Uzbekistan update

Lenta.ru has reported (based on Channel 1 TV coverage) at 1pm MSK that the position of the armed protesters has been stormed (my translation):

The building in Andijan where the rebels had fortified a position was taken by storm by government troops and Uzbek special forces. According to Channel One, as a result of the storm, the majority of the people who organized the riots and siezed the jail last night were destroyed.

At the same time, the press-service of the President of Uzbekistan was not able to confirm this information. "Currently I cannot confirm that report. I need to get in touch with Andijan and speak with my superiors," said a representative of the press-service of Islam Karimov.

According to some reports, the President personally flew to Andijan, where protesters in the center of the city are demanding his resignation.

Early Friday morning, armed men almost completely took over the city of Andijan in the Fergana valley. They shot several guards at the local prison and released roughly three thousand inmates, many of whom had been convicted of participation in Islamic groups.

In addition, there have been reports of an attack on the military garrison, which houses 500 soldiers. As a result of clashes in the city, no less than 9 people have been killed, including soldiers and policemen. Russian media have reported that the attackers were able to seize a large arsenal of firearms.

At the moment, Uzbek authorities have stopped the broadcasting of several news channels, including CNN and BBC. In addition, according to preliminary reports, news bulletins of Russian television channels have also been banned.

According to Uzbek television, at this time police and army units which have come to Andijan have barricaded the rebels in several locations and are attempting to start negotiations with them. Witnesses on the scene have reported that the rebels, who number about 100 persons, have three armored personnel carriers, which they seized from the army.

Lenta.ru had also earlier reported that the rebels (or protesters, if you prefer, although the work "miatezhniki" is what's used by Lenta) had taken 10 policemen hostage and requested the involvement of President Putin in negotiations. Lenta's report cited Fergana.ru, which I was unable to access a couple of hours ago (it seemed to be overloaded or blocked) and which I now see has not been updated in at least a couple of hours.

I wonder what happened to the hostages? I am sure that the news blackout is intended to allow the authorities to construct an "official version of events," especially if there was a storm in which many people perished, or "were destroyed."

Here's the BBC's most recent report on the situation.

Uzbekistan unrest

Looks like something may be hitting the fan, though perhaps only in a minor way, in Uzbekistan. Nathan is on the case.

Here's the latest from Echo of Moscow radio:

10:48am (MSK) Nine people are dead and 34 injured as a result of riots in the Eastern portion of Uzbekistan, according to the press service of President Islam Karimov. The government states that it is in full control of the situation in Andijon. The rebels who stormed the local jail and freed many inmates have been surrounded at two locations in the city. Negotiations are being conducted with them.

I also heard earlier on Echo that the rioters had taken 10 policemen hostage.

May 1 protest march in St. Petersburg

I am forcing myself to stay awake and get these photos posted, because by the time we get back next Tuesday night, they will be way too stale to put up. We were in St. Petersburg last weekend and accidentally happened upon a demonstration while on our way to (Russian Orthodox) Easter brunch at the Grand Hotel Europe. The St. Petersburg Times covered the Moscow demonstrations instead (or, rather, ran an AP piece about them). Although I'm sure some Russian-language SPB newspaper(s) covered this march, and there were some other people besides me photographing the proceedings, I still feel justified in saying, eat your heart out, English-speaking MSM...

OK, to be fair, the St. Pete Times did have one photo of the SPB demonstrations that I was able to find on their website.

But mine are more interesting:


This was what we saw at around 11:40am as we approached the Green Bridge (Nevsky Prospekt) across the Moika River. Clearly, I missed the first part of the demonstration.


There were lots of elderly people marching, here one of them is partially obscuring a banner proclaiming, "Workers of the world, unite!" - an old Marxist slogan.


Marchers carry photos of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko (left foreground) and former Soviet leader Josef Stalin (farther to the left and farther back).


A sign telling off the United States using a uniquely American gesture. The last time I saw May Day demonstrations in St. Petersburg it was called Leningrad, and they had anti-American signs then, too. The difference (well, OK, one of the minor ones) was that the people marching then didn't know what the "middle-finger salute" was. I tell ya, you share your obscene gestures with people, and they use them against you.


In the same group of people as the anti-American sign above was this sign, which says, "Regime change is [would be] a blessing for the people!" No doubt these folks think that the US is conspiring with or exerting influence on the Putin administration in order to keep Russia weak.


The sign in the foreground says, in the format of a classified ad, "Will trade: Capitalism (with a wolf's teeth) for socialism (with a human face)." The sign farther back reads, "Shame! Shame! Shame! on Putin and his pocket government, United Russia - the main ones to blame for the social genocide of the Russian people."


If you look closely at the sign at the bottom and slightly to the right of center, you will see a message that requires no translation - "Yankee go home." Stalin and Lukashenko placards are once again visible here.


"Get the American-Israeli 5th column out of Russia." Um, OK...


Communist youth group, with a Komsomol banner, flags with Che Guevara's likeness, as well as the machine-gun-emblazoned flags of the Red Youth Vanguard (AKM) movement. Certainly this was not one of the larger groups demonstrating.


"Russian Communist Workers' Party."


"Down with Capitalism."


Looking past a fist-pumping marcher and a Belarusian flag (on the right) toward the golden spire of the Admiralty.


Detatchment from the Union of Soviet Officers, who were rather incongruously also flying a flag with the likeness of Jesus (although I guess that was probably a nod to the fact that May 1 was also Russian Orthodox Easter this year).


The Rodina group - they win the prize for most balloons.


This banner says, "The Russians are coming!" Given the small size of the group of people carrying it, one wonders what the desired or appropriate responses might be.


Backing up that small group pictured above, though, was the larger "Slavic Commuinity" group, with signs reading, "Illegals and immigrants - get out!" "Russian! Don't be a fool! Remember Yugoslavia and Iraq!" and of course "Glory to Russia!"


Here is the group from the National-Bolshevik Party, bringing up the rear.


Afterward, the city cleaned up any dirt left by the demonstrators with a motley group of streetsweeping equipment. This photo was taken at 11:57am, which means that everything I saw of the demonstration lasted for less than 20 minutes.


This guy, seen walking up Nevsky Prospekt in the direction that the demonstrators had gone 10 minutes earlier, must have missed his wake-up call. He was getting mileage out of his sign, though - "Yankee! Get out of Russia!" Ok, buddy.

Pretty pictures

It's amazing that after spending so much time poking around on the internet, there are still new things to find:

Another obsessive Moscow Metro site, although the author of this one admits that Artemy Lebedev's is more comprehensive.

"The Moscow that is no longer" (Moskva kotoroi net), photos of Moscow before it was reshaped according to Stalin's vision - this site also has a companion LiveJournal blog. All in Russian.

And finally, an interesting gallery of photos dealing with pollution and its effects in the former Soviet Union (Thanks to Michele at Blogchik for that last one).

Another day off?

Last Thursday night (April 28), news hit the wires that the government had decided to make Tuesday, May 10th, a holiday in addition to May 9th, and to make up for it by declaring Saturday, May 14th, a work day. The swapping of a weekday for a Saturday work day is not unusual - it is standard here if a federal holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday to swap the Monday or Friday with a Saturday or Sunday, making the latter into a working day.

What was unusual was the fact that the government provided, in this instance, exactly 5 business days' notice of this switcheroo. All of the reasons given - the desire to encourage Muscovites to leave the city for their dachas in order to make crowd control easier at the May 9th Victory Day celebrations, the fact that it would cut down on traffic on May 10th, which may be the getaway day for some of the foreign delegations scheduled to be in town for the festivities on the 9th - are fine as far as they go, but weren't these issues apparent earlier? The 60th anniversary Victory Day celebrations have been planned for quite some time, and it's hard to believe they just came up with this idea last week.

Try to imagine the outcry from the private sector in the US if an additional holiday were announced with a week's notice. In this case, since it's the May vacation season here, employees are as inconvenienced as employers - luckily, Lorina and I were able to change our tickets and will enjoy the extra day off in Geneva (we're flying there tomorrow morning), but I am sure many people with travel already booked were not so lucky.

This whole incident illustrates the attitude which the Russian government has toward its citizens and the business community - "we'll make sure things are convenient for us and our foreign guests, even if it means that you will be inconvenienced or have to change your plans at the last minute." I never thought I would complain about having an extra day off and feel rather churlish doing so, but the way this was announced left a bad taste in my mouth.

Interesting interviews

A couple of interesting interviews highlighted today on Echo of Moscow radio's website (I've translated the money quotes, but the full texts to which the links lead are in Russian):

Gennady Zyuganov - commenting on the authorities' decision to deny the Communists the opportunity to hold an official demonstration on May 9 in Moscow, and on the plans to restrict traffic and access to the city center while numerous foreign leaders visit for security reasons: "But it's supposed to be a celebration! You can't have a curfew in Moscow. You might as well close down the capital and say, '10 million people, get out of here,' and then let Bush and Condoleezza Rice demonstrate by themselves on Red Square!"

Igor Yakovenko, General Secretary of the Union of Russian Journalists - on the current state of Russian TV: "Currently the main leading TV channels in Russia are occupied with propaganda instead of journalism. This transition is taking place with many, many people. Unfortunately, this is the main trend in Russian journalism today."

Visiting VVTs for the book fair - a photo retrospective

I have been meaning to post this photo essay (OK, I admit that's a bit of a lofty term for this group of photos which do not really share a common theme) for some time - all of these photos are from the afternoon of March 12th, when I paid a visit to the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VVTs, formerly known as VDNKh) - a cross between a convention center and a huge expo pavillion on a par with something you might see at Disneyland - to attend the Moscow International Book Fair.


Getting off the metro (the station is still called VDNKh) just before noon, I was confronted with the Kosmos monument. Definitely an iconic Moscow sight, and one of several such items that make the visit to VVTs obligatory for tourists in Moscow, in my opinion.

To get to the monument from the metro, you actually have to first navigate an intimidatingly bustling row of shops, cafes, and gambling establishments, known as the "Alleia Zviozd," or Star Alley. One of the things that struck me this time was how clearly the branding of some of the slot-machine halls is aimed at children (gambling is set to be a huge social plague in Russia, as well as big business):


Zolotoi Arbuz (Golden Watermelon) casino across from the metro station entrance.


Fan-Fan Slots Club.


Joker-club casino.


Limon Gambling Club (the word Limon is slang for a million as well as meaning "lemon").

Another funny thing to see in and around the VVTs was the incongruities between items being sold on the same patch of signage:


A confederate flag promoting "Rock gear" shares space with an African-themed ad for the "Magic Camel" cafe, at the end of Star Alley.


Billboard advertising biotoilets (a.k.a., port-a-potties) on the left-hand side and musical instruments on the right-hand side; apparently you can buy both at the VVTs.


Billboard advertising electroshock devices for "self-defense" alongside an ad for a children's club.

There was a lot of snow on the ground that day (as there was all winter, until it vanished miraculously during the first week of April):


One of the many pedestrian alleys at the VVTs that were snowed under. You can just see the tops of benches peeking out from under the drifts along the walkway.

And many of the attractions which draw Moscow families to the VVTs in the summer were closed or unused on this wintry day:

Unused "Free Throw" basketball game with NBA player images (no doubt unlicensed) and the seductive words "Win a Prize!!!" on the base.


Empty but spinning carousel-type ride (known as a gribok, I think, because it's shaped like a mushroom).


The book fair was very well attended, though, in spite of the weather.

And on the way out, I saw more interesting advertising:


The woman is sporting a sandwich board advertising "Street" clothing from a store called "Ghetto."


This woman's sandwich board advertises a Voentorg, or military apparel store, and the word in large print is "body armor" - guess that's their most popular product. The large archway in the background is the majestic entrance to the VVTs grounds.


"Street level hip hop shop" - the man in the photo is obscuring an ad for Rocawear - at the end of Star Alley.

America-Russia.net

Happily, there are people out there who are working to build better US-Russian relations. The organizers of this project are listed at the end of the announcement, which I initially saw on JRL:

May 1, 2005 - New bilingual U.S. Russia site launched today

The essence and thrust of our project is evident from its very name: America-Russia: From Confrontation to Alliance.

Today, mentioning the word “alliance” with reference to U.S.-Russian relations jars the ear of only the most ardent supporters of confrontation between America and Russia, as in the all but forgotten days of the Cold War. Unfortunately, many such people still have influence in both our nations. One would have thought the American tragedy of “9-11” should have taught them, informing them that the times of the Cold War era belong irrevocably to the past. Russians and Americans now face a common enemy: Islamic terrorism (which, incidentally, struck Russia long before it did America).

We share a common approach to combating this phenomenon; a common aspiration to eliminate threats to our present-day civilization: regional conflicts, the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, illicit drugs and the spread of AIDS, among challenging issues. We also share a common belief that one of the best guarantees for a stable world order is democracy. All of this is embodied not only in politicians’ speeches, but also within a collaborative framework strengthening bilateral relations, and above all within the framework of the anti-terrorist coalition. [...]

The commonalities uniting our two countries are much more profound than those characteristics which separate us: a firm resolve to confront Islamic terrorism, a strategic interest in nurturing our energy dialogue and the aspiration to maintain stability and democratic order throughout the world, despite Russia’s history of democracy being much shorter than America’s, or the necessity for Russia to continue to develop it, much like many other countries around the world.

What’s more, Russia’s stability and future prospects for democracy are very much tied to its relations with America. For sure, those who would jettison democracy as a viable option for Russia’s future are doing their utmost to scar America’s image. The same is happening in America with respect to Russia.

This is why we consider it so important to discuss in a serious forum pressing issues concerning our countries’ bilateral relations and the positions that experts and analysts make. Most importantly, this discussion must take place in a constructive, cordial fashion. [...] Our objective is to create not only another expert discussion forum, but also a kind of reality even if only virtual exemplifying constructive, harmonious relations between our two nations. [...]

It is symbolic that this project should commence on the eve of the 60th anniversary of our common victory over fascism. It serves as one more forceful reminder of our allied past. It also serves to guide our alliance in the future.

Edward Lozansky, president of the American University in Moscow and of Kontinent USA Media Group
Gleb Pavlovsky, president of the Foundation for Effective Policy and publisher of Russky Zhurnal
Aleksandr Shumilin, director of the Center for Analysis of Greater Middle East Conflicts and publisher of MidEast.Ru
Peter Lavelle, United Press International analyst and author of Untimely Thoughts

Here's a link to the Russian version of the site , and here's the English version.

What we're up against

I put up a post last December about a Swedish ad that pokes a bit of fun at American unilateralism (as well as apparently recycling an old nautical joke). There seem to be a lot of people searching for information on the ad (using search terms like "USS Montana" and "lighthouse"), and I recently received a comment on this post from one "anonymouse" which went as follows:

You are a moron (and so are the ones that made it), lets look at it on the surface, lets say that the ships instruments did not tell them it was a light house. Nautical law (international law) which was made in the EU (you guys) says that the larger ship gets the right of way. In the text of the commercial, he says "... the second largest ship in the North Atlantic fleet..." and he probably has some idea where the largest one is, there for if there was another ship, that ship by international laws must give way, your laws you made over there.

Leaving aside the commenter's unclear logic and tortured syntax, as well as the fact that he failed to realize that I'm American - and if he assumed I'm Russian then he failed to realize that Russia's not an EU member (hence not one of "you guys") - I found it funny that he used the same "your laws you made over there" tone that one sometimes hears used by Russians talking about the United States. "Tam u vas..." is the equivalent of "over there," and it's of course conceptually opposed to "Tut u nas..."

People like this are inherently hostile to foreigners, especially when those foreigners poke fun at their motherland, and their mentality (unfortunately as common in the US as it is in Russia) is an impediment to broad-based international cooperation and understanding. Anyone who wants to promote taking a more critical view of their own country, especially if that country is a superpower or has been one in the recent past, and wants to promote looking more open-mindedly at other countries, is going to clash with people like this sooner or later. Unfortunately, the same globalization trends which have allowed Americans to become more productive and enjoy greater material benefits have also made it much more difficult for us to ignore or reflexively criticize the opinions held by people in other countries. The take-no-prisoners, brook-no-backtalk approach might work in the short term, but eventually it will lead to the US being isolated from and disliked by countries whose cooperation it needs. To paraphrase the immortal Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along here?"

More on the Pavlis case

On the occasion of Irma Pavlis's sentencing date, for those of you who read Russian, here's a link to an entry on Maxim Sokolov's LiveJournal with extensive comments discussing the case and its coverage in Russia.