Russian (RUSS)
Club and Newsletter at Western Michigan UniversityRussian Home
| Department Home
Click HERE for the Russian Club external siteRussian Club Officers for Spring 2007:
President: Shane Carlson - shane.m.carlson@wmich.edu
Newsletter Editors: Marta Kourliandtchik and Andrey Trabskiy - marta.kourliandtchik@wmich.edu
The Western Michigan University Russian Club Newsletter
The Western Michigan University Russian Club Newsletter
Sponsored by the Russian Section of the Department of Foreign Languages and the College of Arts and Sciences
February, 2007 Marta Kourliandtchik and Andrey Trabskiy, Editors Vol.XXVI, No. 3
In This Issue:
Russia in the News:
Putin says US is Undermining Global Stability
More Choosing Orthodox Priesthood
The Russians are Filming!
Bazaars and Byzantine Backstreets
Russia: In the News
Putin says US is Undermining Global Stability
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia accused the United States on Saturday of provoking a new nuclear arms race by developing ballistic missile defenses, undermining international institutions and making the Middle East more unstable through its clumsy handling of the Iraq war.
In an address to an international security conference, Mr. Putin dropped all diplomatic gloss to recite a long list of complaints about American domination of global affairs, including many of the themes that have strained relations between the Kremlin and the United States during his seven-year administration.
Among them were the expansion of NATO into the Baltics and the perception in Russia that the West has supported groups that have toppled other governments in Moscow's former sphere of influence.
"The process of NATO expansion has nothing to do with modernization of the alliance," Mr. Putin said. "We have the right to ask, 'Against whom is this expansion directed?' "
He said the United States had turned the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sends monitors to elections in the former Soviet sphere, "into a vulgar instrument of ensuring the foreign policy interests of one country."
The comments were the sternest yet from Mr. Putin, who has long bristled over criticism from the United States and its European allies as he and his cadre of former Soviet intelligence officials have consolidated their hold on Russia's government, energy reserves and arms-manufacturing and trading complexes. Rubble from the Berlin Wall was "hauled away as souvenirs" to countries that praise openness and personal freedom, he said, but “now there are attempts to impose new dividing lines and rules, maybe virtual but still dividing our mutual contiternational relations — military force."
"Primarily the United States has overstepped its national borders, and in every area," said Mr. Putin, who increasingly has tried to re-establish Russia's once broad Soviet-era influence, using Russia's natural resources as leverage and defending nations at odds with the United States, including Iran.
American military actions, which he termed "unilateral" and "illegitimate," also "have not been able to resolve any matters at all," and, he said, have created only more instability and danger.
- New York Times – 2/12/07
More Choosing Orthodox Priesthood
Detroit is emerging as a national center for the rebirth of Orthodox Christian churches, which have deep ethnic roots in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Social scholars say the churches are growing in the United States through immigration and conversion. Next week, many of Detroit's Orthodox leaders will host the first in a series of conferences planned nationwide for non-Orthodox clergy who want to explore conversion.
The Rev. John Fenton is betting his life on the growing popularity of Orthodox Christianity.
He and his wife have packed up their six children from the rectory of a Detroit church where he was a Lutheran pastor until late October. They've moved into a small home in Allen Park, leaving behind Fenton's clergy salary and, soon, his health insurance. "My wife and I have spent a lot of time in prayer about this whole move, and it is difficult, but we do believe that God is leading us," Fenton said. On Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 in Troy Fenton plans to join a small number of clergy nationwide choosing ordination as Orthodox priests. Fenton has lined up 16 former Lutherans as charter members of a new Orthodox parish he plans to open.
Why the fresh interest? Fenton said many Christians feel battered by theological controversies in their own churches. In contrast, he said, Orthodoxy represents an oasis of Christian tradition with its centuries-old style of worship and timeless celebration of the mysterious power of saints.
- Muskegon Chronicle – 1/22/07
The Russians are Filming! The Russians are Filming!
James D. Deck and James Heth -or "the Americans," as their Russian film crew calls them — descended 200 feet down a rusty ladder into the blank darkness of one of this city's serpentine subway tunnels, far below a cluttered construction lot near the old Red Army Theater.
Mr. Deck and Mr. Heth are the creative and technical advisers on "Trackman,", a thriller set here, filmed in Russian and aimed at millions of eager moviegoers spread across the former Soviet republics. It is the first local-language film for Monumental Pictures, a joint venture of Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Patton Media Group, a production company backed in part by American investors. A primary task for the two men is to instill a studio-style work ethic on the "Trackman" set and to make sure that the movie is delivered on time and on budget. When the film's director, Igor Shavlak, tells Mr. Deck that cameras will roll in 30 minutes, Mr. Deck raises a good-natured eyebrow. "Promise?" he asks.
Mr. Shavlak welcomes the prodding. "The idea is to absorb the American experience" making films, he said later. "It is common knowledge we are lagging far behind."
Not, it would appear, for long. Russia's movie industry, following a torpid decade that mirrored the country's social, political and economic turbulence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1901, is in the midst of a creative renaissance and box-office boom. And Hollywood — whose producers,, distributors and exhibitors rarely pass up a chance to exploit an opportunity— is spending millions on theaters, distributors and movies themselves.
"It's like a gold rush right now," says Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "There is a long history of good filmmaking; there are actors and directors who know what they are doing. The trick is getting in at the ground level."
Russia, of course, is a land where a rush for gold is a perennial pastime. It is also an unpredictable, unwieldy place that in recent years has routinely rewarded and then confounded the expectations of many fortune hunters. Even so, analysts and film executives all say the movie business here looks more promising and more vibrant than it has in many, many years.
- New York Times – 7/16/06
Bazaars and Byzantine Backstreets
The port city of Trabzon doesn't inspire obvious postcards. Perched on the Black Sea on Turkey's less-developed north coast, it has long been associated with cargo ships, flashy Russian merchants and even flashier prostitutes.More recently, it has also been associated with nationalist violence. After the arrests of 11 people from the area on charges of plotting to murder an Armenian-Turkish editor in Istanbul last month, the authorities are investigating links the suspects in that killing may have to a series of nationalist-motivated crimes in the region, including the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon and the murder of a Catholic priest there a year ago.
But another side of Trabzon is also beginning to emerge. Thanks in part to a spillover from Istanbul, Bodrum and other tourist-throng destinations; this former Byzantine capital is becoming known for its uh-trammeled bazaars, spectacular cultural treasures and other picture-perfect attractions.
The city already gets a fair share of cruise ships, especially luxury liners that hop around the Black Sea. Passengers, however, often limit their shore leave to the city's must-see attractions, including the Sumela Monastery, a stone aerie built nearly 1,000 feet into the side of a mountain, and the Hagia Sophia, a majestic 13th-century church filled with New Testament frescoes, Islamic reliefs and centuries of sailors' graffiti. It's now a museum (90-462-223-3043; open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission is 2 new liras, or $1.38 at 1.45 new liras to $1.
But they miss out on Trabzon's real draw. With its antique center, bustling cobblestone streets and ancient wooden houses leaking fragrant smoke, Trabzon is a miniature Istanbul — without the crowds.
During the day, rickety bazaars sell everything from silver-blue anchovies to underwear to handsome copper pitchers (about 30 new liras). Shops along Kundura-cilar Street specialize in hasir bilezik, handmade wire-thin silver and gold bracelets that cost thousands of dollars. At night, when students from Karadeniz Technical University come out to play, Trabzon embraces every cliche of a Turkey torn between East and West. Mothers in head-scarves rush children past the sineKahve cafe (Gazipasa mahallesi, 8A Cudi Bey Mektep Sokak, 90-462-323-0488), where goa-teed intellectuals read glossy magazines. And at the Stress Cafe (Cumhuriyet mah, 2 Nemlioglu Cemal Sokak, 90-462-321-3044), 20-somethings flirt over cappuccino-flavored hookahs (5 new liras) and dance to a loud rock version of Turkish folk music. And then there is the Pontic culture, a local population fossilized from Byzantine days who speak a form of ancient Greek. They're known for the kemence, a fiddlelike instrument that makes a whiny bee sound. Buy one for 75 to 350 new liras at the Izmir Saz Evi shop (Kemerkaya mahallesi, 54 Uzun Sokak, 90-462-322-4001). Or you might be able to hear it live during a wedding at the Konak Dugun Salonu (Gazipasa mahallesi, 6 Cudi Bey Mektep Sokak, 90-462-322-5122), a hall where on a recent Saturday the crowd shuffled energetically in a horon, a circle dance that resembles a knife fight.The lake town of Uzungol, just south of Trabzon, is also popular. Tucked in a valley between pine-covered mountains, this once-obscure town is now dotted with small restaurants and family-run hotels. Typical is the Inan Kardesler Bungalows (90-462-656-6021, www.inankardesler.com.tr; rooms are 70 new liras), which has wooden chalets, a garden and a restaurant that serves fresh trout from the lake.
- New York Times – 2/11/07
Western’s Russian Club will be at the annual International Festival Sunday, March 25, 2007 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM. Last year’s international festival attracted more than 3,500 people. The festival features culinary delights and cultural displays from several different countries.
Russian movie series is still going on, however the time and place have changed to Thursdays at 6 PM in Auditorium D-109 on Parkview’s Campus. The movies will be in Russian with English subtitles and are free and open to the public. The remaining movie dates are as follows:
March 15
Inner Circle
March 29
The Thief
April 12
Kolya
If you need more information, contact Dr. Nisula at 269.387.3005 or Dasha.Nisula@wmich.edu.
Do you have anything you want printed in the Russian Club Newsletter? Russian news? Are there Russian things going on around campus? Let us know! Send an email to marta.kourliandtchik@wmich.edu with Russian newsletter as the subject.
