Archive for the year 2008
The Russians Are Coming! Posted by josefina on Jun 23, 2008
[Sometimes I write witty articles about Russia for the biggest daily paper in my hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden. I thought I’d share a translation of my latest one with you.] In the middle of a hot June night I woke up from my innocent Swedish sleep to see the Ural Mountains on fire. Inhuman screaming…
Moscow, baby! Posted by josefina on Jun 19, 2008
Yesterday I got back from Moscow, after spending four turbulent days in the capitol of the Russian Federation, and I’m very sorry for not having blogged while being there. In general I’m sorry for not blogging lately, but I promise to redeem myself very soon. I wanted to blog while in Moscow, because it…
Russian Reading Tip: “The Icon And The Axe” Posted by josefina on Jun 14, 2008
One of you readers commented a couple of posts ago that one of the most helpful works when it comes to trying to understand Russia is Orlando Figes’ “Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia” (1998). Clearly, I cannot argue with this, as I have not yet had the pleasure to read it, but I…
Две «Исходные» Беды России [Russia’s Two Initial Troubles] Posted by josefina on Jun 12, 2008
When I in my last post stated that, according to the vice-premier of Russia, this country has five problems getting in the way of its development, one reader (thank you, Stas!) brought it to my attention that, initially, Russia only had two problems. And initially they were called «беды» [trouble, singular form «беда»] instead of…
What Gets In The Way of Russia’s Development? Posted by josefina on Jun 9, 2008
According to the following article, «Развитию России мешают пять проблем» [The development of Russia is hindered by five problems], the Russian economy will become the sixth largest in the world by the end of this year. This optimistic opinion was shared with the public on the international economics forum during past week by Russia’s first…
Book & Movie Tip: «Собачье сердце» [Heart of a Dog] Posted by josefina on Jun 7, 2008
Everyone who’s read «Мастер и Маргарита» [“The Master and Margarita”], or perhaps only seen one of the many movies or TV-shows based on this wonderful fantastic novel (published first only in 1967, in an English translation, despite it’s author finishing writing it before his early death in 1940), knows that Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков [Mikhail Afanasevich…
How To Blog In Russian: вести Живой Журнал или блоговать? Posted by josefina on Jun 2, 2008
The Russian blog community is a fascinating world of general discussions, private reflections and random efforts to earn an extra ruble or two – in short, just like in all other blog communities around the world. In Russia there’s still some ambivalence about what to exactly call this ‘action’ (once again we’re back at the…