Odd photo

[John of Phoenix]

Somehow I surfed over to http://reflections.moscowtimes.ru/im/logo_head.gif and got into their photo section.

Of course there's lots Red Army stuff.

Here's the Kremlin Guard showing some fancy rifle drill.
Well, except for "All Thumbs" Ivan there.

http://reflections.moscowtimes.ru/images/mms_18.jpg


And nothing says Fall Fashion Show like glistening bayonets.

http://reflections.moscowtimes.ru/images/mms_14.jpg


But this one cracked me up. It's captioned "Paratrooper's Day 2005"
And to think I used to run four miles a day because of these Fearsome Russian Bears.
More like Teddy Bears.

http://reflections.moscowtimes.ru/images/mms_25.jpg

http://reflections.moscowtimes.ru/index.php?inumber=1

[Don Olney]

Those guys may look like Teddy Bears but on Paratroopers Day, those guys get drunk beyond all reason. In Moscow, many of them congregate in Park Kulturi and act like brainless animals. They will beat and stomp any living thing that was not in their unit. That's the way they celebrate. Smart people stay away from parks on that day. Smarter people stay home altogether.

http://k41.pbase.com/o4/85/608285/1/52772806.police_019.jpg

http://mk23.image.pbase.com/o4/85/608285/1/52772807.police_020.jpg

Riot-police (OMON) tries to disperse drunken veterans of the Russian Air Born Force (VDV) who gathered in the Central Park in Novosibirsk to celebrate the Paratrooper's Day