August 29, 2005 01:46 PM
In Russia, the brush of an artiste recasts the complexities of regional politics.
MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian parliamentarian Aleksei Mitrofanov of the notorious LDPR party reported this week that he had completed shooting a 26-minute soft porn titled Yulia. The main actors in the film have the same first names and bear a striking resemblance to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili...[snip]Ukraine and Georgia have both protested against Mitrofanov’s project, and Ukrainian media has spread a rumor that a gay porn film featuring look-alikes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovich is being made.
Mitrofanov dismissed all the criticism as groundless. He told the media that the Yulia film will take foreign relations to new heights —- literally and figuratively. “Political erotics are a new genre that I have discovered,” he said. “The film is about politics. It makes a political statement, they don’t just [have sex].”
“Is the film The Interpreter propaganda or big cinema?” Mitrofanov said. “Is the film JFK propaganda or big cinema? [Insert image of American journalists shuffling feet, looking at ground] Why is it that in America these films are considered big cinema but films like this in Russia are considered propaganda? This is big cinema and I am a great master.”
[Hat Tip: Kiev Ukraine News Blog]
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Congressional Mystery Theater
August 28, 2005 10:02 AM
I'm not completely sure what to make of this. But there are a few superficially striking aspects to it. The first is that iGate's contributions are limited to just two lawmakers -- William Jefferson and Loretta Sanchez -- in one election cycle ('04), according to the Center for Responsive Politics. None of the company's four U.S. offices is located in either Member's district. And neither lawmaker sits on a committee whose agenda would overlap with the company's needs in the natural flow of Congressional business. Not that it makes much difference anyhow: The company is not registered to lobby Congress. In my experience, corporate political action committees don't ordinarily contribute to lawmakers who are outside their "zone": districts where the company operates; committees where the company has specific needs; the Congressional leadership. (PACs are built on employee contributions, and are thus expected to act in employee interests.) And PACs certainly don't leave the zone to contribute to two Members of the minority party in the House. As a wise House Speaker once said (and I paraphrase), "The role of the minority in the House is to make a quorum and draw a paycheck." And one more odd thing about iGate: The company never seems to have registered a PAC, which would make the Jefferson and Sanchez gifts ($8,000 apiece) illegal. If anyone can find information to dispute this, I'd be happy to make a correction, but I've looked everywhere. One possible lead... Jefferson and Sanchez are both active in minority outreach for the Democrats; iGate is a federally certified Minority-Owned Business. This might at least explain how they all know one another.
Anarchist Puppy Slayer Attacks!
August 27, 2005 08:10 AM
The New Zealand Herald shows America's "controversial new ambassador" to the United Nations, five seconds before he chewed the leg off a nearby buffet table at the commissary.
Gongadze Honored
August 27, 2005 06:27 AM
In 2000, 31-year-old Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze was murdered -- beheaded, in fact -- as he pursued allegations of corruption in former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's regime. Secretly recorded conversations between Kuchma and his interior minister, Yuri Kravchenko, appeared to directly implicate the former president in the murder. In March, Kravchenko was shot and killed, only hours before he was to testify in the case. Kuchma's successor, Viktor Yushchenko, posthumously awarded Gongadze the country's highest honor at a ceremony Wednesday, the 14th anniversity of Ukrainian independence.
Cranky As She Goes...
August 27, 2005 05:51 AM
At the Commonwealth of Independent States conference in Tatarstan, the Russians threaten -- nicely, very nicely -- to starve the populations of their uppity neighbors.
For its part Russia has made clear it is radically rethinking its policy towards its former republics."We shall be patient enough to explain to our CIS partners that Russia does not intend to rebuild the Soviet empire," a Kremlin official, requesting not to be named, said before the meeting.
"But the state of affairs whereby Russia de facto subsidises the economy of certain countries by providing them with energy at a price which penalises [Russia], while the people of these countries go hungry, no longer suits us," he added.
"This situation lays the groundwork for 'orange revolutions' (the name given to that in Ukraine) after which nothing much changes for people but some people get direct or backdoor payments from the Americans." [My bold]
Bush Rebukes Robertson, Says Original Recipe Beats Extra Crispy
August 24, 2005 07:07 AM
The AP's Anne Gearan discovers that even two kooks can disagree now and then.
WASHINGTON - There's an old Southern saying that you dance with the one that brung ya, but as the Bush administration found out this week, sometimes you don't want to dance too close. The administration quickly distanced itself Tuesday from the suggestion by religious broadcaster and Bush backer Pat Robertson that the United States assassinate a leftist Latin American head of state. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called Robertson's remarks about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "inappropriate," but stopped short of condemning them."This is not the policy of the United States government," McCormack said. "We do not share his views."
The Bush administration does share many of Robertson's views on other matters, such as stem cell research, and Robertson's largely conservative, evangelical audience overlaps with the core of Bush's political base....[snip]
In other AP news, Bush may not believe that a witches' brew of pagans, homosexuals and ACLU lawyers doomed the country to terrorist attack on Sept. 11.
Jesus, it's cold here in Kyiv. Confined more than usual to my apartment, I've been checking in with the journalists at the BBC. And I have an observation. If BBC producers would just instruct the reporters to end every field segment with the words, "But what does this mean for global warming?" they would be able to slip seamlessly into the next report - and maybe save a few quid on staffing the presenter desk. A modest proposal.
February 22, 2007 11:19 AM · 
A middle-aged Ukrainian woman told me last night about her experiences as a member of the Komsomol, the Communist Youth organization during the Soviet era. On Christmas and Easter, she and other members of the group were ordered to the local churches, where they were instructed to form two concentric rings around the buildings by locking arms. These rings were intended as a defense perimeter that would keep people from going to church on religious occasions. This peculiar Soviet abhorrence of religion is one reason that in Ukraine gifts are not exchanged on Christmas, but rather (last night) on New Year's Eve. In 2007, let's all of us, and especially us Americans, make a little more effort to keep in perspective our astonishing good fortune, and be grateful for what some sacrifice to preserve it. America may not be perfect, but it's the closest thing we've got.
January 1, 2007 06:51 AM ·
Kofi Annan has stepped down at the U.N. - at least a decade too late. I predict future historians will find it difficult to judge whether this ineffectual dupe was the puppet of genocidal regimes and autocrats or just their indispensable enabler. It is tough to fully enumerate the sins and consequences of this repugnant figure, but this WSJ editorial begins the grim task.
December 17, 2006 05:59 AM ·
