Responding to Beslan

One of the challenges of publishing this magazine is figuring out how to respond to current events. Like Beslan. Like President Putin’s proposal to roll back direct elections for governors.

There is almost a month between the time we put an issue “to bed” and the time it arrives in your mailbox. It is not a schedule conducive to reporting news. Stories are prepared months in advance of their publication, so, for the most part, we try to keep focused on more long-term issues.

Where possible, however, we try to focus current events through the prism of larger issues. Thus, our Post Script this issue steps back to consider how – if ever – Russia can cut the Gordian knot that is Chechnya, from which the horror of Beslan sprung.

The other stories in this issue offer similar perspectives. Our article on the Bolshoi (our first in 10 years) looks at the situation in Russian arts through the prism of this venerated company; our feature on the Olympics considers what Russia needs to do to fix its “sport machine”; our story on author Victor Pelevin considers the state of Russian literature today; our travel journal article on Narva/Ivangorod looks at the new relationship Russia is forging with its former subjects which are now members of the EU and NATO; our examination of jury trials looks at the broader issues of legal reform in Russia, and how it is (or is not) working out.

+   +   +

“I’ve got a good relation [sic] with Vladimir,” President Bush said, referring to his Russian counterpart during the first presidential debate with Senator Kerry in October. Well, if he had a really good “relation” with Putin, President Bush would have called him Volodya, or even Vova. He didn’t.

A few minutes later, Senator Kerry made his own Russia gaffe (which I have yet to see referred to elsewhere in the US media; it was all over the Russian press), saying: “I was probably one of the first senators, along with Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire, a former senator, go down into the KGB underneath Treblinka Square [sic] and see reams of files with names in them.”

Oops! Treblinka was a World War II Nazi concentration camp; Lubyanka is the square where the KGB resided.

Oh those funny Russian names.

(Note to the Weather Channel: It’s pronounced Hurricane Eee-van, not Eye-van. Stress the second syllable, please. Of course, if it’s easier, you can call it Hurricane Vanya, for short.)

+   +   +

The new Russian Life Wall Calendars for 2005 are here! The theme this year is Moscow, and we have collected some wonderful color shots of the city and its environs.

As well, we have introduced an Engagement Calendar for 2005, featuring 54 great black and white photos of St. Petersburg.

Both are perfect gift items, so be sure to pick one of each up for everyone on your list!

Meanwhile, all of us at Russian Life wish you a wonderful holiday season. We’ll see you again in 2005!