New baby, new life

My friend Nastya Kurbatova gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Orlando, Florida. He was given the name of Kristian Arsenio O'Connor, named after Kristina (13) Nastya's sister, and Arseni (12) - young actors who died during the Moscow theatre siege. He is now two months old and is growing amazingly fast.

US-Russia

The US-Russia relationship, providing the tone of the dialogue will remain soothingly calm, will depend on the actual actions on both sides. U.S. President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that their countries will soon begin negotiations on reducing their nuclear arsenals, and that's a step. Something, on the US side will have to be done about the Missile Defence System while Russia must tone down its anti-American mood. President Obama is open to conversations on pretty much anything so this opportunity cannot be missed by Russia. Unless Russia is determined to remain a recluse.

Need to say this

I feel it has to be said that neither I nor Andrei had any control over what would go into the piece in The Independent and how the story would be told or what issues might be brought up. In other words we had no part in actually writing the article and saw it only when it came out. In fact when i asked Shaun Walker, the journalist, if i could see it before it was printed, i heard a firm 'no'. This deserves my utmost respect and is called the free press.

Judging by the hysterical reaction in some quarters, to President Obama's handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, or his bow to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, you would think that America's national security rested solely on body language not sound policy.


The presidential handshake between Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez spurred many comments.

But just for the record, let's not forget that President George W. Bush kissed and held hands with the same Abdullah after 9/11, while also looking deep into the soul of Vladimir Putin. And a generation earlier, egged on by British Prime Minister "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, President "Tear Down That Wall" Ronald Reagan, decided that indeed Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was a man he could do business with: the business of ending the Cold War.

While Obama has not managed in 100 days to defeat Islamic militants, usher in a Middle East peace treaty or disarm North Korea, on these and other issues he has laid down some important groundwork. Most importantly, the global polls following his first overseas trip show he has begun restoring America's name and reputation, key ingredients to successful policy making.

Even before stepping onto foreign soil, Obama began by ordering the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention center closed, thus returning the United States to upholding the very same rule of law it preaches to other nations. He also has stated over and over again that "America does not torture," thus returning the United States to leading on human rights, not cherry-picking them.

To those such as former Vice President Dick Cheney who claims this will make America more vulnerable, even some former Bush administration officials now concede that rigorous but patient above-board interrogation has proven to yield better, more reliable intelligence than a rush to the waterboard.

Obama has kept a campaign pledge and given a fixed date for ending the unpopular U.S. war in Iraq. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he announced.

Yet the perils are clear. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians have been killed in Baghdad and other cities in a surge of sectarian violence since January. The Obama administration and U.S. military leaders are playing it down, blaming the suicide bombings on a few militant cells. That brings back memories of Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld blaming a "handful of dead-enders" as the original insurgency was getting into full swing. Much work still needs to be done to stabilize Iraq militarily and politically.

Drawing down in Iraq means surging in Afghanistan, which along with Pakistan is still viewed as the central front on terror. "If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taliban or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged," Obama said in March, "that country will again be a base for terrorists."

So he has ordered 21,000 new U.S. troops there by summer. But for all the talk of more boots on the ground, negotiating with moderate Taliban and beefing up Afghan security forces, danger will persist unless the Afghan people see more of a peace dividend. As Obama himself recognizes, "There will be no lasting peace unless we expand spheres of opportunity for the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Since we...

.... have no way of knowing what might follow the publication in The Independent, we reserve our right to stand tall and with dignity. Our feelings for each other are stronger than ever. Yesterday Andrei said to me that i am the most important person in his life.

Loneliness is difficult to bare but not nearly as bad the sense of the unknown. Like jumping out with a parachute, not sure if it will open or not.

This is how it pans out.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/passion-deadly-secrets-and-betrayal-in-putins-russia-1671597.html

My baby sister in Chekhov's The Seagull.

A much treasured photo.

Something rather odd about this photo.

Counter Terrorism Operation in Chechnya is over. But is terrorism?

A day after Chechen President Kadyrov announced that the Counter Terrorism Operation' in Chechnya is over, rebel fighters have reminded everyone of their presence by engaging in a battle with the federal forces. I fear this will repeat many times over. They don't ant to be written off so their activity will be on the rise. Grozny with its shopping malls and fountains is not much more than a 'potemkin village'. Doku Umarov and the lot in the mountains, who are still living in the conditions of war (not a counter terrorism operation), will start involving young people from mountain villages and beyond with more vigor.

Why and for what reason does one stand by the person put in the most horrendous position, betrayed by colleagues and friends? Firm belief in his innocence is one. Inability to withstand such crude form of injustice is another. But what keeps you going day after day when sometimes you just want to crawl into a whole from too much pressure and too many responsibilities. But...if you give up on him then the world gives up on him and then...it's over. A good man doesn't deserve it.

?

There is a place in Moscow, a brothel, where women pay cover charge and take home whatever they make from whatever it is that they do. The place calls itself a theatre since it does a show-girls, or rather their silhouettes, dance behind a curtain for a few minutes, so... they're a theatre and pay taxes off their 'modest' income. Does anyone know if this happens in other places in the world? I don't mean the existence of brothels of course.

It's been the most draining few months of my life that i have spent here, in Russia. It is this draining, I'm sure, in any place where justice does not exist. The daily trauma of having someone you care about in jail pretty much outrules any form of social activity. Luckily i will soon be able to channel it all to affect. To have affect in proper framework with proper results.

This is Zherdevka, 130 km from Tambov, where the hearings in my fiance's case are taking place.

But really, it's all rosy.

It's late. Can't sleep; too many things rushing madly through my head.A break to see in the photo of there is any fear in my eyes. Or only concern.

A store in a Moscow metro

Guns sold next to toys.

the ugly word fear

It is so painful to see people who are being drowned not want to make it public out of fear. It's everywhere.

Book

I am in two minds about what title i should give to my book. The working title at the moment is Theatre Of Terror. Not sure if it's too Hollywood-y. The process itself is a bit difficult. At times i feel i am too emotionally engaged in it.

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Нужна помощь!

Ангелина Храмцова, 1 год и 3 месяца.
Ангелине Храмцовой сейчас чуть больше года, в полугодовалом возрасте девочке поставили диагноз, прозвучавший как приговор: опухоль мозга. Три операции по постановке шунтов и шесть месяцев химиотерапии результатов не дали... Врачи развели руками. Но вопреки всем мрачным прогнозам девочка живет и отчаянно борется за жизнь. И ее двадцатилетняя мама Елизавета Храмцова тоже борется за жизнь дочери:

"... каждую ночь провожу с Линой вобнимку. Не могу представить, как жить без нее. Иногда кажется, что все, предел, сил больше нет, я тоже не железная... Но я не cдаюсь, найду силы и пойду дальше спасать мою малышку.."
Отнимая один шанс, судьба всегда даёт другой. У Ангелины он тоже есть. Немецкие врачи согласились сделать девочке операцию. Лину ждут в Германии 12 марта. Конечно, ее будут ждать и после, но с каждым днем шансы тают, а значит, счет идет не на недели даже, а на дни...