Author Archives: freelander

On friendship, and maybe also love

Hardly an adult man is to be found, at least in the Western culture, who has never been told, by a woman he courted and who rejected him, something like this: “…but we can be just friends!” Just friends? These … Continue reading

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On nuclear porn

Most people would  agree with the idea that the world is basically governed by Big Money. There are exceptions, but I think we may assume as a fact that this is the general rule. Better informed ones would be able … Continue reading

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Will cultural colonization ultimately defeat Russia?

The reflection I mean to set forth here stems from a casual — you may say funny observation: when I visited Georgia this summer, I realized that many women did not wear a bra. At first, and having recently been … Continue reading

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Overcoming defeatism

I confess that at the beginning of September, after the Ukrainian “Kharkov counter offensive”, and influenced by the heavy criticism for Vladimir Putin and his “way of doing things”, for a couple of days I somewhat lost my faith in … Continue reading

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Trading places

Almost four decades ago Hollywood released a comedy titled Trading places. In the plot, two filthy rich old billionaires discuss on whether people, once modeled by their upbringing, can be changed by the environment. One sustains that we basically remain … Continue reading

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Foreign toponyms

When we allude to foreign proper nouns and toponyms we bump into a couple of linguistic obstacles, translation and transliteration, which present two different sides of the same issue. Transliteration (which for us westerners is synonym with romanization) deals with … Continue reading

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A thesis on visa restrictions to Russians

Visa isuing policies can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical. Whereas the first type is, I assume, a matter of bilateral agreements between two given countries (or blocks), the second type is more likely a result of “the market”, meaning that … Continue reading

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Slava Ukraini

Yes, I also uttered that watchword once. But before scolding me with swinish fury in your comments, please let me tell you how it happened. It was my very first trip to Ukraine. I knew nothing about that country except … Continue reading

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