March 30, 2017

#Russiagate, Demos & Alaska


#Russiagate, Demos & Alaska
The Siberian Times

1. Yup, this is where we are now. The scandal surrounding the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 US election has now escalated to a pretty widespread if not trending Twitter hashtag #russiagate, and there is no shortage of conspiracy theories or trumped up charges (be it on the left or the right), or doomsday scenarios surrounding the scandal to keep one up at night (if the nuclear war threats don’t). But, as you might expect, there is also some pretty good humor and cartoonage (and more cartoonage). 

2. In the biggest anti-government demonstrations in five years, thousands of Russians across the country turned up last Sunday for spontaneous walkabouts, at the urging of opposition politician Alexei Navalny (seen above in a Twitter photo, on the metro with sneakers). It began in early March, when Navalny produced a video documenting corruption centered on Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (who, as it happened, was on a ski holiday this Sunday). The video went viral, and on Sunday demonstrators chanted against corruption with duck, sneaker, and green dye symbols. Navalny was one of the hundreds arrested, and was sentenced to 15 days in prison for leading an unsanctioned protest. In not unrelated news, on Monday, truckers staged a nationwide antitax strike.

3. Exactly 150 years ago today (yup, it’s a sesquicentennial), in 1867, the US Congress approved the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $74 million. Nicknamed by opponents at the time as Seward’s Folly (after Secretary of State William Seward), it was a crucial move in stemming British expansion in the region. And, just as with France and the Louisiana Purchase a sesquicentennial before, Russia sought the deal largely because they knew they could not defend such a far-flung imperial outpost in the face American expansion. Alaska did not become a state until 1959. We have re-posted a piece from our online archive about how it all got started (when Russia discovered America in 1741, that is). A wide range of sesquicentennial events are planned in Alaska this year.


In Other News
  • A professor in Tomsk railed at activist students who took part in last weekend’s demos, calling them “freaks” and basically telling them to “get a job.” He seems to have forgotten all the jobless freaks carry movie cameras with them everywhere they go.
  • Meanwhile, when you weren't looking, on Kamchatka the Russian volcano Kambalny erupted for the first time since 1767. (photo above, The Siberian Times)
  • Need another story about Russia and President Trump? How about one about some Russian-Americans and Trump. Spoiler alert: they love him!

Quote of the Week

"On paper it is a wonderful country;
on ice it is what is generally called a big thing.”

—Alaska Purchase humbug and New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, a few weeks after the purchase.


RosKultLit
Does not compute...

The robots may be coming for our jobs, our cars, and our thermostats, but don't expect them to be replacing translators any time soon. We ran two difficult graphs of text through two leading online translation engines to see what we would get. It was not pretty, people. Or, put another way, only the translations by people were pretty...


Top photo: The Siberian Times

You Might Also Like

1741: The Year Russia Discovered America
  • March 30, 2017

1741: The Year Russia Discovered America

You probably know that Alaska was bought from Russia well over 100 years ago. But do you know why Russia claimed the territory in the first place? Hint: who doesn't love a fur coat?
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955