Na zda-ró-vye Nyet

Written August 2013

Soviet Russia attempted three times to curtail alcohol consumption.

The last temperance movement was in 1985-1987 under Mikhail Gorbachev. Vodka and other spirits were rationed throughout the USSR and public drunkenness was punished by prison time. The loss of tax revenue was in the hundreds of billions of rubles and this economic shortfall led to the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

Even Josef Stalin never dared to ban vodka and ex- KGB Boris Putin has followed the Red Tsar's lead.

There is only one ruler in Russia and that is the man with the bottle of vodka.

Russian don't toast each other with Na Zdorov'ye!

They prefer a lengthy personal toast, but I will drink no more Russian vodka.

Not since Putin's government has declared homosexuality a sin.

I will toast Russia with other vodka, raising my glass and shouting, "Poshel na khuy."

Simply translated as 'fuck you'.

And I say the same to the New York Times, for last week in the Op-Ed pages the happily married with three kids Mark Lawrence Schrad, an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, declared that the gay boycott on Russian vodka would have no effect on the treament of gays and lesbians in Russia.

Asst. Professor Schrad has a website;

http://www.vodkapolitics.com/Welcome.html

He does not look like a drinker, but his NY Times article argued that a vodka boycott will not help gays in Russia, since 'polls estimate that two-thirds of Russians consider homosexuality unacceptable under any circumstance'.

Asst. Professor Schrad avoided this issue to launch into a lengthy treatise of his expertise; the politics of vodka before defending the continued drinking of Stolichnaya by writing 'most political scientists agree that sanctions rarely bring about desired results and can undermine the effectiveness and credibility of domestic opposition groups' and that the impact of an international boycott wouldn't effect the Russian economy.

Firstly vodka sales to the West amount to hundreds of billions and Asst. Professor Schrad rightly stated that the vodka conglomerates were unhappy with Putin's decision to repress gays and lesbians, but the tax revenue from vodka helped support the Putin regime ( in Soviet times it was 25% of the tax revenue ).

Secondly boycotts work.

Maybe slowly, but doing nothing accomplishes nothing.

So once more the New York Times gets a nice 'fuck you' from me.

They only care about the rich.

And the people who pay their ads like Putin.

It's all the fucking same.

'Poshel na khuy' or 'fuck you'.

A Winter War

Throughout this Autumn and Winter Russia's leader Boris Putin has been threatening the Ukraine with invasion to prevent any further Western incursion to the ex-Soviet republic. The USA and UK have responded with supplying weapons and supplies to the steppe nation and the newspapers daily report on the potential war without mentioning that only one country has invaded a country in the winter.

The 1939-1940 Winter War between the USSR and Finland was a disaster from the first step over the Arctic frontier. Stalin's troops fought for three months without any success and signed a truce in March.

Lesson learned by the Axis command.

Nothing and the Japanese seized the distant Aleutian Island of Attu from the US after the naval debacle of Midway. Their soldiers suffered from the cold and deprivations of an army trapped in a distant land.

Winters are much better suited to sieges and retreats.

The Nazi defeat at Stalingrad and Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow.

Only 15,000 Wehrmacht Soldaten returned to Germany aftr World War II and only 1500 troops survived the horrible march to the safety of Poland.

War this winter?

I doubt it.

Spring?

No one wants a war, except the Pentago who have never backed away from a war they sought to lose.

TO RUSSIA FOR US by Peter Nolan Smith

In May of 2009 Johnnie Z asked if I wanted to go to Russia.

It wasn't for a tour of l'Hermitage Palace.

The Palm Beach millionaire financed cell phone towers in other countries. His off-shore partners were stiffing him.

"They owe me $500,000."

It was a lot of money. I had $10 in my pocket.

"Why me?" The previous summer I had taken care of his crazy Airedale. Pom Pom was a refugee from a Riviera Beach crack house. The local police force said she was a danger to the community. They weren't wrong, but that summer thunderstorms cured her madness.

"I send my people." His company was filled with young go-getters. "And they came up with nothing."

"Russia?" My voice was filled with hesitation.

"You worked with them at nightclubs."

"That was a long time ago."

1980.

"$5000 and expenses."

"Count me in." I rented easy.

My New York friends thought that I would get killed by the zeks.

"No one is killing me."

"How can you be sure?" AP, my good friend and landlord drove me to JFK.

"Because I have a plan." I had a family in Thailand, They needed the money.

I flew to Kiev. No one was there.

I left for Petersburg and was met by a friend.

Sev had played in AQUARIUM. They were huge in 80s. I loved THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR GLASS.

We showed up at the internet companies.

The bodyguards had Uzis. The owner asked, "Where your bodyguards?"

"Him?"

"Yes, him." I pointed to Sev. He had a long white beard.

"Who's he?"

I told him.

"Sev?" His bodyguards repeated the question. I shrugged, because a nod would have given them too much information.

Sev wasn't the leader of the band.

But he was part of its soul.

"Vodka." The owner called out to his staff.

He led Sev into the garden. He was purer than me. I drank a lot. The owner wired Johnnie Z his money.

"How you do it?"

"Friends know friends." I didn't bother to explain. >p> Sev and I went back to his place in then old city. He played cello for me. One song from MUSIC OF PUBLIC TOILETS.

It was worth the entire trip.

I didn't tell Johnnie Z that.

Like all rich people he was only after money.

Homo Scan

In April of 2009 Johnny Zombie from Palm Beach sent me to Russia to speak with his customers about their non-payment for merchandise. My friends in New York thought that these Russki 'businessmen' would kill me, but I had a band member from Aquarium for my companion. Everyone loved that band.

Seve dropped at the airport and I gave him $100 for his efforts.

"Hope to see you soon."

The cellist was good people.

After passing through immigration I approached the security check and was surprised to see a large machine for screening my body.

HOMO SCAN

Russia was notoriously homophobic and I had many gay friends. Some of them had to rub off on me, however I passed the examination without a hitch.

A customs officer later said that HOMO SCAN detected bombs.

I had none of those.

Only a slight lisp whenever I had a few drinks. It goes nicely with my stutter and Boston accent.

And the beer at the Petersburg Aeroport was dirt cheap.

"One more beer, pleasssse."

I could lisp all I wanted.

I had passed the HOMO SCAN.

In the eyes of Russia I was straight.

Red Army Love

Only a Russian could have written WAR AND PEACE

Do Svidaniya AK47

The AK-47 or Kalash was the assault rifle of choice for insurgents, rebels, revolutionaries, and armed forces since its introduction by the Soviet Army in 1946. The weapon maximized close combat firepower with easy operational needs. Its silhouette graced the flag of the Red Army Faction and was considered the first choice of terrorists, because of its accessibility.

"Remember one man's terrorists is another man's freedom fighter, so we all sort of think, oh boy, we've got a little bit of Che Guevara in us. And this accounts for the popularity of the (AK 47) weapon. Plus I think that in the United States it's considered counterculture, which is always something that citizens in this country kind of like ... It's kind of sticking a finger in the eye of the man, if you will." Larry Kahaner, author of AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War

Not any more.

In 2011 the Russian army announced the cessation of orders for the AK47, while awaiting a better weapon.

An end of an era.

Only for the Russkis, because there are enough AK-47s around to last till 2030, which is a good thing, because we'll need them for the apocalypse.

The Good Russian Boris

On August 18, 1991 Boris Yeltsin and his backers was under siege at the Moscow parliament. The old commies were staging an armed coup to oust Gobarchov's successor. He drank a bottle of vodka and confronted the rebel soliders in tanks. They listened to his passionate plea from Rodina and did not fire on the besieged reformers.

What a hero.

To hear his speech, please go to this URL

https://web.viu.ca/davies/H102/Yelstin.speech.1991.htm

Free The North 30

Frank Hewetson and the rest of the Arctic 30 remain in Russian prison.

There is nothing good about this place.

"23 hour day lock up. One hour a day 'exercise'. No hot running water. Light on 24-hours … It's a mixture of hope and despair."

His partner and mother of their two children said to The Guardian, "I think he could consider that he might be getting a bit old for this kind of game. He could do a slightly less crazy version. Hopefully, he won't have too much appetite for doing it again in a terrible hurry."

Free Frank, free the Arctic 30, free the world.

Murmansk to St. Petersburg

Russian authorities have transferred Frank Hewetson and his twenty-nine Greenpeace activists from Murmansk to a St. Peterburg prison. This might seem like good news, however families and friends have yet to be in contact with the prisoners and the charge of environmental hooliganism carries a sentence of seven years.

This charge was leveled against the punk protest band PUSSY RIOT for performing in a Russian church.

Pussy Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was recently transferred to a new penal colony in Siberia as punishment for her protests against prison conditions at her previous gulag.

I hope Frank and friends are okay.

Until then FREE THE ARCTIC 30 and PUSSY RIOT too.

Free Frank Hewetson and the Arctic 30

Last month my friend Frank Hewetson was arrested for hooliganism by Russian authorities. 27 other Greenpeace activists and two photographers were also incarcerated for taking part in a protest against Arctic oil exploration. Initially they were charged with piracy. Hooliganism is the same charge levied against the punk band PUSSY RIOT.

They got seven years.

His wife hasn't heard from Frank in a month.

Greenpeace is trying to free them.

Please help by going to this URL and signing the petition for the Arctic 30.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/arctic-impacts/Peace-Dove/Arctic-30/

Thank you.

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS Aquarium

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxU2xmjaRqE During my trip to 2009 trip to Russia I was lucky enough to Seve Gakkel, the celloist of the famous Soviet era band Aquarium. The band dated back to 1972, when Boris Grebenshchikov and Anatoly Gunitsky joined forces with several musicians to play art at Leningrad restaurant. The KGB hated rock, but somehow the band flourished in the Brezhnev era and to this date are highly regarded as a voice of freedom for the masses in the USSR. I don't understand a single word, but love their music. I'm an old folkie. To hear Aquarium please go to the following URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCNJp1X0N5Q

Pussy Rioter's Final Statement

Yekaterina Samutsevich: Closing Statement at the Pussy Riot Trial During the closing statement, the defendant is expected to repent or express regret for her deeds, or to enumerate attenuating circumstances. In my case, as in the case of my colleagues in the group, this is completely unnecessary. Instead, I want to express my views about the causes of what has happened with us. The fact that Christ the Savior Cathedral had become a significant symbol in the political strategy of our powers that be was already clear to many thinking people when Vladimir Putin’s former [KGB] colleague Kirill Gundyaev took over as head of the Russian Orthodox Church. After this happened, Christ the Savior Cathedral began to be used openly as a flashy setting for the politics of the security services, which are the main source of power [in Russia]. Why did Putin feel the need to exploit the Orthodox religion and its aesthetics? After all, he could have employed his own, far more secular tools of power—for example, national corporations, or his menacing police system, or his own obedient judiciary system. It may be that the tough, failed policies of Putin’s government, the incident with the submarine Kursk, the bombings of civilians in broad daylight, and other unpleasant moments in his political career forced him to ponder the fact that it was high time to resign; otherwise, the citizens of Russia would help him do this. Apparently, it was then that he felt the need for more convincing, transcendental guarantees of his long tenure at the helm. It was here that the need arose to make use of the aesthetics of the Orthodox religion, historically associated with the heyday of Imperial Russia, where power came not from earthly manifestations such as democratic elections and civil society, but from God Himself. How did he succeed in doing this? After all, we still have a secular state, and shouldn’t any intersection of the religious and political spheres be dealt with severely by our vigilant and critically minded society? Here, apparently, the authorities took advantage of a certain deficit of Orthodox aesthetics in Soviet times, when the Orthodox religion had the aura of a lost history, of something crushed and damaged by the Soviet totalitarian regime, and was thus an opposition culture. The authorities decided to appropriate this historical effect of loss and present their new political project to restore Russia’s lost spiritual values, a project which has little to do with a genuine concern for preservation of Russian Orthodoxy’s history and culture. It was also fairly logical that the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long had a mystical connection with power, emerged as this project’s principal executor in the media. Moreover, it was also agreed that the Russian Orthodox Church, unlike the Soviet era, when the church opposed, above all, the crudeness of the authorities towards history itself, should also confront all baleful manifestations of contemporary mass culture, with its concept of diversity and tolerance. Implementing this thoroughly interesting political project has required considerable quantities of professional lighting and video equipment, air time on national TV channels for hours-long live broadcasts, and numerous background shoots for morally and ethically edifying news stories, where in fact the Patriarch’s well-constructed speeches would be pronounced, helping the faithful make the right political choice during the election campaign, a difficult time for Putin. Moreover, all shooting has to take place continuously; the necessary images must sink into the memory and be constantly updated, to create the impression of something natural, constant and compulsory. Our sudden musical appearance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with the song “Mother of God, Drive Putin Out” violated the integrity of this media image, generated and maintained by the authorities for so long, and revealed its falsity. In our performance we dared, without the Patriarch’s blessing, to combine the visual image of Orthodox culture and protest culture, suggesting to smart people that Orthodox culture belongs not only to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch and Putin, that it might also take the side of civic rebellion and protest in Russia. Perhaps such an unpleasant large-scale effect from our media intrusion into the cathedral was a surprise to the authorities themselves. First they tried to present our performance as the prank of heartless militant atheists. But they made a huge blunder, since by this time we were already known as an anti-Putin feminist punk band that carried out their media raids on the country’s major political symbols. In the end, considering all the irreversible political and symbolic losses caused by our innocent creativity, the authorities decided to protect the public from us and our nonconformist thinking. Thus ended our complicated punk adventure in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. I now have mixed feelings about this trial. On the one hand, we now expect a guilty verdict. Compared to the judicial machine, we are nobodies, and we have lost. On the other hand, we have won. Now the whole world sees that the criminal case against us has been fabricated. The system cannot conceal the repressive nature of this trial. Once again, Russia looks different in the eyes of the world from the way Putin tries to present it at daily international meetings. All the steps toward a state governed by the rule of law that he promised have obviously not been made. And his statement that the court in our case will be objective and make a fair decision is another deception of the entire country and the international community. That is all. Thank you.

Pussy Riot Freedom

Show trial in the USSR were an integral instrument of Stalin's oppressive regime and the practice has been revived in Vladimir Putin's Russia to stifle any and all demonstrations against his rule. Last February three members of the punk group Pussy Riot entered Moscow's Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ to perform PRAYER beseeching the Mother of God to drive away the evil Putin. The trio were arrested for hooliganism and incarcerated to await trial. Amnesty International recognized the trio as political prisoners, the Grand Patriarch of All Russia condemned the sacrilege by saying, "The Devil has laughed at all of us." The trial has lasted eight days and a verdict is expected within the next day. Band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova countered the religious leader from within the defendants' glass and steel holding pen, "I, like Solzhenitsyn, believe that words will crush concrete. We sit in a cage, but we didn't lose. And the dissidents didn't lose. Disappearing in psychiatric wards and jails, they convicted the regime." And Maria Alyokhina spoke indirectly to Putin, "I am not afraid of you. You can take away my 'so-called' freedom, but you can never take my inner freedom." The three woman, two of whom are mothers, could be sentenced to seven years in prison, if found guilty. Punks are always hooligans. They are always guilty of innocence. вольность вольность вольность To view PRAYER by Pussy Riot, please go to the following URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALS92big4TY