LENIN STREET, KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, 2006

KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, 2006

TAJIKISTAN

VIEW FROM HELICOPTER LEAVING KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, 2006

KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, 2006, AIRPORT RUNWAY

NEW LINKS

It is again high time to update the links on this website. Some new ones have appeared and others are, well, long history. The problem today primarily concerns which links to include on the blogspot. There are so many useful links these days that it is impossible to include them all. Instead, I aimed basically to provide a useful set of select links connected to basic information on the CIS, some research resources, travel information, employment information and, more recently, a listing of radio station links towards the bottom of the page. To this set I also added some extra links that are simply interesting that might not be typically included in mainstream media (although that criteria left a lot open!)

Questioning Passport Canada

I do not own a piece of property in Canada, nor anywhere else for that matter. Ever since I left home when I was 18 to go to University, I have rented a new place to live each year and moved at least once a year since 1992, except once, when I lived in the same place for 2 years in Edmonton, Alberta. This should not be a problem, it is perfectly legal, and over the years as I took positions in different countries, or was posted somewhere new, I changed my address. I do not know where I will end up - and until I decide to stay in some place for a longer period of time, it makes little sense to buy into some location.

The problem is that I had to get a new passport, and on the application it asked me for my permanent address. In addition, they asked for a mailing address. I just moved out of my apartment and am about to move to a new contract to a new location - currently undecided - but likely I will need my passport to go there. So what should I put down on my permanent addresss? My gmail account?? That would be most appropriate. So I asked Passport Canada and their solution was just to use whatever the last address I had was.

I was pretty surprised that they could actually deal with this kind of situation because likely most people who get a passport use it primarily for travel and have a mailing address, etc. and know where they are planning to go.

Inside Barcelona

Fall in The Hague

Fall in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Pretty in Pink

Examining Local Production

View From My Hotel Window

An Ideal Cellar

A Nice Place to Spend a Saturday Afternoon

Little Boy Gets History Lesson in Bordeaux

Signs of Warning

The Protest in Hindsight

Voices of Discontent

The Messengers

Swept Into the Movement

Democrats Hit the Streets

Protestors in Bordeaux

Market in Barcelona

Conversing With Spinoza in The Hague

France

THE CAMEL EXPRESS

MY APARTMENT, KHARKOV, UKRAINE

NIZHNI NOVGOROD

ST PETERSBURG

KYRGHYZSTAN

SCIENCE IS OVERRATED

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems to me that nowadays we look at the past as if we are so much better. We have internet, home movie technology, we have hi tech data processing, cheap transportation around the world, and advanced medical treatment. HIV/AIDS used to seem to be a death sentence, but dedicated science has found retroviral treatments as well as endorsing preventative measures to reduce the spread of the virus. But are we so advanced?

We certainly have an increased capacity to travel the world, analyze problems, and creatively explore solutions across a wider and broader population than ever before. Food is no longer a problem - we produce more than we need to consume and we can see satelleite pictures of pretty much anywhere we want in the world whenever we want. But just when our scientific capaciy seems to be greatest, we seem to be at our worse. There are environmental challenges (even if they are naturally occurring, we still have to deal with the consequences), there are new diseases and demands for new treatments, hunder amongst a large number of people is still a problem, educational access is diminishing, not improving. Instead of dedicating our resources,eneergy and scientific knowledge to the challenges society faces to improve overall living standards, instead we donate less, are concerned less, and spend more than ever before opn war, destruction and using science to find excuses why we should not tinker with "natural order" When humans had less to work with they seemed to hope for more and produce more. Now that production is not the issue, will power seems to be. When will science re-orient itself away from building bigger better bombs to haling cancer, the homeless, the ravished, or even just making politics cleaner?

UPDATES

Unofrtunately when I tried to change my blog I lost my links temporarily. Probably it is time to update the links anyway so stay tuned for a better set of useful links!

DUSCHANBE, TAJIKISTAN, SEPTEMBER, 2006

This is a mosque in the centre of Duschanbe, Tajikistan. I could see the tower from my Hotel window a couple of blocks away. Along the front is a row of small shops selling religious texts, clothing, prayer rugs and caps. I found a classic translation of the Koran into English actually printed from back to front with the Arabic text side by side with the English. I always pretend to be reading the Arabic and must confess that I do not know how to read it. I also managed to pick up a new prayer cap and outfit, which will be displayed in a future post. I was given several Islamic texts in Russian as a gift along with an extra cap, just in case.

INDICATORS OF A SOVIET PAST, KHOROG, TJ, SEPT 2006

CHILDREN IN KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, SEPTEMBER, 2006

These two children passed by me in Khorog while I was walking along taking various shots of the surroundings. They greeted me with an English hello. Once they get their hands on Western pop culture I am sure they will have several more choice words for me. Until then, they remain very civilized.

KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, SEPTEMBER, 2006

This is the river which runs from the mountains through the centre of Khorog and, not far from where I stood when I took this shot, becomes the border alongside Afghanistan. Further upstream is a major hydro power station.

LENIN STREET, KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN, SEPTEMBER, 2006

BORDERING AFGHANISTAN/ НА ГРАНИЦЕ АФГАНИСТАНА

This is me, I think, standing in a spot that I had dreamed about visiting since about 1999 - the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan in a remote town, Khorog, home of a large number of Ismailis. You can only get here by a windy, slow, mountain road from Duschanbe, or by helicopter or very small jet provided there is little or no cloud cover. I am standing here on what was once the Aga Khan's residence in Khorog and behind me is the river, beyond which is Afghanistan. Apparently this border has been one of the weak links between the two countries and has been patrolled by Russian military units until recently.

Khorog, Tajikistan

THE PARADOX OF GROWTH RATES!

One of the central concerns now in the Former USSR within economics departments concerns how many new faculty members have a western education, but have a position in an institution in the Former USSR somewhere. So, in Department X, there is one single economist with a Western Phd in year 1. Then in year 2, they manage to find another 1, and this means the number of local economists with a Western Phd has increased by 100%. In year 3, they hire one more. Three is certainly better than 1 and it is certainly better than 2, right? Wrong. Now the increase is only 50% (1 on 2) and further increases serve what purpose? They decrease the growth rate. So they should have stopped at 2 – where growth rates were highest, and had fewer, not more, economists to serve the interests of the region. More economists is not better, it is worse; it reduces our growth rates.

Albeit this logic sounds crazy, it is also true for income. More income is worse because it makes it harder and harder to keep growth rates high. If average income is 1000 dollars, and next year goes up to 2000 dollars, growth is 100%. Another 1000 is bad, however, and not good, because another 1000 on 2000 would only be 50% growth. This would support the idea that if governments really care about economic growth, they are on the right track. More wars, more taxes, and a failure to relieve poverty serve the public’s interests by reducing income and increasing our growth rate. After all, would people really want to hear that growth has slowed to 1% instead of growth is going up to 10%!

FROM RUSSIA TO KYRGYZSTAN

After years of studying, applying for grants, scholarships, moving from contract to contract to contract, I was interviewed and offered a position in Bishkek, Kyrghyzstan, to work on developing programs for the new University of Central Asia. I arrived on Sunday morning and am now looking for an apartment. This time, however, as I packed my backpack, two briefcases, and mailed ahead my books, I thought to myself that I might be going to the Central Asian region to ironically end my nomadic lifestyle of wandering with most of my belongings on my back and/or in the Post. I do not want to repack my bags for a long time this time and fortunately for me - I have a decent job, that I like and a city which is a nice place to live, fresh mountain air - plus the amenities that go with being in a city - plus most things are walking distance. Pictures of Petersburg will follow, as well as several articles, and pictures of my new life in Bishkek, also will follow, once I get around to developing them. I have not invested in a digital camera yet - but I have conveniently placed such a device on my birthday wish list just below a Lada (Shiguliy - in case you want to know).

SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN, 1998

This is a shot from my first trip to Samarkand in 1998, in the fall. I woke up early in the morning to get these shots before tourist groups were taken through. There have been a lot of changes since then - now there is more fresh paint and souvenier stands. Most of these ancient sites had a much more authentic appeal to them before they became commercialized and distorted to appear ina way they never did originally purely for the sake of tourists' eyes.

A ROOM WITH A VIEW, KIMEP, AUGUST, 1998

This was the first room I stayed in in the Kazakhstan Institute for Management and Economic Planning (KIMEP). I was told that this was one of the former party schools and this was dormitory for it. The room was better than my dormitory room in Queen's University, Canada, and had hardwood floors, one bathroom for every two rooms here together, a balcony, from which I took the shot below, and a desk, two beds, built in closet space and a hangining wall radio. If there were a dormitory room that ought not to be made Western, this is it. Otherwise it would be made more expensive, the room would have awful carpets, a whole bunch of advertisement packages for new students, and people would tell you it was the highest quality in the world.

FIRST IMPRESSION

I arrived for my first time in the Former USSR in August, 1998, into Alma-Ata. I left Frankfurt on a nightflight and all I was able to see was that the land on the East of the border with the "West" did not look all that noticeably different. Then I arrived in this city in Kazakhstan at nighttime, went to the compound where I would stay for some days, and woke in the morning to see this view from my balcony window.

EN ROUTE TO ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

I left Odessa, Ukraine, on June, 16, 2005 to leave for the USA where I will go back to school at the University of New Mexico. I am now in Halifax, Nova Scotia, re-packing yet again. I do not have any recent pictures to post from Halifax at the moment in spite of a jazz festival taking place - which I have not had time to visit, but I do have this shot taken back in July, 1999, just before I moved to Ukraine while the tall ships were visiting the Port. Behind me is the МИР tall ship. Mir can mean earth, but it can also mean peace - eitherway it is a great Russian word with lots of color and meaning yet simple and spelled the way it actually sounds.

Khiva, Uzbekistan, 1999

I was quite surprised that Central Asia up to and including this day had not been corrupted by Western Capitalism. These archeological dig sites were virtually unprotected and I decided to have my picture taken event hough I haven't the faintest idea of which period the relic in my hand dates from or who likely left it behind during some dramatic episode. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have no idea what it would fetch in the market and suspect once people figure it out, there will bebarbed wire all over the place. After all, we only protect valuable objects, not ones with historical significance necessarily.

Me in Khiva, 1999

My eyes might be closed just by coicidence, or maybe it was something else. I think this is the day my firend and I found Guiness in a small tea hut in the town centre. So it might have been that.

Khiva, Uzbekistan, Before Tourism, 1999

Crimea, Ukraine, May, 2005

Its not my camera, these are the colors as I remember them in the South of Ukraine. My memory fails me along coastlines like this, but I think it is along this coastline in the background where Gorbachev had his dacha - the famous one where he was held under house arrest during an attempted coup in 1991. Sure, house arrest, I believe that. Now that I see how beautiful the place is and how no one outside the region would have ever suspected! "Yeah, I am stuck down here on the awful Black Sea coast amidst turbulent storms and dark waters...blah blah blah" All politicians apparently are the same. Heck, I would hold myself under house arrest here too. To be fair to empirical evidence, someone had pointed the dacha out as we passed by and it was nothing as luxurious as you might expect.

Donetsk, Ukraine, Dyetskiy Dom, February, 2005

Donetsk, Ukraine, Dyetskiy Dom, February, 2005

Donetsk, Ukraine, Dyetskiy Dom, February, 2005

Me in Kyrghyzstan, 1999, Springtime

This is me outside the ciy centre of Bishkek - obviously I am not in the ciy centre. I am not sure why I wrote that. This was the beginning of a beautiful day spent in the mountains with a colleague of mine fromt he economics department, Lyudmila Konstans, and two of her friends, who insisted on fishing, but not fishing (apparently it is illegal to fish in this particular park). I am not sure that the fish were aware that they were breaking the rules. In the end they were roasted for it.

Osh Bazaar, Bishkek, Kyrghyzstan, 2002

If you go to a decent grocer in Canada, you will find dried apricots, but not the selection that you would in Central Asia. This row of bins is just for dried apricots. A kg costs about 50 cents.