Monthly Archives: May 2010
Chess saga continues with scathingly legalistic open letter
On Saturday, the day before he turned 59, chess champion and Russia’s contested nominee for the International Chess Federation (FIDE) presidency, Anatoly Karpov fired off a scathing open letter. Addressed to his “dear colleagues,” the letter took aim at Arkady … Continue reading
That'll show 'em
For the last month or so, drivers’ rights advocates in Moscow have been protesting VIP sirens, the strange exceptionalism carved into the Russian legal system that allows the bearers of these special blue sirens to almost completely disregard traffic laws … Continue reading
Kremlin seizes Russian Chess Federation offices; no pawn pun intended
For those of you following the titillating chess scandal unfolding in Moscow, today brings new, exciting, dangerous developments. As Carl Schrek reported in Foreign Policy this week, the Kremlin has been starting to meddle a bit in the nomination of … Continue reading
On gays and other perverts
As Moscow gears up for once again banning the gay pride parade later this month, Russia Today, the Kremlin’s wonderful cable propaganda channel, has been doing some tough reporting — as well as some important self-discovery. On May 6, RT … Continue reading
When failure is not an option
This Saturday, the scary but increasingly useless pro-Kremlin youth group “Nashi” had a rally in central Moscow. They bussed in thousands of kids. Many of them, a friend noted, were carrying shopping bags because the free trip to the capital … Continue reading
Do you know who I am?
Today, I bring you another tale of swaggering servants of the Russian people. On Victory Day, May 9, a huge column of tanks, armored vehicles, and missiles paraded through Moscow, but then they had to get back to their base … Continue reading
The way he were
I have no particular reason to post these, but they happened to pop up in my inbox this afternoon, courtesy of a friend at a news agency here. That and the Russian youths seems to really like them. But here … Continue reading
Meditate, fix an oil leak
Okay, this post is technically not about Russia but it is about Russia in the sense that, two days ago, I blogged about a left-field proposal out of Russia to nuke the Mexican Gulf oil leak closed. Well, now we … Continue reading
Serious allegations: Kalmyk governor leaks classified information to 'humanoid' aliens
Andrey Lebedev, a Duma deputy for the right-wing nationalistic LDPR party, is pissed: there is a traitor in Russia’s house, and he’s a traitor of the very worst order. Lebedev’s allegation, which he addressed yesterday to President Dmitry Medvedev, is … Continue reading
