Quotes of the Day

Anna Chapman in Moscow June 2011

The strength of Putin’s rule is not so much in his iron grip on everyone’s life, or the sophistication of his spies. It’s the deep-ingrained belief of many Russians, both among the elite and commoners, that the government is the only thing that can protect each of us from the rest of us. - Dima Vorobiev on Quora

I am glad to see that Russia is making some economic progress. Putin might be a killer, but is there anyone who would prefer that Stalin was still in charge? Did Putin order the execution of the Russians who were killed in Britain recently? Seems pretty thin to me. I mean our government is not always the most competent when ferreting out the details. I suspect someone had a personal grudge. Maybe it was Putin, maybe it was someone else. Whatever. In any case I am looking for a picture to post and I come across Anna Chapman, who was some sort of real-life Bond girl.

It's no secret that we live in an era of overabundance of information. Today a day a person learns more than a hundred years ago could learn for a lifetime. In this uncontrolled flow of knowledge it is difficult to understand: where we are honest and where we are deceived. And as a result, many take on faith all incoming information. Or, on the contrary, they throw themselves away, not even allowing the thought that it can be reliable. When this winter the swine flu epidemic hit most of Russia, there were many versions of its origin. Up to the point that it came to us from the territory of Ukraine - allegedly in the laboratory near Kharkov, the Americans are developing biological weapons. A crazy theory that, nevertheless, has a right to exist. - Anna Chapman via Google Translate

Seems like wacko conspiracy theories exist on both sides of the ideological divide. Oh wait, maybe the CIA actually did infect Russia with the swine flu. I wouldn't put it past them. They certainly have a long history of dirty tricks. I don't actually think they did. Mother Nature doesn't really care what we do or say. Sometimes her vicious nature just asserts itself and a zillion people die.

P.S. While looking at pictures of Anna, I came across several that had her posing with a gun. Well, if you're going to be one of the elite, and I'm pretty sure being a real-life Bond girl qualifies, you need to be able to handle a firearm. But this pic won out because we have a Russian church in the background. I don't think it's St. Basil's, but I am pretty sure it's in Moscow.