Stopping at the Red Light

You know how you meet some people and you don’t realize the effect that they had on you until later? Until you’re staring out a window and you find that they keep entering your thoughts? I’ve met a few people like that recently. One of them is Pavel...

Engaging, not Exoticizing Human Rights

As far as bridge blogs go, English Russia is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Founded in August 2006, the site describes itself as “the Eastern Entertainment Channel.” (The 300-plus comments on its about page offer a pretty good introduction to what seem to be...
They Have Returned With Their Secrets Unviolated

They Have Returned With Their Secrets Unviolated

All tourists cherish an illusion, of which no amount of experience can ever completely cure them: they imagine that they will find time, in the course of their travels, to do a lot of reading. They see themselves, at the end of a day’s sightseeing or motoring,...