WANG DAN IS FORTY-FIVE

WANG DAN 
王丹 
b. February 26, 1969 

AT A 2004 FORUM ON 

TIANANMEN +15 

Harvard University 

Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Looking back fifteen years afterwards at the events of the spring of 1989 which culminated in the crackdown known as "六四" (Liu-Si, June 4) in Chinese and as "Tiananmen" to the outside world. 

Wang Dan was a student leader in 1989; imprisoned afterwards; eventually a Harvard Ph.D. 

In a little more than three months, the quarter century anniversary will be upon us. 

PRAMBANAN MAN

ANOTHER FACE 

IN THE TEMPLE 

LOOKING OUT FROM 
PRAMBANAN TEMPLE 
JAVA, INDONESIA 

A World Heritage Site 

Moonrise Over Prambanan 

IN THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF BALI TRAFFIC, A GODDESS...

GODDESS 

ON A 

LOTUS FLOWER 

IN THE MIDDLE OF 

EVERYDAY LIFE 

& TRAFFIC 

RELION ON THE ROADSIDE 

BALI, INDONESIA 

III 

I here 

II here 

RELIGION ON THE ROADSIDE...ON BALI, INDONESIA

POINTING 

THE WAY  

BALI, INDONESIA 

WINTER USA 2014 II

SNOW DAYS 

RIVER WITH SNOW 

And yes, the picturesque can be political. 

Mayors and governors 

Can, 

So to speak, 

Put their foot in it. 

Canceling school, not canceling school, 

Letting employees off early, 

Not letting employees off early. 

Snowed under. 

A THOUGHT FOR INVADERS

FROM BONDARCHUK'S 

FILM OF TOLSTOY'S 

WAR & PEACE 

А и то сказать, кто же их к нам звал? 
But after all is said and done 
who asked them to come here? 

BORIS ZAKHAVA 
as 
Field Marshal MIKHAIL KUTUZOV 
reflecting on the misery and the common humanity of 
Napoleon's army retreating from Russia, but -- ! 

WINTER USA: THE STORY SNO' FAR...

SNOW GUAGE 

WINTER USA 2014 

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR BEGAN ONE HUNDRED TEN YEARS AGO; TODAY PUTIN AND ABE MET TO TALK ABOUT TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THE SAME OLD ISSUES

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE 

WAR BROKE OUT 

February 8, 1904 

THE SEA OF OKHOTSK 

off the Southeastern Shore 
of Sakhalin Island 

South Sakhalin ("Karafuto") was won by the Japanese as a result 
of  their victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 

Captured by the USSR in World War II; the entire island is part of Russia 

Still in contention: 

Four islands and groups of islets known as the Kurils (Kuriles) by the Russians, and as the Northern Territories by the Japanese;

under Soviet and then Russian control since World War II 

Some background, here 

Today on the sidelines of the Sochi Winter Olympics Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met and agreed to talk about the sticky island dispute, which has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty winding up World War II, at their next meeting, scheduled to take place again in Sochi, at the upcoming G8 summit in June of this year. 

President Putin will then visit Japan in the fall. 

WATER FOR A THIRSTY CITY

TOOLING DOWN 

THE ROAD 

BRINGING THE 

WATER BOTTLES 

Beijing, China 

POST #1000: BACK TO THE BEGINNING

THE THOUSANDTH POST 

SASEBO, JAPAN 

JUVENILIA 

very juvenil-ia 

KODAK BROWNIE 

picturing politics very early on 

AL KOOPER TURNS SEVENTY TODAY

AL KOOPER 

b. February 5, 1944 

more AL KOOPER here 

SOCHI THEN AND NOW: HOME OF THE 2014 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

SOCHI 

IN THE 

SPOTLIGHT 

SOCHI BACK IN THE USSR 
Summer of 1984 

"In the nineteen-seventies and eighties, when everything was government sponsored, it used to be packed here. You couldn't move on the beach without someone taking your place." -- Aleksandr Zakharov, General Director, Radisson Lazurnaya Hotel, Sochi, Russia, quoted in "The Road to Sochi," audio report by Robin Lustig, BBC, February 4, 2014. 

Robin Lustig also has an article in the Financial Times, "Observations from Sochi," which overlaps the radio "Documentary." The radio version has material not covered in print; well worth listening to. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Sochi today; addressed the International Olympic Committee; and cuddled with a Persian leopard. 

More Sochi here; more Putin here. 

FLUTED ARCHITECTURE WITH TREES ON TOP

EVERYTHING'S 

UP TO DATE 

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 

NAVIGATING THE STREETS OF INDONESIA III

I'M WALKING 

HERE II 

YOGYAKARTA 

JAVA, INDONESIA 

See also here and here  

BORIS YELTSIN WOULD HAVE BEEN EIGHTY-THREE TODAY

BORIS YELTSIN 

February 1, 1931-April 23, 2007 

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT 

BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH YELTSIN 

In Harbin, China 

November 11, 1997