Recent Doings

Recently I have been reading alot about the "Great Game" between Tsarist Russia and Great Britain during the 19th Century. It has expanded my background knowledge about the areas bordering Soviet Central Asia considerably. Most notably I have been reading alot about the history of Afghanistan, Tibet and the northern regions of British India. The history of British exploration and espionage in the region is quite interesting.

I have also started working on my current book project again. The one on Russian-Germans under Soviet rule meant for a general rather than academic audience. It is up to 93 pages. I wrote three pages yesterday. Currently I am writing up the section on the 2 January 1965 meeting between the first Russian-German delegation and Mikoyan in Moscow. The delegation itself was formed at a seminar the previous year in Bishkek (then Frunze) Kyrgyzstan. The activists forming the delegation requested that the Soviet government restore the Volga German ASSR. Despite strong arguments supporting such a course of action the regime refused to make any concessions on this issue.

Other than that I am still waiting to here from the job that shorlisted me recently. I could have greatly improved my ratio of applications to shortlists if I had only applied to jobs outside the US. I am also still walking about 15 miles a week over unpaved roads. I figure if nothing else it has to be good for my health.