europika

Again (first time)

2011-10-10T11:37:00.001+01:00

Donald Tusk has become the first Polish prime minister in history to be democratically re-elected for a consecutive term, exit polls show. Mr Tusk's centrist Civic Platform took 39.6% of the vote, followed by the national conservative Law and Justice on 30.1%, the liberal Palikot Movement on 10.1%, the agrarian PSL (Civic Platform's junior coalition partner) on 8.2%, and the socialist SLD on 7.7%, the survey by TNS OBOP said. Turnout was a paltry 47.7%. The surprisingly bad result for Jaroslaw Kaczynski's Law and Justice came after the former prime minister made anti-German remarks in a newly published book. The vote for continuity as a sign of political maturity in Poland: is the first time it happens.

Tusk has said ""In these coming four years we will have to work twice as hard, we will have to act twice as fast".

Poland rocks

2011-07-10T22:22:00.001+01:00

The road to recovery has divergences in Central Europe, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe. Estonia, Poland and Slovakia are forging ahead, with estimated growth rates of nearly 4 percent this year. The Polish economy has been sustained by resilient domestic demand and credit markets, writes the NYT. Latvia and Lithuania are still struggling after the excessive credit boom before the global financial crisis, when getting mortgages was easy, followed by fiscal retrenchment, when banks tightened credit rules. The secret?

solid consumption,

deep integration with E.U. markets

the good absorption of E.U. funds.

Polish banks in particular hewed to prudent credit policies before the global financial crisis

Poland was one of a few formerly communist countries in which peasants could own their land and small, independent trades were allowed.

New light on Lech Walesa

2011-04-04T12:42:00.002+01:00

Andrzej Wajda, a veteran Oscar-winning film director and, at 85, presents a biopic recounting the Solidarity struggle. As The Guardian writes, Poland has had a complicated relationship with Lech Walesa. The love-hate of past years, however, is danger of fading into indifference and neglect. Poles are often surprised when foreigners ask after him, as if he is a half-forgotten uncle. Two years ago, Wajda took on another giant historical subject, the Katyn massacre of the Polish officer corps in 1940 by the Soviet NKVD. Wajda says: "This is not going to be a critical film about Walesa. I see no point. It's not the moment."

I just found that the author of the article, Julian Borger, has some good articles about Poland has some here

Read de article here.

And more about Lech Walesa here.

Kurt Westergaard: “A fanatic has lost the very valuable feeling: the doubt”

2011-03-10T21:24:00.001+01:00

Kurt Westergaard (1935) is probably the most famous Danish cartoonist since he created the controversial cartoon of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. This cartoon was one of the 12 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons which met with strong and sometimes violent reactions from Muslims worldwide. Since the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard has received several death threats and murder attempts. I spoke to him for the first time in 2009, at his place in a small town in Denmark. In 2010, a 28-year-old Somali Muslim intruder armed with an axe and knife entered Westergaard's house and was later shot, wounded and arrested by police. Since then, he is under constant police protection. But he as always choosen freedom to safety.

Are we in the peak of war between civilizations?
For the time being we experience a clash or friction between two different cultures.
Should we speak with those who can't respect other´s life or it is better to fight them?
For a democrat a dialogue is the most natural way to settle a disagreement. But we must stand firm on our democratic principles.
In Spain many people blamed the war of Irak and Afganistan for the bombings of the trains in Madrid, 7 years ago. Can a democratic government be responsible of such attacks?
A democratic government should first of all defend its country. But sometimes it may be necessary to attack. But I think the Afghan war is a mistake. Seen with many Afghan eyes we are acting as cultural imperialists who want to impose on them our values. Values which most Afghans do not like and do not understand. And no foreign powers have been able to conquer Afghanistan til now.Let us instead try, to talk or negotiate with these people, offer them humanitarian help on areas they can accept. The time where the Western powers can be the policeman of the world with the big stick is over. There are other ways to support a growing democratic consciousness in Muslim world as we see it these days in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
You had a bitter experience with Muslim radicals. What have you learn from that?
I have experienced Islam fanatism very close. A fanatic has lost the very valuable feeling: the doubt. No dialogue is possible, we have got to crush them.
Is there any danger of losing part of our liberty in order to be more safe?
Safety has a very high priority these days. But let us not be overwhelmed by the fear of terror. That would mean more and more surveillance and there by reduce our liberty
Many terrorist are grown in poor/Muslim countries. But some, including those who tried to kill you and those who killed 191 people in Madrid in 2004, are grown in rich/western cities. How can we avoid this 'new breed of killers'?
To avoid or eliminate this new breed of terrorists we in Denmark use a lot of money to integrate and educate emigrants children in our school system, so that they leave the school on the same level of knowledge as the ethnic Danish Children, as for Danish reading and writing, mathematics etc. And thereby prepared to all kinds of education. Education is a good mean to integration.
How much time it´s needed for a real change in the Islamic world: towards peace, dialogue, tolerance and respect? Are you optimistic about the revolts in the Muslim world or do you think the situation of freedom and state-supported-terrorism can become worst?
Anyway till now I think, that the democratic revolution in the Muslim countries is the start of a development which if it succeds will mean very much for both the Muslim world and the Western world.
What terrorism want: destroy our values or being left alone?
The Islamic terrorism wants in its insanity to destabilise our world and scare us .
You retired as a cartoonist. Why you did so: tired, scared or want to focus in some other things.
I retired at he age of 75. So I think there will be time to have focus on other creative works.
You said bye with a drawing of 'Don Quixote'.
For me Don Quixote is the romantic idealist with visions, sometimes impossible, to get fulfilled, but necessary. Sancho Panza is always the realist. There should be a balance between these two.
In the front page of your memories it will be the most controversial cartoon of Allah. Why did you choose it?
The Islam terror has a part of a religion or interpretations of parts of religion as its spiritual ammunition therefore.

Interview for EL MUNDO in 2010 here (spanish)

Baltic Way 1989 / Baltijos Kelias 1989 / Baltijas ceļš 1989 / Balti kett...

2011-01-14T01:21:00.002+01:00

Paceful people from the baltics: in 1989 they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany with the Baltic Way or Baltic Chain. It was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on August 23, 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning over 600 kilometres (370 mi) across the three Baltic states – Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR, republics of the Soviet Union.

The protest was designed to draw global attention by demonstrating a popular desire for independence for each of the entities.

I learnt that you can break up with history without killing others.

But 20 years ago happened this.

Good Israel and the evil world

2011-01-07T15:59:00.000+01:00

Some humor about Israel and how they deal with arabs. Eretz Nehederet (It’s a Wonderful Country), is Israel’s most popular and most iconoclastic satire show. In a skit from a recent episode, it imagines a Tel Aviv kindergarten class with a curriculum managed by Im Tirtzu, the ultra-nationalist group that last year led a scurrilous campaign against Israeli NGOs like the New Israel Fundand Breaking the Silence.

Via Guerra Eterna.

Capitalism&Socialism

2010-10-31T00:36:00.001+01:00

"Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true". -Polish Proverb

Happy birthday 'gaspadin' Obama!

2010-08-05T00:47:00.001+01:00

Congrats to Obama from Russian president Medviedev... on twitter...

Sometimes I see corruption, mister president

2010-08-03T11:10:00.002+01:00

A police officer in Russia uses the Internet to challenge the country's leaders to address rampant corruption.
And it seems that others are willing to do so.

Police in S. Russia to probe donkey parasailing claim

2010-07-20T01:39:00.001+01:00

Police in the Krasnodar Territory in southern Russia will investigate a case of animal cruelty involving a donkey forced to parasail along a beach on the Sea of Azov, a local police spokesman said on Monday to RIA Novosti.

collage

"The donkey was taken on a parasailing ride to draw attention to this attraction. The donkey was braying and children were crying but no one had the sense to report it to the police," the spokesman said.

Wow!

2010-06-24T23:43:00.000+01:00

President Medviedev visited twitter

And wrote his first tweet.

When you have memory you create better front pages

2010-04-16T11:33:00.001+01:00

PapersPapers noticed.

The anti-utopian revolution

2010-04-14T14:11:00.001+01:00

“Anyone who has suffered that humiliation, at some level, wants revenge. I know all the lies. I saw people being killed. But I also know that revanchism is never ending. And my obsession has been that we should have a revolution that does not resemble the French or Russian, but rather the American, in the sense that it be for something, not against something. A revolution for a constitution, not a paradise. An anti-utopian revolution. Because utopias lead to the guillotine and the gulag.” Adam Michnik.

Watching Putin beside Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, NYT columnist Roger Cohen thought of François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl hand-in-hand at Verdun in 1984 and also remembered Willy Brandt on his knees in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1970. And writes: "Do not tell me that the people in the streets of Bangkok and Bishkek and Tehran dream in vain of freedom and democracy. Do not tell me that lies can stand forever. Ask the Poles. They know"

"He speaks very well ... but still do not know for whom he works"

2010-04-04T17:15:00.001+01:00

I once asked my russian landlord his opinion about president Putin. "He speaks very well ... but still do not know for who he works." Russian sense of humor is sometimes indecipherable, but perhaps because of that is the best clue to understand this huge country.

Putin, former KGB agent, is now prime minister of a country were people think that "there are no ex-KGB agents, they never cease to be."

What does not kill, fattens. So it would not be surprising that the carnage on Monday in Moscow would make Putin more popular. One of his most famous phrases is: "Who does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Who wants it back has no brain." Today poverty is not rare, but Saint Petersburg welcomes you with a huge Lenin.

Ninotchka is a 1939 film in which Greta Garbo plays a Russian communist agent who is sent to Paris to investigate the work of three comrades lured by the trappings of capitalism. They ask:

- And how is Moscow?
-Okay, mass trials have been a success. Russians will be less but will be better.

Pruning is becoming more fine now: only the elites matter, the murder in the right dose. Lenin said that democracy is a form of government in which changes every four years tyrant. Surrounded by the Urals and the North Pole, some Slavs want to last forever.

In Lithuania: cut, cut and cut again

2010-04-03T11:14:00.004+01:00

Credit rating agencies said the worst appeared to have passed for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after the crisis . But NYT writes that if many indebted countries want to see what austerity looks like, they might want to visit this Baltic nation of 3.3 million. Lithuania cut public spending by 30 percent — including slashing public sector wages 20 to 30 percent and reducing pensions by as much as 11 percent. Even the prime minister, Andrius Kubilius, took a pay cut of 45 percent. The baltic countries rode a boom driven by banking and real estate earlier this decade. Low interest rates spurred a housing boom. Many Lithuanians took out low-interest-rate mortgages denominated in foreign currencies. With the crisis, house prices plunged and thousands lost their jobs and began to default on their debts. Now austerity has exacted its own price, in social and personal pain.

The article of NYT about Lithuania is among the most emailed of the week from Business section. Another proof of Lithuanian power?

The Russian Indy?

2010-04-01T10:57:00.000+01:00

You read the headline this week: Russian Billionaire Buys U.K.'s Independent for $1.49‎

In his early life in London Alexander Lebedev was a KGB man. "He is now businessman willing to make the investments he thinks necessary to produce a superior product that will win back readers and if that doesn't work then he would likely give up the ghost . That gives him an easier time than Rupert Murdoch who does not want to go down in history as the man who killed The Times of London even though it is now losing more than £1 million a week", says Philip M. Stone

He said this week: "I invest in institutions which contribute to democracy and transparency, and at the heart of that are newspapers which report independently and campaign for truth. I am a supporter of in-depth investigative reporting and campaigns which promote transparency and seek to fight international corruption. These are things The Independent has always done well and will, I am sure, continue to do."

Quality papers have found it close to impossible to bring revenues and costs into equilibrium, let alone generate a sustainable profit margin. Robert Peston says his strategy may be to challenge the internet at its own game, by giving the Indie away (as he has already done with the Evening Standard in London) Advertising rules...

In addition to the London Evening Standard, the Lebedevs also co-own, with former president Mikhail Gorbachev, Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's few pro-democracy newspapers. The paper has a reputation for independence and high-quality reporting and was where the celebrated journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006, worked.

The Guardian wrote that Lebedev will bring hope, not instant salvation

Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on the Moscow subway: 35 killed

2010-03-29T12:29:00.002+01:00

The suicide bombers were believed to have set off their explosives as trains approached Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations.

"We will continue operations against terrorists without compromise and till the end," said Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev.

The pictures are here. The last time Moscow was hit by a confirmed terrorist attack was in August 2004, when a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a city subway station, killing 10 people. Check the terrorist timeline here.

Interesting bed questions

2009-09-05T11:24:00.002+01:00

Some day you woke up and you read that Putin and Hitler slept in the same room.

And then you think: Is Putin = Hitler?

Really you think so?

A grip of the Euro-blogosphere (updated)

2009-08-31T10:14:00.001+01:00

Jon Worth (European, social democrat, federalist, atheist, anti-monarchist, ENTJ, inline skater, blogger, website designer, avid Mac user, trainer) groups together all the different EU blogs he follows. Including this one :-)

"I don't feel the 'Obama' of Central Europe"

2009-08-27T18:26:00.008+01:00

Dalia Grybauskaite, economist at 53, not even a month has been installed at the presidential palace in Vilnius (Lithuania) but she has managed to at least show that it is serious. He said she would cut costs and started for his salary, which halved. But after the cuts have come to the officials and all kinds of expenses. Their determination coupled with small gestures such as his official car stops at traffic lights to Grybauskaite can win the trust of many, something essential in a country which has fallen 15% this year. The slump in economic activity surpasses that of its neighboring Latvia, forced to tap new IMF aid to avoid bankruptcy. But Grybauskaite, former European commissioner and a black belt in karate, does not want outside help. Although certainly need more than gestures to treat more complicated with its neighbor, Russia. Text I published in EL MUNDO, (in spanish) here

-Just as happened in Latvia, once a woman ruling a country in Central Europe, and again he succeeds without the support of a political party.
-It's a trend in the new EU members, who have suffered a major political transformation. In any case it is uncommon for a woman governs a country, there are only seven in the world and Lithuania never happened, although the former president also was related to a political party.

-But he was very involved in the secession of Lithuania in the 90's. And you don't.
-Everybody is different. It has been 20 years since that and probably more people are looking forward rather than backward. I do not want to evaluate why they trusted me, but the devaluation of the quality of politicians I think that was one reason.

-Woman, single, no children. Why people just need things done in the personal life of a politician when is a woman?
-Women are starting, but in Europe is becoming commonplace. Somehow most interesting results to discuss us, I notice that people talk about the clothes on my man and if only speak of what I do.

-Does you feel like the Obama of Central Europe?
-I have never had this news not compare myself to anyone, every political leader is different. And my country do not regard as central Europe but as a country of northern Europe.

- Are you a feminist?
-Depends on what we call a feminist. I've never participated in any of those movements.

-Your predecessor, Valdas Adamkus, didn't had good relations with Russia, and you have advocated a more pragmatic stance. What will change?
-I never said "pragmatic", that was an interpretation of my words. What I have always said is we have to have a constructive dialogue with our neighbors, of course without sacrificing our values.

- What will you do if Russia is to condition the position of Lithuania through the price of energy?
-I've said that some values are not negotiable.

-You are not the first, they tried other presidents before and this new relationship with Russia was not possible.
-Now all countries are in difficulties, Russia too. And both there and here there are political forces that seek to divert attention from problems for a common enemy. We are showing goodwill, and from there we'll see. Russia expect mutual respect based on our values.

-And meanwhile Europe remains wihout a common energy policy.
-The EU has never had a common position on energy, not on the treaties. It is more a necessity, a trend. But coordination is necessary to reflect the quality of EU integration, and if no agreement will be split and supply difficulties, and that includes Russia. But the joint efforts to ensure the supply were very important and very visible after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine last winter. It is an evidence that such coordination is important, but still a long way to go.

-The global crisis may be triggered by lack of regulation, but in the European elections have won just more liberal positions.
-It's a unique phenomenon. A lack of international intervention in financial markets has created many problems for the world, hence the stresses in the financial sector. This means that international regulatory organizations like the IMF or the World Bank need to be radically reformed and already lagging behind in this process. But in each member country the situation is quite different. After the election we can say that European governments were able to center the most votes, which is very unusual in a downturn. But it is also a sign that the ideological barriers are falling, at least in my country. The political powers do not behave in a purely ideological: some more leftist governments to protect companies and other center-right people are protecting more than the Social Democrats, at least in my country. The ideological differences are being dissolved by what leaders do.

-It seems that this crisis makes the euro more attractive to both Lithuania and more inaccessible.
-Yes, because for me the euro is not just a currency but monetary discipline that prevents governments are populist tax policy and this is a guarantee for the stability of countries. But certainly in a slowdown situation will be very difficult to achieve in the next three years because of the stability pact criteria are stringent. But if there were no euro in Europe would be worse off.

-Your country has benefited from European cohesion funds. But you refuse to seek help from the "rescue funds" from the IMF.
-There are no bailout funds. There are funds that can borrow, but with many conditions.
In practice, this means you are leaving for an outsider to dictate your entire economic policy because the government does not know how to deal with the situation. I do not want my country to be treated as if it were not capable of governing. We know what we do: we are cutting public spending on wages, investing in infrastructure to stimulate the economy. We are sinking and need outside help, we can rescue ourselves.

- Is it possible to go further enlargement of NATO?
-Probably yes but I prefer quality to quantity, not only to expand expand. But it's something everyone has in mind, also in the EU, which wants to enter Iceland.

-But every time a former member of the USSR into Russia is angry.
-Nobody can dictate to NATO and develop.

- Do you think that after the fiasco of the European Constitution EU is more difficult to catch up beyond the Lisbon Treaty?
-The treaty of Lisbon is a small step forward, talks about how to make decisions but does not reform. We must make reforms in the budget and review common policies and all or that determines the quality of integration.

-You've been commissioner of the Budget. As a Lithuanian citizen have you got the feeling of arriving in the EU when there is less desire to redistribute to those with less?
-For new members the EU is not just money, but political, security and freedom of movement. Of 27 members, 21 are still receiving. But for us it was not just money but freedom.

-The Lithuanians were not just as enthusiastic of the EU in June. It was the country where fewer people voted.
-In Lithuania has always been low participation in European elections. It is a question of political culture and lack of information, plus the votes were weeks after the presidential election. But somehow the everyday people at home, not in Brussels or Strasbourg.

Polish immigrants leaving Britain: What the Poles did for UK

2009-08-16T11:22:00.002+01:00

Increased prosperity in Poland and the prospect of a severe recession in Britain mean that the economic gap between the two countries is closing fast. The dream of fast cars, fast living and fast fortunes is as attractive as ever but, for many Poles, the odds of achieving it here are lengthening fast. Britain's Polish workers are heading home in search of a better life – and it's a loss, says Harry de Quetteville in TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

No question of "what Obama can do for us, but what we can do for Obama"

2009-07-30T13:01:00.000+01:00

Prime minister Zapatero said this no NYT. Spain is willing to increase its troops on long-term assignment in Afghanistan. In a gesture of support to the Obama administration.

Time to remember, USSR in the 70´s

2009-07-03T11:29:00.000+01:00

English Russia » More pictures of USSR. Part 2

A great collection of photos of a world that will never come back.

Obama+Zapatero

2009-04-05T23:45:00.001+01:00

http://estaticos.elmundo.es/documentos/2009/04/06/portada.pdf

Again the hand in the shoulder...

Los in transition

2009-03-14T22:03:00.001+01:00

President Vladimir Putin, constitutionally barred from running for a third presidential term, says that he has not ruled out running for prime minister, triggering widespread speculation about his intentions. In the run up to Russia's presidential and parliamentary elections, a new book from the Carnegie Moscow Center's Lilia Shevtsova examines the legacies of Presidents Putin and Boris Yeltsin and how they will shape the upcoming electoral cycle and Russia's immediate political future.Sixteen years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has startled the international community with its assertive rhetoric and economic might. In Russia—Lost In Transition: The Yeltsin and Putin Legacies, Shevtsova contends that Russia's resurgence in the global arena disguises political stagnation and failure to modernize. She argues that the political regime and the type of capitalism that have been adopted over the last fifteen years are not sustainable in the long term and are unlikely to promote further economic growth and social improvements.

Key Conclusions:

To avoid becoming a lame duck president, Putin will seek to perpetuate the uncertainty and suspense around the election and his own political future. Putin's recent reshuffling of his cabinet and the appointment of a relatively unknown prime minister demonstrated his need to prove he is still in charge. A new struggle for control and influence over the incoming political regime is likely to emerge.

Russia's next leader must address the pressing social problems plaguing the nation, notably population decline and economic disparity. While anti-Western rhetoric has distracted the public, Russia's shattered social infrastructure threatens economic and social stability.

Russia's recent assertiveness in foreign policy has greatly mobilized the public, and the ruling elite would like Russia to simultaneously be both friend and foe to the West. Potential domestic crises in Russia could result in a more nationalist and authoritarian regime that eschews cooperation with the West and purges moderates from the Kremlin.

To create a fertile environment for Russia's further economic and political transformation, Russia and the West must recognize that they have common interests rooted in shared values. Western policy towards Russia should avoid isolation at all costs and should be based on understanding, strategy, and engagement.
- In particular, Western nations must understand Russia's unique dilemmas and choices;
- develop a coherent strategy addressing the Kremlin leadership, the political class, and society;
- and engage with Russia on areas where their interests overlap—counter-proliferation, combating international terrorism, energy security, and climate change—but not at the expense of acquiescing to the crackdown on democracy.

"Perhaps the greatest challenge for transforming Russia will be the need for its leadership to start the new reforms, of which the most radical will be dividing state power among independent institutions. Will a new leader be prepared to embark on political self-castration and hand over some of his power to other institutions? This is Russia's metaproblem for which no solution was found under Yeltsin and Putin," concludes Shevtsova.

"Nasing spesal..."

2009-03-09T03:03:00.001+01:00

Wreckage of Latvia's retailing industry: has declined 17% year on year according to the latest figures. But one item is selling well: T-shirts with seemingly mysterious slogans such as "Nasing spesal". Latvians are glad to have something to laugh about, even if it is only their finance minister, Atis Slakteris. In an ill-judged foreign television interview, using heavily accented and idiosyncratic English worthy of the film character Borat, he described his country's economic problems as "nothing special". Put mildly, that was an original interpretation, writes The Economist . Fuelled by reckless bank lending, particularly in construction and consumer loans, Latvia had enjoyed a colossal boom, with double-digit economic growth and a current-account deficit that peaked at over 20% of GDP. Conventional wisdom would have suggested applying the brakes hard, by tightening the budget and curbing borrowing. But the country's rulers, a lightweight lot with close ties to business, rejected that. Fast economic growth made voters feel that European Union membership was at last producing practical benefits, after a disappointing start when tens of thousands of Latvians went abroad in search of work, leaving rural villages and small towns depopulated.

Stalin no better than Hitler?

2009-03-05T08:06:00.001+01:00

Orlando Figes wrote the book The Whisperers, It's subtitle is "private life in Stalin's Russia'' and it tells – in numbing detail – what happened to the Russian people under the Great Terror, a tale of barely imaginable horror. Russian publication of 'The Whisperers' has just been cancelled. By Putin?

Obama´s words

2009-01-21T11:57:00.003+01:00

Barack Hussein Obama called on Americans to confront “our collective failure to make hard choices.” Watch video and analysis here.

Bad cold

2009-01-12T01:11:00.002+01:00

You never understand politics in central europe until you find -30 C, Now Ukraine has to promise not to steal gas. But Russian blackmail will continue. Several lessons: if you are independent to support Georgia, then dont expect gifts in gas. If non EU members heating is not working, yours can stop soon. And third, an agreement may not have a nice smell, but it is always cleaner than a negociation.

Things we watch

2009-01-04T13:53:00.007+01:00

Israel is banning foreign correspondents from Gaza, despite a ruling from the Israeli Supreme Court.The Israeli propaganda effort is being directed to achieve two main aims.The first is to justify the air attacks. The second is to show that there is no humanitarian calamity in Gaza. So writes Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent of the BBC. And he points out what it seems to be an example of propaganda. The video remains on You Tube.

Israel released video of an air attack on 28 December, which appeared to show rockets being loaded onto a lorry. The truck and those close to it were then destroyed by a missile. The YouTube video has a large caption on it saying "Grad missiles being loaded onto the Hamas vehicle." But a 55-year-old Gaza resident named Ahmed Sanur, or Samur, claimed that the truck was his and that he and members of his family and his workers were moving oxygen cylinders from his workshop. Mr Sanur said that eight people, one of them his son, had been killed.

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem put Mr Sanur's account on its website, together with a photograph of burned out oxygen cylinders. According to Sanur’s testimony, he and members of his family were trying to salvage material from a metal workshop he owns, which was next door to a bombed house, in order to prevent looting. He denies any connection to militants, or military activity, and is willing to talk to any journalist, or investigator.

Thanks to Andrius for sending the story.

Some extra analisis, in spanish, here.

Freezing again

2009-01-03T16:19:00.001+01:00

Hungary, Poland and Romania said Russian gas deliveries via pipelines in Ukraine began falling on Friday. Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday after talks on a deal for this year collapsed. Both sides have guaranteed supplies to the rest of Europe, which relies on Russian gas via Ukrainian pipelines to meet 20 per cent of its demand. Russia and Ukraine vied for European support on Friday as the European Union struggled vainly to avoid intervening in their gas dispute as it began to affect member states, FT reports.

Bohdan Sokolovsky, an energy adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's president, said the European Commission had shown "understanding" during talks. However, Oleksandr Hudyma, energy adviser to Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian prime minister, said unwillingness to confront Russia was "no surprise. Ukraine does not have any misconceptions about the support it would get from [the] European Union, which showed itself during the Georgian conflict."

Russia after de gulag

2009-01-02T11:37:00.003+01:00

In 2006 at Lgov prison south of Moscow, more than 300 inmates slashed their bodies with razor blades. Many prisoners cut at their wrists, necks, or stomachs. This was organised self mutilation in protest against alleged abuse by prison officials; its sheer scale shocked many Russians, who are used to hearing appalling tales of life inside Russia's dilapidated and overcrowded prison system.
Theotherrussia.org provides a roundup of news stories coming out of Russia’s prisons and penal colonies, which are notorious for cruel treatment and arbitrariness.
NYT presents an slide show about russian jail that reveals aspects of the country's contradictory penal system. Russia jails a greater proportion of its people than any other major country apart from the US. According to the 2006 figures from the Russian Government, there are 829,000 people serving prison sentences.
As Lev Ponomarev, from the Movement For Human Rights, told the BBC the regime itself is the real issue now, a system he says which can lead to a culture of cruelty.

Some interesting facts about criminal tatoos in russian prisons.

Promises to keep... fighting for

2009-01-02T10:59:00.007+01:00

A promise is a psychological contract indicating a transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his or her use. A promise may also refer to any kind of vow or guarantee.

On this day nine years and one day ago, Vladimir Putin was sworn into office.

Putin said in the address:

'Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the mass media -- these basic freedoms will be reliably protected by the State,'

Thanks to Robert Amsterdam for reminding it.

2009 oh yea(r)!

2009-01-02T10:26:00.002+01:00

This time last year Walking Randomly asked the question 'What is interesting about the number 2008?' and it turned out to be rather popular so they thought I would do the same with 2009.

Both 2009 and its reversal 9002 are multiples of 7.
The 2009th prime (17471) is palindromic.
You can express 2009 as the sum of 4 positive cubes in exactly 3 ways.

More about 2009 here
And the 13 most famous numbers, here. (in spanish)

Obama´s never gonna tell a lie and hurt you...

2008-12-31T15:03:00.003+01:00

In 2007Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme in which an estimated 25 million Internet users were tricked into watching Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by posting it under the name of other popular video titles. The practice is now known as Rickrolling. The phenomenon became so popular that on April 1, 2008, YouTube pranked its users by making every single featured video on the front page a Rickroll.

Here is Omaba singing. And lyrics here.

By the way. Also McCain dances.

17 killed in Ukraine explosion

2008-12-25T11:52:00.003+01:00

At least 17 people have died in an explosion in an apartment building in the south of Ukraine. Another 15 people are still missing. Twenty-one people are known to have survived the blast, which ripped through a five-storey building in the Black Sea resort of Yevpatoria. The cause of the explosion is not yet known but the Ukrainian authorities have said there are no signs of a gas leak.First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov said Sunday that human voices could be heard coming from 700 meters (2,300 feet) below ground, CNN reports.

No ready for the (b)east?

2008-12-25T02:16:00.001+01:00

Lubos Palata writes in Transitions Online about how the EU offers a new deal to the countries on its eastern frontier, and an implicit challenge to Russia .In the eyes of Eastern Europeans, the European Union is a standard measure for quality – the quality of products, of democracy, of housing, of lifestyles. Not America or Japan, but Europe. Millions of Ukrainians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis and Belarusians dream of one day living as people do in the EU. Those who can afford it actually act on those dreams. Cities like Berlin, Vienna, Karlovy Vary and Nice are full of rich Eastern Europeans who have used the millions they made in the east to move west and live the "eurolife."

Lubos Palata is the Central and Eastern European editor for the Czech daily Lidove noviny and a contributor to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and the German monthly German Times. He thinks that the problem is that the EU doesn't want Eastern Europe. It is already having a hard time digesting the 12 new member-states – including 10 from the post-communist regions of East-Central Europe and the Balkans – that were added to the union in recent years.

"This difficulty is evident in the rejection of the European constitution and the difficulties surrounding the Lisbon agreement"

Bush. Before and after.

2008-12-25T02:04:00.005+01:00

It's funny to see this 2 interviews. First is the first one after Omaba´s victory. Second is made before Bush became president, talking about the good economic situation not being involved in any big war. In exit interviews, President Bush sounds reflective, even chastened, while Vice President Dick Cheney is defiant to the end. Historians say presidents, especially those who serve two terms, often grow reflective at the end of their tenure. “They tend to be exhausted, they’re worn out, they’re trying to make some sense of their administrations, and there’s a natural tendency for them to want to give their own perspective,” said Jay Winik, who got to know Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney after they read his book, “April 1865,” an account of the closing month of the Civil War.

"All I can report is it is a size 10"

2008-12-16T03:35:00.002+01:00

Quotation of the Day. PRESIDENT BUSH, after an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.

"All I can report is it is a size 10"

In the baltics people don’t trust banks and banks don’t trust customers

2008-11-27T13:50:00.001+01:00

Financial Times published today that Lithuania faces a sharp contraction of economic growth next year, but is determined not to follow the example of Hungary and Latvia and turn to international institutions for emergency help. As Lithuania's incoming prime minister said on Thursday, "The economic and financial situation in the three Baltic states is becoming really quite difficult. Kubilius predicts a 1.5 per cent drop in Lithuania's gross domestic product next year. His government would aim for a budget deficit next year of about 0.6 or 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product.

The global credit crisis is forcing a rapid economic slowdown in the ex-communist states of central and eastern Europe, particularly in countries dependent on international financial flows, says the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The worst performance is expected in the Baltic states, with recession in Estonia and Latvia next year. Bank clients and policymakers remain nervous. "People don't trust banks and banks don't trust customers," said Mr Spredzis, manager of Skandi Auto (which operates four showrooms selling Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Bentley models) to FT. Andrius Kubilius, the Lithuanian premier-elect, said this week that he was "sitting on a ticking time-bomb". In Estonia layoffs have hit white-collars as well, when there was slightly more than 2,500 unemployed in this category a year ago, then today the number has nearly doubled, ERR News reports. Nearly fifth of 25,000 unemployed are highly educated, wrote Marge Tubalkain-Trell in BalticBusinessNews.

Central Europe and the Baltic states as a whole are predicted to see growth almost halve from 4.3 per cent in 2008 to 2.2 per cent. In south-east Europe the forecast fall is even greater, from 6.5 per cent to 3.1 per cent. In Poland, the second biggest economy after Russia, the EBRD predicts a decline from 5.3 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

Российских женщин (Russian women)

2008-11-14T01:21:00.008+01:00

Today I read that Russian women are completely different from Western or American women.

This is due to the environment they live in, what they see from a young age, and what they are taught by their families. They have a completely different set of values and things that are important to them. What they value and hold high in importance, they will most likely never compromise. Here are some ways in which Russian women differ from most women.They don't care about age. As explained above, Russian women would much rather be with a well established and kind older man than a young man who is quick to get angry or lose his temper and who is not financially secure. Age is simply not as important as the quality of the relationship.

I think this is too much a simplification. And really sounds a bit stupid to me, even if it can be true in some cases.

And what about the image above?

Anyway, according to the latest data, in Russia there are only 88 males for 100 females (87 in Ukraine, 88 in Belarus, 92 in Kazakhstan, 92 in Moldova) - Pocket World in Figures: 2004 edition, The Economist, 2003.

So, less men. Still, russian women say that there are some very good ones. The problem is Russian family model. Sexism is a natural part of it, writes Elena Petrova - the creator of Russian Brides Cyber Guide.

In capitals (Moscow and St. Petersburg) the situation is better, they are more westernized, but in regions it's still very chauvinistic. If you are a single woman, you're worth nothing. Any man can offend you. You must have a strong boyfriend (or lover - even if he is married) to protect you. So a woman is not considered as somebody respectable unless she is married, and even then, she will be considered in regard at to who is her husband. A widow / ex-wife of a person with high social status (who can be a high-level criminal as well) is still considered according to his social status and gains respect according to it. Even being married to a guy who has many lovers a woman gains higher respect that if she were single.

If it was not clear:

This leads to the situation when single men have a choice of available women, and worthy men quickly get spoilt. You probably will not believe me but in Russia it's women that are cherishing men, and not the other way around.

She thinks that society considers women looking for a husband abroad as looking for a better life and money - "selling themselves for money"; in some extent it can be viewed like this, but mostly Russian women's search abroad is the result of absence of suitable men in Russia.

So lets think twice next time.

Autumn in Sapiega hospital, Vilnius

2008-11-12T00:09:00.001+01:00

Autumn in Sapiega hospital, Vilnius, originalmente cargada por karinga.

and Vilnius can be yelow too

(Thanks Inga, always on time)

Not so rich. But still oligarchs.

2008-11-09T03:11:00.003+01:00

The Guadian published an article titled Twilight of the oligarchs. Communism's collapse made Ambramovic and others multi-billionaires, but now Russian capitalism is in trouble. Can their colossal fortunes survive the downturn, or is this the end of an era?

Something strange is happening in Russia — the country that invented the word oligarch back in the 1990s to define a new kind of state-connected entrepreneur. In the new post-credit-crisis world everyone can concur on one thing — that Russia's oligarchs are in trouble.

Over the past five months, according to the financial news agency Bloomb erg, Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost $230bn (£146bn). Tycoons like Oleg Deripaska — Russia's richest man and friend, we now know, of British politicians — have seen their fortunes vaporised. On paper, Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea FC owner, has suffered a $20.3bn wipeout. Alisher Usmanov, the Arsenal shareholder-tycoon has lost $11.7bn, Bloomberg estimates.

Analysts say that private jets could soon be going for bargain basement prices, while some super-rich are scrambling to sell off their villas in Sardinia and Surrey. In Moscow, elite nightclubs have relaxed their strict entry rules — there aren't enough customers. The capital's top restaurants, meanwhile, have stopped accepting credit cards.

Not that Russia's oligarchs are in the mood for entertaining. Since hosting Peter Mandelson and George Osborne on his yacht in Corfu this August, Deripaska has slithered into a classic Westminster political scandal. The aluminium magnate's British-related woes do not stop there: a former business partner, Michael Cherney, is suing him for $4bn in the high court. Rumours suggest he's even been forced to lay off his servants. A spokesman said Deripaska does not comment on private matters.

Is, then, the era of the oligarch now over?

For a few, then, Russia's wild capitalist party isn't quite over yet. "I'm not worried about it. I have my husband to worry about that," said Tatyana Nekrasova, 24, her blond hair tied into a neat bun, as she emerged from Gucci clutching an 11,000-rouble shirt. She admitted, however: "I have a lot of friends who have investments. They've lost them. They're in a state of shock."

Paradoxically, Russia's often-surreal ride from communism to capitalism appears to be going full circle. Under Boris Yeltsin a small, favoured group of businessmen was allowed to acquire the country's newly privatised assets at auctions for a fraction of their real value. Last week Putin offered a $50bn state loan to Deripaska, and other cash-strapped oligarchs, struggling to pay back debts to the west. In effect, the Kremlin is poised to renationalise many of Russia's strategic industries.

Nobody is in any doubt as to what befalls oligarchs who disobey the Kremlin. In 2003 Putin arrested Russia's then richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and broke up his Yukos oil empire. Khodorkovsky was convicted of tax evasion; his real crime was to seek to influence politics and to challenge the president. The former tycoon is serving eight years in a Siberian jail and was recently placed in solitary for not sewing properly.

New accounts about South Ossetia

2008-11-07T20:25:00.001+01:00

Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression, writes C. J. Chivers and Ellen Barry in the Herald Tribune.
The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West. But they raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgia's insistence that its shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, was a precise operation. Georgia has variously defended the shelling as necessary to stop heavy Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages, bring order to the region or counter a Russian invasion.

Yes they can

2008-11-05T12:23:00.005+01:00

Democrat Barack Obama has defeated Republican John McCain to make history as the first black to be elected U.S. president.

The next president will inherit horrendous economic problems that will limit the scope of his ambitions. Obama, in his final rallies, was already tempering his early promise of change with warnings about how he would have to curb some of his more ambitious plans, trying to lower expectations that he would be able to move quickly on healthcare and education reform, The Guardian says.

Is Russia celebrating? Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said the victory of either Barack Obama or John McCain would satisfy him, Interfax reported.

But The friendship of John McCain and Mikheil Saakashvili is no news. Two policymakers even water-skied in 2006.

Who did the Kremlin favor to be the next U.S. President? Was it John McCain, the hard-nosed hawk who grew to maturity during the Cold War? Or was it Hillary Clinton - the militarily well-studied Senator from New York? Nope - it seems that, according to this op-ed article from Russia’s Kommersant newpaper, Barack Obama was the best bet for Russia - although only marginally so. Konstantin Kosachev who is chairman of the Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, writes, ‘Barack Obama looks like the candidate that can be expected to take the greatest strides toward Russia, since unlike McCain, he’s not infected with any Cold War phobias, and unlike Clinton, he won’t be tied down by the old habits of his advisors’, wrote Konstantin Kosachev in The Kommersant before the election.

Wliliam Kern thinks that For Russia, Obama’s the Best of a Bad Lot

But McCain has long criticized Russia, particularly for what he sees as its backsliding on democratic reforms and human rights. "For many years, I have warned against Russian actions that undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors," he said. "Unfortunately, we have seen in recent days Russia demonstrate that these concerns were well-founded."

Worst day in the life of a geek: no internet connection

2008-11-04T01:55:00.003+01:00

Can you be proud to be a geek? Is it cool to be a freak? Enjuto Mojamuto is a low cost cartoon and one of the stars of Muchachada Nui, a humor program made for/by people in his 30`s. Enjuto can be translated like "dry" or "without muscles". He has not many friens and spends 100% of his free time in front of computer. When internet is not working he feels anxiety and fear. He is really freak but... is so easy to understand him!

Cold war on TV

2008-09-20T23:31:00.002+01:00

Here is a clip from Fox News i found at Freaknomics. An interview with a 12-year-old American who, along with her aunt, was in South Ossetia when the fighting broke out in Georgia. Both are supporters of the Russians and blame everything on the Georgian government.

In the next clip we seee the Russian TV version.

Russians journalist say how "American media is engaging in information warfare against Russia". They provide an example of [how] one American interview went wrong. The voice-over in Russian makes it seem as if — when the aunt starts blaming Georgia — the interviewer starts coughing loudly to cover her comments, becomes extremely rude, and cuts her off without giving her a chance to continue.

As we can tell by watching the original clip all of this is completely fabricated.

The Kremlin seized upon the interview as evidence that the United States was censoring criticism of Mr. Saakashvili. A Russian anchor said the guests’ treatment indicated that the United States would use “any means available” for a disinformation campaign against Russia

NYT pointed out that the man who dubs Mr. Smith’s voice in Russian not only exaggerates the anchor’s tone, but even coughs and groans loudly when Ms. Tedeeva-Korewicki blames Mr. Saakashvili for causing the conflict — something that did not happen in the original.

Red Bull gives you wings!

2008-09-06T09:58:00.004+01:00

Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov drank vodka and red bull between the jumps on a Grand prix event in Lausanne. At the last jump he had trouble getting up again.

Red Bull gives you wings!

Another perspective here

EU needs a russian friend. US wants a russian decline

2008-09-05T18:21:00.005+01:00

Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia's first president, after 11 years in power in late 2003 lost the election with 95% of the votes in favour of his opponent, in an interview in El Pais stated: "This is not the moment for criticism, but when Russian troops have gone, [Saakashvili] will have to give explanations. Anyone who has made mistakes will have to pay". Russia doesn't want to see its old lands as part of Nato. But ther USSR was also against a membership of the united Germany in the aliance. Ignacio Sotelo wrote today a brilliant article explaining why EEUU is not so worried about russian anger. And why in Europe does matter.

The essential thing is to be aware that in relations with Russia we see that interests of the United States and the European Union are not the same. The neighbourly relations with Russia, energy dependence and especially European investment in this vast country with enormous potential for trade development, make Europe more interested in stability and rapid growth of the Russian Federation. Instead, in trying to prevent regain its status of great regional power, the United States intends to replace it in the Caucasus and Central Asia, regions where it is battling the world hegemony. The EU has yet to learn that their vital interests do not always coincide with those of the United States.

Sotelo thinks that international law "could justify military intervention in Georgian South Ossetia, as part of its territory". But finds it more suprising that "with the Chechen conflict open in the region, Russia play with fire on this issue".

Let me play for you

2008-09-05T18:20:00.001+01:00

Let me play for you, originalmente cargada por txd.

And question for you Tikras Vilnietis is...

In wich street of Vilnius is this girl always playing?

Prize for the first to answer with a comment here: one Svituris

Taibo on Georgia

2008-09-03T11:51:00.003+01:00

Relations between the European Union and Russia go through a bad time after the recent war in Georgia. Carlos Taibo, a professor of political science at the Autonoma University of Madrid and expert on Eastern Europe, had chat with readers of EL PAÍS on the role of Russian neighbour in the coming years.

Is there any possibility that Russia recognizes the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Transistria or in the near future? Could this serve as a precedent for resolving other conflicts frozen in the former Soviet Union?

I sense that if this happens, it will take time. My impression is that the Kremlin has already done what they wanted, and not seeking a confrontation greater.

The Georgian president is a messianic irresponsible, or a smart Machiavelli?Should the movement initiated war without the acquiescence of U.S. and the EU?Behind the usual rhetoric about the right of self-determination versus territorial integrity and sovereignty What is the hidden agenda of the powers in the area?

I think, frankly, that is a toy manipulated by the U.S.. I do not think that at your own risk had launched the military operation in South Ossetia. Behind all, and apart from national problems not minors, there is a collision between the interests of Russia and U.S. in a region very important geostrategic and geoeconomic.

Russian Roots of Breakdance (Run DMC - It's Like That)

2008-09-02T16:54:00.001+01:00

That Soviet Union with their Russians were already getting it on with the moves! This should have been some real propaganda during the Cold War! Thanks to S.Buitenhuis

Borat versus Irina

2008-08-23T19:24:00.001+01:00

xenia and i were born in kazakhstan. borat CLAIMS he was, but he's lying., originalmente cargada por irina slutsky.

Today I wanted su give some moral support to Irina Slutsky. She posted on Flickr: "Xenia and I were born in kazakhstan. Borat CLAIMS he was, but he's lying".

Nobody cares.

But it is true!

Problems for the western media in South Ossetia

2008-08-18T10:18:00.001+01:00

Only Russian journalists are allowed to move around freely in the are of conflict. Dmitry Steshin, a reporter for the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, drove down through the scorched villages on Saturday. He was not stopped at a single checkpoint. He was shocked at the level of destruction.

"They just don't want you to see that all the Georgian homes have been burned down," he said. "It's really as simple as that."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia keeps track of the incidents www.georgiamfa.blogspot.com

Georgia discovers that Europe doesn`t consider it part of the continent

2008-08-18T09:51:00.007+01:00

Tbilisi, was the once-volatile capital of a traditionally unstable Georgian nation. Since the 2003 nonviolent Rose Revolution, the country has seen how corruption was down and foreign investment was up. Rather than being a Russian satellite, Georgia chose to see itself as the easternmost outpost of the WestTo persons that went to live there remind us in Transitions Online all this changes. Andrew Bennett has been a political organizer for the Canadian government and the National Democratic Institute in Armenia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. He lives in Tbilisi. Leah Kohlenberg is a journalist and journalism trainer in Georgia and Armenia. She lives in Yerevan.

Of all the former Soviet republics to suffer during the aftermath of perestroika,
Georgia had probably fallen from the highest pedestal. It was once the playground of the former Soviet Union, with verdant landscapes, wineries and lush Black Sea coastal towns dotted with resorts and sanatoriums. But since independence in 1991, Georgia had been plagued for more than a decade with energy shortages, poor infrastructure, rampant corruption, and battles with Russia over two of the most beautiful, and agriculturally productive, parts of the country – Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In those wars in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Georgian inhabitants were forced to flee from their homes under heavy fire.

Authors says Georgia has also taken a more serious approach to the challenge of democracy building than its former Soviet counterparts. In Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, flawed elections were followed by a trend of brutality, and the suspension of basic civil liberties. But in recent days, as the Western nations failed to take substantial action, either through military aid or sanctions, to help protect Georgia as the Russian military darted menacingly back and forth into Georgian territory, ordinary Georgians approached Western foreigners not in anger but in disbelief. How could anyone imagine that it was possible for Georgia to fight the West’s wars, participate in its institutions and adopt its laws and systems, only to be left defenseless at this critical moment?

Russia has claimed that Georgia committed genocide in Tskhinvali. The Georgians, for their part, have accused the Russians and Ossetians of a calculated campaign of cleansing. None of those claims can be independently checked, because the Russian government is not allowing foreign journalists into the areas, reports nyt

Photo of metro station Rustaveli taken by Paata Vardanashvili. See more at www.paata.ge

Gori in peace time

2008-08-14T12:33:00.003+01:00

originalmente cargada por BarryGeo.

Foto taken in the republic of Georgia in town Gori (hometown of Joseph Stalin) Trolley is an electric bus powered by two overhead wires, from which it draws electricity using two trolley poles. This one is more than 50 Years old, according to BarryGeo. Please, visit his blog http://photobarry.blogspot.com. It's old photos are very interesting.

Free way to war

2008-08-13T21:54:00.001+01:00

The overwhelming majority of Russians sympathizes with South Ossetia and approve of the Kremlin's policy on the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, a survey conducted by the Levada Center. In September 2004, 36 percent of respondents expressed sympathy for South Ossetia. That number grew to 71 percent by the end of last week.

Political scientists say that the rallying around the flag effect takes place whenever the state faces challenging situations. The effect is transitory, however, and does not stick to errors in judgment. The almost universal approval of the military actions in Chechnya in 1999 immediately after the terrorist bombings of residential buildings in Moscow was nearly completely reversed eventually. Similarly, the cancellation of gubernatorial elections announced immediately after the terrorist act at Beslan is now being reconsidered by the public, writes Kommersant.

In an interview on CNN, the Georgian president said the Russians "are closing on the capital, circling," with the intention of establishing their own government.He made repeated references not only to the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan in the 1970s, but also to the invasion Prague in 1968 and even repeated references to the German invasion of Poland before the start of World War II.

There they go again

2008-08-10T19:58:00.002+01:00

Is the the worst clash between Russia and a foreign military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Russia landed ground troops off of warships into the disputed territory of Abkhazia and broadened its bombing campaign to the Georgian capital’s airport. Georgian authorities said Sunday morning that they expect Russian attacks to come on three fronts — from Gali and Zugdidi, two spots on the Abkhazian border, and from Ossetia, according to Gigi Ugulada, the mayor of Tbilisi. They also expect more bombing on the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia that remains under Georgian control.

Along the road, refugees carried their possessions in wheelbarrows and plastic bags toward the Georgian city of Gori, NYT reports.

The two sides may have different definitions of where the border with
Georgia lies. The official borders of the administrative region of
South Ossetia are larger than the area traditionally held by
pro-Russian separatists, so if Russia occupied the whole administrative
region it would be moving into areas normally held by Georgia.

And russian media are talking about The First Peace-Keeping War

Только лежать

2008-07-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

Greetings from Spain to the followers of this blog. My month in Russia ended this week after a traffic accident. I spent a week at a Russian hospital, an experience that gave me much material for this blog. I want to thank Ilia Magin for all his suport during my horizontal torture (Только лежать). I'm still recovering at my place, in Spain; and I am allowed to walk, wich makes me less intelectual but much happier. Posting staff keeps me connected with the world. Or maybe not. But feels good anyway.

Simón Bolivarienko is alive in Minsk

2008-07-25T21:21:00.001+01:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was in Belarus this week for a one-day visit. He had negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Both are unpopular in the West. And both are ruling states wich are not pure democracies.

The first thing Chavez was asked in Minsk is what contracts he brought with him from Moscow, and is it true that they worth $30 billion. "I do not engage in the perversions that various agencies spread," he told journalists. "Numbers like that are crazy! Better to ask me how much money we invested in the development of our country!"

For Vadim Dovnar, journalist in Minsk, an answer like that is well within the limits of neither confirming nor denying, and Chavez decided not to return to the topic. Kommersant says that Chavez took a keen interest in buying a large lot of Igla-S portable ballistic missile complexes (up to 2.500 of them). A Rosoboronexport spokesman told Kommersant said that "the Venezuelans expressed the intention of obtaining Iglas during the first round of our meetings in 2005, when questions of providing factories to make Kalashnikov machineguns, helicopters and fighter jets were also raised," the spokesman said. "However, we are not making an agreement on portable ballistic missiles, because of agreements with the United States on the nonproliferation of that type of weapon."

In spite of the fact that Chavez spent only one day in Minsk, Belarusian authorities tried to make it a memorable day for the Venezuelan leader. A square in Minsk was renamed in honor of Chavez' idol, South American revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar. Chavez was touched. Laying a wreath at a bas relief of the national hero of his country, Chavez promised to fight against the enemies of Belarus. "I have fallen in love with the Belarusian land, the Belarusian people, and I commit myself to being the friend of that people. We fight one enemy. We have to call it by name. It is American imperialism. We have won, we will win, but the battle will be long," he said.

An agreement on that was signed in 2007 during Lukashenko's visit to Caracas, and in April of this year the document was ratified by the Belarusian parliament. Under the agreement, Belarus will help its ally create a unified air defense system and radar defense facilities. And both will anger United States together, wich seems to be more important from time to time. During the past years Chávez has focused considerably on Venezuela's foreign relations via new bilateral and multilateral agreements, including humanitarian aid and construction projects. Chávez has engaged, with varying degrees of success, numerous other foreign leaders, including Argentina's Néstor Kirchner, China's Hu Jintao, Cuba's Fidel Castro,Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Some critics of Lukashenko use the term Lukashism (lukashenkoism) to refer to the political and economic system Lukashenko has implemented in Belarus. The term is also used more broadly to refer to an authoritarian political ideology based on cult of his personality and nostalgia for Soviet times among certain groups in Belarus. It is not known where the term was first used, though the earliest documented use was in 1998. In Venezuela population is divides about Chavismo, a national discrace for some and the salvation for others.

By the way, Lukashenko has the The José Martí Order (Cuba, 2000)

Hungry bears, tasty humans

2008-07-24T06:43:00.001+01:00

A pack of enormous bears searching for food killed and ate two men at mines in Russia's Pacific Kamchatka region and have kept hundreds of geologists and miners from reaching the mine, news agencies reported Wednesday.Village official Viktor Leushkin was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying that a team of hunters will be dispatched to shoot or chase off the bears.

A pack of up to 30 Kamchatka bears — which are similar to grizzlies — prowled around two mines of a local platinum mining company where they killed the two guards on Thursday, local officials were quoted by the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency as saying. About 400 company workers have refused to return to the mines for fear of the bears, which stand 10 feet tall on their hind legs and weigh up to 1,500 pounds, Rampant fish poaching in the Kamchatka tundra often forces the bears to seek other sources of food, such as garbage. Bears frequently attack humans in the scarcely populated peninsula region.

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

2008-06-21T01:50:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-21T00:51:00.001+01:00

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

2008-06-09T00:17:00.001+01:00

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.

2008-06-08T23:59:00.003+01:00

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.

2008-06-08T23:47:00.002+01:00

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?

2008-06-01T03:18:00.001+01:00

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)

2008-06-01T02:54:00.002+01:00

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)

President Medvedev

2008-05-08T02:29:00.001+01:00

In his first speech as head of state, newly inaugurated President
Dmitry Medvedev vowed to strengthen the rule of law and to
bring as many Russians as possible into the middle class. The ceremony, mixing czarist splendor with renewed Russian confidence, served as a tribute to the enduring stature and popularity of Putin, whom Medvedev nominated as prime minister within hours of
taking office.

"быстро! ...si vous plait"

2008-04-20T12:32:00.002+01:00

Meat after all, yes. But this word souds familiar for all russian speakers. Even for those frome the first level: "Where did I heard this?"

Bistro as a concept was developed in Paris. Bistros are restaurants defined mostly by the foods they serve. The word "bistro" may come, , if we believe the urban legend, from the Russian быстро (bystro) which means quick. According to an urban legend, it entered the French language during the Russian occupation of Paris in 1815. Cossacks who wanted to be served quickly would shout "bistro!".

Is this true? Larousse Gastronomique, the world's ultimate culinary encyclopedia, states that the word bistro did not appear in the French language until 1884, nearly seventy years after the Russians had left. The most likely origin is doubtless an abbreviation of the word bistrouille, a French slang word for a mixture of coffee and cheap brandy once served at such places. So writes bistrosets.com, whose autority in this subject I can not discuss.

(Image: "At the Bistro," Jean Beraud)

Putin likes all women, not only Kabayeva

2008-04-20T03:25:00.002+01:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned a reporter's question about his marriage into a discourse on female beauty, saying Friday that "I like all Russian women." Putin praised his countrywomen in response to a reporter's question about a recent tabloid report that claimed he intends to marry a former Olympic gymnast less than half his age.

"There is not a single word of truth" to the report, Putin said at a news conference in Sardinia with incoming Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

"Putin divorced", The Moscow tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, reported.

Kabayeva, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Games, is now a member of the lower house of Russia's parliament from the pro-Kremlin party. The tabloid report, which was published April 12, has been largely ignored in the Russian press. But it's received wide play in many European newspapers.

"I have always had a negative opinion of those who, with their snotty noses and their erotic fantasies, meddle in other people's lives," he said.

The Independent: "Russian town is so toxic even the mayor wants it closed down "

2008-04-13T20:24:00.001+01:00

The residents of many Russian towns might feel that they have cause for complaint. But in Chapayevsk, a town of about 70,000 inhabitants in European Russia, the mayor himself has suggested a novel way of solving the town's problems – abandon it. According to The Independent, you can hardly blame him – 96 per cent of all children there are deemed unhealthy.

Chapayevsk, close to the Volga river and the city of Samara, is home to factories that produced chemical weapons for many years, and is blighted by air and soil pollution. According to the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, at a round table meeting on the environment in Samara this week, the town's mayor, Nikolai Malakhov, said that resettling the town's residents would be an "ideal solution" to Chapayevsk's problems"

Bucharest, a battle of the legacies

2008-04-04T17:29:00.001+01:00

For Putin and Bush, Bucharest was a battle of the legacies, and on points Putin won. For The Times, president Putin was the first winner from the Nato summit in Bucharest, "and he wasn't even there". So writes Bronwen Maddox Is true that the summit has revealed a deep split on how to deal with it: between the US and Eastern European countries, who want to press the borders of Nato up to Russia without apology, and Germany (with some back-up from France), which wants to tread softly.
But anyway, reality is still hard for Russia. Soumaya Ghannoushi wonders in The Guardian if is any wonder Russia looks angrily westward. "As a Russian politician put it, "Russia can't just twiddle its thumbs when it sees the Americans taking root in the Baltic and Caucasus countries and strengthening their positions in East European countries. When Nato's steam engine is directed toward us, we simply must respond."

GMail Art - Google explained with art to the Russians

2008-03-24T22:22:00.004+01:00

A fun little advert/video that Saatchi Moscow created to turn more Russians on to Gmail.
There is also a fun video by Commoncraft about how Twitter works. It’s a great video - Commoncraft doesn’t say it’s an ad - but at times it sure feels like an ad.

Thanks to Art Threat

Иван Грозный = Ivan the Formidable (but terrible anyway)

2008-03-22T12:33:00.005+01:00

Former russian rock star Piotor Mamonov will play the role of Ivan the Terrible. Mamonov, who starred in Pavel Lungin’s Ostrov (The Island) (2006) and Taxi Blues (1990) will represent the story of relations between Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Philipp.

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н четвёртый, Васи́льевич) (August 25, 1530, Moscow – March 18, 1584, Moscow) was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of tsar (or czar). His long reign saw the conquest of Tartary and Siberia and subsequent transformation of Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. This tsar is known in the Russian tradition as Ivan Grozny (Russian: Ива́н Гро́зный listen to the pronunciation here), which is traditionally translated into English as Ivan the Terrible. But the English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivan's nickname, but the modern English usage of terrible, with a pejorative connotation of bad or evil, does not precisely represent the intended meaning. Grozny's meaning is closer to the original usage of terrible—inspiring fear or terror, dangerous (as in Old English in one's danger), formidable, threatening, or awesome. Perhaps a translation closer to the intended sense would be Ivan the Fearsome, or Ivan the Formidable.

The movie will be filmed in the ancient town of Suzdal (which in in former times it functioned as the capital of several Russian principalities and forms part of the Golden Ring) and Spaso-Efimievsky Monastery on River Nerl. Is expected to be released in spring 2009, acording to the blog Russian Film:

“Ivan the Terrible was a very contradictory person. He executed people at daytime and spent nights praying,” – Pavel Lungin says – “In any case, it is not going to be an entertaining story”. According to the film director, “Pyotr Mamonov has got that kernel, which might become a key to the portrayal of Ivan the Terrible”.

It will not be the firs film about Ivan The Terrible. Thre is a two-part film about Ivan IV of Russia made by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein. Part 1 was released in 1944 but Part 2 was not released until 1958 due to political censorship. The films were originally planned as part of a trilogy, but Eisenstein died before filming of the third part could be finished.

You can see the first part of the movie here!

In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, which may have caused a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son's (accidental) death. This event is depicted in the famous painting by Ilya Repin, Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on Friday, November 16, 1581 better known as Ivan the Terrible killing his son.

"The only lesson we ever learn is that we never learn"

2008-03-22T10:06:00.003+01:00

Five years on, and still we have not learnt, writes the british jorunalist Robert Fisk about the invasion of Irak in The Independent. He complains about "Five years of catastrophe in Iraq and I think of Churchill, who in the end called Palestine a "hell-disaster". He is specially critic with is country, UK:

Today, we are engaged in a fruitless debate. What went wrong? How did the people – the senatus populusque Romanus of our modern world – not rise up in rebellion when told the lies about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam's links with Osama bin Laden and 11 September? How did we let it happen? And how come we didn't plan for the aftermath of war?
Oh, the British tried to get the Americans to listen, Downing Street now tells us. We really, honestly did try, before we absolutely and completely knew it was right to embark on this illegal war. There is now a vast literature on the Iraq debacle and there are precedents for post-war planning – of which more later – but this is not the point. Our predicament in Iraq is on an infinitely more terrible scale.

Pat Buchanan wrote not long ago: ""They drove the Brits out of Palestine and Aden, the French out of Algeria, the Russians out of Afghanistan, the Americans out of Somalia and Beirut, the Israelis out of Lebanon. We have started up the road to empire and over the next hill we will meet those who went before. The only lesson we learn from history is that we do not learn from history."

We have lost Afghanistan as surely as we have lost Iraq and as surely as we are going to "lose" Pakistan. It is our presence, our power, our arrogance, our refusal to learn from history and our terror – yes, our terror – of Islam that is leading us into the abyss. And until we learn to leave these Muslim peoples alone, our catastrophe in the Middle East will only become graver. There is no connection between Islam and "terror". But there is a connection between our occupation of Muslim lands and "terror". It's not too complicated an equation. And we don't need a public inquiry to get it right.

The Iraqi civilian death toll since the invasion is now greater than the total number of British military fatalities in the Second World War, which came to an astounding 265,000 dead (some histories give this figure as 300,000) and 277,000 wounded. Minimum estimates for Iraqi dead mean that the civilians of Mesopotamia have suffered six or seven Dresdens or – more terrible still – two Hiroshimas.

He was a dissident

2008-03-21T15:52:00.004+01:00

His last television report on Channel One earlier this month was about the reconstruction of an Orthodox monastery in Abkhazia, a pro-Russian separatist region of Georgia, RIA Novosti news agency said. Today the body of Channel One correspondent Ilyas Shurpayev was discovered tby firefighters in his rented studio flat. A spokesman for the state-TV channel said a fire was apparently started there after the attack.A porter was quoted as saying Shurpayev had called down to her in the early hours to ask her to let two young men into the building.

More than a dozen journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, have been killed in contract-style killings in Russia since 2000. Hate attacks on members of ethnic minorities from the Caucasus and former Soviet Central Asia are also common in Moscow.

Hours before his death, Shurpayev wrote a blog saying the owners of a Dagestan newspaper had banned his column and told its staff not to mention his name in publications. "Now I am a dissident!" was the title of the last entry in his web piece.

Shurpayev was born in the mostly Muslim Dagestan province. He had worked in Russia's North Caucasus region, which includes Dagestan and Chechnya.

Critics say Russia has witnessed a steady rollback of post-Soviet media and political freedoms during President Vladimir Putin's eight-year presidency. Top independent television stations have been shut down and print media have also experienced growing official pressure, Pravda writes.

A planet called Užupis

2008-03-21T13:56:00.003+01:00

Houses in Užupio #2, originalmente cargada por aevarg.

Užupis is a district of Vilnius, located in the Old Town, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Its name means "on the other side of a river"; that river is the Vilna River which gave Vilnius its name. The region has been popular with artists for some time, and is often compared with Montmartre in Paris. Now the ruins there are becoming very expensive. "More expensive than an egg of a bishop", as we say in Spain. The district houses art galleries, artists' workshops, and popular cafés. The district declared itself an independent republic (the Republic of Užupis) in 199. Uzupis (in Polish: Zarzecze) is a place to love during the sunset. To walk during the daytime. And, just in case, to run at night.

The area unilaterally declared its independence on April Fool’s Day 1998, which is celebrated annually at the somewhat ramshackle Angel of Uzupis Statue. Is a bohemian place whose Constitution ends: "Don’t conquer. Don’t defend. Don’t surrender". Copies of the 41 articles of the Republic's constitution, in three languages, can be found affixed to a wall on Paupio street in the area. Some of these articles would be unremarkable in a constitution; for instance, Article 5 simply reads "Man has the right to individuality.". Others are more idiosyncratic. A typical example can be found in Articles 1 ("Man has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by man."), 12 ("A dog has the right to be a dog.") and 37 ("Man has the right to have no rights."), each of which makes an unusual apportionment of rights. There are a number of paired articles, such as Articles 16 ("Man has the right to be happy.") and 17 ("Man has the right to be unhappy.") which define man's right to either do or not do something, according to his desire.

Owen Lipsett, from Philadelphia wrote more about this corner of the world.

Congratulations to Ævar Guðmundsson, from Iceland, for this great photo. It was taken near a hostel were I slept in my last trip to Vilnius, a place I recomend.

The Volkovs: Take off in USSR and land in Russia. And now again...

2008-03-21T01:36:00.004+01:00

Sergei Volkov hopes to do as well as his father, a highly decorated Soviet-era cosmonaut, when he lifts off in a Soyuz rocket April 8. Sergei Volkov is the son of Alexander Volkov, 59, a veteran cosmonaut who logged up 391 days in space on three separate space missions in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was awarded an Order of Lenin and named a Hero of the Soviet Union for his performance.
The Soviet Union broke up in 1991. At the time Volkov was orbiting Earth on Mir with Sergei K. Krikalev,"the last citizens of the USSR ". Having gone into orbit as Soviet citizens, they returned to Earth as Russian citizens.
When Sergei returns to Earth, space tourist Richard Garriott, son of astronaut Owen Garriott will be aboard the same spacecraft.

Dead or alive

2008-03-20T00:40:00.001+01:00

A Russian-born American businessman disappeared under murky circumstances from his vacation house in Latvia. He is believed to be alive, the U.S. Embassy in the country said Wednesday to Moscow Times. Police began a massive search effort after a sport utility vehicle believed to belong to Rozhetskin was found abandoned in the city. Rozhetskin's private plane left Latvia in a hurry on Sunday, possibly without his consent, Latvian news agency Leta reported Wednesday, citing "unofficial information."

Мілена Куніс in Russia

2008-03-07T01:38:00.001+01:00

^uk^ Mila Kunis in Russia, originalmente cargada por unclekuntz.

Мілена Маркoвна Куніс was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) to a Jewish family — Her parents moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991, Wikipedia says. Kunis learned English by watching 'The Price Is Right'; host Bob Barker spoke slowly enough for her to understand.She was cast in minor roles in children's programs and television commercials, appearing in a 1994 episode of Days of Our Lives as a young Hope Williams. She has been dating actor Macaulay Culkin for nearly six years. She is heterochromatic, which means her two eyes are different in color. One is blue while the other is green with a tint of brown.

Uncle Kuntz likes image manipulations. And so do I.

After Putin: Russia is doing better, russians not so good

2008-03-07T00:56:00.004+01:00

Kommersant published its last article about the social, demographic, political, and other changes that Russia has underwent in the last eight years. They had 2 gidelines:

Not to discuss politics and ideology. Just find out whether he has done what he had promised.
To mention only those results which can be estimated in numbers taken from official statistics or from special research.

Acoordind to them, Russia now faces the same issues and tasks which it faced early in Putin’s presidency.

President Putin who started speaking openly about the poverty issue in Russia. In this period There has appeared the so-called hereditary poverty. Its cause is not the general economic situation. It is due to certain families’ incapability of economic activity and their social degradation.
Salaries of teachers and professors still make up 60-70 percent of Russia’s average salary, which makes professional degradation and corruption inevitable.
Infant death rate reduced. Is still too high. And the birth rate has indeed increased: Russia’s birth rate fell to its minimum in 1999, long before the state’s measures to support childbirth could produce any effect.
Russia’s influence was growing together with oil prices growth. Russia managed to assert itself as an independent great power, but its foreign policy achievements are much more modest.
So, the state’s healthcare expenditures in the last eight years have grown – from 2.7 percent of GDP in 1999 to 3.5 percent in 2006, which is a growth by 76 percent in real terms. Yet, these expenditures do not seem to be very effective.

2 on a chair?

2008-03-06T02:28:00.001+01:00

Dmitry Medvedev won the presidential election last weekend on a promise that he would govern hand in hand with Vladimir Putin in the interest of stability. For Alexander Osipovich, if the Medvedev-Putin duo succeeds, it will buck the trend in Russian history in which power-sharing deals have often led to intrigue and conflict.

One such period of collective leadership began 55 years ago Wednesday, when Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died of a stroke after nearly three decades of undisputed rule.
Several top officials stepped into the ensuing power vacuum, including the dreaded security chief, Lavrenty Beria, who gained the title of deputy prime minister, and Nikita Khrushchev, who became the top Communist Party official.
Their working relationship came to a dramatic end in June 1953 when Khrushchev called troops into a meeting of the Party leadership and had Beria arrested. Six months later, Beria was executed.

Last month, Putin said the Constitution gave significant powers to the prime minister, which was perceived as a sign that he planned to play a strong role under a Medvedev presidency.

And Medvedev? He did not debate, face critical TV advertising or criticize any aspect of the Putin administration.

Yes, it's not very easy to discern what's actually going on.

Making friends in Moscow

2008-03-05T02:39:00.001+01:00

In Moscow, police detained dozens of activists attending an unauthorised protest over Russia's presidential election on Sunday., originalmente cargada por hakuitillidie.

just to remember the good times.

Putin: Nobody knows, or nobody writes

2008-02-27T15:02:00.001+01:00

A dreary vote in Russia. Yes. When journalists tell you that a story they are working on is "boring" and "dreary," you know it is unlikely to capture theatention of readers and television viewers worldwide. Alexander Osipovich, staff writer of The Moskow Times, feels the Russian campaign has certainly been less suspenseful than the U.S. race, where two Democratic senators, Clinton and Barack Obama, are competing for the chance to end eight years of Republican domination of the White House. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to win by a landslide. Medvedev holds a commanding lead in polls thanks to his close association with outgoing President Vladimir Putin. But does it make less interesting. We all know that Bush will go home in November. But what is going to do Putin in the Russian Duma? Nobody knows, or nobody writes...

Kosovo. And who will be the next?

2008-02-20T15:10:00.000+01:00

The man tipped to become the next Russian president has vowed his country will "stick to" its support for Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence. For the BBC, Medvedev's comments, and the timing of his visit, are an evidence that Russia's foreign policy is unlikely to change once serving President Vladimir Putin steps down. Is this bad news? Putin's term in office has seen a marked deterioration in relations with the West, most recently over the issues of Kosovo and Nato's ambitions in former eastern bloc states like Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia has repeatedly said that granting Kosovo sovereignty could set a precedent and trigger a chain reaction for secessionist regions throughout the world, including in Greece, Spain, Georgia, Moldova and Cyprus. But Western countries supporting Kosovo's independence insist that the case is unique, and that there is no threat of the weakening of international law. Russia is worried about Kosovo, specially after looking to his own courtyard. Moscow repeatedly said Russia will not recognize the sovereignty of South Ossetia and Abkhazia if Kosovo's independence is recognized.
Like George Friedman wrote in 2007, the Kosovo issue has appeared to be one of those conflicts that never quite goes away but isn’t regarded very seriously by the international community.

At least is snowing in Vilnius

2008-01-07T13:15:00.001+01:00

Vilnius roofs, Lithuania, Dec 2007, originalmente cargada por karinga.

Photo by Inga, devoted Vilnius photgrapher. Hope she is not all covered by snow there.

Warsaw has second thougts

2008-01-07T13:09:00.001+01:00

Shift in Polish foreign policy: Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said the new Warsaw government was not prepared to accept U.S. plans to deploy part of its anti-ballistic missile shield in Poland until all costs and risks were considered. Warsaw is worried that the United States could abandon the project after the American presidential election in November. In that case, Poland would have to bear political costs, like the deterioration of relations with Russia, if it signed on to the shield prematurely. And now what?

A pee with a view over Riga

2008-01-03T21:23:00.001+01:00

A wee with a view over Riga, originalmente cargada por JasonRogers.

A Jason Rogers, the author of this photo, said: "To pee with a view of Riga"

European News Headlines - FT.com

2007-12-31T11:26:00.000+01:00

European News Headlines - FT.com: "Gazprom’s offer to take control of Serbia’s state-owned petroleum monopoly has divided the Serbian government and sounded alarm bells about the cost of Moscow’s political support"

"Better life for ordinary Russians..."

2007-12-25T11:06:00.000+01:00

Medvedev, in his first big speech (November 2005), promised a better life for ordinary Russians. A year on, when he spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he was favoured by 35% of Russians for president. “Here was born the future president of Russia,” somebody scratched in the doorway of Mr Medvedev's old apartment block in St Petersburg. The Economist

Yulia Tymoshenko is bact to office

2007-12-21T10:33:00.000+01:00

In a 226-224 vote, the minimum required majority, the Orange Coalition on tuesday confirmed Yulia Tymoshenko's nomination for the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine. The opposition refused to participate. The Party of Regions will be in the opposition, and will stand on guard "against populism and efforts to destroy the economy", Yanukovych said.
More in Ukrainiana

Not bad for an spy

2007-12-20T00:05:00.001+01:00

While he is diminutive (about 1.7 m) he projects steely confidence and strength. Putin is unmistakably Russian, with chiseled facial features and those penetrating eyes. Charm is not part of his presentation of self—he makes no effort to be ingratiating. One senses that he pays constant obeisance to a determined inner discipline. The successor to the boozy and ultimately tragic Boris Yeltsin, Putin is temperate, sipping his wine only when the protocol of toasts and greetings requires it; mostly he just twirls the Montrachet in his glass. He eats little, though he twitchily picks the crusts off the bread rolls on his plate. So writes Time.

He is not a boy scout. And not a 'tedy bear'. He killed some people. But he is the Person of the Year for this magazine.

Putin won the title for taking Russia from chaos to a position of importance in the world today choosing order before freedom. Being Time´s Person of the Year is not necessarily an honor, in Putin’s case.

"Sometimes we get the impression that America does not need friends", complains Putin. But Putin is the fourth Russian leader to be chosen Person of the Year. Joseph Stalin was named twice, in 1939 for signing the alliance that opened the doors for Hitler’s war on Europe and in 1942 for joining the Allies in World War II. In 1957, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader at the height of the Cold War, won for leading the effort to put the first satellite in space. And in 1989, was Gorbachev.

In his youth he was eager to emulate the intelligence officer characters played on the Soviet screen by actors such as Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Georgiy Zhzhonov. Now is frontpage in EEUU.

Not bad for an spy.

Unable to agree on the present, EU looks to the future

2007-12-16T04:16:00.001+01:00

The former Spanish Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez, has been chosen by European leaders to head a review of the long-term issues faced by the EU.

Former Latvian President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and Jorma Ollila, ex-chairman of mobile phone company Nokia, have been selected as vice presidents of the group.

But the celebrations were marred by leaders' inability to reach a unanimous position on the future status of Kosovo, the predominantly ethnic-Albanian province that is seeking independence from Serbia.

As EarthTimes said, "Unable to agree on the present, EU looks to the future"

A creation of Putin will rule Russia

2007-12-10T23:38:00.001+01:00

President Vladimir V. Putin has endorsed as his successor today Dmitri A. Medvedev, a young protégé with no background in the state security services and virtually no power base in the Kremlin. Yes, everything that Medvedev has is owed to Putin. There is no Medvedev without Putin.

The president endorsed Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister, at a meeting with party leaders today. This declaration is virtually guaranteeing that he will win a landslide victory in the March 2 election.
Medvedev is more liberal and less hawkish towards the west than Sergei Ivanov, the other contender.

Yevgeny Badovsky, of the Institute of Social Systems thinktank, said: "Medvedev is in a way a more liberal choice, who is not associated with the part of the elite rooted in the security services."

The speculation about Putin's future has included the possibility that he could try to return as president. That possibility seemed potentially strengthened by the announcement about Medvedev, said to Pravda Vladimir Ryzhkov, a prominent liberal politician.

Октябрьская революция в России, 1917 (October revolution in Russia, 1917)

2007-11-07T13:12:00.000+01:00

William Wordsworth spoke for millions when he wrote about the French Revolution “Bliss was it in that dawn [of revolution] to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!”. And 90 years ago the world changed again, in the dirty streets of a city. This time was Saint Petersburg.

Vilnius quiz

2007-10-24T10:53:00.001+01:00

street, originalmente cargada por txd.

Hello vilnietis. Who is the clever guy/girl who can tell first which street is this? Post answers here.

The polish Zapatero?

2007-10-24T10:39:00.000+01:00

Look at him, he is smiling. Yes, Donald Tusk appears mild-mannered, but friends say the easy outward manner belies a steely ambition that took him to the leadership of his Civic Platform party and now the prime ministership of Poland. A carpenter's son from the Baltic port of Gdansk, the cradle of Poland's anti-communist uprising, can be now the new polish Zapatero, this time without leftist traces. As Solidarity splintered following the 1989 defeat of communism, Mr Tusk became a rightwing liberal and keen advocate of Europe. Mr Tusk entered the upper house in Warsaw in 1997 for the Freedom Union party and became a founder of the Civic Platform in 2001.

We saw his a soothing tone on Tuesday in his first extended comments since a sweeping victory in national elections, pledging to end political strife at home and to improve strained relations with Russia, Germany and the EU.

Ten days ago, the 50-year-old historian went head-to-head in a television duel with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the wily prime minister. But Tusk routed his opponent calmly and systematically. The TV debate was the turning point in an extremely bruising election campaign. The neck-and-neck polls shifted to give the Platform a 10-point lead. Sunday's victory was revenge for his defeat at the hands of the Kaczynski twins in the past.

"He was tough, decisive and calm," said Tomasz Wolek, a former newspaper editor from Gdansk who has known Mr Tusk for decades. "Donald had a Kaczynski complex and he's finally freed himself of it. He allowed himself to be blackmailed and was put on the defensive. Now he's got tougher."Tusk, a keen amateur football player viewed in his youth as a promising striker, operated in the underground as an anti-communist student leader in Gdansk in the late 1970s before joining the Solidarity movement. After the communists imposed martial law in 1981, he worked on building sites. Both his parents had been forced into slave labour under the Nazi occupation of Poland.

Tusk campaigned on promises to build a more harmonious relationship with the EU and to pursue the economic opportunities presented by membership in the bloc, which Poland joined in 2004.

"The European Union is here — not somewhere in Brussels," Tusk said.

In the United States — which he called "our closest ally, our greatest friend" — Tusk said he would work to keep up the friendship while also establishing a more balanced partnership. Also Russia matters now. Amid already tense ties with Russia, Kaczynski's government has blocked negotiations for a new EU partnership agreement with Moscow due to a Russian embargo on Polish meat, which Russia said it imposed because of health concerns. Poland has also been critical of plans for an undersea pipeline to bring Russian natural gas to Europe, bypassing Poland and raising fears of a potential gas cutoff as well as the loss of transit revenue.

Can Europe smile too?

Tusk-Kaczynski, and uneasy marriage

2007-10-22T11:00:00.000+01:00

Tusk won. The twins made enemies across the European Union and also in this blog. Finally, the rightist prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, conceded defeat. But is brother, Lech, will remain president until 2010 and retain veto power over the presumptive new government's legislation. He will form an uneasy cohabitation with the Tusk Government. He will be able to block, at least for a short while, some foreign policy initiatives.

Official results on Tuesday will determine whether Civic Platform achieves an outright majority or more likely needs to form a coalition with the centrist Polish Peasants Party. But Kaczynski is left without any significant partner.

Exit polls awarded 43.7 per cent to Civic Platform, compared with 30.4 per cent for the Law and Justice party. In theory Tusk could form an alliance with the third-place Left and Democracy party, which won 13.3 per cent of the vote, or the Peasants’ Party (PSL), which picked up just over 8 per cent. Neither of Kaczynski’s former coalition allies – the clericalist League of Polish Families and the rural Self-Defence grouping – won enough votes to be represented in parliament.

The Times says that Tusk is likely to choose Radek Sikorski – who made his name as a journalist in Britain in the 1980s – as Foreign Minister.

Traslation of the joke: "Platforma is happy that Lech is back to politics". Thanks, Andrius.

Ciao, Kaczynski

2007-10-21T23:09:00.000+01:00

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party under its leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the prime minister, on Sunday night admitted defeat in the country’s hard-fought parliamentary elections, putting an end to two turbulent years in government, write Jan Cienski and Stefan Wagstyl in Warsaw for the Financial Times

Civic Platform, Poland’s main opposition party, claimed victory after it emerged as the biggest single party and prepared to form the next government under its leader, Donald Tusk.

PiS narrowly won elections two years ago on a programme of fighting corruption, exposing communist-era collaborators, and helping those who felt left out by reforms that transformed Poland into a capitalist economy 18 years ago.
But once in power, Mr Kaczynski alienated voters with his abrasive political style, fell out with almost all potential coalition partners and failed to win the confidence of business.
During the campaign, Mr Tusk promised to make life easier for business by slashing red tape, reforming public finances, and energetically privatising most of the companies still controlled by the state. He also strongly criticised Mr Kaczynski’s foreign policy.

The official vote count is expected to be released Monday orTuesday.

The outcome was a dramatic reversal for Mr Kaczynski and his twin brother President Lech Kaczynski, who have ruled Poland since 2005, polarising politics and repeatedly running into conflicts with Poland’s European Union partners.