1. The new city really is fantastic. The scale of the architectural planning is stupendous, and nearly everywhere you go, the view is fantastic.

2. Generally, the new city is EXTREMELY expensive. Eating out here costs more than in Tokyo or London, I'm told by people who have lived in those cities.
   

3. My social life here is great. I meet new, intersting people all the time, and have had several opportunities to go out for evening affairs.

4. The worst thing about Astana is the air. It is just awful. I pray for wind, now, to clear out the smog.
   

The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Russian: Бахчисарайский фонтан) is a Russian
ballet inspired by the 1823 poem by Alexander Pushkin of the same title.
With music by Boris Asafiev and choreography by Rostislav Zakharov, the
ballet premiered in Saint Petersburg, (then Leningrad) in 1934 at the
Kirov Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theatre).

Bakhchisarai is in the Crimea, near Yalta. Bakhchisarai Palace was
originally built in the sixteenth century and has been repeatedly
destroyed and rebuilt since. The fountain, which actually exists, is
called the Fountain of Tears.

The synopsis is too long to quote. The ballet begins in the house of a Polish nobleman. His daughter Maria is about to be married to Vaclav, a young nobleman. In this part of the ballet there are several elegant ensemble dances, soli, and of course a pas de deux. Vaclav was played by a handsome young Kazakh who I'm told is much improved from last year. His grand jete's were high and enegetic. He did some fast footwork as well. He managed, by only just, to hold up Maria when necessary. Maria was played by a pretty young thing. I thought her dancing was very graceful and expressive, but not at the same level as Vaclav (to my untrained eyes).

The wedding plans are broken up by the arrivel of Tatars, who kill all the men and take Maria captive. Maria becomes part of the harem, and vies for the Khan's affections with Zarema, who is kind of a Carmen/Joleen figure, who is hot and passionate.  Zarema kills Maria. The Khan is about to kill Zarema, but cannot. Instead, she is thrown of the walls of the palace.
The Khan is devastated. In a final scene, he dances with Maria in Zarema in the afterlife.

Jim White has a post up at Marcy's place, on a Washington Post article about the report released today (pdf)from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

The report details that the training of police forces in Iraq has been a failure:

From the WaPo:

Over the course of the eight-year-old war and military occupation, thousands of U.S. troops have spent considerable time and effort wooing and training police recruits, but Iraqi officials have often accused the United States of not providing much more than basic training.

In an August interview, Akeel Saeed, inspector general of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, said that in the past, the U.S. military was too often "implementing what they wanted, without acknowledging what the Iraqis wanted."

So, while we're going to treat the Iraqis as equals, what we aren't going to do is rely on their police - US-trained police - for security for the thousands of people who will staff the embassies and consulates.

From the SIGIR report:

In October 2010, SIGIR raised concerns that DoS would be assuming responsibility for a program to advise and assist Iraqi police forces when the capabilities of those forces had not been assessed in any comprehensive way. We reported that neither DoD nor DoS has fully assessed the capabilities of the Iraqi police. DoD carried out some assessments, but they have limited usefulness in evaluating the current capabilities of the Iraqi police services. SIGIR recommended that the Commanding General, U.S. Forces-Iraq, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary, INL, work with the MOI to help assess the capabilities of the Iraqi police and provide that assessment to INL. Although U.S. Forces-Iraq agreed with the report recommendation, the assessment was not completed.

Jim goes on:

The simplest explanation for why so many groups refuse to complete the task of assessing the capabilities of Iraq's police forces is that the result is not one they wish to publish. The refusal to publish an assessment of Iraqi police capabilities, coupled with the DoS plan to rely on mercenaries rather than on the "trained" forces, can only lead to the conclusion that Iraq's police forces cannot be counted on to function at a level that would protect DoS activities in Iraq after withdrawal of US troops.

What's missing, Jim asks?

BRUSSELS -- Eurozone leaders are toying with the idea of asking China and other emerging powers to help them out of the debt crisis by taking part in a bailout fund, but some are reluctant to call in Beijing.

The possibility of asking for China, Brazil and others to come to their rescue emerged at a summit on Sunday as European leaders scrambled to find ways to boost their defences against the crisis.
[snip]
The so-called BRICS group - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - has voiced willingness to help Europe overcome its debt crisis amid concerns it could spark a new global recession.

The emerging powers, Europeans, and the United States, will hold a key G20 summit on November 3-4 [to] discuss whether to increase the IMF's resources to combat the eurozone crisis, which emerging nations support but the United States opposes.

Arrest threatened

In a sworn affidavit, John Barnhill, general counsel for the DA's office, said the grand jury instructed a bailiff to arrest them if they re-entered the jury room.

The three prosecutors went to the 18th floor where they asked state District Judge Susan Brown, who empaneled the grand jury, to order the foreman to allow them back in. Brown refused to force the foreman to do anything.

   A change from due process to decree...

    Americans everywhere have a chance. A chance to be killed if the president decides they should be killed.

    It is this chance I leave to you and to presidents Perry, Palin or any other presidents our nation may know.