WORD COUNT: 530 One of the unexpected bonuses of learning Russian is discovering just how how much comedy exists in that language. I was always raised to think of Russia as a dour, dull place, but underneath that grey exterior exists a beating humorous heart. Russians engaged in fighting Ukrainians have come up with an interesting nickname for their opponents: Укропы or “Ukropi”. This comes … Continue reading Dill Heads
Word Count: 1655 Lately, I’ve been up to my eyeballs dealing with personal problems, but even so I managed to note that Victoria Nuland, Romania’s frenemy, made a brief stop in Bucharest on Wednesday (Jan 14) for private meetings with PM Victor Ponta and newly-elected President Herr Klaus, as well as the usual coterie of interlocutors. All that was normal, and to be expected, as … Continue reading Loony Gas
Not too long ago, someone left an angry comment on this blog, complaining that s/he came for stories about wine and other “pleasant” subjects, and didn’t want to hear any more pro-Russian stories. All that’s fine and good, and I urge anyone who doesn’t like this site (or any other website on the internet) to lift their finger one millimeter and click away to something … Continue reading Agitprop
Unbeknownst to me, on the exact same day that I was writing my Moldovan parliamentary elections post, a writer named Andrew Higgins in America was busy writing an article for a major newspaper that was tangentially related to my article. In my post, I suggested that much of the anti-Russian hysteria was unjustified and vastly inflated, and several people angrily commented that I had it … Continue reading Pot versus Kettle
Well, I’ve been indulging in my logorrheal tendencies recently so let’s keep it short and sweet today and look at a picture that I took at my local supermarket. In case your Russian is a little rusty, the one on the left is the spicy/hot (Ro: iute) version. Also, it’s not just that the labels are in Russian, this ketchup is made in Russia. But … Continue reading From Russia, With Love
All Things Romania 