Exposing Chernobyl
Guest: Kate Brown on Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future published by Norton.
February 7, 2020
Menu
Nuclear Bombs and Bomb Shelters
Guest: Edward Geist on Armageddon Insurance: Civil Defense in the United States and Soviet Union, 1945-1991 published by University of North Carolina Press.
January 17, 2020
Russia in Global Affairs
Guest: Fyodor Lukyanov on Russia in the Middle East: Viewpoints, Policies, Strategies published by East View.
January 7, 2020
Ivan the Terrible
Guest: Charles Halperin on Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish published by University of Pittsburgh Press.
December 30, 2019
Culture
Russian Protest Art in The Stream
Yesterday I joined Serhiy Kudelia, professor at George Washington University, and Vor, the leader of Voina, on The Stream, Al-Jazeera English’s daily news talk show,
February 7, 2012
Children’s Choir of the USSR
More holiday catch-up. BBC Documentaries did a program on the Children’s Choir of the USSR. A good way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the
January 4, 2012
My Perestroika on PBS
http://www-tc.pbs.org/video/media/swf/PBSPlayer.swf Watch the full episode. See more POV. I don’t usually post plugs, but I received an email from the Community Engagement and Education Department
June 25, 2011
Craving Cold War
Back in late 2008, when Pajamas Media was still having me write articles on Russia (they’ve since stopped asking, I think, because I wasn’t anti-Russian
July 11, 2010
Porno Hacker Saga Continues
The story of Russia’s world famous porn hacker keeps popping up in the news. It’s not, unfortunately, because of any new examples of his brilliance. Rather the story keeps getting headlines because of the Russian keystones’ bungling. Anyone surprised?
March 27, 2010
Consuming Russian Feminism
The theme of my last post on how International Women’s Day has been transformed from a public to a private holiday reminded of the enormous advertisement for Elle Magazine at Lubyanka Square covering Detskii Mir. The ad is a blend of revolution, feminism, and consumerism with its depiction of riotous women holding signs that read: “Let there always be mini-skirts!” “Give us a paid holiday during sales!” “Shopping is the best opium!”
March 9, 2010
Domesticating March 8th
One hundred years ago today, the First International Women’s Congress adopted International Women’s Day as a day of struggle for women’s rights. But in Russia, where the holiday, what was once a day calling for a “struggle against patriarchy,” has in many ways become patriarchy’s reinforcement.
March 8, 2010
“We Await You, Merry Gnome!”
Russian chinovniki are known for a lot of things–graft, ineptitude, oblomovism, and when necessary, zealous obsequiousness. Sometimes, the latter leads the chinovnik to take preemptive action in hopes to satisfy the leader even if the latter is not looking to be satisfied. Take for example, the recent hilarious incident in Omsk where a preemptive measure to make President Medvedev “comfortable” led to the removal of a poster reading “We Await You, Merry Gnome.”
February 18, 2010
Porno Billboard Bandit Busted
It just goes to show that the sleuths in Russia can work fast when the want to. Witness how it took them a mere month to catch the internationally infamous hacker who placed porno on a Moscow billboard. And get this, they caught him not in Moscow, but some 760 miles away in the southern city of Novorossiisk. If only they moved so ardently when a journalist is murdered . . .
February 16, 2010
Billboard Entertains Moscow Motorists with Porno
Hackers gave motorists quite a show when they splashed a two minute porno clip on a billboard along one of Moscow’s busiest streets on Thursday. Media experts are wondering whether it was a provocation, prank, or media virus. The authorities vow the find the culprit.
January 16, 2010