The History of Abkhazia.

"According to The Georgian Chronicles, the first inhabitants of what is now Abkhazia and the whole western Georgia were Egrosians, the ...

Russian children find a lion cub on the steppe and bring it to school.

"While waiting for police, children petted and played with the cub, named Barsik. One boy even tried to ride it like a horse while it m...

"If Jennifer Lopez or Madonna just showed up in a place of worship, stripped down to their skivvies and started dancing around the altar..."

"... would that fly in any Western democracy?"

"Who is to blame for the performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and for our being put on trial after the concert? The authoritarian political system is to blame. What Pussy Riot does is oppositional art or politics."

"Who is to blame for the performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and for our being put on trial after the concert?" Pol...

"Russian Muslim 'catacomb sect' faces cruelty charges."

BBC reports: Police found 27 children and 38 adults living in catacomb-like cells, dug on eight levels under his home.... Some children had ...

Obama's Poland gaffe — you know, it was a Poland gaffe that lost the election in 1976 for Gerald Ford.

W hat Obama said was "Polish death camps," a terrible misstatement, carelessly referring to the geographic location of the camps ...

"Russia says it is prepared to use 'destructive force pre-emptively'..."

"... if the US goes ahead with controversial plans for a missile defence system based in Central Europe."

Obama to Russian President Medvedev: "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility."

"On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space," he ...

"Russia jails female punk band members."

"The band [Pussy Riot] first gained notoriety performing in Red Square on a cold January afternoon with the song 'Putin wet his pan...

"The costly web cameras put in place in Russia's polling stations to combat fraud served a dual purpose..."

"... giving viewers an unusual glimpse of the lives of people all over the country — from small Chechen villages to Tyumen nightlife an...

"Of course, debates are a completely new form of 'dialogue' for me: a brouhaha. In short, we shouted to our heart's content."

Presidential candidates debate in Russia: The candidates repeated familiar promises and accusations, with [Communist Gennady] Zyuganov pledg...

Pussy Riot...

... in Red Square.

Censored political slogan: "Tired of vegetables? Vote for [APPLE]."

The Moscow Times reports: The head of the Moscow metro ordered election ads for the opposition party Yabloko [Russian for "apple"]...

"During the discussion about the 'propaganda of homosexuality' bill in the St. Petersburg legislature, a city councilor proposed banning the rainbow symbol."

"Russian bloggers started joking that St. Petersburg would next ban the rainbow from nature. I laughed, too, and continued to think tha...

St. Petersburg, Russia, may fine those who are openly gay.

The Moscow Times reports: The bill proposes fines of 3,000 to 5,000 rubles ($100 to $160) for individuals and up to 50,000 rubles for organi...

Sex in Russian political ads.

This is from Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party, encouraging people to vote in the Russian parliamentary election: Some Russians purpo...

"18 Signs That America Is Rotting Right In Front Of Our Eyes."

Pravda headline, a little too close to the truth to be funny. Once upon a time, the American people worked feverishly to construct beautiful...

"Family Becomes Extinct, To Be Replaced with Feminism and Gender Equality."

A headline in Pravda. The Russians gradually lose interest in marriage and family. Recent opinion polls conducted in the Krasnoyarsk region...

Sarah Palin's most famous quote and the problem of a quote becoming famous in a misremembered form.

What do you think is Sarah Palin's most famous quote? My attempt to answer gets me to a quote that I know is not the real quote: "I...

"This war did not begin because of a miscalculation by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

"It is a war that Moscow has been attempting to provoke for some time. The man who once called the collapse of the Soviet Union 'th...