What does it all cost?

Inspired by a piece on Frogsmoke, I have collected a small selection of videos of "motorcades". The French, always lovers of uniforms and pomp appear to have broken all records in the case of the visit of the President of China. As I have commented on the YouTube site, I would have cheerfully picked him up myself in my 1989 Renault 5, which is totally reliable. I doubt anyone would have noticed - Paris is full of Chinese anyway! And who the hell wants to ride in a Vel Satis?? Ugh.

Chinese President



Here's Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid of I understand, the UAE, making a noise in Berlin:

The poster says "amazing '46-vehicle convoy"; I think it's scandalous. Some of these big shots make me ill.

And again from Paris, here's President Medvedev of Russia; I cannot see if the cars have diamond-studded door-handles, but I wouldn't be at all surprised.

Finally a little touch of restraint and class with H.M. The Queen's visit to Williamsburg: dignified and probably very secure:



ça suffit!

Until the next time

A Brave Man I think

This time it's Russia. I have generally concentrated on Russia's soviet past in previous postings hereabouts, but today I shall mention something contemporary.

There is, in reality, little real freedom of speech in the so-called democratic west; in recent Russia there appears to be rather less. There have been several murders of certain characters who had, it seems, the effrontery to criticise the system (a.k.a the Kremlin) and a distinctly laggardly approach to solving these dreadful crimes. Recently a lawyer has died in prison in Moscow, apparently as a consequence of the authorities withholding medical treatment. Of course President Medvedev has ordered an inquiry. I doubt if anything will happen though; I seem to recall that the president has ordered various inquiries... I have a nasty feeling that his prime-ministerial colleague is unlikely to be in accord.

Anyway, today's post concerns Russian outrage over a new film about the first Tsar: Ivan the Terrible. A prominent historian, Vyacheslav Manyagin, has asked that President Medvedev ban the film as it is deemed to be "an insult to Russian statehood" (!) Obviously M. Manyagin is not the "brave man" I referred to in my title.

The brave man is M. Pavel Lungin who directed the film. In response to these criticisms he made a very brave (especially in today's Russia) response. He said, in an interview with the Moscow Times:

"We can see a lot of the characteristics of his power today [...] After his reign, Russia was left behind in the process of progress. We have made no headway since that time."

I found this story reported in today's Daily Telegraph. Full article here.

Here's a picture from the film:

Nice... Picture source, here.

I sincerely wish M. Lungin a long and successful career...

Until the next time