Russia's Gangster Regime

There is a new book by Karen Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (2015).  See the outstanding review by Anne Appelbaum, "How He and His Cronies Stole Russia," New York Review of Books (18 December 2014). If you follow Russia and Russian history, then you should read the review and the book. Interesting that when I checked on Amazon.com, Dawisha's book was listed number 1 best seller in the category "Organized Crime True Accounts."

Gorbachev and the Wall, 25 Years later

Reasonable article recently on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany:  Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Iron Curtain fell because of Mikhail Gorbachev – yet today he is despised as a traitor by Russians

It does continue to surprise me that attitude of bother Russians and Westerners towards Gorbachev, and I could easily add Khrushchev to the equation. In some way, it reminds me of the attitude of Americans towards President Obama.  Too much of the status quo being threatened.

PBS Show on Khrushchev's Visit to the United States 1959

PBS American Experience is showing, Khrushchev's American Journey, aka Cold War Roadshow aka Travels with Nikita, covering Nikita Khrushchev's ten day visit to the United States in September 1959. Commentary is by Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Khrushchev, and William Taubman, Russian historian and biographer of Khrushchev.  Great film clips.  Definitely worth watching to remember that even at the very depths of the Cold War there was a small chance that it could all be avoided. You can find reviews of the episode in the Washington Post, New York Times, etc.

Ukraine and Russia November

Parliamentary elections have been held in Ukraine, with the exception of some of the eastern territories where elections were not possible, with a generally Western-oriented complexion to parliament having emerged.

It is clear that the cease-fire is a cease fire in name only. Russia's claims that it is not intervening in Ukraine with troops and equipment is just that a claim, but not a statement that has any truth to it. The photographic evidence is pretty clear that Russia is pouring heavy weaponry and troops into Ukraine. Not sure how those troops feel about embarking on war with Ukraine.

NATO, the UN, Europe and the United States seem paralyzed about how to deal with the Putin government after enacting a mixed bag of financial restrictions.

Ukraine and Russia

The presidential election has taken place in Ukraine, and there is a duly-elected president now.  Civil unrest continues in the east; and no one is sure what Putin is up to, except Putin himself, and why do Russians have to call their brothers in Ukraine "fascists"?  And where to rebels in eastern Ukraine go to buy anti-aircraft batteries? It is all very confusing.

Set of Podcasts on the Jews of Russia

Shimson Ayzenberg, PhD student at Stanford, has done three podcasts so far on the history of Jews in Russia.

Russian/Soviet Cooking Memoir

Just finished a memoir that intertwines a family's history, the cooking heritage of Russia and Russian historical events of the twentieth century.  That's the new volume by Anya von Bremzen, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing (2013).  Not a bad read.  Found the coverage of the short Gorbachev era very interesting, as I continue to find it amazing just how much the Russians hated him (and his anti-alcohol policies).
ps.  Four days until the Sochi winter olympic games. Read this by Kathy Lally, Olympic dream in Sochi: Internet in the hotel. Unsure how much focus the games with bring to Putin and his policies in the Caucasus, Syria, Ukraine and at home.

Vodka Politics

Forthcoming from Oxford U Press, is a volume entitled Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy, and the Secret History of the Russian State by Mark Lawrence Schrad.  Just finished reading an advanced copy, and I must say that I enjoyed it.  The essential premise of the book is that since the days of Ivan IV, the Russian government has been between a rock and a hard place with respect to alcohol production and consumption.  On one hand, the vodka monopoly brought in such huge amounts of money to the Russian treasury (and there didn't seem to be any other alternatives).  On the other hand, the drinking of alcohol by Russians had certain serious social, health and economic costs.  That's the simple story.

The decision by Nicholas II to introduce prohibition for World War I clearly demonstrated this problem the government faced.  On the one hand, it seemed like a good idea, but on the other hand stopping vodka slaes deprived the government of its most important tax revenue source in the middle of the war!

The book has some great anecdotes about Stalin's legendary drinking parties, which are also pretty thoroughly documented by Milovan Djilas and Khrushchev, and earlier drinking bouts by other Russian rulers.  I found the portions of the book dealing with Gorbachev, Eltsin, Putin, Medvedev and then Putin again to be the most interesting as each of these men, as head of the Russian state, struggled to deal with the issue of alcohol production and alcoholism in Russia.

The health costs connected to high vodka consumption in Russia have been pretty staggering, including a falling life expectancy for men and a falling birth rate for women (the depopulation of Russia).  The interesting idea of "demodernization" of Russia is broached.  That is a concept that I hadn't heard of before (not surprising since I am a historian not a social scientist), and an idea that bears a bit more research.

There are problems with the book, but there are great footnotes and an extensive bibliography.  Strength is really the part of the book dealing with the last 25 years.

The Wild, Wild World of Russian History Scholars

I should be posting more frequently here, but I have to admit that I am not exactly coming across a whole lot of great news in the field of Russian history.  Yes, I've said that before.  Just finished reading the most current issues of Russian History, Slavic Review and the American Historical Review.  I browsed through all the scholarly articles (read none), and then browsed through and read a lot of the book reviews.  There is nothing that I can pass on to you from all of that reading, and not sure why the stuff is even published.  One thing that did strike me was that most of the book reviewers don't know the subject well enough to be critical of the book under review.  They all mostly sum up the book and then say what a lovely contribution it is to the field.  Look, if you are reviewing a book about the Eastern Front in 1916, and the author used no Russian sources (of any kind), I am not sure how it can contribute to anything.

Polievktov-Nikoladze Archive

From St. Petersburg to Notre Dame (Digital Exhibit).  See the article by A. P . Monta, Zinaida and the Golden Cache, that describes the acquisition of this historical archive by the University of Notre Dame.  It would be nice if more of the archive appears online in digital form.