NPR: Kyrgyz Town Lives with Radioactive Soviet Legacy

NPR has a lengthy and detailed story dated Feburary 5, 2008 by its Russian field agent Ivan Watson on the heaps of radioactive waste that the Soviet Union left in the town of Mailuu-Suu in Kyrgyzstan. Its residents "are accustomed to living next to radioactive waste. Some locals even joke that they need radiation to survive."

Who knows; perhaps the old stories of the 1950s about exposure to radiation producing horrible mutants that terrorize villages at night and eat babies will be true. More likely it will result in huge groundwater contamination and dozens of slow deaths by cancer.

Still higher tensions between Georgia and Russia

What's behind this? Separatism is strong in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as previously discussed on this blog and Russia media sources. Georgia accused Russia of "sending fighter jets into its airspace to undermine a visit by American Secretary of State Rice" this past Wednesday, July 9, and then recalled its ambassador to Russia on July 10. Interesting times...Publish Post

NPR on Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

NPR's Ivan Watson had a story on today's (June 6, 2008) All Things Considered entitled "Experts: Lessons of Soviets in Afghanistan Ignored," in which some interviewees argue that America is now making many of the same mistakes that the Soviet Union made in their invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet attack lasted ten years; the American's is just seven years old, so far.

We are facing so many relics of the Cold War. Iraq was the American proxy against the Soviet proxy of Iran. Iran had been our plaything for a while, too. Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq still dominate the headlines today.

Zelenograd, the Soviet Union's Silicon Valley wanna-be

The Register: How a pair of American spies created the Soviet Silicon Valley

"Few stories in computing history come close to matching the tale of Zelenograd – the Soviet Union's attempt at creating something along the lines of Silicon Valley."

This ties together two of my life's passions, computers and Soviet Russia.

Part 1 • Part 2

Tanks and troops and ICBMs, oh my!

It seems just like old times! The Guardian has a very good take on the renewed display of military might in Red Square. The BBC also has a spot on this. Most amusing in that article was a quote from V. Putin, who "said earlier that the display of heavy weapons in this year's Victory Day parade was 'not sabre-rattling', but 'a demonstration of our growing defence capability'."

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Previously undiscussed here: Georgia accuses Russia of shooting down drone.

Questions from this: How did Georgia have or get a drone? Who sold it to them, or did they make it themselves?

Second, the shoot-down happened on 21 April, and occurred over the separatist region of Abkhazia. It seems likely that Russia would not want Abkhazia to break off from Georgia — we don't want to give the Chechens any ideas, eh?

Russia "expels US embassy staff"

This just got interesting.

BBC:

Russia has ordered the expulsion of two military attaches from the American embassy in Moscow, US officials say.

The US state department said it would comply with the order although it objected to it.

Two Russians have been expelled from Washington in recent months, one in November and the second on 22 April.

Apparently this is unrelated to the sit-in by National Bolshevik activists at the Russian embassy in Kiev. (Is it?)

The Independent: Power struggle as Medvedev takes office

Should be interesting... more on Medvedev later.