Russia

Or at least one novelist’s vision of it….

via Strangemaps

I have been comissioned to write entries on Gromyko, Shevardnaze and the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Seemed to go down well…

I talked for about an hour, and they seemed to be interested. I certainly got asked some good questions which I tried to respond to as best I could. Some relae to this paper, but others have a broader significance. The jist of them was

- Are there any religious connections. Ideas of monasticism? - Certainly the ILS is culty
- Why did the school close in 1938?
- Why was there no consideration of the nationalities question in the prerequesite reading list for the ILS?
- How was the centre envisaging that ILS graduates might reintegrate into their national parties?
- How did western governments view the ILS?

Positive feedback and some good foos for thought. I’m in the process of sorting out the podcast to include the slides, but the audio is here, both the paper and the question and answer session (click buttons below).

Online here

Sounds simple enough, but boy is this one complicated.

I sent off the necessary documentation to get the invitation to apply for a visa - not too tricky but the hardest may yet be to come.  Both my wife and I have been to Russia on numerous occasions, but we both changed our surnames when we got married.  This could be complicated enough with the consulate, but on top of that all of my wife’s prior trips have been on her US passport and she’s making this one on her Swiss one…So this could be fun.

And flights aren’t exactly easy either.  We know when we want to go but not when we will come back (I don’t yet even know if I have a job for next year), and so we need a flexible ticket.  This isn’t itself a problem, but it is confusing.

And I haven’t even written the letters to the archives yet (or the conference paper I’m giving)