One Steppe at a Time

Washingtonskii Obkom

paullrandt — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:54:37 +0000

With the Russian presidential elections just around the corner and Putin appearing weak, the opposition candidates are really up in arms and out in full force. One of my favorites to watch is Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a bulldog of a man and the leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party… which, to judging from his pronouncements, really doesn’t …

China “and” Eurasia?

paullrandt — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:18:42 +0000

In the American imagination, China is often considered linked to, but separate from, Eurasia. Hence the title of one relatively well-known academic international relations journal: The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly. That “and” joins two discrete entities. By tradition, Eurasia includes Central Asia, Mongolia and Russia (what Russian’s consider Eurasia – essentially the boundaries of the …

Lenin’s Saying

paullrandt — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:00:31 +0000

We not only “removed heads”… we also enlightened them. - Lenin, said to Klara Tsetkin in a 1920 interview. Filed under: Miscellany, Soviet

Iced Over

paullrandt — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:30:30 +0000

Continuing its efforts to internationalize its image at every level, Kazakhstan is hosting the International Ice Fishing Championships on lake Kapshagai. Sadly, the lake is too far away for me to visit. The fishermen interviewed in the BBC spot about the championships say that they’ve been enjoying the recent relatively warm weather, but I can tell …

Taraz

paullrandt — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:34:26 +0000

Last weekend I traveled with four other Fulbright students to the southern city of Taraz. This was my first trip to a smaller Kazakh city, and the experience was eye-opening about the challenges of living outside of Almaty. This is not to say that I didn’t have a fantastic time, however: our hosts and hostesses …

Brezhnev Jokes

paullrandt — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:28:23 +0000

Today, as promised: a post devoted to jokes and anecdotes at the expense of the gerontocrat par excellence. I know you’ve been holding your breath. The Politburo and a smattering of Soviet aerospace scientists are gathered in a large, official room; everyone is very agitated, including Brezhnev. There is much shuffling of paper and hushed …

Grand Plans

paullrandt — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:46:02 +0000

To those of you who know me, it probably comes as no surprise that I am interested in Communism. This doesn’t mean I’m a pinko sympathizer or another Alger Hiss (whose grandnephew, if I’m not mistaken, is an occasional reader of this blog). Rather, Communism (as it was realized in the Soviet Union, China, Yugoslavia …

Bandy

paullrandt — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:25:45 +0000

Yesterday (Monday) night I attended the US v. Kazakhstan match in the world championship tournament of a game I think few people have ever heard of despite its several colorful names: bandy, a.k.a. “Russian hockey” or “hockey with a ball” in Russia, “football of the winter” in Scandinavia and “ball hockey” in Kazakh. As far …

The Eurasian Idea

paullrandt — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:46:10 +0000

The political concept of “Eurasia,” introduced in an earlier post, is interesting precisely because it is not merely a thin veil masking Russian expansionism or Soviet irredentism – no matter how hard Russia’s presumptive President Vladimir Putin tries to make it appear to be just that. To begin with, as I pointed out in my …

On Soviet Socialist Realism

paullrandt — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:18:09 +0000

Impressionism is painting what you see; Expressionism is painting what you feel; and Socialist Realism is painting what you hear. - Unattributed Filed under: Art, Soviet