Re: [PEN-L] the Pope

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Pope has blood on his hands The Pope did great damage to the church, and to countless Catholics -- John the war on Iraq calls for retribution from God Paul II was, however, probably the most prominent voice against that particular fiasco, however.

[PEN-L] Estonian SS vets

I don't know if anybody's interested in this, but I;m translating (for personal use only )an interview with the President of Estonia in the latest issue of Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty on his country's rather, uh, permissive attitude toward its SS vets. If anybody wants I can send them a

[PEN-L] ATTN: Jurriaan Bendarian

If you're reading this -- you're email's not working. Nu, zayats, pogodi! __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/

Re: [PEN-L] Russian population agrees with Melvin! :)

--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My bet is that Stalin's popularity as a historical figure is going to slowly increase and probably stay at between 50% and 65% of the former Soviet Union and Russia forever. This is probably true. His retroactive public-approval ratings are far, far higher than

Re: [PEN-L] 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope

Taibbi never had these problems when he was writing in Russia, with its supposedly unfree press environment. Ha ha. He can always move back and do the same thing. Nu, zayats, pogodi! __ Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the

[PEN-L] Russian population agrees with Melvin! :)

Novye Izvestia March 5, 2005 MORE ALIVE THAN MANY OF THE LIVING Half of poll respondents still influenced by Stalin's cult of personality Several polling agencies investigate attitudes to Stalin Author: Vladlen Maksimov [Saturday, March 5, marks the 52nd anniversary of Stalin's death. For some,

[PEN-L] Excellent piece on Chechnya

This is only a snippet of the whole 28K thing, which went out on JRL. It's not in the JRL archives yet, and you can't see it on ceip's website, so if anybody wants to see the whole excellent piece, let me know! Thank God for people like Lieven. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Re: [PEN-L] The economics of incarceration

--- Peter Hollings [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Interesting. Subjectively, I would agree with the conclusion that we are incarcerating too many. For example, if the costs of incarceration are $46,000/year, we ought to be able to rehabilitate many criminals for less than that. --- Hell, you could

Re: [PEN-L] Oil dollars

--- Charles Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: CB: Has there been an actually existing empire ( since the 19th Century or otherwise)gaining returns without controlling territory ? -- Hi Charles, Isn't controlling territory part of the definition of empire? (Maybe you just mean powerful state.)

[PEN-L] Beria question

Hi all, I'm reading of bio of Beria, and the author makes a lot of ado about Beria's perestroika, as Lavrentii Pavlovich's economic and political reforms after the death of Stalin are known in Russia. Does anybody (Justin?) know of any good sources on that period? BTW anybody read Beria Jr's

Re: [PEN-L] Russian inflation

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [inflation is one reason why the switch from in-kind to cash benefits stings.] February 1, 2005/NY TIMES Russian Inflation Magnifies Sting of Welfare Changes By ERIN E. ARVEDLUND FWIW the demonstrations in rural areas are pro-monetization (for

Re: [PEN-L] Query on Attitudes in East. Europe

For Russia, do a google on Yury (or Yurii or Yuri) Levada and VTsIOM poll agency. You'll find scads of stuff. --- dd [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone know of good sources for public opinion concerning post Soviet attitudes in any and all countries of Eastern Europe? = Nu, zayats,

Re: [PEN-L] Soviet history

Dear Chris, Many thanks for your kind reply. However, I ask you to consider the following question: The abolition of the State monopoly over all means of production and the introduction of private ownership of the means of production is a fundamental change in society. History is

Re: [PEN-L] Roy Medvedev stuff

Sure, I'll send you some stuff offline when I get it done. It's just for fun -- I'm interested in the subject, and Medvedev has an easy-going, clear writing style that it is a pleasure to translate. Basically the book is about Moscow's more-or-less unique (according to Medvedev anyway -- I'm not

Re: [PEN-L] Soviet history

The source is the common knowledge in the city where I live (Moscow). The large minority in favor of breaking up the USSR was composed of the liberal intelligentsia and nationalists in the various republics. The large minority in favor of ditching the Soviet system was also those two classes, plus

[PEN-L] Roy Medvedev stuff

I've been translating some snippets from Roy Medvedev's latest book on Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov for a friend, and thought maybe people here might be interested too. So here goes! Roy Medvedev, Moskovskaya Model' Yuriya Luzhkova (The Moscow Model of Yurii Luzhkov), pp. 47-48. MOSCOW SOCIALISM

Re: [PEN-L] Soviet history

Dear Chriss, Could you please cite the source subtantiaite your claim ? How's this? TITLE: PRESS CONFERENCE WITH MIKHAIL GORBACHEV [GORBACHEV FUND OFFICE, 12:10, DECEMBER 21, 2001] SOURCE: FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE (http://www.fednews.ru/) DATE: 12/21/01 First, regarding the disintegration

Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: REPLY: yes. There's was also the problem that the system wasn't good at providing good consumer goods or freedom of expression. My own suspicion is that internal contradictions were more important for the breakup of the USSR than external

Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial

James wrote: REPLY: right. But there was also the class issue of workers vs. bureaucrats. I wrote: Which Yeltsin appealed to brilliantly -- we must get rid of the priviliges of the bureaucrats! (This sounds hilarious today, at a time when bureaucrats in Russia live at a level beyond their

Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: many of the bureaucrats (and a lot of black-market traders, etc.) transformed themselves into capitalists. JD -- Oh yes, they've done very well for themselves. (Though, interestingly, with a few exceptions -- Khodorkovsky being among them -- the

Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Having won the Cold War, the United States was on sabbatical. --- Why do people keep saying this. The US did not win the Cold War. The Cold War was ended as a result of peaceful diplomacy between the heads of the United States and the Soviet Union.

Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: FWIW, I didn't write that. I know. -- The fact is that the USSR collapse was largely or partly a result of the Cold War (specifically, in Afghanistan). --- This is pretty open to debate -- Gorbachev himself denies it. But then he himself is an

Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: and what caused glasnost to occur? my answer would involve two interacting factors: (1) the USSR losing the Cold War and (2) the USSR's planning system and society's internal contradictions. Gorbachev's own version of events is that the generation

Re: [PEN-L] Socially created categories

--- Jonathan Nitzan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose that settles the value problem. No, but it is a personal attack of the sort we've all come to expect and love! = Nu, zayats, pogodi! __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn

Re: [PEN-L] Putin color thing

For the last friggin' time, THESE are the benefits. Don't read the Moscow Times. READ THE LIST OF BENEFITS. Journalists never do. http://www.kp.ru/daily/23397/33684/ What is a social packet (SP)? It contains: discounts on city trams free medicine in pharmacies treatment in a sanatorium once

Re: [PEN-L] Putin color thing

Forgot to translate this paragraph: Ñòîèìîñòü ñîöïàêåòà - 450 ðóáëåé â ìåñÿö. Ñ 2006 ãîäà ëüãîòíèêè ìîãóò îòêàçàòüñÿ îò ñîöïàêåòà èëè êàêîé-òî åãî ÷àñòè. Äëÿ ýòîãî íóæíî äî 1 îêòÿáðÿ 2005 ãîäà ïîäàòü çàÿâëåíèå â Ïåíñèîííûé ôîíä ïî ìåñòó æèòåëüñòâà. È òîãäà ñ 2006 ãîäà âçàìåí ñîöïàêåòà âû áóäåòå

Re: [PEN-L] Genghis Khan

BTW, Orlando Figes has a great chapter on the Mongol influence on Russian civilization in his remarkable book Natasha's Dance. For instance, the following Russian names are actually Mongol: Turgenev (from the Mongol word for swift) Bulgakov Akhmatova Chaadaev Rimsky-Korsakov Berdiaev Bukharin

Re: [PEN-L] Anti-Semites Make Aliyah to Israel . . . as the Best and Brightest Jews Return to Russia

NEWS ANALYSIS Sharon tells Russian Jews to move to Israel, but words fall on deaf ears By Lev Krichevsky MOSCOW, Nov. 4 (JTA) — Ariel Sharon brought a message to Russian Jews when he visited this week: Israel needs you. But for some Russian Jewish leaders, the message seemed a bit out of step

Re: [PEN-L] Genghis Khan

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: what next, the Management Secrets of Genghis Khan? ;-) FWIW, Russian contains many words of Tatar/Mongol origin dealing with government and commerce (the word for money, for instance). The legacy of the Golden Horde. Russian swear words are also of

Re: [PEN-L] Dear All-Knowing Economists

Hi Paul, Thanks for the input. I decided to go with theory of forecasting. Think that'll go? With foresight he sounds like Isaiah. Prediction would be an alternative. --- paul phillips [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Chris, I am certainly not an expert on Russian but could not predvideniya also be

[PEN-L] Trotsky quote query

Hi, Does anybody know where the following quotes come from in Lev Davidovich's corpus? They are from my (Russian) copy of Trotsky: Mify i Lichnost', which, like most Russian books unfortunately, hos no footnotes. The translations are by me, so they won't correspond literally with the standard

[PEN-L] For the record

for Putin's Kremlin. Lavelle, Chris Doss and all these other characters really turn my stomach. They went over to Russia as carpet-baggers and have all launched careers as stenographers for the people in power. But at least Lavelle and Doss, unlike you, are not confused about what they seek, namely

[PEN-L] Russian benefits

I just alluded to these, and since I keep hearing that Russia has cut the last benefits in the Western media -- which is the result of journalists never bothering to read the goddamn law their writing about -- I list them below in Russian and English so as to put this nonsense to rest. Moreover,

Re: [PEN-L] More from Jamie Galbraith, on Ukraine and Ohio

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And our press, like that in Putin's Russia, follows suit. Our political leaders, if one could call them that, stay silent and move on. They are terrified of being mocked and bullied by the press. --- Hah. The Russian press is much more

Re: [PEN-L] war over MIGs in Venezuela?

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-migs1dec01,1,3826698 .story THE WORLD Venezuela Plan to Buy MIGS Irks U.S. From Times Wire Services December 1, 2004/L.A. TIMES OTTAWA - The Bush administration on Tuesday expressed

Re: [PEN-L] war over MIGs in Venezuela?

--- michael a. lebowitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Chav was quite the bomb here. What do you mean by that? That he bombed? That he was a hit? Curious minds want to know. michael I mean he made a good impression. He and Putin really hit it off, at least publically

Re: [PEN-L] war over MIGs in Venezuela?

No surprise here after the role that the NED was playing here--- um, nobody here but us civil society supporters, boss! BTW how is Russia portrayed in the Venezuelan media? (Inquiring minds and all that.) = Nu, zayats, pogodi! __ Do you Yahoo!? Read

[PEN-L] Russia, pipes, a lame subject header in general

Russia Profile www.russiaprofile.org November 29, 2004 The Politics of Pipelines Economics Takes a Back Seat in Project Decisions By Vasily Zubkov A slowdown in throughput in recent months has meant that Transneft, the Russian pipeline monopoly, has surplus export capacity for the first time in

[PEN-L] My Quagmire Is Bigger Than Yours (the eXile)

The eXile The 2004 Quagmire Bowl! Iraq vs. Chechnya By Gary Brecher ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) You Russians have something in common with us Americans. You might not think so at first. From what I read in the eXile, you guys have a lot wilder lives than we do. More sex, drugs, gangs that white

Re: [PEN-L] Ukraine

--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: With their websites and stickers, their pranks and slogans aimed at banishing widespread fear of a corrupt regime, the democracy guerrillas of the Ukrainian Pora youth movement have already notched up a famous victory - whatever the outcome of the dangerous stand-off

Re: [PEN-L] Britain: the industrial ecology of auto scrap

2004-11-26 20:22 * RUSSIA * VENEZUELA * PRESIDENT * GRATITUDE * CHAVEZ THANKS PUTIN FOR VENEZUELA SUPPORT MOSCOW, November 26 (RIA Novosti) - Hugo Chavez has thanked Vladimir Putin and all Russia for Venezuela support. The first thing I would like to tell you, my dear president, and all

[PEN-L] CHAVEZ THANKS PUTIN FOR VENEZUELA SUPPORT

2004-11-26 20:22 * RUSSIA * VENEZUELA * PRESIDENT * GRATITUDE * CHAVEZ THANKS PUTIN FOR VENEZUELA SUPPORT MOSCOW, November 26 (RIA Novosti) - Hugo Chavez has thanked Vladimir Putin and all Russia for Venezuela support. The first thing I would like to tell you, my dear president, and all

Re: [PEN-L] Ukraine

Untimely Thoughts http://www.untimely-thoughts.com Vol 2 no 157 (204) Rant on Ukr Nov 26, 2004 By Peter Lavelle, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Rant: Ukraine’s unspoken political confrontation By Peter Lavelle Published on

Re: [PEN-L] Ukraine

The situation in the Ukraine is extremely tense. Viktor Yanukovich was declared the winner in Sunday's presidential second round elections. He is seen by all as the pro-Moscow man. Viktor Yushchenko, the openly pro-Western candidate, has challenged the results. ... --- This is really simplifyng

Re: [PEN-L] Ukraine

Incidentally, Sergei Markov had a rather prophetic op-ed on the subject in the MT a few weeks ago, which I reproduce below. A Moscow Perspective on Ukraine's Election By Sergei Markov Moscow Times Wednesday, October 27, 2004. Page 11 The possibility of widespread unrest in Ukraine is a real

Re: [PEN-L] Ukraine

Chris Doss suggests that the Ukraine be split between ethnic Russian areas and ethnic Ukrainian areas. I don't think this is a good idea. PS if you call Ukraine the Ukraine to a Ukrainian nationalist, you will likely get punched in the nose. They are very touchy about this. = Nu, zayats

Re: [PEN-L] Ukraine

--- ravi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i don't really know why the the is added to punjab by westerners... perhaps because the name translates to: *the* land of five rivers. --- Ukraine seems to be a case of the same thing. Ukraine means borderland. = Nu, zayats, pogodi!

Re: [PEN-L] class struggle in the Ukraine

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Chris Doss writes: It's a conflict between East and West Ukraine, town (except for Kiev) and country, Russians and Ukrainians, and the Russian and Ukrainian languages. Really Ukraine should be split into two countries ... Is it also

Re: [PEN-L] movie ideas

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Attention Hollywood, here are some ideas for movies. a documentary tracing the route of the Motorcycle Diaries, showing how Latin America has changed -- and hasn't -- since Che and his friend traveled during the early 1950s. --- Russian TV is producing

Re: [PEN-L] News Flash: Economist Shows that the Iraqui Resistence is because of the transition to a free society

--- michael perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This result suggests that, as experienced recently in Iraq and previously in Spain and Russia, transitions from an authoritarian regime to a democracy may be accompanied by temporary increases in terrorism. --- Russia hasn't been a democracy

[PEN-L] Russian pop/ducation stats

Since I know economists like stats, and since I just translated part of a report on the latest Russian census (http://www.eastview.com/census_2002/report.pdf), and since some of the data are quite interesting -- I knew enrollment in higher education had gone up since the Soviet collapse, but not

Re: [PEN-L] Michael's querry re intl finance (Yukos question)

--- Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Of course this is a bitter issue for the 3rd world and FSU countries. In the '80s and '90s many poorer countries were broken by illegal capital flight. --- BTW, the lion's share of DFI into the Russian economy is from Germany, the United States -- and Cyprus.

Re: [PEN-L] Yukos question

That's the woman in France, right? I think I style-edited that article (if it's the one that appeared in the Russia Journal). Yes it was really good. Ever notive how it almost never gets mentioned in the Western op-eds on Yukos? (Or the murder charges?) --- Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: [PEN-L] Yukos question

That's her. She wrote an article on Yukos money laundering in the Russia Journal about a year ago. --- Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: She is in France, I am pretty sure. The article is important for much more than the Russians scandal, because it offers a glimpse into the

Re: [PEN-L] Putin's centralization drive (and gambling in Moscow)

--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yea . . . but in my mind, probably incorrectly a distinction was drawn between gambling halls and the Western and Vegas type Casino's with ultra centralized management, rules, prodders and pay off. I tend toward centralization and standardization of process and

Re: [PEN-L] Yukos question

I'm cc'ing Peter Lavelle because he knows way more about this than I do. 1) It's unclear to what extent Putin himself is actually in charge of this; there are a lot of competing groups behind the scenes who have different desires for Yukos. (The Western press seems to like to portray Putin as a

Re: [PEN-L] Putin's centralization drive

BTW Louis, I'm curious -- just exactly what articles have you read about contemporary Russia? I want to have names of articles, authors, and sources of publication, preferably that do not refer to nonexistent Putin family members? No fair randomly finding something on Lexis-Nexis. I want ot have a

Re: [PEN-L] nader/kerry

--- Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How many minds have ever been changed by a PEN-L thread? Doug Mine! I am now aware that all the reports on Chechnya in the LA Times and the Christian Science Monitor have been lying. And I did it without being shown a single source. Now that's

Re: [PEN-L] congratulations Michael Lebowitz winner of the 2004 Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize

There's a restaurant in downtown Moscow called Das Kapital. The facade is made to look like four volumes set next to each other. It's near the Lubyanka. --- Daniel Davies [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There's a Chinese restaurant round the corner from me called The Cultural Revolution. I keep

Re: [PEN-L] a liberal view on Beslan

This is a remarkably fact-free and ideologically predetermined editorial, which is weird considering who the author's husband is. If anybody is interested in understanding the actual situation in the North Caucasus, as opposed to deriving facts from navel-gazing ideology, you can start with

Re: [PEN-L] Eurocentrism and capitalism

--- Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [was: RE: [PEN-L] Panglossian economics] It looks to me as if the basic story is that the Western Europeans enjoyed some sort of luck that has nothing to do with genetic or cultural differences between Europeans and Asians. This luck allowed them to (1)

Re: [PEN-L] ConocoPhillips, Lukoil, and the war for oil

Your implicit position, then, I take it, is that Russia (and Germany and France) should _not_ try to preserve their national interests in the wake of the war. Seems pretty rational to me. = Nu, zayats, pogodi! ___ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register

[PEN-L] The Caucasus post-Beslan

I cut out non-Beslan-related stuff Johnson's Russia List #8390 2 October 2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] A CDI Project www.cdi.org JRL RESEARCH AND ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT Issue No. 25 October 2004 Editor: Stephen D. Shenfield [EMAIL PROTECTED] For back issues go to the