Publications

Mr Burman evasively noted that as a Zionist he is keen on the Jewish issue in the USSR. – This issue no longer exists here, – said Palamidov. – How come? – Hiram asked in amazement. – It’s as simple as that: it does not exist. Ilf and Petrov: The Golden Calf Having repeatedly scalded themselves on hot milk throughout their history, it is no wonder that long-suffering Jews sometimes blow on cold water. If you hear about any event devoted to “the problems of modern-day anti-Semitism,” then regardless of the place and time, reports on it can most likely be titled The History of My Misfortunes...

A week after the plane crash near Yaroslavl undimmed sorrow gives way to somber anxiety. A funeral feast to commemorate the Lokomotiv ice hockey players who died in the accident was served honestly and wholeheartedly. But now we’d like to know what happens next. What conclusions will be drawn and what will be undertaken – both to ensure the safety of air service and in the narrow sphere of professional ice hockey? For however trivial this may sound, otherwise 43 young guys perished in vain… Following the modern approach to news makes one look for some positive signs even in the most sullen disasters… The most...

On September 12, 1715, Tsar Peter issued a rather curious decree. This document is quite original and perhaps now, nearly three centuries later, it could be of some use to us. It might shed some light on the process of integrating state and private interests. The decree was as such: “so that from now on the staples and nails that were used to fasten soles to men and women’s boots not be sold or in one’s possession. And it someone is found to be with boots or clogs thus soled, they will be severely fined, and those of the merchants that hold such staples and nails will be exiled into penal servitude…”...

In late August XXVI World Summer Student Games ended in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Russia with 132 medals was second in the national team classification. Russian athletes won 42 gold, 45 silver and 45 bronze medals. Only Chinese students performed better, so the odds are high that two years later, when hospitable Kazan hosts the World University Games, Russian students will be able to take the palm away from their Chinese peers. Some hope! Regrettably, the current standing of student sports in Russia is usually discussed only in the context of reviewing the performance at the next University Games. Such an approach is appropriate only as...

Is the music industry capable of returning a national idea to Russia? This was the main issue addresses at a press conference at RIA Novosti dedicated to Folkday, an open air music festival in Moscow. This is no mistake – yes, an open air festival in Moscow (at the Green Theater in Gorky Park). By staging it here, the organizers are attempting to combine the previously incompatible – a traditional music festival in the country and the city atmosphere, a synthesis of the urban environment and folklore. Participants of Folkday include well-known folk rock performers from Russia as well as Belarus and Georgia, including such groups...

A press conference devoted to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Lomonosov took place on September 8 at the Central House of Journalist (CHJ). CHJ used a non-trivial approach: at the entrance visitors were greeted by a reminder of Lomonosov’s wagon train – a cargo sled loaded with “fish” (fish-shaped gingerbread made in Archangelsk) and the same pretend Mikhailo Vasilievich. The press conference itself was not quite ordinary – this was rather a roundtable whose participants were talking about the genius of Lomonosov, modern-day Russian education and the need for innovations. The list of the press...