksenia Sukhinova, 20 years old, was officially crowned "Miss Russia 2007." She won also won $100,000 and the right to represent Russia at "Miss Universe," the international beauty contest. She is from from Tyumen, where she is a student in the department of "Technical Cybernetics" at Tyumen University of Oil and Gas.The last Miss Russia to win Miss Universe was Oksana Fedorova in 2002.

Looking as a president (but he is a prime minister)

Vladimir Putin began his first major international visit since becoming prime minister son Thursday, meeting with officials in Paris to conduct negotiations on a presidential scale, the newspaper Kommersant said.
Though there is nothing strange about a Russian prime minister taking a role in foreign affairs, Mr. Putin "is not simply a prime minister," a source from France's Foreign Ministry said. The ministry has had to improvise on diplomatic protocol and President Nicolas Sarkozy prepared to discuss several issues not typically covered with visitors of Mr. Putin's official rank: like, for example Russia's political relationship with the European Union, a subject usually reserved for the Russian president.
Russian press is fond of that. Sarkozy, who is on a first-name basis with Putin and addresses him in the familiar "tu" form, greeted him at his car as it pulled up to the palace, as Moscow Times pointed out. Sarkozy, who is on a first-name basis with Putin and addresses him in the familiar "tu" form, greeted him at his car as it pulled up to the palace. (As president, the only countries Putin visited more than France were Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Germany. He made seven visits to France, and his Friday schedule was to begin with a meeting with the man who usually played his host)