At first, seeing a mass of people on the edge of a bridge is concerning. What’s going on here? But when they all jump and then swing together, everything makes sense. The stunt was done in Russia. The video is featured on StuffIStole.
Read more: http://www.viralviralvideos.com/2011/08/14/mass-bungee-jumping-off-bridge/
As per usual online, this outrageous car themed video emerges from Mother Russia. After a car accident, the car caught fire with other cars non-chalantly just driving by as if the ruined car simply had a flat tire.
Suddenly, the car exploded in a way only Michael Bay could create with a lot of TNT.
Read more: http://www.viralviralvideos.com/2012/07/18/burning-car-explodes-on-russia-street/
This ridiculous video of a mini van in Russia with a bad suspension has started to trend, and is being passed around the web.
With the 50 Cent hit song, In Da Club, playing in the background, it seems like the van is dancing along with music.
Thanks Brian!!
http://twitter.com/#!/AG_Conservative/status/455151380177485825
http://twitter.com/#!/StateDept/status/455145495925907456
Chess champion Garry Kasparov hasn’t taken his eye off of the situation in Ukraine, where “pro-Russian” troops have seized buildings in the eastern region of the country. A “beyond deeply disturbed” Secretary of State John Kerry next week will join high-level talks held by the United States, Russia, the EU and the Kiev government.
http://twitter.com/#!/AndreGoLow/status/455083926906617856
http://twitter.com/#!/martinmcnamara/status/455088211057188864
Read more: http://twitchy.com/2014/04/12/garry-kasparov-checks-in-on-john-kerrys-concern-o-meter/
A group of Siberian travelers came to a flooded river with no way to cross. So what do they do? They ingeniously, and quite dangerously, use two excavators to literally pass people from one edge of the water to the next. The daring travelers were hoisted up by one excavator and then had to jump to the second excavator shovel just feet above the roaring water.
Read more: http://www.viralviralvideos.com/2013/05/06/travelers-use-two-excavators-to-cross-river/
From BBC News…
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that officially classifies beer as alcoholic.
Until now anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia has been considered a foodstuff.
Read more: http://twentytwowords.com/beer-in-russia-is-now-legally-considered-alcoholic/
An extremely close call involving a Volvo truck with excellent brakes, a trucker with great reflexes and one very lucky lady. Caught on a dashcam in Russia‘s Krasnodar Region, outside the city of Novorossiysk.
Original upload found via Youtube search. Spotted here.
At besieged bases around Crimea, the standoffs between Ukrainian and Russian troops are the front lines of a raging psychological war. This is what happened when one commander decided to fight back. 
Baz Ratner / Reuters
BELBEK AIR FORCE BASE, Ukraine — Russia’s psychological war over the Crimean peninsula has taken many turns in the days since its unmarked forces surrounded the airports and military bases here, from naval blockades and ultimatums for surrender to threats of war from Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
But the front lines are the standoffs that have become a regular feature at besieged bases around Crimea — in which out-gunned Ukrainian soldiers stare down the Russian forces who hope to intimidate them into leaving so they can win Crimea without firing a shot.
On Tuesday morning, one commander decided to turn the tables on the Russians and fight back.
Col. Yuli Mamchur, 42, heads the 204th tactical aviation brigade at the Belbek air force base near the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, which has been overrun by Russian troops bearing automatic weapons and sniper rifles.
At around 8 a.m., Mamchur gathered his men from their barracks and marched them back into the base. The idea was to take a stand — and maybe this time to make the Russians back down. Mamchur’s men weren’t armed.
The Russians seemed at a loss for how to respond to the brazen move, according to accounts from journalists at the scene that early — firing into the air as Mamchur’s column approached.
Then the two sides reached a tenuous truce: Mamchur’s men would stay while he and a counterpart for the Russians negotiated. They set the deadline for an agreement for 12 p.m.
Here’s what happened next.
Mike Giglio
Mike Giglio
“It doesn’t matter if you’re brave or not,” said one 37-year-old corporal, a father of two from central Ukraine. “There are only two ways for this to end.”
Mike Giglio
“They might come during tourist season to make holiday with their families,” said a young private who gave only his first name, Sasha. “So how could they shoot us?”
Rumors swirled among the unarmed troops that the Russians had orders to shoot to kill — and that they might start a possible attack by shooting the Ukrainians in the legs.
“I am just a military soldier who is trying to fulfill my duty,” Mamchur told BuzzFeed. He said his orders from Ukrainian high command had been, simply, “to act according to the situation on the ground.”
He said he’d chosen nonviolent resistance against the Russians because “I don’t have any other option.” Asked if he expected bloodshed, he replied: “Hope dies last.”
Mike Giglio
“Please, English speakers,” one soldier shouted, addressing the journalists who were blocking the game, “leave the field.”
Mike Giglio
The men identified themselves as members of a civilian defense force, with one claiming he was a resident of the nearby Crimean city of Sevastopol, and there for “peace.”
Mike Giglio
Mike Giglio
Improbably, Putin has denied that Russia has troops in Crimea, and earlier, Mamchur had said that he was negotiating with a man who identified himself only as “Roman.”
Mike Giglio
It was unclear whether they planned to march at the Russians, possibly to their death.
Mike Giglio
Mamchur — and the Russian troops — stayed behind.
Mike Giglio
“We are going back to our barracks. And then it continues,” one soldier said, implying that the Ukrainians might return for another nonviolent attempt on the base.
But no one seemed to be considering driving the Russians away. In fact, Mamchur said his demands were only that the Ukrainians be able to operate the base alongside the Russians, their last remaining hope of defiance. He wasn’t asking the Russians to leave, he said — because he knew there was no point. They were already in control in Crimea.
Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/mikegiglio/the-anatomy-of-a-standoff-in-crimea
http://twitter.com/#!/markknoller/status/506779145796612096
They have golf courses in Estonia? Oh, wait: it’s a work trip:
http://twitter.com/#!/HayesBrown/status/506777616486268928
http://twitter.com/#!/lorijeansmith13/status/506809566420402177
http://twitter.com/#!/WSJPolitics/status/506777355416002560
Here’s a map of Estonia, it’s importance clear as it’s Russia’s gateway to the Baltic Sea:
Your move, Vlad.
Read more: http://twitchy.com/2014/09/02/potus-here-today-gone-to-estonia-map/
http://twitter.com/#!/AaronWorthing/status/440180462485774336
We’ve already seen what might be John Kerry’s most ludicrous remark about Russia yet. Earlier today, he made more of his thoughts known on Twitter, which is always dangerous.
http://twitter.com/#!/JohnKerry/status/440147506941292544
http://twitter.com/#!/JohnKerry/status/440151727044431872
http://twitter.com/#!/JohnKerry/status/440160668616900608
How inspiring.
http://twitter.com/#!/PolitiBunny/status/440150588198645761
http://twitter.com/#!/ThePantau/status/440147244499468289
Not at all.
Related:
‘Only game Obama knows": Rep. says ‘we’re playing marbles’ while ‘Putin is playing chess’
‘LULZ!’ This is how absurdly ABC spun Obama’s Putin phone call [pic]
CBS political director/Slate correspondent covers for absentee president
Forward! Smart(phone) diplomacy? Should this be the Obama administration’s new motto?
‘Brandishes phone at Putin!’ WH releases baffling pic of Obama phone call; Most disturbing part?
‘Extraordinary standoff’: Ukraine troops won’t surrender in Crimea [photos]
CBS political director/Slate correspondent covers for absentee president
President Empty Chair skips Saturday’s national security meeting?
Is this how we’ll know when President Empty Chair means business with Russia? [pic]
Only a few weeks ago, it was inhabited by thousands of volunteers, Olympic officials, and athletes. Now, it is a ghost town.
Martin Rose / Getty Images 
Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
Adam Pretty / Getty Images
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 2. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 3. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 4. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 5. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 6. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 7. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 8. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 9. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 10. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 11. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 12. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 13. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 14. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 15. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 16. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 17. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 18. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 19. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 20. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 21. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 22. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 23. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 24. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 25. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 26. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru 27. 
Alexander Valov / blogsochi.ru
LINK
View the entire album by Alexander Valov at Blog Sochi.
blogsochi.ru
Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/austinhunt/27-photos-of-a-ghost-town-that-was-once-the-sochi-olympic-vi
http://twitter.com/#!/lis_Smith/status/437660933163208704
Yes, that’s the former director of rapid response for Barack Obama’s campaign machine, advising Mitt Romney to never talk about foreign policy again. That tweet was from Sunday, though, before Russian troops began their “uncontested arrival” in the Crimean region of Ukraine — exactly as Romney had warned during the presidential debates.
http://twitter.com/#!/JimmyPrinceton/status/439831177206063104
http://twitter.com/#!/jrsalzman/status/439833812478873600
http://twitter.com/#!/SeahawkBurrrton/status/439848602513313793
As a bonus, here’s a flashback to how Obama for America ridiculed Romney at the time.
http://twitter.com/#!/stephenfhayes/status/439601017689501696
