The Accidental Russophile

Russia bombers in exercises near France; France Surrenders.
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I apologize for doing so little serious writing lately on this blog. Since my 2-week+ case of pneumonia, I’ve been playing catch-up at work.

I have three large articles that I’m trying to clean up and post to the blog. I promise something more interesting in the next few days and that momentum should carry into next week and through the holidays.
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I haven’t been wimping out on writing – just caught a nasty case of pneumonia while on my Texas trip. Sleep and antibiotics are all I have time for right now.

Hope to be making a recovery in the next few days.

PS ~ You would be right to wonder if my pneumonia was a result of crazed drunken debauchery while in Texas for the Patriots vs. Cowboys football game. After all, you get four Shedd men together in one place and all sorts of wild things might happen.

Alas, no. I, as well as my brothers, were well behaved throughout the weekend. We had a few beers and likely ate too much, but generally behaved in a civilized fashion. So I can’t blame my pneumonia on a weakened immune system due to drunken binge drinking.
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Katja and I have returned from NYC with her parents, Sergei and Natalia. Was a tiring but fun weekend. I had to laugh at S & N’s reactions to American food at a typical restaurant (we went to the 99 Restaurant in Portsmouth this evening) – TOO MUCH!! This led to an interesting discussion about restaurants, creating consumer loyalty, portion control, and how the role of eating at restaurants in the U.S. has changed from special events to weekly occurrence.

Before I sign off, I wanted to call attention to a very interesting post on some hot topics over at Moscow Through Brown Eyes. In particular, the following:

If anybody believes that the Putin-endorsed anti-extremism laws are actually intended to control the growth of dangerously violent nationalism (as opposed to a means of punishing dissenters), please contact Vladimir Vladimirovich at his office so he can put some pressure on authorities to give up Andrei Vusik and get to the bottom of the Angarsk pogrom.

I’m not one to say that Putin and his cronies have a hand in dark and nefarious crimes that occur in Russia. However, I am one to say that they absolutely have a responsibility to find and punish criminals, most particularly murderers. Whether it is due to negligence, laziness, corruption, ignorance, wink-and-nod tactics by police officials with criminals, or what have you – the President of the Russian Federation has an obligation to see that those who break the laws, particularly the most egregious offenders, are brought to justice. Period.

Another note – had an interesting conversation with Sergei and Natalia regarding Komsomol and Khordokovsky. They are 55 and 52 years old, but some 35 or 40 years ago they were members of Komsomol in Alma-Ata. Given what I learn about that organization from Sean Guillory’s blog, I’m hoping to pick their memories more about that in the coming weeks.

Lastly, I’m hoping that Natalia, Katja, and I will be able to keep an interesting journal of Sergei and Natalia’s visit to the US. I anticipate the posts will be in a combination of English and Russian, with some translated multi-lingual posts. The blog will be called Odnoetazhnaya Amerika. Our first post and photos are up, I’m hoping we’ll have almost daily entries. People interested in such things are welcome to give it a peek.

PS ~ I’ve added some feedburner links for this blog, and have to say I’m pleasantly surprised (shocked) that 90 people subscribe to The Accidental Russophile.

So, somebody out there is reading, which is encouraging. I’d love to have more commentary. Perhaps I’m not controversial enough.

Did I mention that I did a video blog for an upcoming Al Jazeera news piece?
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For anyone who doesn’t know or read Veronica Khokhlova, she recently suffered a family loss, a tragedy really. All of our best thoughts and wishes for her and her family and remorse for her father’s recent passing.

Here is a topic right in Sean’s wheel-house.

The US government today returned 80 historical Tsarist and Soviet documents to Russia. The documents were among some 4,000 stolen from Russian national archives during the chaotic years of the early 90s. The documents were apparently found for sale at two US auction houses.

The documents range from a declaration signed by Empress Catherine the Great in 1792 to orders signed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev; none appears to reveal any secrets but some give a glimpse into the lives and styles of the country’s leaders.

James McAndrew, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent, said the investigation that led to the papers’ recovery began in 2003 when he was contacted by a scholar who had concerns about the provenance of a document being offered for sale.

Eventually, agents found 80 suspicious documents at two companies that deal in antiquities and historical material, he said. He declined to identify the companies, but said they are located in Connecticut and Las Vegas.

After working with Russian archival officials to determine that the documents had been stolen, agents seized the papers, he said.

“The SWAT team didn’t get all ramped up, but there was resistance” from the companies’ officials, he said.

No arrests in the United States have been made in the case.

It seems to me to be a simple enough thing, to arrest someone who possesses stolen property, so I’m left wondering when charges might be filed for something like this. Then again, the auction houses might be cooperating and leading the police up the food chain, as it were.

Reportedly, of 4,000 items stolen from the Russian national archives, approximately 3,500 have been returned.

Katja’s family recently had a gathering at her Uncle Viktor’s home in Rostov Veliky. I should explain that while Katja’s family is Russian, her family had lived in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan for many years. Katja’s parents, grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousins and some other family had moved to Rostov Veliky in the early 90s. However, it seems that some various cousins and other family members remained in Kazakhstan. Several of these cousins/uncles had made a trip to visit the family in Rostov V. .. sort of a family reunion, as it were.

At this time in our story, we must introduce two particular characters. Katja’s Uncle Viktor and his cousin from Almaty (I’ll get his name later). Viktor has a landscaping business of some success. In truth, he is a personable fellow and had success even under communism while in Almaty, where he ran a banya/resort/spa. He also has a moderately wicked sense of humor (as does most of Katja’s family – her father’s practical jokes are legendary).

In any case, Viktor’s cousin is a rather loud fellow, capable of making big boasts, particularly after a few drinks. He made a point of saying what a terrific fisherman he is, and how he was going wake up very early each day and catch the most and biggest fish in nearby Lake Nero. The truth is 1) This cousin wasn’t about to wake up early, particularly given the alcohol consumed each evening and 2) Lake Nero is practically devoid of fish, having been fished to oblivion by locals during the hard years of the 1990s.

In any event, Viktor had a plan to humble his boastful cousin. He asked two of the workers from his landscaping business to fish a nearby river on their way to work each morning, and bring the fish to him. They presented their big fish to Viktor very early each morning … and Viktor would wake his cousin, hanging the big fish in front of his face. “Look what I’ve caught in the lake already this morning, cousin! Time to go catch yours!”

On the weekend, Viktor cooked up the biggest of the fish in a dish called “Кок-тал” (Kok-tal). Katja explained this dish to me as a sort of prison food. In work camps or prisons, workers often have to supplement their diet with food that they can catch or grow. The dish consists of a filleted fish, layed flat, with sliced onions, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese on top. The whole thing is baked or roasted.

We also have some photos from the family gathering, including the large outdoor stove that Viktor constructed in his garden. Has a large central opening for their samovar, as well as an oven and griddle/grill area.

Katja’s cousin Ira on far right, Katja’s mother, Natalia has her back towards us. Her aunt is serving the Kok-tal. Her grandfather is seated next to Ira.

I’ll be making a few changes around here the next few days, as I attempt to get back into the swing of posting. This unplanned hiatus the past 7 or 8 months makes some updates to my links and formatting of the blog necessary.

For those of you who wrote, asked, wondered … I certainly didn’t fall off the planet. I was just struck with a multi-pronged attack of work obligations, studies, relationship obligations, procrastination, and blogger burn-out. I’m certainly not the first (or last) blogger to take a hiatus.

In typical Shedd fashion, you might expect numerous posts from me the next few days … I’ve found about a string of interesting things to post.

Earth from Space | Smithsonian Institution | Lena River Delta

Just a quick note – this is cool as hell. Clicking the above link allows you to zoom in with great detail to the image of the Lena River Delta (as well as other natural and man-made features).

The Lena River flows north for more than 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) through Russian Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. As the river enters the Laptev Sea, it divides into many channels to form a biologically rich delta. Such images help determine the extent of wetland vegetation.

In an apparent spirit of compromise, I am told that the Bakiev administration and Kyrgyzstan parliament have worked out and accepted changes to the Constitution. In effect, this completes Bakiev’s initial promises from last year and resolves the recent stand-off between reformers and pro-Bakiev supporters.

Kommersant has an interesting interview with the former Kyrgyz president Akaev. In it he discusses his views on the current stalemate in Kyrgyzstan, and his life in Russia away from politics.