20 Days In Mariupol

The Siskel Center ran “20 Days in Mariupol” as part of their Shadows of the War Lecture series, which meant that this documentary was a part of the curriculum for the students of the Art Institute of Chicago. The tickets were also sold to the general public, so I got a chance to watch it (without advertising).

It’s incredibly painful to watch this documentary right now, with Trump doing what he is doing, with the UN resolution, and everything related. Adding all the other battles I have to fight these days, it feels like the whole world is against me, and all the evil forces are coming from one source (which is not true).

I do not think I can add any meaningful comments about this documentary. In the beginning, the lecturer mentioned that “there is not much reading available” for it, but I am sure that there will be plenty and that it will remain in the history of war documentaries as an outstanding journalistic work. And I hope that the time will come when it will be presented as evidence of war crimes to the International Tribunal.

Today, however, it feels like nobody is held accountable for all these atrocities.

You can watch the whole documentary here if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet.

Russian Lies #6

The last documentary of the Russian Lies series is about Russian athletes and how they are perceived in Western countries. Once again, there was not that much new information for me, but the most valuable part is a clear explanation of how the Russian government uses the athletic achievements of the Russian citizen to it’s advantage. This situation is very similar to the conferences participation, and that’s what I have difficulties explaining to many of my peers. So many times my peers would ask me why I want to panish people “who didn’t do anything,” and tell me that “they want to support them during difficult times.” And each and single time I explain to them that Russian authorities use these situations (like some important person coming to a Russian conference or some Russian researcher is being accepted to speak at some European conference) as an evidence of the fact that “they like us,” ” they can’t survive without us,” and so on. And they so totally-completely do not get the part which is so clearly explained in this documentary!

Russian Lies #5

The fifth of the “Russian lies” documentaries, that one is about the role of media in Russian society, and it is restricted. Probably the least surprising of all of these documentaries – all happened on my watch.

Russian Lies #4

I wish this documentary was separated into at least two films because it touches on several different topics. Otherwise, I have little to comment on. Being intimately familiar with the selection process and the teaching methods at the Vaganova Academy through a friend, I never had illusions about Russian ballet. I remember an evening at my Palatine neighbor’s home when her older daughter rushed in after her first ballet class with a Russian teacher: “She was hitting us on our legs! “

As for looting art, it is, unfortunately, a universal problem. Some governments choose to correct their mistakes, and some don’t…

Russian Lies #3

The third documentary of the series is about Soviet and Russian movies. I am leaving only minimal comments here because Russian cinematography is almost unknown in the US, to the best of my knowledge. Even my most frequent movie-going friends had seen very little if any, of the Soviet movies and even less of the Russian ones. And the fact that movies are the most efficient propaganda tool is well-known, so I have nothing essential to add.

War Thoughts

We can survive pretty much anything Tram would try to do with our country. I am pretty sure about that, partially because of the usual percentage of pre-election promises being and not being realized and partially because I remember what Anna taught me about how the Congress works (and why it works that way).

There is only one thing that might be irreversible, and I am afraid of it – the betrayal of Ukraine. I believe that it may happen because I know that the business wants to end the war. Nobody from the business side of things wants the war, and the business does not care about what the end of the war will entail. No matter how much analysis is done, they still do not care about what will happen in two weeks, yet along, in several months.

I know that the call is to end the war, and if Trump would end the war the way he wants, it will mean that Ukraine as a state will cease to exist. I imagine that there are a lot of people who don’t care, but even if they don’t care about Ukraine they should understand that the next war will be inevitable. I probably shouldn’t mention that Biden’s decision regading the missiles usage is too late, and as much as I hope for the best, I don’t believe that any major wins are possible.

Everything else will be fine.

Traveling With Russian Passport

That was the first time in a while that I traveled together with Boris and had a connection in London. Actually, since I had a connection in London on my way to Helsinki, I had three London connections in a week!

The first one was just me, and there was a very long wait, and no priority line was opened.

The second one was with Boris, and we had it all:

Interrogation at the passport control in Helsinki
Interrogation at the boarding gate (the gate attendant started checking the regulations for transfers – as if Boris was the only one transferring person without a UK visa)
Interrogation in Heathrow
Long lines at security without a priority lane
Barely made it to the gate

The third one, again with Boris, on our way back from Athens

The online check-in didn’t issue a boarding pass for him
In the Athens airport, a BA counter attendant went to check the regulations ~~(as if Boris was the only person connecting without a UK visa)~~.
Then he called another associate, and this whole process took twenty minutes, and for some reason, they asked for my passport as well. They finally issued boarding passes for both of us, adding that Boris “can’t step out from the airport” in London (as if it was ever different). Then they tried to convince us to check in our carry-on (we refused because we didn’t want to wait for our luggage at 11 PM)
We finally made it to the lounge, which was not very impressive (fun fact: you had to go to another lounge for a toilet)
Interrogation at the border control, however – no lines!
Surprise: no lines at the security check!
We were absolutely sure we wouldn’t have time to go to the lounge, but because of zero wait time in the security line, we had it!

Completely unexpected:

When we arrived in Helsinki and had to go through passport control again, they figured out that “we were together,” and despite my protests, they sent me to the same officer who talked to Boris. I should have said that “we are not traveling together,” not “we have different passports,” but I didn’t realize it right away, and then I was a subject of interrogation. They assumed that I wanted to stay longer and asked whether I had a residential permit, and then when I said I didn’t they asked to show my returning ticket.

Summary: it was so good to finally be home, and before midnight!

P.S. Just to be clear: I understand that the suspicions against Russian passport holders are completely justified, and that post is not a protest.

TIME Magazine: The World Is Still Hooked On Russian Energy

A recent Time Magazin article talks about the anti-Russian sanctions and how they didn’t work. Unfortunately, nothing in this article is new to me: for several reasons, I have been well aware of a “shadow fleet” and other ways to get around the embargo. The horrifying numbers from this article basically say that about half of the Russian war is funded by EU countries. Again and again, the economy rules and there is not enough political will to change the course … although as I just said, I have hope!

The full text of the article is below.

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Women At War Exhibit

A speaker whom I invited to present at Chicago PUG on October 15 came to Chicago for the first time in his life. That meant that I had to show him the city, at least for a little bit.

I booked the Chicago Architectural Cruise, and we agreed to walk around after that. Fortunately, the weather was not bad, although not as gorgeous as last weekend. Also, the docent on the tour was really good. You never know; it’s always hit or miss, but this was really good!

As usual, when I have very little time, I try to show some non-obvious places, so when we disembarked, I walked my guest directly to the Chicago Cultural Center. There, on the first floor, i saw an exhibit that I had no idea about: