From Russia With SHUT UP ALREADY

From Russia with X.  I am sick and tired of this incredibly irritating cliche.  Jesus, it seems that everyone and their mother, including people who call themselves journalists, jump at the chance to use this cheesy line for an “original yet familiar” title for their article/video/blog entry.

A quick google search reveals a few insidious examples:

• From Russia With Appeal (Chicago Sun-Times)
• From Russia With Loathing (New York Times!)
• From Russia With Hate (Current TV)
• From Russia With Luck, A Memoir (who cares)
• From Russia With WiMax
• From Russia With Blog

the list goes on.

Yes, I know there was a book and a Bond movie. Let’s leave it at that.

I mean, by using this cliche, you’re basically coming out and saying that you couldn’t think of anything creative on your own, and decided to just use one word to describe everything you stand for.

Quit it already.  Seriously, It’s godawful!

Second Glimpse of Russia

Here’s a second set of photos from my three weeks in Russia among family and friends. This time, the source comes from both Moscow and Orenburg, a city of some 600,000 that sits on the Ural river in southern Russia.

Cars (and garages to house them) are multiplying at a terrifying rate. Moscow, and Orenburg to a lesser degree have been overrun by “inomarki,” or foreign cars, making Russian made autos scarce. Traffic sucks.

First Glimpse of Moscow

I’m finally getting used to the time difference here, it’s somehow harder than I remember. And Moscow is an insane place. Here are some pictures, quickly, since I have to run and catch the football match between Russia and Spain:

View from my gramma’s balcony. (click below for more)

Tragically funny headlines

I chanced upon this terrible headline today, but what really amazed me was another article I read. Not only does it sound like the Cold War is back in full force, but it looks like the US will be bombing Iran as soon as next summer. I find it both incredible offensive, and terrifying.

Russia Creates Mightiest-ever Vacuum Bomb (MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax-AVN)) [Honestly, what legitimate news organization uses words like "mightiest"]

U.S. develops 14-ton super bomb, bigger than Russian vacuum bomb (WASHINGTON, September 13 (RIA Novosti))

Excerpts :

McInerney described some possible military
campaign scenarios and said: “The one I favor the
most, of course, is an air campaign,” he continued.

He said that bombing would be launched by 65-70
stealth bombers and 400 bombers of other types.

“Forty-eight hours duration, hitting 2500 aimed
points to take out their [Iranian] nuclear
facilities, their air defense facilities, their
air force, their navy, their Shahab-3 retaliatory
missiles, and finally their command and control.
And then let the Iranian people take their
country back,” the general said describing the
campaign, adding it would be “easy.”

The World Without 9/11

From an article titled “The World Without 9/11,” in Kommersant
September 12, 2007
By Boris Makarenko, first deputy director of the
Center for Political Technology

…

What would happen to Russia? We would not hear
these imbecile calculations that the total wealth
of those killed in the New York towers would be
enough to feed an African country during one
year. This suggestion clearly comes from the
they-had-it-coming sentiment. In Moscow, street
vendors on Arbat would not be selling matryosha
dolls with bin Laden’s face. There would be no
sharp disappointment over the failed
anti-terrorism alliance with the U.S. where
Russia hoped to gain sizeable profits such as
complete freedom to act in former Soviet
republics. Relations with the West would not go
sour so abruptly, triggered by the Iraq war and
Crusade for Democracy. Then Russian authorities
would find it more difficult to defend
confrontation foreign policies and come up with
an idea of the so-called sovereign democracy.

…

From today’s New York Times

“But Mr. Yeltsin’s actions ensured that there would be no turning back to the centralized Soviet command economy, which had strangled growth and reduced a country of talented and cultured people and rich in natural resources to a beggar among nations.”

Bullshit, all bullshit, not to mention the awful sentence construction. I’m not a fan of the centralized Soviet economy, but it was in large part responsible for mass-education in all fields (math, science, art, poetry) that created such a “talented and cultured people.”

Russians Feeling Better About Their Lives – Poll

I had a good laugh when I read this article, not because I’m abmivalent or cruel to Russian attitudes, but because the wording of the was so outrageous. I took a closer look at the questions they asked, which aren’t available in English. Check a couple of them out for yourself. The questions themselves are hilariously phrased.

Interestingly enough, these same questions have been asked for 13 years now. The Poll-taker, the Levada Center, is one of the largest and most respected poll-takers and market researchers in Russia.

What can you say about your mood in recent days?

1. I’m in excellent humor
2. I’m in an steady, normal humor
3. I’m experiencing tension and irritation
4. I’m experiencing fear and depression
5. Decline to answer

In your opinion, which of the choices below most closely corresponds to the currently formed situation?

1. Everything’s not so bad, and it’s possible to live
2. Living’s hard, but tolerable
3. Now, our disastrous state is impossible to take
4. Decline to answer

You can see the poll here: http://www.levada.ru/press/2007020601.html

Here’s the original article, fed in an un-surprisingly propagandistic way through one of Russia’s state-owned news agencies, Interfax.

Russians Feeling Better About Their Lives – Poll

MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) – Most Russians are more
or less happy with the lives today, and according
to sociologists, their numbers seemed to have
increased as compared to last year.

Currently, the overwhelming majority of Russians
(80%) say that “life is hard but livable” and
that “things are not that bad.” Only one in six
(16%) says he cannot bear the “miserable situation” anymore.

Since the beginning of last year the number of
those who are satisfied with their lives has
grown by 8%, and that of those unhappy has
decreased by 5%, the Yury Levada Analytical
Center told Interfax on Tuesday after a January
poll that surveyed over two thousand adult Russians.

The number of Russians optimistic about their
life prospects grew from 28% to 32% last year,
according to sociological studies, while the
number of pessimists decreased from 48% to 43%.

The number of Russians who say they are in
“excellent humor” has also increased (from 9% to 13%).

As for the financial situation, the majority
(55%) of those surveyed, according to the Levada
Center, now say their financial situation is
quite good, 11% say it is “good and even very
good,” and 32% say it is bad. Last January these
indicators were 59%, 9% and 31% respectively.

The majority of respondents (60%) believe mass
protests of the population against low living
standards are now unlikely, which is still not
ruled out by one-fifth of the respondents (20%).