In the news

We really do live in interesting times.

Russian schools are getting requests to compile lists of schoolchildren with Georgian names. This rings the bells in more ways than one. Russia is also applying pressure on Georgia in ways that would cause massive protests if it were some civilized country doing this.

Politkovskaya got murdered. Putin promised to find and punish the killers. Oh my God, why does this remind me so much of OJ all over again?

(For the record: I am not really sure that Putin did it. Could have been anyone among the high officials and officers that she dug up dirt on. Not that it takes much digging, mind you.)

North Korea tested a nuclear bomb, or pretended to. Less than one kiloton - hey, they have probably managed a better explosion with trains in Ryongchon. Although, what do you expect from a country that still hasn't mastered the highly technological skill of growing enough rice to feed the population? And now they are threatening the US, saying that full-scale sanctions (such as closing Kim Jong-Il's offshore bank accounts, I guess) will be interpreted as an act of war, and North Korea will retaliate. They will probably shoot a missile with a train attached. Or, as a friend of mine suggested, they will go and sit somewhere in the Middle East with a sign "Will bomb Great Satan for food". Speaking about that - let's stop sending them food. Let them eat their bomb or whatever.

Somalia and Ethiopia have started a war with each other, or according to some reports Somalia - or the Islamic fundamentalists who have power over most of the south - started war with Ethiopia. Since things don't usually happen very fast in that part of the world, the war has been declared but there has not been any real shooting action. Maybe it's better that way.

In the much brighter news: France has banned smoking in public places, to be implemented in phases in 2007-2008. Go France!

Now Putin already has a very good idea who killed Politkovskaya: the Russian emigrants. (Don't look at me, I am absolutely innocent.) Somehow, the stories from Russia nowadays resemble more and more the stories my grandparents used to tell me.