Rodger's Russia

  A poll released yesterday shows that Putin is the sixth most respected man world wide.  In regions outside the US and EU, he ranks second or third, right after the local heroes.  More important to you, the defense department wants spend about a trillion of your hard earned dollars defending you from the evil […]

Odd topic isn’t it.  I decided it was time to write about it because of all the stories I have read this week about oppressed Russian people and how everyone who disagrees with Putin meets a grisly end. We’ve all seen the movies and heard the stories about the knock on the door in the […]

I have been avoiding writing new posts since the Ukrainian crisis started.  I prefer to write humor and there hasn’t been a lot funny about that conflict. In fact, if I did write the truth about it, from the Russian point of view, I would get lot of angry letters. However someone has to post […]

I have reached southern Russia and I cannot decide whether to write up the trip for Travelers Digest or The Police Gazette. Aeroflot certainly did give us a little slice of Russia in the Air. Because I am too tall to fit into a standard seat, last year we purchased tickets early and reserved exit […]

They say it was different in the good old days. Russia is ratty. Outside of boom towns like Moscow, everything needs paint. The apartment hallways are maintained by the city – and are NOT maintained. Most apartments have enclosed utilitarian balconies where clothes are dried and spare furniture kept. The balconies look decrepit with peeling […]

  Yesterday, Medvedev announced that he planned to end the annual technical inspections for automobiles. You may remember that I talked about those before. Each time we purchased a car, we had to go through something like a super smog test where they examined and tested the car. The first time, we had to wait […]