Monthly Archives: September 2009
Russia wants to castrate sex offenders
A law proposed by the pensioners/working-man’s A Just Russia party would have sex offenders chemically castrated for “forced sexual acts” with anyone under the age of 14 and for any kind of sexual activity with minors under 12. The law … Continue reading
Morphine halts Russian economic crisis in tracks
Yesterday, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced that Russia had passed the crisis like some kind of awful kidney stone. His evidence was, as usual, fuzzy math. The crisis is over, he said, because projections in the fall of Russia’s … Continue reading
A few more babies, a few less dead Russians
Yesterday, the Russian Health Ministry announced that the country’s population grew for the first time in 15 years. The population now stands at 141.9 million, just a hair over what it was in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, which … Continue reading
I just flew in from Irkutsk and one of my arms fell off. Because I'm old.
A new study shows that the average age of planes in the fleets of Russian airlines is 18 years, making it one of the oldest fleets in the world. 18 years. That’s average. There go my CIS travel plans… via … Continue reading
Flunkies inherit the wind
The fact that, these days, you can buy your way into most Russian universities is well known. Gone are the days when one has to “go to class” or “pass an exam” to get a diploma. Didn’t have time for … Continue reading
Kremlin to monitor Russian blogosphere still more actively
Just before the weekend, the Kremlin announced it’s in the market for innovative ideas. It will pay a contractor 5 million rubles (just over $150,000) to scour the Russian blogosphere for original solutions to the country’s myriad problems, according to … Continue reading
Russian police need makeover, get TV show
There are few things Russians hate more than the Russian police force. This hatred, which oscillates between derision, condescension, pity, indifference, and rage, comes from the fact that the police here operate much in the way Tony Soprano’s racketeers do: … Continue reading
