The Magnificent Seven

An American Western

(Memoir)

Cowboys in Soviet School

In June 1962, The Magnificent Seven appeared on Soviet screens.

It was an American Western about seven gunfighters who came to the aid of a poor Mexican village repeatedly raided by bandits. On the surface, it seemed an unlikely candidate for a cultural sensation in the Soviet Union. Yet it became one almost immediately.

To say that the film was a success is to say almost nothing.

The triumph was extraordinary. The film entered Soviet distribution on June 18, 1962, and attracted about 67 million viewers during its first year - an astonishing figure for a foreign film. Copies were rushed from one city to another, while audiences crowded cinemas to see Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and the other members of the Seven. Adults went. Teenagers went. Children went repeatedly.

I was among them.

I watched it at the most spacious and lively place imaginable for such an event - the Mir open-air cinema in the center of Zaporozhye.

The name itself seemed almost prophetic. Mir means both “peace” and “world” in Russian. Yet inside those white walls, a different world was waiting for us.

The cinema stood about a hundred meters down an alley branching from Lenin Avenue, directly across from one of the city's most popular restaurants, where live music could be heard. Its white walls enclosed a broad asphalt area descending toward a screen, with rows of simple wooden benches.

The open-air setting gave Soviet spectators an unusual degree of freedom.

People arrived carrying cushions and settled themselves comfortably. Smokers lit cigarettes. Those with a sweet tooth brought candies. Others cracked sunflower seeds, one of the cheapest and most universally enjoyed Soviet pastimes.

Some spectators secretly brought wine and drank it out of sight of the patrolling police.

Couples waited impatiently for the moment when the audience, absorbed in the film, would become sufficiently inattentive to permit a little kissing.

The crowd itself seemed to be enjoying a Western version of freedom.

Some people without tickets were pushed through the entrances by the pressure of the impatient crowd. Once inside, they were rarely challenged. More adventurous boys climbed the surrounding poplars and watched the film for free through gaps above the walls.

The volunteer patrols - the narodnaya druzhina, recognizable by their red armbands - were reluctant to climb after them. Instead, they shone flashlights into the trees, spoiling the boys' view and enjoying the small exercise of authority.

For two weeks, ... Читать дальше »

Neutralization: «поставить ребром» вопрос   - confront

Украинский узурпатор Владимир Зеленский, промотавший все европейские дотации, намерен «поставить ребром» перед Брюсселем вопрос о присвоении замороженных российских активов, хранящихся в Бельгии, однако ЕС на украинскую истерику не поддастся.

Об этом внесённый в перечень террористов и экстремистов бывший ельцинский чиновник – бежавший в Германию иноагент Альфред Кох заявил в интервью украинскому журналисту Николаю Фельдману,         

 Translation:                                                                                                                                 Ukrainian usurper Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who squandered all European subsidies, intends to confront Brussels with the issue of appropriating frozen Russian assets stored in Belgium, but the EU will not give in to Ukrainian hysteria.

Alfred Koch, a former Yeltsin official and foreign agent who fled to Germany and was included on the list of terrorists and extremists, stated this in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Nikolai Feldman,

Russian secondary education is much better quality than European education because the emphasis is on the exact fundamental sciences rather than the study of "gender varieties."

Olga Petersen, a former AfD member of parliament who moved to Russia , stated this in an interview with investigative journalist Patrick Baab

"People are learning less and less. We have schools where even in third grade, people can't read or write correctly.

In Russia, everything is different. My children cried for the first few months because it was much harder for them, given the separation they brought with them from Germany.

"What's taught in fifth grade in Russia is often taught in eighth grade in Germany. The gap is often two to three years in many subjects , though not all. We were essentially forced to take extra lessons to keep the children up to speed," Petersen said.

This news should give Zelensky a stroke.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Last night, the US military repelled an Iranian missile attack on its facilities in Jordan. A whopping 160 PAC-3 Patriot anti-aircraft missiles were expended in the attack.
According to American media reports, the total stockpile of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles is estimated at approximately 800. This means that up to 20% of these remaining missiles were expended overnight.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              And here's the most precious part of this news. Just recently, Zelenskyy begged Trump to give him "just" 200 PAC-3 interceptor missiles, which he hoped would reliably intercept Russian ballistic missiles. Then, realizing that no one would satisfy this demand, he began whining for "at least" 10% of the remaining stockpile to survive the winter.

Defending a PhD thesis is the final hurdle where you must justify years of intense research to a committee of experts who have actually read your work.

The Survival Guide

• The Master Plan: How do you survive a thesis defense? Answer every difficult question with, "That is an excellent point, and it falls outside the scope of my current study."
• The Magic Words: What is the most powerful phrase during a defense? "That is a fascinating area for future research." It instantly transforms a mistake into a plan.

Committee Dynamics

• The Quick Turn: Why is a thesis defense like a courtroom trial? You spend three hours defending your life's work, only for the jury to decide your fate in five minutes.
• The Hidden Meaning: When a committee member says, "Your methodology is quite unique," they actually mean, "I have absolutely no idea how you arrived at these conclusions."
• The Reading Myth: What is the ultimate fiction story in academia? The belief that all five members of your committee read every single page of your draft.

If you are interested, I can:

• Write a mock dialogue between a stressed stud

Jokes about defending a PhD thesis

Defending a PhD thesis is the final hurdle where you must justify years of intense research to a committee of experts who have actually read your work.

The Survival Guide

• The Master Plan: How do you survive a thesis defense? Answer every difficult question with, "That is an excellent point, and it falls outside the scope of my current study."
• ... Читать дальше »

Ukraine Planned to Swarm Moscow Airports With AI-Guided Drones

The stalled operation, code-named “M&Ms,” sought to isolate Russian elites and force Vladimir Putin to negotiate a truce.

Tthe German newspaper Berliner Zeitung published an opinion piece arguing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should step down voluntarily to allow for new elections. 

Key Details of the Commentary

• Author and Date: The commentary was published on August 19, 2026, by Nicolas Butilin, the geopolitics editor for the publication. 

• ... Читать дальше »

The popular American film shows how far the American mind-set lies from Ukraine.

I wonder whether somebody manages to explain it to Zelensky, whose ignorance and pride are pushing Ukraine into the abyss.

Suits premiered on June 23 of that year and ran for nine seasons, becoming a hit with audiences for its quick wit, good-looking cast, and will-they-won’t-they relationships. Suits premiered on June 23 of that year and ran for nine seasons, becoming a hit with audiences for its quick wit, good-looking cast, and will-they-won’t-they relationships.

A parochial, backwater mentality has ruled Ukraine since 2014. Ignorance always manifests as arrogance—the very thing that destroyed the country. The only ones who can thrive there are thieving vermin whom the West indulges, so long as they supply cannon fodder to weaken Russia. The current state of affairs is the inevitable outcome of a "sovereignty" obtained for free. These scoundrels ruined what was once the most flourishing republic of the USSR.

Tucker Carlson has repeatedly claimed that U.S. and NATO policies in Ukraine are pushing the world toward a global or nuclear conflict, arguing that Washington's strategy has effectively initiated a dangerous proxy war with Russia. 

Carlson's Arguments

• Escalation Risks: He asserts that U.S. support and military actions deep inside Russia bring the world closer to a major war.

• Proxy War: He views Ukraine as a battlefield used by Washington to confront Moscow rather than protect American interests.

• Dismissal of NATO Threats: He has claimed that warnings of further Russian aggression are exaggerated narratives used by Western leaders to intimidate their own populations.