Since Crimea is now all over the news I’d like to point out a big piece of information that seems to be lacking in the main stream press coverage of the region.

Crimea used to be populated by the Tatar people, a Muslim people of Turkic origin. Ever since the Russian Empire seized Crimea in the late 1700s and through the years culminating in a big, big way by Stalin and the Soviet Union the Tatar people have been forced into exile/deported, killed by the hundreds of thousands, and then finally the remaining hundreds of thousands of survivors exiled to the edge of the Siberian/Uzbeki wasteland to form present day “Tatarstan” (which is not an independent country).

The Russians then moved in became the vast majority. But only after all this ethnic cleansing.

After the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 independent Ukraine invited the native Tatars back to Crimea and many did come back (not only was it their ancestral homeland it is also a lot warmer in Crimea!). In the last 20 years Crimea was slowly rebuilding its Tatar population but by now Russians owned a lot of fancy property there and have a large naval base there. So, to me, this is just a 2014 version of the continuing genocide the Russians have inflicted on the Tatars in Crimea over the last 200+ years.

And it kinda proves once and for all Putin really is a big dick.

For more information on Crimean history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Tatars

I believe the person on the left is German author Thomas Mann, who was gay. I read he was in love with the man on the right, a close friend, but he was not interested in Thomas and instead later courted Thomas’ sister. Ouch.

Although it is common currency that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had a big Hollywood rivalry going on that was, in fact not true. They were not close friends (and I bet they both said some sharp things about each other behind their backs) but they were not enemies in the slightest. Joan’s biggest hate was reserved for Norma Shearer. Bette’s biggest hate was for Miriam Hopkins due to how Miriam treated the young upstart Bette when she was starting in Hollywood. Oh how much Bette must’ve loved the chance to throttle Miriam on screen! And rub a couple of Oscars in her face.

Bette was nominated for an Oscar for her work in this movie but did not win. I just saw this film yesterday. Pretty good. Based on one of my favourite books by one of my favourite authors, Somerset Maughm.