Lady of Csjthe

A Vancouverite made a movie in Russia about Betty Bathory in Transylvania but was actually in Hungary but now Slovakia. Dunno if it will get an American release with English dubs or subtitles.

A Return to Monarchy

With all the crap going on in SE Europe & Russia rattling it's sabers, fucking Romania, a republic, Is talking about going back to being a monarchy.
I honestly don't know how precedented this is but it does fall in line with the rise in nationalism throughout Europe & the rest of the world.
It would certainly be a real life Conservative thing to do. Wonder if the royalty would take over the church, too?

Read more at The Romanian Insider

Read even more at >The Romanian Insider

John Cranley, Cincinnati's Own Vladimir Putin

A group of Russia experts got together to try to guess Vlad Putin's next moves. Their evaluation of Putin's strategies seem very John Cranleyish.
Divide & divide, stir people up & then swoop in with a seemingly reactionary plan.
And all of it stemming from an insatiable lust for control and power.

He (Gary Kasparov) said that, rather than marching across the border, Russia would try to stir up some pro-Moscow "form of dissent" in the Baltics. This would allow Russia to maintain plausible deniability and characterize any military action in the region as a reaction — something that would make it difficult for NATO members to call it an invasion.
and
What may be most disconcerting about Putin in general, however, is his lack of predictability. All of the panelists agreed on one thing: Putin's end goal is to stay in power. And if that goal is suddenly best furthered through making noise in the Baltics, then there's a very real possibility he'll take action.
"We're talking about a man who doesn't have a plan. So we're trying to figure out what his plan is, but he doesn't have one," Gessen said. "He sees that as an option. It is definitely an option, he is considering it, and he may wake up one morning and do it."

But, hey, maybe annexing some nearby towns might be a good idea.

More on Vlad here.

Putin will teach you to love the Motherland

Putin will teach you to love the MotherlandIt appears Pussy Riot is at it again. God I love the vocals - Russian just nails it for angry punk music.
Whatever, they've got their work cut out for 'em. Between some stuff Eric Voegelinwrote & stuff like this article, What Makes The Russians Tick? by Richard Longworth, I don't thin change - real change - is coming to Russia anytime soon.

Zombie Fever
While it might sound like a movie about some kind of necrophiliac fetish, it's the international name of Russia's first big low-budget zombie movie, Zombie Holiday. But coming from Russia, who knows? Due for release this fall.

More here

BANNED
Remember when Russia was the nation of god hating commie atheists? Well, it's becoming a more theocratic state with the help of Vlad Putin who has conveniently become pals with the Russian Orthodox Church. This church/state relationship resulted in the persecution of the group Pussy Riot and has now outlawed Zombie Walks.
Will the USA just sit by & do nothing? Most likely. What the hell, if Russia wants to be a boring brain dead theocratic shithole - let 'em.

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UPDATE: 2 of the Pussy Rioters involved in the "hooligansim" who were not convicted have fled Russia. Fine, let Russia lose more of it's young people. They are apparently having a hard time recruiting military, maybe they can bleed some more younguns through draconian repression.

Pussy Riot Solidarity Day
August 17 is Inernational Pussy Riot Solidarity Day. 3 of the members are expected to be sentenced to 2 year prison terms today or Monday. A fitting punishment for the children whose mothers dared to sing a political song in a church that seems to be a tourist attraction as much as a church.

Moscow Times article here

Pussy Riot Live Jurnal