Archives for May 2008
Letting Memories Scatter To The Wind
Back in the day, when the up is down “We Want World Peace” (mezhdunarodnie mir) meant something, as did Fulda Gap (bet you haven’t seen that chestnut in ages), we had an excursion to the collapsing alien planet in the East. Just a few short years before that we were there and the climate and culture of fear? Oppressively omnipresent. The Old Men seemingly were dying once a day. But still the machine chugged along. There, one truly felt like the Mars Rover touching down. Even the stars above seemed like those from another world.
Now skip a fears forward. A couple of years into the man-who-destroyed-the-Soviet-Union’s-reign. The place in some ways unrecognizable. Bars now allowed foreigners (but unfortunately chose terrible music), dollars flowing freely, kids openly consorting with said foreigners, and within limits it simply became a less fearful place. We even spent time down at Sochi, the Black Sea resort complex long favored by the ruling nomenklatura. The specific resort? Named after Molotov’s wife (whom Stalin had sent to the gulag). It actually was a gas, (but not jumping or flashing). Great beaches of the Black Sea kind, bad copies of American video games from the 1970s, and this odd drink that the East Germans apparently believed was Orangina. But hey, it beat hanging around Kharkov (the Cleveland of the Soviet Union).
So how sad to see our favorite unbelievably mediocre Soviet resort complex (even in its heyday) fall into such disarray. We all know that the Soviet armed forces and the rest of the infrastructure collapsed. We’ve even seen it up close and personal. The History Channel and others cover it like military porn. But Sochi? It hurts. In some ridiculously cheesy way, it defined the pathetic pinnacle of Soviet elite luxury. Everything, of course, has changed now and Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Funny what billions and billions of oil money can do.
Can the Soviets Russians turn it around by 2014? Oddly, under the Old Regime and its capacity for ruthless mobilization, it might have been an easier if more mediocre restoration. Finns might help out then as they did the Pribaltiskaya in Vladgrad Leningrad St. Petersburg. Today, firms from all over can create some mishmash. The Russian private wealth easily could pay for it all. As mentioned, oil prices are helpful.
Still, it won’t be the Sochi everyone remembers. The city of bad video games and worse East German beverages.
What’s Oddly Missing
Bizzare that the Post ignores the major issues and focuses on the minor. It’s almost as if Fred Hiatt temporarily took over the rest of the A section.
Happy Holidays all.
Prayers
For Senator Kennedy
Uh, Wow, We Guess, Sorta
Back in earlier years, a presidential campaign was in total disarray. Complete and total confusion. Such that two arch members of what later would become the VRWC were able to take charge of an event of a major city, organize the motorcade (who got priority in what cars) and stage the major photographic event of the campaign in that city. We even ensured the risers were set up properly for the television (local coverage over national for the primary) and where print got to sit (towards the back) and where photographers got to sit.
For our efforts we were put in a 5 star hotel of national fame, room service, the works. We even invited other fellow future members of the VRWC to come visit the generosity (the suite was not actually paid for by the campaign for technical reasons).
When the candidate (whom we liked personally a great deal — and no, not from Arkansas) was on the plane, the candidate directly asked if me my VRWC friend would join the campaign full time. Right then there, sit on the plane and follow them as staff. We even got enthusiastic support from others around the candidate. It was surreal.
It was also, to this day, we believe an honest effort. We gave our best professional assistance which was directly appreciated by the candidate and staff. We could not, however, in good faith continue because it would require dishonesty and calculation unwarranted in a presidential campaign. How we helped and set up this event remains one our most pleasant and positive memories of participatory, open (as opposed the Warlord’s loyalty tests) democracy. As it should be and was, to an extent, before the recent Darkness.
So why the preamble? The tiresome Huffpo (has she had work done? Just an aside question based on a tv appearance. Sometimes the makeup staff either deliberately or in haste do not do justice to the natural appearance of those on a show) blows up that the Crown Prince is drawing large crowds. So what.
Recall the size of the crowds Bill Clinton was able to summon for Kerry after his surgery. Meant squat. They dwarfed the Crown Prince’s in certain cities. And back to the earlier candidate. Even before the final vote tally, he too was able to summon large and enthusiastic crowds. Again, squat.
Call us impressed. Even at the coronation. We’ll see where he is in November. That’s all that matters.