Nick Wadhams

Sad Days in Russia

Russia's crackdown on the free press (and assassination of its practitioners) under Vladimir Putin and his successor, Dimitry Medvedev, is well-known. Today, I learn of what, for me, is the death blow: The eXile, the brilliant, hilarious and often profane English-language tabloid, looks like it's done.

The eXile reached great heights around 2000, skewering pretty much everyone and starting Matt Taibbi's reporting career. It also did some great pranks.

Taibbi has gone on to write some brilliant stories for Rolling Stone, but my favorite of his is this one from his eXile days, when he went undercover to lay bricks in the tiny Russian town of Meleyuz.

It raises the question: Is my esteemed former employer, The Vladivostok News, next on the list?

HBD

Having a May 9 birthday gave me lots of cache when I lived in Russia because May 9 is Victory Day, the day the Soviet Union officially won World War II. Given the significance that Russians (rightly) give their WWII victory, being born on May 9 (the 30th anniversary, no less!) was like having a birthday on Christmas, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Easter, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. It was about as blessed as you could get in a once officially atheist nation.

From a brief Wikipedia perusal, I learn that I share a birthday with John Ashcroft, Rosario Dawson, Tony Gwynn and many other semi-famous people. I also learn that those unfortunate enough to die on May 9 include Tenzing Norgay and Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov. I interviewed Kadyrov at the Waldorf in New York a few weeks before he was killed in a bomb blast. The explosives blew up the stadium seating in Grozny where he was watching a Victory Day parade. I'm unsure of the significance of this, but even though Kadyrov struck me as a bit of a thug, it's still kind of sad.