Russia's Ballet Prince Creates New Nutcracker

In 2008, Russia's Bolshoi Ballet Company lost on of its most valuable members and artistic director due to the politics of its system. Alexei Ratmansky is now making a new life for himself. In an article published on December 14, 2010, Alexi is training young American dancers for his interpretation of the 'Nutcracker'. He understands that he can cannot reinvent such a poplar production but his hope is to give it some sharper edges and therefore appeal to a larger audience. An example of a fine man who was forced to leave everything because of a corrupt system. 

To read more go to: http://russianow.washingtonpost.com/2010/12/russias-ballet-prince-creates-new-nutcracker.php

Graft

'Graft' is political corruption that is the misuse of government powers/ legislation for private gain. 
In Russia, the goal of President Dmitry Medvedev is to eliminate this from the country. Even though he understands it is going to take time, it is a process that he must go through. 

Suicide Bombing=Adoption of US colour-coded Terror Alert System

Thanks to Mr. Peats's helpful resources, the 'New York Times' was able to supply me valuable information on up to date stories coming from Russia. One such story was this article on how the Russian government responded to the suicide bombing in Moscow airport. 

Although the Obama administration has since removed the colour-coded terror alert system from airports, the Russian government has been debating implanting the system for months (since the Moscow subway bombings), this has just given them another idle moment to implement it! 

What is the 'colour-coded alert system'? Well simply, it evaluates the level of risk of a terror attack in a public transit area at anytime. The reason the US abolished the system was because not only was it not accurate, the public didn't know how to respond to it. Russia has implemented the system as it is better than having no warning system in place at all. France and Britain also had sillier systems but Britain has dropped it for the same reasons as the United States. 

Here is the link to the article if you would like to read more. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/world/europe/29russia.html?_r=1&ref=russia

Resources to consider...

Please find attached some resources that if you follow will help further develop your blog.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/russia/index.html
(This is a New York Times article - from today, Monday, Jan 25, 2011. It contains on-going news stories and analysis, and if you look carefully a "Russia Navigator" with links to every site you could need that deals with Russia. There are links also to government resources (The Kremlin, Offical News Agency, etc.). And links to The Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard University's Kennedy School, etc. that deal with Russian politics.)

http://rt.com/
(This is from Reuters; it contains everything Russian - even blogs about Russia!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/russia
(This too is an amazing site. It covers everything - the recent bomblast by female suicide bombers - possibly so-called Chechen rebels.)

...A mountain of material - all fascinating and useful - and containing that all-important analysis.

The blog so far...

It's that time when I evaluate the blog so far. So a few thoughts are in order. Firstly, you've been consistent about posting, which is really important. Well done! And in your last post, you've begun to respond to my questions - for example, about the video you posted. You didn't respond to my question about "graft". By posting "comments" on your posts, I'm trying to get you to think more deeply and widely about Russian life, and of course politics - to enter into a conversation as it were. As you post, you need to analyze what your posting in greater detail: demonstrate more fully what and that you are learning about Russia and its politics - becoming a little bit of an expert on the subject.

By now you should be reading about Russia along with blogging. Dig out interesting articles. Make a trip to Chapters. Find people who are writing about Russia; are there any experts you've overlooked who are writing about this great and vast country? Could you get more use out of your BBC profile link? Lots of food for thought?

I'm not sure the HCC adds anything to the blog. It's only connection to the blog would be that it's director is from the former Soviet Union, but most people wouldn't know that. What about something else, more relevant? The choice is yours. Is there anything else that you could add to the blog that might help your readers to engage more fully with Russia.

Stick at it Elise. Onwards and upwards as they say.

The Soviet Union vs. Tetris

As I posted earlier, there was a youtube video about the Soviet Union put to a piece of music called "Tetris". I believe that the two have been compared because in the game of Tetris, the goal is to arrange all the blocks so that they fit perfectly together. If you do not make this happen, you lose and have to start back at level one. Like the game, the ideology of the Soviet Union was that all the blocks would fit perfectly together. Unfortunately, it was up to the working class to arrange those blocks and if they could not make it work, then the government would throw more demands on them to try and make it work. I see the blocks as symbolizing all the demands, restrictions and rules the government threw on the working class. The man represents the working class. It was impossible for the working class to keep up with these demands and therefore, forced them into a life a poverty, fear, and eventually to thoughts of revolution.
Just like when you lose at a game of tetris you have to start back at level one, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was (for nation) the equivalent to starting back at level one. The entire country fell apart and everything and everyone was living a life in chaos and uncertainty. In a way, the video was satyrical because at a first glance, it was funny! But when you listen harder and pay attention to the song, I believe there is a deeper meaning as to why the author chose to compare the USSR to a game of "Tetris".

Canada/ Russia World Juniors Gold Medal Game

How can you ignore the fact that Canada lost to Russia at the world juniors hockey game?? As terrible as an upset it was for Canada, here are some highlights from that game.

Interesting fact: The top two hockey players in the NHL are Russian and Canadian. Alex Ovechkin (Russia) and Sidney Crosby (Canada) are the two most well liked and top point placing players currently in the NHL.

Investigation into the Corruption of the Russian Government

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/medvedev-expands-corruption-fight/428839.html

I really liked this article because I found it linked nicely with the ending of my Soviet Union presentation. In the past, the government as always been known for being corrupt. The hiding/ stealing of money was a dominant issue as government officials took more than their allotted pay. Medvedev has now proven that the Russian government is truly becoming more democratic in their thinking; they have adopted the ideology as more than just a title. Medvedev wants to audit all government officials, particularly their income declarations.

Orphaned Russian Children

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/money-for-abandoned-kids/428550.html

This article from the Moscow times highlights the life orphans in Russia live. They recieve no income from their families and up till this point, they recieved no income from the state either. Historically in the Soviet Union, orphans were given compensation because they were the future of the country. President Medvedev plans to reinstall this belief in that all children are important but unlike the ideology of the Soviet Union, they should be able to provide for themselves.

Youtube video of the Soviet Union

Here is a funny video about life in the Soviet Union. It focuses on the working class...it is funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWTFG3J1CP8