The announcement of passing of Uzbekistan’s veteran dictator Islam Karimov came as surprise to no one in the Russian-speaking world. The rumors of his death, following a stroke that his younger daughter announced on her Instagram account, had been circulating for days when, in a situation similar to a true Soviet leader’s demise:
The Uzbek...
When Bernie Sanders honeymooned in the Soviet Union in 1988, Andrei Sakharov had already been released from internal exile, Refusniks were allowed to leave the country, the press were discussing the legacy of Stalinism and the state was allowing elements of the free market to take hold.
The country was in the midst of...
Funny: conservative commentator Monica Crowley recently called Bernie Sanders Lenin of Brooklyn.
I don’t think Bernie has Lenin’s cunning and brutality. Vladimir Lenin managed to seize the day in 1917, leading his extreme minority party to overthrow...
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we revisit the story of Anatoly Shapiro.
Major Anatoly Shapiro was a Jewish officer in the Red Army who led his troupes to liberate Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945. He enlisted in the Red Army at the onset of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, was wounded...
Warning: Spoilers
I can’t call myself an aficionado of action flicks, so I’m not sure where where 13 Hours falls within that genre. I did find the movie intense, the lead parts were masterfully played and it offered plenty of food for thought.
It might be red meat for the conservative base, but in terms of pure propaganda...
In late December last year East Bay Area regulated utility EBMUD released a list of “water guzzlers”, a naming and shaming strategy the utility adopted in response to the drought that hit the state during the last couple of years.
The local media had a ball with the release, publishing names of offenders and aerial...
If, dear reader, you are wondering how easy it is to lie to the United States immigration officials, you are not wondering alone.
A little over 25 years ago I, along with other Soviet Jews, were going through the immigration process wondering out loud about how easy it would be to deceive our...
A march for Federalization of Siberia is planned for August 17 has caused a Moscow “freak[] out”:
Type the Russian words федерализация Украины (federalization of Ukraine) into Google...
In Ukraine, parties on the losing end of the electoral process take turns demanding federalization or even secession.
The idea’s been floating around for years; The Svoboda party, formerly known as the Social Nationalist Party of Ukraine, includes decentralization...
The United States is not Ukraine, so, I hope, we don’t find ourselves living in interesting times.
1. Somewhat educated young people with no opportunities are a revolutionary class. Between 1990 and 2006, as Ukraine’s population declined, the number of students entering colleges shot up an unbelievable 60%. According to another source,...
I generally dislike Olympic ceremonies because, staged on immense stadiums with numerous extras, they lend themselves easily to a totalitarian aesthetic. The 1980 Olympic opening ceremony in Moscow was an exercise in totalitarianism: pyramids of humans erected on the stadium, extras marching lockstep, etc. Likewise, the 2008 Beijing Olympics showcased loyal...
Watching the coverage of Ukrainian protests last months, I found most Western media outlets a bit too eager: Yay! Protest! People on the streets!
The Russian state media has its own agenda, of which, I think, most readers of this blog are aware.
Some Americans writing for Kyiv Post have a tendency to ...
