Russia disproves the “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention”

by Aaron Hotfelder on

New York Times columnist and mustachioed flat-earth proponent Thomas Friedman posited back in 1996 that two countries with McDonald’s restaurants had never gone to war with each other.

This “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention,” as some have called it, holds that governments with large enough middle classes to support a McDonald’s would not be able to cajole their populaces into supporting drawn-out wars. People in McDonald’s countries “don’t like to fight wars,” Friedman says, “They like to wait in line for burgers.”

As this short article from the Guardian points out, that theory is now just about shot. Russia’s war with Georgia seems to disprove the idea that countries with McDonald’s automatically shy away from war.

Of course, Friedman was speaking metaphorically, not literally. His main point, that well-off countries tend to avoid war, is still valid.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me while I go pick up a twelver of Chicken Nuggets.

[For a hilarious, scathing review of Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, read this article by Matt Taibbi.]

The best Russian-language author you’ve (probably) never heard of

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Before I’d ever heard of Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), Russia was just a big country on the other side of the world known for its uncanny ability to produce vodka and hockey players with impossibly long surnames. As soon as I read a story or two of Gogol’s, I wanted to find out as much as I could about Russia, the setting for most of Gogol’s short stories and his masterpiece, a novel called Dead Souls.

I first read Gogol about five years ago, and I’ve had a bad case of Russophilia ever since.

So why do I think all you travelers out there in Gadlingland will fall in love with this old Russian geezer from the early 19th Century? Quite simply, because of his novel Dead Souls, a hilarious account of a swindler’s journey through provincial Russia. In between humorous yet scathing criticisms of the Russian ruling class and meditations on the essence of the Russian character, Gogol discusses the healing, restorative power of travel. When one character, suffering from malaise and stagnation, seeks the advice of a friend, his friend responds:

“I am beginning to think that a journey might shake you up. Your trouble is a sleepy soul. You have quite simply fallen asleep– and you have fallen asleep not out of any satiety or weariness, but from the lack of any vivid impressions or sensations.”

In other words, seeing somewhere new wakes you up to the joys of life. Isn’t that why we all travel?

Gogol wrote mostly short stories, and one of his most well-known is “The Nose,” in which a Russian official’s nose disappears from his face and reappears in a neighbor’s loaf of bread. Eventually, the nose is seen walking around the streets of St. Petersburg, and finally, for no apparent reason, the nose reappears back on the man’s face.

Gogol ends the story by chiding the narrator for telling such an absurd tale: “But what is stranger, what is more incomprehensible than anything is that authors can choose such subjects. I confess that it is quite beyond my grasp, it really is… It is absolutely without profit to our country.” Finally, Gogol admits that maybe the story had a point after all: “And yet, in spite of it all… are there not absurd things everywhere? When you think it over, there really is something in it. Despite what anyone may say, such things do happen– not often, but they do happen.”

Some of Gogol’s other well-known works are a play called The Government Inspector, and “The Overcoat,” a short story. In fact, Dostoyevsky once famously praised Gogol, saying that later Russian writers “all came out from under Gogol’s Overcoat.”

Gogol, in my opinion, is a criminally underrated author, and I strongly recommend him to Russophiles such as myself, and to all those interested in Russia. His writing is always perceptive, often hilarious, and never dull.

Travel helping to change Russians’ outlook on life

by Jeffrey White on

As readers of this blog will no doubt attest, travel really helps to shape one’s outlook on life. And while the ways in which it does varies from person to person, it’s hard to argue that the overall impact isn’t positive.

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about the travel boom in Russia, which is seeing Russians from essentially all walks of life traveling in greater numbers than ever before. It’s an obvious change from Soviet days, when travel was limited to those held in the communist party’s esteem (and even then such travel was strictly monitored), and it speaks to the relative prosperity to be found today in the world’s largest country. Russians have tons of cash, and they’re using it see the world.

In 2006, 7.1 million Russians took trips outside the former Soviet bloc, compared to 2.6 million in 1995, the Times says, citing the Russian government. Turkey alone sees 2.5 million Russian tourists a year, surpassed only by tourists from Germany.

But Russians are not just heading to Turkey. They’re heading pretty much everywhere. I’m writing this right now from Montenegro, a little country with a disproportionally large tourism industry that is driven mostly by Russians, who not only arrive in droves on cruise ships but are deciding they like the coastline here so much they’re buying up as much of it as they can, sometimes directly from Montenegrins eager for some quick cash.

The Times‘ article notes that many of these destinations favored by Russians know exactly who is buttering their bread: they are setting up services and amenities that cater specifically to them. Along the Montenegrin coast, Russian is the unofficial second language, and many young tour guides and hotel help are fluent in it. Sevastopol, Ukraine, a pretty place on the Black Sea, is another such destination, more Russian, locals say, than Russia itself. There Russian is the official language, the Russian flag snatches at the wind, prices are quoted in rubles, and the attractive harbor is alive with swank nightclubs featuring the same turbo-house music loved in Moscow.

So what? As one person the Times interviews says, traveling and interacting with other cultures is helping to broaden (and soften) Russians’ world view, something that might seem obvious when we forget that this is a relatively new phenomenon there.

The Russian writer Viktor Yerofeyev puts it best, telling the Times: “Through all this travel, we are seeing a change in mentality at home. People are now seeking pleasure, whether it is in the night clubs of Moscow or in restaurants. Travel is a continuation of that pleasure. Just to have pleasant lives, not to suffer, to feel positive. Their life compass changes, from ‘I don’t care about anything’ to ‘I would like to have a better life.’ Travel is a part of this. The world is becoming part of their lives.”

Moscow’s main airport gets train service. Finally.

by Grant Martin on

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting Russia and flown into Moscow, you probably flew into Sheremetyevo* airport. For those of you that haven’t, I can try to sum it up for you in a couple of words here: It’s terrible.

The domestic and international terminals are separated in different buildings on different sides of the airport, so you have to take a shuttle way out and around to get there. The staff are pretty unfriendly and largely hostile to English speakers. And it’s wicked wicked far from the city. It’s a long, hard bus ride into the city to connect to the subway, that with traffic can take hours.

Luckily, at least that part is coming to an end. Just this week, Russia finally finished a rail link into Sheremetyevo airport, easing the horrible burden on traffic and congestion into the busy airport.

Rail service started Wednesday at the modest ticket price of $10.50/ticket. They could have made the ticket twice that and I would have paid it.

Now, onto the rest of the airport which direly needs the update. Russia started the upgrades to the international terminal last year and the domestic terminal remodeling is slated to start next year. And not a moment too soon.

* Firefox 3.0’s suggestions for the misspelling of “Sheremetyevo”: Usherette and Magnetosphere. Maybe that’s why it’s still in beta.

Bolshoi in Russia: Getting a visa is not for the faint of heart

by Iva Skoch on

It’s not that getting a visa to Russia is the hardest thing you will ever do as a traveler. It’s just one of those things you wish you didn’t have to do. But since the US makes it difficult for Russians to get a US visa, the Russians do the same. Hence, you end of with a painful process called Obtaining a Visa to Russia.

First, you have to get an invitation letter. Yeah, it is kind of a problem, if you don’t know anyone who could possibly invite you. Even if you do, it is such a pain for the person living in Russia to go through the formal process of inviting you, you are better off hiring an agency to invite you instead. I know, it doesn’t really make sense, but that’s what happens.

Agencies, such as Visa to Russia, can write up and invitation for you for a mere $30-$45, depending on how fast you want it. In the invitation, they can even even include hotel names where you are “allegedly” going to stay, in case you don’t know yet.

After you have received your invitation, you can take it to the nearest Russian Consulate. Make sure to bring your passport (at least 6 months before expiration date), two photographs, proof of health coverage while in Russia, complete visa application, and money order for $131. That is how much a visa costs if you are willing to wait as long as 10 days. If you need it the same day, it will cost you up to $450, in New York, at least. Visa fees are cheaper for EU citizens. Be prepared to leave your passport there for visa processing.

If you are planning to be in Russia for more than 3 business days, note that you have to register with the police in Russia. Ask your hotel; they should be able to do it for you. Russian police have been known to stop random foreigners in Moscow and ask them for their registration papers, demanding a fee or a bribe, depending on whom you ask.

From Russia, with love.