If commies came to power in Sahara...

There is an old Soviet joke:
What would happen if communists came to power in Sahara?
Answer: There will be shortages of sand.

Meanwhile, the following news arrives from the socialist paradise of Hugo Czavez:

Venezuela buys Russian oil to avoid defaults
Financial Times
Updated: 12:41 p.m. ET April 28, 2006

Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has struck a $2bn deal to buy about 100,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Russia until the end of the year.
Venezuela has been forced to turn to an outside source to avoid defaulting on contracts with "clients" and "third parties" as it faces a shortfall in production, according to a person familiar with the deal. Venezuela could incur penalties if it fails to meet its supply contracts.

(via sdanilov)

As they would say in Russian - жизнь обгоняет мечту (life beats the dream).

Chernobyl: (1986-2006)

It just happened that in the course of the last two years, I've learnt much more about Chernobyl than I had learnt in the previous 18 years.
I first learnt about the tradegy like everyone else - from the TV watching the gloomy footage of the fourth reactor. I don't have any relatives directly affected by the disaster although my uncle-in-law (can I say that?) went there to partake in the clean-up operation. Unlike many others, he did it on its own accord, to make a quick buck/ruble and I have no idea whether he's had to pay big time for his avarice...

As I said I've learnt a lot about the catastrophe and I think now I understand better why it happened. Setting aside all the complicated technical details it is pretty clear to me, that Chernobyl was not a sign of Soviet technological inferiority, quite to the contrary, but at least partially resulted from a special kind of mentality, shared by those who worked there - To Soviet engineers who worked there the reactor was a big and exciting toy with which to play for the sake of money, glory, scientfic exploration, you name it.
I am not a big fan of North American culture of perpetual litigation but in this case, thinking about consequences, not just in abstract terms, but in very real, legal ones might've saved it.
If not in money or property many of the workers had to pay the price in the most precious commodity - their lives. The very first victim, operator Valeriy Khodymchuk is buried right inside the fourth reactor as his body was never found. However, it is the plight of the 14 firefighters that made the greatest impression on me. They arrived on the station mere minutes after the blast and had to extinguish fire with their bare hands, almost literally, throwing the radioctive graphite off the roof back to the reactor. It was a truly suicidal mission and they all died two weeks later at a hospital in Moscow. The wife of one of them, Ignatenko, wrote a truly moving account of his last days (you can read it here in Russian).

Vichnaya Pamyat' to all those who perished!

P.S. The current controversy around Chernobyl is mainly about the number of victims and here you can read an insightful summary of the issue.

Migrants' stories: Russian as a foreign language

A considerable influx of immigrants from the Caucausus, whose Russian is far from perfect, can sometimes create a situation such as this. If you can read Russian, it'll make your day, I promise.

lost in translation: ethnocentrism in Russian studies

At times, his historical rants read like a freshman Russian studies major who wrote a paper about how Stalin would never have gotten reelect-ed for a third term if Khrushchev made his speech earlier.

This is certain Anna Arutunyan reviewing a couple of books for the Exile. With this sentence she gave me a good chuckle. It's been a while since I first encountered this particular folly; when a Westener tries to explain Soviet political realities based on his/her domestic experience.
Incidentally, Horowitz's list of most dangerous professors features one admirer of Stalin (I'm too lazy to dig up for his name at the moment). I actually read some of his writings and was stunned to discover that his main research technique seemed to be a mere literal reading of Soviet documents.

Russian Godfathers: Billionaire on Trial

Just watched this documentary on CBC's Passionate Eye and got sorely disappointed.
I'm not a fan of Mr. Putin, far from it, but even I was stunned as how blatantly pro-Khodorkovsky the movie was. This documentary was the definition of 'one-sided - the oter side's opinions were absent whatsoever but there were Khodorkovsky's advocates such Canada's own David Amsterdam and Leonid Nevzlin who were given ample air time. And so were Khodorkovsky's parents which I find so reprehensible.
What would you expect them to say? that their son is guilty as charged? There's a reasonm why one has the right not to testify his/her own relatives and the same goes the other way. They would probably defend him even if he was accused of killing twenty people himself.

Canada's self-esteem has reached a new low

In case you haven't heard about it yet: this year's Junos (Canada's national music-awards show) was hosted by no other than Pamela Anderson.
I repeat: Pamela frigging Anderson!!!!

"The host for the 2006 Juno Awards was DISGUSTING, I'm sure you could have chosen someone who has more class."

(taken from here)

Do I have to say more? Can I?

From today's news: soccer, prositution, Sweden

From a Deutsche Welle report:

Swedish Call to Boycott World Cup Over Forced Prostitution

Sweden's soccer team should boycott the 2006 World Cup in Germany to protest against a feared rise in forced prostitution, the Swedish ombudsman for gender equality said Monday.
"We should distance ourselves and say that we will not accept such a situation and for that reason we do not want to participate," the ombudsman, Claes Borgstr?m, told Swedish Radio. "It's a good opportunity to do something effective ... targeting modern-day slavery."