We'll let this blurb, extracted from a letter sent in by one of Vlad Kalashnikov's American fans, speak for this week's [SIC!]: "Vlad, your gloats are pretty much the only reason I get out of bed in the morning."

Who is President Medvedev? Eduard Limonov, the leader of the Other Russia opposition movement, answers the question in the simplest way possible.

For the spring quarter of 2008, the Death Porn Bureau, employing a highly specialized team of professional deathographers, has put together this first of a kind Visual Guide to DP.

For this special Victory Day column, the War Nerd takes a look at Russia's other epic victory in World War Two...

An "eXile Classic" Rerun: Jake Rudnitsky's dispatch from Tynda offers a rare glimpse inside the corrugated metal of a typical Russian kiosk.

On his birthday eXile's official club reviewer Babooshka finds himself in Moscow's newest poser bar. No it's not for the indie type, it's more for the suit, tie and blue shirt crowd. Yes, being in finance is now considered hip.

Lief the Minnesota Liberal replies to all your letters and tries to talk some sense into our readers by reminding them of the bigger, more important issues.

Anyway, not a whole lot of interest going on here over the next two weeks – guess promoters are taking a bit of a break for the traditional May holidays. But, if you want to know what you’re probably better off avoiding, by all means, read on!

Our recent experience with Hemingway's restaurant proves that Russia is booming, business is far more civilized, and "Russian management takeover" in the Putin era is a synonym for "progressive management.

Churkius Indenturedservitudius

Uzbek Gasterbeiter

Distinguishing Features: Dirty workman uniform, weary eyes, papirosy, sandals. Emaciated. Squats to conserve energy.

Habitat: Construction sites. Above ground during the day, sleeping in crammed basement at night.

Danger if Provoked: Low. Churkius Indenturedservitudius is extremely meek due to his lack of legal status, overwork for low pay, and fear of going back to an even worse situation in Uzbekistan. If given cheap vodka, however, danger increases.

Mortal Weaknesses: Vulnerable to militia sweeps when local precinct chief needs to buy his lyubovnitsa a new Ford Focus; not getting paid by his boss; hunger pangs; exhaustion.

Comments: Churkius Indenturedservitudius has been losing territory to rival species from Tadjikistan, Churkius Muleius, thanks in part to Uzbek leader Karimov's anti-Russian policies and Tadjikistan's pro-Russia colony status.

Ask anybody under twenty-five what he/she thought of the 2004 stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, and he/she will almost certainly say, with intense feeling, “It was huh-LARE-ious.” There’s going to be a similar reaction to the sequel, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay...

Last year, brave eXile staffers took a trip to Lyubertsy, the infamous mafia cradle of 90s, and discovered that gopniks no longer exist in the Putin era. I read it, but I didn’t believe it. I decided to carry out my own investigation and put it in the form of club review.

This week’s SS award goes to this Zhiguli "Semorka" from Omsk.

This year, there has been much speculation in the Russian print media about the demise of the Kremlin youth organization "Nashi." So are they dead or not? Sean Guillory sets the record straight.

The Motley Crue era was not a shining moment in pop history. In that sense, Nikki makes a fitting narrator. This is literally a tale told by an idiot. Everything about it is stale, forced and second-hand.

The good thing about spring’s arrival and the slog to summer – besides, of course, the start of snapper season – is the fact that so much more interesting shit happens, so I don’t have to waste my space writing about some awful Finnish metal band or a Dutch gothic industrial act that nobody cares about.

There is something wrong in CelebrityLand. More and more often, the glossy rags, the tabloids, the blogs and entertainment TV shows I thrive upon have been featuring people I have never heard of.

Vlad Kalashnikov gets hate mail, love letters and a whole lot of good old fashion attention.

Writing a column on the military history of Tibet seemed like a good idea before I started actually trying to research it. Some of the stuff on Tibetan military history is just so damn weird it made me feel like that scene in Ghostbusters where Rick Moranis gets possessed by some ancient demon...

Last summer, The eXile took a safari journey in search of the legendary Gopniki, Russia’s underworld answer to the OGs of South Central, Long Beach, and the Bronx. his issue, we once again find ourselves sounding the funeral bell for another great Russian tradition: the Wall Carpet.

Imagine a city where elite yachting is a part of normal life and every day you meet someone who is a surfer or wakeboarder. If you think I'm imagining Miami or Santa Cruz, you're wrong. This is Moscow, dear reader, where the rich are always looking for entertainment...

The election of president-elect Dmitry Medvedev means a whole new era awaits us, a more liberal, more technological, and more professional era. Our team of highly qualified mathematicians developed an easy-to-understand conversion guide to help our readers prepare for it.

The eternal pursuit of beauty is certainly not a new phenomenon among the rich and famous. Vanity isn't so much a sin in La-La Land as it is a prerequisite, a marketing tool, an element of survival...

Never heard of an arms dealer named Yair Klein? He's no Viktor Bout, but he's equipped and trained some of the most notorious paramilitary outfits out there—from Nicaraguan death squads to the child armies of Sierra Leone. eXile editor Yasha Levine attends his extradition hearings and tells his story.

Attention War Nerd Fans: Your prayers have been answered. The War Nerd book starts shipping on June 1, 2008. Pre-order your very own copy today.

eXile editor Alexander Zaitchik travels to Azerbaijan and finds The Holy Post-Soviet Travel Grail: a deathscape of trash fires, abandoned oil derricks, ghost processing plants, crumbling concrete structures and the decaying carcasses of Baku street dogs.

Nowhere does Azerbaijan look less like a 21st-century energy powerhouse than in the township of Balakhani, just north of Baku. Here hundreds of rusted and decrepit pumps suck the last remaining barrels out of the nearly exhausted fields.

It's time for something a little lighter, and nothing cheers me up like a tiny African state whose main export is coups. And so we set sail for the glorious Comoros Islands off the coast of East Africa...

The say that family is the foundation of society. Thank God we have so many exemplary celebrity families to light the way for the rest of us. Families provide guidance and support...

I recently became a expert specialist in The Decline And Fall of The American Empire. I use the famous Gibbon title very sarcastically...