ONE MONTH TO GO TILL THE SOCHI OLYMPICS

LOCATION, LOCATION, 

LOCATION, AND 

SECURITY, SECURITY, 

SECURITY 

INTERIOR OF THE MOTHER RUSSIA 

MEMORIAL TO THE 

BATTLE OF STALINGRAD 

VOLGOGRAD, RUSSIA 

The world has had a few years to get used to the fact that Russia's first Winter Olympics was to be held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, better known for its beaches than its ice skating. It had also not gone unnoticed that Sochi was uncomfortably close to the restive North Caucasus region. 

Just over a week ago, on December 29 and 30, suicide bombers struck not at Sochi but several hundred miles away at the presumably easier target of Volgograd, devastated in the pivotal World War II Battle of Stalingrad. Terror struck first a train station and then a bus, in the run-up and on the road to the Olympics. 

Read more here and here 

MEDVEDEV IS GOING TO THE KURILS; JAPAN IS UNHAPPY

IN A FOG 

TWO MEN IN A BOAT IN THE FOG 

ON THE SEA OF OKHOTSK, OFF THE 

ISLAND OF SAKHALIN, RUSSIA 

It has been announced that Russian president Dmitry Medvedev will be visiting the Kuril Islands, part of Sakhalin oblast' in the Russian Far East.   Tokyo is said to find the visit provocative -- a Russian president visiting Japan's "Northern Territories." 

World War II is not ended for Russia and Japan because of these disputed islands, or islets. 

THE DOMES OF ST. BASIL'S, MOSCOW

TWO HISTORIC CHURCHES IN

RUSSIA'S "TWO CAPITALS"

MOSCOW &

ST. PETERSBURG

ST. BASIL'S CATHEDRAL

RED SQUARE, MOSCOW

THE CHURCH ON

SPILLED BLOOD (here),

in ST. PETERSBURG

is

"MORE LIKE ST. BASIL'S IN MOSCOW

THAN ST. ISAAC'S IN ST. PETERSBURG"

PETER THE GREAT b. June 9, 1672

PETER THE GREAT

June 9, 1672-February 8, 1725

"THE BRONZE HORSEMAN"

Monument to Peter the Great

by E.M. Falconet

The subject of Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman":

"Behold the Image sit, and ride

Upon his brazen horse astride!"

Of the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, the poet writes:

"I love thee, city of Peter's making;

I love thy harmonies austere...."

(from the English translation here;

the original Russian can be found here).

"MOTHER RUSSIA" IS IN DANGER

"MOTHER RUSSIA"

Is

In Danger

"Mother Russia," the hugely tall monument to the Battle of Stalingrad officially known as The Motherland Calls!, is in danger. The statue sits on top of the hill called Mamayev Kurgan in the Russian city now known as Volgograd. When it was built, four decades ago, it was the tallest in the world; now it is sinking, and, possibly, in danger of toppling.

The size of the monument is breathtaking. This representation of what after all is meant to be human leaves actual human beings creatures of a totally different scale.

The scale of the killing in the killing fields of the hill "Mamayev Kurgan," and in Stalingrad as a whole, is likewise hard to grasp. It is estimated that two million people perished in the battle.