Green Borscht is a delicious soup made of spinach, scallions, sour cream, hard-boiled eggs and potatoes. I am not sure why it’s called “borscht” since the only common ingredient with the red borscht is potatoes. Notice home baked (by me) rye bread on the side. and here is some related SNL when it still was funny Update: NBC a-holes removed the video from YouTube, it can still be seen here.
Yes, I know Israel is not in the West, but, as you will see below, hardly any caricature from the Soviet satirical magazine Krokodil depicting Israel went without bringing the United States into the picture. Having a lot of Jewish friends and/or people who know my email address, I frequently receive emails and links to various examples of anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda being published around the world; recently started Advocacy KC Israel page is keeping me updated on the latest creations of that nature. However, all the newly-minted humorists should stand back in awe and acknowledge the original and still unsurpassed masters of the anti-Israel humor – the Soviet caricaturists and satirists.
While looking through the images below, published in the late 1960’s – early 1970’s, keep in mind that they express the official position of the Soviet Government. All the press, including Krokodil, was state-owned and 100% censored and vetted by the appropriate branches of the Government and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Frequently the subject of the next outburst of humor was directly dictated by the ideology departments on various levels. What makes these cartoons even more sinister is that at the same time when they were published the USSR was thinking up, creating, financing and arming the PLO and Yasser Arafat. As an aside, recently when I mentioned this in an argument I was told that this is my personal opinion, however, multiple authentic documents (in Russian) exist, clearly demonstrating the Soviet overt and covert support of the PLO’s terrorist activities.
With that in mind, take a look at these images, most of which are probably shown in the West for the first time.
Hide and Seek. New York Police pretends not to be able to find the Zionist perpetrators of the provocations against the Soviet establishments and citizens. 1976.Continue reading →
In 1989 I was in the military and the events in Berlin went largely unnoticed in our little installation. We watched the news as long as it didn’t distract us from the our main occupation – counting days until the discharge. 20 years later, when the excitement of breaking down a hated symbol of the Cold War died down many people are still not sure if it was a good thing.
In a poll this year, 50 percent of easterners agreed with the statement that “East Germany had more good sides than bad sides.” Eight percent signed off on the statement: “People there were happier and better off than today in reunified Germany.”
Just as some easterners long for their lost paradise, many westerners think they would have been better off without reunification.
In the end, the Wall couldn’t really exist any longer and the resentment most likely resides in the generation who had to bear the brunt of the reunification and all the hardships associated with it. History is moving along and today is a good day to take a look back at the way it was just a short 20 years ago. The image below was painted in 1990, later destroyed and was being repainted last summer.
The best and the funniest movie about that time is the award-winning Good Bye Lenin! It’s truly worth suffering through the subtitles.
I think I am the only one who finds these things interesting, but since I wasted all the time extracting and uploading all the old caricatures, you get to look at more of them.
If for some reason you want to see more, please don’t hesitate to click on my previous posts.
The following set of caricatures from the Soviet satirical magazine Krokodil is indicative of the treatment of the Vietnam War in the Soviet press. While stepping up the propaganda war, the Soviet Union was quietly shipping ammunition and advisers to Vietnam. During my army years, I served with a guy who was one of the Soviet military advisers in Vietnam; according to him, they were forbidden from displaying any kind of Soviet insignia, didn’t wear the uniform and pretended to be either some kind of sports trainers or construction workers.
This recipe is really easy and results in a spread or a dip, name it as you wish. Eggplant is delicious and good for you in a variety of ways including weight loss:
In other words, if you stay with the eggplant diet you will finally be able to attain that figure you were dreaming about, all the while consuming tasty eggplant recipes.
This recipe contains 2 eggplants, dill, garlic and mayonnaise – if you don’t like these ingredients separately or in combination, please move along.
Remove green ends from the eggplants and place them in a pot of boiling salted water.
Sometime during the cooking process try to turn the eggplants over, they will resist and try to flip back, one of you will eventually win, hopefully not the eggplant. You may want to use the lid for that purpose. Check periodically,when a toothpick goes through the eggplant without much effort, they are done. Time depends on the size and shape of your eggplant (if you know what I mean) but definitely over 20 minutes. Just keep checking. Remove from the pot. The next step is to press the eggplant. Place a cooling rack into the sink. Cut multiple slits into the skin of the eggplant lengthwise.
You need some weight to extract as much moisture out of the eggplant as you can. One possible way to do it is to place a cutting board on top of the eggplant and weigh it down with a pot of water.
Two hours later the eggplant should look fairly flat.
I use the meat grinder to chop the eggplant, you can use the food processor, just don’t pulverize it, you are not making toothpaste, it should retain texture. Add plenty of chopped dill, a little mayonnaise and as much garlic as you deem appropriate. Some salt and pepper to taste.
The final product looks like this and can be consumed with crackers or bread, in sandwiches, or on its own.
Warning: In case of extreme weight loss please discontinue.
and here is some related SNL when it still was funny
The image below was painted in 1990, later destroyed and was being repainted last summer.
