Camille Paglia's new book.

Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems

This book looks interesting
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems.

My Russian students were disappointed that Americans didn't seem to read more poetry. I told them we used to, in the past, and we read Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe in class.

Perhaps Paglia can help rescue American poetry...

The Strange Case of Giuliana Sgrena

Not surprisingly, Michelelle Malkin isn't too sympathetic to Communist reporter Giuliana Sgrena.

But the friendly fire tragedy presents a real problem for the US. First, because millions around the world will believe Sgrena's conspiracy theory. Second, because what looks like a military cover-up--to shield incompetence--plays into the hands of the terrorists. The defense department should come clean--fast--and make all the facts public as soon as possible. Italians still remember a similar incident, when US pilots killed innocent people on ski lifts at an Italian resort while they were "hot-dogging." That scandal dragged on for a while, damaging US-Italian relations.

And that US intelligence couldn't guarantee safe passage for Italian allies reveals America as weak and out of touch, unaware of what is going on in Iraq. Even the most charitable interpretation of what happened to Sgrena--Situation Normal, All Fouled Up--is a net minus for the US.

Until order is restored in Iraq, such tragedies are bound to recur.

Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New M.B.A.?

This is the question the The New York Times's Elizabeth Van Ness asks in today's paper.

Not surprisingly, the New York Times gets it wrong.

Just compare average salaries of Cinema Studies graduates to MBAs from the same school.

The correct answer is: "No."

Could Bush Trade Maskhadov for Khodorkovsky?

This interview with Aslan Maskhadov from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is evidence that the Americans know the whereabouts of the fugitive Chechen warlord wanted by Russia as a terrorist mastermind.

Forget the chilling implication that RFE/RL may be openly acting as a p.r. bureau for a terrorist leader. A thought occurs: Could this be a message to Putin, that the US could deliver Maskhadov for the "meeting" in exchange for the release of Khodorkovsky?

After all, if Putin can keep the Yukos billionaire in jail indefinitely, it is unlikely that Maskhadov could walk away from a half-hour of face-time with Putin.

Such a deal would be good for business with Russia, might help to end the messy Chechen crisis, and send a clear signal to terrorists that the US will no longer support Islamic extremism, even in the former Soviet Union.

More on Moscow's Radio Kultura

Found this November 2004 story on Internews about my favorite Moscow channel Radio Kultura:

Are you a person who reads the arts sections of newspapers and magazines, wants to know where to go and what music to listen to, and isn't a loser? If so, then you fit the profile of Radio Kultura's ideal listener, according to the editor of the station, which launched in Moscow last Monday.

The 24-hour station is an offshoot of the state-owned Kultura television channel, a commercial-free haven for old, classic films and intellectual discussions about literature and music, where even the weather forecast rolls across a backdrop of famous paintings. Employing some of the same presenters, the radio version concentrates on talk shows and drama, and is the only station to give significant airtime to classical music on the FM band.

The station aims for a 5 percent share of Moscow's FM listeners, said editor Anatoly Golubovsky in an interview at his office on Pyatnitskaya Ulitsa last Tuesday. And he has high expectations of those who tune in. 'If you're talking about ideal listeners, we think these must be people who are active consumers of culture ... people who don't need a radio station to tell them to go to theaters, cinemas, museums, galleries.

Their website is at http://www.cultradio.ru.

The Case For Putin (cont'd.)

Writing in Foreign Affairs, Nikolas K. Gvosdev argues that Putin knows what he is doing:

Putin and his advisers do not intend to recreate the old Soviet enterprises, top-heavy with management and burdened by inefficient central planning. Instead, they seem to want profitable companies that can generate a revenue stream for their shareholders-including the Russian state. What is emerging is state-directed capitalism, in which private owners play a role and have the opportunity to bank profits.

We are seeing in today's Russia the consolidation of a system of managed pluralism-in which the Kremlin sets the overall agenda, but with some room for political and economic competition and choice. Whether this is a disappointing direction depends on with whom you speak. Most Russians support Putin's vision of 'orderly' state-directed reform, looking to the center to reel in the power of the oligarchs and local bosses.

There is indeed a pronounced authoritarian streak in today's Russia. But there are also optimistic signs-the seeds of a middle class beginning to take root, the steady rise in the number of home-grown charities and other civil-society organizations-that point to a more democratic Russia emerging in the future.

Gvosdev points to the influence of a Russian academic, Vladimir Litvinenko, rector of the State Mining Institute in St. Petersburg, who has a theory of national control of natural resources which he says explains Putin's actions in the energy sector. Litvinenko is an advisor to Putin from his St. Petersburg days.

Persuasive, but still, I'd feel better if Putin let Khodorkovsky go.

What V-E Day Means to the Russians

From a letter to the editor at SiberianLight:

"People like McDuff misunderstand the nature of WWII as perceived by most Russians, and by doing so and indulging in diatribes in defense of various small nations that were not exactly anti-Nazi during the war, he is playing right into the hands of Russian imperialists. (Note that I am an anti-imperial nationalist as it were.) The war of German Aggression was a war of survival for Russia (and Belarus, and large parts of Ukraine). We paid a huge price in blood (partly, but not entirely because of Stalin's and his generals' massive errors) but we survived as a people and, moreover, destroyed the enemy. May 9 is the day of remembrance of this epic struggle, and of commemoration of the fallen. The memory of the war is one of the very few bonds that still hold together what remains of the nation. Seen in this light, McDuff's enclosing 'celebrations' in quotation marks is so offensive to the common Russian that it automatically disqualifies the author from any meaningful discussion of WWII. It may be 'celebrations' for the Latvian and the Finn but it's Celebrations for the Russian." (Posted by Alexei, March 5, 2008)

To the extent America understands this sentiment, a strong Russian-American relationship can be rebuilt, which IMHO is needed to balance a resurgent and not always pro-American Europe...
NOTE: I see that Alexei runs The Russian Dilettante blog.

The American Society of Newspaper Censors?

Colbert I. King's column in today's Washington Post about a dispute between Post writer Marc Fisher and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, titled An Affront to the First Amendment, is well worth reading.

If anything illustrates a moral failure with major media in America today, it is a letter from ASNE lawyer Kevin Goldberg, attacking Fisher for commenting on a court battle between the Baltimore Sun and Maryland Governor Robert Erhlich:

Goldberg wrote last Saturday that Fisher had "done a disservice to his reporting brethren" by "publicly" stating his views. Acknowledging Fisher's right to state his beliefs, Goldberg declared, incredibly, that "the responsibility that accompanies that right mitigates against stating them in this situation." This from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Now who's trying to stifle the free flow of information to the public?

That a professional organization of newspaper editors would be calling for censorship in order to further their own cause fits a pattern that can be seen in the Dan Rather case, Eason Jordan's comments, and so forth. This is troubling for the United States at a time when freedom and democracy are embattled around the world.

As Instapundit might say, the ASNE letter is evidence that they "are on the other side."

Power Line on Dan Rather's Letterman appearance

Putin mentioned the Dan Rather scandal at his summit with President Bush. And when I was in Moscow at a Moscow State University conference on American Studies, they were talking about Dan Rather in the same way--a victim of the White House. Turned out the sources for Russian analysts were the outlets like the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Columbia Journalism Review, and so on. One might write a dissertation on the national security fallout of the Dan Rather story, and how the Thornburgh report is making things worse. The logic goes like this: If there were no political agenda and no fraud at CBS, why did Rather have to resign? White House pressure!

I know when I was teaching in Moscow, my students believed that the American president controlled network news...(Americans know that he doesn't).

So it is nice to see that PowerLine is still on the Rather casewith this account of his appearence on David Letterman's show. "My translation of Rather's take on the report is: "People have got to know whether or not their [anchor] is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

The Return of Kremlinology

According to this article in London's Financial Times, Kremlinology is all the rage again, as outsiders struggle to figure out who's really in charge in Moscow:

In the days of the Soviet Union, Kremlinologists assessed who was going up and down within the country's political elite by scrutinising the order in which members of the Communist party politburo climbed on to Lenin's mausoleum to watch parades on Red Square. Today there is no Soviet Union and no parading, but Kremlinology is back. Political analysts these days, however, are more likely to pore over the increasingly Soviet-style television news to see who is hovering at President Vladimir Putin's shoulder during nightly footage of his meetings with ministers.

The FT names a handful of insiders, but who knows if they are the real insiders or a Potemkin inner-circle, designed to throw Kremlin-watchers off-track?

Scraps of Moscow

Thanks to Lyndon Allin's link to my blog, I found his interesting website about Russia today Scraps of Moscow. It has good photos as well as text.

Hooray for George F. Will!

He's back in the saddle again, with a good essay about why the federal government should stop paying for PBS, titled Cut Buster Loose:

Money quote:"Public television is akin to the body politic's appendix: It is vestigial, purposeless and occasionally troublesome. Of the two arguments for it, one is impervious to refutation and the other refutes itself. "

The Case for Putin

Here's an interesting pro-Putin article The west gets Putin wrong that is worth thinking about. Mary Dejevsky makes some good points, namely that Putin is weaker than he looks, and far from being a dictator, is casting about trying to stay in power by playing factions off against each other. Still, the argument that things could be worse, and that there is no constituency for more reforms--while true--doesn't justify the kind of self-defeating overkill that Putin has engaged in with the Yukos affair, for example.

Who would want to go into business in Russia, if the government can just decide one day to put you out of business, on a whim? Especially since Yukos was by all accounts the best-run company in Russia. That is the chilling effect to outside investors that Putin needs to resolve as quickly as possible, by letting Khodorkovsky go. Until he does, Russia's international image will continue to suffer.

One thought would be for Putin to release Khodorkovsky before V-E Day celebrations, as a gift to Bush for attending.

Uzbekistan: A modernizing society

When it rains, it pours. Orbis has just published my scholarly article, "Uzbekistan: A modernizing society". Here's the money quote:

Underestimating Uzbekistan's legacy of modernist secularism, Americans often stereotype the nation as one of the poor and backward '-stans.' Many Central Asia analysts accept at face value nationalist, pan-Turkic, or Islamist versions of the region's past, dismissing as inauthentic anything that is modern, Western, or familiar. Focusing on the exotic or (in the case of the Fergana Valley) dangerous, they foster misperceptions about the character of Uzbekistan that result in flawed policies.

Click on Registan.net to read the whole thing.

Tashkent - New York: America - Uzbekistan

Time Out Tashkent has published my article about the Uzbek capital: "Tashkent-New York: America-Uzbekistan." Here's the money quote:

Anyone who has lived in New York City should be able to adapt to life in Uzbekistan's capital, especially West Siders (East Siders tend to have high-paying jobs). New Yorkers live in blocks of flats, take the subway and buses, and eat from street vendors, so do residents of Tashkent. New Yorkers feel they are more sophisticated than anyone else in the country, so do Tashkent's inhabitants. New York is the center of intellectual life for the USA, Tashkent plays the same role in Uzbekistan. New York has Lincoln Center, Tashkent the Navoi Opera House; New York has the Astoria Film Studios, Tashkent, UzbekFilm; New York has its Broadway, Tashkent has its own Broadway. To better understand Uzbekistan, just think about its similarities to America.

Alice Goldfarb Marquis on "Old Europe"

We heard from Alice, last seen in Moscow, in regard to the depressinq quality of Vienna:

Yes, all of Central Europe is depressing most of the time. Hence Kafka. Hence Gustav Mahler. Hence Karl Krauss, publisher of a journal describing the end of the world. Hence Freud, who saw humans trapped inside the warring id & ego. And I could go on, perhaps showing that Hitler himself was depressed. And no wonder.

Ann Coulter Defends Bloggers

In her latest column, Ann Coulter defends bloggers against the media attacks on James Guckert, who apparently made big news when he received a White House press pass while I was out of town in Moscow. (When do I get a pass?)

In response to the public disgrace and ruin of New York Times editor Howell Raines, CBS anchor Dan Rather and CNN news director Eason Jordan, liberals are directing their fury at the blogs. Once derided as people sitting around their living rooms in pajamas, now obscure writers for unknown Web sites are coming under more intensive background checks than CIA agents.

To continue today's shameless name-dropping festival, I knew Ann Coulter, too, a few years ago. She was one of the nicest people in Washington, she even tried to get me hired when she a commentator on MSNBC. She sent her parents to see me talk at the Women's National Republican Club in New York City. They were nice, too. So, I really don't understand why some people hate her so much. In addition to being beautiful, she's intelligent, thin, rich, a best-selling author--and extremely tall...Could it be that someone's jealous?

Some Email from Paris, about Khodorkovsky

Marie-Noelle Pane just sent us an email about Mikhail Khodorkovsky, after seeing an item in this blog. She asked for a link to her organization. So here it is:



Pane heads a group working for Khodorkovsy's relase, and sounds sincere when she says they don't get any money from him (though I wouldn't blame them if they did). Here's how she describes her Paris-based organization:

In a few words (excuse me, my English is very bad) - we are just a group of citizens, we found one another on several discussion forums on the web, and then we decided to get together and meet in "real" life to try to do something. At least to express our protest.
No one pay for our operations. From the beginning, we absolutely rejected the idea of any financial help. We want to show that people can do something by themselves. And it would be no moral help for Khodorkovsky if people were defending him... on his own money ;-). So - no, thanks. As we are all not very well-off, our operations are not expensive - web site cost about 20$/year, I pay for him myself, there are telephone fees, paper, ink...that kind of things. Everyone gives what he can gives. We all are volonterees, working according to the "samizdat" principle. We try to do original things to drive the attention of media, and sometimes collaborate with Human Right Defence Organisations. We also collaborate with Khodorkovsky's press center, in that way that they (sometimes) publish account of our actions, and sometimes give us posters of Khodorkovsky. And that's all.
If you are interested and you are in Moscow, you can assist to our demonstrations in front of the Meschanskyj Court (about once a week). You can also have a look of what's happening inside the Court, it is... how to say... interesting. :-(

You can read our position :
http://www.sovest.org/orgsovest/position_en.htm

Another old school tie

My non-Oscar winning friend, dissident Cuban-American filmmaker Agustin Blazquez, who made "Covering Cuba 3: Elian" (has it even played in Los Angeles?) emailed to say that UCLA film school colleague Alexander Payne won an Oscar for "Sideways." I was in Vienna, at the Opera, watching Aida, I think--or asleep--during the broadcast from Hollywood. So I missed the big moment. (Oscar show producer Bill Cates used to be chairman of the film/tv production department at UCLA, btw).

In any case, Agustin's letter reminded me that Payne named an off-screen character with my very own moniker in his "Citizen Ruth." You can hear it on the tape deck in the car that the protagonist listens to, some pretty straightforward tips on real estate investing. The film is sort of interesting, and Payne has some talent.

At any rate, it is proof that we were at UCLA film school together. He was perfectly nice to me, though I always had a feeling that he thought I wasn't cool enough. I guess he was right. At the time, Payne had a pretty blonde girlfriend, also a UCLA film student, who I remember for her "witchy" pointed shoes. They were a cool couple, they made a film about a relationship of some peculiar kind. He's still making films about relationships, it seems.

I don't think I'm mentioned in "Sideways," though.