The Constitution Murders

Conover Hunt at the Hampton Yacht Club

Having majored in history in college, I love a good history book.  I also love a good mystery/suspense book, especially one with foreign intrigue.  In the Constitution Murders, available on Amazon, our dear friend, Conover Hunt has created a combination of the two.  Yes, many characters are fictional, but woven throughout are real nuggets of history - something Conover knows well given that she has written 7 or 8 history works and was the creator of the Book Depository museum in Dallas, Texas (she's an expert on the Madison administration and the JFK assassination).  She even works in a thread involving the Romanov dynasty - something of interest to me since Anna Anderson (who said she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia) was one of my neighbors in Charlottesville many years ago.  Also in the book are insider glimpses of Hampton and Richmond.

Putin's Sochi Olympics - Not Ready for Prime Time

Got to love the sign at this Sochi hotel: Please do not flush toilet paper down the toilet.  Put it in the bin.

There are times that I think Vladimir Putin sees himself as Russia's new Tsar and that the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi are an extension of his overweening ego. If such is the case, events so far would seem to indicate that the Sochi Games have the potential to make both Putin and Russia a laughing stock.  What do I refer to?  The debacle that is unfolding as journalists are arriving in Sochi and finding their hotel accommodations unfinished or in a horrific state without running, potable water and a list of defects that make the local Hotel 6 look like Paris' Plaza Athene in comparison.  The Washington Post looks at the reaction of journalists to their inferior accommodations.  Here are excerpts:

Amid continued debate over whether or not Sochi is prepared to host the 2014 Olympics (here are 15 alarming signs that Russia might not be ready) reporters from around the world are starting to check into local hotels — to their apparent grief. Some journalists arriving in Sochi are describing appalling conditions in the housing there, where only six of nine media hotels are ready for guests. Hotels are still under construction. Water, if it’s running, isn’t drinkable. One German photographer told the AP over the weekend that his hotel still had stray dogs and construction workers wandering in and out of rooms.

The disarray seems to contradict repeated promises from both Russian and Olympic officials that Sochi is ready for the games, despite terrorist threats, unfinished construction and concerns over human rights abuses in the country. The Sochi Olympics have also run way over budget — to a record $51 billion — which seems particularly remarkable when you consider that some of the work isn’t actually done. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has of course denied that, insisting both that the “stage is ready” and that many concerns, including those over safety and construction, are overblown. Meanwhile, Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of Sochi's Olympic organizing committee, had this Twitter exchange with a CNN producer who complained that only one of the network's 11 requested rooms was ready for them.

Here are a few tweets that build a picture:

Harry Reekie @HarryCNN  CNN booked 11 rooms in one @Sochi2014 media hotel five months ago. We have been here for a day and only one room is available. #cnnsochi

Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7 Follow I have a room! No heating or internet, but it has a (single) bed at least...

Stacy St. Clair @StacyStClair Follow My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous. . . . Also on the bright side: I just washed my face with Evian, like I'm a Kardashian or something.

 It seems Putin made a major mistake - he is so used to a government controlled news media that he forgot that the visiting foreign journalists will nor be easily silenced.  Say what you want about the Romanov dynasty, but in its last years Russia was at the pinnacle in the arts and they did know how to put on an opulent, well choreographed show for the populace and foreigners.

The reception of our hotel in #Sochi has no floor. But it does have this welcoming picture.

I continue to hope that there are no terror attacks and that everyone in Sochi remains safe.  That said, I hope the Games turn into a total humiliation for Putin.

Religious Based Ignorance Once Again Thwarts Russia's Future

Before the Russian Revolutions of 1917 - first the February Revolution and then the Bolshevik Revolution in October/November - one of the mainstays to the retardation of Russia's modernization and movement towards a constitutional monarchy was the Russian Orthodox Church.  Now, while modern developed countries around the world are rejecting anti-gay bigotry and discrimination in favor of modern scientific knowledge on sexual orientation, Vladimir Putin - much like his Tsarist predecessors - is listening to the idiocy and ignorance of the revived Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy and pushing an anti-gay and anti-modernity agenda.  Putin is stupidly focused on the short term goal of hanging on to power at any cost with no thought or concern for the long term damage done or the lives ruined by the state sponsored bigotry that he has endorsed.  

In their quest to save the Russian monarchy, Nicholas II and Alexandra unwittingly set the stage for the revolutions of 1917 and the ultimate fall of Russia to the Bolsheviks and the ensuing civil war between the Whites and the Reds which damaged Russia so severely that economic output did not return to 1913 levels until the eve of World War II.  In the intervening years, millions of Russians perished.   By embracing the far right and the Russian Orthodox Church, Putin is repeating the same mistakes and making Russia a laughing stock in the process.  Now, as the Moscow Times reports, efforts are in motion to establish state sponsored "ex-gay" programs to turn Russian gays straight.  Here are highlights on this lastest idiocy from Russia:

Degtyaryov said that the Duma is also considering a program to provide anonymous and voluntary counseling for gay and bisexual people who want to be heterosexual.

"Many want to return to a normal life, to become heterosexual like 95 to 99 percent of our citizens," Degtyaryov said.

He also said that failure to forbid homosexuals from donating blood is a type of "sabotage."

LGBT activist Nikolai Alexeyev said that  . . . . There will be a lot of noise, and zero implementation of the law. Our politicians are so detached from reality that they no longer have any connection to the people. They just imagine gay people everywhere," Alexeyev told reporters.

Health Ministry spokesman Oleg Salagai said that the ministry will carefully consider the initiative.

Putin has apparently learned nothing from history.  It is ironic that he is embracing the same forces of reactionaries that helped destroy the Romanov dynasty.  One can only hope that his bigotry and willingness to make allegiances with forces seeking to oppose modernity will bring him a similar fate - all the more so because, unlike his imperial predecessors, he should no better because of all the available modern knowledge.