June 15, 2020

Peace Out!


Peace Out!
One of Russia's more peace-inducing monuments. The RussianLife files.

For the second year in a row, Russia's performance on the Global Peace Index is a little lower than one might expect. The country found itself in the same place as last year: 154 out of the total 163 countries measured.

Russia's level of militarization, the presence of nuclear weapons, and high levels of weapons exports all contributed to the score, as well as domestic and foreign political situations. Russia's spot is neighbored by Sudan (153rd place) and the Central African Republic (155th).

But Russia is in good company: most large, world-power countries scored low on the list, with the U.S. in the 121st slot and China at 124. Geographically smaller, less populous countries Iceland, New Zealand, and Portugal took places 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

See the global stats for yourself here; there's even a state-by-state one for the U.S.

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This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
White Magic

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Chekhov Bilingual

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Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
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