Archive · Society
Photograph by Arkady Shaikhet. The situation in Moscow Oblast was a particular one: the occupation was brief, and the Germans held part of the districts for only a few months, from November 1941 to January 1942. This was not Belorussia or the Smolensk region, where the occupation lasted for years
NB! · Society
Art · Museums · Society
In a letter of 10 April addressed to the Biennale's president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the European Commission accused the organisers of breaching sanctions against Russia. The substance of the complaint: the Biennale has admitted Russian artists as a "governmental delegation", wholly financed by Moscow, and has given
Architecture · Society · Pop Culture
By 1984 the USSR had 84 musical theatres, including 50 opera and ballet theatres and 34 theatres of musical comedy and operetta. There were theatres in every capital of the union republics, as well as in the large cultural and industrial centres: Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Perm, Irkutsk, Rostov-on-Don and
Books · Observations · Society
From 20 May 2026, owners of Kindle e-readers released in 2012 and earlier will lose access to the Amazon store. The devices will no longer be able to buy, borrow or download new books through the Kindle Store. The restriction affects every model from the very first Kindle of
Almaty · Faith · Society · People
Metropolitan Joseph was a man whom many tipped as Patriarch of All Russia after the death of Alexy I. He is also the author of the legendary retort to the remark that Yuri Gagarin had flown into space and not seen God, which ran as follows: Yuri Gagarin did not
Faith · Society · Pop Culture · Humour
Elon Musk's father made himself comfortable at the Easter service
Faith · Moscow · Observations · Society
Have you also noticed how little Easter symbolism there is in the city, and how little Easter programming on television, this year? And the few modest Easter decorations in the capital of the country with the largest Orthodox population in the world look particularly odd, considering that the New Year
Faith · Moscow · Observations · Education · Society
For the previous thirty years, a fifteen-minute procession of the cross got in the way of no traffic whatever. Nor do I recall any such restrictions being imposed on rallies and concerts, or on the mass festive and prayer gatherings of other faiths, running to many thousands of people
Observations · Education · Society
Social studies has no disciplinary core. Physics quite literally explains how the world is put together, why the lightbulb burns and why the water stands heaped above the rim of the glass. Mathematics teaches one to think rigorously and to bestir one's wits. History supplies context. And social
Archive · Books · Society
Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do. As Zinaida Gippius wrote: Our grandfathers' impossible dream, The sacrifice of our heroes in their prison cells, Our prayer on timid lips, Our hope and our sigh: The Constituent Assembly, What have we done with it...? Literal translation
Cinema · Books · Observations · Education · Society
From 2026 all universities in South Korea will be obliged to take records of school bullying into account at admission. Previously this was voluntary; now it is compulsory: an applicant with a record of violence in his school file has his score reduced or is simply turned away. In 2025