1.5 Million Russians Contaminated by Radioactivity

As the Moscow Times reports:

More than 1.5 million Russians live in areas contaminated with radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the country’s chief health official said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference two days before the 20th anniversary of the disaster, Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, said many in these areas ate local meat, dairy products and fruit and vegetables, despite doctors’ warnings.

In Bryansk, the most country’s most contaminated region, health official have recorded 122 cases in the past 20 years of thyroid cancer among children.

All those cases are considered directly related to Chernobyl. The number is likely to grow if those residing in affected areas continue to ignore health warnings, Onishchenko told reporters.
“Our main health concern is that many people seem to ignore, to put it mildly, our recommendations not to … consume produce that they grow without taking proper precautions,” Onishchenko said.

No wonder Russia’s population is plummeting. And that’s to say nothing of the other kinds of pollution, high-fat diets, alcoholism, AIDS, etc. Plus which, If the Kremlin admits there are that many, how many are there really? And yet, Russians “ignore” situation “to put it mildly.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

La Russophobe Fires Back at Psycho-Commenter

You may know, dear reader, that the inaugral post on this blog appeared on April 2nd of this month, 26 days ago. In other words, this blog has not even celebrated its one month birthday yet.

You may also know that the first post gave fair warning that maniacal commenters would get the just desserts.

Nevertheless, La Russophobe received the following comment from someone who calls themself “AT” when the blog was barely two weeks old:

Does it bother you how much you post and how few (as in none) comments you get? Either you block them all, or nobody cares. Which is worse?

Interestingly, “AT” has been a member of blogspot since January, and has only 12 profile views, while La Russophobe, who has been a member for less than one-sixth as long, has 96 views. But “AT” didn’t care to mention that fact.

AT also doesn’t say whether he/she has her/his own blog, and if so how many comments it received in its first few weeks.

Interestingly, too, “AT” ignores, as just one example, the dozens upon dozens of comments La Russophobe has received on other more established websites such as Russiablog.

Most interestingly of all, “AT” ignore the fact that THIS WEBSITE WAS ONLY TWO WEEKS OLD when “AT” made her “comment,” and the first round of comments, including AT’s own, had yet to be reviewed and published. Amazing as it may seem, La Russophobe has one or two more important things to do than review comments, but she always gets around to them. Now, a number of comments are available for all to see.

In other words, “AT” is a classic Russophile. When confronted with facts that make him/her (and/or Rusisa) look foolish, he/she reponds with personal abuse and hatred, similar to that displayed often by the Russophiles who go around murdering dark-skinned stuents of the “wrong color” throughout Russia. It’s just the tactic the KGB always used to use, President Putin knows it very well. What’s more, they typically invent and pervert their own set of facts, such as implying that blog not even one month old should be full of comments. In other words, they’re quite insane.

“AT” goes on to write:

Goodness gracious… This one is even worse, if that’s possible. Than the Sharapova post, that is. Why the sudden interest in tennis, Kim? Who are you? What is your deal with Russia, Russian women and Russian female tennis players?Do you really have to know why? Because she is young, and beautiful, and naive, and innocent, and a brat – everything a girl – a woman – a Russian woman – should be.You sound more and more like a petty, uninformed, jealous russophobe – admittedly even. People have called you an angry feminist, but I have too much respect for feminism to believe you are one.Seriously, what is your deal? Did a Russian man abuse you? A Russian woman steal your husband?

By “this one” little miss/mister “AT” means the post about Anastasia Myskina.

Now how is this comment bogus? Let me count the ways:

1. La Russophobe’s interst in tennis is not sudden. She has been a fan since she was a child and played competitive tennis in college.

2. Shouldn’t a Russian woman be one thing more: A resident of Russia, rather than Florida? And does she really HAVE to sell her body to Americans in order to be Russian? Can’t she be satisfied with millions of dollars in endorsement deals, keeping it all for herself and giving none of it back to her impoverished brothers and sisters in Siberia?

3. Which post makes the writer seem more “petty, uninformed, jealous” — mine or AT’s?

4. AT asks who I am. Does he/she tell us who he/she is? Hmmm . . . or is she/he one of the world’s great Russophile hypocrites?

5. Why does AT resort to crude personal abuse in the manner of a Russian neo-Nazi? Could it be that he/she is uncomfortable with facts?

6. Does this wacko really believe that the only way a person could think negative thoughts about Russia, a nation ruled over by a proud KGB spy who has abolished elections in local government and brought back the Stalin anthem, is if their Russian lover kicked them to curb? If so, wow, that’s REALLY a space cadet.

In closing, let me say that this moron is a classic example of just why Russia is disappearing from the face of the earth. Every year its population gets smaller, while knuckleheads like this go on preening and saying how wonderful Russia is and how just plain evil anyone who dares to criticize it is. In other words, such people are Soviets in Russian clothing in the Neo-Soviet Union. They’ll go on blabbering this hate-filled, dishonest garbage until Russia literally ceases to exist.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

The Rise of Neo-Soviet Socialism: Kremlin Inc.

The New York Times reports on the conslidation of industry in Russia, Neo-Soviet Socialism:

Mr. Putin’s Kremlin . . . is not renationalizing industries sold off in the 1990’s as much as redistributing the assets to a new group of tycoons, enriching favored investors and even, critics say, members of his own administration, while ensuring that the Kremlin itself has influence over the most important parts of Russia’s economy.

The Kremlin uses Gazprom as the driving force:

Gazprom is not just a lucrative state-owned monopoly, but also a powerful instrument of Kremlin policy at home and abroad. It has undertaken an array of projects that have little to do with its stated corporate interests, but much to do with politics — from bidding for the Olympics to buying up independent media, from sustaining unprofitable farms to subsidizing Russian industries with cheap energy. It has also been at the center of Russia’s foreign policy, used as a cudgel in recent disputes over gas prices with Ukraine and other neighbors. Its chief executive, Aleksei B. Miller, recently warned Europe not to block its further expansion into European markets, lest it decide to sell its natural gas elsewhere.

Welcome to the Neo-Soviet Union!

“Instead of properly regulating the economy, the state owns the economy,” said Aleksandr Y. Lebedev, a billionaire whose own investments, he said, are now under pressure from the state. Andrei N. Illarionov, a former economic adviser to Mr. Putin who has become an increasingly outspoken critic since being dismissed last December, called Russia’s economy today a form of “corporate state.” He described a coterie of highly placed officials who control big business through their government posts, using those posts to make not just policy, but profit. Some have dual hats: Gazprom’s chairman is Dmitri A. Medvedev, the former Kremlin chief of staff, the current first deputy prime minister and a man widely viewed as a possible successor to Mr. Putin. “They look not like state business,” he said of Gazprom’s projects and those of other state-controlled companies, “but the business part of the state.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Russian Duma Expands Conscription as Cold War II Begins

The Moscow Times reports that the Russian Duma has just voted to abolish various exemption categories from the draft. More proof of how serious President Putin is about creating a volunteer army!

The State Duma gave preliminary approval Friday to four bills aimed at boosting conscription by, among other things, canceling nine of the existing 25 draft exemptions and requiring university students to serve in the military after graduation.

The legislation would also cut the length of compulsory service from two years to one year, starting in 2008.

Presenting the legislation, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov told deputies that the exemptions his ministry would like to see abolished were adopted in the mid-1990s and were now obsolete. “These are different times now,” he was quoted by Interfax as saying before the bills were put up for a vote.

Each bill was passed in a first reading with more than 350 out of a possible 450 votes. The bills must still be passed in a second and third reading.

The people pictured are protesting the draft. The big sign reads: “SOLDIER: It’s a profession, not a punishment.” Yet how many of them are there, compared to the number that would protest a draft in the U.S.? And why does Russia need conscription? To subdue tiny Chechnya? Or does Russia think it has bigger fish to fry. Ukraine maybe?

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Russia Crushed in Fed Cup Quarterfinals

The Moscow Times reports that Belgium has easily dispatched Russia in the quarter finals of the Fed Cup:

LIEGE, Belgium — French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne won her second Fed Cup match in as many days Sunday, beating Yelena Dementyeva 6-2, 6-0 to give Belgium an insurmountable 3-1 lead over double defending champion Russia.

The victory moved Belgium into the semifinals in July, when it will host the United States. The Americans beat Germany on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Open Champion Kim Clijsters swept past Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-4 to move Belgium in front for the first time. Henin-Hardenne, ranked fourth in the world, showed her love of playing on clay and never gave Dementyeva a hope with a performance that delighted the sellout crowd of 5,000 at the Country Hall.

Despite the concluding doubles having no impact on the final result, Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters would still play the match together to prove there was no bad blood between them.

“It was great with the whole team together. There is a great atmosphere,” said Henin-Hardenne.

Dementyeva dominated Clijsters on Saturday with a straight-sets win, giving the Russians hope of staying on track for a Fed Cup triple.

But Henin-Hardenne outlasted world No. 5 Nadia Petrova 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3 Saturday to put Belgium back in the tie and then overwhelmed Fed Cup specialist Dementyeva in just over an hour with a flurry of winners.

Tiny Belgium has now crushed Russia three times in a row in their Fed Cup meetings. Here endeth the supposed coming “dominance” of Russian women in tennis, rumors of which started in Russophile ears in 2004 when Russians won three of four slams. It’s been straight down hill since then, as with most things sporty where Russia is concerned (see below La Russophobe notes that Russia was a total disaster at the Calgary World Figure Skating event earlier this year).

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Another Race Murder in Russia!

The Moscow Times reports on yet another killing of a dark-skinned student by Russian racists:

An Armenian teenager standing on a crowded metro platform in the heart of the city was stabbed to death Saturday by an unknown attacker.

The slaying of Vagan Abramyants, 17, took place around 5 p.m. at the Pushkinskaya metro station as the boy was en route to an Orthodox Easter party.

A train heading to Vykhino entered the station, and seven young men got off. Abramyants, who was with 11 acquaintances, was unexpectedly attacked.

Interfax, citing police reports, reported that one of the men stabbed Abramyants in the chest and that all of them fled on the departing train. Abramyants died on the spot.

Witnesses said the attackers had shaved heads, black clothes and boots, police said.

Abramyants’ death was the latest in a string of attacks across Russia on dark-skinned people from the Caucasus, Asia, Africa and elsewhere.

Two weeks ago, a Senegalese student was shot dead with a gun with a swastika on it. A young man shouting “Heil Hitler” stormed into a central Moscow synagogue earlier this year, stabbing worshipers.

After the attack on Abramyants, dozens of police officers formed a semicircle around the body, which lay sprawled in the central corridor of the metro station, as shoppers, kids and couples streamed past.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !