SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1016 (83), Friday, October 29, 2004
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TITLE: Russia Named in Missing Arms Spat
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: A high-ranking U.S. defense official said Russian forces "almost certainly" smuggled a cache of high explosives out of Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion in March 2003, The Washington Times reported Thursday.
Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov dismissed the allegations as "absurd" and "ridiculous."
The Washington Times, basing its report on an interview with John Shaw, the deputy U.S. undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said Russian special forces had probably helped spirit out the hundreds of tons of high explosives that went missing from the al-Qaqaa base.
Two weeks ago, Iraqi officials told the UN International Atomic Energy Agency that 377 tons of explosives had vanished as a result of "theft and looting ... due to lack of security." The compounds, HMX and RDX, are key components in plastic explosives, which insurgents in Iraq have used in bomb attacks.
"I can state officially that the Russian Defense Ministry and its structures couldn't have been involved in the disappearance of the explosives, because all Russian military experts left Iraq when the international sanctions were introduced during the 1991 Gulf War," Sedov said.
"I can understand when they try to make an elephant out of a fly, but this time there wasn't even a fly," Itar-Tass quoted Sedov as saying.
Russia's charge d'affaires in Iraq, Ilya Morgunov, also denied the report.
"I didn't hear about any weapons being taken out," he was quoted by Interfax as saying. "Moreover, there was nobody to take them out, because we actually evacuated all of our personnel."
He said there had been no Russian special forces in Iraq, only civilian specialists working for foreign firms.
Visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told reporters in Moscow that he was unaware of any information suggesting Russia helped Saddam Hussein's government ship explosives out of Iraq.
Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst, said that some Russian military experts had worked in Iraq between the 1991 Gulf War and the U.S. invasion in March 2003, helping maintain Soviet-built weapons, but he voiced skepticism about the deployment of Russian troops to smuggle the explosives out of Iraq.
"Plastic explosives aren't so strategically important that they need to be taken out, although that can't be fully excluded," Felgenhauer said.
He said Hussein's government had apparently tried to cover up traces of its forbidden weapons program prior to the U.S. invasion, but added that it was unlikely that Russians had taken part in the effort.
For the fourth consecutive day in the election for U.S. president, Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry blamed U.S. President George Bush for bad Iraqi policy that led to the disappearance of the explosives.
Bush sought to turn the controversy to his own advantage. He said his rival was showing a "complete disregard for the facts. Senator Kerry will say anything to get elected," the president said.
(AP, SPT)
TITLE: Official in Charge of City Roads Moves On
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Vladimir Dedyukhin, head of the City Hall mantainence committee and responsible for local road construction projects since 1996 resigned Monday to work in the federal ministry for regional development headed by former St. Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev, the city administration reported this week.
The resignation came after a wave of strong criticism of Dedyukhin from Governor Valentina Matviyenko and the Legislative Assembly budget committee.
In the spring, the governor accused Dedyukhin of "sabotaging road construction" by saying that a range of important projects for city roads, such as renewing Enegelsa Prospekt, had not been included in the financial plan for 2004.
"As the head of the committee you have to react to the most serious problems in the city. There is a question surrounding the significance of this road. You are claiming that you can't start the renovation until monopolists have finished laying down underground systems, but their projects have to be formed according to city plans, not the other way around," Matviyenko said at a government meeting in April this year.
The following month Dedyukhin got into trouble after Alexander Nikonov, the head of the financial committee, claimed that City Hall does not spend city budget money in a way scheduled by the city budget, with some committees lacking up to 40 percent of scheduled financing.
Dedyukhin was also among a group of bureaucrats who received an official notice from Matviyenko which said that the way they approach their tasks was "a sign of disorder and unprofessionalism."
"Next time I won't limit myself just to [official] notices," Matviyenko warned at a government meeting in May.
Dedyukhin was slammed once more on Wednesday last week when the Legislative Assembly deputies discussed the draft city budget for 2005. On that occasion Vladimir Barkanov, head of the parliamentary budget committee, suggested that Dedyukhin spends city money ineffectively.
"As more money is being spent on road construction, more traffic jams appear. The construction and renovation is not linked in any way to the common strategy to develop the city," Barkanov said, as quoted by Kommersant newspaper on Tuesday.
In 2004, the maintenance committee had a budget of 11 billion rubles ($382 million), 9 billion rubles ($312.8 million) of which has already been spent.
Nearly 2 1/2 million rubles ($83,420) has been paid by the committee to the Investkonkurs company as commission for organizing tenders for road construction projects - an amount of money that City Hall believes to be too much for such services, Kommersant reported.
But Vladimir Yeryomenko, the Legislative Assembly deputy of the United Russia faction, said that Dedyukhin left because working at City Hall was too limiting for him, given his high level of professionalism.
"I didn't hear that Matviyenko asked him to go, as in case of [Vladimir] Derbin, [head of the social committee] who was asked to leave," Yeryomenko said in telephone interview Wednesday.
With Dedyukhin out of City Hall there is just one member of Yakovlev's team left working for city government, Alexander Vachmistrov, the vice-governor responsible for construction. His position is thought to be safe, but he could also be offered a job in Moscow, Delovoi Peterburg daily reported Wednesday.
It is unclear what Dedyukhin's responsibilities will be in the ministry for regional development.
Mikhail Churilov, the former deputy of the committee is rumored to be appointed as acting head in light of Dedyukhin's departure.
"It looks like the city government will lose out when he moves to Moscow. It will weaken not only the committee, but [local] government as a whole," Yeryomenko said.
Boris Vishnevksy, the Legislative Assembly Yabloko faction member, has also said Dedyukhin having been a member of Yakovlev's team is unlikely to have led to his leaving.
"He just got a better offer, so he left," Vishnevsky said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Since 1996 the mantainence committee has been under scrutiny from the St. Petersburg Audit Chamber looking into possible misspending of city finances.
In May 1998, when Dedyukhin was the committee's deputy head, the Audit Chamber revealed that the committee ran up almost $175 million in debts in 1997 and overpaid its staff. Some 8.9 billion pre-devaluation rubles ($1.6 million at the dollar rate of the first half of 1998) was used for staff expenses including salaries and benefits for bureaucrats, according to the chamber's report.
As a result, the average monthly salary for a member of the committee's 140 bureaucrats in 1997 was 5 million rubles a month (about $893), nearly double the 2.7 million ruble maximum salary for city bureaucrats allowed by local law, the report concluded.
The scandal led Dedyukhin to head the committee after his predecessor, vice governor Alexander Yevstrakhin, left the job in 1998.
The most recent scandal occurred in March 2002, when the federal audit chamber chastised City Hall for spending 1 billion rubles [$31.9 million] which had been allocated for road reconstruction on Dutch grass, imported to make the city look better for its 300th anniversary celebrated in May last year.
TITLE: Rate of HIV Infection Slows, Women at Risk
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: This year St. Petersburg had recorded fewer new cases of HIV infection, twice as many patients with Hepatitis A, and registered 25 cases of malaria, doctors said.
For the first nine months of this year St. Petersburg doctors registered 229 fewer new HIV positive patients compared to the same period last year, said Tatyana Kutasova, head of the dangerous infections department of the city's state epidemic watch center (SEWC), at a news conference last week.
"The decrease of new cases has partially to do with the decrease of people who are on drugs. During the last few years that category went down from 90 percent to 70 percent [of new HIV cases]," Kutasova said.
However, Kutasova said the level of HIV infections remains high, Interfax reported.
She said the new tendency in regards to HIV infection is what she called "feminization of the epidemic."
Kutasova said that among young women the rate of HIV grew by 15 percent.
During the first nine months of the year 1,313 HIV positive women gave birth to children in St. Petersburg. At least 58 of those children were later diagnosed with HIV, Kutasova said.
She said that today 80 percent of HIV positive people in St. Petersburg are aged between 15 and 29-years old.
Meanwhile, in the same period, 2.6 times more people were infected with Hepatitis A, said Oleg Parkov, head of epidemiological department of the city's SEWC. Parkov said the increase was seasonal.
He said people get infected with Hepatitis A from food and contact with other infected people.
This year, 25 cases of malaria were also registered in the city.
Lyudmila Antykova, head of SEWC's parasitology department, said all these cases originated outside St. Petersburg.
"The major transmitters of the infection are illegal immigrants and foreign workers, who are not registered anywhere," she said.
Antykova said in 15 cases malaria was brought from Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, while in the other nine cases, it came from Kenya, Turkey, and in one case, from the Leningrad Oblast.
However, Antykova said the level of malaria remained similar to last year.
It was also announced that a consignment of canned fish was withdrawn to prevent an outbreak of botulism.
Galina Dmitriyeva, head of hygiene department at SEWC, said the decision was made after two people got sick with botulism in the town of Cherepovets after eating canned fish.
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Massive Berry Theft
PETROZAVODSK (SPT) - A group of unidentified criminals stole 18 tons of forest berries from a storage facility in Belomorsk, Karelia, Interfax has reported.
Several private entrepreneurs from Murmansk, who are engaged in buying forest berries directly from pickers, contacted police after 18 tons of red whortleberries and cloudberries mysteriously disappeared from a guarded storage site in Belomorsk.
"Preliminary investigation has shown that several armed burglars sneaked into the site at night time, beat the guard, tied him up and took all the berries," Interfax quoted Alexander Chechelnitskin, head of the Belomorsk criminal police, as saying. Chechelnitskin called the crime the greatest case of forest fruit theft in the region in recent times.
Killings Were For Cash
IRKUTSK (SPT) - The assassination of Marina Marakhovskaya, a Rodina party image consultant and Yan Travinsky, a journalist from St. Petersburg, last month in Irkutsk, was an attempt to rob them, RIA News reported Friday, quoting the local police.
Brothers Alexei and Mikhail Popov, detained in October, have testified that Marakhovskaya's driver told them that she would be carrying a large amount of cash on the morning of Sept. 27 to finance the election campaign.
After the assassination, the brothers laid low for a couple of weeks, but then started spending the money, the report said. They bought two cars and other expensive items, RIA news reported.
The police have confiscated the cars and an amount of the unspent money.
Police Nab Fairy
MOSCOW (SPT) - Police have uncovered a criminal group that organized the production of fake washing and cleaning liquids, RIA News reported Monday.
The police confiscated 40,000 bottles of fake Fairy dish-washing liquid as well as Dove soap, Timotei shampoo, Rexona deodorant, and Tide and Ariel soap powders.
It was estimated that the haul would have cost about $3 million-worth of total financial damage to the brands' official producers.
The fake liquids had been produced in two factories in the Orlovskaya and Tulskaya Oblasts.
TITLE: Protesters Gather to Slam Putin's Reforms
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Following the Wednesday's Legislative Assembly vote to support President Vladimir Putin's plan to appoint regional leaders, local human rights advocates together with SPS and Yabloko parties organized a demonstration Thursday in front of the city parliament.
About a hundred people gathered in front of Mariinsky Palace to say they disagree with the president and expressed their anger about the Kremlin's intention to deprive them of basic rights.
"I saw on TV yesterday that [Vadim] Tyulpanov, [the Legislative Assembly speaker] has supported the president's idea and for this reason I decided to come to protest," said Vera Molotova, a 53-year old cleaner, in an interview at the meeting Thursday.
"They're ready to treat us as complete slaves. I am not as wretched as they think. I also want to participate in political life to defend rights of people," she said.
Similar protests were organized all across the country, said Leonid Romankov, a member of the local branch of SPS.
"People are protesting about this reform which would mean that the country is ruled by emissaries and not by people themselves. The reform will result in the disappearance of the dialog between the population and the powers-that-be," Romankov, said in an interview Thursday standing in the crowd of protesters.
"We believe that [the reform] is a step in the direction of an authoritarian state," he said.
The resolution voted by the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday was supported by 30 deputies, members of United Russia and the Party of Life.
The democratic faction, which unites 7 members of Yabloko and SPS parties, had at first refused to register for the vote, which almost lead to the absence of a quorum. The resolution was passed after legislators finally got a necessary number of deputies to conduct the vote.
In Moscow some 300 SPS activists gathered across the street from the federal Duma building to warn that the change would threaten democracy and issue an appeal to Duma deputies to reject the bill. It receives its first reading in the federal legislature on Friday.
Across the Moscow River from the Kremlin, about 2,000 students and retirees bussed in by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party rallied in support of the initiative and called for President Vladimir Putin's power to be further strengthened. Police said the crowd later swelled to 8,000 to 9,000 people, The Associated Press reported.
Additional reporting by Oksana Yablokova
TITLE: Desperate Zoo Workers End Hunger Strike
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Four employees at the city's Leningrad Zoo who went on a hunger strike Monday in protest against expected management reshuffles, returned to work Thursday afternoon. The strike stopped when representatives of the city government made an official promise to create an independent commission which would decide the zoo's future.
None of the zoo staff involved in the strike work directly with animals and their welfare was not affected. The four employees went on a hunger strike after repeated rumours that the zoo's current director Irina Skiba may be replaced by the zoo's former director Ivan Korneyev. Korneyev was fired from the job in December 2001.
Earlier this fall the Museums Coordination Center, part of the City Hall culture committee recommended replacing Skiba with Korneyev, sparking the rumours about her imminent departure.
The protesters demanded that an independent body which would evaluate the activities of both Skiba and Korneyev be created.
The Culture Committee issued a statement Wednesday saying no firings and hirings have taken place.
"It was recommended that Korneyev replaces Skiba in the job but no documents have been signed to dismiss the current director," reads the statement as quoted by Interfax News Agency.
City officials Alexander Voronko and Viktor Akulov, both advisors to Governor Valentina Matviyenko, visited the zoo Wednesday and agreed with the strikers' demands.
Boris Topolyansky, head of the zoo's Information Technologies Department, said Thursday that the new commission will be independent of any government structure, including the city's Culture Committee.
No names of its potential members have been disclosed but Topolyansky said the commission will feature independent zoologists, economists, influential community members as well as two representatives of the zoo and the Culture Committee.
Korneyev told Interfax News Agency that he hasn't received any official proposals about the director's job at the zoo.
Skiba, who has been on sick leave since last week, was taken to hospital Wednesday owing to worsened health condition.
Korneyev quit the zoo in 2001 after 11 years as its director. Ironically it was the Cultural Committee that forced his resignation, blaming the director for mismanagement and financial improprieties.
In March 2003, the Eurasian Regional Zoo and Aquarium Association (ERZAA) issued a report calling the situation at the zoo extremely alarming, being "a discredit to zoos as organizations in charge of caring for animals."
The zoo is severely underfunded and precious species have been lost from its collection, the report said.
TITLE: UK's Interest in Russia Makes It the 3rd Largest Foreign Investor
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: British businesses poured $4.6 billion into the Russian economy in 2003, making it the third largest foreign investor in the country and the fifth largest in the North-West region, experts say.
British capital accounted for 15 percent of foreign investment in Russia in 2003, according to Peter Langham, head of British trade and foreign investment at the British Consulate in St. Petersburg.
"I would say the economic and trade relationship at the moment is very strong and continuing to develop as well," Langham said, calling the growth "quite significant."
British exports to the North-West region reached a seven-year high in 2003 grossing $2.4 billion and increasing by 40 percent on the previous year.
"I think the figures are basically made up from lots of small-scale investments and companies that are coming here for the first time and starting to sell," Langham said.
Although the total amount of foreign investment in the city itself decreased since 2001, British investment is up according to Natalia Kudryavtseva, executive director of the St. Petersburg International Business Association.
"In 2003 Great Britain took [fifth] place among foreign investors in St. Petersburg, having an eight percent share of the total foreign investment after the Netherlands, the USA, Cyprus and Finland," Kudryavtseva said, noting Great Britain was eighth among foreign investors in 2001.
"I think that this is the result of efforts made by the British authorities," Kudryavtseva said. "Also, it may be a consequence of the warming up of investment climate in the city."
The coming year also holds further promise of British investment, with expectations of a continuous gradual rise in British capital and interest in the region, according to Daniel Kearvell, director of the St. Petersburg and North-West Russia Russo-British Chamber of Commerce.
The number of British companies operating in the region has nearly doubled in the past three to four years, with 25 British IT companies looking to invest in software development here, Kearvell said.
While Moscow still tops the foreign investment list, St. Petersburg is becoming a more attractive place for foreign companies to direct their capital. And the regional administration is trying to take advantage of its strategic position.
Moscow is a boomtown of foreign investment, but "it's almost saturated now," Kearvell said. "The attitude of the administration [here] is starting to become more investment-friendly."
Kearvell praised Governor Valen-tina Matviyenko's efforts to attract foreign investors with governmental guarantees insuring their capital.
"It's a good idea, but the key is implementation," Kearvell said. "Typically, the bureaucracy is still an issue."
Bureaucracy is one of the main obstacles small and medium-sized British businesses face in the region and has become a deterrent to investment, he said.
"We are seeing some positive trends in the policy of St. Petersburg authorities towards the creation of a favorable investment climate in the city. I think now is the right time to invest, though it is still risky," Kudryavtseva said. "Those who will take the risk, however, will benefit from the local market."
Benefits for British companies have grown significantly in recent years, Langham said. The Trade and Investment section at the British consulate performs market research mostly for small and medium-sized British companies and has seen recent interest grow tremendously.
In 2002, the section took in only about $1,000 for the service.
"Last year it was over 5,000 pounds (about $9,000) so it just shows you what a huge level of interest there is now in the UK about, at least, finding out about the market here," Langham said.
Major British players in the North-West region include British American Tobacco, Unilever, Cadbury Schweppes and BP TNK.
BP and TNK signed a $6.75 billion joint venture deal in 2003 - the largest in Russian history - significantly contributing to Britain's third place finish among foreign investors in the country.
"Even taking 2003 out of the equation, since 1991 Britain has been the third largest foreign investor in Russia," Langham said, noting it trails only Germany and Cyprus.
TITLE: Murmansk Touted as the Natural Port of Call For Expanding St. Petersburg Companies
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Murmansk region, which has deeply-set British ties, is a logical expansion area for UK companies already established in St. Petersburg and Moscow, say local British business representatives.
In its first attempt to promote connections between Murmansk businesses and their British counterparts, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce in St. Petersburg (RBCC) sent a trade mission to the region last week. The mission, which focused closely on trade support and logistics, included representatives of Shell Trading, Pomor Petroleum, Global Marine Security Systems, a few international consultancy companies, as well as the British Consul General George Edgar and RBCC president Daniel Kearvell.
"The oil which comes into Murmansk ports, the minerals going to Finland [from there] and the increasing industry competition are fostering the growing importance of regions, especially areas such as Murmansk," said director of Pomor/Impivaara Jeffery Roberts.
Pomor/Impivaara is a British company already operating in the Murmansk region. It combines Pomor Petroleum and Impivaara Securities companies, which offer expertise in mineral and oil mining for Russian businesses.
"The Kola Peninsula region is extremely rich in minerals, offering extraordinary scope for profitable redeployment of local mining," a Pomor/Impivaara statement said.
Located halfway between Moscow and the North Pole, Murmansk is the largest city on the Kola Peninsula, stretching between the White and the Barents Seas. Founded under pressure from the British in 1916, the town of Murmansk now offers lucrative possibilities for investors in both the region's considerable natural resources and valuable transportation 'hubs.'
The Murmansk trade port is Russia's only non-freezing port facing Europe. Its geography allows for quick access from Central Europe to the region via the Barents Sea 'transport corridor,' which caught the interest of many trade and logistics companies on the trip.
"The Consulate is preparing several projects between traders in Russia and those in the UK. As part [of those projects], we were specifically interested in developing the infrastructure of Murmansk's port," said senior trade and investment adviser at the British Consulate-General Yury Barutkin.
"Murmansk's port is a very promising venture. Its administration understands both the strengths and weaknesses of the site. This is a great improvement on a few years back when regional administration would ask for investments straight away, without backing up their requests, as soon as they would see interested foreign companies," said Barutkin.
As part of the program, the delegation met with the Governor of Murmansk Oblast Yury Yevdokimov, the acting Murmansk city Mayor Mikhail Savchenko, as well as Northern Russia Chamber of Commerce (NCC) president Anatoly Glushkov.
"We got to know the NCC [members] well, and with elections in the region coming up, it is important to know what's going on," said RBCC's Daniel Kearvell.
During the round table discussions with local administration and business representatives, the delegation's members discussed how UK companies might get involved in the region.
"The Murmansk side was very keen to promote investment in the trade port and use the British 'know-how' in the issues of consultancy and management," said Kearvell.
The delegation also visited Murmansk-Autumn 2004 Fair, a trade event that attracted companies from all over Russia. "It was a surprisingly lively business environment. There were mainly Western-oriented people with many new ideas," said Kearvell.
Around 30 business-to-business meetings took place on the last day of the trip between the delegation members and local business representatives.
"There will be business being done [as a result of these meetings] between now and our next trip to the area," said Kearvell, who could not comment on the specific results of the meetings, saying the RBCC's role during the trip was to facilitate business connections.
TITLE: United Kingdom of Music
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: British rock arrived in the Soviet Union via the airwaves, or it was at least available on foreign records and tapes, but in terms of live music, there was a dearth of performances by UK bands.
PART 1: UK Music in Russia
After the first British rock act in Russia - Elton John's series of concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1979 - the second was UB40, in 1986.
Now, while aged hard rockers, such as Deep Purple, who ended their fifth Russian tour in St. Petersburg last week, pack out sports arenas with 40-and 50-somethings reliving their teens, more recent innovative acts struggle to break into the Russian market.
"Contemporary music is the music of aficionados and collectors, rather than music that a whole generation listens to - even in such big cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg," says Seva Gakkel. In 1995, Gakkel promoted Peter Hammill's visit to the city, and has since helped to bring over British
acts such as Tindersticks and David Sylvian.
"Judging by clubs and small concert halls, there's always a category of people, numbering around 300, who listen to this music," said Gakkel. "The rest are consuming MTV, hip-hop, Russian prison folk and whatever they hear on the radio."
Most of the blame Gakkel attributes to the economic factors: "An English band can't come off its own back, or just because it's good, interesting or relevant. It can only come if somebody takes a financial risk on it. As a rule, a club-size concert is not profitable," he said.
Unless a promoter is able to take just such an occasional loss, contemporary bands rely on backing from cultural organizations, such as the British Council, who recently sponsored a Stereolab one-off Russian concert in St. Petersburg.
"I think it was a success," said Alla Vasilyeva, British Council's arts project manager about the concert which drew an estimated 500 fans. "We're not exactly aiming at what the general Russian listener already knows. Of course, Stereolab have their fans, but there were many people [at the concert] who were not familiar with that type of music. Despite many years in the business, [Stereolab] are seen as more or less experimental."
Andrei Samsonov, a British-educated electronic music composer and producer based in the city, sees the main problem as the shortage of advertising, of "even simple posters," and reports in the local media. "Audiences could be bigger - they just need to be notified somehow," he said.
More real limitations paralyze the city in terms of hosting live music by UK and other foreign bands: the lack of a dedicated 2000-seat concert venue and poor variety of live club venues, according to British music promoter, Nick Hobbs. Although Hobbs, of London-based company Charmenko, claims the dozen or so St. Petersburg concerts by acts like Nick Cave and The Orb which he mediated in were successful, he has doubts over the city as a market.
"St. Petersburg's concerts of alternative music often attract half the audience of Moscow. Presumably this is a reflection of the different city sizes, as much as anything else, but it's also the paucity of live music clubs."
As an illustration, one could take seminal UK band The Fall, who played two concerts at a Moscow club but none in St. Petersburg. Is it then a question of quality then, as well as quantity?
"Honestly speaking, St. Petersburg and Moscow have two altogether diverse poles, tastes and interests," said Roman Unguryanu of the Moscow-based promoters Caviar Lounge - the people responsible for bringing a number of international acts to St. Petersburg, including Violet Indiana.
"We promote younger artists in small Moscow clubs. Without any advertising, Ladytron and St. Etienne will draw 1,000 fans in Moscow. But I'm not sure they're even known in St. Petersburg."
PART 2: Russian Music in the UK
Even if making it big in the UK - the home of rock - has been a longtime dream for Russian rock musicians, nobody seems to approach it yet. Irregular concerts by Russian bands abroad are frequented mostly by Russian émigrés, despite some success for local folk-tinged acts La Minor and Iva Nova at clubs in continental Europe.
"Britain is a nut that is harder to crack for Russian pop, rock and jazz artists than many other markets of developed Western countries, despite the ever-growing Russian-language communities there," said Alexander Kan, a longtime local jazz promoter, now host of the "Otkrytaya Muzyka" show (Open Music) on the London-based BBC Russian service.
"Akvarium, DDT and Auktsyon ... have a hard time getting concerts in London where promoters at best break even," said Kan. "Take the recent concerts by Auktsyon. [Massively popular local band] Leningrad was on the program of a prestigious world-music festival at the Barbican [in London]. And what? The 1,000-seat venue was half-empty, and 90 percent of the public were Russian."
Samsonov, whose own British-Russian project Laska Omnia with London singer Alice McLaughlin awaits its CD debut in the UK, says Russian music is not really needed in Britain. "Britain is brimming full of its own music; only Russian folk music can be interesting there," he said.
He is skeptical about the alleged successes of such local electronic bands as UE, known locally as Yolochniye Igrushki, in the UK. "If releasing a record is a success, then yes." PPK, for example, the first Russian act to make UK Top 10 with its instrumental trance single "Resurrection" (which reached the number three spot) has not been heard much since then.
To make it in the UK, a band should sound British, according to Hobbs. "There is no obstacle to Russian bands playing in Britain if they sound like they're British! Which is why, say, [Sweden's] the Cardigans or the Hives are successful in the UK," he said.
"Russian bands (assuming that the music charms the British ear) generally are unable to sing in good English. Not that I'm saying they should - but if they want to be successful in the UK, then probably they have to. Tatu was the big exception. Unfortunately, their career was completely mishandled."
Ironically, Tatu, the Moscow-based, fake-lesbian pop duo dubbed as "pedophile pop" by the British media, became the first and, as yet, only Russian act to top the British singles charts.
A follow-up to Tatu's February 2003 success with "All the Things She Said" is not looking likely, however. "Having achieved a historical (no irony!) success, Tatu managed to waste it with their exorbitant claims and lose the scheduled Wembley concerts," said Kan.
The concert promoter claimed Tatu's management had asked for 300 under-16 girls to be dressed in school uniforms for the shows. And yet, BBC website notes that Tatu's UK concerts in May 2003 were canceled due to poor ticket sales.
TITLE: Brit Lingo Rules, OK?
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: If terrorists had flown airplanes into 10 Downing Street three years ago, and not into New York's World Trade Center, we might all refer to that attack as 11/9 rather than 9/11. Why? Because dates in British English are written with the day followed by the month (and year) whereas in American English it is the reverse.
This is just one of thousands of confusing quirks that make England and America, to quote George Bernard Shaw, "two countries divided by a common language."
Spelling, punctuation, pronunciation and elements of grammar vary from "standard" British to American English: the same word can have different - even opposing - meanings. And this is without mentioning the vast array of expressions, slang words and jargon which can be particular to just one town, never mind a country.
English was taken by British imperialists to every continent across the globe from the 17th to the 19th centuries, including, of course, America. It was the rise of the United States in the 20th century, however, which saw American version of the English language come to prominence in global business, trade and culture.
People across the world learning English as a second language are often confused by the variants in its usage. The best advice a teacher can give is to stick to one standard version and be consistent. But which one?
Language students in Japan, for example, express a preference for American English since it is to the United States that they look for opportunities in business and trade.
"Most of my students are businessmen who are sponsored by their company to learn English," says David Bird, an English teacher at Japan's largest private school chain Nova. "Even though I'm British, I spend all day teaching phrases like 'that's way too much' or 'what a crock!' I think I'd be shot dead in my native Canterbury if I used them."
Conversely, Russians tend to prefer British English, says William Hackett-Jones, editorial director of the St. Petersburg-based English-language learners' monthly "Hot English" magazine.
"Russians are such Anglophiles that it's amazing," he says. "They ask for British teachers with southern English accents - that's their ideal."
As for matters of spelling and usage (for the record The St. Petersburg Times uses American English), Hackett-Jones says his magazine tries to reflect the variants in the English language.
"'Hot English magazine' has an inclination toward British English, but we try to accommodate and recognize the differences between it and, say, Australian English, as well as those between British and American English," he says. "We have an American Special coming up which followed our British Special in September."
For people learning English as a second language, however, differences in its standard forms can be confusing. Hackett-Jones tells of people sometimes complaining to him that certain spellings and usage in "Hot English" are wrong, when in fact they simply conform to an alternative form of accepted usage.
"There's a certain snobbiness toward American English [from Russians]," says Hackett-Jones which can lead them to make value judgements about the variants in the language.
TITLE: Valentina the Great Insults the Russian People
TEXT: St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko has finally revealed her attitude to her constituents this week by, basically, saying she regards them as a thoughtless mob that cannot be relied upon to make their own decisions.
Matviyenko said Russians would not be able to live in a parliamentary state because of a specific state of mind that does not allow them to accept such a political system.
"No, this is not for us. We're not ready for such an experiment! A Russian's mentality is such that he needs a master, a tsar, a president. In other words, a single commander," she said in an interview published in Tuesday's issue of Itogi magazine.
Also a Russian does not need elections - this is the only conclusion I can draw from the governor's words.
"I know not from hearsay that in the last three years crowds of regional leaders have been going to Vladimir Putin with a single request: Save us from elections! A person who has gone through this fire would not want to go through the same thing again for anything on earth. A trial of this kind is not for an honest person," she said.
I am glad, though, that there is still the voice of human rights advocates to try to put Matviyenko in her place.
"By making a statement on the innate slavery of the Russian people, who are not ready for parliamentary democracy, the St. Petersburg governor has, basically, committed a racist act," the For Human Rights organization said in a statement placed on the Newsru.com web site Tuesday.
"The scandalous statement by Valentina Matviyenko has demonstrated again the real approach of the country's leadership to the people, the real background to the reform of the state governmental system that is taking place," the statement said. It demanded the governor's resignation.
It seems to me rather unlikely that Governor Matviyenko will get involved in an argument with human rights advocates. It is well known that she cannot stand criticism from her opponents and calls it "black PR," as she did in the gubernatorial election in Oct. 2003. Being brought up in the Soviet system, she is, unfortunately, a victim of her own mentality and by saying such things proves once again that she is not far from being a part of the mob herself.
During her news conference on Oct. 5, 2003, the day after the second round of the gubernatorial election, Matviyenko stood in front of a big portrait of Catherine the Great, as if to underline that she has much in common with one the greatest reformers in Russian political history.
The year since then makes me guess that, unfortunately, the main thing the leaders have in common is that they are both women.
Catherine the Great was quite tough in relation to ordinary people, but instead of publicly insulting them she praised them.
"The Russian people are a particular people in the whole world, distinguished by their conjecture, intellect and strength. I know this thanks to my 20-year-long experience. God gave Russians particular qualities," Catherine the Great said.
There was no such a thing as Itogi in the 18th century, but this phrase has been quoted by Russian historians ever since then.
As for Matviyenko, I'm afraid she has no chance of being remembered in the same way after she publicly insulted the hundreds of thousands of St. Petersburg citizens who voted for her.
But why should she worry? The main thing for Matviyenko is not to call Putin part of the mob, because it is he who can allow her to stay in the job of governor after 2007.
He is entirely capable of making such a decision - unlike the rest of the Russian people.
TITLE: Russia's Interference in Ukraine Won't Work
TEXT: President Vladimir Putin's visit to Kiev for the commemoration of Ukraine's liberation from the Nazis during World War II is an attempt to save the failing presidential campaign of incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
For months Kremlin spin doctors aiding the Yanukovych campaign have used a strategy of splitting Ukraine's multicultural society along linguistic, ethnic and religious fault lines. They've taken great pride in authoring temnyki (special instructions from the presidential administration to the mass media on what events and issues should be covered), creating an information vacuum on objective news coverage in our country. In the week before the election, they've given more airtime on Ukraine's national networks to Putin, Russian Duma Deputies and Russian pop stars than to presidential candidates who will decide Ukraine's future.
Yanukovych's billboards have mushroomed all over Moscow. Russian officials supporting Ukraine's prime minister wooed our diaspora recently in the Kremlin's column hall. And an unprecedented number of polling stations have been opened in Russia to serve hundreds of thousands of newly found Ukrainians, many with Russian passports.
All the while, we are told that Russia is not interfering in Ukraine's presidential election. Nothing can be further from the truth. However, I believe the strategy to influence Ukraine's election by Russian spin doctors will fail and here's why.
The choice facing Ukrainian voters in the election is clear. It is not between politicians from the left or right, vectors in international relations, or between differing tongues and nationalities - it is a choice between two competing value systems. One, represented by Ukraine's dynamic opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, is based on democratic values, respects individual liberties, and promotes economic opportunities and competitiveness.
The other, represented by Yanukovych, proposes keeping in office a ruling clan that values autocracy and crony capitalism more than freedom and the rule of law.
There is no doubt Ukrainians want this election to bring about change. Overwhelmingly, they think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
They are tired of a corrupt government that does not respect human rights, ignores democratic principles, abuses law enforcement officials and works to enrich a handful of oligarchs at the expense of all citizens. They want opportunities to build a better life for their families and want leaders they can trust.
To derail voters from their yearnings for change, a dirty campaign has been launched. With advice from Russian PR specialists, the regime of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has mobilized government resources to create a pre-election environment of fear, intimidation and uncertainty. Independent media have been systematically silenced, businesses that support the democratic opposition are harassed by tax and police authorities, presidential candidates are illegally shadowed, public rallies are ruthlessly suppressed and civil unrest is being provoked by state-controlled mass media days before the election.
The pre-election campaign has been unfair from the start because it openly ignored two basic OSCE criteria for free and fair elections: absence of government interference in the electoral process and equal access of candidates to mass media.
Thousands of pre-election violations by the incumbent regime have gone unpunished by law enforcement bodies. Under pressure from top government officials, bureaucrats at all levels have been forced to campaign openly for the incumbent prime minister. Even the chairman of Ukraine's Central Bank has put the country's currency stability in jeopardy by leaving its stewardship to an unaccountable deputy, while taking a leave of absence to steer the prime minister's election campaign.
What can save Ukraine's autumn presidential poll? Ballot security - and that will only be guaranteed on election day by the impartial actions of individual election commissioners brave enough to withstand the pressure brought to bear on them by local authorities and rogue police officers instructed by Kuchma's machine to deliver the vote it wants. Domestic and international election observers are needed to help ensure the final act in this election campaign is not stolen by the incumbent regime, as has been done before.
I am convinced all these government efforts are in vain because Ukrainian society has long ago made its choice in favor of democratic values and the rule of law. However, it is the incumbent government that has not delivered on earlier promises of moving Ukraine closer to Europe.
With Yushchenko at the helm, a democratic Ukraine will live up to its international commitments before the Council of Europe, OSCE and the European Union. A democratic Ukraine will encourage the inflow of investment capital, including Russian.
Our foreign policy will become reliable, consistent and predictable because it will be based on our national interests rather than the individual interests of Ukraine's ruling clans.
Sixty percent of Ukrainians support closer European ties and want to maintain good neighborly relations with Russia. This is Ukraine's national interest. Unfortunately, the incumbent Kiev government remains wedded to policies that divide not only our own society, but also our international relations. A democratic Ukraine will build relations with Russia based on a mutual respect of national interests, leaving behind old stereotypes. We will sustain historic economic relations with Moscow and forge new initiatives, both bilateral and multilateral, benefiting the people of both countries. This should not be accomplished at the expense of our national interest and democratic values.
Ukrainians sense there is a rising threat of a new bipolar Europe, with centers in Brussels and Moscow, and with competing sets of values. Ukraine will guarantee our nation's stability through democratic values and will support European security by promoting these values among our eastern neighbors.
If Ukraine veers off the democratic path, Russia, Belarus and other former Soviet states will be wrongly encouraged. The prospect of having an entire bloc of authoritarian, corrupt regimes on the border with Europe should awaken all those who hold dear democratic values and individual liberty.
The wall that separated us ideologically during the Cold War should not be erected anew based on these competing sets of values.
Ukraine's democratic forces are committed to bringing about change in our country peacefully and legally. The Oct. 31 election is our chance for new opportunities and a better life for all Ukrainians. Millions of my fellow citizens will not allow the government to rob us of this chance.
Borys Tarasyuk, an elected people's deputy, is chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on European Integration and was Ukraine's foreign minister from 1998 to 2000.
TITLE: Leaps and bounds
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Kinodance, Russia's first and so far only festival of dance-video kicks off on Nov. 10 at the Kannon Dance School in the Palace of Culture named after the First Five-Year Plan.
There is a lot of argument in the world as to what dance-video is as a genre," said Vadim Kasparov, director of Kannon Dance. "We take a more general approach as we believe that just showing dance movements would be too literal. The camera itself should dance as well as the subject that it follows. And I am sure animation can fit here too."
Dance-video doesn't necessarily mean documentaries or traditional ballets films. Documenting choreography is good for educational purposes, when it is essential to reproduce the moves to precisely. But when the goal is to plunge the audience into the atmosphere of the show, a different approach is required.
"If you sit in the auditorium watching a ballet, you are naturally guided by the choreographer and your instincts tell you where to look," Kasparov said. "When the same show is adapted for the camera, the general plan is too small for the viewers to see all details and get a sense of what is going on, so the director has to emphasize certain scenes, movements or body parts with a close-up or a prolonged shot."
The event, which lasts for 9 days, is organized with the support of an array of Russian and U.S. arts foundations including the Trust for Mutual Understanding, St. Petersburg's ProArte Institute, the Dance Films Association, Moscow Cultural Center DOM, Moscow's Museum of Cinema, the Yekaterinburg Contemporary Art Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Each program of short films combines films from 16 countries, including the United Kingdom, the U.S., France, Japan, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy and Belgium.
Kinodance is one of Kannon Dance's three major annual events, along with Open Look Festival and a competition of young choreographers. This year the festival is different. Previously the event was targeted at dancers themselves, encouraging and inspiring them to try their hand at film-making. This time the festival serves as a bridge between professional film-makers and the dance scene.
"Not all choreographers have the potential to become good cameramen, but it is quite realistic to explain a few principles of shooting choreography to a cameraman interested in this," said Kasparov.
For the first time in its history, Kinodance is organizing a competition for the best Russian-made dance video, showcasing works from Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg.
"The artists demonstrate a stunning diversity of approaches to making dance films and exploring choreographic space within the frame," said Kasparov.
One of the festival programs puts together music videos and fast-paced short films realized through digital technology such as "Imagine" by Zbigniew Rybchinsky and Yoko Ono in Program XI: Common Ground: Between the Lines of Sport, Kinetics, Surrealism and Music Video.
Full-length dance feature films such as "Dracula: Tales From a Virgin's Diary" by Guy Maddin, "Amelia" by Edouard Lock (from Canada) and "Dancing Figure (Tancalak)" by Ferenc Grunwalsky and Andrea Ladanyi (from Hungary) are among the festival highlights.
Dance documentaries about Lester Horton, German artists (including Mary Wigman) during the Nazi Era, a lost ballet of Sergei Diaghilev, and Pina Bausch's revival of her performance with a group of old people add a historical dimension to the festival. Some films draw attention to certain forms of dance, like, for instance, butoh, as seen in the work of Japanese director Misao Arai, or to a single region - like the program which showcases films from Scandinavian countries and Iceland. Other films tackle everyday social issues such as "Cost of Living" by Lloyd Newson from DV8 in Program X: From Festivals around the World.
The festival combines actual screenings with master-classes on making dance-videos and performances.
Dance on camera is enjoying a worldwide boom, Kasparov says.
"Three years ago there were ten festivals of dance video, but now the figure has jumped to 24 regular international events," he said. "Russia is late as usual, but not hopelessly late."
In 1997, when Kasparov and his wife Natalya, a dancer and choreographer herself, just started out, they ran around offering classes to local colleges and universities without much success. The first students in Kannon Dance were much more concerned about their physical appearance than the philosophy of jazz or modern dance and attended the the school to get fit or train for a plum job in a strip-club.
Kannon Dance organized the first master class later that year taught by acclaimed choreographer Phil LaDuca, who is still seen as the studio's godfather. LaDuca came to St. Petersburg to teach Broadway-style jazz dance.
"I was knocking on the doors of all arts-related universities but kept getting the same reply: that 'it is not part of our course'," Kasparov recalls. "Musical theater in Russia was nonexistent then but I swear I already knew there would be a boom. Now I see I was completely right."
The first class in jazz dance attracted just 27 students. By comparison, during this year's Open Look Festival, there were over 250 Russian dancers, a third of them from St.Petersburg. Kannon Dance's former students have begun opening their own studios around town.
"These small studios are purely commercial, which is perfectly fine with me," Kasparov said. "We have now gone completely professional, having recently established a modern dance department at the Lesgaft Academy for Physical Culture and Sport, which I chair."
The dancers attending the studio these days want to get into musical theater, rather than become casino or nightclub dancers. They are sharper and much more attuned to what the teachers say and do. This week Kannon Dance hosted a casting session for the forthcoming Russian version of the long-running smash-hit musical "Cats," which is expected to premiere in Moscow in March.
The reputation of Kannon Dance has reached the farthest corners of Russia.
"We live in the far north, so it takes quite a while for cultural trends to reach us, but we know musical theater is booming in Moscow," said Venyamin Taragupta, head of the Next Generation modern-dance children's studio in Salekhard, North-West Siberia, which brought five young dancers to the Phil LaDuca masterclass in 2002 and remains interested in the studio's activities.
"Our town is so small we don't even have a theater. All the obstacles notwithstanding, I am sure a musical will be staged in our town sooner or later because we very much want it to happen."
However, the next Open Look Festival, which has already been planned, has a question mark over it. Scheduled for July of next year, the event coincides with the start of scheduled demolition of the Soviet-era building in which the Kannon Dance School is located. No alternative venue has yet been set but there is hope one will be found.
"St. Petersburg is famous for classical ballet, but it is important that the world knows that modern art is alive here too," Kasparov said. www.kannondance.ru www.kinodance.com/russia
TITLE: Thinking man's punk rocker
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: J.M.K.E., Estonia's leading punk band since the late 1980s, is as relevant as ever and shows no signs of opportunism. Formed by singer and guitarist Villu Tamme in Tallinn in 1986, the uncompromising band will play a rare local concert this week.
J.M.K.E. - whose colorful leader sported a mohawk even in the Soviet era when nothing but uniformity was welcomed, a stunt that cost him a stint in a mental asylum and a ban on studying in an art college - achieved international fame due to its brilliant "Tere Perestroika," the tongue-in-cheek song that was just destined to become an instant hit.
The song's title, which translates as "Hello Perestroika," and chorus appeared to applaud Gorbachev's policy of openness, but behind it was bitter irony and disbelief.
Tamme was repeatedly refused an exit visa in order to play abroad in spite of many invitations from Finland, where "Tere Perestroika" was released as a single on the Stupido Twins indie label and made the Finish Top Ten in early 1989.
Ironically, the anti-Soviet, anti-communist punk group finally went to Finland curtesy of Finnish communists. According to Joose Berglund of the Stupido Twins, in April 1989 Russian cultural bureaucrats received an invitation they simply could not ignore. It was sent by Reijo Kakela, the leader of the Finnish People's Democratic Union, a Finnish communist group.
Their first gig took place during the Finnish Leftist Forum, in front of an audience consisting of the leading communists in Finland, all aged 35 plus. "It was a good laugh, though...," wrote Berglund in his sleeve notes to the band's debut album, "Kulmale Maale," released on the Stupido Twins label and praised by the leading U.S. punk magazine Maximum Rock'n'Roll as "absolutely excellent."
Politically, the album went even further. The title song, "Kulmale Maale" (To the Cold Country), evoked the Stalinist repressions in Estonia in the 1940s, when tens of thousands were sent to Siberia, and suggested that perestroika was a communist dirty trick that would result in repression.
Tamme's own drawing on the album's cover showed white hares peeping out from behind snow-drifts. While Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was a subject of Gorbymania in the West, "Gorba" in Tamme's songs was a rather ominous figure.
"Yeah... we were used to see that all these campaigns and changes in the Soviet Union as jokes or nightmares, and we were quite sure that perestroika isn't much different," said Tamme.
"Fortunately, we were wrong. We couldn't imagine that perestroika would lead many countries, including Estonia, to freedom! In the mid-'80s there was still the feeling that the Soviet Union was an everlasting empire. Of course, there was a big hope that perestroika would bring along more freedom for a while. Let's say, until the next Stalin. But it went better than we could have ever expected."
As the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, J.M.K.E. released the 12" EP called "Savist Saar," its name clearly referring to Estonia's pro-independence prime minister Edgar Savisaar, but Tamme disagrees that he moved on from attacking the Soviets to criticizing Estonian politicians.
"Actually, we never had a tendency of criticizing certain Estonian politicians (or political parties); it's not our business to sing something like 'Savisaar is a fat pig, kill Savisaar', as many young punk bands do," he said.
"We try to see the big picture. 'Savist Saar' was just a play with words; it described the whole situation in Estonia as I saw it (both 'savisaar' and 'savist saar' mean 'island of clay'). We use the names of politicians as symbols, and we did the same thing in Gorbachev's case."
While J.M.K.E.'s debut album was thoroughly political, Tamme says he is not that politically minded these days, and does not follow or refer to Russian politics in his songs.
"I don't follow [Russian politics] so much," he said.
"I'm not very interested in politics, and I'm too weak to help big Russia with her problems. Of course, like most Estonians, I live in fear that one day Russia will occupy us again - you need only one big bad leader and all the freedom is gone with the wind. Let's just hope that it will not happen too soon."
Instead of Russian politics, Tamme referred to Russian music, releasing a full album of Soviet and Russian classical, film and cartoon songs treated in J.M.K.E.'s typical hardcore-punk style in 1995.
Called "Sputniks in Pectopah ... and Laika in Tchaika," the album was accompanied by a carefully worded explanation from Tamme.
"As an inhabitant of a small country, I've always hated empires, and as an inhabitant of an occupied country, I've always hated Russians as occupiers, and always marveled at the stupidity of Russian leaders," he wrote.
"But I have always honored the genius of Russian composers, writers, artists, film directors and actors, and the kindness and sincerity of the much suffering Russian people. This record is not any kind of joke or scoff. I don't think I would perform music I didn't like. We just did these songs our way."
Nine years later, Tamme says he mostly agrees with the lyrics and is even thinking of continuing the idea.
"As I remember, it was more simple than that. I just liked Russian music and it was my dream for a very long time someday to make cover versions of some Russian songs," he said.
"I'm quite positive that in a couple of years we'll record the next part of the same idea; I already have the name for the album, and an almost complete songlist."
"I must say that these songs aren't too good for playing live, but I hope we are able to play at least one song from this record in St. Petersburg."
On the band's most recent, sixth album, "Ainult Planeet" (Only the Planet), released in 2002, Tamme initially intended to deal with ecological issues.
"'Ainult Planeet' was planned to be a thoroughly 'green album.' But, in fact, most of the songs deal with other things," he said.
"Something about violence, something about freedom, and some more or less comical pieces. The theme of the album was 'short-sightedness', metaphorically, of course.
"It means people are fighting for things which enable temporary well-being, bigger salaries, bigger consumption and so on, but they refuse to see further, past their own noses. And if someone talks about ecological problems, the same people get angry. They refuse to understand simple things, like Native Americans have said to the white people: 'Only after the last tree has been cut down, the last river has been poisoned, the last fish has been caught, only then will you find you cannot eat money'."
The band's next album, planned for release next spring or summer, might well cover the issue of Christianity.
"Our next album's main topic is probably going to be Christianity, which we consider as one of the main causes of the bad things happening, both globally and locally," he said.
"As you can see, I don't like occupiers very much, and Christian crusaders have occupied most of the world, including Estonia. This occupation never ended, although we don't notice it around us so much. I'm not going to sing against people's beliefs or Mr. Jesus, just against occupation, intolerance and destroying the environment. But okay, that's in the future, we don't sing these songs now."
After all these years, punk rock is very much alive and kicking, according to Tamme.
"The punk movement is one particular movement that will probably never die," he said.
"It can change a little; it can go more underground or sometimes gain major popularity, but it still deals with the same things and it's always gonna be punk. We are already forgetting old, once important subcultures like beatniks or hippies, but we see as many punks around as there were 20 years ago.
"Today it is almost a real little society inside of the big society, not just a rebellious 'blockbuster' rock phenomenon as it was in the seventies. Of course, it is never gonna be the guide for the big society, but I hope that when one day somebody really saves the world, it happens with a little help from punks."
Apart from Tamme who is the sole original member, J.M.K.E. features drummer Andres Aru who joined in 1994, and, since 2000, Reimo Va on bass, plus Promille Promille, aka Kerti Alev, and Tirts, aka Livia Kurik, on backing vocals.
After 18 years of playing punk rock with J.M.K.E., Tamme admits it's tough to play some of the older songs.
"In St. Petersburg we're going to play some old and some new stuff, as we do everywhere," he said.
"Of course, we are not able to play every song from our history, there are plenty of songs we haven't played for 10 or 15 years. I have forgotten how to play some songs I wrote years ago, and my ear isn't so perfect that I could understand how the hell I played certain strange riffs or chords when I listen to our old recordings."
"We continue singing 'Kulmale Maale', 'Internatsid', even 'Tere Perestroika' (we haven't played that for many years). Nowadays these songs hold a certain 'spooky' nostalgia. And it happens that some young punk rocker comes and says 'Oh, you had such an interesting life back in the eighties, I wish I could go back in time and hear those songs when they were actual, to get to know how it felt'. Well... yeah."
J.M.K.E. performs at Stary Dom at 8 p.m. on Friday.
http://punk.bumpclub.ee/jmke
www.jmke.ee
www.stupido.fi
TITLE: Red Sox Break Jinx to Win World Series
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ST. LOUIS, Missouri - Doug Mientkiewicz broke down and cried. He joined the Red Sox just three months ago, yet he knew what it meant to be a part of Boston's first World Series title since 1918.
Orlando Cabrera wanted so badly to be a part of the mob of players hugging along the first base line that he took a running start before throwing himself on top of the scrum. He was also acquired on July 31; a free agent, he could be gone as quickly as he came.
"You can't play in Boston and not be aware of what the tradition is, what the history is," said closer Keith Foulke, who signed with the team last winter. "I wanted to come here and be a part of history. Eight months later, we did it."
Gathered at the dugout railing, the Red Sox players watched Edgar Renteria bounce the last out back to the mound. Foulke made the underhand toss to Mientkiewicz and that was it.
"I was thinking, 'Get it to first, and we're champions,'" Foulke said in the clubhouse, out of breath and drenched in champagne.
With a leap, Mientkiewicz ran toward home plate. Foulke jumped into catcher Jason Varitek's arms. Manny Ramirez went to the mound to don a World Series Champion hat, while a clubhouse assistant picked up Boston's game hats for posterity; Pedro Martinez's is going to the Hall of Fame, along with Curt Schilling's spikes and Ramirez's bat.
For two days, it was hard to separate the Red Sox fans interloping in Cardinal Country from the locals, both of them bathed in red. But afterward, when the St. Louis fans filed out to the exits, the Bostonians congregated behind the visitors' dugout.
Their obligatory derogatory chant about the Yankees gave way to encouraging ones for their own team, as if they've finally gotten over the inferiority complex. They were still there an hour later when Martinez took the World Series trophy for a victory lap.
The Red Sox had come close before, losing the Series in seven games in 1946, '67, '75 and '86. They were five outs from winning another pennant last year when everything fell apart of the home of the hated Yankees.
The celebrations started when Derek Lowe came off the mound after seven innings of three-hit ball, and his teammates congratulated him. In the eighth, when Gabe Kapler pinch ran for Nixon at second base, they exchanged a handshake that looked like it had been rehearsed for 86 years.
They celebrated at the ballpark in the Fenway. They celebrated from Boston to the Berkshires, in all of New England and wherever Red Sox fans gathered.
That guy who brought a Red Sox cap to the top of Mount Everest, hoping his prayer would release the team from its dynasty of disappointment -maybe he was right after all.
TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Out in the Open
ST. PETERSBURG (AP) - Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish was knocked out in the second round of the St. Petersburg Open on Wednesday, losing 6-7 6-4 6-3 to Cyril Saulnier. Another seeded player exited when Karol Beck defeated No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko. In other matches, top-seeded Marat Safin reached the second round while Greg Rusedski also advanced.
Zenit Fade in League
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - FC Zenit's 3-0 loss against CSKA Moscow on Monday night has left the St. Petersburg team with the odds against them in the tussle for the Russian league championship. While Zenit could lift the trophy by winning all of the remaining three games of the season, Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA remain favorites to fight it out for the championship title.
Heart Scare for Fadiga
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Bolton Wanderers midfielder Khalilou Fadiga has been released from hospital after collapsing on the pitch before their Carling Cup tie against Tottenham.The football world was stunned when Marc Foe, of Cameroon, died on the pitch due to heart problems last year, in a similar incident. Fadiga arrived at Bolton last month and was given the all-clear by their medical staff following concerns over surgery in Belgium for an irregular heartbeat.