Russian

It would seem that we're now at the stage of global economic lunacy where the worldwide socialist slide is so far gone that the president of Russia is lecturing the world, and particularly Europe, about the risks of socialism. Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Vladivostok, Russia, Vladimir Putin promoted the merits of free-market economics. He said that by pulling the former Soviet satellite states into its sphere after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Europe chose to take responsibility for subsidizing their economic well-being.

If Justin Bieber or the Rolling Stones suddenly decided to stage an impromptu concert in a public place somewhere in America without a permit, would the authorities ignore it and shrug it off? Doubtful. Even buskers performing in the New York Citysubway system can't play without formal authorization from the city. What about taking such a musical performance into a church? If Jennifer Lopez or Madonna just showed up in a place of worship, stripped down to their skivvies and started dancing around the altar, would that fly in any Western democracy?

Now that Vladimir Putin is Russia's president once again, the result of still another fraudulent election, we should expect ever more hostile relations with Moscow. Mr. Putin, a vain and vulgar man, was born and bred to despise the United States. And in recent times, Washington has given him little reason to change his mind. The latest example: President Obama waited several days before calling Mr. Putin to congratulate him on his election victory this month - though Mr. Obama did manage to call Francois Hollande just a few hours after he won the French presidential elections.

Norman Henley, a retired Russian-language and world literature teacher and academic editor, died of congestive heart failure at the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville. He was 96 and had earlier lived in Remington and Charles Village. Born in Auburndale, Mass., he earned a bachelor of arts degree at Boston University. He then studied at Andover-Newton Theological School and the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. While a student in Boston, he worked as a hospital orderly and assisted in the care of the injured in the 1942 Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire.

A bequest from Washington, D.C. arts patron Jean Montgomery Riddell, who died last year at the age of 100, has enriched the holdings of the Walters Art Museum with more than 260 objects of enameled Russian silver from the 17th through early 20th centuries. The Riddell collection includes items from the storied firm of Carl Fabergé. "About 20 years ago, [Riddell] came to the museum and I showed her what we had of Russian works," said William Johnston, senior curator at large and director of the archives at the Walters.

A former Baltimore County resident serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery in federal prison has been named as a suspect in the death of his mother, who was visiting from Russia, a Baltimore County Police Department spokeswoman said Wednesday. Dmitry Yuryevich Pronin, 26, who pleaded guilty in June to robbery and a handgun charge in connection with a bank holdup in Wilmington, Del., has not been charged in his mother's death, but police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said that "the son is the suspect in the case.

Blond and boyishly handsome, Vasily Petrenko might be mistaken for a gymnast, or perhaps a player of his favorite sport, soccer. But when the 35-year-old Russian conductor steps onto a podium, there's no doubt about his true calling. In 2009, Petrenko made a striking debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in an all-Russian program that included the most arresting Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich performances since Yuri Temirkanov stepped down as that ensemble's music director a few years earlier.

Kay Plaskowitz remembers nearly four decades ago being driven by her husband to Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore while punching down the pan of rising bread dough on her lap. As she carried the dough into the basement kitchen to bake during the Sunday service, she had a plan. Previously, the church had tried to sell homemade noodles at its fundraising festival, but they weren't very popular. This time, the smell of fresh bread wafting through the building and the taste of the loaves warm from the oven convinced Plaskowitz's fellow congregants that she had a better money-making option.

I read with dismay that the Russian spacecraft that was to supply provisions for the International Space Station, where two American astronauts are housed, burnt up in the atmosphere while our own shuttle program at NASA was recently mothballed. I heard with concern on a news program on WYPR that we don't make crucial medications in this country anymore, and thus depend on China, India and others to do it for us. The same program also mentioned that there are crucial shortages of these lifesaving medications.

It's often interesting to see how foreign news outlets cover the stories the American media find so important.  For instance, consider this example from Russia Today, the English-language news outlet, and how its journalists covered New York congressman Anthony Weiner's resignation today.  Under the title, "Headline-grabbing gossip replaces news in US," Russia Today led their coverage of Weinergate, as we call it in the states, with...