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Royal Academy of Arts, From Russia Exhibit

Posted in Royal Academy, Russian, art, exhibit, french, painting on January 29, 2008 by accidentalrussophile


The exhibit that almost wasn’t.

The Royal Academy of Arts exhibit titled From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870–1925 from Moscow and St Petersburg opened last weekend and runs through April 18th. Demand for tickets has been very high, and many of the planned events are already sold out. Despite the recent controveries between the UK and Russian Federation, the unprecedented exhibit opened with few complications, and has outstanding reviews, as it brings together some of the great paintings of the late 19th and early 20th century. From the RA website:

This landmark exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts presents modern masterpieces drawn from Russia’s principal collections: the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art and the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the State Hermitage Museum and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. For the first time, works from these museums have been gathered for a single exhibition.Over 120 paintings by Russian and French artists working between 1870 and 1925 will be displayed together in an exhibition which surveys the main directions of modern art from Realism and Impressionism to Non-Objective painting. Works will include paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Matisse together with those by Kandinsky, Tatlin and Malevich.

The exhibit will also included various events, including evening lectures, lunch-time lectures, and workshops. There is even a contest to win a FREE trip for two to St. Petersburg (open to residents of UK and Northern Ireland only – I checked). Entries for the contest are accepted until April 18th and the winners will be contacted on April 21st.

For those of you unaware of some of the complications with making the exhibit possible, the Russian government wanted assurances that the paintings would not be siezed and possibly returned to heirs of the former owners. Many of the paintings had been in the private collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov prior to the Russian Revolution. However, as explained in the Time’s Online article by Mark Stephens:

The Russian Government took no good title to the pictures, leaving the legitimate owners, and now their heirs, every right to claim what should have been theirs. That right to have stolen cultural property returned is embodied in our domestic law as well as being a modern cultural and civilised norm that has crystallised into international law. Perversely, Russian law prevents reclamation of looted art in government hands. This means that the only opportunity to recover stolen artworks is when they travel abroad — hence the controversy about whether the works would actually be sent for exhibition.

The Russians could have lawfully “nationalised” the cultural objects taken during the revolution. The difference between the thieving State and the legitimate compulsory purchase is not a fine one. The State must pay compensation to anyone from whom it takes assets — a bit like the compulsory purchase powers exercised by local authorities. The absence of compensation makes the acquisitions by Russia illegal.


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"We’re against everything. We’re patriots"

Posted in Moscow, Russian, march, nationalist, neo-nazi, unity day on November 5, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Spiegel Online has a story today about the neo-Nazi National Unity Day march in Moscow at Kutosovsky Prospect yesterday. An estimated 2,000 people participated in the march and rally. The Spiegel article attempts to capture the stupidity and shallowness of the Russian neo-Nazi movement, and to explain the Kremlin and other government officials apparent tolerance of far-right nationalism, as contrasted with complete intolerance of the liberal left.

This was the 3rd annual such march in Moscow. While last years march resulted in many arrests, this year Moscow police issued a march permit for a relatively low-traffic area of the city.

The march included the cowboy hat wearing Preston Wiginton, a white supremacist from Texas. Wiginton spoke to the crowd, cheering “Glory to Russia,” with the audience responding “white power” back to him in English.

Hey, so there is something we Americans and Russians have in common. Racist bigots. Hurray.

“Russia for Russians!” the demonstrators shouted in unison, followed by slogans such as “For a Slavic, Russian nation!” or “Slavic, Russian, Powerful!” The demonstrators stretched out their arms in the Hitler salute between slogans. Their loud shouts of “Slavic Russia!” were followed by the sound of drum rolls.

“We are opposed to the immigration of Caucasians and Asians to Russia. Our people must remain pure. Russia belongs to us,” 32-year-old Andrey Bukov explains. The trained media expert says he has been “serving” in the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) for four years. He waves its white, yellow and black flag, which features a symbol resembling a swastika.

Nineteen-year-old Sergei carries the red flag of his group — the “Slavic Union” — tied around his shoulders. “We Russians are part of the white race,” he says. “The blacks — the Caucasians, the Chechens, the Dagestani — should stay away,” says the Muscovite, a student at the Finance Academy.

If the use of the word Caucasians in the negative sounds unfamiliar to the less traveled American readers, it is because while we use the word Caucasian to indicate anyone of white race, Russians (and many Europeans) use the word to indicate people from the Caucasus Mountains. Again, for the unfamiliar – many Russians perceive such people to be non-white.

The utter brilliance of the marchers is demonstrated further into the Spiegel article, by a short interview with Olga and Darya:

Pensioner Monika Nikolayeva [says] “When it comes to our children, there is not even enough money to send them to university in Russia.” That is why she believes it is good that young people take to the streets and protest. “Young girls in particular only get limited education!”

The young girls she means are technical university students like Olga and Darya, who are marching beneath the flags. “We’re against everything. We’re patriots,” rants 18-year-old Olga. She and her 19-year-old friend have traveled to Moscow from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to attend the demonstration. Asked what they are demonstrating against, she is at a loss for a moment. Then she stutters: “Against the anti-Russian policy in the world — I can’t say it any more clearly.”

Further analysis in the article is provided by Andreas Umland, “an expert in comparative fascism studies who specializes in Russia.” Mr. Umland believes that these neo-nazi’s are welcome bogeymen by the Kremlin, that their existence justifies strong-armed tactics by the government, with the increased use of extremism laws and other crack-downs on civil liberties. Of course, the Kremlin and law enforcement officials seem loathe to use those laws and measures against the ultra-nationalist bogeymen, preferring instead to crack the heads and knuckles of any organized liberal parties and individuals who dare fault or make a joke about Putin.

From the Associated Press article on the event:

“This is just an outbreak of national identity feelings, which is noticeable worldwide, and it has affected Russia too,” said Vyacheslav Postavnin, deputy director of the Federal Migration Service, the Interfax news agency reported.

In the first Russian March in 2005, thousands marched through central Moscow, some shouting “Heil Hitler.” The march horrified many Muscovites, and the following year it was blocked by police.

“The first Russian March was unexpected good luck, the second one was about overcoming the resistance of the authorities, and the third one is already a new Russian tradition,” said Konstantin Krylov of the nationalist Russian Social Movement.

I encourage you to read the rest of the article for additional details and observations by Simone Schlindwein.

Other marches on National Unity Day included the Yabloko party rally against fascism and xenophobia. The pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group assembled a “peace quilt” from the contributions of thousands of young people across Russia.

Sean’s Russia Blog discusses how National Unity Day has actually served to highlight Russia’s fractured and disunited nature. Neo-Nazi marches certainly add an exclamation point to his discussion.

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Suzy Sells Spaceships by the Seashore

Posted in Ruspace, Russian, Suzy, cosmonauts, mars on September 20, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Suzy’s Russian Space Blog has posted an entry on the Russian Space Program’s Mars-500 simulation. The simulation is designed to test problems and long-term crowded space/deprivation conditions for a period of over 500 days, such as what would be undertaken by cosmonauts on a real Mars Mission. Spiegel likens it to a “Big Brother” experiment.

Today the North Pole! Tomorrow, Mars!

Suzy provides all the interesting details in a fashion that I simply couldn’t, including the involvement of Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanskii, who is divorced as a result of the experiment. I get the impression he’s a well-known Russki hunk from Suzy’s reaction.

The most interesting Russian-touch to the living environment is the wooden paneled living quarters, to provide a homey-feel. Rather like living in a banya, without the steam. Suzy is quick to point out wood would not be viable in a space capsule due to fire in the high oxygen environment.

Actually, they have Supercritical Wet Oxidation, so maybe steam is a possibility after all ….
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Tasty Mango

Posted in Mango, Russian, language, learn on September 20, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

If you’re interested in learning Russian or some other language, Mango might be worth a try.

Advantages? It’s free.

And it’s also free.

Mango is in beta version currently and the sign-up is very easy. There are 100 Russian lessons with literally thousands of slides and sound files.

Languages include Mandarin Chinese, Greek, and even Pig Latin. Troductioninay otay Igpay Atinlay. See how it just rolls off the tongue?

Even the language-challenged should be able to master that.
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Russia Resumes International Bomber Flights; U.S. Yawns

Posted in Russian, U.S.A., World War III, bombers, flights, hysteria, international on August 18, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Omigod, omigod, this is scary! The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming (insert hysteria here).

This could be World War III!

Or not.

Russia has been for some time now conducting flights over international waters and recently Vladimir Putin announced that long-range bomber flights would continue for the foreseeable future.

“We proceed from the assumption that our partners will view the resumption of flights of Russia’s strategic aviation with understanding.

“In 1992, the Russian Federation unilaterally ended the flights of its strategic aviation in faraway areas patrolled by the military,” Putin said. “Unfortunately, not everyone followed our example, and strategic aviation flights by other states continue. This causes certain problems for guaranteeing the safety of the Russian Federation.”

Blah, blah blah. But what does it all mean, Basil?

Not a heck of a lot, Austin. From the AFP article on the topic, the U.S. just shrugs it off as Russia dusting off some old bombers.

“If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again that’s their decision,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

“That is a decision for them to take; it’s interesting,” McCormack added.

“We certainly are not in the kind of posture we were with what used to be the Soviet Union. It’s a different era,” McCormack said.

And the truth is, Russia has been doing this for a while and is only now making announcements and headlines with it.

“Over the last few months the Russian air force has been flying a little bit more than we’ve seen in the past; certainly they’re ranging farther than they have in the more recent past,” Renuart said in a statement.

“NORAD has intercepted them out over international waters, near Alaska, and the command continues to monitor all of their long range bomber flight activity, even today,” he added.

The sorts of missions that Russia has been undertaking with these bomber runs are practice missions including navigation exercises and mid-air refueling. You know – the sort of stuff that the U.S. Air Force does every single day of the week. (I live under the flight path of the former Pease Air Base where refueling tankers are stationed. Trust me. They are flying and filling military planes that fly over international waters in the North Atlantic. Every. Single. Day.

You can expect more Russian shows of their military capability in the months ahead, as they are obviously seeking to portray themselves as being in a position of strength for any renegotiation of arms deals, such as the CFE Treaty.

Update: A Washington Times article, actually a reprint of a UK Telegraph article) on this topic has a few quotes of interest:

Unnamed former White House Staffer:

“They were slow to see that these people are still players. My great fear is that I wake up one day soon to discover that we lost the Cold War, or rather that, like everything else, we won the war and then lost the peace.”

Unnamed source, close to Condoleeza Rice:

“She wants to spend more time on Russia, but that hasn’t always been possible. She said to me that she regrets the fact that she has not done enough on what is, after all, her major area of expertise.”

From Alex Pravda, a Russia specialist at London’s Chatham House:

“(Putin) believes in fighting for your place in the sun, and he is on record as saying that nobody appreciates weakness,” he said. “They are not looking for the imperial reach of the Soviet era. What they want is an international presence.”

I love how the premise of such pieces falls apart when you examine the actually facts and quotes. The Washington Times article tries to make the case that Russia has been largely ignored by the U.S. and has taken offense at that. While I think the U.S. citizenry has pretty much ignored Russia, I find that our government has been actually very aggressive towards Russia and Russian interests.

If ignoring Russia means, pushing Russia aside and taking over what used to be their sphere of influence, then sure – the U.S. has been ignoring Russia. But to the Russian side, it sure appears to be a soft war of international politics and foreign policy being waged by the United States.

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The Russian Zombie Weapon

Posted in Ana Beatriz Barros, Pravda, Russian, mind-control, weapon, zombie on August 14, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

This article in Pravda was just too sweet to pass up. It begs the question:

“How can I get one…

and when can I use it on Ana Beatriz Barros?”

Actually, a weapon like this could explain much of George W. Bush’s behavior. “Jorgi, u must invade Irak … u must invade Irak”

Ok, enough with the humor and decadent fantasy. An excerpt from the Pravda article is below:

Major-general of the reserve of the Russian Federal Custodial Service Boris Ratnikov tells that Russia and other countries work on making special devices that turn humans into zombies.

It was already twenty years ago that mass media first mentioned the strange word combination ‘psychotronic weapon’. All information about such weapons arrived from military men transferred to the reserve and from researchers that were not officially recognized by the Russian Academy of Sciences. They usually told about some generators that could make people muddleheaded even when they were distanced at hundreds of kilometers.

Such devices were said to be able to control people’s behavior, seriously impair psyche and even drive people to death. As soon as information of the kind was published some people immediately claimed themselves as victims of impact of such psychotronic weapons. They stormed editorial offices of newspapers and magazines that reported about the psychotronic weapons and complained that some strange voices dictated orders to them. Journalists in their turn recommended such people visiting psychiatrists.

By the year of 2000 the amount of publications about psychotronic weapons reduced to nothing and the impact of psychotronic weapons was no longer mentioned. These days, the issue of psychotronic weapons seems to be reviving.

Boris Ratnikov says that Russia has been working on the psychotronic impact upon humans since the 1920s. Until the mid-1980s secret centers for investigation of psychic impact upon humans were working in large cities of the country under the KGB’s patronage. Thousands of brilliant researchers were working on the problem in the twenty secret centers. After the break-up of the USSR the centers were closed and the researchers either left abroad or currently work in various parts of Russia.

Now that new technologies and the Internet are widely spreading people must realize that the menace of psychic impact upon humans is really immense. At the same time, the official science still insists that psychotronic is mere charlatanry. Boris Ratnikov is sure however that in less than ten years psychotronic weapons will grow more dangerous than nuclear and atomic weapons.

It is known that several researchers are still investigating the problem in Russia. Academician Viktor Kandyba and his son continue the researches in St.Petersburg, academician Vlail Kaznacheyev works on the problem in Novosibirsk. And it is highly likely that the magic of human brain is still the issue of great interest for Academician Natalya Bekhtereva whose father was working on the problem in the past century.

The magic of the human brain! It comes from Pravda, so you know it has to be true … and with a name like Boris Ratnikov, can a James Bond villain be far behind?
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Energia Bankrupt?

Posted in Energia, Russian, bankrupt, rocket, spaceship on August 2, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

CNN and other news services is reporting that Energia, Russia’s largest producer of spacecraft, is being put into emergency administration to “fight off bankruptcy”. Suzy’s RuSpace blog has more of the details, including specifics about a mistranslation that apparently had news services reporting Energia had become bankrupt.

From the RIA Novosti article:

KOROLYOV (Moscow Region), July 31 (RIA Novosti) – Vitaly Lopota, formerly first vice president of the Energia space corporation and its chief designer, has been appointed the company’s new president.

Earlier, Energia’s shareholders voted to dismiss Nikolai Sevastyanov from the post by a 97% majority, and voted 97.5% in favor of Lopota, 57.

The decision to suspend Sevastyanov’s mandate was made in late June by the board of directors of state-controlled Energia, which designs Soyuz piloted spacecraft and Progress booster rockets, launches communications satellites, and operates the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS).

Nikolai Moiseyev, Energia’s board chairman, said earlier that Sevastyanov was to blame for taking uncoordinated measures with regard to a number of projects, including international projects and manned flights.

The Energia chief has been repeatedly criticized, primarily for his daring projects relating to lunar exploration, branded “lunacy” by the Space Agency, which moved to restrict his powers.

The newly elected president has already pledged to form an anti-crisis management in the corporation to sort things out. “The first thing we must do is introduce an anti-crisis management team,” Vitaly Lopota said. “Because the course which the corporation has been on for the past two years [was leading] to bankruptcy instead of prosperity.”


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Anna Chakvetadze Beats Everyone

Posted in Chakvetadze, Russian, Tennis, women on July 31, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Kommersant celebrates Anna Chakvetadze’s second tournament win in as many weeks, placing her as 6th ranked in the world of women’s tennis.

After winning in Cincinnati last week, Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze did the same in Stanford. However, her way to the final was quite difficult. She had to play 3-set matches, and was rather tired by the final. Yet, she defeated India’s Sania Mirza 6-3 6-2, winning her first Stanford classic title on Sunday.

Chakvetadze won the sixth title in her career, which is her fourth title this year. The victory in Stanford made Anna WTA’s sixth-ranked, which is the highest rating point in her career.

For some reason, I get a warm, satisfied feeling deep in my heart every time another Russian woman tennis player wins a tournament these days. Actually, should I even point out that her surname is Georgian?

Hats off to young Anna and wishing her many future victories to come.

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Russia Boots U.S. from Fed Cup

Posted in Russian, Tennis, women on July 16, 2007 by accidentalrussophile


Ouch. Despite not having their best players available due to injuries, team Russia beat the U.S. in Stowe, Vermont this weekend, removing the U.S. from the Fed Cup semi-finals.

The Russian doubles team of Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina topped Venus Williams and Lisa Raymond, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) to oust the United States in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Russia moved into the finals to host defending champion Italy in September. Italy roared back on its home court to edge France, 3-2, on Sunday.

Williams first beat Anna Chakvetadze, 6-1, 6-4 to give the Americans a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five tie at Stowe’s Stadium at Topnotch. Chakvetadze was her own worst enemy with 12 double faults, but then Petrova came back to beat Meilen Tu, 6-1, 6-2.

Williams, the 2007 Wimbledon champion, had to wait out a rain delay before playing her singles match, but then pounded Chakvetadze. Tu, though, couldn’t hold up her end and the Americans faced an uphill battle in the doubles and continued their title drought.

The Americans had a service break in the second set, but Williams dropped her serve and then again in the tiebreak.

“They really got some lucky shots.” Williams said of the tiebreaker. “I mean, off my serve, I played well off my serve. Normally I’m never going to lose two points in the tiebreaker on my serve. Just lucky. That hurt us some.”

Would you like a little cheese with that whine?

From Lenta.ru “Visa in Finals” … the title is a small jab at the US for initially refusing a Visa for the Russian teams coach.

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A Tale of Two Tales

Posted in Georgia, Ossetia, Russian, peacekeepers, police on July 11, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

CIS peacekeeping forces: Georgian policemen immobilized Russian serviceman and poured liquor in his mouth

The CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces (CPF) Command in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone expressed resolute protest regarding provocative actions of Zugdidi Criminal Police officers towards servicemen of the CIS CPF.

As Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Diordiyev told REGNUM, last night, Georgian policemen detained two Russian servicemen, Andrei Kutsyi and Maksim Korenev, near a mobile check-point #307 and convoyed them to the regional police department. After Andrei Kutsyi refused to fulfill the claim to hand over his arms, the Georgian police officers knocked Kutsyi off his feet and forcefully poured liquor into his mouth. After that, both servicemen were convoyed to police station.

The CPF insists that actions of the Georgian policemen were pre-planned, as the detention of the Russian soldiers was recorded on video. “The peacekeepers once again showed restraint and patience and did not yield to the blunt provocation. They were at the police station until Commander of the CIS CPF South Security Zone Col. Andrei Belov arrived to the station. The Georgian side tried to present the act of handing over the servicemen as an act of good will,” Diordiyev said.

At the same time, the commander noted that the CIS CPF were resolute to continue fulfilling their duties in full correspondence with the mandate and not yield to provocations staged by people interested in it.

And the story of the same incident, from RIA Novosti (via RussiaNews.net)

Georgia releases two detained Russian peacekeepers

Tbilisi (Georgia), July 10 (RIA Novosti) Two Russian peacekeepers detained Monday night in Georgia have been released and handed over to their peacekeeping headquarters, media reported Tuesday.

Georgia’s Rustavi-2 television channel reported that on Monday night two Russian peacekeepers blocked a highway connecting the eastern and western parts of the country near the city of Zugdidi, West Georgia, to conduct inspections of drivers’ documents.

A Georgian police patrol force arrived at the scene later to unblock the road and detain the peacekeepers.

A spokesman for the local administration said the peacekeepers stopped a car carrying Irakli Daraseliya, a member of the Georgian parliament, threatening him with their weapons and demanding his documents.

‘Besides officers of the Georgian patrol police, UN military observers arrived at the scene as well and were witnesses to the illegal actions of the peacekeepers,’ he said.

The spokesman added: ‘Both Russian peacekeepers were handed over Monday night to a representative of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces. Georgian police also returned their confiscated weapons. A criminal case on charges of abuse of power has been launched.’

Russian troops are stationed in the region as part of the trilateral Collective Peacekeeping Forces, which also involve Georgian and Ossetian soldiers. They were deployed in South Ossetia in the early 1990s to ensure the implementation of ceasefire agreements after the conflict, but Georgia’s West-leaning authorities have sought their expulsion since coming to power in 2004.

Ok. Forcefully poured liquor down his mouth?

Or was Kutsyi questioned by his superior about the smell of alcohol on his breath, and he replied “The dirty Georgian police poured liquor down my throat when I refused to submit my weapon, Colonel!”.

I leave readers to form their own opinion about what exactly happened.

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