The Roma Journeys - contemporary photographs of Roma life in Hungary, India, Greece, Romania, France, Russia, and
Finland by Joakim Eskildsen. For more photo essays and info on the Roma, see two superb prior posts by
plep and
taz.
posted by madamjujujive
on Nov 15, 2007 -
26 comments
"Trotsky lived on after Stalin, and to some extent is still alive today, not because young people want the world he wanted: a phantasm that not even he could define. What they want is
to be him."
posted by Firas
on Nov 11, 2007 -
75 comments
9000 miles by ferry, train, bus, bicycle, horse, foot and car. In a bid to
reduce his carbon footprint, Joseph Tame swapped 11 hours in a plane from Japan to England for a month-long adventure across Eurasia. Along the way he has a
Chinese Imperial Guard hold a penguin, stays in a
Mongolian Yurt, experiences a
"road" trip or
two,
misses some
trains, and
befriends a chipmunk.
posted by Freaky
on Oct 15, 2007 -
25 comments
Last Wednesday, residents of the Ulyanovsk province of Russia took the day off work in celebration of their newest holiday,
Sex Day.
posted by Afroblanco
on Sep 18, 2007 -
42 comments
Dead Road - Museum of Communism in the Open. "It was one of the most ambitious projects of the Stalin era, known as the
'railway of bones'. At least 10 people a day died during the four years of its construction [actually 1947-1953], but unlike most of Uncle Joe's grand designs it was never completed and now sits unfinished in the tundra, an icy road to nowhere." The
transpolar railway was built by labour camps
^ 501 and 503 and construction was stopped after the amnesty following Stalin's death in 1953; 800km, about half, was built. Some sections are currently in operation, but much is abandoned:
depot and locomotives in Dolgoe,
Dolgoe itself,
labour camps,
more spectacular decay. (Previously:
Norilsk, which was supposed to see an extension of the line.)
posted by parudox
on Aug 27, 2007 -
13 comments
The Shanhai Cooperative Organization. [wiki] When Moscow and Beijing engineered the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) six years ago, I am not sure if they foresaw its emergence as an important actor in the international order. Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, currently observers, are lobbying hard to get accepted into this club. The US request for membership was rejected two years ago.
posted by delmoi
on Aug 23, 2007 -
14 comments
Creepy High Voltage Installations The Russian countryside yields sometimes most improbable sights - abandoned artifacts and installations from bizarre military/scientific research, strangely futuristic forms left to rust and decay - to be found by a curious photographer.
"Master" stumbled upon this installation close to Russian city of Istra (50 km from Moscow) quite by chance, and these mysterious shots were percolating for a while around the web, until the answer was found. According to
this little, cryptic, and quite secretive website [in Russian], the weird alien-like towers are the Experimental Grounds for High-Voltage Generation, the only open-air kind in the world. Amazingly, it's still in use... as the powerful lightnings rip through the night and the darkened forest - much like in "The Prestige" movie.
posted by psmealey
on Jul 4, 2007 -
38 comments
"OMON knows no mercy and forgives none. This is the way it is, was, and always will be." The Russian OMON (Otryad Militsii Osobovo Naznacheniya), or Special Purpose Police Squad, is one of
the most elite police units in the world. Formed in the mid-1980s to combat urban riots, the 20,000-strong OMON now tackles terrorists, protesters, and
soccer fans. What drives former soldiers to join the beefy brigade? "Risk,"
says Major Viktor Kommissarov, "Working in the OMON always involves the risk of death."
(in Russian)
posted by nasreddin
on Jun 1, 2007 -
22 comments
Putins spy war on the West White House intelligence advisers believe no other country is as aggressive as Russia in trying to obtain US secrets, with the possible exception of China.
In particular the SVR, as the former KGB’s foreign intelligence arm is now known, is using a network of undercover agents in America to gather classified information about sensitive technologies, including military projects under development and high-tech research.
posted by jouke
on May 20, 2007 -
30 comments
The death of Russia [google video]. A very interesting documentary made for Channel 4 in the UK on the state of modern Russia from
Marcel Theroux.
Marcel is older brother of
Louis Theroux and son of the travel writer
Paul.
Marcel's documentary style is more sober than that of his brother and he deals with a tragic subject delicately and with a sympathetic tone. A very depressing but nonetheless very watchable documentary told by a literate, compassionate journalist.
[48 minutes running time]
posted by ClanvidHorse
on Apr 9, 2007 -
18 comments
