In case you missed it, Vladimir “don’t call me Guerrero” Putin blamed the United States for the conflict in Georgia (the one in the Caucasus, not the one next door to Florida).
“The suspicion would arise that someone in the United States created this conflict on purpose to stir up the situation and to create an [...]
Archive for August, 2008
Cold War 2: Colder and War-ier!
Posted in send in the Slavs, tagged Cold War on 29 August 2008 | 2 Comments »
Roma, Czechs and stubborn prejudice
Posted in send in the Slavs, tagged prejudice, Roma on 28 August 2008 | 9 Comments »
Another interesting article I saw on the Beeb addresses the ongoing struggles for Roma children to gain equal access to education, focusing on the challenges Czech Roma have faced in getting their children into regular schools.
For decades or more, Roma in the former Czechoslovakia and other parts of Europe have often been placed in “special [...]
Cold War, hot culture
Posted in send in the Slavs, tagged Chuck Norris, Cold War, pop culture on 28 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Beeb has an interesting story about the high points of Cold War themes in popular culture, from books to films and TV, as well as some of the ways in which Cold War-based franchises and creators — Do you expect Bond to die off? No, I expect him to adapt. – coped with the geopolitical [...]
Pantsed
Posted in diversion, tagged corporate rejiggering on 28 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From the funny file:
A man who chose “Lloyds is pants” as his telephone banking password said he found it had been changed by a member of staff to “no it’s not”.
Steve Jetley, from Shrewsbury, said he chose the password after falling out with Lloyds TSB over insurance that came free with an account.
He said he [...]
The “people’s” touch in the PRC
Posted in diversion, tagged preen team on 23 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Evidently the “Redeem Team” is showing they have a heart of gold as well, writes ESPN’s Chris Sheridan.
LeBron James gave a pair of sneakers to a 12-year-old girl at a practice, spotting her in the stands with her mother and motioning her down to meet the team and get a unique souvenir. OK, nice little [...]
Obama on the Prague Spring
Posted in dissertation, send in the Slavs, tagged Czechoslovakia?, the Russians are coming on 21 August 2008 | 1 Comment »
It feels a bit gratifying to have one of the presidential nominees taking the time to address the historical epoch of my dissertation.
On the other hand, I have to take issue with his characterization of events (mostly the assertion that Czechoslovakia went Communist and joined the Warsaw Pact not by choice, [...]
Forty years after: The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
Posted in acamademia, dissertation, send in the Slavs, tagged Soviet invasion, the Russians are coming on 21 August 2008 | 1 Comment »
It was forty years ago today,
The Russians decided to invade.
Another country made to toe the line,
Something else for the world to malign.
Let me remind you once again,
Of events long forgotten from your head.
The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
(Apologies to the Beatles)
Shortly before midnight on 20 August 1968, troops from five Warsaw Pact nations (the Soviet Union, [...]
The education-industrial complex
Posted in acamademia, tagged edumacation on 19 August 2008 | 2 Comments »
As someone who paid for the grad school application process, I’ve increasingly thought certain educational agencies like ETS wield too much power. Most people won’t encounter this, since (I believe) the SAT is relatively inexpensive (I think it was a little more than $20 when I took it, and I can’t imagine it having risen [...]
Košice, NYT style!
Posted in ridiculing the NYT for sport, send in the Slavs, tagged idiot reporters, Košice on 15 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This past week the Times travel section actually had a short article about Košice, Slovakia’s second city and eastern metropole.
Why am I not surprised the reporting was especially lazy?
Regarding the performance of an Afro-jazz funk band at a cafe:
It was not exactly what a first-time visitor expected to find in a Central European town of [...]
You can’t spell orientalism without “NBC” … I think
Posted in diversion, tagged Olympic orientalism on 14 August 2008 | 1 Comment »
I’ve caught a lot more of the current Olympics than I would’ve expected. Then again, I’ve been watching a lot more TV than anticipated.
What I have noticed, however, is that NBC’s interstitial content on the host country is a textbook example of, well, orientalism.
For instance, we just saw a segment with some female reporter in [...]
