MOSCOW, July 23, 2007 -- “Dane, get me out of here,” came the SMS from Igor on Wednesday afternoon.
He had called me and hung up, the signal for me to call him back immediately.
Instead, I SMS’d him: “I don’t have much money on my phone. Is there a problem? SMS me.”
Seconds later I got the SOS: “Dane, I have big problems. Get me out of here” followed seconds later by “take me from here, please?”
I SMS’d him back: “Honey, I can send you $ 100. Is that enough to buy a ticket and come back?”
“Yes, that will do it.”
Just the night before, my student Alexei had unexpectedly paid me $ 100, and Masha, Arman, and Dima had all kept their appointed lessons, so I had taken in $ 200 by that point. It also sounded like Igor had real problems, so I put another $ 3 on my phone and called him immediately.
Yes, he had received my SMS. Yes, $ 100 would be enough. He would leave there the next day, Thursday, which meant he’d be here Friday or Saturday.
He said he’d explain his “big problems” when he gets back. I told him he’d have to stay hidden in my apartment until the 16th of August. I’ve already talked to the landlady, and they will get him registration on the 17th. If the ucheskoviy, the cop who polices our courtyard, sees him before he gets registered he’s dead meat. I can’t save him. He must stay out of sight.
The following evening I got a call from him in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, where he was going to catch the train that night. I used up all my money on the call and had no money left on the cell phone. I went to bed and slept peacefully in the knowledge that soon he’d be back in my bed and in my arms.
At about 5:30 Friday morning my cell phone rang once. The signal to call him back. But I had no money left to call him back. I did have enough for an SMS: “Honey, there’s no money left on my phone. I can’t call you.”
Immediately a return SMS: “Igor’s in the hospital.”
Omigawd!
Then the phone rang again. “This is Igor’s cousin. He’s in the hospital. He….” and the phone went dead. Completely out of money.
It’s 6:00 in the morning. There are a couple of places I might be able to add some money. The first one is an all-night food joint around the corner. “It’s not working,” the cashier said. The machine at the 24-hour supermarket nearby was also not working.
By this time it was after 7 and I had to leave at 7:30 for my 8 a.m. class at Information Plus. He’ll just have to wait. But is he ill or did he have an accident? What kind of accident? Was it serious? Did he get in a fight? The little turkey – what’s he done? Teenagers! And I have no more money to send him. I sent him my last $ 150 so he could get his ass back here.
After my 8:00 class I put some money on my phone and called him. Answering service. I left the message, “Igor, I can call you now.” A minute later he called and hung up again -- his signal. I finally reached him. “Are you in the hospital?”
“No, I’m escaping. They wanted to keep me there for treatment, but I said fuck them and am escaping.”
“What happened?”
“I fell. I’ll tell you about it when I get there. I’m leaving today and will be there tomorrow or Sunday.”
When I didn’t hear any more from him, I figured he was on the train, maybe he didn’t have any money left on his cell phone, or whatever. If he caught the same train we caught when we came back together (Chapt. 241, Fade out Moldova, fade in sex), he would have caught the 11 p.m. train out of Chisenau and arrived here about 5 a.m. Sunday.
By 7:30 Sunday morning he still hadn’t arrived or called.
Oh oh! Something’s wrong! The authorities nabbed him; there’s something wrong with his documents. There was a fine and he didn’t have money to pay it and they threw him off the train in the middle of nowhere. Whatever the problem was, there was absolutely nothing I could do, so I tried not to worry.
About 3:30 Sunday afternoon, I got an SMS: “Dane, I haven’t left yet. They won’t let me leave the hospital. They won’t give me my passport. They took my money.”
“How much longer will you have to stay in the hospital?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I want to leave today. I want to go to Moscow, but there’s a problem. Could you send me a little money?”
“How much do you need? How can you leave without a passport?”
“Thirty dollars.”
“Yes, I can send you $ 30, but not today. This is Sunday. The banks are all closed. I’ll have to wait till tomorrow. Is that okay?”
A few seconds later, he called and hung up. I called him back immediately.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Okay. I’m leaving the hospital today. I can get my passport. I’ll stay with Grandma Anya. Can you call me there in the morning?”
“Okay, honey. Where should I send the money?”
“To the usual address. I’ll leave tomorrow and I’ll be there tomorrow or Tuesday. Are you alone?” he asked again.
“Yes, honey. I’m alone. We’ll be here by ourselves.”
“Great!”
“I can hardly wait, honey. See you soon. I love you and miss you.”
“Me too. ‘bye ‘bye.”
Then he called again last night. He’s not at Baba Anya’s, but at his mother’s home in Svetliy. At least he’s out of the hospital. “As soon as I get the money tomorrow, I’m leaving,” he said. “Call me here when you have sent the money.”
I sent the money and called him. He’s leaving today and says he’ll be here tomorrow evening at 6:00 or 7:00.
So far, so good, but it’s still a long way to Tipperary and a lot of chances for a fuck-up – fines, missing documents, etc. I can only keep my fingers crossed and wait.
I’m very happy that he’s coming back. I’ve missed him. My peter meter registered a couple of notches just talking to him. And Sunday afternoon I got a full boner. I’ve missed his sex, but I’ve also missed his attention, his affection, his sweetness, his presence.
He is so grateful and appreciative for my “getting him out of there” that I think that the “whenever you want” doctrine will immediately go into full force.
Former short-term lover Victor, whom I initially suspected of stealing my digital camera (Chapt. 213, Another fantasy steals out of my life), resurfaced a couple of weeks ago to give me his new phone number. By this time I had concluded that he probably hadn’t stolen my camera after all, so I told him I’d probably call him later in the week for a afternoon of sex.
Because of all the turmoil with Sergei, Andrei, then Igor and Zhorik, I hadn’t called. He called again just after I had talked to Igor on Sunday afternoon and asked if I’d like to meet.
“My boyfriend is coming back from Moldova,” I told Victor, “so I probably won’t be seeing you.”
He is, after all, just a nice cock. Igor is much, much more than that.
When Zhorik SMS’d me to ask what’s new on Wednesday, I told him that Igor was coming back.
“When?” he asked.
“Day after tomorrow.”
“Is he going to work?”
“I hope so. He’s going to immediately look for work.”
“If he has the money, I want you and him to come visit me at New Year’s,” he said.
“There are some problems,” I replied. “I don’t know if he’ll have the money; and who will take care of Missy?”
“I don’t know about Missy.”
“Will you be able to live with us in a hotel?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m sure they’ll let me live with you,” he replied.
“What if Igor’s not able to come. Do you still want me to come visit you?”
“Yes, but I want him to come too.”
“But if he’s not able to, do you want me to come?”
“Let’s wait till a little nearer to winter, and we’ll find out if you can come.”
Something here is not computing. Just two days ago, he said he wouldn’t know if they would let him live with me in the hotel. Today he says he’s sure they’ll let stay in a hotel with Igor and me, but two minutes later he’s not sure they’ll let him stay with me.
Just a couple of days earlier, we had had the following SMS exchange:
Zh: What are you doing?
Waiting for a student; and you?
Zh: Missing you.
How touching. “Thank you, honey, I spend every moment thinking of you and of what good times we had together.”
Zh: “I’m glad. I also really enjoyed being with you.”
But if he’s spending his time thinking about how much he’s missing me, why does he have to wait to decide if he wants me to come?
Is it really possible that, despite all that’s happened between us, he is cynically just using me as a bank? I don’t believe it, but it certainly raises an alarm signal.
“Do you know what I’m thinking about?” Zhorik asked on Thursday night while we were chatting by SMS.
“I’m thinking about getting out of the army and buying our apartment in Stavropol and living with you.”
So again, if he’s dreaming of living with me, that has to include sex, and a major rationale for going to visit him at New Year’s is to have sex with him. If Igor and I go together, Igor’s presence would prevent any sex between us. I interpret what’s going on as an indication that he’s trying to avoid sex with me.
So I’m more inclined to simply plan to go to Spain for New Year’s. If he isn’t yearning to see me – and it seems obvious to me he’s not – and if he’s going to dodge sex with me, I’d rather spend that money having a good time in Galicia with “little sister” Ivana.
It also sets the stage for a closer and more meaningful relationship with Igor. I’ve been holding him in second place. After this, he may get promoted to first. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
But in the meantime, Zhorik is dreaming of buying an apartment in Stavropol for $ 30,000 (Chapt. 244, Zhorik interlude proves frustrating), then coming to Moscow to live with me and go to school – using rent from the Stavropol apartment to help support him/us -- then after graduation moving to Stavropol with me and becoming a police administrator.
But I warned him in my SMS that I may not have $ 30,000 by June of next year. $ 15,000 maybe, but not $ 30,000. But then I began figuring: If I get 10 additional classes a week, I could conceivably have $ 30,000.
And getting the ten classes shouldn’t be difficult. Maxim has promised me four new students, Arman has a new student for me who wants to start in mid-August, Basil has three students interested in starting this fall, Masha’s husband has a friend who wants to study for the TOEFL, etc.
So I just might have it after all. In June, Zhorik will come straight from the army to Moscow. He and I will make our plans and have a chance to give our post-army sexual relationship a test drive, then together we will go to Stavropol to buy an apartment.
As for money, he said he had talked to his father, and he will help us, along with all the other members of his family. But none of them have a pot to piss in – I had to loan his father $ 1500 to repay the bank to keep from losing his apartment (Chapt. 244, Zhorik interlude proves frustrating) -- so I don’t see how they’re going to be much help, but it’s a generous thought.
Moscow’s top lawyers say they will stand by Boris Kuznetsov, the defense lawyer whom the State is accusing of revealing state secrets (Chapt. 258, Putin wraps himself in a constitution he doesn’t believe in). They are blatantly accusing the KGB>FSB of using the courts to get revenge.
The case against Kuznertsov should be closed because it’s irrational, declared the head of the Moscow Bar Assn., Genri Reznik.
The criminal charge of revealing state secrets was levied against him because in appealing his client’s conviction on evidence provided by a secret phone tap, he revealed the existence of the phone tap, which the FSB says constitutes revealing state secrets.
If the federal prosecutor does not close the case, Reznik said, “then the whole lawyer community in Russia and the whole lawyer community in the world will stand up in the defense of our colleague.”
That is a pretty defiant – almost seditious – declaration in a nation of one-man rule. Reznik had to be pretty certain of his own power base before issuing such a challenge.
“Boris Kuznetsov has every reason to believe that he is the victim of political persecution by the FSB for his professional work. This case is motivated by something which should not drive statesmen – simply revenge,” he told reporters.
In the meantime, Kuznetsov’s lawyer said the wire tap of his former client had not been approved by a court, making the tap itself illegal, and therefore not subject to the law on state secrets.
It seems that the Kremlin will have to back down on this one or risk ridicule of the legal establishment of the entire world. It will be interesting to see what kind of tap dance the Kremlin does around this one.
Maybe they’ll simply open a case against Reznik. I’m sure they could find something.
The Russian Orthodox Church is exercising too much power in Russia, a group of Russian scientists warned last week. The new concern was prompted by a recent proposal to teach the Orthodox religion as a part of the school curriculum and to reclassify theology as a science.
The protesting group, which included two Nobel Prize winners, reminded that the Russian constitution stipulates that the church and state are separate. But that separation is in danger of being compromised by the favored status of the Russian Orthodox over other religions in Russia.
We already know that the constitution is a worthless piece of paper (Chapt. 258, Putin wraps himself in a constitution he doesn’t believe in), and the dominant role of the Orthodox Church pretty much confirms it.
Probably for the sake of decorum, the letter stated that the growing influence of the church threatens to erode the separation of church and state. But in fact, it’s gone beyond the threat, and Russian Orthodoxy has become to all intents and purposes the Russian state religion.
Orthodox Patriarch Alexey II is often a prominent presence at state affairs, and the church’s views are often consulted on major government decisions.
The letter reminded that giving the Orthodox Church favored status could destabilize the ethnic and religious balance in a country that is also home to adherents of many other religions, including 20 million muslims.
But will anything change as a result of the protest? No. The Russian Orthodox Church has already amassed enough power that it has no intention of retreating, and the Kremlin isn’t about to force it to. The constitution is still worthless.
In the run-up to the Russian election for the Duma this fall and the presidency next March, the Kremlin is carefully orchestrating everything.
Last week, a prominent new party, “Great Russia,” was refused registration by the Federal Registration Service because of ostensible errors in its application.
However, a party official told the Moscow Times that the charter was an exact copy of the charter for the pro-Kremlin “A Just Russia” party, which was officially registered several months ago. It was specifically chosen, the official said, because it had already been tested and approved.
To political observers, it seems just another careful piece of Kremlin manipulation. Putin is known for his careful planning and for eliminating anything that might derail the plan. The meticulous former KGB spy doesn’t want any surprises.
“Great Russia” is headed by Dmitriy Rogozin, who organized the pro-Putin Rodina party before the last election as a successful ploy to draw votes from the Communists. When he subsequently fell out of favor with the Kremlin, however, he formed the Great Russia party with two others, including the head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, an ethnic nationalist group that opposes to the immigration of dark-skinned citizens of former Soviet republics.
The new party posed a danger of siphoning off a significant number of nationalist voters, so the party had to be eliminated. Putin, although he publicly makes a show of opposing nationalist and skinhead violence, courts the nationalist vote and wants them to remain in his party. The solution is to deny registration. Remember, we must leave nothing to chance.
Among the application violations cited were spelling mistakes. The registration service also said that regional party members had not confirmed their membership, even though, according to a party official, the party had written applications from them.
The registration service has frequently used such “technical errors” as an excuse to deny registration to liberal parties. Without registration, they cannot be represented in the Duma and thus cannot have candidates in the Duma election.
Great Russia has filed a lawsuit against the Registration Service, claiming that the denial was “illegal and unfounded.” What possible expectations they can have that the Kremlin-controlled court will find in their favor is hard to imagine. It may simply be a formality to the next step, whatever that may be.
Another reason for denying registration could well be the fact that founder Rogozin is on a registration blacklist of “undesirable candidates” compiled by the Kremlin, according to Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the few independents left in the State Duma.
The Kremlin has already “begun to set out the composition of the next Duma,” another Kremlin foe, the former editor of the Communist Party’s web site, reported.
According to Ryzhkov, the presidential administration is trying to exert a much greater degree of control over the Duma elections than in previous years and has asked all four Duma parties to submit preliminary lists of potential candidates for the December Duma election so the Kremlin can weed out undesirables. Ryzhkov told the newspaper Vedomosti that all parties but the Communist party had complied.
Those named on the Kremlin’s blacklist of opposition leaders “who would not be permitted to appear on any lists” of Duma candidates, according to Ryzhkov, include himself, Great Russia’s Rogozin, former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Mikhail Kasyanov, and liberal former presidential candidate Irina Khakamada.
The Kremlin, of course, as well as Central Elections Commission chairman Vladimir Churov, deny that such a blacklist exist.
Churov, however, also dropped a telling clue about what we can expect in terms of election television coverage on the state-owned channels.
When A Just Russia leader complained that his party was not getting a fair share of TV coverage, Churov replied that “some parties aren’t newsworthy enough to be on television.”
Hitler had his Nazi Youth; Putin has his “Nashi.” They both serve largely the same purpose – to give a show of youth support for the national dictator.
Nashi, which translates as “ours,” has been prominent in heckling Kremlin opponents at political protests and demonstrations. They are considered untouchable by the police, and thus are allowed to move about unrestrained in situations where those on the opposing side would be arrested.
When opposition youth did essentially the same thing, they were not only arrested, they were tried, many were convicted, and their party, the National Bolshevik Party, was banned as extremist.
But Nashi remains untouched.
They have held noisy 24-hour pickets of the British Embassy and the Estonian Embassy and have broken up protest meetings.
Although the Kremlin denies funding them, they seem to have unlimited cash to spend on pro-Kremlin projects and rallies.
The name itself is very telling. If you’re not “Nashi,” “one of ours ours,” you must an enemy, since -- as in the Bush Administration -- if you’re not with us you’re against us.
They can be counted on to amass as many as 50,000 youth on a moment’s notice to show Kremlin support and to demonstrate how much the youth of Russia love their country and their dear leader.
As the darlings of the Putin Administration, they are feted and celebrated every summer at a huge summer camp that amounts to the Putin version of the old Communist Pioneer camps, where thousands come together at a lakeside camp to listen to political lectures, show their loyal support, and fuck each other in the nearby forest.
In return, the State goes to great lengths to reward them. This summer the Air Force put on an air show costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were also personally visited by Putin’s two designated front-runners for the presidency, Sergei Ivanov and Dmitriy Medvedev.
They will be used during the elections in many capacities, including exit polling. We will be hearing much more from them in the months to come.
Russians are not the most dishonest people in the world, as you might expect from the official corruption that permeates business and government.
But then they’re not the most honest either, suggests a very unscientific bit of research conducted recently by the Reader’s Digest.
The Reader’s Digest placed 30 brand new mid-price cell phones in 32 of the world’s cities to see if people would steal them, leave them where they found them, or turn them in to authorities.
In the small city of Ljubljana in Slovenia, 29 of the cell phones were returned, rendering Ljubljana “the most honest city in the world,” by these criteria. Next was Toronto, with 28. In New York, 24 were returned. In Moscow, 17. And in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, only 13.
But if you value your mobile phone, I wouldn’t advise leaving it unattended for even a few seconds in Russia. Zhorik just had his stolen and wants $ 100 to replace it; and one evening on the way to my class at the Inst. of Diplomacy, student Ilya had his stolen from around his neck. The thief simply cut the neck cord and raced away.
See also related pages:
Chapt. #260 - Igor returns to play, but Zhorik keeps top spot
Chapt. #258 - Putin wraps himself in a constitution he doesn’t believe in
Chapt. #244 - Zhorik interlude proves frustrating
This day years ago:
2006-7-30: Chapt. #211 - Russian response to Euro Court: Shut down NGOs
