Questions Without Answer

I've just come across an interesting FB post by Rauf Kubaev*. Here goes my translation of it.

There is no answer to me.

How did it turn out so that the bloody — without irony — Soviet regime had brought up the whole generations of decent people?

How did it turn out that the most brutal power generated the whole generations of conscientious, sympathetic, tolerant to other races and religions people?

How did this dark substance — the Soviet power — influence minds and conscience, that the definition "a Soviet person" had no relation to actual Soviet power?

Why did we remain people under the bloody — without irony — regime, and now, at total freedom, we turned into animals?

Why do we prefer to show the Soviet animated films to [our] children, while trying not to show the modern ones?

I have no answer.

Quite a good questions on the way to realize the very essence of the Soviet period of Russian history. The next steps would be question if the Soviet power was that bloody and brutal and dark in essence, at least (or even especially!) in comparison with other contemporary powers. A good question would also be, what are totalitarianism and democracy, and how totalitarian was the Soviet regime at differemt stages of its existence in comparison with other 'democratic' regimes of past and present.

Anyhow, this is just the right way to real knowledge: to ask deep and serious questions and to logically find true and unbiased answers.

*) Rauf Kubaev is a Russian novellist, screenwriter, director and producer of Uzbek descent. Being born in 1956 in Bukhara (the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR, now the Republic of Uzbekistan), in 1989 he moved to Moscow, and later entered to and graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). Since 1993, he took part in production of some popular movies and pretty successful TV-series. In my opinion, he is kind of a splinter of the true Soviet national intelligentsia, that was brought up across the whole USSR.

Russian Beauty is the Queen of Ice!

Liza Tuktamysheva

My sincere congratulations go to Elizaveta Tuktamysheva who won gold at the Figure Skating World Championship in Shanghai!

Her great effort was supported by still younger Elena Radionova, who became third after the free skating.

If my memory does not fail me, no Russian girl has taken the world's gold since 2005; so, glory to beautiful Liza now!

BTW, just FYI: Liza Tuktamysheva is a Russian Udmurt (or Votyak) from Glazovo, now living in St. Petersburg. Lena Radionova was born in Moscow to Russian parents, coming from Donetsk (this fact in no case makes the Ukrainians).

No doubt, one of the organic features of Mother Russia that make her invincible is her multi-ethnical composition: one our great Russian nation includes more than 180 'nationalities' (with Russian being just one, albeit the first one, in the list).

The Ukrainian Chronicles. Peace.

For about a month the border guards let his Ford Transit pass almost without examination, so Serge didn’t worry except for a slight pain in his gut, like the beginning diarrhea. “It doesn’t matter,” he thought to himself. “The main thing is to make myself believe that this is a normal trip.”
The familiar lieutenant, Alex, asked him to open the van, looked through the empty rusted space with some laminate, cans of paint and film-wrapped carpets piled up closer to the cabin, and took two bags standing at the door.
Something gurgled in the bags, the end of a raw smoked sausage poked out.
“You can go, Sergey Nikolaevich.”
“Thanks, Alex.”
To each his own.

Serge didn’t race, though he had a strong wish. Sometimes he even slowed down as if trying to bring to reason his heart clattering forte, and his thoughts that took already away all the distance. Quiet, man, calm down. There’s no place to hurry.
In Gorlovka he unloaded paint and laminate at a warehouse as humanitarian aid, brought one of the carpets into a kindergarten.
“Where do you go now, Sergey Nikolaevich?” a very young teacher, looking almost like Sveta, asked.
“Home,” Serge smiled, “I’m building up anew.”

He turned to his home indeed, closer to Donetsk, to the ashes that had been a small village three years ago. He drove by a lop-sided, burned fence, by the Frolovs’ house ruined by an explosion, by abandoned kitchen gardens and a feral fruit garden.
Late spring. Everything blossoms as if there wasn’t anything. Everything cicatrized, pulled together, grew with greens. Yet it’s more difficult with people. Besides Serge, no one wanted to lodge on the former place.
He drove in between remains of a shed and the house with yellow patches of fresh wooden bars, moved back to the end-wall, running with a back wheel over a black currant bush. He felt a sudden pain, as if hit a man. He remembered: it was Dimka who planted it, he was small then, about seven... Doesn’t matter, man, it isn’t important any more, he will replant it later.
Serge shut off the engine.
Slight breeze went onto a half-lowered window, a crow croaked, something rumbled somewhere away — not artillery, just a thunder-storm.
He sat still for a while, deciding, adjusting himself. Serge thought: “If he died, he’s got what he deserved. Perhaps, it would be better if he died.”
We have peace. Peace.

Woe Is the Land of Gen. Scales

Let me speak from my heart: I have honour to consider ex-US Army Major General Robert H. Scales a dumb fuck, a purulent lues, and a pure great shame of America.

Listen to and watch what this brave, yet retired warmonger shits out of his dirty mouth (go straight to 3:17).


I transcript his words for those who still don't believe their eyes and ears.

... The only way the United States can have any effect in this region [Ukraine/Donbass] and turn the tide is start killing Russians. Killing Russians by… Killing so many Russians that even Putin’s media can’t hide the fact that Russians are returning to their motherland in body bags...

I don't know how he got his stars. I don't know what he was taught at West-Point and if he had a course of world's history there (or anywhere else).

But the truth is that Americans do have already a certain experience of killing Russians.

Photographers, Don't Miss the Contest!

If you are a press photographer, a photo journalist, you can still take part in the first Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest.

Images are accepted till the end of April 15 (Moscow time; as for the CET, it should be till 8pm of the day). You can get the full Rules of the contest here, as a PDF file in English.

Andrei Stenin (1980—2014), a photographer working for RIA Novosti agency (now MIA Rossiya Segodnya agency), was killed by Kiev regime armed forces early in August, 2014, together with two local Novorossiyan journalists, while performing his professional duty.

Anniversary of Crimean Comeback Home

To make things a bit more understandable, I've added English titles (don't forget to switch on!) to a short video taken in Sevastopol exactly a year ago, when the city and all the Crimea celebrated their comeback home.



Share their happiness, be happy yourselves, people!

50 to the 1st Spacewalk!

It was on March 18, 1965, that Alexey Leonov for the first time in the history of space exploration (which was absolutely not that long then) left his spacecraft for some 12+ minutes.

It was 10 years before the USSR and the USA at least tried to do something together in space (and Alexey Leonov took part in this as well!).

God only knows how great could be successes achieved if both superpowers turned the space exploration program into a joint demilitarized enterprise. But the history knows no "ifs"; so it was a USSR citizen and communist, colonel-lieutenant Leonov who did that step for mankind/

So, in fact, it was a part of the Soviet program of Lunar exploration, which was lost to the USA and never implemented. But this is another story.

Transnational Disease of Ignorance

When you catch those people on spot, they make their eyes wide open saying that doesn't matter.

It does, though.


We support our (US) troops! Here's a good old Soviet T-34-85 in decent condition for them! Someone stole the frontal machine gun, but look at brand-new wheels: the tank is surely from the post-WW2 production series, that is real high quality.

 

A Crimean Sings

... the National Anthem of the Russian Federation.

Simferopol-born Anzhelika Yutt performs our national anthem.

So far, it is the best soul performance of it I have ever listened to.

Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear — God, she's that inspired and happy to sing it.

For the Crimea has been Russian in soul, and is now in fact, and it has now future. You are, everybody is welcome to share this Crimean happiness.

How to Fire an Afro-Latino Gay Activist?

You have just wait till he says something indecent about Michelle Obama, the Daily Mail explains.

Neither being gay, nor being civil activist protecting minorities' rights, nor being a (once) respectable award-winning TV host can prevent you from losing your 17 years long carriere if you say something that the White House hosts dislike.

I wonder:

1. Will we see a kind of "JesuisFigueroa" campaign over there?

2. What would happen in case Rodner Figueroa made some comment of he like regarding some Jewish-American personality? Some WASP American personality? Some native American personality? Some Chinese or Japanese one (both American and 'homeland')? What reaction would be if he joked about the Russian first lady? Well, in fact I know Putin is divorced, so let the question be abut the first man? Or the German Chancellor, the first lady of herself? Does there exist a list of "sacred cows" American journalists have no right to touch somehow negatively? Can I have honest answers, please?

A Question to Getty

My Russian language blog post on the matter.

As you might know, there was an opposition rally in Moscow on March, 1. Well, insofar those anti-Putin forces trying to overthrow our President and backed by some Western powers can be called 'opposition'. But anyhow, there was planned a rally at a certain place in Moscow, agreed with local authorities.

But in the last minutes of February 27, Boris Nemtsov was killed. An ex-politician of Eltsin age and spirit (sapienti sat). Some say he was (one of) opposition leader(s), but he was undoubtedly a political loser, enjoying support of maybe thousands in our multi million people country.

But that's not the point I'd like to discuss now.

The matter is in a part of this rally. The part that went with the banner, depictred in the photo below.

The banner says: "Lustration Is Unavoidable".

Who is carrying it?

Some marginal political quasi-forces called "The Intransigent Column" and "The Black Cohort". If you speak (and read) Russian, you can easily find these in our social network vKontakte.

A Thought of Philip Hammond

The Guardian quotes today the British Foreign secretary.

Quite a reading, should I say. But one paragraph is a true gem.

Asked if there could be a case for Britain to publicise some of the “very interesting financial” information about members of Vladimir Putin’s regime outside Russia, he replied: “There might be. When we talk about having further steps that we can take in increasing the pressure on Russia, one of the headings that we regularly review is strategic communication, how can we [send a] message to the Russian people ... about what’s really going on. And it’s a very interesting thought. I will certainly make sure that the strat-comms [strategic communications] people are thinking precisely about that.

Come on, Mr. Hammond, show us your message about what's really going on.

I don't know who are you to lecture us, but, anyhow, let us Russians know what you understand about it.

We need more fun in life.

Collapse of the USSR: Loss Or Profit?

That's a great question, what did the world gain of the disintegration of the USSR, and what did it lost.

In no case the answer is that simple as "communism was an absolue evil".

I will definitely come back to this question from time to time; anyhow, I spent in the USSR 21 years of my life, so I have something to say and I do remember lots of things. I've been to some other countries of the world — Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, the USA. As for Ukraine and Latvia, I visited them both as republics of the Soviet Union and independent states post mortem of the USSR.

But to start I'd like to share a good article I've just come across, written by Emile Scheppers: "1917 Russian Revolution: What the world has lost".

Not that it answers all questions, but it takes some major points right.

... I can state with sad confidence that the collapse of Soviet and Eastern European socialism was a disaster for humanity.

Ideologically, it opened the door for a prolific growth of aggressive and selfish individualism. Numerous political and ideological leaders in the "West" used the demise of socialism to "prove" that human beings are incorrigible. The idea of social solidarity was, and continues to be, ridiculed. Discredited reactionary ideas of people like Ayn Rand took on a new life. "Look out for number one" replaced "look out for your comrades and neighbors." The goal became, not to create a better community for all, but to get more stuff.

I'll talk about these theses later. What I'd like to say now, it's never late to start thinking different and go out of those tight frames of anti-Soviet propaganda the world was constantly fed since the very October Revolution.

An Act of Terror

The Ukrainian press is quite a thing in itself.

Here is their recent masterpiece, just published on Podrobnosti.ua.

The title goes:

Terrorists Have Restored Railway in Debaltsevo Within 12 Days.

The article adds, on February 19 the ATO speaker Andrey Lysenko announced the Debaltsevo railway junction was totally demolished, to the state of "Moon surface". Evidently, as a counter-terorristic act within the ATO, which literally reads as the "Anti-Terror Operation".

Just read and enjoy.

The terrorists.

Restored.

Railway.

Period.

Grybauskaitė to Stand for 3 Days

Quite a gem has scome from the shores of the Baltic sea again.

Dalia Grybauskaitė. AFP/Scanpix; source.

Yesterday Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania, gave an interview to some foreign journalists in Kaunas, Lithuanian second largest city.

We had conscription [military service] before 2008, and we thought that it will never be necessary. But with a changing geopolitical situation around our borders, we realized that the threats are very real. The threats are real for our whole region, all Baltic states, and our neighbourhood has become less predictable and more aggressive, I mean Russia...

Do you really think Dalia, who got her PhD in 1988 in Moscow and had quite a good carriere during the USSR, being a member of the Communist party since 1983 till 1990, does not know dirty games with bears cannot have good end? The journalists of Delfi quoting her words say "the reintroduction of conscription a clear message that, if attacked, Lithuania would not surrender and would defend itself". Lithuania goes strong, yet, frankly speaking, I doubt if the things go really bad the fact of surrendering or not surrendering of Lithuania to anyone will be somehow noticeable on the map of the painfully dying world.

As Bad As the Soviets?

The Spiegel has published a very special article.

Fuck.

Sorry for my French. Or Greek.

Doesn't matter.

It took them years to convince the world the hordes of mongoloid Russian Untermenschen were bad as hell, having raped about two millions of German women. Oh shit, those Russians raped everything that moved irregarding the age, whether she was 10 or 70.

Goebbels started it in 1944, and, well, about 60+ years latter it was considered as some evil truth: the evil Red Army came from the East to rape Germany. Well, some still remember why the Red Army came to Germany; I've even heard some voices "justifying" those rapes as a kind of "fucking revenge" for what Germany had committed in the USSR. It is just a question of time; one or two generations more, and the Westerners will be taught in schools he USSR was the aggressor that unleashed the WW2.

And, WTF!?

Shock & Condemnation

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
addresses journalists at UN Headquarters.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Ban Ki-moon made his statement.

Yesterday he expressed shock and condemnation at brutal killing...

Not of the people of Donbass in Novorossiya (thousands killed, even more wounded, hundreds thousands displaced), or in any other hot and suffering spot of the world.

Oh, no bullshit, please.

That's the Hollywood-esque death of one single Boris Nemtsov that shocked him. A brutal killing, my ass!

Boris is (well, was) not higher than grade C+ person, by an unspoken Western standard, where Americans are grade A people, and white Europeans belong to grade B (also worth mentioning and protecting, remember that JesuisCharlie story?). Donbass people are considered, evidently, grade D. Just like aborigines of deep rainforests and black Africa. To be only remembered when things have really gone bad and mad, like in Ruanda.

How many of those Untermenschen are to be killed for Ban Ki-moon to be shocked and condemn killers? A hundred thousand? A million?

Undoubtedly, that's hypocrisy, which leads the world to a dark and bloody end.

And my condemnation goes to hypocrites.

A Map of Hell

Using Google Map resource, some volunteers of Donetsk have created and are constantly adding data to a map of shelling and bombing sites of Donetsk region.

Here it is.

Here is a couple of screenshots made at various scales:

 

Enlarged one is of the district adjacent to the Donetsk Airport (there's its taxiway, top left).

I am not sure the map opens for you in English, so what you have to know is:

Donetsk = Донецк

All capital leters in italic are names of districts of the city of Donetsk or Donetsk Oblast.

At present they've collected data for the period since September 4, 2014 to January 16, 2015.

You a welcome to check yourself that Anti-Terroristic Operation carried on by the Kiev/Kyiv regime since before Poroshenko was elected as president (by the way, who does remember now he promised to finish the ATO in just days?) in fact is a countinuous act of state terrorism against civilian population of their own country, effected illegally using all armed forces including army, that according to their constitution has no right to carry on warfare without declaring the war state, let alone shooting at own population.

You are free to see that all their statements regarding 'pro-Russian separatists and terrorists' shelling their own houses is a total bullshit. Because the Ukrainian state supported by the USA and the official EU carries own a true bloody civil war. But they cannot win, as the people cannot lose; the people either win or die, tertium non datur.

Just open your eyes and see. It is the 21st century.

Europe (geographically; though those maidan jumpers would like to go to Europe still farther, evidently, to better spread their nazi ideas of national supremacy).

Earth.

Hell.