Another day, another Internet project. Or more specifically, reviving an old project – the “English Inosmi” concept of translating articles and blog posts from the Russian media for a Western audience. The only problem was that I was perpetually dissatisfied, even if at a subconscious level, with the name: RossPress*. An elementary problem which I had somehow overlooked
I submit that the Russia watching community has no shortage of opinionated blogs, mercenary “information projects,” and warring factions of “CIA jackals” and “Kremlin bots.” What it greatly lacks, however, is a neutral, well-moderated meeting ground where a diversity of voices could engage in free and vigorous debates about all aspects of Russian politics, economics, and history. In
Just to confirm that progress on DARK LORD OF THE KREMLIN is in full swing, with about 40% of the first draft done. I am aiming for publication around October. Here are the chapter titles to whet your appetites – as you can see, I spare no tired trope when writing about the Putin kleptocracy.
Confessions of an Online Hustler by Matt Forney, published in 2013. See the Amazon version of this review. Rating: 4/5. Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: This book isn’t for the casual reader. Despite the title, it’s not a “life interest” story with a morass of prurient and scandalous details, nor is it
For background see here, here. Russia Voices is good because it powerfully hints at what the project is all about: Giving the Anglo-sphere some sense of what Russians from all sides of the political spectrum are saying. But downside is it’s similar to Voice of Russia (a radio station), and besides, the more “intuitive” RussianVoices.com
As long-term readers will be aware, I am working on two big projects: A book on myths about Russia, and a website specializing in translating articles from the Russian press into English. (The idea being that even if it does nothing else, Western institutions will no longer be able to credibly say Russia’s level of
I have recently been cleaning up my old posts. When I moved from Sublime Oblivion to here, the pictures remained hosted at the old site (there were too many of them to auto-import). So I’ve been going through ancient posts, manually reattaching pictures (so that they are now hosted at wordpress.com) and making the categories
It all began on January 9, 2008. It began, as it is now, as Da Russophile over at blogger. And I was a Russophile then, perhaps unreasonably so. That said I did do some useful work back then. I am most proud of the demographic models by which I predicted: Russia will see positive population growth starting from 2010
And the final results are: Putin Derangement Syndrome 14 Dark Lord of the Kremlin 27 No preference / can’t decide which I hate more 13 Surprised to see such a clear lead for DLK… thought it’d be closer to a tie. But it’s my favorite too, so Dark Lord of the Kremlin it will be.
Feel free to suggest the appropriate title/subtitle combination for the book, or to propose new ones. EDIT 9/11: And the final results are: Putinophobia 3 Putin Derangement Syndrome 10 Through Western Eyes 7 When the Truth Doesn’t Matter 7 Kremlin Maligned 0 False Truths 1 Potemkin Russia 2 Manufactured Russophobia 4 If It’s About Russia,
It’s already a pretty big list, so I won’t be taking nominations for more. I hope to write reviews of all of them as they’re (re)read. The Return (Daniel Treisman) – the best Russian politics books out there. 5/5 Armageddon Averted (Stephen Kotkin) – TBR (to be read) Putin (Chris Hutchins, Alexander Korobko) – TBR,
I feel that my blogging in terms of influencing the discourse on Russia has leveled off into something resembling a plateau. I now write the occasional op-ed; appear every so often in magazines, research articles, and even books; and the blog itself attracts about 500 daily visitors. But truth is I am barely making a dint relative to
This Open Thread is permanently glued to the front page. Anything goes as long as it’s connected in some way to Russia (if not then use the Open Thread at AKarlin). From now on all off-topic comments should be posted here, as I will no longer hesitate about deleting them from other posts.
Though I do wonder about those six people who voted “none of the above” in my poll of attitudes towards the 10 odd theories that figure prominently in the Karlinist Weltanschauung… with all due respect, but what are you guys doing on this blog then? 🙂 The vast majority agree with Peak Oil, Limits to Growth,
I’m curious to hear what my readers think of the various concepts and theories that frequently come up on this blog, and of the key assumptions underlying the Karlinist Weltanschauung. Very quick n’ dirty summaries of terms and their discontents: Peak oil: Oil is limited in quantity, and at some point its production will inevitably decline