I did an interview with Igor Kurinnoy recently. Kurinnoy (pictured below) is a three time world champion in the Russian martial art of sambo. I have to admit that I had no real idea what sambo was until just before the interview. As he explained it, sambo is a mix of all the martial arts that were practised by the different nationalities of the Soviet Union. It was created as a way to make a universal style of fighting so that all people in the Soviet Union could compete against each other. So it incorporates elements, for example, of kurash from Uzbekistan, chidaoba from Georgia, barilda from the Far East and trinta from Moldova among other styles. According to Kurinnoy, this mixture of styles and the fact that sambo takes its basis more from the modern world than other forms of martial arts makes it the most useful and realistic form of fighting.

Kurinnoy himself was an affable chap, but sitting opposite him made me wonder about all the different ways he could beat the shit out of me. An irrational desire to start a fight just to see what would happen entered the back of my mind. In addition to being a sambo guru he also holds a black belt in judo and is a three time European champion in sumo wrestling, believe it or not. For anyone interested in learning sambo, his multimedia CDs would probably be a good place to start. You can order them here. He also does regular seminars in the US and Europe so you could always check him out if he's in your area.

I was also surprised to find out that the 'o' in sambo isn't stressed, making the martial art indistinguishable in pronunciation from the Brazilian form of music. Kind of takes some of the hardness out of the sport.

It's nearly impossible to walk anywhere around the city centre in Moscow without seeing/hearing street musicians, aka buskers. Their favourite spots are plazas/malls and pedestrian walkways, and they're usually accompanied by over-zealous friends who almost chase after you, begging for contributions to be placed in disturbingly dirty hats. It's possible to be harrassed for your cash even when there is no music forthcoming, so I decided to write a song about these characters. Here it is:

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This photo's from a few years back but remains one of my favourites. The guy pictured was truly massive - he must have been close to two metres tall. I literally had to run after him to get this picture due to his huge stride. Why did I bother? Because this man-monolith is carrying a purse in his hand. The Russian man-bag fashion has always been a source of amusement to foreigners in Russia. And it's an accessory that shows no sign of dying out. The Exile recently did a photo essay on the subject and found that maybe there's something to the 'murse' after all. See the article here.

Another day, another political rally. This one's from the opposite side of the political spectrum... I think... Russian politics can be hard to work out. It must have been around September last year when I went along to have a look at a rally in support of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It was hilarious. Only 50-70 people showed up in support of him. Meanwhile across a barricade a bunch of kids from the Nashi youth movement were there to shout abuse at the supporters. The Khodorkovsky team was fairly disorganised and any chants they started were quickly drowned out by the children armed with their high-powered whistles. Meanwhile, the kids had cool t-shirts and banners and were a much greater spectacle.

But some of them were no more than 13 years old. Did they really want to be there or have any strong beliefs about the issue? The information circulating was that they were getting paid to be there. Why?? Did anyone really think the completely disorganised Khodorkovsky supporters posed any sort of threat to the status quo? No one would even have noticed them if the kids weren't causing such a ruckus. A journalist also told me that there were security personnel there taking covert photos of Khodorkovsky supporters.

But complaints, rumours and rationalisation aside, all in all it was a fun day out for all involved: the supporters, the idle spectators, and especially for the children. And that's the most important thing.

Here's one from the archives. May Day 2005: I was taken along to some political rally by an acquaintance of mine at the time. It was something about Alexandr Dugin's Evrazia movement. I don't really know or care what it's about but if anyone's interested you can read about it in seven languages here. But it must be something a bit odd since the people I met there all seemed to be virulent racists or other assorted nuts. There was a young American lad there who gave a speech, warning about the danger of the Orange Revolution spreading to Russia and how terrible McDonald's is among other things. Later he came to join us for a meal at that very same eatery. Overall, the people were unimpressive, disorganised and generally uninspiring. If this is the calibre of people involved in Russia's radical fringe groups then there isn't a whole lot to be concerned about (or excited about, depending on your own views). And now I'm not sure if I had a point to make when I started writing this. At any rate, the photo of the little girl with the flag and the armband is quite cute, in a disturbing sort of way.

It's not often you see a traditionally dressed Aborigine walking out the front door of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel. To say it looks out of place in a symbol of modern, chic and prosperous Moscow would be an understatement. Though in modern, chic and prosperous Moscow it is also hard to believe that armed militia used to roam this hotel less than 10 years ago. That was until the dispute between the owners was resolved when the American owner was shot dead in the street outside. That story is one of many anecdotes from the book Absurdistan, by Eric Campbell, which is apparently due to be released in the USA and UK on September 29th. Campbell was a foreign correspondent in Russia in the late '90s, and later worked in China. The book covers both postings and is well worth reading for anyone interested in either country.