Lex Libertas

I presented on Tuesday, saying the Atlantic Alliance in trouble over a possible European Common Foreign Policy that would create a monolithic single decision that all members would be forced to uphold, thus ruling out the participation of some in coalitions of the willing. After all, in 2003, Chriac told Poland, Czech, Hunary, Romania, etc. that they “missed a good opportunity to shut up,” and they were essentially threatening their EU membership by supporting the US. Give the Franco-German core a deciding hand in crafting EU Foreign Policy, and it will be disaterous for the Alliance.

Overall, I wasn’t prepared enough, and thus gave a less than stellar presentation. I came off as too aggressive. Primarily because I wasn’t confident enough in my preparation, so I went overboard in forcefullness, but secondarily, because the style of speaking over here isn’t quite as direct as in American Academia, so there was a bit of a shock for some in the audience. Still, it was fun.

There’s a conference at my school this week on “New Europe and New Russia,” for international young researchers. I’m giving a presentation on Tuesday about the changing role of NATO. Not my favorite sphere, but tangentially related to it. I’m leaning towards giving an exposition on the organization’s role in the War on Terrorism, with a substantial section dedicated to the damaged transatlantic relationship. I’m also going to float the idea of Israel joining up.

While not entirely topical, this article about our relentless drive for “stability” changed my thinking on some things, and is a pretty good attempt at taking down the commonly held idea that stability should be a primary goal of our foreign policy.

I was told today that this is the coldest March in 30 years, Global Warming my arse! I’m still waiting for the “out like a lamb.” Sunday was relatively sunny, considering the weather for this past week, and I decided to venture out and buy a new printer cartridge. On my way, I took two pictures of the courtyard that I walk through on my way to the bus stop:

This guy was drunk (it was about 2pm … nothing out of the norm about that), and I didn’t intend for him to be in the picture. But to me it seems to emphasize a certain sense of isolation, he seems lost. Perhaps asking himself the question, “How did I get here?” And if you look hard enough, you can see that he’s in the middle of an intersection of two paths. Perhaps he’s trying to decide between a PhD and a law degree… Or maybe that’s just a little too much projection on my part By the way, the building with the bluish-green trim is a school.

Here’s the completion of the square. I continue off to the right to get to the bus stop. I live in a building like the long one in the background.

My University has a computer lab, comprised of approximately thirty machines. Old does not come close to describing these machines, they don’t even have USB ports, and most can’t open pdf files. Loading the simplest of graphics takes minutes, and searching for Magazine articles is frustrating work. Also, the room is ridiculously hot, even in the dead of winter.

Here we have the door into the computer lab. No, Danielle is not a giant, and no, this is not a trick or weird angle. That is indeed a minidoor. You have to bend in half and walk down to get through the door frame, then there is a little staircase leading further down into the actual room. So when you’re inside, the bottom of the door is about waist level. This is the top floor of our university, which used to be a monastery. Apparently the Monks took the phrase “leap of faith” literally, and preferred to have a three foot drop when entering rooms.

Here’s a picture of the entrance to the computer lab, which reminds me very much of the speech and debate room at UCLA.

And here’s me using the computers

The New York Times recently ran an article entitled: “Does the Affordable Paris Bistro Still Exist? Oui.” Take a guess at what the New York Times considers affordable … oh, only about 100 euros ($135)!!!!! And they wonder why the average American considers them a bunch of effete, rich East Coasters.

Kofi Annan visited the West Bank the other day to talk about his support for a two-state solution. As expected, the conversation turned to talk of the separation wall between Israel and the Palestinian territories. In all seriousness, Annan announced that the “United Nations was establishing a register of property damage caused by the separation barrier.” I see, and what about the property damage caused by suicide bombers? Any registers there? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Anyone who downloaded AOL Instant Messenger after February 5, 2004, will be subject to the new terms of service.

“You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the content or to be compensated for any such uses,” according to the AIM terms-of-service.
…
“In addition, by posting content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this content in any medium,” it added.

In the immortal words of Mr. Garrison, “You go to hell! You go to hell and you die!!”

This is me standing on a little square in front of my school, which is situated to the right, just out of view. I’m surrounded by government buildings of some sort or another. For example, the one on the right is the British Embassy. I’m not sure what this building is, but it’s directly behind the photographer:

If you look closely, you’ll see two circles under the Russian emblem. The one on the left is Lenin, of the style that school children used to wear on their uniforms. And I believe the rigt circle is a battleship. It’s a shame they left the Lenin pic up. And yes, that blue tint really is the way it looks outside…

The weather is unseasonably cold. It’s amazing how a dip into -15C will get you to shut up about -5. According to Russian standards, spring has already started (March 1st), but it’s actually colder than winter, there wasn’t even snow here for the first weeks of January.

Update: An explanation of the building and Lenin picture to be found here.

Thanks to Mike for the input.

Europe, in general, prefers dance music to rock. My friends know that I have a particular fondness for trashy Europop, but even I have my limits. I came close to reaching them when I first heard the �Ding Ding Dong Song,� by Gunther and the Sunshine Girls. The chorus is a rousing:

�Oh, you touch my tra la la
Hm, my ding ding dong�

Gunter, the lead singer, looks like sleazy Eurotrash, right down to the mullet and gaudy gold jewelry. My evaluation goes one of two ways. In my heart of hearts, I think it’s a piss-take, a joke. It’s too bad to be anything else. If it’s real, it’s awful. As a parody, however, it’s brilliant. And the tune is kinda catchy…

Though not to say that Eurodance is the only music genre that has credibility problems. While I like the music and rhythm of Eminem’s new �Toy Soldiers,� the words are comical. It’s all about some rap feud or another. With the exception of Tupac and Biggie, there is precious little violence in rap music. Eminem’s fighting reminds me of a scene in Zoolander where a male model and a DJ �breakdance fight.� (That’s Hansel, he’s so hot right now.)

On the subject of violence and the arts, Ann Coulter references Sean Penn, Iraq, and nonviolence. �Penn had previously demonstrated his commitment to pacifism by punching defenseless cameramen. Actors are constantly engaging in conspicuous fighting to distract from the fact that they are sissy-boys who put on little-girls’ plays.� (Treason, 2003)

Or, Owen’s kilo a day habit.

Overall, good fruit doesn’t make it’s way up to St. Petersburg. Tomatoes here are tasteless and tough, strawberries expensive and rotten, pears sickly and bruised.

The only exceptions to this rule are banannas and tangerines (мандарины or “mandarins” in Russian). Though the banannas tend to be either brown or green, I usually just buy them green and wait for the edible yellow state.

I’ve always loved banannas - bananna and strawberry is my favorite smoothie flavor (Southern California nostalgia). But until recently, I’ve never been a fan of tangerines. In fact, I never really knew what one was until I came to Russia. My family certainly always had oranges, and I’d heard of tangerines, but I don’t really remember ever eating any. And I’m still wondering what the heck a “tangello” is.

When I first saw Russians devouring what appreared to be mini-oranges, I thought it slightly out of character. Here we have a people whose principal foods are potatoes, meat, and bread, yet they love this little citrus goodness.

In an attempt to ward off scurvy - I’ve had enough Russia-related medical problems - I decided a couple of months ago to start eating oranges, in addition to my daily banannas. That’s when I found out why Russians like tangerines so much. The oranges here are like hearty mutant oranges that survived a nuclear holocaust … wait, that might actually be the case:/

Their skin is far thicker than any I’m used to, and it doesn’t exactly peel. I would say that it more “comes apart in sections,” as if I were pulling away some unseen scales. The best part of an orange is the juice, the pulpy skin that contains the juice is pretty much tasteless, and my injestion of it serves only to facilitate the release of its nectar. These oranges, however, are like a man on steroids. The tough parts got bigger, but the most important part shrank. Inside, these oranges are so white, I was afraid that Bunnicula had gotten ahold of them.

Realizing what an abomination these oranges are, I decided to try out those mini-oranges. Polar opposites. In what is perhaps the coolest development of my stay here in Russia, I’ve learned how to peel a tangerine in one continuous strand! It ends up looking like a long “S.” Inside is a delicous, succulent, colorful reward.

I must eat almost a kilogram a day of tangerines. They’re not cheap, they cost about $2 per kilogram for the best ones (from Morocco), but it’s worth it. Last week I decided to try the $1 per kilo variety, but they were putrid by the next morning.

The past couple of months have been pretty hectic for me. First was enrolling in the Master’s program in the last week of the semester, then the month of January was spent taking exams and catching up on the work missed during the semster. For a week and a half in February I was on vacation in Finland, then my computer’s power cable broke and I was without a computer for another week and a half. I didn’t have a computer in college, but it didn’t really matter, because I could always use the computers in the library, which had high-speed internet access. Unfortunately, here there are no computers in the library for me to use. Cybercafes are relatively expensive, and don’t exactly provide a calm place to write, what with all the 10 year old yelling and running into your chair.

Well, it’s a new month, and it’s about time I started updating the site regularly again.