Whilst puppy and kitten sitting, I managed to watch half of the first episode. Usually I like anything with Saorise-Monica Jackson in it, but this left me cold. Who would have known that 1347 Florence was half Indian? Blind casting indeed ( Read more... )

I never told you about the time that I was Russian Orthodox. 2005 and I was engaged to a Belarussian gal. My Reformed Unitarianism doesn't seem to be going anywhere, time to become pravoslavie again ( Read more... )

I never mentioned my visit to Romania, in the summer of 1996. My ex fiancee had dumped me a few months before. We had worked with Moldovans (ethnic Romanians and ethnic Russians) and I was invited to Moldova (by the Foreign Minister). I landed in Bucharest after spending the night at Gatwick, trying to sleep on the floor to save money and catch the ( Read more... )

The Ukrainian embassy in London is reduced to begging supporters for 4 x 4 vehicles. Tell me, how well is the war going for Kiev and how badly for the Kremlin? Tories are now tub thumping about "WW3".

The west is getting its knickers in a twist over the upcoming Slovak election. Has it underestimated tensions between ethnic Slovaks and Magyars in border areas ( Read more... )

Dear Pam, I will begin with the first day or two. The British contingent met at Heathrow and flew out, I’d met most of them, a few months previously, at our interview. Ben, Tina (Malaysian) Cressida and two new females who were sent to the Altai foothills, near Barnaul (more of which anon). The night of our arrival there was a party, I met my co ( Read more... )

How odd, in the last two day a couple of Ukrainian universities (supposedly in rubble) have been accessing my profile. Slava Bogu, indeed. It dread inna Inglan.

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To which I may add Astana and Tashkent. I would love to visit the Stans, money, alas, is a problem. Lebanon and Iran are interesting too. The five former Soviet republics have a geopolitically globally important place. The Muslim world meets the Chinese sphere of influence, all with Russia next door. Slava!

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Much is being made in the western press of gains by the Ukraine against the Russians. War is a matter of fluctuation, and front lines are fluid on occasion. Russia could defeat the west in a war of attrition. Strategy and tactics, from von Clausewitz to Koniev, dictate what happens next. Propaganda is churned out by both sides. Ukrainian troops ( Read more... )

Found dead in after a fall from a Geneva room after a row with his girlfriend, was Stephane Blet killed, or did he commit suicide? Noted Turcophile pianist.

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