Thursday, September 30, 2010 

Here in the northern Rockies, the weather can be rough sometimes. Last year at this time, we had one hot week at the beginning of the school year, but September was generally chilly.

This September, however, has been amazing. The last couple of weeks we've had loads of days in the 70s ad 80s—the high was 85 a couple of days ago! I feel like I live in California.

Anyway, I've been riding my bike all over—I can't get over how delicious the air is in these temperatures. It kind of makes the six inches of undulating ice that we get mid-winter seem more worthwhile.

Even though I'm still critical of my new camera, I'm trying to be patient. I've actually been taking loads of photos while riding around on my bike. I should have the shots up before too long, but for now I'm giving you some N & P instead:


Europeans protest when governments try to cut their benefits. This distinguishes them from Americans, who only protest when you try to give them social services.

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Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, has been fired by Russian president Dmitri Medvedev.

The position of Moscow mayor used to be an elected one. However, since 2004, the position has been appointed directly by the president. This change was undertaken in response to the Beslan massacre in 2004, with then-president Putin pressing for changes (which were accepted) abolishing elections for president in Russia's various republics (like Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, etc.), of which the Moscow and St. Petersburg municipalities are also included.

[What does abolishing elections have to do with the Beslan massacre? Good question. I guess the perspective is that foreign forces are employing local non-Russian communities as proxies in a battle against Russia. Or, it just seemed like a good excuse for centralizing control over the regions.]

There are more than eighty federal units (republics, regions, etc.) in Russia today.

Here's another article about the Luzhkov firing.

Dimmy Nightmare: The Voice of Russia, meanwhile, characterizes Medvedev as a "nightmare for corruption" saying that "allegation in the Russian media" over Luzhkov's corruption led to his getting dumped. Medvedev, the audio part of the report states, is undertaking a "crusade against corruption" in Russia.



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A student of mine (thanks) clued me in to a rather odd article in the Turkish Daily News on an alleged "competition" between Chechnya and Tatarstan for the right to be "top Muslim region" in Russian.

This is an interesting but somewhat silly piece. There are allusions of a competition for "Moscow's favors" but nowhere is it spelled out what, exactly, the two republics are supposedly competing for.

There's a long history of separate administration for various Muslim republics in Russia. The northern Caucasus, where Chechnya is located, is far from the Volga Region (home to Tatarstan), and the two populations are very different both with respect to language and customs. 


I don't think the leaders of Chechnya and Tatarstan are preoccupied with the question of whose minarets are taller

If there's any competition at all between predominantly Muslim communities in Russia, it's between Tatars and Bashkirs, but I don't know of this carrying into relations between the governments of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan—my sense is that it doesn't, at least at the official level.

For the most part this article strikes me as wishful thinking. The leaders of these republics are mostly interested in lining their pockets, consolidating their positions, and keeping power out of other people's hands (Kadyrov, meanwhile, is also trying to just stay alive).

I don't think the title of "#1 Muslim republic of Russia" is something that the leaders of Chechnya or Tatarstan lose a lot of sleep over. 

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The Republic of Tatarstan has adopted a new holiday —"Islam Day."

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Keeping it real: Yigal Schleifer discusses Turkish trade with neighboring countries. Maybe that sounds boring,

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Pax-Rossica: Russian troops to guard southern Kyrgyz border. There also on the Armenian side of the Armenian-Turkish frontier. What other formerly Soviet borders are they manning?

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Turkish journalist revisits story about mob attacking art gallery crowed in Beyoglu (Istanbul). The theme about this story had been "Islamists," but Kizilkaya suggests otherwise.

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Saban Kardas has an article re "Kurdish question" for the Jamestown spooks.

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