Are Russians the Black Whites?

Let me start by saying that YES, I will be stereotyping and here I am practicing my right to free speech. Therefore, I suggest that this post is looked at as an amusing piece that many of us, the Russian Women, can identify with. Also, many of our traits are shared with our African-American sistas. I just love observing that everyday on the streets of the hotchpotch of this metropolitan city of NY

Here are a few of the things I've noticed:


First, most Russian women are in love with the bling bling and the mink furs. That grandeur has no limits. Anything and everything worn must shine like a 10 Carat diamond. Also wearing tight outfits and giving mini-skirts a new definition :-)

Second, Russian women like to be spent on graciously and lavishly. An uxorious man exists to spend on a woman and that's about it :-)

Third, most Russians are able to get along and adapt into living in neighbourhoods of non-Whites. The only whites I see in predominantly African-American or Caribbean blocks are the Russians. Oh for goodness' sake, Russians drove out Black communities from Coney Island :-)

Four, just check the most recent Russian rap songs. The beat is so cool and hiphopish I actually feel proud we've assimilated into that genre so smoothly.


C'est tout for now

You scratch my back, I scratch yours

This is Russian politics (and perhaps others'), but if you scratch my back I will scratch yours. I will assure you the presidency, but only if you guarantee my premiership. But then of course, the PM office will be more influential than that of the president's.

Oh, Medvedev, what a silly lil' boy you are. (I will elaborate on this later)

Volodya (diminutive of Vladimir) never ceases to amaze me.

My First Voting Experience

Today, it snowed in New York City and walking under the lightly falling snow flakes amidst the barren trees, the weather somewhat resembled the Russian one, but of course to a lesser degree.
I was also prepared to cast my very first ballot, in the first full-swing proportional representation legislative elections of the Russian Duma.

Busy as I am, I was able to arrive at the Voting Center only past 19:00. To my surprise, the process was very smoothly run that the whole thing took, at most, 10 minutes. And yes, I consider that to be very fast, since I lived during at the Soviet Union times and queues were one of the trade marks of that period of time.

Anyhow, greeted and seated, one of the members of the Consulate General took down my passport's info, asked me to sign next to my name and ushered me into the booth. 1,2,3... Their's and my job were done!

Many of my friends mocked me for actually going to cast a ballot. They argued the elections are rigged. I think that's irrelevant. In my opinion it is a civic duty that any citizen of any country owes his/her country. Complaining and fulminating is futile. If change is what we want to see, we have to practice what we have, both right and duty, to achieve it. Our civic duty.

Take care all

Russian Legislative Elections 2007 (New York)

The first Russian Legislative Elections on a complete party-list proportional representation is to take place on Sunday, December 2nd.

Personally I feel very excited. Rather than listing the 14 parties whose candidates we'll have to chose, who anyone can google or check at wikipedia, I thought I would post the locations of the Voting Centers in New York City.

in Manhattan - The Consulate General of the Russian Federation at 9 East 91 Street, New York, NY 10128 (btw 5th and Madison Avenues)
4, 5, or 6 train to 86th Street

in the Bronx - The residence of the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN at 355 West 255 Street, Bronx, New York, NY 10471 (Right off Moshulo Avenue)
1 train to 242 Street OR BxM2 Express to Riverdale w/254 Street

in Brooklyn - The Millennium Theatre at 1029 Brighton Beach Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, NY 11235 (btw Brighton 11th and Brighton 12th)
Q train to Brighton Beach (B trains don't run on the weekend)

Don't rush fellow citizens, the voting hours are from 8:00 am to 8 pm. Don't forget your passports!!!

P.S. if anyone has other routes to the Bronx, don't hesitate to suggest it
P.P.S. the subway trains are my personal suggestion to be the nearest to the stated locations

Don't know him. Don't want to be him

Name: Vitaly Kaloyev [Russian: Виталий Калоев]
Age: 51
Occupation: Businessman
Citizenship: Russian
Ethnicity: North Ossetian
Tragedy: Loss of Family (Wife, son and daughter)
Accident: Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 Mid-Air Collision
Date: 1 July 2002
Site: Uberlingen, Germany
Crime: Killing a flight control officer, Peter Nielsen, of the Swiss company Skyguide
Verdict: Eight years incarceration

Recently, the Russian media has been intensively covering the early release of Vitaly from one of Swiss prisons. The Russian public opinion have expressed mixed emotion towards Vitaly's vendetta in Switzerland, but I am sympathetic. As a father who flew to Switzerland to scavenge for the bodies of his loved ones to be the first to identify his little girl at the crash sense and carry her, it is indisputable that his shock must have been insurmountable. What added insult to injury is the position of the Swiss company that sided with her employee, Peter Nielsen, who, according to Vitaly's testimony, shoved and threw Vitaly family's photographers on the floor when the former knocked at the latter's door seeking apology. That's when Vitaly stabbed him 5 times to death.

It's a classic example of an eye for an eye situation. I reiterate I sympathize with Vitaly, and my heart goes out to Peter's family for the loss of their loved one. Important to note, Vitaly waived the monetary compensation given to him for his loss to the Swiss family.


What a tragedy .......

Multi-culturalism in Estonia

Estonia has been a very interesting example of public policies concerning group-rights in mostly homogeneous nations.

Being the ardent fan of Kymlicka's notion of multiculturalism I am, I find Estonian policies appalling to say the least, and certainly galling!

Not only did their authorities move the statue of a Soviet soldier as a symbol of those who fought the Nazis, from the center of Tallinn (the capital) back in April, but are trying now to bribe (the article in Russian) the local Russian schools to convert to Estonian!

Russians are the largest minority in Estonia, almost a third of the population but are denied not only the rights of the Estonian nationals, but also those of regular citizens.

Very galling indeed!

Russian men and African women

Apparently, and to my surprise, Russian men are into dark-skinned African queens more than many might have expected. As an ardent fan of Russian talk shows, I often hear ludicrous racially implied comments by unrefined men and women who find the act of marrying from non-Russians or generally non-Slavic partners is analogous to treason to the Motherland.

Enough with the bollocks, because internet analytics have shown interesting trends among the neo-Russians.

Day of Love and Faith protectors; the Russian St. Valentine's Day

Today,the 8th of July is when Russians celebrate their St. Valentine's. Perhaps I should be more precise, the Christian Orthodox Russians do.
Family Day, or the Day of loving couples, commemorates the strong love story of Prince Peter and the village girl Fervonia, who were both canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church after their death as Brother David and Sister Euphrosinia (the couple went into a monastery as they aged)
Anyhow, you can consider it a fable. I'm a sucker for love stories. So *wink wink* I'm expecting a gift !!!

and No, not a marriage proposal, as many couples did in Murom, Russia, where the couple lived in the 12th century.

May all your lives be filled with love, warmth, and understanding :-)

Russia beats South Korea

Vladimir Putin's visit to Guatemala augured well for the beautiful resort of Sochi. Putin's speech, both in English and French while presenting the city's candidacy to the IOC, was very impressive if compared with the Korean counterpart.

I am extremely happy as this will be the first time Russia hosts Winter Olympics. Better start planning that trip already.

Hard luck South Korea.


УУУУУРРРРРРРРАААААААА!!!!!!!

Pound Sterling, Orange Revolution and FSB

Litvinenko, God bless his soul, died in November 2006 under allegations from the British authorities that the Russians poisoned him. If you ask me, I advocate capital punishment for treason, if it were.

Recently, an overt espionage war has begun between the Russians and the Brits. The Brits, enthusiastically continues to throw accusations at Russians (Andrei Lugovoi) of killing the former KGB agent, which he in turn assures would not have been achieved without assistance from the MI-6. The Russian bear, on the other hand, continues its attempts at recruiting former FSB agents for counterespionage.

Enough with the introductory remarks. I read this article [Russian] which confirms what the International Herald Tribune also published. Vyacheslav Zharko (photo above), a Russian citizen and a former employee of the FSB, resorted to his former employer seeking protection as he feared for his life, he claimed.

Allegedly and according to the state-owned NTV channel, Zharko worked both with the tycoon Berezovsky and MI-6. What a coincidence! He revealed being recruited by the MI-6 since 2002 to gather important economic as well as intelligence information for the Brits.

The Russian addendum is that Vyacheslav Zharko revealed the missing link. According to him, Berezovsky (who has a Phd in embezzlement, and not math) was actually supported by the Brits to finance the Orange Revolution in Ukraine based on the information Litvinenko provided him with.

The Pound Sterling is still a strong currency, I reckon.

Not only Finn-shed but also Czech-ed out!

didn't get to get to the semifinals, and now failed to get the bronze. the Czechs beat us and got the broze, left Torino empty-handed

I am so disappointed with the Russian ice hockey team. Don't know what to blame? coaching? morale?

My speculation is that in Toronto 2010, Russians will have a better younger and more experienced players.

Russia Finn-ished

I lost my voice, I lost my hope, coz Russia lost today in its ice hockey game in the semifinals to the Fins:(

despite my sincere cheering and rooting, my home team lost!!!

two of the players were penalized, third one had a fractured finger, and the rest malnutritioned (or so they looked to me) how could we possibly win? on the other hand, the Fins had a great defensive tactic.

I'll wear brighter colors tomorrow hoping we will beat the Czechs