russian events
The return of Vladimir Putin The once and future president It may bring clarity over who is in charge, but it will still be bad for Russia Oct 2011 IT WAS hardly a surprise when Vladimir Putin told his United Russia party conference on September 24th that he would run for the presidency next…
Those coining the blood of war should have to sacrifice too, even if it is only their profits from war. Immediately after World War One but still during the United States’ military occupations of Russia and China, Hiram Johnson, the former reform governor of California who served in the Senate, spoke…
All the world comes to Chungking (Cheung Fun) HONG KONG– Whoever has been to perennially pricey Hong Kong on a low budget has spent at least one night there: Chungking Mansions, “the world’s most globalized building,” offers rooms at unbeatable prices at 36-44 Nathan Road, right on the point of Tsim Sha Tsui,…
This week, Russian firm Orbital Technologies announced its plans for a hotel in orbit 217 miles outside of Earth, which will accomodate 7 guests in 4 cabins with massive windows for expansive, intergalactic views. Since this is a little bit outside of Google Earth’s navigation capabilities, we suggest two days aboard a Soyuz rocket. The Daily Mail…
A literary festival in St-Malo, France, Russian writer Zahar Prilepin and I spoke on a panel about Russia’s war in Chechnya. The audience was fired up with anti-Russian sentiment, having just seen a documentary on the devastation of Grozny by Russian forces in 2000. Prilepin—muscular, silent—sank sullenly in his chair as the…
Russia has drawn up a list of Americans who will be banned from entering Russia. The move comes as a response to Washington’s blacklisting of Russian officials linked to suspected human rights violations. Barack Obama’s much vaunted ‘reset’ of relations between the United States and Russia has suddenly hit a major…
Decadent’ Russian Art, Still Under the Boot’s Shadow By ELLEN BARRY Published: March 7 th, Story reprinted from NYT MOSCOW — Later this week moviegoers in New York will learn the strange story of Igor V. Savitsky, an obsessive collector credited with saving tens of thousands of avant-garde artworks from Soviet authorities who forced artists…
Here are a few things the framers did not know about: World War II. DNA. Sexting. Airplanes. The atom. Television. Medicare. Collateralized debt obligations. The germ theory of disease. Miniskirts. The internal combustion engine. Computers. Antibiotics. Lady Gaga. People on the right and left constantly ask what the framers would say about…
Hope for Khodorkovsky, and for Russia? Amy Knight Alexey Sazonov/AFP/Getty Images Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev standing behind a glass wall in a Moscow courtroom, May 17, 2011 At first glance, it is hard not to conclude that the future looks dire for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, the former Yukos executives who have been…
China aircraft carrier confirmed by General Staff The 300m (990ft) carrier, under construction in Dalian, is thought to be nearly finished The head of China’s General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has confirmed that China’s first aircraft carrier is under construction. Gen Chen Bingde refused to say when the carrier – a remodelled…