comments about me

12 Responses to About Me

Arinushka says:
April 4, 2009 at 12:10 am (Edit)
You are a handsome guy

Lyndon says:
April 30, 2009 at 7:49 pm (Edit)
AK, thanks for this bio, it is very enlightening – I wish I had read it sooner. Basically, you’ve never lived in Russia as an adult and you observe and comment on it from afar just as the Western media does. Please don’t take offense, it’s just that I’ve spent about 20% of my life there and have gone to school, managed a business, etc., there, so perhaps your extremely well-written but (as I now understand) rather theoretical thoughts about Russia have lost a bit of credibility in my mind now that I understand you have chosen not to live there. Again, please don’t take offense, I’d probably prefer SF too. And feel free to delete this comment in the event that you do find it to be offensive in some way.

AK responds: I don’t delete stuff, but I will add an important clarification – I never got that choice.

Fedia Kriukov says:
April 30, 2009 at 9:13 pm (Edit)
Lyndon, sorry to say, your point is silly. With all your professed Russian expertise based on living in the country, your views on the situation in Russia are in the vast minority among Russians (what I noticed when I scanned through your blog). While Anatoly, even if he lives in SF, roughly falls in line with mainstream Russian opinion.

I think this demonstrates that regardless of what country you reside in, you really live in your own little world. Global trend analysis, such as what your blogs are designed for, needs to be based on a variety of sources, 99% of which have nothing to do with personal experience, and on an open mind, which in your case is doubtful if you consider the fact that you live in Russia, yet your opinion on life around you is not representative of Russian population as a whole.

Would your personal experience of living in Russia enable you to write a better quality demographic analysis compared to what Anatoly has accomplished? I doubt it. If you write about it based on your own limited experience, it will be worthless. Ditto for other topics covered in this blog.

Michael Averko says:
May 1, 2009 at 2:00 am (Edit)
From the view of earnest advocacy, it’s far better to deal with the facts and fact based opinions that are related to the actual subject covered.

Many Americans in the US are ignorant of American history and foreign policy. Likewise with other folks not knowing much about their nation of origin.

In the past, I’ve faced some rather sleazy personal swipes that noticeably gloss over what was actually said by me. I’ve made it a point to try to steer away from such manner, while not ducking intelligent discussion.

Meantime, I’m quite pleased to know my views are positively regarded by mainstream Russians and some others who are interested in the same topics (among them being Russian history, foreign policy and sports, as well as the English language mass media coverage of former Communist bloc issues) as myself.

On the discussed matter, one can note (no names) seemingly well educated and well travelled individuals, whose views are very much open to second guessing.

Keep up the great work AK.

Michael Averko says:
May 1, 2009 at 2:14 am (Edit)
Before I get possibly pounced on, let me clarify that some of my views aren’t within the realm of how many Russians think. That said, I’ve been given respect in terms of my intentions. As one example, I think there’s a good analytical basis to second guess whether it was best for Russia to decide on recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia at this time. The main reasons don’t include the neocon/neolib preferred view that it encourages parts of Russia to breakaway.

I feel better about the situation with the knowledge that there’re relatively young folks out there, who display great intellect, while sharing some of my core views.

Lyndon says:
May 1, 2009 at 6:23 am (Edit)
AK, from your brief clarification I think I understand – sorry to have even raised the issue, and I hope one day you have more of a choice. Actually, the first time I lived in Russia, I didn’t have a choice about it, although in the end I’m very glad I had the chance to do so. And (as I hope I’ve made clear in the past) I do find your work, especially with demographic data, to be impressive and useful, even if I don’t always agree with your conclusions.

Fedia, please tell me where I have “professed expertise.” I generally avoid using the word “expert” about myself, because 1) when it comes to Russia, I’m not one; 2) it is pompous and 3) too many self-proclaimed experts “(no names)” have cheapened the word.

If you had actually read my blog (I don’t care if you read it, so don’t bother if you don’t want to, but if you’re going to comment about something then at least read what you’re commenting on), you would know that I don’t live in Russia anymore. You might also realize that I do not attempt or purport to provide “global trends analysis” (whatever that is) and don’t generally do statistical analysis pieces (didn’t take enough math in college); I write and post (and sometimes translate into English) things – from a fairly wide variety of sources, again contra your comment – that are of interest to me and often on sufficiently obscure topics that they may be of interest to few others, and sometimes I write about my own experiences and/or post photos, etc. It is a totally different style of writing, much more personal and not really oriented toward any particular reader. At the end of the day, I write it for myself – it gives me a reason to keep following events in places that are of interest to me mainly for personal reasons.

The most bizarre thing about your comment is the suggestion that if I had really experienced Russia properly, I would hold the same views as the “Russian population as a whole.” Leaving aside the ridiculous idea that public opinion there – or anywhere – is monolithic (народ и партия едины, ага…), I wonder if you would agree with something along the following lines:

Someone who lives in America but does not share the views of the “American population as a whole” – or, to change the phrase a bit, the views of “patriotic Americans” – should not be taken seriously when commenting on American domestic affairs, because they are clearly living in their own little world and just don’t get it.

Absurd, right? Yet that is exactly what you seem to be suggesting – if I don’t agree with Russian public opinion, I must somehow be missing the boat. It’s really hard for me to believe you’re defending the proposition that an idea’s mass popularity equates to it’s somehow being a “correct” idea, but that seems to be exactly what you are saying. Wow.

The point is this. Of course I understand why many Russians hold the views they do about Putin, Medvedev, the “near abroad,” Russia’s current trajectory, etc. I understand the disillusionment with “the West” produced by the 1990s, the desire for one’s motherland to be prosperous, and all the rest. It is all quite understandable, I have friends who hold “mainstream Russian” views and sometimes we get into a bit of back-and-forth about it. But understanding why a large number of people hold certain views does not mean I have to share those views, does it?

Also, just in case you were suggesting that I, like so many expats in Russia (including some journalists, unfortunately), spent my time there in the “expat bubble,” I should point out that both times I lived in Russia (1984-87 and 2001-05), I lived in apartments downtown (not a дипдом or gated community), I socialized primarily with Russians, my school/work was conducted principally in Russian (a public school and an office where 80-90% of my colleagues were Russian), consumed state-run Russian media, and spoke Russian at least part of the time at home. I apologize for the laundry list – perhaps all of that just makes me bicultural and does not mean my views on this or that subject should carry any particular weight. I don’t force my views on people and don’t particularly care if what I write online has a wide readership, but I guess I take offense at your suggestion that I “live in [my] own little world” since that could not be further from the truth.

Anyway, apologies for such a lengthy comment (“it is so long only because I don’t have time to make it shorter”!), I guess I felt that some of Fedia’s comments were sufficiently outrageous that they deserved an extensive response.

Michael Averko says:
May 1, 2009 at 11:02 am (Edit)
Yes, it’s quite “cheap” (no names mentioned) to not address what a person has actually commented on. Instead, looking to second guess in other ways.

I’m quite pleased to deal with academics, journalists and others who don’t engage in such sleaze.

I also want to note the anonymous types (no one so far at this thread) who block views going against their own while posting bigoted crap along the lines of “I hate….” (a certain set of countries – usually two in particular). Then, there’re some (stress some) paper credential types who essentially hide in managed situations that serve to coverup their questionable views.

IMO, Fedia has made perfect sense.

Fedia Kriukov says:
May 1, 2009 at 2:34 pm (Edit)
Lyndon, I’m sorry to have sparked your outrage.

Your post implied that Anatoly is less credible because he doesn’t live in Russia, while you, who has lived in Russia, have superior knowledge (otherwise, why mention your experience?).

I pointed out that for the kind of analysis Anatoly writes, his country of residence is immaterial. Personal experience cannot in any way, shape, or form contribute to such analysis. You chose not to address any of this in your reply, so I take it you concede this point.

For fear of sparking further outrage on your part, I will refrain from responding to your defensive post. I think the main idea is clear: you need to concentrate on what is written, not who wrote it. The only exception to the rule might be if you have reason to doubt the writer’s honesty based on prior experience. Since no one here in their right mind has challenged Anatoly’s integrity, we can put the exception aside.

Michael Averko says:
May 1, 2009 at 5:39 pm (Edit)
On that last point, Anatoly’s integrity seems to have been challenged with the statement about how he might delete comments that take issue with him.

Why the need for such a statement? His track record appears quite accepting of different views. This is in stark contrast to some who lob cheap shots, while blocking comments at their venues (this point doesn’t pertain to anyone who has so far posted at this thread).

It’s somewhat bogus to challenge someone’s honesty without a good basis for doing so – while being more readily acceptable of other sources, whose views can be legitimately second guessed.

It’s worth repeating that a direct response to the actual subject matter reflects a more earnest advocacy, over going off in a personal direction. Granted, that this point can be a fine line, given the “About Me” (AK) section here.

Arinushka says:
February 2, 2010 at 11:28 am (Edit)
“Much of this time was spent in a bleak, post-industrial town in England’s North-West. Fortunately, it had Europe’s largest bus station so at least getting the hell out of there was easy after finishing high school.”

So it is very important to have bus station near by!

Jon Pols says:
February 2, 2010 at 7:44 pm (Edit)
What a gripping blog, I have a background in economic history and international relations and most of what I’ve read so far from you has been spot on. No purpose in my pointing out things that I agree with you on though. I have one or two doubts on what you’ve written regarding the UK.

I was a bit surprised you felt Brits can’t “accept foreigners as fully British unless they utterly reject their cultural roots”. I would not have batted an eyelid if you’d said this about France, but slight surprised you say it about the UK. Could this opinion have derived from your specific experiences in a blighted, post industrial northern town? The reason I say this is that I found Manchester (a student city) quite free and accepting but tough towns like Preston and Burnley narrow and bigoted. Londoners hardly distinguish between Brits and “foreigners” at all; though that may be because they hardly think of themselves as British – and for that they receive much criticism from the rest of the country.

A point about Scotland. I agree that in a peak oil world Scotland has some advantages; such as population to land ratio. But remember Scotland is a nation with an economy heavily dependent on (1) financial services (2) exports of non-essential Scottish branded goods (3) tourism (4) the public sector. It is also has poor internal PO public transport and is not geographically well placed for trade with other countries. Add to that an unhealthy population. As you correctly point out the North Sea oil and gas is depleting fast and I see no way that Scotland would be in a position to divorce from the rest of Britain and nationalise this resource in the face of strong resistance and foot dragging while there was any serious supplies left – not least considering the likely opposition from the holders of capital and the usual Anglo-American oil interests (with the inevitable military and intelligence agencies not far behind).

Also would Northern Ireland receive such a “hearty embrace” from the Republic of Ireland? There is the problem of billions of pounds in subsidies that the north receives (directly and indirectly) from the UK and the over-whelming dominance of the north’s public sector. How could the Republic’s small economy digest that extra burden with, presumably, their own economy in decline? Strangely I think that other Brits would accept the loss of N. Ireland to the Republic without a murmur, putting it down to an historic inevitability. The UK media already report N. Ireland almost as if it’s a foreign country. Absurdly the other Brits (or do I mean English?) would probably be far more upset at the loss of the Falkland’s to Argentina; though if there is serious accessible oil around the Falkland’s/Malvinas that might not be so absurd after all.

Anyway, I hope you write that book, based on what I’ve read from you so far I’d happily read it.

AK says:
February 7, 2010 at 6:54 am (Edit)
Thanks for the comment, Jon. I only noticed it now hence the delay in replying.

You are spot on about my attitudes to Britain. As I wrote on the update at the bottom of “About Me”, – “From what I’ve heard, France is substantially worse”. However, since I haven’t lived there except as a tourist, I am in no position to make a true comparative judgment. Funnily enough, the “bleak, post-industrial town in England’s North-West” I wrote about is indeed Preston. And yes, I did find London very agreeable on the occasions we visited it.

Best, AK.