Politics and Geography

This maybe my last post for a while due to job interviews, impending coursework deadlines and exams.

I was doing some bible study this morning and was researching the last part of Matthew 15 where Jesus goes to Magadan. My google search came up with Magadan in Russia, and then I went from there to a link to a place called Transnistria.

Transnistria is a disputed territory in Moldova between Romania and Russia. There was one part of the wikipedia article that really made me laugh. The following quote is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

"Election results are considered suspicious, as in 2001 in one region it was reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic."

Now I heard of Sadaam Hussein having supposedly 'democratic' elections and receiving nearly 100% of the vote, but receiving 103.6 % of the votes is surely corrupt. I fully understand that corruption is not a funny issue and these people seem to be in poverty and to some degree oppression, but I do find it funny that you would try to rig an election and get 103.6% of the votes!

The other striking thing was reading about a city near Magadan, called Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky which is in far Eastern Russia. The city holds nearly 200,000 people and is in apparently beautiful surroundings. The only problem maybe getting there, as there are no roads connecting it to the outside world. It is the second largest city in the world unreachable by roads. The amazing thing is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is 4124 miles from St. Petersburg and they are in the same country! To put that in perspective its about the same distance as London to Nairobi or London to Florida, and being in the same country.