'Mother' Russia keeping an eye on the boys

Its Valentine's Day tomorrow. I wish I was on a desert island celebrating it, rather than here where you can't walk down the street without something red, something romantic, something commercial smacking you in the face. Do not get me wrong, I think its a fabulous idea, to celebrate a day where friends and lovers openly acknowledge how wonderful the people around them are. Well, now its mostly about your lover, rather than your friends, but I think you can also tell your friends how lovely they are. On the 15th you can take it all back and happily walk around town with them having toilet paper stuck to their shoe. You have noticed it a long time ago of course, but its too classic to stop it. But the commercial aspect of this day has made it as infuriating as Christmas, the good thing is that they do not have any annoying Valentine's Day song, which they start playing 2 months in advance. So the point I am really hard trying to make is that I would rather get a good bottle of wine, some candles, a blanket and some good relaxing music. Then spend a nice evening with Pearl sitting on the sofa, talking, laughing and making jokes... in candle light. To me that would be more romantic than rushing around like a drunk Russian looking for something to buy which will express how much you love someone. A good friend of mine, Bakyt from Kyrgyzstan, has embraced the old Soviet way with open arms. The more expensive your gift is, the more you love that special somebody. Even if its so kitsch that you cannot bear to wear it in sunlight. He has infected many people with such propaganda.

Talking of things ex-Soviet, the Russian army is having tough time adjusting to the modern world. Last year there was a high profile court case against a Sgt Alexander Sivyakov from a tank academy from the Ural mountains who thought it was funny to bully a young conscript. He made the 18-year-old boy was made to crouch so long that blood circulation to his legs was cut off, then beaten nearly to death. Later on he developed gangrene and they had to castrate him and chop off his legs. The sergeant got 4 years for this, but even if the sentence was a bit on the short side, Russian prisons are no picnic, so 4 years might feel like a decade. Then again today, the publicly humiliated Russian army is in the eye of another media hurricane. Now it seems that senior officers in the army have forced the new conscripts out into the streets of St. Petersburg to make money as male prostitutes. They of course don't get to keep the money, but at least they have balls to show at the end of it. With HIV and AIDS running rampant in Russia, being able to keep your balls perhaps is just a mere consolation price if you get infected. People treat you like dirt after that, you are infected and dirty in their eyes, as good as dead. ... Well, anyway, a mother of a new conscript made a complaint and now the Soldiers' Mothers Association is on the case.

Which is more shocking than all of this, that Jo O'Meara from Celebrity Big Brother is not eating and is becoming anorexic. Apparently the negative press has got to her. Its quite the shock and front page news for the Daily Mirror, The Star and all those important papers. At least she did not go into rehab for swearing.

Anyway, happy VALENTINE'S DAY everyone. I hope you get a nice cuddle.