Essay Some sobering comments on vodka, the notorious Russian toast, and other surprises… By Robert Bridge First, if you want to drink with the natives you must understand that the Russian people never say "Na zdaroviya" before they toss back their favorite firewater.

Essay English-language daily snubs Russia Miss World By Robert Bridge On Monday morning, during my rush-hour trudge to the metro, I discovered the semi-sensational news that Kseniya Sukhinova, 21, Siberia's native princess, had won the Miss World 2008 competition that was held in Johannesburg over the weekend. A cause for celebration? Well, maybe for some...

Essay Russia: a riddle stuck in an apartment surrounded by a dacha By Robert Bridge I am presently at wits end, trying to wrap my heavily taxed intellect around this great bear called Russia. But mind you, my brain is not so big, and it has not been an easy evening.

Essay Black Friday By Robert Bridge It finally happened. America's most passionate 24 hours of shopping, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when companies hope to turn a profit for the entire year, has offered up its first sacrificial victim to the pagan gods of consumerism.

Essay Another senseless Neo-Luddite rant By Robert Bridge Excuse me, these moments come about once a year when all the chirping gadgets become too much

Essay Media blame game against Russia begins to backfire By Robert Bridge The western media machine retreats on its claims that Russia was to blame in Georgia, but other inaccuracies remain

Essay Can Barack Obama Fix America? By Robert Bridge On Tuesday, November 4, come hell or high water, much of the world will be tele-transfixed by an event of monumental importance: the 56th consecutive US presidential election, this one between Democrat Barack Obama and the Republican John McCain.

Columnists How to Survive in Moscow during a crisis By Robert Bridge Amidst the smoldering ruins of financial fallout, I decided to drown my sorrow and smoking Visa card in that modern lake of hedonism known somewhat hyperbolically as The Mega Mall in the southeast of the metropolis.

Essay Capitalism gets ugly By Robert Bridge Having just run the gauntlet of the latest financial crash with the shirts still on our backs, albeit nicely wrinkled and sweat-stained, perhaps it is an appropriate time to poke some fun at this icky little ‘ism' that wants to devour us all.

Essay America can afford another party By Robert Bridge After a long battle to secure democracy in the United States, it somehow became fashionable among the Founding Fathers in the early days of the republic to exclude all "dangerous factions" from the narrow field of political players.

Columnists Newsflash: Metro pickpockets a pain in the backside By Robert Bridge We interrupt our regular broadcast to bring you the sensational story of a local man whose wallet was lifted on the metro

Columnists West still asking: Who is Mr. Putin? By Robert Bridge It would be very difficult to name another international leader who has had more trash - potato peels and all - dumped on his doorstep than Vladimir Putin, the former two-term Russian president and present prime minister that "the West" loves to loathe.

Essay Why America sings the Georgia blues By Robert Bridge I had no intention or desire to write about Georgia's Olympic War for the second week in a row until I stumbled upon the YouTube video of Mikheil Saakashvili chatting on the telephone while munching nervously on his tie just before an interview with the BBC.

Columnists Welcome to Georgia’s Olympic War Games By Robert Bridge Watching the escalating military crisis between Russia and Georgia from the vantage point of a soporific European capital provided me with a nice refresher course into the raw dynamics of Propaganda 101.

Columnists Caffeinated China powers ahead By Robert Bridge The nineteenth century belonged to the British; the twentieth century to the United States and Russia. Would it be mere Olympic-fever hyperbole to predict that the twenty-first century gold medal will go to China?