Terry's Russia Blogosphere

Our Innovative Moscow Mayor

Say what you will about Yuri Luzhkov, I think Moscow has a mayor who is always one step ahead.  A man with ideas about how to better his city, he is making plans now to keep the snow from hitting Moscow during the upcoming winter season. 

Having lived here for over a decade and visiting here before that a few times I can attest to the fact that snow in this giant of a city is a problem!  Every year you see a constant parade of dump trucks and snow removal crews hitting the highways and the traffic, which is already beyond description comes to a slow crawl or a complete standstill - for hours.  Many of the trucks simply dump the snow into the rivers here but that doesn't even take care of all of it.  It's Russia after all, isn't it? 

We usually have a blanket of snow from November until March.

Well, this year Mayor Luzhkov is taking the budget which is normally used to shovel the streets and he's hitting the air with it.  It is even going to be cheaper.  He is tasking the Air Force to spray the clouds with cement powder, dry ice or silver iodide. 

If he sprays the incoming blizzards, which Moscow is so famously prone to, before they get to the city then they will dump their snow on the outlying regions.  Moscow will be spared the snarl of traffic and the tons and tons of snow, but the regions have a little debate going on about it.  What about their streets?

We shall see what this winter shall bring.  I for one, as a muscovite, will be happy to have a clear sidewalk to park on and a clean road to drive down.

Happy motoring Moscow!

Election Season in Moscow

As we walk around our neighborhood we cannot help but notice the many posters from the different candidates for the state Duma.  Those who win will represent their local regions.  There are several parties involved, such as the one with Vladimir Zhirinovski's picture.  You can see him all over town and he is a well-liked Duma member. 

He is known for his sometimes over-the-top statements and his antics in the Duma where he once had a fist fight with another one of the parliament members, who happened to be female.  

One of his local billboards reads, "Moscow for Muskovites".  This flier showing his picture says, "Only LDPR or suffer further".

Another well advertised party is that of the "United Russia" party with the symbol of the Russian bear.  It is probably the most represented of the parties in the Duma.  It is also sometimes referred to as the Kremlin Party.

The poster which caught my attention though was the one by one of the communist party members who had a very familiar slogan.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is still very active and have been attracting many of the youth here in Russia.  You can very often see them at street demonstrations during the various holidays waving red flags and chanting slogans.

This poster at left says, "Uniting for the sake of Change". Where have I heard that one before? 

It could be a winning ticket with a slogan like that one.  Of course, the posters also promise free housing and other socialistic ideals.

We shall see what the results will be come October 11th.  I'm sure many will be out to vote.  Interestingly, Russia went from a Monarchy to the Soviet Union's Marxist Socialism and Communism to Democracy under Yeltsin to what many have called an autocratic government of today.  I don't think that this will ever be Soviet again but people do feel comfortable with what they've always had.