Below is a somehwhat arbitrary "top 100" list based on the number of times people have shelved each book (or the first book in the series) under Gaslamp Fantasy on Goodreads. Not perfect (the numbers of shelvings are very small) but not terrible either I think. So far I've read 24, mostly from the top half.

1. Parasol Protectorate [Soulless, 2009] by Gail Carriger
2. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell [2004] by Susanna Clarke
3. The Night Circus [2011] by Erin Morgenstern
4. Stardust [1999] by Neil Gaiman
5. Gemma Doyle [A Great and Terrible Beauty, 2003] by Libba Bray
6. The Memoirs of Lady Trent [A Natural History of Dragons, 2013] by Marie Brennan
7. Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy [2013] by Ellen Datlow
8. Glamourist Histories [Shades of Milk and Honey, 2010] by Mary Robinette Kowal
9. Stariel [The Lord of Stariel, 2018] by A.J. Lancaster
10. The Paper Magician [The Paper Magician, 2014] by Charlie N. Holmberg
11. Cecelia and Kate [Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, 1988] by Patricia C. Wrede
12. The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club [The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, 2017] by Theodora Goss
13. Sorcerer Royal [Sorcerer to the Crown, 2015] by Zen Cho
14. His Dark Materials [The Golden Compass, 1995] by Philip Pullman
15. Temeraire [His Majesty's Dragon, 2006] by Naomi Novik
16. Regency Faerie Tales [Half a Soul, 2020] by Olivia Atwater
17. Shades of Magic [A Darker Shade of Magic, 2015] by V.E. Schwab
18. Lady Helen [The Dark Days Club, 2015] by Alison Goodman
19. The Invisible Library [The Invisible Library, 2014] by Genevieve Cogman
20. Newt's Emerald [2013] by Garth Nix
21. The Last Binding [A Marvellous Light, 2021] by Freya Marske
22. The Kingston Cycle [Witchmark, 2018] by C.L. Polk
23. Manners and Monsters [Manners and Monsters, 2019] by Tilly Wallace
24. Clandestine Magic [Subversive, 2020] by Colleen Cowley
25. The Harwood Spellbook [Snowspelled, 2017] by Stephanie Burgis
26. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories [2006] by Susanna Clarke
27. Spellbreaker Duology [Spellbreaker, 2020] by Charlie N. Holmberg
28. Her Majesty's Psychic Service [The Hanged Man, 2015] by P.N. Elrod
29. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street [The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, 2015] by Natasha Pulley
30. A Charm of Magpies [The Magpie Lord, 2013] by K.J. Charles
31. Darkest London [Firelight, 2012] by Kristen Callihan
32. The Infernal Devices [Clockwork Angel, 2010] by Cassandra Clare
33. Dracula [1897] by Bram Stoker
34. Elemental Masters [The Serpent's Shadow, 2001] by Mercedes Lackey
35. The Charismatics [The Fire in the Glass, 2020] by Jacquelyn Benson
36. Dangerous Damsels [The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, 2021] by India Holton
37. Lady Diviner [The Lady Jewel Diviner, 2021] by Rosalie Oaks
38. The Brass Queen [2021] by Elizabeth Chatsworth
39. The Midnight Bargain [2020] by C.L. Polk
40. The Extraordinaries [Burning Bright, 2016] by Melissa McShane
41. Gentleman Bastard [The Lies of Locke Lamora, 2006] by Scott Lynch
42. Howl’s Moving Castle [Howl’s Moving Castle, 1986] by Diana Wynne Jones
43. Industrial Magic [Brother’s Ruin, 2017] by Emma Newman
44. Jackaby [Jackaby, 2014] by William Ritter
45. The Picture of Dorian Gray [1890] by Oscar Wilde
46. Mrs. Quent [The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, 2008] by Galen Beckett
47. Leland Sisters [Bewitching Season, 2008] by Marissa Doyle
48. Bannon & Clare [The Iron Wyrm Affair, 2012] by Lilith Saintcrow
49. Leviathan [Leviathan, 2009] by Scott Westerfeld
50. Miss Percy Guide [Miss Percy's Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons, 2021] by Quenby Olson
51. Babel [2022] by R.F. Kuang
52. Regency Dragons [Scales and Sensibility, 2021] by Stephanie Burgis
53. Jane Austen's Dragons [Pemberley: Mr. Darcy's Dragon, 2016] by Maria Grace
54. The Talents Trilogy [Ordinary Monsters, 2022] by J.M. Miro
55. Glass and Steele [The Watchmaker's Daughter, 2016] by C.J. Archer
56. The Grand Illusion [Isolate, 2021] by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
57. The Last Hours [Chain of Gold, 2020] by Cassandra Clare
58. Sorcery of Thorns [Sorcery of Thorns, 2019] by Margaret Rogerson
59. Montague Siblings [The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, 2017] by Mackenzi Lee
60. Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children [Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, 2011] by Ransom Riggs
61. The Alchemy of Stone [2008] by Ekaterina Sedia
62. Eterna Files [The Eterna Files, 2015] by Leanna Renee Hieber
63. Kat, Incorrigible [Kat, Incorrigible, 2010] by Stephanie Burgis
64. Drood [2009] by Dan Simmons
65. The Parasol Protectorate Manga [Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 1, 2012] by Gail Carriger
66. Girl Genius [Agatha H and the Airship City, 2011] by Phil Foglio
67. Wrighting Old Wrongs [World Wrights, 2023] by Maria Grace
68. Dragons of Mayfair [A Proper Dragon, 2021] by E.B. Wheeler
69. Whimbrel House [Keeper of Enchanted Rooms, 2022] by Charlie N. Holmberg
70. The Lamplight Murder Mysteries [Murder at Spindle Manor, 2022] by Morgan Stang
71. The Golem and the Jinni [The Golem and the Jinni, 2013] by Helene Wecker
72. Tournament of Shadows [Opening Gambit, 2022] by Tilly Wallace
73. Claw & Courtship [How to Marry a Werewolf, 2018] by Gail Carriger
74. Strangely Beautiful [The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, 2009] by Leanna Renee Hieber
75. Dead Djinn Universe [A Master of Djinn, 2021] by P. Djèlí Clark
76. Treaties of Moial [Empath's Lure, 2022] by Jen Lynning
77. The Economy of Blessings Trilogy [Sweetness and Blessings, 2021] by Charlotte Kersten
78. The Cruel Gods [The Thirteenth Hour, 2021] by Trudie Skies
79. The Greenhollow Duology [Silver in the Wood, 2019] by Emily Tesh
80. Six of Crows [Six of Crows, 2015] by Leigh Bardugo
81. Haunting Miss Trentwood [2010] by Belinda Kroll
82. The Resurrectionist of Caligo [2019] by Wendy Trimboli
83. The Split Worlds [Between Two Thorns, 2013] by Emma Newman
84. Under the Pendulum Sun [2017] by Jeannette Ng
85. Sorcery and Society [Changeling, 2018] by Molly Harper
86. Diabolist's Library [Creatures of Will and Temper, 2017] by Molly Tanzer
87. The Twelfth Enchantment [2011] by David Liss
88. The Beautiful Ones [2017] by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
89. The Half Killed [2015] by Quenby Olson
90. The Phantom of the Opera [1910] by Gaston Leroux
91. Murder, Magic, and What We Wore [2017] by Kelly Jones
92. Delightfully Deadly [Poison or Protect, 2016] by Gail Carriger
93. Anno Dracula [Anno Dracula, 1992] by Kim Newman
94. Kingdom on Fire [A Shadow Bright and Burning, 2016] by Jessica Cluess
95. Johannes Cabal [Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, 2009] by Jonathan L. Howard
96. The Girl with Ghost Eyes [2015] by M.H. Boroson
97. The Falconer [The Falconer, 2013] by Elizabeth May
98. The Diviners [The Diviners, 2012] by Libba Bray
99. Spiritwalker [Cold Magic, 2010] by Kate Elliott
100. Finishing School [Etiquette & Espionage, 2013] by Gail Carriger

So, I just rewatched the entire series, and I think I might have only finished/watched season 3 and 4 this time, since I remember nothing from the latter half of the show (though it could be that my more recent rewatches only included seasons 1 and 2).
Contrary to popular opinion, I did enjoy the splitting of foci to the three courts (Scotland, France and England). I thought it was fairly well done. However, my biggest issue is probably the amount of romances Mary has throughout the show.
We already know that Mary had a romantic interest with Francis, Bash (even more so, he seems to be initially created for this purpose, to be a foil to Francis, since he is a character who has no real basis in history), and Conde in the first part of the show, in addition to some other suitors like Tomas, who don't really constitute fuller romantic arcs in my opinion. Obviously, Francis is the love of her life, and I have heard a love triangle with Bash was initially pitched to CW, and since it was the first occurrence it was okay. Re: Conde, I know he is unpopular, but I think I can understand, to an extent, Mary's affair with him as a coping mechanism after the trauma she suffered — but onwards, the amount of romances Mary has seemed untenable almost.
Mary has relationships with Don Carlos (quickly and negligibly), Gideon, Darnley and Bothwell.

1. Don Carlos is easily dismissed. I think the plot line was more for shock value, but it is creative how they incorporated the real history behind Don Carlos' character — i.e. that he had a head injury which eventually impacted his behavior. Mary also did not have a deep personal attachment to him and it made complete sense for them to him to court her as royalty, for political advantage.
2. Gideon I will never understand. There is little utility to his character, IMO, but to take credit for any diplomacy between Mary and Elizabeth, when they are both capable rulers who could have had far more character come through if their schemes were entirely their own. Also, his request for Mary to abdicate and marry him was absurd, and that she considered it betrayed her character. I think a lot of her character flaws are explained by the fact that she is royalty and therefore must take a measure of liberty when considering her options, even if they may be personally cruel or unflattering, but when she is ready to give up her throne and her country to someone she can't seriously believe will hold peace and for a man she does not even love as the love of her life? I can't believe it. Not to mention Mary's entitlement to the English and Scottish thrones were a key character point for her — she genuinely felt she deserved it more than Elizabeth due to her birthright, and this was something historically quite evident as well.
3. Darnley seems like the only real romance I can understand for Mary. She needs to marry him out of duty to Scotland (and England); He does rather seem the perfect choice for her, with the right breeding, and initially charismatic and attractive. It seems understandable, if not natural to me, that after losing Francis, Mary might give herself a chance to fall for the right man. Additionally, Darnley reminds me a bit of Bash in Season 1 in his carefree attitude. I will say I think this romance was short-lived in history and therefore was rightly accurate in Reign. Darnley became spoiled and entitled, and also helped murder Rizzio — of course Mary no longer loved him. The Kiera subplot probably wasn't necessary though; historically, Darnley was said to have been found in Rizzio's bed as well, so the creator's could have taken a page from history there.
4. In regards to Bothwell, I feel like he was whitewashed in this series, since in history, it is my impression that he was brash and arrogant, and then essentially forced Mary into marriage through kidnapping and rape (though there is some speculation here). Bothwell just seems like a stereotypical caveman who Mary eventually does fall in love with, but I see nothing in it for her. Some of these romances feel like filler, and this is one of them. The plot probably would have benefited from her not seeing him as well, since then there is an even greater sense of injustice as to Mary's downfall (which is desirable for the show, since she is the protagonist), as there is no doubt she was involved with Bothwell and therefore she certainly did not 'get rid' of Darnley to be with him.

All of the romance subplots, overall, seem to detract from the story, in my opinion. I think specifically, we could have done with the reduced presence of Conde (I will take the unpopular opinion of defending his affair with Mary as a trauma response, but it definitely did not need to be so serious), and the complete loss of the Gideon and Bothwell romances. Arguably the only other major romances were Bash, Francis and Darnley then, which makes sense. Instead of needing to fill her time with a flavor of the episode, Mary is an astute ruler who has some meaningful relationships and political alliances, but ultimately values her crown and birthright above all, and her dream to see peace and unity in Scotland and England. Arguably, this was the cause of her death, but also her greatest victory, to see her line still seated on the English throne.
Anyways, just had to get some thoughts out while nursing a series hangover.
Side note, if anyone has recommendations for more shows like Reign, please let me know! I love history; for reference, I have likely watched all of the best ones (The White Princess, The White Queen, The Spanish Princess, The Medicis, The Serpent Queen, Domina, Ekaterina etc. — all amazing shows if you haven't watched them, by the way). Some of the other shows I have tried out are The Tudors, Victoria, Outlander, and The Crown, although it has been a while since I tried some of them, as I don't think I was immediately hooked in the same way as the others. Truth be told though, I can't tell you what specifically I loved about the former shows that perhaps was missing from the latter.

Hello figure skating fans, this year we celebrate the anniversaries of 5 Olympic games!
1924: 100 years ago (Chamonix, France) 1964: 60 years ago (Innsbruck, Austria) 1984: 40 years ago (Sarajevo, Yugoslavia) 1994: 30 years ago (Lillehammer, Norway) 2014: 10 years ago (Sochi, Russia)
If you have any memories from any of these Olympics feel free to share 😀
Medalists
1924 Ladies GOLD: Herma Szabo (AUT) SILVER: Beatrix Loughran (USA) BRONZE: Ethel Muckelt (GBR)
1924 Men GOLD: Gillis Grafström (SWE) SILVER: Willy Böckl (AUT) BRONZE: Georges Gautschi (SUI)
1924 Pairs GOLD: Helene Engelmann / Alfred Berger (AUT) SILVER: Ludowika Jakobsson / Walter Jakobsson (FIN) BRONZE: Andrée Joly / Pierre Brunet (FRA)
1964 Ladies GOLD: Sjoukje Dijkstra (Netherlands) SILVER: Regine Heitzer (Austria) BRONZE: Petra Burka (Canada)
1964 Men GOLD: Manfred Schnelldorfer (United Team of Germany) SILVER: Alain Calmat (France) BRONZE: Scott Allen(United States)
1964 Pairs GOLD: Liudmila Belousova / Oleg Protopopov (Soviet Union) SILVER: Marika Kilius / Hans-Jürgen Bäumler (United Team of Germany) SILVER: Debbi Wilkes / Guy Revell (Canada) BRONZE: Vivian Joseph / Ronald Joseph (United States)
1984 Ladies GOLD: Katarina Witt (East Germany) SILVER: Rosalynn Sumners (United States) BRONZE: Kira Ivanova (Soviet Union)
1984 Men GOLD: Scott Hamilton (United States) SILVER: Brian Orser (Canada) BRONZE: Jozef Sabovčík (Czechoslovakia)
1984 Pairs GOLD: Elena Valova / Oleg Vasiliev (Soviet Union) SILVER: Kitty Carruthers / Peter Carruthers (United States) BRONZE: Larisa Selezneva / Oleg Makarov (Soviet Union)
1984 Ice Dance GOLD: Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean (Great Britain) SILVER: Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin (Soviet Union) BRONZE: Marina Klimova / Sergei Ponomarenko (Soviet Union)
1994 Men GOLD: Alexei Urmanov Russia) SILVER: Elvis Stojko (Canada) BRONZE: Philippe Candeloro (France)
1994 Ladies GOLD: Oksana Baiul (Ukraine) SILVER: Nancy Kerrigan (United States) BRONZE: Chen Lu (China)
1994 Pairs GOLD: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov (RUS) SILVER: Natalia Mishkutionok and Artur Dmitriev (RUS) BRONZE: Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler (CAN)
1994 Ice dance GOLD: Oksana Grishukand Evgeni Platov (RUS) SILVER: Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin (RUS) BRONZE: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (GBR)
2014 Men GOLD: Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) SILVER: Patrick Chan (Canada) BRONZE: Denis Ten (Kazakhstan)
2014 Ladies GOLD: Adelina Sotnikova (Russia) SILVER: Kim Yuna (South Korea) BRONZE: Carolina Kostner (Italy)
2014 Pairs GOLD: Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov (RUS) SILVER: Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov (RUS) BRONZE: Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (GER)
2014 Ice Dance GOLD: Meryl Davis and Charlie White (USA) SILVER: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (CAN) BRONZE: Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (RUS)
2014 Team Event GOLD: Russia (RUS) Evgeni Plushenko. Yulia Lipnitskaya. Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov. Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov. Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev. Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov
SILVER: Canada (CAN) Patrick Chan. Kevin Reynolds. Kaetlyn Osmond. Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford. Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch. Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir
BRONZE: United States (USA) Jeremy Abbott. Jason Brown. Ashley Wagner. Gracie Gold. Marissa Castelli / Simon Shnapir. Meryl Davis / Charlie White

Are starting to sound more and more deranged? Can someone please translate the full interview because it's starting to sound more like a confession of crimes (i.e. abuse)
I can't find it anywhere to link the interview... but it was with Leonid Slutsky on a segment called Comment.Trainer
Here are the segments I've read from FS Gossips:
On Zagitova:
Eteri Tutberidze: Take Alina Zagitova, for her to skate the way she did at the Olympics – even at the World Championships that she won afterward where she was already slightly out of shape. She used to come to the rink, without exaggeration, at 8 in the morning and leave the rink at 9-10 at night. This is because all that time, she was either working in the gym – she had an hour and a half of physical training, then choreography, then the ice, followed by stretching, and then the gym again, followed by the ice, and again, physical training and cooldown. She lived in this regimen for a year and a half to stay at the top.
If she didn’t have such a schedule, she wouldn’t have been at the top?
Eteri Tutberidze: No, she wouldn’t have.
Was this the only option, basically?
Eteri Tutberidze: This was the only way for her to stay in shape. She had to practice very hard, very intensively. Just to have an hour and a half of choreography practice, she had to do an hour and a half of physical training with resistance bands and all the other exercises.
In such a regimen… Why should I force her to continue? She got tired. But in any other regimen, she wouldn’t achieve the same results. Should I force her to continue against her will?
Q: Many figure skaters have to work under such conditions to become Olympic champions, that later, when you already have that medal, you just think: why should I work for 12 hours again?
Eteri Tutberidze: Let’s be honest: they don’t go to school; they don’t see anything in their lives while they’re striving for those medals. They don’t see anything except for the gym, the choreography room, the ice, and again… some physiotherapy because everything hurts. Everything just hurts for them.
In Alina’s (Zagitova) case, her legs were worn to the point of bleeding during the Olympic season, to the extent that it made me nauseous when she took her leg out of the boot. But I didn’t tell her about it. Because if you let her know it’s bad, she might not find the strength to endure it any longer.
I don’t understand how she endured it. But it was all for the sake of that goal, for the Olympics, for performing well. I think it’s somewhat wrong to chase after a medal at all. You should strive for your best performance,” Tutberidze said
Q: Alina becomes an Olympic champion. What was happening with Evgenia at that moment?
Eteri Tutberidze: First of all, Evgenia had already started creating some distance from us. Even during the preparation for the Olympics, during the training camp in Japan, she began to distance herself. She became friends with Ekaterina Bobrova. It was as if she had become a different girl.
Suddenly she responded to you differently, intentionally trying to create conflicts. And at this point, there’s no time for conflicts. It was all very strange because it shouldn’t have been like that with Evgenia.
And then, I arranged for us to be placed in an apartment with three rooms. On the day of moving in, Evgenia came to me and said she couldn’t live with us.
I won’t mention the reason because it’s not very pretty. I was worried they might assign someone else to live with us, and it would be Alina Zagitova, me, and one more person. But thankfully, no one else was assigned to live with us.
It was as if she [Medvedeva] was trying to distance herself a bit. I don’t know why, but I think it didn’t have a positive impact on her skating. I felt that her skating lacked purity and sincerity.
I am demanding, I see thoroughly, I see that she could do better. And she could skate much better in the short program.
Q: How did she react to winning the silver medal?
Eteri Tutberidze: At the kiss and cry area, she began to congratulate us on the gold medal, saying we did everything for Alina to be first.
We did everything for Alina to be first, but we also did everything for Zhenya to be first. We can’t control the placements; we can only guide the skaters in their performances.
If we’ve already put a margin in their performance, it’s natural. Of course, my dream is for the athletes to go out and skate their best program. Then the judges will decide the placements.
After that, she didn’t want to talk to us. We approached her in the lounge and tried to talk, but she was already communicating with Orser.
To me, it was somewhat strange. Not that I didn’t care, of course, it was unpleasant, but I couldn’t say for sure that she was leaving.
Q: How did you handle the situations when your students left you? It must have been really tough. You’ve mentioned being upset when some of the girls and boys went to Mishin. But when, the reigning champion is leaving.
Eteri Tutberidze: You get really upset. Very, very upset.
Q: Did you try to understand or justify their decisions? Did you attribute it to their age?
Eteri Tutberidze: Well, let’s take Julia Lipnitskaya, for example. Her mom’s control waned a bit after the Olympics. Perhaps that was the right thing to happen. Julia is a complex girl, with a difficult character too.
Q: Are there any athletes who are not complex at all?
Eteri Tutberidze: Well, some are a bit easier, and some are really difficult. She was a difficult one — she could, at the age of 11, dismiss an invited choreographer because she didn’t want to work with him. You had to find an approach with Julia. But that’s not the point.
I won’t force anyone to work in the kind of regime you need if you want to achieve something. I won’t make them.
Conditions are offered: there’s a warm-up, choreography, training. If an athlete starts to evade a certain load or goes out onto the ice and does nothing… I’m not talking specifically about Julia now, I’m talking in general, but including Julia.
Somewhere, as it seemed to me, she was heading towards conflict. I believe there are many good people around. She was told everywhere: change your coach. And Zhenya (Evgenia Medvedeva) was told: you need to change your coach, your coach has let you down.
Q: Who was saying that?
Eteri Tutberidze: Bastards. But if I tell you who one of these people is… I probably shouldn’t say that.
On Medvedeva:
Eteri Tutberidze: The Olympic season begins, and transformations with Zhenya and her mother start. You feel how they are distancing themselves from you. Someone starts influencing the athlete’s opinion, and someone begins to influence the athlete’s behavior, and you realize that it’s someone from the outside.
For some reason, Tatiana Anatolievna (Tarasova) suddenly decided to get involved in her training and advise her, not me. Well, come here and give me advice, from this side. No, advice starts coming from behind the back and an influence on the athlete starts from there. In general, it doesn’t matter.
She approached the Olympics being less sincerely with us. I spoke about a clean tale several times, and that’s how it was here. It’s not that she was a stranger; she was just a little less with us.
Q: At the Olympics, she loses. Although it’s not losing – you did a miracle; she skated magnificently after such an injury.
Eteri Tutberidze: She didn’t skate magnificently! Yes, perhaps after such an injury. But for her, those were some of the worst performances she had delivered recently.
Q: But she cries with happiness.
Eteri Tutberidze: She cries with happiness because it was a very difficult journey. It was really hard. It was no longer clear how to pull her out of that condition, from that hysteria, and everything else.
Q: After this Olympics, probably the biggest internet bombshell that could happen took place. The fans of Zagitova and Medvedeva… what they created was just an inhuman story.
Eteri Tutberidze: I was simply accused there that I leaked the correspondence. But I didn’t leak the correspondence. I was asked a question because Zhenya had said in some interview that we didn’t particularly try to reach out to her, didn’t try to get in touch with her…
That was a lie because I tried, I texted and texted, and called. There was a moment when I called Zhanna’s mom and said, “What’s going on?”
And I hear that she’s nearby. I knew they had gone for a shoot, so I called Zhanna because I knew Zhenya would be there. I said, “Give the phone to Zhenya because she isn’t answering her phone.”
She said, “Don’t involve me in your affairs. These are your affairs and your disputes.” And that was it, she hung up.
Q: Wow.
Eteri Tutberidze: Yes.
Q: Then we know: Brian Orser, the acknowledgments, how everything is great and wonderful, but essentially, the end of her career.
Eteri Tutberidze: No. I think that the end of her career was probably coming after how many years she had been at the top. That’s also tough.
On S/K/T:
Q: For me, it was an incredible story: a trio that, as it seemed to me at the time, was preparing for the Olympics – Kostornaia, Shcherbakova, Trusova. They finish the season: Kostornaia wins everything, Trusova jumps everything possible. And then two of the three leave.
Eteri Tutberidze: Moreover, I was already thinking about who would skate the short program if they were on the Olympic team. I knew that Kostornaia would skate the short program because she has a triple axel, which makes her skating a bit different from the others.
Q: It was such a nerve-wracking experience for you – a challenge, a season that becomes Shcherbakova’s season. She wins everything, surpasses both Kostornaia and Trusova, something she hadn’t done in the senior level before. The other two come back a year later, realizing that they might not just win anything at the Olympics…
Eteri Tutberidze: Wait, by this time, Valieva is starting to emerge.
Q: Of course! There’s always someone emerging in your field.
Eteri Tutberidze: Well, not always.
Q: Even now, you have Bazyluk emerging in a way that’s surprising. How can this happen when they criticize? With one person, they perform this way, become superstars, and fall apart a year later, while the one who stays with the Tutberidze coaching staff gets better. Moreover, she later wins the Olympics. I understand that Valieva’s story is unique, but still. Did you celebrate inside?
Eteri Tutberidze: Oh no, well, you don’t celebrate anything.
Q: I can’t believe that you weren’t upset. And when Shcherbakova defeated Kostornaia and Trusova, when they were with Plushenko, it was something special.
Eteri Tutberidze: For me, it was revenge. It’s the best dishes you can serve.
On Trusova:
Eteri Tutberidze: She had an idea fixed in her mind – that if she put together her free program, she would win for sure.
Q: Even after the short program?
Eteri Tutberidze: Yes. She believed that she should bring in +20 points and that’s it. Perhaps the athlete doesn’t realize that there were some step-outs and level issues. It all adds up, and every little detail matters.
Plus, the reduced value of quads. Doing quads doesn’t earn them as many points as they would like. I disagree with lowering the value of quads. I believe the quad lutz should be worth much more than it currently is.
For Sasha Trusova at the Grand Prix, where she placed second, Kostornaia was in first. She earned 0.19 for her second fallen quad lutz. Seriously?
What’s that all about? I’m sorry, but I can just skate beautifully, get a component score from each judge for 0.25, skip a jump, take a break, and do a beautiful spin for the judges. I would earn more than for a quad Lutz. Yes, I fell, but it was a quad lutz. Have you lost your minds? What are these values?
I showed this to Alexander Rafailovich Lakernik, “How is this possible?” But they came up with such things that if the skater goes into a repetition (without doing a combination), and this goes into repetition with a fall, it results in a reduced value. I’m sorry, but I disagree; they need to reconsider it. What’s the point of pushing yourself so hard if it’s worth nothing?
So, whether I’m a coach or not, I disagreed with her second place at the Grand Prix Final because it should have been first place. I showed it, I argued, I tried to explain, “It can’t be worth 0.19. It can’t.”
Q: She fantasized about getting +20 points and didn’t achieve it.
Eteri Tutberidze: And she didn’t get them. She believed it didn’t matter how her short program went. If she performed like that, she would be an Olympic champion. That’s probably why she had such a reaction. That’s Sasha.
She pushed me around there and pushed me. And then in the locker room, she would throw her skates at me, which she was taking off, and I would dodge them. That’s Sasha.” – said Eteri Tutberidze in the “Comment.Show” broadcast with Leonid Slutsky.
Eteri Tutberidze also revealed the details of Alexandra Trusova’s departure from her group.
In May 2020, Trusova left Tutberidze’s group to join Evgeni Plushenko. A year later, in May 2021, the skater returned.
“Q: What happened when she was leaving?
Eteri Tutberidze: Sasha came in, as usual, with that guilty look and said she was tired of everything and needed a change of environment. So, we got on your nerves? Well, yes.
Q: When she was returning, did you ask if she missed it?
Eteri Tutberidze: I already realized at the World Championships that she would come back. You see when a person doesn’t avoid your gaze but seeks it. She was already looking for that look.
She behaved very poorly towards her coach because she was running away from him.
She warmed up herself, went out on the ice herself, didn’t even approach him. It wasn’t pretty, but everything was clear. I understood that there was some conflict between them.
“Q: I wanted to talk about Kamila… And, in general, can you tell me something about what happened, how it happened…
Eteri Tutberidze: I was going through possible scenarios, questions.
I would like to put all participants of the process on a lie detector. I want to know the truth, where did this come from, what is it, why? So many questions, and I think that I will probably never get answers to them. We have to live with it.
Q: I have a simple question: how, theoretically, a not-clean athlete…
Eteri Tutberidze: Made it to the Olympics – how? When teams are going – America, Canada, Japan, it doesn’t matter, any team – the president of the figure skating federation of this or that country… First of all, we don’t have access to their personal accounts where they fill in their analyses.
Well, we definitely know that if they were allowed to the Olympics, they are all clean. If they arrived, they get the Olympic passport, they are all clean. Then they decide who will take part in the team competition – this is kept secret, strategically. If we find out that, for example, the American team puts forward not the strongest ones, maybe we won’t go all out either.
But since no one knows, everyone tries to go all out from the start. You don’t even know if they’ll put Nathan Chen or not. Well. What’s the difference? All these athletes are clean. That’s it. How did it happen that an athlete with a pending test was admitted to the Olympics?
Q: Theoretically, she could get tested after the skate, and after the fact they could say: yes, she arrived clean, but here at the Olympics…
Eteri Tutberidze: Wait. After the Russian Nationals – at the European Championships – she passed, the test was clean. Then once again – clean. At the Olympics, after the short program, then they’ll take more – all clean.
If that analysis was pending, how was she allowed in? They should have done anything to double-check it, to make sure it was ready. They shouldn’t have let such an athlete into the Olympic village already.
My opinion: the review of the team medal should not be done at all. Whose mistake is it that this athlete participated in the team? Whose? Ours? No. Was the athlete clean at the Olympics? Yes. How did she end up here? I don’t even know who to ask questions to: WADA, the laboratory.
Let them print a new medal, do whatever they want. This is their fault. It is absolutely not the team’s fault. Because we had an athlete, she was clean at this competition. She competed. The medal should not be reconsidered.
If they had told that her doping was not clean at the Russian Nationals – on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th (of February), and Anya (Shcherbakova) and Sasha (Trusova) would have skated. That’s it, and the team’s result would have been exactly the same. They would have won as well, – said Eteri Tutberidze
​
Source: Fsgossips.com
​
This is really disturbing??
​

"It's a huge fight at every event. And it's not just us. Our coaches, Tatiana Tarasova and Alexei Mishin, fight against each other, too, using us as weapons." - Alexei Yagudin¹

One of the most amazing quirks of figure skating history is how a generation-defining rivalry featuring genuine accusations of witchcraft at the Winter Olympics didn't even come close to earning top billing that year.
Because this was 2002: the year where The French Judge and the pairs event scandal dominated the airwaves, day after day. The year where Michelle Kwan lost Olympic gold to an American teammate for the second time in a row. It was the year where figure skating decided to showcase its credentials as the most chaotic Olympic sport of them all.
It's fitting that this particular story occurred in Salt Lake City, since the losers are still salty about it to this day. Nobody here is a truly reliable narrator, but we can assemble a beautiful kaleidoscope of madness if we piece all the different fragments of the story together. The man in the blue suit is called the Black Magician, and he's at the core of a legendary figure skating conspiracy theory.
(A short content warning before we begin: there are brief references to abuse in this writeup, with those specific sections marked in advance.)

Magic Formula

The sport:

Figure skating might be the most famous sport at the Winter Olympics, despite the diabolical complexity behind it. It might also be the most dramatic, with storylines often ripped right from a soap opera.
This particular tale focuses on singles skating, perhaps the 'default' version of the sport in the minds of people who don't really follow it. To answer the immortal question, it's what Brian Boitano did to win his Olympic title (although he wasn't wearing a blindfold at the time). Katarina Witt, Michelle Kwan, Yuzuru Hanyu - if you think of them, you're thinking of singles skating.
Split into men's and women's events, the discipline requires athletes to blend iconic jumps - you may have heard of the triple axel, or the triple Lutz - with difficult bladework, complex spins and artistic choreography, all done in eye-catching costumes to accompanying music. When it's done right, it takes your breath away at how the athletes can make everything look so simple, and surpass the boundaries of sport to create moments of pure transcendence.
In 2002, the sport was scored on the famed 6.0 system - a comparative ranking system where you needed a majority of the nine judges on each panel to give you the highest overall marks to win gold. Competitions in singles skating were divided into two segments: a two-and-a-half-minute "short program" (SP), and a four-minute "free skate" (FS), or "long program".

The characters:

Our tale centres itself around two camps - both alike in indignity, in fair Salt Lake City, where we lay our scene.
In the red corner, working out of Saint Petersburg, Russia, we had:

• Evgeni Plushenko, the 2001 world champion. Considered one of the greatest jumpers the sport has ever seen, with one of its dodgiest haircuts. Often had some questionable choreography and stylistic choices for his programs, though he did have his own distinct personality on the ice. His gala program to “Sex Bomb” at 2001 Worlds involved a striptease, a nude muscle suit, and a golden speedo. I wish I made that sentence up.
  
• Alexei Mishin, the coach of the 1994 Olympic champion in men’s singles. Based out of Russia at the time. Known as “the Professor” by many in skating, both due to his massive technical knowledge and his position as an actual university lecturer. Renowned for his expertise on skating biomechanics and jumping technique, and for a generally stoic, droll attitude. Was once blacklisted by the KGB in the mid-1970s for assorted reasons.
  

And in the blue corner, working out of Simsbury, Connecticut, we had:

• Alexei Yagudin, the 1998, 1999 and 2000 world champion. Originally seen as merely a skater with big jumps, but went through a metamorphosis over the four-year leadup to Salt Lake City to become a nuanced artist, too. Also prone to some rather dismal exhibition gala decisions, such as a 1997 performance to African music in this dubious costume. Once rumoured to have had a fling with the openly-gay American skater Rudy Galindo (ask Galindo himself), the Chicago Tribune reported he was kicked off of Tom Collins’ Champions on Ice tour in 1999 for drunkenness and bad behaviour.
  
• Tatiana Tarasova, coach of the 1998 Olympic champion in men’s singles. First a coach of champion pairs skaters and ice dancers in the USSR, before moving to America for better training conditions in the mid-1990s, and successfully working with singles’ skaters too. An interesting figure known for her dramatic proclamations, her eye-catching number of fur coats, and her equally eye-catching choreography.
  
• Rudolf Zagainov, a notorious, controversial sports psychologist known for his work in the Soviet Union. Over several decades, he associated with athletes in an eclectic array of sports, ranging from track-and-field and cycling to chess and figure skating.
  

The Montagues and Capulets were probably more civil.

Destined Rivals

"You must be an artist, too. I still think Plushenko doesn't know what he's doing. Mishin says, 'Do this with your arms,' so he does it. But he doesn't feel the music." - Alexei Yagudin²

“I know Yagudin well, and he wants to be the center of attention even when he loses." – Evgeni Plushenko³

(Content warning: abuse)

The general outline of the story is the one that NBC gave us in their melodramatic Olympic fluff pieces (like this one): Yagudin and Plushenko used to be training partners at Mishin's Yubileiny rink in Russia, until Yagudin left Mishin after the Nagano Olympic season to train with Tatiana Tarasova in the United States. Yagudin couldn't forgive Mishin for favouring Plushenko, and Mishin would famously say that coaching the two was like trying to balance the affections of two wives at the same time. Yagudin and Plushenko would dominate the Salt Lake City Olympic cycle - Yagudin winning the 1999 and 2000 world titles, Plushenko winning the 2001 world title - and entered the 2002 Olympics as the two main contenders for gold.
What's not mentioned so much is that Yagudin would have had every right to despise Mishin. Any of Mishin's skaters would probably have every right to despise him. By all accounts, the training environment he oversaw was horrifically toxic for all involved. Mishin himself told Sport-Express about breaking a young Plushenko's finger in a fit of rage after catching the child playing with a ball while they were in Italy. Yagudin and Plushenko have both mentioned vicious, institutionalised, long-term hazing rituals, where older skaters were encouraged to torment the younger ones; in 2021 a former Yubileiny staff member spoke to fontanka.ru, recalling colleagues telling her that the young Yagudin was being "educated" by his rinkmates when the boy's screams echoed through the building. The dreadful atmosphere continues to this day, since 2022 Olympic pairs skater Alexander Galliamov reportedly received a detached retina from his training mates during his time training with Mishin.
Even putting aside the poisonous internal climate Mishin actively fostered at his rink, there was some real merit to Yagudin's accusations of coaching favouritism. In a Chicago Tribune article, a Yubileiny skater once recalled Tatiana Mishina (Mishin’s wife and coaching partner) saying that the newly-arrived Plushenko had "more ability than Yagudin". A 2001 New York Daily News article said that Mishin was telling people how Plushenko "would become the true star" as early as 1997, while Yagudin was still training with him. Mishin would later abandon the distraught Yagudin in the kiss-and-cry area after the 1998 Olympic free skate, disgusted with his student’s poor performance.
Following Yagudin's departure for Tarasova, Mishin would attempt to explain that moment in a late-1998 interview with Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, showcasing his typical levels of grace.

"Alexei was very well prepared. But after one of the practices, he took a shower and sat in the stands right under the ventilation pipe without buttoning up. As I found out later, Artur Dmitriev came to him first and advised him to move so he wouldn't get a cold. Then the same thing was said by Andrei Bushkov. Then Ekaterina Gordeeva, who was just passing by. Yagudin listened to no one. And on the eve of the start he had a temperature of 39.5. I was frightfully offended at that. I think that anyone can get sick or get injured, but I will never understand that anyone can be so stupid as to knowingly fail at the competition for the sake of which all this crazy work is being done. It's very hard to forgive."
Is that why your relationship has fractured? Or was Yagudin broken by internal competition?
"I've always been aware of the fact that it's very difficult to withstand the work in my group. And that someone could break. That, alas, is life. But I'm glad we parted with Yagudin without any fights or mudslinging. After all, I made him the world champion and he made me the coach of the champion."

Yagudin, for his part, categorically denied all of this. But it's interesting that Mishin praised the lack of mutual mudslinging directly after calling Yagudin "stupid" for supposedly choosing to sabotage his own Olympics on purpose.
Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) president Valentin Piseev threatened that Yagudin would never win anything if he left Russia to train with Tarasova in the US; Russian Nationals became the only major competition Yagudin would never win, and both he and Tarasova were fully aware of their comparative pariah status in the eyes of Piseev and the federation. Swathes of the FFKKR and Russian media viewed Yagudin as a traitor for leaving to train in America, and his mother told Moskovskij Komsomolets in 2002 that “cheering for Yagudin was considered bad form” in Russia. On the eve of Salt Lake City, Yagudin would tell ESPN that the federation's dislike of him was "pretty sad".
Tarasova and Mishin were predictably at one another's throats, due to that and other reasons. Mishin was rather contemptuous of Tarasova and everything she represented: Vaitsekhovskaya wrote (in her memoir Tears On Ice) that even after Ilya Kulik won the 1998 Olympic gold medal under Tarasova's tutelage, Mishin didn't see Tarasova as a "serious opponent" in men's skating until the turn of the millennium. Whereas Tarasova was primarily known for her work as a coach and choreographer for ice dancers, and once walked away from Olympic competition altogether in the late-1980s to lead a touring ice ballet, Mishin told Vaitsekhovskaya that the idea of bringing "music to life on the ice" was the childish prattling of coaches who weren't thinking about the "one goal in sport - to win".
Naturally, all of this provided the fuel for a vicious rivalry. Vaitsekhovskaya recalled Mishin making disparaging remarks in the 1999-2000 season about how Yagudin’s programs disguised poor technique with ostentatious artistry, and he only upped the intensity of his scorn as the Olympics approached. In 2001, Plushenko told the Chicago Tribune that he learned nothing from Yagudin while they were training together, and Yagudin compared the situation between them to that of Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski four years earlier.
And then the hypnotist arrived.

The Black Magician

Yagudin actually contemplated walking away from figure skating in the lead-up to the Olympics, after losing the world title to Plushenko in April 2001, and having a calamitous performance at September’s Goodwill Games. Tarasova talked him out of it, and decided that her star pupil needed a sports psychologist to make sure he was in the right frame of mind to achieve his Olympic dream.
Enter Rudolf Maximovich Zagainov, psychologist to the stars.
Or, as many people in the Russian sporting world dubbed him, the Black Magician.
Zagainov’s grasp of the concept of professional ethics was nonexistent. He would help his clients, and then publish tell-all books detailing exactly what he did and what his clients needed. Vaitsekhovskaya called his personality “odious”, and she was far from alone in thinking so. His former client Sergei Bubka – who broke with him in acrimonious fashion – said Zagainov demanded every client adhere to three guiding principles:

1) You must hate your opponent; never give him a hand when you meet him.
2) One should strive for wealth, because wealth is power.
3) Go to the goal by any means, without regard to morality.

In the eyes of many, what turned Zagainov from an ordinary sports psychologist into a diabolical figure of Rasputinian malevolence was his reputation, and the stories of witchcraft that trailed in his wake. After Zagainov began publicly working with Yagudin, Plushenko recalled in his memoir Another Show that he received concerned letters from people, and that his mother was warned about the prospect of him being hexed by the psychologist’s magical powers. According to Vaitsekhovskaya, Zagainov's reputation derived from his involvement in the Soviet chess scene, where he became known as “the magician who hypnotised Anatoly Karpov” during his world title matches.⁴ At various points, he reportedly worked with top Soviet grandmasters Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Spassky and Garry Kasparov, where he'd take the secrets of his past clients to his new employer for the right price.
Crucially, Plushenko’s coach actually believed that Zagainov had genuine magical powers. Mishin discussed why he thought so in his 2021 memoir The Secrets of the Ice:

"One incident allowed me to believe in Zagainov's extraordinary abilities. Many years ago, at a training camp in Leselidze, my eldest son Andrei suddenly developed a fever of 40°C. We did not know what to do. Rudolf Maximovich, who was at the training camp at that time, found out about it and volunteered to help. He sat down over Andrei and began to say something or make some gestures with his hands. As a result, the child's temperature dropped to normal in half an hour.”

Despite his own private beliefs about Zagainov's magical powers, Mishin was still publicly disdainful about Yagudin hiring him. Nevasport recalled how Mishin, as Salt Lake City approached, said that athletes who needed a psychologist were weak and didn't belong in elite sport.
By November 2001’s Cup of Russia, rumours were already swirling about how Zagainov’s appointment may have been a deliberate ploy by Tarasova to destabilise Yagudin’s greatest opposition. In a contemporary article, journalist Anna Raikova said that a possible explanation for Plushenko’s subpar long program performance may have been Zagainov trying “his charms” on Plushenko.
When asked about the Black Magician’s presence, Tarasova was more circumspect. She told Vaitsekhovskaya that she just needed someone who could enter the men’s locker room and be with Yagudin before competitions, and dismissively waved away the rumours without a care in the world:

“Let them talk.”

Black Magic Ritual

Salt Lake City 2002 arrived, and it was considered a foregone conclusion that Russia’s two leading men would be the only real contenders for the gold medal.
Skating to a medley of four different Michael Jackson songs within two minutes and forty seconds – “Earth Song”, “Childhood”, “Billie Jean” and “They Don’t Care About Us” – the most consistent jumper in the world promptly botched his first jump, crashing to the floor. Or crashing to Earth.
Plushenko gave a dramatic retelling of the moment in his memoir.

"I fell on a quadruple jump, which I know as well as the Lord's Prayer. It seems to me: you can wake me up in the middle of the night and I'll jump it without a single mistake.
Everything went great in training. And suddenly... going out for a quadruple jump, I saw Zagainov's silhouette. He was right across from me. I caught his heavy gaze.
I pushed off very well and flew out smoothly. But then something inexplicable happened.
It was as if someone ordered me: "Open up! Go to the landing!" And I obeyed, although it was still early. I still can't figure out where this signal came from, how it reached my brain.
After the Olympics, I replayed the video many times, my fall from the quadruple jump. In fact, I was in great shape at that moment. And I have never had such falls in my life. In any case, I couldn't turn around the wrong way. And I still have the feeling that I was dragged along by an incomprehensible force.”

The judges ultimately placed Plushenko in fourth after the short program, with several field-leading 5.9 marks for presentation, which some felt was excessively generous. American coach Frank Carroll snidely asked the Chicago Tribune whether it meant you could now get a 6.0 by simply standing up.
Plushenko would recover to finish in the silver medal position - fitting, given his shiny silver short program bodysuit - but Yagudin took the gold, with clean, difficult, well-executed, artistic performances to "Winter" in the short program and The Man In The Iron Mask in the long program. Zagainov sat with his client and Tarasova in the kiss-and-cry area, in place of choreographer Nikolai Morozov due to the official limit of two companions per performer. According to Tarasova, Zagainov had blackmailed her into allowing this, threatening to abandon Yagudin on the eve of the competition altogether if she didn't allow him to be present by the skater at all times.
It was this sort of behaviour that led to Tarasova's growing unease about Zagainov's methods: reportedly, she felt her job was to ensure that Yagudin was strong enough to always be in the right frame of mind for competition, while Zagainov wanted Yagudin to rely completely upon him.
Yagudin definitely embodied Zagainov's first maxim after the competition was over.

Bond Between Teacher And Student

It’s standard procedure for an Olympic event to be followed by a press conference, where the medalists answer questions. Usually, these are pretty low-key affairs – but usually, the media aren’t covering figure skating. So in a recipe for pure, undiluted chaos, the 2002 Olympics decided that this conference would be attended by each of the medalists and their respective coaches.
Predictably, it degenerated into a Russian farce from the moment it got underway. Throughout the whole press conference, ESPN noted bronze medalist Tim Goebel exchanging baffled looks with his coach Carroll, perhaps wondering if they'd both stumbled into a Chekhov play.
Yagudin had an axe to grind, after the years of pain, mudslinging and general scorn that his former coach had sent his way. He spoke at length to the world’s media about unnamed figures who didn’t believe in him, and how much he felt he’d improved as a skater since leaving Mishin – who he refused to mention by name – for Tarasova.
Mishin tried claiming a slice of the credit for Yagudin's triumph, saying that the audience could judge how much of the medal was owed to him and how much was owed to Tarasova, and that he was proud to have "two of my skaters" on the podium. Yagudin instantly shut that down, cutting in to say the medal belonged entirely to himself and Tarasova.
When asked about his emotions after the free program, Yagudin was less than conciliatory, as quoted in ESPN:

"I was like in a good dream. I just remembered how many hard times and happy times I had for four years. And how much crap was thrown in my face about how I am not such a good skater. I was keeping that within myself until I won. It was really hard, but that's what was in my life for four years. And I am so lucky to have such a good coach who changed me."

And asked by a Russian reporter for Express Gazeta whether he could forgive and forget, and make up with Plushenko and Mishin, Yagudin simply said “probably not, because my coach is Tatiana now.” That reporter wrote of later being accosted by Zagainov, who asked him “How much did Mishin pay you for this question?”
The Russian Olympic Committee planned to hold a celebration afterwards, to honour their new medalists and the coaches who worked with them. Supposedly, Yagudin made his excuses and didn’t show up. His actions were understandable, for Tarasova told Vaitsekhovskaya that Yagudin's triumph was considered an embarrassment for the FFKKR, and that foreigners literally asked her why the Russians would have preferred a non-Russian to win if it meant Yagudin didn't.
According to Zagainov (talking to Express Gazeta), a toast was made in honour of the triumphant Tarasova, who had celebrated her 55th birthday that week. Everyone up to and including Piseev stood, with the exception of Mishin – who gestured for Plushenko to remain seated too, as the entire room applauded Tarasova’s success. Zagainov and Mishin allegedly almost came to blows afterward, between what the psychologist saw as Mishin’s disrespect, and what the coach saw as Zagainov’s responsibility for Plushenko not winning gold.

Magical Dimension

The reason for Mishin’s rage can actually be seen in the Olympic broadcast: the unexpected presence of Zagainov rinkside, during Plushenko’s short program.
According to Yagudin, quoted in a 2020 Sport24 article, there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for this:

“Mishin claimed that in the short program Zagainov hypnotised Plushenko to make Zhenya fall on the quadruple jump. This is complete nonsense! Here's what happened. After my skate in the second warm-up, we were backstage. And when Zhenya was called onto the ice, we didn't know where to run to watch the performance of our main competitor.
We didn't have time to get up to the grandstands. So Tarasova ran in one direction to find the television, and Zagainov ran in the other and jumped out beside the rink, where the ice resurfacers came out during the break. He just happened to be in that spot. You know, accidentally!
Nevertheless, Zhenya and his entourage now had a logical reason to blame someone else for their troubles. What can I say? For God's sake, say what you want, if you really believe it and it makes you feel better."

According to Mishin, Zagainov’s presence was evidence of a diabolical plot by the perfidious psychologist to undermine Plushenko. Express Gazeta reported that Mishin complained to FFKKR president Piseev after the short program, who later spoke with Zagainov at length and at volume; Zagainov was subsequently absent from the rinkside during Plushenko’s free program. In a 2002 interview with Sport-Express, Tarasova mentioned that both Plushenko and Mishin were saying "they were influenced by the psychologist Zagainov".
In Mishin's own memoir two decades later, he still maintained that Zagainov was to blame for Plushenko’s defeat, in a very “I could say it, but…” fashion.

"I can't say with certainty that Plushenko's mistake, completely uncharacteristic of him, occurred because of the hypnotic influence of this man. But the episode, in which Zagainov stood behind Evgeni when he stepped onto the ice and continued to stand in that position for the entire program, raises questions. It is telling that his charge Alexei Yagudin had already performed and there was no reason for him to stay near the rink.
Only God may know what exactly happened then. Either the young psyche failed, or it was the pernicious influence of Zagainov, but Evgeni made a mistake, which was uncharacteristic for him. Never before had Plushenko performed a quadruple toe loop in such a way - as well as afterwards, by the way. I can only say one thing: being in the flight, at a good, confident push, for some reason he changed his mind to continue spinning, regrouped and fell face-first.”

In a way, Plushenko was probably fortunate that such a convenient scapegoat existed for his failure to win gold. Based on how Mishin handled Yagudin's Olympic errors in 1998, the coach might have otherwise told the press that Plushenko was an imbecile who chose to screw up on purpose.
Per Sport24, Yagudin thought that Mishin's whining about Zagainov's malignant presence was the sign of a hypocritical sore loser who couldn't handle his own tricks being turned against him.

"In fact, I can also tell you something about the evil spells with which my former coach tried to entangle me. This was the case, for example, at the 2000 European Championships in Vienna, which I lost to Zhenya via the vote of the Russian judge. After warming up, Zhenya skated first, and after a certain period of time - me. When I went into the locker room to not hear the noise of the stands and to get away from it all, I saw Mishin there. He, too, came into the locker room, sat across from me and, staring uninterruptedly into my eyes, moved his lips like a shaman. Every time I did a quadruple jump at all the competitions where Plushenko took part, Mishin stood by the boards. It was only at the Olympics that I noticed Mishin in his usual place and smiled at him."

As for the psychologist himself, he was even less charitable.

Thousand Knives

In April 2002, Zagainov publicly flayed Mishin in a merciless interview with Express Gazeta, giving what can only be described as a gloating monologue.

“But I never got tired of repeating that Plushenko is not a machine, and as soon as he starts to fall, he will break at once. Knowing perfectly well that psychologically Mishin is not able to support his athlete in a difficult situation, because he belongs to the category of cowardly coaches.”
Apparently, you are not too ‘gentle’ towards Alexei Mishin.
“On the contrary, I am extremely grateful to him. It was his amazing illiteracy that helped me set Yagudin up for victory. Professor Mishin's main mistake was that he frightened Plushenko... with me. When Alexei Nikolaevich found out that Tarasova turned to me, he said literally the following in one of his interviews: ‘We know the psychologist Zagainov from the Karpov-Kasparov matches, during which he was removed from the hall for hypnotizing his ward's opponent...’ When I read that, I laughed for a long time. And I told Lesha [Yagudin] that we have almost no reason to worry now. In my opinion, Mishin should have either not answered such a question at all, or turned everything into a joke.
I'm pretty sure, by the way, that it's time for Mishin to finish his coaching career. Today he's more of a businessman than an expert in figure skating. I saw his pupil at four tournaments this year, and not once was Plushenko at the peak of his form. And that is the art of coaching.
I don't see any particular results in the 30 years he has been in charge of Leningrad figure skating. What did a man who always had his own ice, a [university] department, and who has the most talented skaters from all over the country sent to him every year, manage to achieve? Raised the Olympic champion Urmanov, who only won because all his opponents fell? Raised the insanely gifted Evgeni Plushenko, who became world champion but won nothing in his Olympic season? Reached the point where Yagudin left him?”

In comparison, Tarasova's own public comments on the affair were tame.
And she didn't even hold back. When interviewed by Vaitsekhovskaya, Tarasova suggested several decidedly non-supernatural factors were responsible for Plushenko losing to Yagudin, including:

• Mishin's deliberate efforts to throw petrol on the Plushenko/Yagudin rivalry, culminating in daily interviews about Yagudin's flawed skating, which Tarasova felt were indicative of a "coaching psychosis" that Plushenko found "impossible to withstand".
  
• Poor Olympic season preparation from Mishin's team, as exemplified in the saga of Plushenko's long programs. The initial one - set to a medley featuring "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge! - was prepared "too late", before they went back to the drawing board and designed a new program to Carmen for Salt Lake City.⁵
  
• Mishin's myopic focus on intimidating the opposition through Plushenko's jumping superiority and rumoured quadruple Lutz jump, while ignoring what Tarasova observed to be consistent technical flaws in his jumping. Plushenko didn't perform the quadruple Lutz in either Olympic program.
  

Tarasova then offered a few final thoughts to Sport-Express, tinged with glacial disdain.

"In principle, it's not for me to discuss their work. I always respect other people's work. But I don't like it when they blaspheme mine. Each of us does what we can do. We did better. But they tried too. Although it was a complete defeat. Plushenko did not go to the European or World Championships. And as far as I know, he will go to Collins' tour where he will perform 90 times. And it is unlikely that he will refer to injuries."

Amazingly, it's still - by far - the most level-headed perspective among the three non-skaters, even with her calling Plushenko's season a total failure from start to finish.

Dark Magic Curtain

(Content warning: abuse)

Yagudin won the season-ending World Championships in Plushenko's absence, but it was the last competition he'd ever win. Chronic hip problems led to his retirement several months later. His reputation would be shattered among skating fans in the social media age, when he made some viciously bigoted public remarks about openly-queer skaters. One of his targets - America's Jason Brown - idolised Yagudin so much growing up that he once competed in an homage to Yagudin's "Winter" costume.
2002 was the last time Tarasova would coach an Olympic champion, and she gradually faded away from competitive relevance over time. The years have definitely loosened her tongue, and now she's skating's equivalent of the one loud-mouthed grandmother you have at every family gathering, interjecting her opinion on everything whether you want to hear it or not. This year alone, she's busied herself with speculation about the romantic status of a teenage girl and whether ice dancer Tessa Virtue wants to murder people.
Plushenko would remain with Mishin for his entire career, going on to win Olympic gold in 2006, and silver in 2010 (not "platinum"). According to Vaitsekhovskaya, Zagainov tried offering his services to Plushenko and Mishin in the lead-up to the 2006 Games, despite having called Mishin a hack and Plushenko a failure - he was turned down, and Plushenko took gold without the psychologist's assistance. He'd ultimately retire after the 2014 Olympics, and now works as a coach at the modestly-named "Angels of Plushenko" academy. His wife, Yana Rudkovskaya, has deep connections in the Russian underworld, making him a cross between a trophy husband and a mob wife; they're also hideously abusive parents to their son.
In 2007, Zagainov's reputation went up in smoke after a horrific scandal involving the death of one of his patients - 24-year-old cyclist Yulia Aroustamova - who was also the 67-year-old Zagainov's live-in domestic partner at the time. Vaitsekhovskaya said that it wasn't the first time Zagainov had preyed on one of his clients, mentioning a patient who lived with him in a civil marriage back in the mid-1980s. He would die in 2014, largely forgotten and unmourned.
Mishin is still relevant in Russian skating, despite being well into his eighties, and coaches the most recent Russian national men's champion. Fittingly, that skater's name is also Evgeni.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Endnotes

1: From a February 2002 ESPN article.
2: From a February 2002 Sports Illustrated article.
3: From a February 2002 ESPN article.
4: Zagainov was not the infamous hypnotist among Karpov’s delegation during the 1978 World Chess Championship in Baguio, however; that was Vladimir Zukhar. Hypnotism was clearly in fashion back then. Korchnoi's chosen defence against such threats was a pair of mirrored glasses, which would have been somewhat impractical in figure skating.
5: Tarasova doesn't explicitly mention this, but for context, Plushenko's Moulin Rouge! program got an abysmal reception when it was unveiled. Scrapping a planned Olympic program entirely and making a new one is always a decision of last resort, because it takes valuable time for athletes to train and become comfortable with performing it. Carmen was very much a "break glass in case of emergency" concept, with Mishin picking the safest of safe ideas for the Olympics after his first plan failed. Ironically, Yagudin (speaking to Vaitsekhovskaya in 2000) practically predicted this when he said it was inevitable that Mishin's skaters would perform to Carmen at some point; his own program to Bizet's opera was in the 1996-97 season.

In season 2, episode 9 when he talks about becoming a great emperor, what exactly does he mean? Some Chinese netizens seem to think he was ambitious (in a bad way, like treason-level) and that was one of the reasons he got dumped. It seems to me that he’s very loyal to Ekaterina though, so I suspect it might be some misunderstanding due to translation issues and cultural differences.
In Chinese, we have two terms that can both be translated in English as “emperor.” One is皇帝, which means the ruling monarch, and the other is 帝夫, which means husband of the ruling monarch. The Chinese subtitle translated that scene (ep. 9 when he was talking privately to his brother) with the term 皇帝, which implies he was planning on overthrowing Ekaterina. In contrast, the episode 2 scene when he was openly boasting to the kgb guy (sorry can’t get these names straight, the one he forced to dance), the term used was帝夫, which means they’ll get married but Ekaterina is still the one ruling. Does the Russian language make a distinction between these terms, and if so which terms were used?
The confusion could be more than just language issues. In China, there is only one ruler at a time. I suspect it might be different in Europe? I recall watching a Chinese historical drama on Youtube, and there were English comments criticizing the queen for being an incompetent ruler who doesn’t care about anything other than the things around her. Well, the thing is, she wasn’t the ruler at all. Her husband was the ruler of the country, while her job was to serve him by keeping the back palace (concubines, palace maids etc.) in order. She is not supposed to meddle in state affairs. When Grigory was talking to his brother about ruling Russia, did he intend to rule with Ekaterina? Is joint-rule an actual possibility? Or does he mean ruling instead of Ekaterina?

Story, written my me at 2 am, and chatGPT grammar corrector.
The year 2023 was a tumultuous one for Russia, as a series of events shook the foundations of its political system and plunged the country into a civil war. It all began with the Wagner Group rebellion, a coup attempt by a powerful paramilitary organization that had been involved in various conflicts around the world on behalf of the Kremlin.
The Wagner Group, officially known as PMC Wagner, was founded in 2014 by former GRU officer Dmitry Utkin and businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. The group had gained notoriety for its role in the Donbas War in Ukraine, where it supported pro-Russian separatist forces from 2014 to 2015.
According to U.S. officials, the Wagner Group had tens of thousands of fighters, many of them convicts who were offered a chance to join the group in exchange for their freedom. Prigozhin, who had previously denied any affiliation with the group, publicly acknowledged his connection in 2022 and became its de facto leader. He frequently appeared in propaganda-style videos and social media posts from the front lines in Ukraine, portraying his forces as the heroes and leaders of the war while mocking Western sanctions.
However, Prigozhin's ambitions soon exceeded his loyalty to Putin. He became dissatisfied with the Kremlin's handling of the war in Ukraine, especially after a series of setbacks and losses inflicted by the Ukrainian army. He also resented Putin's interference in his business interests in Africa, where he had secured lucrative contracts and concessions from several regimes. He began to plot a rebellion against Putin, hoping to seize power and establish himself as the new ruler of Russia.
On June 25, 2023, Prigozhin launched his coup attempt. He ordered his troops in Ukraine to attack Russian military bases and installations, as well as key government buildings and infrastructure in Moscow and other cities. He also declared himself as the leader of a provisional government and called on all Russians to join him in overthrowing Putin and his cronies.
However, Prigozhin's rebellion was met with fierce resistance from loyalist forces, including the army, the police, the National Guard, and various pro-Putin militias. The most formidable of these were the Kadyrovites, loyal followers of Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya who had been appointed by Putin as his deputy commander-in-chief. Kadyrov mobilized his troops and deployed them to Moscow and other strategic locations, where they engaged in brutal street battles with Wagner fighters.
Prigozhin's rebellion also sparked a wave of unrest across Russia, as various factions seized the opportunity to challenge the authority of Putin and his allies. Among them was a royalist faction, led by a young enthusiastic woman named Ekaterina Romanov, who claimed to be the head of the House of Romanov, the former ruling dynasty of Russia that was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in 1917.
Ekaterina Romanov was born in 1998 in Moscow to Rostislav Romanov and Kristina Romanov. She was a direct descendant of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia who was executed along with his family by the Bolsheviks in 1918. She grew up in exile in London, where she received a British education and developed an interest in Russian history and culture.
She also inherited a fortune from her father, who had invested wisely in various businesses and assets around the world. She used her wealth to fund her cause, which was to restore the monarchy in Russia and claim her rightful throne. She believed that only a strong and legitimate monarch could save Russia from corruption and tyranny.
She had also cultivated connections with various groups and individuals who supported her cause or shared her vision for Russia. Among them were descendants of the White Army, an anti-communist force that fought against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War; members of Patriot PMC, a rival private military company that opposed Wagner Group; and Sherrod Julius Antonius, a democratic governor of Ohio who was her old friend from college.
When she heard of Prigozhin's revolt, she saw it as a sign from God that the time had come to reclaim her throne. She contacted her loyalists in Russia and instructed them to prepare for action. She also hired some mercenaries from Patriot PMC and Blackwater PMC to provide additional firepower and expertise.
On June 25, 2023, Romanov boarded a private jet in London and flew to Rostov-on-Don, where she was greeted by a crowd of cheering royalists. She declared herself as the rightful Tsarina of Russia and called on all Russians to join her in overthrowing Putin and his cronies. In the midst of this undertaking her old friend from college, Governor Sherrod Julius Antonius, who had been elected in 2022 on a platform of progressive reforms and social justice, attempted to start a new deal. This deal needed to somehow make the Ohio people sympathetic to the rebellion, and volunteer to join it.
Governor Antonius found that According to Article III, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution¹, the supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in the governor. This means that the governor has the authority to appoint and remove state officials, to grant pardons and reprieves, to veto bills passed by the legislature, and to call special sessions of the legislature. However, there is no explicit provision in the constitution that prevents the governor from holding another office or title outside of Ohio, as long as it does not conflict with his or her duties as governor.
Tsarina Romanov upon hearing this potential loophole she reformed the Western Roman Empire Title and granted it to the Governor, while keeping the Eastern Title to herself. This loophole will allow the formation of a sudo personal union.
She claimed that this personal union would only affect the ceremonial and symbolic aspects of the two states, such as their flags, anthems, and holidays. There would be no changes in citizenship, laws, military obligations, or economic relations between Ohio and the Russian royalist faction. However, she hoped that this would spark sympathy among the Ohio people, and possibly rally volunteers to fight in the civil war.
Governor Antonius, accepted Romanov's offer and declared himself as the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. He also formed the Northwestern Confederacy title, which encompassed Ohio and several neighboring states that supported his policies. He said that there was no explicit provision in the constitution that prevented him from holding another office or title outside of Ohio, as long as it did not conflict with his duties as governor.
However, his decision was met with criticism and opposition from many quarters. His main rival, former Republican governor Mike DeWine, accused him of acting just like the Ohio Gang of old, a group of corrupt politicians and businessmen who had been associated with President Warren G. Harding in the 1920s. He called for his impeachment and removal from office. Other political leaders, media outlets, and civil society groups also questioned his legitimacy and motives.
President Joe Biden and both political parties agreed to not meddle in the Ohio personal union affairs as long as it did not affect federal laws. They also expressed their hope to foster a good relationship with Romanov Russia, which they saw as a potential ally against Putin's aggression.
Meanwhile, Prigozhin, fearing for his soldiers and families' livelihood, agreed to recognize Romanov's claim and surrender Wagner-occupied cities to Putin in exchange for safe passage to Belarus, where he would allegedly stay neutral while training the Belarusian army.
Romanov then led her forces towards Moscow, hoping to reach the Kremlin before Putin could crush the rebellion. Along the way, she encountered resistance from loyalist troops, police, and National Guard units, as well as pro-Putin militias and Kadyrovites. She also faced opposition from other groups that had risen up against the government, such as nationalists, communists, anarchists, and separatists.
While Grand Duchess Ekaterina Romanov was leading her army towards Moscow, her ally and co-emperor, Governor Sherrod Julius Antonius of Ohio, was facing his own challenges at home. His decision to form a personal union with the Russian royalist faction had sparked controversy and opposition among many of his constituents and fellow politicians.
The Ohio National Guard, which was under his command, pledged loyalty and support to his claims. However, the Ohio Defense Force (ODF), a state defense force that was independent of the governor's authority, rejected his move and sided with his rival, former Republican governor Mike DeWine. The ODF saw Antonius's action as a threat to the Christian people of Ohio and accused him of betraying his country and his faith.
The ODF, which had about 2,000 members, mostly veterans and former law enforcement officers, began to stage protests and rallies against Antonius and his supporters. They also clashed with the Ohio National Guard, which had about 10,000 members, in several nonviolent skirmishes across the state. The situation was tense but not violent, as both sides tried to avoid escalating the conflict.
Antonius was determined to fulfill his promise to Romanov and send volunteers to fight in the Russian civil war. He formed the Ohio National Guard Volunteer Corps (ONGVC), a unit composed of about 1,000 soldiers who were willing to join the royalist cause. He also secured funding and equipment from private donors and contractors who supported his vision.
On June 30, 2023, Antonius held a farewell ceremony for the ONGVC at the Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus. He praised their courage and dedication and bestowed upon them the title of Knights of the Western Roman Empire. He also gave them a flag that combined the symbols of Ohio and Russia, as well as a motto: "For God and Empire".
The ONGVC then boarded a chartered plane and flew to Rostov-on-Don, where they joined Romanov's forces. They were welcomed by Romanov herself, who expressed her gratitude and admiration for their sacrifice. She also granted them honorary citizenship of the Russian royalist faction and promised them land and titles if they succeeded in their mission.
The ONGVC proved to be a valuable asset for Romanov's army. They brought with them modern weapons and equipment, as well as expertise and experience in combat operations. They also boosted the morale and confidence of their Russian allies, who saw them as a sign of divine favor and international recognition.
On June 25, 2023, Romanov met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv. They announced an alliance against Putin and pledged to cooperate in restoring peace and stability in the region. They also agreed to respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as to support each other's democratic aspirations.
The alliance was welcomed by most Ukrainians, who saw Romanov as a friend and protector against Putin's aggression. However, some Ukrainians were skeptical or hostile towards Romanov, especially those who had nationalist or far-right views. They feared that Romanov could be a threat to Ukraine's independence and identity.
One of these groups was the Azov Brigade remnants, a paramilitary organization that had fought against pro-Russian forces in the Donbas War. The Azov Brigade remnants were led by Mykyta Nadtochiy, a former commander of the 98th Territorial Defence Battalion 'Azov-Dnipro'.
Nadtochiy distrusted Romanov and her claims to be a descendant of Nicholas II. He believed that she was an impostor who wanted to restore the Russian Empire at the expense of Ukraine's sovereignty. He also resented her alliance with Zelensky, whom he considered a weak and corrupt leader.
When he heard of Romanov's arrival in Kyiv, he decided to take action. He moved his troops to the Belarusian border. He planned to enter Belarus and launch a surprise attack on Romanov's forces from behind while she made her long march to Moscow
Despite the odds, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Romanov managed to reach the outskirts of Moscow by July 2, 2023 with her army andthe Ohio national guard. She set up her headquarters in a hotel near the Domodedovo International Airport and prepared for the final assault on the Kremlin. She hoped that the Chechen Khamzat Gelayev Battalion forces would join her soon, but she did not wait for them. She believed that God was on her side and that nothing could stop her destiny.
Putin, who's located somewhere in Saint Petersburg, hiding in a bunker still barking orders to his soldiers. During the chaos and confusion, Kremlin state TV showed Sergei Shoigu, who was hiding out in Tomsk Oblast, being shot by a Wagner soldier while he was speaking about the current events.
Two hours after the killing, a public broadcast from Minsk began to air on every Russian television channel. It showed Prigozhin standing with Lukashenko on one side and Nadtochiy on the other. Prigozhin gave a grim speech in Russian, in which he revealed his new alliance with Belarus and the Azov Brigade remnants. He stated that he had betrayed Putin and Romanov and that he had a new plan to take over Russia and Ukraine. He said that in a few days, Ukraine would have a new president, Ohio's governor-emperor would die, Romanov's head would be removed from her body, and he would be the new president of Russia. He also said that he was willing to use nuclear weapons if necessary.
The broadcast ended with Prigozhin, Lukashenko, and Nadtochiy laughing and raising their fists in the air.
The world was shocked and horrified by Prigozhin's announcement. It was clear that he had gone mad with power and ambition and that he posed a grave threat to global security and stability. The leaders of the world condemned Prigozhin's actions and vowed to stop him at all costs.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8
So, let me be clear here. The notion that America and Canada didn’t politic to get skaters of theirs to the top is…naïve. Since the ’98 and ’02 Olympics, the North American countries had been putting their skaters in places that would get them seen and get them respect. Making sure Belbin/Agosto stayed in Canton and had a good choreographer in Zueva to guide them? Not a coincidence. Virtue/Moir moving from their juniors coach to train in Michigan? Not a coincidence. Virtue/Moir being featured in a damn ISU compulsories video as novice skaters?! Not a dang coincidence. America and Canada had laid the groundwork for this moment, had built this from dust, and they were going to reap the rewards and maintain their newfound lead on the ice dance field, no matter what it took.
And that “maintain their lead no matter the cost” part came almost immediately. Whispers that the compulsory dance would be eliminated in the post-Olympic season started circulating double-time in the 2009-2010 season. Journalists worth their cookies asked for skaters’ thoughts throughout the season on whether they would enjoy that. As early as Trophee Eric Bompard in 2009, Tessa Virtue was giving her thoughts, stating that it would be weird to not have to train a compulsory but it would be “a nice treat” if compulsories didn’t have to be trained. By Worlds, journalists were asking all 3 medalists for a quote. Massimo Scali, who had just won the bronze medal at the 2010 Worlds (a full 25 points behind Davis/White if you can even believe that), said that he wasn’t a fan of the official vote to get rid of compulsories, stating that he’d miss them the next season. Moir and White, meanwhile, showed enthusiastic support, feeling that compulsories didn’t have particular place in senior competition, when footwork mastery should be assumed. And we can see each of their motivations: Moir wanting to eliminate compulsories to keep Virtue on the ice longer, White wanting them gone to close the gap on Virtue/Moir. But whatever their motivations, the compulsory dance was officially done going into the 2010-2011 season, and the results of combining the compulsory and original dances were fascinating.
One of the first glimpses of this new short dance was when Virtue/Moir performed theirs (albeit cutting out most of the specified Golden Waltz compulsory) at All That Skate LA in October 2010. The preview, coming a couple weeks before the Grand Prix season officially started, gave a glimpse at how the premiere coaches and skaters in the world were thinking of incorporating the compulsory in, with the sequences in order. This was not followed by everyone throughout the season though, as some skaters opted to start the compulsory at the second sequence, which was not the usual order of the Golden Waltz and often looked disjointed.
Of course, the preview of that short dance would be the last time that it would be performed for a while, as Virtue/Moir announced that a second leg surgery would keep Virtue out for the majority of the season. This time, however, Moir would also take a break from skating since both of them had skated throughout the summer in shows. Moir would later train with Emily Samuelson, who was waiting on Evan Bates to return to the ice from his own injury.
While Virtue/Moir were out, Davis/White leapt at the opportunity that was before them. Without another pair at their level, Davis/White rode an undefeated streak into Four Continents, which would serve as the first time the top North American teams would face off that season. Although Virtue/Moir won the short dance in their first outing of it all season, they had to withdraw in the free dance due to tightness in Virtue’s quad, leaving Davis/White to take home the victory and the momentum going into Worlds.
On top of an already transitional season, the 2011 Worlds were delayed and pushed to late April due to the tsunami in Japan making the original location of the Worlds impossible. The Worlds were moved to Moscow and the competition resumed. Virtue/Moir later said that the postponement had made the already long season for them feel even longer, leaving them near out of gas by the time the Worlds rolled around.
So let’s talk about the short dance for a second here because I think it is endlessly fascinating what some of these teams did. Virtue/Moir’s short dance that year won the two times it was performed in competition and Davis/White’s short dance either won or came second in its competitions, leading us to believe that these were the standards. And if there’s anything to take away in terms of their similarities, it is the incorporation of the full Golden Waltz sequence as it used to be performed in compulsories, the closed holds in transitions, and the seamless integration of the compulsory sections into the overall dance. A podcast from Flutzes and Waxels once pointed out that the short dance, as a whole, was nearly a failure because so many skaters and choreographers were just not mixing the two dances together well enough; but Davis/White and Virtue/Moir’s short dances became bastions, proof that the compulsory could very much coexist with the rest of the original dance requirements.
Around the rest of the field, Pechalat/Bourzat and Kaitlyn WeaveAndrew Poje incorporated their Golden Waltz by starting with the second sequence, starting and ending on the left side of the rink. The idea of starting a compulsory on the second sequence was not done again for the rest of the cycle (unless we’re counting the rhumba of the next year but the pattern is a repeating one done on each side of the rink…so not sure how reliant it is on order). The Russian pairs of Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitiri Soloviev and new senior team Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov incorporated their Golden Waltz in a really over the top way, skating to insanely dramatic music that had obvious musical cues for each movement…that also didn’t really match up with the rest of the programs. So basically, it was chaos out there.
Below the top two, Pechalat/Bourzat were making a case for themselves to be considered the third best team in the world. Their Grand Prix Final bronze in 2009 and silver in 2010 made them heavy favorites to grab the bronze behind the North American skaters, assuming everyone skated clean. The pair skated to a Charlie Chaplin medley to make their case for the bronze. The two were primarily known for their more avant garde and out of the box free dances as well as for their technical skill, their blades running over the ice with ease. They were unfortunately also known for their incredible inconsistency, which reared its head when the pair fell halfway through their circular step sequence. Ready to pounce on the mistake though, were the American pair making their senior debut, siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani.
How do I say this…the Shibutani free dance felt very juniorish as they skated to “Smile”…ironically also by Charlie Chaplin. There was no denying the difficulty for sure, but it’s almost as if Zueva/Shpilband weren’t anticipating the couple to be competing for a medal here given their packaging, almost presenting them as two kids having fun dancing together. But it was clean and the Shibutanis walked away from their Worlds debut with a medal in hand, medaling by a mere 0.24.
Virtue/Moir, meanwhile, were debuting their free dance on the biggest stage of the year, competing their Samba free dance in front of all judges and audiences to attempt the unthinkable: winning a World title at their first full competition of the year. There were so many innovative ideas here; the opening choreography and the circular twizzles were inspired, the rotational lift an idea lifted from Khokhlova/Novitski if we’re being honest. But Virtue/Moir sputtered out about halfway through, their lack of training and competition showing as the free dance with no real chance to receive criticism lost momentum just as Virtue/Moir themselves looked like they’d collapse on the ice. They took the silver medal, probably glad that the season that felt it would never end had finally come to a close.
Davis/White were competing not just for themselves but also for American history, aiming to be the first American ice dancers to win a World title. The pressure was high as they took the ice to perform their Tango free dance. The free was dynamic, as was their strength, while also helping them to build their emotional depth in the minds of the judges. Davis/White are nothing if not incredibly consistent and trained and this was a free dance that did not come with visible exhaustion halfway through. The program was also incredibly difficult, with the two skaters rarely separating in transitions and skating inches apart from each other in everything except where necessary (hi twizzles). Davis/White earned their long-awaited World title with smiles, both joy and relief etched on their faces. Not only was this the first time an American had won a World title, it was also the first time one coach had swept the podium and the first time North Americans had swept the podium. It was a statement much akin to the 1992 Worlds. Except this time, it appeared to mark the beginning of an era rather than the tail end of it. And speaking of statements, Virtue/Moir’s overall score of 181 was a full 18 points ahead of the bronze medalists. If ever a statement were to be made, the top North Americans clearing the rest of their competition away would certainly be one of them.
In the offseason, both Evan Bates and Paul Poirier split from their partners (and we never saw Emily Samuelson’s beautiful pointed toe again, I’ll never forgive you Evan) at just about the same time that Madi Hubbell split her partnership with her brother and the partnership of Piper Gilles/Zach Donohue fell apart (though Donohue had a brief partner in the 2010-2011 season). A game of musical partners took place that summer, as 2009 World Junior champion Madison Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier and Hubbell/Donohue all debuted on the senior ranks in the 2011-2012 season. Chock/Bates wound up in Canton while Hubbell/Donohue started training with Krylova and Pasquale Carmerlengo at Detroit Skating Club in Michigan, where Pechalat/Bourzat and WeavePoje were also training.
It was also during this time that the Fedor Andreev merry-go-round stopped at Meryl Davis, and the two were linked as early as that summer. For those less in the know, Andreev was Marina Zueva’s son and is famous for dating all of the top women in Canton, linked to Belbin around 2005 and Virtue around 2008. The going rumor is that Zueva tended to favor the woman currently dating her son and the years kinda to match up. I don’t really know how one maintains a friendship with your…partner-in-law (?) (How do you even describe the girlfriend of your skating partner, what’s that relationship?) and chief competitive rival during this but hey, we’re about to find out if she can maintain both relationships!
Virtue/Moir and Davis/White went into the 2011-2012 season as odds on favorites for medals. But now perception made it difficult to predict who would come out on top. At the 2011 Grand Prix Final, it was Davis/White who prevailed beating Virtue/Moir in the short dance after a Canadian fall and originally believed they had beaten the Canadian pair in the free dance as well. This was later rectified though, as a calculation error had misattributed the free dance win to Davis/White. The free dance result didn’t change the overall result though, and Davis/White went into Four Continents and Worlds with a slight edge.
Worth mentioning here, it was around this time that the ISU had had to have a chat with the judges as the number of 10s awarded in PCS was, in their opinion, growing to be absurd. The two pairs had earned 22 10s between them during the free dance at the Grand Prix Final, which was decidedly more than had been awarded to them at the 2010 Olympics (5 combined). It’s very easy to point fingers at the two couples for starting the craze of 10s thrown about in ice dance, with Virtue/Moir specifically being the first to ever earn a 10 at Skate Canada in 2009, and it honestly wouldn’t be wrong to do so. The two couples seemed to inspire all judges to willfully give out 10s like they were candy, and ice dance hasn’t really recovered in that department since. In any event, the judges seemed to heed the warning at Four Continents and Worlds that year but the warning mostly went out the window by the following season.
After a Virtue/Moir win at Four Continents, the World title was again up for grabs. The short dance at Worlds left Virtue/Moir in front by a hair with a performance that felt a little less erratic than Davis/White’s, with a Golden Skate article from the time calling Virtue/Moir’s skating “a class apart—even from their perennial rivals.” (side note, but both of them had circular non-touch midlines that year and I feel it isn’t used enough, that’s all) The margin was close though that it was anyone’s to win going into the free.
A fierce battle for bronze was occurring below the top two North American teams, as training mates WeavePoje and Pechalat/Bourzat skated it out. The Shibutanis had been dropped hard by the judges which allowed WeavePoje to have a breakout year of their own. Previously held behind Crone/Poirier, the separation of that partnership had allowed WeavePoje to finally make a bigger mark on the World stage. Their performance to “Je Suis Malade” was a signature moment for them, capitalizing on their chemistry and emotional skating. But the combination of a North American sweep just the previous year and the Worlds taking place in France was just too much to overcome. Pechalat/Bourzat took home the bronze medal by performing…it was campy alright, there’s no getting around camp in a free dance that requires the woman to be dressed as a mummy to her partner’s Pharaoh-like costume. But it was fun French camp and Pechalat/Bourzat were the stronger skaters when push came to shove. And honestly it feels like Pechalat may have deserved it for skating with a broken nose.
Davis/White skated a waltz free dance set to “Die Fledermaus” to attempt another “come from behind” win of the World title. The free dance was a bit of a departure for them, as the free dance required a little less emotional heavy-lifting than their previous free dances. But the style worked for them, as it didn’t require them to play off each other as much (oh my God someone’s gonna kill me for that one but it’s kinda true) and both were really able to capture the light-heartedness of the dance. They skated well, but both appeared confused when the score came up and it was well below their season’s best. Virtue/Moir took the ice after, skating to a free dance set to the music from “Funny Face” as a tribute to Tessa’s love of Audrey Hepburn. The free featured choreography meant to call to mind the movie musicals of the era. The free…was not the cleanest if we’re being straight up honest here. Stumbles by both Virtue and Moir in separate transitions (albeit ones where both simply needed to take an extra step to keep balance) gave an overall sloppier appearance than what one would expect from the winning free dance of the night. One need only look at the protocols to see the main reason Virtue/Moir pulled ahead: one extra level 4 in the diagonal step sequence, which gave them an extra 1.5 points in their base score. Even still, some were surprised that Virtue/Moir ended up a full 3 points ahead of Davis/White in the free dance when all was said and done.
Fractures in the Virtue/Moir and Davis/White friendship began to show after a couple years where it appeared healthy enough. At Grand Prix Final in 2011, Moir expressed his frustration at losing in the PCS marks, going on record saying that he thought he and Virtue were the most artistic ice dancers of the past 5 years. An article from Reuters was run in 2013 that implied that Davis/White were robbed of the 2012 World title but were too classy to say anything, in which both implied that they heavily disagreed with the results. But even with all that, they apparently still watched each other’s equipment during competitions. The duality of a rivalry truly.
On top of that, the Zueva/Shpilband partnership ended as most of their skaters were away for the summer holidays (which is what makes the timing of it all wilder). The split, which came in early June, was initially blamed on the “kids” of the rink (i.e. Virtue/Moir, Davis/White, Shibutanis) feeling that Igor wasn’t there for them anymore. But this was proved incorrect when it got out that Zueva and Shpilband’s relationship had started to go sour, to the point that the US Fed had been informed of the situation in April of that year. Zueva claimed that Igor wanted to open his own school without her; Shpilband claimed Zueva was no longer consulting him on practice times. But Shpilband was blindsided by his firing from the rink. Meanwhile, Charlie White’s mother claimed on Facebook (oh my god this is the most 21st century thing I’ve written since this series started, we’re truly in the modern age) that Zueva and Shpilband were using the couples as pawns in cross-fighting. Zueva claimed the top students in the rink, keeping both Davis/White and Virtue/Moir under her wings as well as the younger Shibutanis while Shpilband kept Chock/Bates. Rumors that USFS were funding Zueva’s legal bills swirled, with some suggesting that it may lead to preferential treatment for her top American couple.
Both couples went into the pre-Olympic season with something to prove, either in trying to reclaim a title or through keeping it when competing in their hometown. A second Battle of the Carmens was revealed as both Virtue/Moir and the Shpilband-coached Cappellini/Lanotte announced that they’d be skating to music from the ballet. Seeking outside help for their choreography, Virtue/Moir made sure it wasn’t really a battle.
The debut of the “Carmen” free dance was a mess and a half. When Virtue/Moir competed at Skate Canada in 2012, they won the short dance by a mere 0.01 points and stumbled several times through their free dance. While they would later attribute this to a lapse in retraining their muscles to keep Virtue on the ice longer, it was not a pretty sight. The free dance itself though, especially in its earliest form, was such an incredibly innovative free in terms of its step sequences, the bending of lift rules to play with the time limit for men lifting their hands above their shoulders, side-by-side choreography that felt like an early precursor to the choreographic sequence (for better or for worse) and the implied sexuality that was not something that had been seen in the top skaters. However, the free proved too difficult on Tessa’s legs and the step sequences were simplified in construction by the end of the year (by this, I mean the one-foot part of the diagonal step was switched to the middle rather than the end to prevent tired legs). I still mourn Skate Canada Carmen.
But as is implied with that description, Virtue/Moir were simply not even close to their best this season and it showed in every single competition, coming to a head when Virtue stopped halfway through their free dance at Four Continents from a leg injury after having a short dance lead. Davis/White meanwhile were hitting their stride and gaining momentum, winning every competition in the lead up to Worlds. Their free dance to “Hunchback of Notre Dame” was a bit of a return to form for them, going back to their warhorse roots. But now, their growth in conveying emotion on ice was apparent in the three years since they had done a more dramatic selection. And their consistency throughout all competitions was earning them the respect of the judges, who gave Davis/White the benefit of the doubt where Virtue/Moir were no longer. And it lead to the Americans nabbing a second World title in the town that their Canadian rivals were born in, as if to add salt to the wound. Davis/White were showing year over year improvements in all aspects of their skating where Virtue/Moir had plateaued, giving the Americans all of the momentum going into the Olympic year.
Further down, Bobrova/Soloviev earned a surprise bronze at Worlds. Coached by Zhulin, they skated to “The Man with the Harmonica” to give Russians some sense of hope that they could still medal at their home Olympics. I think it goes without saying though that Bobrova/Soloviev were not the strongest skaters at that event, skating incredibly far apart from each other during their step sequences, leaving many to wonder if the medal had more to do with politics than anything else. Cappellini/Lanotte’s “Carmen” placed fourth at this Worlds; although the Carmen was incredibly different, it was overall an enjoyable take. That said, their edges in step sequences were not the deepest, which is an interesting statement to make about an Igor team. It was around this time that the 2010 World Junior Champions Ilinykh/Katsalapov were starting to generate buzz as a team to watch after nearly beating Bobrova/Soloviev at Europeans. Ilinykh had previously trained in Canton by herself while she and Katsalapov split the first time and there’s a little bit of that influence in her (as well as the couple’s general love of Virtue/Moir shining in some aspects). Their free to “Ghost” maybe isn’t the best representation of their skill but their presence on the ice and overall skating skills were unmatched in their generation. The team featured beautiful knee bend…and let’s be real also Ilinykh, she was a goddamn star.
A disappointing Worlds left Virtue/Moir at a crossroads. Feeling like they were losing momentum going into Sochi, Virtue asked Zueva if she thought the pair could win another gold; Zueva couldn’t answer. At this point desperate, Virtue attempted to sway Moir to leave Canton for Dubreuil/Lauzon’s new camp. Moir dismissed the idea, feeling that their best chance at gold was with Zueva. The two also agreed to film the most campy and insane reality show in existence to try to reclaim their narrative; everyone needs to watch it. On another note, Tanith Belbin was suddenly left off the commentating team for NBC going into the Olympics after commentating through the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons. She was replaced by Tara and Johnny on NBCSN, likely in the interest of avoiding a very obvious conflict of interest. We were all the worse for it.
In other things happening in the background, after a slip down the rankings in 2013, Pechalat/Bourzat, who had by this time moved to Shpilband on French President Didier Gailhaguet’s insistence, were aiming to claim the bronze at the Olympics. However, a strong free dance from Ilinykh/Katsalapov was making the Russians a significant threat to that dream. It was at Trophee Eric Bompard, when Ilinykh/Katsalapov beat Pechalat/Bourzat in their home country, that the tide had officially shifted, regardless of what the Grand Prix Final standings were.
The debut of the team event at the Olympics allowed the major podium contenders in ice dance to take the ice ahead of the event and either gain or lose momentum in quick fashion. Pechalat/Bourzat’s no good very bad season continued when they scored behind Bobrova/Soloviev in the short dance of the team event…which is just such a choice. Virtue/Moir’s no good very bad Olympic cycle continued when Virtue’s huge twizzle error highlighted a short dance that scored 3 points behind Davis/White. The writing felt like it was on the wall when Virtue/Moir scored a whole 7 points behind Davis/White in the free dance.
The battle for the bronze commenced, with Ilinykh/Katsalapov, Pechalat/Bourzat, and Bobrova/Soloviev seeming to have the best chances. However, Bobrova/Soloviev ended up scoring well behind both pairs in the short dance, effectively taking them out of a clean competition. Pechalat/Bourzat’s free dance to “Le Petit Prince” was a bit of an obscure choice. But their skating skills and lifts, as well as charming choreography, made an obscure free dance into an enjoyable affair. Also have to admire the choice of green tights to appear more like a flower; would not recommend but I appreciate the dedication. Unfortunately for them though, even with such superior skating skills, the medal moment belonged to Ilinykh/Katsalapov. Their free dance to “Swan Lake” brought down the rink of Russian supporters with their innovative choreography to represent the ballet and striking lifts. Their youth, in a lot of ways, played against them here, as the depth of Swan Lake couldn’t be as appropriately conveyed as an older couple may have been able to do; their step sequences were also a tad on the slower side. But man if they weren’t an attention-grabbing pair. The free dance felt like a promise of the future for this team, almost insisting that they were not going to be a pair to be ignored. Of course…that future would never come (can you tell how upset I am about this every damn day of my life?).
Prior to the Olympics, Zueva insisted that her top students skate to Russian composers. So it was after many a struggle that Virtue/Moir settled on Alexander Glazunov’s “Seasons” to be their second Olympic moment. Let me get this out of the way, the free dance was beautifully skated. Their step sequences were as good as they could be, their lifts were solid, it was the quality of an Olympic champion. Belinda Noonan even concluded on air that she thought the Canadians were the better skaters, but wondered if their program would be enough. To which I say that this free dance was bland as all hell and a disservice to the team that skated it. This was a silver medal winning skate, and unfortunately the Canadians knew it. The Canadian media attempted to push the story that judging deals had been made prior to the competition but, frankly, most people with eyes would score this free dance lower on PCS alone. Virtue/Moir would later claim that they felt Zueva had abandoned them in the lead up to the Olympics…this free dance alone would probably drive me to believe it.
In contrast, Davis/White skated to “Scheherazade,” using this music in a tribute to Blumberg/Seibert before them and shaping it to be a free dance of victory rather than the bittersweet feeling that a missed podium had clouded the previous program with. This program was brilliantly constructed, the choreography just so insanely perfect it boggles the mind that the same woman choreographed both the silver and gold medalists’ programs. An article said it best: you never questioned whether or not Davis/White would make a mistake and you never questioned the overall quality and cleanliness. Their consistency had bought them the respect of the judges and their free dance with perfectly timed choreography, unbelievable athleticism, and fantastic interpretation was deserving of the gold medal.
(Also shout out to the Russians for not only giving the two North American couples lukewarm applause when their scores came up but also playing Ilinykh/Katsalapov’s music for most of Virtue/Moir’s entrance to the rink for the Victory Ceremony and the first few moments of Davis/White’s entrance. So classy.)
I’m also of the opinion that this free dance was the last of a sort of bygone era of warhorse, dramatic free dances akin to that of the late 90s and early 00s. There’s likely a reason that the styling of Davis/White never really took root in anyone following them. And I’ve concluded that it’s likely due to how dated the concept is in dance both on and off the ice. Davis/White’s free dance seemed like an homage to Tarasova and Linichuk’s styling, almost dated as soon as they skated it, with repeated movements making up the transitions as best as they could in a system that didn’t allow that same freedom. Perhaps some couples concluded they couldn’t perform a type of warhorse in the same way and avoided it; perhaps the ice dance field had gone past the need for those types of free dances. Who knows really.
When Virtue/Moir and Davis/White dipped out of Worlds and Cappellini/Lanotte stood on top of the podium in their place. It felt like the end of an era. An era that will likely never see its equal in North American dance representation. There aren’t really enough ways to say how much Davis/White and Virtue/Moir shaped the sport in the four biggest years of their rivalry. They set the standard for athleticism and performance quality in IJS ice dance, clearing most of their competitors by 20 points at Worlds each year and forcing everyone to either follow suit or be left behind. Their striving for both perfection and innovation was admired. They never did the same thing twice, never took a year off of mixing up their elements, their program concepts, or both (and yes of course Zueva had a huge hand in this too, it was a collaborative effort). And while none of their records stand anymore, there is simply no skater today who can say that they are completely without the influence of either couple. And in a sport that was so heavily dominated by Russians for most of its history, I think that’s beautiful.

Senior:

Men: Dmitry Aliev, Petr Gumennik, Artem Kovalev, Andrey Mozalev, Alexander Samarin and Evgeny Semenenko.
Reserve: Mark Kondratyuk, Makar Ignatov.
Women: Sofia Akatieva, Kamila Valieva, Anastasia Zinina, Sofia Muravieva, Adelia Petrosyan, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
Reserve: (Haven't published)
Pair skating: Alexandra Boikova/Dmitry Kozlovsky, Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov, Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Yasmina Kadyrova/Valery Kolesov, Natalia Khabibullina/Ilya Knyazhuk, Ekaterina Chikmareva/Matvei Yanchenkov.
Reserve: Yulia Artemyeva/Alexey Bryukhanov, Maria Dybkova/Alexey Khvalko, Elizaveta Osokina/Artem Gritsaenko.
Ice dancing: Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva/Egor Bazin, Vasilisa Kaganovskaya/Valery Angelopol, Ekaterina Mironova/Evgeny Ustenko, Elizaveta Pasechnik/Maxim Nekrasov, Sofya Tyutyunina/Andrey Bagin, Elizaveta Shanaeva/Pavel Drozd.
Reserve: Sophia Leontieva/Daniil Gorelkin, Alexandra Prokopets/Alexander Vaskovich.

Junior:

Women: Alina Gorbacheva, Maria Gordeeva, Veronika Zhilina, Nadezhda Ponteleenko, Lyubov Rubtsova, Sofia Titova.

2164:

Overthrowing of the Indonesian government: faced with its armies crumbling morale, extensive shortage of food supplies and energy (promoted by the bribing of the Indonesian corporations and shipping firms on Holding’s behalf), and surgical assassinations and discredit campaigns, the Indonesian government led by President Muhammad Nurhayati is ousted by a military coup, which leadership immediately signs a ceasefire with the Atlantic Alliance. Chinese troops deployed in the area are surrounded by Indonesian and Atlantic forces, offering a mixed bag of resistance and unconditional surrender.
Malaysian states, for several years in contrast with Jakarta’s leadership, break away from the military Junta. The provisional government of the United States of Malaysia places its capital in Kuala Lumpur, immediately being recognized by the Indians, who provide material and military support.
Campaign of Philippines: Chinese forces enter Manila, ousting Libunao’s cabinet that flees to Cebu, while Atlantic-oriented rebels take control of Leyte and Mindanao. Some Atlantic paratroopers and Marines are already present on the islands to secure the rebel transitional government authority.
Invasion of Sindh: the movement of several armies and air fleets towards the Bengal area left the Indian forces facing the Persian troops in the Baluchistan front understrength. The Persian Army then encircled several Indian resistance clusters and advanced for more than 600 kilometres, occupying Karachi and sieging Hyderabad. In retaliation, the Indian government allows the massive bombings of Bandar Abbas, Kandahar, Kabul, and Mashhad. The newsfeed about the bombings reveals that the Indians used hypersonic missiles with tactical fusion nukes warheads. The death toll exceeds three million.
Commissioning of the first fusion supercarrier: Portland shipyards commissioned the first nuclear fusion supercarrier, the USS Donald Trump. This ship and its class, with its extreme speed and endurance, combined with best-of-breed technology on the aerial embarked component, is the swan song of the blue water navies.
Rozanova wins Eurasian elections: incumbent Ekaterina Rozanova wins the Eurasian elections against the nationalistic Russian platform led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, with the overwhelming support of the rich Amuria and Bajkalia oligarchs and of the ethnic states of Central Asia. Discontent is extensively rising both in the inner Russophones areas and in the peripheric regions, more and more willing to break away from the Federation due to the planned economy and massive state involvement in the economy and social control.
Japanese bombings of Korea and Chinese retaliation: the Japanese start to bomb Korea actively from their mainland with a massive aerial fleet of automated drones that overwhelms SAM and radar missiles, enabling the bombers and the cruise missiles to discharge their deadly cargo unopposed. Chinese retaliation includes the heavy shelling and bombing campaign of the Ryukyu islands, left now completely charred and almost depopulated after six months of Chinese wrath.
The fall of Aachen and European hegemony quest: just while the Germans were ready to launch their own offensive in the Lorraine-Saar sector, Maréchal Renard attacked in force around Liege, penetrating into Rhineland State and seizing the symbolic city of Aachen. German morale is at its lowest.
Italians, repulsed by the French, retire behind the main Alps chain, controlling the main passes such as the Grimselpass, Furkapass, San Gottardo, and Oberalp, entrenching in the west on the southern shores of Lake Leman and in the east in Andermatt, Vaduz and, Nauders.
Bulgarian invasion of Dobruja: King Simeon V of Bulgaria, at the helm of its state in an autocratic fashion, teams up with the Hungarians, aiming to seize Dobruja from Romania. The entire Bulgarian army crossed the Danube, overwhelming territorial militia, and immediately conquered Constantia two days after. In the North, Marshal Seres troops encircle the last organized forces of the Romanian army in the nearby of Brașov, including the Conducator himself, Anton Mirescu.
Holding expansion: started as a merely Atlantic affair, the Holding began negotiations with the major Japanese corporations, de facto expression of an allied power. Besides these talks, Holding has extended its grasp on many ambitious lights and middle-weight corporations in Europe, South America and, Eurasia.

2165:

Holding expansion: started as a merely Atlantic affair, the Holding began negotiations with the major Japanese corporations, de facto expression of an allied power. Besides these talks, Holding has extended its grasp on many lights and middle-weight corporations in Europe, South America and, Eurasia.

2166:

3rd Martian War: Chinese Republic signs the provisional peace treaty with AA and Japan, allowing the use of its mainland to invade India. A complete shift in the upper levels of Chinese government happens in a few months, with more and more corporate-oriented profiles substituting nationalist and democratic leaders. In the Battle of Malaysia, the Indian Navy was almost sunk by the combined might of AA and Japanese fleets. On Mars, Chinese forces join AA troops in subduing the last Indian footholds: new Chinese leadership cannot commit manpower on Earth on the same side of AA, but it can on Mars, far away from the average Chinese eye.
Holding extends its tentacles: Holding manages to put at the same table the leading Chinese and European independent corporations and to show its Grand Strategy. Majority of Chinese companies accept the plan and join the Holding, the same happens for European corporations. The resistant corporations are quickly sent out of the market with cartel policies and destabilization efforts (murder, blackmailing, regulation). The newly coordinated cartel of European Corporations begins to push on French, German and Italian governments for a truce over European Hegemony.

2167:

3rd Martian War: the last Indian strongholds on Mars are occupied by AA marines. AA and Japan's fleet deliver a strong blockade of Indian ports, while the control of Burma and the unfriendliness of Iran and Eurasian Alliance choke the Indian economy. Indians are still ready to fight and launch a strong offensive in Malaysia and in Burma to regain more feasible front lines ending in a bloodshed for both the attackers and the defenders (primarily Indonesian, Burmese and Australian troops). India’s will of fight worries the AA government that still doesn’t want to resolve to the use of nuclear weapons, the alternative would have been a series of difficult sea-landings in Ceylon and Kerala and then convince the Chinese to support with their massive manpower in an expected, five-year long, conventional campaign. The cost-benefit analysis and the opposition of Indian corporations to join the Holding convinces the latter to make pressure for the use of nuclear weapons on India.
European peace: Italian President Francesco Romani, Bundskanzlerin Elise Meinhardt and French Grand Maréchal Philippe Renard sign the peace treaty of Genève under Holding goodwill: Switzerland would be partied: the southern slopes of Alps would go to Italy, the French-speaking quarter would be confirmed to France and the rest to the German Confederacy. France will also have the right to annex Wallonia while the German Confederacy will annex Luxembourg and Flanders.
Turmoil in Eurasian Alliance: hundreds of small dissent movements are seeded by Holding agents into Eurasian Alliance, the only power still not affected by the 3rd Martian War. Nationalist parties in Ukraine, Caucasus and Baltic States grow in power, separatist cause in the rich Amuria state and in the Bajkalia state takes a foothold on the premises of the presence of a corporation-friendly environment and of the perceived burden of European Russia on the wealthy Siberian wallets.

2168:

3rd Martian War: The Holding finally succeeds in convincing AA military to launch a nuclear strike on India after the devastating defeat of the Invasion of Ceylon that cost over 250k casualties to AA countries. Bombers take off from AA carriers in the Indian Ocean heading to the major cities of New Delhi, Karachi, Kolkata and Bangalore delivering fusion-powered warheads: over 110 million Indians are blown away within hours. In a matter of days, the surviving members of the government are either removed or murdered and a provisional government headed by Parthasarthi Gopal signs the truce with AA. The 3rd Martian War is over, and the Atlantic Alliance managed to destroy two of the four major powers in 9 years.
Board creation: Holding creates a superior Board of Directors of 11 members to coordinate its efforts of world domination.

2169:

East African Federation creation: Anthony Ngabe, leader of Congo Union, after having consolidated its power for ten years under Chinese oversight, decides that it’s time to become independent and expand its domain: Tanzania, formerly an Indian puppet, is invaded. As the power vacuum in China and India cannot stop the Congolese from taking Tanzania, the Holding fears that a strong, unified African state may be a nut too hard to crack. As Africa is a vital supplier of scarce resources, therefore the Holding pushes the AA to intervene. Australian and South African forces engage the Congolese army in Zambia and in Mozambique, while the British and the American fleets bomb Pointe-Noire and Cabinda ports on the Atlantic Ocean. Ngabe, knowing that he is finished, retreats into the deep forest of Ituri province allowing therefore the creation of a Holding-puppet government in Kinshasa. To balance the Congo Union geopolitical weight, the Holding, under the Atlantic Alliance and Chinese advice, pressure Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar in creating a loose confederation named East African Federation.
Foundation of Militia: a secret ops paramilitary is developed under the Board’s desire for a proprietary military branch. Militia is quickly trained and drilled reaching over 50k personnel, mainly drafted from former soldiers of 3rd Martian War. Its first deployments are in Algeria, Morocco and Brazil to support the installation of Board-friendly governments.
Atlantic Alliance expansion: Atlantic Alliance manages to overthrow several hostile regimes in the Caribbean and declares the entry of the Dominican Republic, Belize, Jamaica and Bahamas into the Alliance.

2170:

Ukraine Crisis: Ukrainian republic attempts to secede from the Eurasian Alliance: regular military of the republic joins the rebels under General Timofey Shvets while Federal forces under Marshal Grigori Antonov entrench themselves on the Dnepr while keeping control of Kiev. The conflict quickly escalates with uprisings in the Volga Republic and in the Baltic Republics (Lithuania and Estonia) and Eurasian Alliance Duma allows emergency powers for its President Anatoly Voronin who immediately orders a federal-wide draft. Deep condemnation of the Atlantic Alliance and Chinese Republic on alleged Eurasian Alliance actions against civilians is met with disregard by Moscow.
Intervention in Africa and South America: Militia, with the help of AA military and supplies, manages to put in power several dictators aligned to Holding-policies with terror and bloodshed (Mali, Mexico and Nigeria are well known examples).

2171:

Bolivarian War: the loose confederation named Bolivarian Alliance (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) enters with military force in Panama to stop the Militia-led coup against their ally, President Francisco Irureta Saez. Atlantic Alliance interests are at stake and the passage of Panama under a potentially enemy power would shake global trade. Therefore, AA, pushed by the Holding, decides to launch Mexico and its close allies, Honduras and Costa Rica, against Bolivarian forces. The war, with continuous attrition and without large engagements will continue for over five years.
Eurasian Alliance breakaway: War in Ukraine involves already the close Belarus Republic and the Novorussia Republic, Ukrainians continue to advance due to the bribes received by federal Generals, leaving Marshal Antonov alone in facing the rebel forces. A Holding-orchestrated campaign of international disrepute is carried out against Eurasian Alliance. The Amuria Republic declares its independence in Vladivostok. Atlantic Alliance warns Eurasian Alliance to stop military actions against rebels in Ukraine and Amuria, backed by the Chinese. Caucasus rebels in the Azeri Republic wave the Turkish flag aiming to receive help from their Turk brethren over the border.
French-German border dispute: Over 50 German military and civilians and 10 French border guards die in Flanders over a border dispute in the little town of De Panne. Grand Maréchal Renard orders the mobilization of the Army while the Bundeskanzler Stefan Boch keeps its cold blood. With the mediation of British PM Thomas Pilkington Germans and French resolve the dispute and sign a 20-years no aggression pact under Holding guidance.

2172:

Eurasian Conflict Escalation: After Atlantic Alliance gave its approval, Turkish troops invade Armenia Republic and drive the scarce Eurasian federal forces north, effectively occupying Armenia, Georgia and Azeri Republic. Eurasian Alliance officially declared war on the Atlantic Alliance.
Eurasian forces trespass polish border in a manoeuvre in Galicia against Ukrainian rebels and are met with the combined might of the German and Polish armies (Bundeskanzler Boch is a Holding puppet, Poland fears its eastern neighbour, as usual). British fleet enters the Baltic Sea and delivers bombings on Narva base, St. Petersburg, Riga and Klaipeda. Eurasian Alliance long-range bombers deliver nuclear fusion warheads on Berlin, Prague and Vienna killing over 5 million. This unifies again Western Europe against Eurasian Alliance: Italy, France and the German Confederacy sign a mutual defence agreement and declare war to Eurasian Alliance, joining the Atlantic Alliance front.
Israeli forces (AA ally) invade Eurasian-allied Syria disabling the Eurasian Mediterranean Fleet and their lot of nuclear warheads). Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok and Sakhalin, propping up the Amuria independence claim. General Militia-assisted removal of Eurasian-backed puppets across the world except for Iran (solidly Eurasian-aligned after 2166).

2173:

Eurasian Conflict: Karelian, Tatar, Georgian, Armenian, Azeri and Kazakh Republics declare their independence from Eurasian Alliance. American forces land in Kamchatka and join Japanese and Amurian forces against federal troops. Germans and Polish, backed by the Royal Navy and RAF enter Belarus. In Ukraine, Italian and French divisions join the Ukrainian delivering a serious blow to the Eurasian in the battle of Kiev. Turkish forces fight their way across the Caucasus but are met by stiff resistance from the Volga Republic, on the brink of secession too, but fearing the Turkish more than Moscow.
Iran invasion: India, supported by Militia forces, invades Iran and finally disposes of the hostile Hosseini government. In Iran, the new Militia branch named “Service” is created. Operating as secret police, quickly establishes its presence in all the Atlantic Alliance countries. Within a year, over 2 million Iranians are either killed in war or into Service operations.
Atlantic Alliance expansion: Germany, France, Italy and the rump Spanish government sign the renewal of their long-forgotten allegiance to the Atlantic Alliance. The Indian government, still headed by Parthasarthi Gopal, signs a friendship and forgiveness pact.

2174:

Eurasian Conflict: Volga Republic secedes from Eurasian Alliance and officially declares its allegiance to Atlantic Alliance to avoid Turkish invasion. German armoured spearheads are stopped by a desperate resistance attempt of Marshal Antonov in the Smolensk Battle. Engagements in Novorussia between Ukrainian and Federal troops stop as the Volga troops join the Ukrainians, pushing Federals to retreat further north.
China officially declares war to Eurasian Alliance to grab influence on Siberia and Central Asia, attacking from Uyghuristan and Mongolia. Eurasian nuclear bombers are stopped while flying over Sweden on their trip to London and Paris: the bombers are shot but a bomb explodes over Orebro, killing over half a million people.
Lunar and Martian Eurasian installations stop their resistance as they run out of supplies and ammunition, being annexed either by the Chinese Republic or Atlantic Alliance.
Service infiltration: To keep the countries in line against Eurasian Alliance, Service is deployed in Atlantic Alliance countries. With over 200k disappeared in the United States only, Service cleans up the opposition to the increasing authoritarianism.
Bolivarian War: Bolivarian Federation agrees on hosting a wing of Eurasian long-range bombers alerting the Atlantic Alliance and de facto grabbing also the United States on the Panama Channel battle. President Gordon Rhoades of the USA declares war on the Bolivarian Federation and signs the order of mobilization of over 2 million troops to be shipped to Costa Rica.

2175:

Eurasian Alliance dissolution: St. Petersburg falls to Karelian rebels supported by British paratroopers. German forces finally manage to break Marshal Antonov resistance in Smolensk, marching on Moscow. Knowing that all is lost, President Anatoly Voronin orders all the wings of long-range bombers to take off to wipe out treacherous Western Europeans in a nuclear cloud. Marshal Antonov decides to intervene and with a bloodless coup takes over as leader of the former Eurasian Alliance.
As a first act, Antonov declares the birth of the Russian Republic and the dissolution of the obligations of every republic to the oath of allegiance to the Eurasian Alliance. Eurasian partition gives birth to (in brackets the occupying power):

• Russia: Urals as eastern border, Volga to the south – capital: Moscow (autonomous)
• Novorussia: from Dnepr to Don – capital: Kharkov (autonomous)
• Volga: from Don to Volga and Caspian Sea – capital: Volgograd (AA)
• Tatarstan - capital: Kazan (autonomous)
• Belarus - capital: Minsk (German - AA)
• Ukraine – capital: Kiev (French – AA)
• Crimea – capital: Sevastopol (Italian – AA)
• Caucasian Federation - capital: Grozny (Turkish – AA)
• Armenia and Georgia Federation - capital: Tbilisi (Israel - AA)
• Azerbaijan – capital: Baku (Turkish – AA)
• Ural – capital: Ekaterinburg (autonomous)
• Turkmenistan – capital: Ashgabat (Turkish – AA)
• Oxus Federation – capital: Astana (Chinese)
• Siberia – capital: Novosibirsk (autonomous)
• Bajkalia – capital: Irkutsk (Chinese)
• Amuria – capital: Vladivostok (Japanese – AA)
• Baltic Federation – capital: Vilnius (British – AA)
• Karelia and Estonia province of Finn Union – capital: Helsinki (AA)
• Tajikistan and Afghanistan province of Persia – capital: Tehran (AA)

The partitions create several influence areas among the small states. The heartland of the former Eurasian Alliance (Russia, Novorussia and Ural) retains some autonomy while the other polities quickly fall under the influence of nearby powers already aligned to the Atlantic Alliance.
Bolivarian War: American combined arms invade Colombia with the landing of Barranquilla and the battle of Maracaibo lagoons. Mexican forces, assisted by American-provided air superiority, finally push Bolivarian forces out of the Panama channel region. Uprisings and revolts become more and more common in Bolivarian states as the blockade enforced by the Atlantic Alliance is starving the population. Moreover, Service has begun a strong infiltration tactic into the military and economic spheres of the Bolivarian Alliance.
Brazil is dragged into the war over the promise of a central role in Southern America, invading Venezuela from Guyana with over half a million troops. Bolivarian leadership collapsed after the Chilean alignment to the Atlantic Alliance and its related intervention, with the conquest of Tacna. The Bolivarian Alliance dissolves and it is occupied by Atlantic Alliance troops. Puppet regimes are established, and Militia and Service carry out an efficient removal of the former intelligentsia.

2176:

Fusion Engine for Space Flight: The fusion reactor is adapted and improved to be combined with space flight; the first experimental ships, developed by American scientists, reach peak speeds of about 0.05 c (about 15,000 km/s). It then becomes possible to reach the Moon and Mars without long periods of time: 3 days to go to the Moon and about 7 months to go to Mars.
The Grand Plan: Holding, now including Indian and Chinese corporations, put in charge the Board of developing a Grand Plan for World Dominance. The Board, analysing the available resources on Earth and the possible profits, deduces that there are at least 4 billion humans more than required. The Grand Plan aims to shrink the global population to 7 billion in 20 years. To perform such a decrease, a rigid contraception system is put in place, connected to strict eugenic reproductive modalities. Beyond the “overall improvement of Mankind physical and genetic traits” the physical elimination of people that cannot sustain themselves or add profit to the overall social utility begins to be encouraged in AA countries.

2177:

Atlantic Alliance expansion: All of Europe joins the Atlantic Alliance, including the Balkans. Brazil joins as an observer together with Plata Federation, Chile and East African Alliance.

2178:

Consolidation of Northern Africa: Thanks to the Holding and the Service pressure, Northern Africa is split among three major countries: Kingdom of Morocco (Morocco + Mauritania + Southern Sahara), Maghrebi Federation (Algeria + Tunisia + Libya) and Greater Egypt (Egypt + North Sudan). All these countries are on friendly terms with the Atlantic Alliance.
New Russia creation: The former Eurasian states of Russia, Ural, Novorussia and Siberia join their forces in the New Russian Federation, who signs a friendship agreement with the Atlantic Alliance.

2179:

Deportation Study: Service orchestrates a major transfer of prisoners (religious, rebels, handicapped) on 20 installations on Mars to study the effects of mass deportation and overpopulation in small areas. 17 out of the 20 installations fail within the first year with the death of all the prisoners either due to internal problems or the intervention of the Militia to stop their plan to get out. Installation 16, populated by religious, handicapped and ordinary people, survives, while installation 19, populated only by women, sees a hundred women out of more than 20,000 deportees survive the first year. From installation 20, on the other hand, due to an inefficient Militia, the traces of the more than 1,200 surviving prisoners are lost.
Southern America Union development: to easily overcome the difficulties of the reconstruction, the leaders of the former Bolivarian Federation join the Plata Federation and Chile in the talks for the creation of the Southern America Federation. The loose pact will develop within 2190 into a unified government. The Southern America Union is aligned to the Atlantic Alliance.

2180:

Global Entente declared: With the sign of the bilateral pact between the Atlantic Alliance and the Chinese Republic, the Global Entente is declared. A new world government is the goal of the pact and all the satellite and puppet states of both the Chinese Republic and Atlantic Alliance join the initiative. The pact promotes the election of a World Chancellor to oversee the efforts of world unification. The first appointed Chancellor is Mr. John Rodriguez, from the United States of America. The Board strictly steers the Global Entente and fosters its development and growth for its purposes.

2181:

Ebola pandemic: A heavy Ebola epidemic spreads throughout Africa and through intercontinental travel reaches almost all the world's metropolises. In two years, it claimed around 400 million victims (around 5% of world population), saved the Holding's employees, the rich and those who somehow managed to afford the very expensive vaccine produced by Bayer-Pfizer.

2182:

Global Entente expansion: Congo Union and Eastern African Alliance join as a full member of Global Entente followed by Brazil and Persia. New Russia and the Indian Union join as observers to the Global Entente. General consolidation of polities in supranational institutions such as the Arab League and the Danubian Entente (Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania).

2184:

Chao is appointed Chancellor: Mr Peter Chao, from Chinese Republic, is appointed Global Entente Chancellor replacing Mr. Rodriguez.

2185:

Genève is appointed as Global Entente Capital: Genève is appointed as Global Entente capital city as a compromise between Philadelphia and Shanghai and as a further compromise between Frankfurt, Paris and Rome in Europe. Global Entente gives itself a parliamentary body, the Global Assembly in which each member appoints an Ambassador. As the intermingling between Holding and Global Entente is deep rooted, Birth Control is launched as the 2nd Global Directive with a yearly goal of new born to be met across the member states every year.

2186:

Antimatter research resumption: Inside the former CERN laboratory in Genève, Antimatter research is resumed under the patronage of Global Entente.
Inmate deportation (15th Directive): Global Assembly decides, with the 15th Directive, to actively deport the prisoners (majority of whom are either rebels or people detained by the Service) to Mars. The new ships developed by General Ford Motors and Toyota-Mitsubishi would cater over 82 million people to Mars between 2190 and 2210. Holding companies took care of the process, gaining enormous profits and the Service used the program to furtherly test the stressful impact of the deportation on the inmates. The program managed to kill over 51 million people in 20 years due to food deprivation, inadequacy of the transport and of the Martian premises.
New Russia and India join Global Entente: after four years as observers, both the former defeated powers join the Global Entente as a full-fledged member. Arab League and the northern African countries join as observers.

2187:

The Year of Rage: highly exploited Persia and Congo Union see a spark of rioting against the so called “New Order” that quickly escalates in full scale uprisings. Moreover, Indonesia, who thought to improve its people's conditions by changing its banner from the Chinese to the Atlantic one, unilaterally retires its ambassador from Genève. Local troops cannot resist the rage of the rebels in Tehran and are overwhelmed. Militia is rapidly dispatched to the hot zones but reveals itself too small and inadequate to face the large-scale revolt without questions about its origins. Global Chancellor Chao presents the 217th Directive, the Military Foundation Act, which defines the creation of a Global Army financed by the Global Entente members.
The first deployment of the Global Army is Indonesia: over half a million Chinese soldiers supported by Japanese and Australian Navy invade the Country and ruthlessly destroy the power base of the defiant President Sapir Soegijapranata at the price of over 3 million dead. Persia and Congo are then invaded respectively by Turkish/Indian and South African/Brazilian troops and “pacified”.

2188:

Global Entente expansion: Arab League, Danubian Entente and former Eurasian polities join the Global Entente.

2189:

Echevarria is appointed Chancellor: Mr Carlos Echevarria, from Chilean Republic, is appointed Global Entente Chancellor replacing Mr. Chao. He appointed as his deputy Ms. Maria Juhasz from the Danubian Entente.

2190:

South American Union joins Global Entente: finally consolidated as a real political union, the South American Union joins officially the Global Entente.
Tuberculosis epidemic: a dangerous and deadly form of Tuberculosis starts in China and spreads across all the world. Holding is reluctant to deliver the vaccine and the new epidemic produces millions of deaths throughout the decade.

2191:

All the World is part of the Global Entente: with the final inclusion of Nigeria and minor Oceania polities into the Global Assembly the entire Earth is unified in a single political body.

2192:

Incorporation of Division: the Board authorizes the creation of the so-called “Division” as the main body for scientific and technological research. Quickly, the new branch overtakes the Service and the Militia, becoming a shadow body into Global Entente initiatives.
319th Directive: starting from 2193 any criminal offence, whatever the severity, is punished with the deportation on Martian colonies.
343rd Directive: a more severe approach to the 2nd Directive is instated: for each 100 new-borns, one will be taken by the Global Entente to be brought up as a civil servant (Diplomatic Corps, Education Corps, Science Corps and Peacekeeping Corps). The advertised purpose of the initiative is that in this way the more brilliant people will be educated to serve Mankind in a not-country biased perspective. Instead, the actual purpose of the Holding, manoeuvring the Global Assembly, is to create a reliable class of civil servants aligned to Division and Holding purposes.

2194:

Antimatter production at Genève: in the enlarged former CERN laboratories, a small amount of Antimatter is generated. The enormous costs sustained for its creation largely wipe out the benefits of its usage in a Matter-Antimatter reaction.
Casey is appointed Chancellor: Mr Edward Casey, from the United Kingdom, is appointed Global Entente Chancellor substituting Mr. Echevarria. He appoints as his deputy Mr. Kenji Nakamoto from the Japanese Empire.

2195:

Rebuilding of Delhi: in a sign of friendship, Atlantic Alliance leader Jonathan Weir and Indian Union Prime Minister Gour Rama put the first brick of the reconstruction. Delhi was wiped out by nuclear fusion weapons during the 3rd Martian War in 2168. During the 90s a general sense of appeasement and will to go over the last centuries of wars became widespread, helped by the Holding’s control of the media and by the strict measures against dissent carried out by both the Division and the Global Army.

2197:

Positronic brain invention: in the advanced labs of Osaka, doctor Akari Okumura finally manages to create the first positronic brain, enabling the start of the process leading to the Singularity. The breakthrough begins to be exploited carefully by the Holding companies while the Divisions quickly seizes the research and develops several laboratories to study on the matter.
Deputy Chancellor Nakamoto death: 82 yrs. old Deputy Chancellor Nakamoto dies of a heart stroke. Chancellor Casey substitutes him with Louis Anand, from the Indian Union.

2198:

Draft protest: according to the 217th Directive instituting the Global Army, a lot of countries provided part of their national military to the Global Army. The United States of America, the largest country of the Atlantic Alliance blocks the deployment of 250k troops from its national army to the Global Army to face the uprisings in the Caribbean. Deputy Anand resolves the issue with the United States defining a compensation framework for the countries offering their military services to the Global Army until the first troops of the Peacekeeping Force are ready (expected for 2210).
European transit network start: a common initiative between the government of German Confederacy, French Republic and Italian Republic starts: the largest cities will be connected by a vacuum tube network that will enable vactrains to connect cities at the speed of 1.600 km/h, de facto air transportation. Holding manages to move its positions in the air industry to the new technology providers and operators, minimizing losses and maximizing profits. Within 50 years, all the world would be connected by the Vactrain network enabling high speed transportation for goods and passengers.

2199:

Anand is appointed Chancellor: Mr Louis Anand, from Indian Union, is appointed Global Entente Chancellor replacing Mr. Casey. He appoints as his deputy Ms. Inge Sveinsson from the United Kingdom of Scandinavia.
Hipparchus reactor project: Global Entente finances the XonEnergy (heir to one of the largest oil conglomerates of the 20th Century) project of a Matter-Antimatter (MA) refinery on the Hipparchos crater on the Moon. The refinery aims to use the largest fusion power reactor ever made to fuel the biggest particle accelerator (60 km of diameter). Leveraging on the cheap labour provided by deported colonist, the project ramps up quickly,

2200:

354th Directive – Mars Terraforming: In order to enhance the slow process of colonization on Mars and to ease the overpopulation issue on Earth, the 354th Directive obliges that every year, about 1 million Terrans between 18 and 30 years must move to Mars into new colonies. The colonies, created as large domes of around 10 km in diameter, including hydroponic farmlands and a small, precast central colony structure. The domes will be powered by an efficient nuclear fusion reactor and will have an artificial atmosphere. Low gravity is not considered as an issue during the build-up phase. Each Dome is expected to host over 200.000 colonists. The general contractor for the great endeavour is a partnership of the major corporations, led by General Ford Motors, XonEnergy and Bosch-Samsung. The indentured servants (former inmates and felons) of Mars will be the labour force for the Plan.
Deputy Chancellor Sveinsson resign: Deputy Chancellor Sveinsson resigns from her position because of her contrariety about 354th Directive. Chancellor Anand substitutes her with Mr. George Papadopoulos, from Hellenic Republic.

I took some from lists and I haven't revised everything so it's a bit fucked up
Modern Black American names
Feminine names:
Aaliyah - Noble, Elevated, Exulted, sublime, elevated, lofty, high
Adelaide
Alexis
Aniyah - (Arabic: Urdu language)Caring;Guardian And Protector;Affectionate;One Who Consoles Others;One Who Helps Others; (Russian) Grace
Beyonce
Brianna
Cassietta
Chantelle
Cleotha
Deiondre
Dericia
Destiny
Elijah
Ebony
Gaynelle
Harriyanna - (I don't think it's a real name, it's just a neat reference to a youtuber I like :)
Kacondra
Kalisha
Kanesha
Kaylen
Keilantra
Kendis
Keshon
Keysha
Kiyana
Lachelle
Lacresha
Ladonna
Lakin
Lanelle
Laquanna
Laqueta
Laquinta
Lashawn
Latanya
Latonya
Latoya
Mekell
Moesha
Muncel
Najwa
Nakeisha
Nichelle
Niesha
Nikita - Unconquered, unconquerable
Quanella
Quanesha
Quisha
Ranielle
Ronnell
Seanna
Shandra
Shanelle - Canal, Pipe
Shaniya - God is gracious
Shaquana
Shateque
Sidone
Talaitha
Talisa
Talisha
Tamika
Tamira
Tamyra
Tanasha
Tandice
Tanginika
Taniel
Tanisha
Tanisha
Tariana
Temima
Timberly
Tyesha
Tyrell
Tyrina
Tyronica
Velinda
Wyetta
Yetty
​
Masculine names:
Elijah
Hakeem
Jamal
Jeremiah
Xavier
Treyvon
Malachiah
Isaiah
Jayden
Jaylen
Jordan
Justus - justice
Khalil
Lemarcus
Lamonte
Malik
Deion
Deiondre
Dele
Denzel
Dewayne
Dikembe
Duante
Jamar
Jevonte
Kadeem
Kendis
Kentay
Keshawn
Khalon
Kofi
Kwamin
Kyan
Kyrone
La Vonn
Lado
Laken
Lakista
Lamech
Lavaughn
LeBron
Lisimba
Ludacris
Mablevi
Marques
Mashawn
Montraie
Mykelti
Nabulung
Naeem
Napoleon
Obiajulu
Quaashie
Quaddus
Quadrees
Quannell
Quarren
Quashawn
Quintavius
Quoitrel
Raimy
Rashon
Razi
Roshaun
Runako
Salim
Cleotha
Shaquille
Shevon
Shontae
Sulaiman
Tabansi
Tabari
Tamarius
Tavarius
Tavon
Tevaughn
Tevin
Trory
Tyrell
Uba
Ulan
Uzoma
Vandwon
Vashon
Veltry
Verlyn
Voshon
Xayvion
Xyshaun
Yobachi
Zaid
Zareb
Zashawn
​
Victorian names(1837-1901):
Feminine:
Aleen
Alida
Alma
Dixie
Edith
Eleanor
Ella
Eugenie
Evangeline
Flora
Henrietta
Hope
Jane
Jennings
Katti
Loyola
Martha
Maud
Maude
Philippa
Rheta
​
Masculine:
Albertus
Alonzo
August
Axel
Bajo
Bernarr
Boris
Cai
Camillo
Comfort
Constantine
Cuno
Edgar
Edmond
Edouard
Emanuel
Emile
Felix
Gaston
Hamish
Hardee
Harley
Harry
Harvey
Korbinian
Magnus
Maxim
Miles
Ren
Rhody
Romaine
Samuel
Scott
Sewell
Solon
​
Read this first Up until the Meiji Restoration female names where mostly written in kana, kanji were used in names of females in the imperial and aristocratic families and in the edo period also in samurai families and by the educated class, but for lowerclass women they where somewhat taboo.
Since kana are meaningless, its different from kanji, where with kanji we can know the meaning just looking at what characters where used.
Katakana was also the most common, then hiragana and then kanji. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322803357_Chrysanthemum_Pine_and_Crane-Female_Names_of_Meiji_Period_Japan
​
Edo Period names(1603-1867)
Feminine:
あぐり, Aguri - Excess, remainder (餘) - Kanji variations(affects the meaning): https://japanese-names.info/first-name/aguri-2/
あい, Ai - 愛(Ai): Love - Kanji variations(affects the meaning): https://japanese-names.info/first-name/ai-2/
あか, Aka - 赤(Aka)： Red
あき, Aki - (Probably)秋(Aki): Autumn
あま, Ama - (Possibly)甘(Ama): sweet
あね, Ane - Older sister
あさ, Asa - (Possibly)朝(Asa): morning 浅(Asa): shallows of a river
ばば, Baba - (Possibly)婆(Baba): old woman(indicating a wish that the bearer will live to an august old age.)
べん, Ben
びん, Bin
ぼう, Bō
ちき, Chiki
ちま, Chima
ちん, Chin
ちよ,千代,千世, Chiyo - A thousand generations, forever
ちょう, Chō - (Possibly)蝶(Chou): butterfly 長(Chou): long
でん, Den
ふで, Fude - 筆(Fude): writing brush
ふぢ,藤, Fuji, Fudji - 藤(Fuji): Wisteria. Wisteria is also a symbol of filial piety.
ふく, Fuku - 福(Fuku): good fortune
ふめ, Fume -
ふり, Furi - 振(Furi): hanging sleeve, referring to the fluttering sleeves worn by women.(per example, Furisode is a kimono with hanging sleeves)
ふそ, Fuso
ふつ, Futsu
げん, Gen - (Probably)元(Gen): source, origin
ぎん, Gin - 銀(Gin): silver, connoting a character as strong as metal.
はま, Hama Shore or coastline (濱, 浜)
はな, Hana - 花 Flower
はる, Haru Spring (春), or peace, tranquility (治)
はつ, Hatsu - Probably "first, beginning" (初).
へや, Heya
ひいな, Hiina - (Possibly) 雛(Hina): chick, doll, cute little thing
ひき, Hiki
ひこ, 彦, Hiko 彦(Hiko): elegant, handsome, learned, accomplished. Originally a common element of aristocratic men's names.
ひめ, Hime 姫 姫: Princess or high-ranking woman, an aristocratic title used as a complete name. It was in use as a personal name as early as 793.
ひん, Hin
ひぬ, Hinu
ひさ, Hisa 久(Hisa): A long time , long-lived, enduring
ひつ, Hitsu
ひわ, Hiwa
ほそ, Hoso Little, dainty, 細?
ほつ, Hotsu
いち, Ichi (Probably) 一(Ichi): one, first; or 市(Ichi): marketplace. The 市 kanji was often used in men's names as a replacement for the 一 kanji, possibly because the 一 kanji was too easy to secretly turn into another kanji. ("Sorry, Ichirou, the contract clearly states the cow belongs to Saburou.") Because of this history, a girl named Ichi who wrote her name "市" might be named after the marketplace near where she was born, or she might be her parents' first daughter.
いく, Iku
いま, Ima 今(Ima): Now. Ima was in use as early as 1572 as a standalone name, and was a female name element much earlier.
いな, Ina (Possibly) 稲: springing shoots of rice, implying a nurturing nature.
いね, Ine (Possibly) 稲: springing shoots of rice, implying a nurturing nature.
いの, Ino
いぬ, Inu Dog (犬), connoting faithfulness and loyalty. A popular name given to girls born in the Year of the Dog. The name was in use by 1332, and was relatively common in the 1600's, but rare by the 1800's.
いり, Iri
いさ, Isa
いせ, Ise - 伊勢 The temple of Ise
いし, Ishi - Stone (石), connoting firmness of character. Ishi was an element in female commoners' names by 1332.
いそ, Iso -
いと, Ito - Thread (糸)
いわ, Iwa - Boulder, rock (岩), connoting firmness of character. The name was in use as early as 1572, pronounced Iha.
かち, Kachi - Possibly "victory" (勝)
かく, Kaku
かま, Kama - Sickle (鎌)
亀, かめ, Kame - Turtle, a symbol of longevity. The turtle was believed to live for ten thousand years. This name was in use by 1332, and remained popular until the 1800's. By the late 1800's, some educated Japanese considered it vulgar, but it was still in occasional use.
かん, Kan
かな, Kana - Gold (金)
かね, Kane - Gold, metal (金). Kane was an element in female commoners' names by 1332.
兼, Kane - Doubly accomplished. From the verb kaneru, meaning "to do two things at the same time." Kane was an element in female names by 1155.
かる, Karu
かせ, Kase
かつ, KatsuVictory (勝)
かわ, Kawa - Probably "river (川)"
かや, Kaya
かよ, Kayo
けさ, Kesa
けさい, Kesai
きち, Kichi - Possibly "good fortune, good luck (吉)"
きく, 菊, Kiku - Chrysanthemum, an autumn flower that was a symbol of longevity. Drinking dew from a chrysanthemum was believed to bring you long life, or even (in legend) eternal youth. Kiku was one of the most common Japanese names until at least the end of the 19th century, and continues to be popular as an element in geishas' names.
きん, Kin - Gold (金); also means "metal" or "wealth." The name connotes a character as strong as metal.
きな, Kina
きぬ, Kinu - Silk (絹)
きり, Kiri
きさ, Kisa
Kitsu きつ
Kiyo きよ Pure, clean, clear, bright (清). Purity was an extremely important concept for medieval and Edo-era Japanese, and "kiyo," meaning physical and spiritual purity, was one of the strongest words for purity. Kiyo remained a popular name (or name root) well into the 20th century.
Kō かう (archaic) River (川)
Kogō こがう (archaic spelling) A Heian name that was more common at the beginning of the 17th century and largely obsolete by the end of the century. The most famous bearer was a 12th-century lady named 小督, "little leader," a favorite of Emperor Takakura who was a famously skilled biwa player. The story of her love affair with Takakura was made into a Nō play named after her.
Koku こく
Koma こま Filly or pony (駒), a name given to girls born in the Year of the Horse. Koma was an element of female names as early as 793.
Kome こめ Cooked rice
Kona こな
Koro ころ
Koya こや
Koyo こよ
Kuchi くち
Kuma くま Bear (熊), a symbol of bravery and strength.
Kume くめ Everlasting rice (久米 , 粂), with the connotation of everlasting wealth. Could also be spelled 九目, sevenfold foresight (lit. seven + eye, seeing).
Kuni くに Province (國, 邦)
Kura くら Storehouse (蔵, 倉). In a country whose light wooden houses were regularly leveled by storms and fire, the heavily built, fireproof storehouse was essential. Kura is sometimes translated as "treasure-house" to reflect its importance, but even humble families would have kura to protect their food supplies and to shelter in during storms.
Kuri くり Sweet chestnut (栗). Harvesting chestnuts was a late-autumn pastime, and the nuts were eaten roasted or made into a variety of sweets. Because chestnuts were associated with the late autumn, I wouldn't be surprised if this name were given to girls born when chestnuts were in season.
Kuro くろ Black (黒), possibly referring to the alluring blackness of the woman's hair.
Kusu くす
Kuu くふ (archaic)
Kuwa くわ Mulberry tree (桑). Mulberry leaves were essential to the production of silk, and the berries were used for everything from making liquor to dyeing cloth.
Kuyo くよ
Machi まち Possibly "town, street" (町), a name element in use in women's names as early as 1147.
Magi まぎ
Maki まき Possibly "pasture" (牧).
Mako まこ
Man まん, 萬 Ten thousand, a name reflecting the hope that the bearer (or their family line) will live for ten thousand years.
Mane まね
Mare まれ
Mari まり Possibly "ball" (鞠)
Masa まさ, 牧 Pasture. Could also mean "correct, righteous" (正) or "elegant" (雅).
Mashi まし
Mata また Possibly "again, twice" (又).
Mate まて Possibly "Wait!", an order given to the child to convince her to stay (that is, to not die).
Matsu まつ, 松 Pine tree, a symbol of longevity, steadfastness, and faithful friendship in the face of adversity. In use in female names by 1147, Matsu was one of the most popular names or name elements from the medieval era through the beginning of the 20th century.
Mego めご Possibly "love (愛)" or "girl (女子)." A rare name that died out by the end of the 17th century.
Mimi みみ
Mina みな
Mine みね Possibly "peak, summit" (峰), implying eminence.
Mino みの Possibly "straw rain cloak" (蓑).
Mitsu みつ Light, shining (光), an element of female names as early as 1147.
Miya みや, 宮 Shrine, an element of female names as early as 793.
Mochi もち
Moku もく
Momo もも
One hundred (百), a name reflecting the wish that the bearer will live for a hundred years.
​
Can also mean "peach" (), a symbol of longevity and female desirability. This meaning was much less common in the 1600's than the "one hundred" meaning.
​
Muma むま Horse (馬). A Heian-era (9th-12th century) pronunciation of "Uma" that was retained as a name. Given to girls born in the Year of the Horse.
Mume むめ Plum blossom (梅). A Heian-era (9th-12th century) pronunciation of "Ume" that was retained as a name.
Musu むす Possibly "to steam" (蒸), referring to steaming food.
Mutsu むつ Possibly "six" (六).
Nabe なべ Cooking pot (鍋). Commonly used as a name for maidservants as well as a name given at birth.
Nagu なぐ
Nai ない
Naka なか Middle, midmost (中), often meaning the bearer was middle-born or mid-ranking.
Nana なな, 七, 寧々 Seven (七) or tranquil (寧々)
Natsu なつ Summer (夏), often given to girls born in summer. In use as a female name element by 1147, and given as a standalone name by 1428.
Nei ねい
Neko ねこ
Nene ねね, 禰々
Nene dates to at least the 1400's. During the Edo period it was usually written in hiragana, but originally it had three spellings: 禰々 or 禰禰, meaning "ancestral shrine" or "oracle," 寧々 or 寧寧, meaning "tranquil," and 子々 or 子子, referring to the zodiacal sign of the Rat. (When the 子 kanji is pronounced "ne," it refers to the Rat.) When Nene meant "ancestral shrine" or "tranquil" it could be given to any girl, but it was also a zodiacal name given to girls born in the Year of the Rat.
​
Niga にが
Niku にく
Nino にの
Niwa にわ Possibly "garden" (庭).
Oma おま
Ona おな
Osa おさ
Oshi おし
Ota おた
Oto 乙, おと, をと Second, probably a name given to second-born girls.
Rin りん
Riyo りよ
Roku ろく, 六 Six
Run るん
Rusu るす
Sago さご
Sai さい Years of age (才). The same kanji and pronunciation can mean "talented," as well.
Saka さか
Saki さき Cape, promontory (岬)
Sako さこ
Saku さく Work, harvest (作)
Sama さま
Same さめ
San さん
Sana さな
Sani さに
Saru さる, 猿 Monkey. Given to girls born in the Year of the Monkey. Waned in popularity by the end of the century.
Satsu さつ, 札
Sawa さわ Marsh (沢)
Saya さや
Sechi せち
Seki せき Possibly "stone" (石).
Sen せん, 千 One thousand, a name referring to longevity.
Senu せぬ
Shige しげ
Shima しま, 志ま Island (島)
Shime しめ Possibly "total, totality" (乄).
Shimo しも Possibly "frost" (霜).
Shina しな Goods, possessions (品). The same kanji can connote refinement and dignity.
Shino しの Possibly "slender bamboo" (篠), a species of bamboo.
Shio しお, 塩, しを, しほ (archaic) Salt, a symbol of purification.
Shō しやう (archaic) Victory (勝)
Shuu せう (archaic) Victory (勝)
Some そめ Dye, dyer (染). Dyeing was central to Japanese style, and mention of dyes implied lots of rich, bright color.
Sue すへ (archaic), すゑ (archaic) "Last" or "end" (末), a name indicating the parents' hope that they will have no more children. Despite the unevocative meaning, this name was sometimes one of the most popular—or at least the most common—girls' names.
Sugi すぎ Cedar (椙). The name has associations of constancy and straightforwardness.
Suka すか
Suke すけ Helper (助)
Suki すき Possibly "beloved" (好).
Suko すこ
Suma すま
Sumi 墨 Black ink.
Suna すな
Suo すほ (archaic)
Sute すて Foundling (捨), a name that remained very common until the end of the 19th century. Lafcadio Hearn, writing at the end of the 19th century, explains:
Not necessarily a real foundling. Sometimes the name may be explained by a curious old custom. In a certain family several children in succession die shortly after birth. It is decided, according to traditional usage, that the next child born must be exposed. A girl is the next child born;—she is carried by a servant to some lonely place in the fields, or elsewhere, and left there. Then a peasant, or other person, hired for the occasion (it is necessary that he should be of no kin to the family), promptly appears, pretends to find the babe, and carries it back to the parental home. "See this pretty foundling," he says to the father of the girl,—"will you not take care of it?" The child is received, and named "Suté," the foundling. By this innocent artifice, it was formerly (and perhaps in some places is still) supposed that those unseen influences, which had caused the death of the other children, might be thwarted.
Take たけ, 竹 Bamboo, a symbol of longevity and uprightness. Bamboo is associated with the summer, but is also prized for its ability to endure throughout the seasonal round.
Tama たま Jewel (玉)
Tan たん Possibly "vermilion, red (丹)"
Tane たね
Tatsu たつ The zodiacal sign of the Dragon (辰), a symbol of good fortune, success, and wealth. Girls born in the Year of the Dragon could be named Tatsu, but the name was also given to girls born in any other year.
Ten てん
Toku 徳, とく Virtue
Toma とま
Tome とめ "Stop" (留), a name reflecting the parents' wish to have no more children. Despite the unevocative meaning, this name was sometimes one of the most popular—or at least the most common—girls' names. It was also given to boys as an element of their childhood name (Tomejirou, Tomematsu, etc.), but most men shed it when they changed their name in their late teens or early 20's.
Tone とね
Tora とら, 虎 Tiger, a name implying the tiger's bravery. A popular name that could be given to girls born in the Year of the Tiger, but was also given to girls born in any other year.
Tori とり, 鳥 Bird. Given to girls born in the Year of the Rooster.
Totsu とつ
Towa とわ
Toyo とよ Abundance (豊)
Tsubo つぼ
Tsuchi つち
Tsuji つじ
Tsuka つか
Tsuma つま Possibly "wife" (妻)
Tsuna つな Possibly "rope, bond (綱)," a name that implies control.
Tsune つね Constancy (恒)
Tsuru つる, 鸛 Crane, a symbol of longevity. Cranes were believed to live for a thousand years. This name was in use as early as 1332, and remained popular until the early 20th century.
Tsushi つし
Tsuta つた Possibly "ivy" (蔦).
Tsuya つや Possibly "beauty, charm" (艶).
Uba うば
Uma うま Horse (馬). Given to girls born in the Year of the Horse.
Ume うめ Plum blossom
Uno 卯の Rabbit. A name given to girls born in the Year of the Rabbit. Uncommon, and less popular toward the end of the century.
Ushi 牛, うし Cow, ox; a symbol of physical strength. Given to girls born in the Year of the Ox. Less common toward the end of the century.
Uta うた Song, poem
Yama やま Possibly "mountain" (山).
Yasu やす Peace, tranquility (康)
Yaya やや Double prosperity (彌々). A popular name in the 1500's and the early 1600's, but obsolete by the end of the century.
Yen ゑん
Yome よめ Possibly "bride" (嫁).
Yone よね, 米 Cleaned, uncooked grains of rice. (The rice you buy at the store is yone.) Because rice was used as currency, "yone" has a connotation of wealth. It was an element in women's names as early as 1147.
Yono よの
Yoshi よし Good (良)
Yoso よそ
Yote よて
Yuki ゆき Possibly "happiness" (幸) or "snow" (雪).
Yura ゆら
Yuri ゆり
Yuwa ゆわ
​
Meiji Period names(1868-1912) (there's still no meiji period names lololol)
Feminine:
​
​
​
Taishou Period names(1912-1926)
Feminine:
千代, チヨ, Chiyo - 千: thousand 代: the world, age
ハル,はる, Haru - 春（Haru）： spring
ハナ,はな, Hana - 花(Hana): flower
正子,マサコ, Masako - 正: right, 子: child
文子,フミコ, Fumiko - 文: literature, 子: child
ヨシ,よし, Yoshi - good, right
千代子,チヨコ, Chiyoko - 千: a thousand 代: the world, age, 子: child
キヨ,きよ, Kiyo - clear, clarity, refreshing, clean, pure
静子,セイコ, Seiko - 静: quiet, 子: child
​
Masculine:
正一,ショウイチ,Shōichi - 正: right, 一: one, first
清,キヨシ,Kiyoshi - 清: clear, clarity, refreshing, clean, pure
正雄,マサオ, Masao - 正: right, 雄: male
正夫,マサオ, Masao - 正: right, 夫: husband
正, タダシ, Tadashi - 正：right
茂,シゲル, Shigeru - 茂: rich and beautiful
武雄, たけお, Takeo - 武: samurai, 雄: male
正治,マサハル, Masaharu - 正: right, 治: governing
三郎,サブロウ, Saburō - 三: three, third, 郎: a young man
一郎, イチロウ, Ichirō - 一: one, first, 郎: a young man
​
Russian names:
Feminine:
​
София, Sofia - Wisdom
Анастасия, Anastasia - Resurrection
Елизавета, Elizaveta(Elizabeth) -
Дарья, Дария, Daria -
Алиса, Alisa(Alice) -
-
Никита, Nikita - Unconquered, unconquerable, victory
Виктория, Viktorija(Victoria) - Victory
Ника, Nika - Victory
Броня, Bronya - Armor
Александра, Aleksandra - To ward off, to protect
Вероника, Veronika - Victory bringer
Валерия, Valeriya - To be healthy and strong
Александровна, Aleksandrevna - Defender of men
Изолда, Izolda - Ice battle
Маня, Manya - Rebellious
Клементина, Klementina - Merciful
Галина, Galina - Healer
---------------------------------------------------------
​
Полина, Polina - Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun, music and poetry
​
​
Екатерина, Ekaterina -
Ксения, Ksenia - (Greek meaning)Hospitality, friendship
Арина, Arina - The Greek godness of peace
Милана, Milana - Favored
Ульяна, Ulyana - Youthful
Ева, Eva -
Кира, Kira - Mistress, ruler
--------------------------------------------------
Дина, Dina - Judgment
Вера, Vera - Faith, truth
Наташа, Natasha - Born on Christmas day
Николаевна, Nikolaevna - Belonging to God
Миша, Mischa - Who is like God
Михайловна, Mikhailevna - Who is like God
Кристина, Kristina - Follower of Christ
Ксана, Ksana - Praise of God
Таисия, Taisiya - Beautiful, divine
Ольга, Olga - Blessed, holy
Лелия, Lelyah - Holy
Ангелина, Angelina - Angel
Анжелика, Anzhelika - Angel
Алёна, Alyona - Bright and shining light
Алина, Alina - Light
Люся, Lucya - Light
Клара, Klara - Light
Фаина, Faina - Shining
Елена, Elena - Shining light
Хелина, Helina - Light of the sun
Лена, Lena - Ray of Light
искра, Iskra - Spark
Алла, Alla - Ascend
Инесса, Inessa - Pure
Агния, Agnia - Pure
Катя, Katia - Pure
Катюша, Katjusha - Little pure one
Ка́тя, Katya - Perfect, pure
Афанасия, Afanasiia - Immortal
--
Маргарита, Margarita - Daisy
Лилия, Liliya - Lily
Анфиса, Anfisa - Flowering
​
Диана, Diana -
Юлия, Yulia -
Агафья, Agafya - Good, noble
Плакать, Aglaya - Good
Авдотья, Avdotya - Good
Дария, Dariya - One who is good
Агата, Agata - Virtuous
​
Аника, Anika - Grace
Аничка, Anitchka - Grace
Анушка, Anoushka Grace
Нина, Nina - Grace
Майя, Maya - Gracious
Мила, Mila - Gracious
​
​
Антонина, Antonina - Beyond praise
Доминика, Dominika - Born on Sunday
Эмма, Emma - Whole
эсфирь, Esfir - Star
Эвелина, Evelina - Life
Евгения, Evgeniya - Noble
Груша, Grusha - Majestic
Инна, Inna - Stream
​
Елена, Jelena - Deer
Акилина, Akilina - Eagle
​
Кавья, Kavya - Poem
​
​
​
Ксения, Kseniya - Foreigner
Лада, Lada - Love
Лариса, Larisa - Citatel
​
​
​
Лидия, Lidiya - Woman from Lydia
​
Люда, Luda - Love of the people
Людмила, Ludmila - Love of the people
Любовь, Lyubov - Love
​
Маргарита, Margarita - Pearl
Маргоша, Margosha - Pearl
Марина, Marina - From the sea
Мариночка, Marinochka - From the sea
Марта, Marta - Lady
Матрона, Matrona - Lady
​
Наталья, Natalya - Birthday
​
​
Лия, Lia - Weary
Кла́вдия, Klavdiya - Lame
Аграфена, Agrafena - Born feet-first
Капитоли́на, Kapitolina - Big-headed
Варвара, Varvara - Strange, foreign
​
Masculine:
Никита, Nikita - Unconquered, unconquerable, victory
​
Italian names:
Feminine:
Chiara
Nicole
Sofia
Angelica
Tristezza - Means sadness
Tristana - Means sad
Masculine:
Valter
Tristano
Gregorio
​
Old people names, Brazilian:
Feminine:
Ada
Adriana
Alessandra
Aline
Amélia
Andreia
Andréa
Antônia
Aparecida
Arabela
Catarina
Cecília
Charlotte
Clarice
Cláudia
Cristiane
Dulce
Edite
Edvania
Elaine
Eliane
Francisca
Fátima
Graziela
Graça
Inês
Isabel
Isolda
Kátia
Liliana
Luciana
Margarida
Marlene
Matilde
Márcia
Patrícia
Priscila
Rita
Rosa
Rosângela
Rute/Ruth
Sandra
Sara
Silvana
Simone
Sônia
Teodora
Tereza
Vera
Helena
Valentine
Maria Cecília
Heloísa
Maria Helena
Antonella
Maria Luíza
Manuela
Eloá
Maya
Tânia
Estherlane
Jackeline
Márcia
Roberta
Gisele
Dorinha(Dora)
Sandra
Leila
Vilma
Cleide
Thaissa
Marilene
Lucicleide
​
Masculine:
Adaiso
Adelson
Afonso
Adones
Osmar
Alberto
Alexandre
André
Antônio
Bento
Carlos
Cláudio
Domingos
Edgar
Edson
Ernesto
Fernando
Flávio
Francisco
Fábio
Gaspar
Geraldo
Gustavo
Joaquim
José
João
Juliano
Leonardo
Luciano
Luciano
Luiz
Luiz Antônio
Luiz Fernando
Luís
Manoel
Marcelo
Marcos
Marcos Antônio
Mauro
Márcio
Nuno
Paulo
Raimundo
Renato
Ricardo
Roberto
Rogério
Rui
Sebastião
Sérgio
Tiago
Walter
Gabriel
Benício
Anthony
Bernardo
Pedro Henrique
Evandro
Lenildo
Jaime
Jaimes
Waldir
Geraldo
Jorge
Silvio
Silvério
Marcelo
Hélio
Monteiro
Gilberto
Lázaro
Alberto
Astor
Juvêncio
Rubens
Gercino
Dauri
Dionir
Décio
Nelson
Alcino
​
Chinese Names:
Feminine:
七七 Qiqi
芷若 Zhi Ruo
美 Mei - 美=Beaulty
老夜 Lao Ye
​
​
Brazilian names:
Feminine:
Ada
Adriana
Alessandra
Aline
Amélia
Ana
Ana Carolina
Ana Cláudia
Ana Cristina
Ana Paula
Andreia
Andréa
Antônia
Aparecida
Arabela
Camila
Carla
Carolina
Catarina
Cecília
Charlotte
Clarice
Cláudia
Cristiane
Cristina
Daiane
Daniela
Dulce
Débora
Edite
Edvania
Elaine
Eliane
Emma
Fabiana
Fernanda
Flávia
Francisca
Fátima
Gabriela
Graziela
Graça
Helena(a reluzente, a resplandecente)
Inês
Isabel
Isolda
Janaína
Juliana
Kátia
Liliana
Luciana
Maitê(amável, amada, senhora do verão ou soberana que colhe o que cultiva)
Margarida
Maria
Marina
Marlene
Matilde
Morgana
Márcia
Mônica
Natália
Patrícia
Paula
Priscila
Renata
Rita
Roberta
Rosa
Rosângela
Rute/Ruth
Sandra
Sara
Silvana
Simone
Sílvia
Sônia
Tatiana
Teodora
Teresa
Tereza
Vanessa
Vera
Vitória
Viviane
Jéssica
Bruna
Amanda
Camila
Juliana
Fernanda
Luana
Maria Alice
Alice
Laura
Maria Clara
Maria Júlia
Liz
Sophia
Júlia
Maria Eduarda
Lorena
Valentina
Valentine
Maria Cecília
Heloísa
Maria Helena
Antonella
Maria Luíza
Manuela
Eloá
Maya
Joelma
Tânia
Estherlane
Jackeline
---------------------------
Masculine:
Adaiso
Adelson
Afonso
Alberto
Alexandre
André
Antônio
Caio
Carlos
Cláudio
Domingos
Edgar
Edson
Eduardo
Ernesto
Felipe
Fernando
Flávio
Francisco
Fábio
Gaspar
Geraldo
Guilherme
Gustavo
Hélio
Ivan
Joaquim
Jorge
José
João
Juliano
Leonardo
Luciano
Luiz
Luiz Antônio
Luiz Fernando
Luís
Manoel
Marcelo
Marcos
Marcos Antônio
Mauro
Márcio
Nuno
Paulo
Rafael
Raimundo
Renato
Ricardo
Rodrigo
Rogério
Rui
Sebastião
Sérgio
Tiago
Vinicius
Walter
Gaspar
Lucas
Bruno
Mateus
Paulo
Gael
Miguel
Arthur
Heitor
Theo
Davi
Samuel
Ravi
João Miguel
Noah
Pedro
Lorenzo
Isaac
Enzo Gabriel
Lucas
Joaquim
Henrique
Nicolas
João Pedro
João Lucas
Gabriel
Benício
Anthony
Bernardo
Pedro Henrique
Joel
Evandro
Lenildo
Jaime
Jaimes
Waldir
Geraldo
Jorge
Silvio
Silvério
Marcelo
Hélio
Monteiro
Gilberto
Lázaro
Alberto
Astor
Juvêncio
Rubens
Gercino
Dauri
Dionir
Décio
Nelson
Alcino
​
Joke names:
English:
Mike Hawk Hertz
Jenna Tolls
Rachel Slurres
Ms. Ogynie
Jenna Side
Connie Munism
Trance jenner
Etah Rich/Eda Rich
Anne Tifasheese
Neil O'liber
Michael Wave(Microwave)
Mike O'font(microphone)
Saul Goodman(It's all good, man)
Katy Young Smith(KYS)
​
​
Portuguese:
Benjamin Arrola
Tomas Turbano
H.Romeu Pinto
Doutora Mifa Laram
​
正一,ショウイチ,Shōichi - 正: right, 一: one, first
Japanese names:
Feminine:
光, ヒカリ, ひかり, Hikari - light
美海, ハルカ, Haruka -
永, ハルカ, Haruka - 永 means "forever and ever."
春桜, ハルカ, Haruka - 春 means "spring", 桜 means "cherry blossoms."
玄, ハルカ, Haruka - 玄 means "expert.
喜香, ハルカ, Haruka - 喜 means "joy", 香 means "incense."
始加, ハルカ, Haruka - 始 means "begins", 加 means "addition."
始花, 始華, ハルカ, Haruka - 始 means "begins", 花 means "flower", 華 means "flower."
雪, ユキ, Yuki - 雪 means "snow."
雪華, ユキナ - Yukina - 雪 means "snow", 華 means "flower."
​
Fictional names(made up names, names that aren't used for people and etc):
三毛子, Mikeko - A cute way to say "Calico Cat" in japanese, the more neutral version is 三毛猫(Mikeneko), but it's not bad at all! It's just that Mikeko sounds more intimate like it's a cat you like or know :3
Cartola("Top hat" in portuguese)
Watersprout, Dust Devil, Fire Devil
​
Dark/Gothic and etc names:
Feminine:
Gossamer – a film of cobwebs.
Inclementia – from the Latin meaning cruelty.
Perdita – from the Latin meaning lost.
Pestilentia – meaning infectious disease(pestilence).
Solanine – a type of poison found in nightshade(flower).
Tristezza – an Italian word meaning sadness
(gods&religious):
Kalma – the Finnish god of death and decay.
Kali – Hindu goddess of doomsday and death.
Lilith – a demon in Jewish mythology, the first wife of Adam. It's derived from the Akkadian word lilitu meaning “of the night.”
Naenia – the Roman goddess of funerals.
بدريه,Badriyah – from the Arabic, meaning full moon.
Ebony - dark, english origin
​
Masculine:
Hemlock – a type of poison that famously killed Socrates.
Draven – of the raven.
(gods&religious):
Astaroth – the Grand Duke of hell.
Azrael – the Islamic angel of death.
Necro – relating to death.(self explanatory, I assume.)
Hadrian - a Latin name meaning dark haired
Donovan - dark, Irish origin
​
Names that mean dark:
Feminine:
Ebony
​
Masculine:
Hadrian - a Latin name meaning dark haired
Cole - Swarthy, coal black
Blake - Black, dark, fair-haired
Colton - from the coal or dark town
Donovan - dark, Irish origin
​
Names with english origins(because I know y'all will just use names from any country):
Feminine:
Ebony
​
Masculine:
Cole - Swarthy, coal black
Blake - Black, dark, fair-haired
Colton - from the coal or dark town
​
​
Good Sources:
https://imuslim.name/index.php Muslim names, includes arabic writing and meaning.
https://japanese-names.info/ Japanese names, includes different ways to write the same names, and with different meanings, has Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana
https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/russian behind the name has some names you won't see in baby name mom sites and something that definetly isn't in the baby names mom mother's sites... how the name is written in the original language, behind the name has kanji, explaining the meaning of each kanji and showing multiple writings of a name, and it has hebrew too! and russian(forgot the name of the writing) bu also search a bit about the name if it's user uploaded of course!
https://meetrussia.online/russian-name/viktoria/ I found this site but I can't click on "russian female names" to see the rest because of adblock I think, they want to show me ads for me to use the site y'know, so I have no idea if it's a good site but hey, there's even the diminutive of the names! that's a very good thing (there's also russian writing) so if you're brave tell me if this site good
aaaaaaaaaaaa i dont wanna change it now its so long i guard this list in a notepad file, i tink im gonna cut it into at least 2 parts so its easier for me

I have been doing research for awhile, and I think other people found proof that lolicon is harmless. Anti's always say "they have no proof, they're just coping" well tell that to the truth lol.
​
ALSO, I did not made this information, I'll credit the original.

Article 1: By Harold Francis on quora (original page)
People insist that it’s harmless because it is.
Child pornography (aka: child sex abuse material/CSAM) is illegal because it is a form of child abuse. The material would not exist unless a child were abused in order to make it. And since a demand exists for this type of material, that in-turn creates a demand for child sex abuse. Society has a vested interest in eliminating this market for this material that, by its very nature, endangers the safety and well-being of actual, real children.
However, that justification is not in any way applicable to works of fiction, such as loli/shota anime and manga, as there is no real child involved or exploited in order to make it.Fictional children are not ‘children’. They’re drawings, nothing more than lines on paper designed to merely ‘appear to be’ a minor.
There is no empirical evidence which would justify the censorship of, or criminal prohibition of loli/shota pornography.
Studies have been conducted into the effects of pornography, especially child pornography, and although there’s conflicting findings and conclusions for such a controversial topic, the scientific community at large has refrained from claiming a causal link between pornography consumption and sexual aggression and sexual violence.
While there are people who claim that lolicon has an indirect causal relationship with CSA, this claim is, and has always been without merit and constantly conflates correlation with causation in tandem with a flagrant misunderstanding of pedophilia and how pedophiles think and act.A causal relationship between two variables is defined as one that meets the criteria for causation, in that events or effects relating to the variables are caused by one another.(Example: Smoking cigarettes is causally related to lung disease, in that the damage caused to trigger said disease is caused by the act of smoking in excess)
Pedophiles are an understandably controversial group. They’re characterized by a sexual preference for children, which is often times attributed to acts of child sexual exploitation and abuse. However, the empirical consensus on pedophilia has changed, with the DSM-5 differentiating a paraphilia from a paraphilic disorder and, in-turn, distinguishing pedophilia from pedophilic disorder, which is commonly associated and attributed to acts of contact CSA or CSAM consumption.
Contrary to popular belief, pedophilia does not mean CSA/CP consumer. It’s estimated that the majority of pedophiles are non-offenders who are not likely to commit hands-on CSA offenses or consume CSAM, and CP offenders are statistically less likely to commit hands-on offenses, though many hands-on offenders may happen to consume CP.This belief is furthered by studies done on forensic and clinical samples (prisoners and those seeking help) and non-forensic, general population samples by surveying them and their desires and how they relate to their actions, or lack thereof. Most of the studies done on clinical samples were mixed, with many suffering from methodological inconsistencies with their respective sample sizes, as well as the participants themselves, whereas the general population studies suffered from similar issues, but were considered better because of the sample sizes.Studies were also conducted on samples of hands-on CSA offenders, who all exhibited far more concerning characteristics than CP consumption, as opposed to CP/CSAM offenders.In conjunction with the forensic studies and the general population studies, it can be inferred that sexual desire and indulgence in fantasy material, and even CP, are not causal factors, with some studies finding correlations and others not.This, coupled with the fact that non-offending pedophiles are known to consume legal, victimless fictional material to cope with their desires, further diminishes the possibility of a causal relationship.
As for arguments claiming it “normalizes” and “sexualizes” children in the media is also wrong. Though normalization is a legitimate sociological phenomena, the manner in which it is used here is somewhat (or wholly) inapplicable, as it makes too many negative slippery-slope/domino effect assumptions without considering
whether similar claims regarding violent media and violent crime had the same effects as pornography, and whether or not those effects were substantial or trivial (hint: it didn’t and there wasn’t any)
whether the clear, apparent distinction between reality and fantasy is applicable to sexual or pornographic matters, as in, consumers with a pedophilic sexual interest understand that what goes on in fantasy is only okay in fantasy
whether the concept of pedophilia is even capable of reaching “normalization” status with regard to societal stigma towards acts of CSA and CP ‘gatekeeping’ society from taking them on, and if possible, a niche genre of cartoon/comic book pornography would do that
whether the difference between a hypothetical, fantasy child being sexualized is different from an actual child is substantial or meaningful enough
The “normalization” fallacy is carried by the assumption that repeated exposure to this type of material and the people who consume it will ‘desensitize’ others to the serious nature of CSA and pedophilia, or even enable encouragement by breeding subcultures and groups who turn a blind eye to it.This too, is inapplicable because human beings can differentiate reality from fantasy, even with regard to sexual desires and paraphilias.Pedophiles who consume CP are usually fully-aware of their actions and the harm being done, but disregard it. Others may try to justify or even excuse it with spurious reasoning or anecdote.
Sources:
“Child pornography, pedophilia, and contact offending: the empirical research.”http://wapercyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/news_resources_Dr_William_Thompson_expert_report_-Met_v_Adamson..pdf
“Testing the Confluence Model of the Association Between Pornography Use and Male Sexual Aggression: A Longitudinal Assessment in Two Independent Adolescent Samples from Croatia”Testing the Confluence Model of the Association Between Pornography Use and Male Sexual Aggression: A Longitudinal Assessment in Two Independent Adolescent Samples from Croatia
“Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Can Meta-Analysis Find a Link?”Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Can Meta-Analysis Find a Link? - Christopher J. Ferguson, Richard D. Hartley, 2020
“An Internet study of men sexually attracted to children: Correlates of sexual offending against children.”https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-47529-007
“Identifying the Coping Strategies of Nonoffending Pedophilic and Hebephilic Individuals From Their Online Forum Posts”https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1079063220965953
“Criminalising fabricated images of child pornography: a matter of harm or morality?”Criminalising fabricated images of child pornography: a matter of harm or morality? Legal Studies Cambridge Core
“Report: Cartoon Paedophilia Harmless”Report: cartoon paedophilia harmless - The Post
“Aggression in Pornography: Myths and Realities”Aggression in Pornography
'The Lolicon Guy:' Some Observations on Researching Unpopular Topics in Japan”The Lolicon Guy:' Some Observations on Researching Unpopular Topics in Japan
“Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan”Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan

Article 2: Ekaterina Kova on Quora

I think some of the concepts involved regarding the topic of lolicon can be pretty disgusting. I know for a fact I want NOTHING to do with it. It’s understandable why many people would want it banned worldwide without a second thought. But after thinking it through, I conclude that it is very likely harmless for the most part as it does not cause real child abuse.
As a general rule, if there is no victim, there is no crime. It makes sense to fine those who create victims, place them on probation if they are dangerous or even lock them up if they pose a very high risk to society. But as far as I’m concerned, drawing “lolicon” which is just anime cartoon that involves fictional characters that look very juvenile, even in sexual situations has no victims.
If by “harmful” you mean it causes crime. Well… not quite. In fact, a study conducted does not show a causal effect that cartoons that depict fictional childlike characters in sexual situations increase crimes whatsoever.
The article on The Copenhagen Post (linked below) states the following:
“It’s gratifying that we now have documentation that as far as we are aware there is no connection between animated child pornography and actual crimes, meaning there is no need to further criminalise this area,” Mchangama told Information. “The whole affair is a classic example of something catching the eye of a politician who finds a need to symbolically change the law without actually looking at the facts.”
Flemming Møller Mortensen, the Socialdemokraterne culture spokesperson, also welcomed the report.
“It is good that the Sexologisk Klinik has looked into this,” Møller told Information. “As long as it cannot be proven that these drawings encourage damaging behaviour then I think we ought to protect freedom of speech and artistic expression.”
Source: Report shows that depict fictional childlike characters in sexual situations HARMLESS
In other words, there is no evidence that it increases crime! Many have argued in favor of criminalizing lolicon cartoons because they falsely believe that it “normalizes” abuse. But there is no evidence that it does. The lolicon cartoons moral panic very much reminds me of the violent video game and RPG moral panic back in the 1990s. There were fears this would lead to the “normalization” of violence and that minors would be inspired to commit real world felonies. But this is not what we saw. We saw the continued decline in violent crime. Similar moral panics also happened regarding adult pornography, but there has been no causal link between adult pornography and rape.
Even in very rare and isolated instances in which a lunatic commits a crime because of something he saw on TV, only the lunatic is culpable for the crime he committed. You don’t get to blame the producers of entertainment, you are responsible for only your own behaviors. It’s time we recognize that “normalization” is not a sufficiently good enough of a reason to turn a piece of property into a contraband and doing so for this reason is a serious violation of our civil liberties.
Laws which criminalize lolicon cartoons criminalize sexual depictions are quite often based on subjective age, ie what age does the character “look” like. I do not believe criminal or civil law shouldn’t be enforced based on such a subjective criteria. Who gets to decide whether something is “child like” or “adult like”? What “looks” 17 years old and what “looks” 18 years old? Two people can disagree what that means. This will undoubtfully lead to a chilling effect against young looking adults in art and artistic styles where adults look quite young such as anime. This is why child pornography law must be limited to images that involve real minors. Such as photographs and videos and even photomanipulations of actual minors. It matters not whether the person “looks” 25 or “looks” 12. What matters is how old was she when the photo was taken of her! This is a very objective standard and there is minimal risk of a chilling effect on benign material.
The reason Child sexual abuse material is rightfully banned and aggressively censored by the state is because CSAM has actual victims — the individuals filmed. And the fact that under 18s cannot consent to being used in pornography. Victims of CSAM often have more stress and PTSD from knowing these horrible images are being circulated. Furthermore, the circulation of abuse material (such as hosting it on a CSAM site) can indeed lead to more of this terrible stuff being produced. Which is why it is rightfully banned, and censored. I personally find the idea of PhotoDNA quite fascinating, as it presents an automated means to remove this heinous material from the web. Victims benefit from knowing that the memorabilia of their abuse is being taken down. The general public benefits from knowing that the odds of them accidentally, mistakenly or negligently access this content is reduced. I do think a world free from CSAM is worth striving for.
The same cannot be said of lolicon which is produced without the exploitation of a real person. I’ve read of people calling lolicon “child pornography”, but that is not accurate at all. Lolicon characters are objectively not children because they are not of actual minors. “Fictional children” are not children. It does not matter of the artist puts “ages” on the characters. They are not real! The illustrations are lines on a piece of paper. Fictional characters do not have rights and the fueling of the supply via circulation of lolicon at worst may only encourage producers of this art to produce more lolicon. You can argue all you want that they look somewhat kidlike. But so does a lot of legal adult pornography, yet it would be deeply unethical to police the bodies of women and tell them they can’t produce porn because they don’t have the right body type.
Right now, it’s perfectly legal to use an pornographic image of an unusually young looking adult, and rightfully so. But what if it turned out that it was CGI and produced without involvement of any human (ie: not based on any real human references), does it suddenly make it morally wrong? I don’t think so, as neither fictionally generated porn nor consensual adult porn are abusive. When it comes to prohibitions related to pornography, the question should never be whether they look childlike. The questions should always be whether they use actual children, or when when adults are involved — whether consent was violated. Whether the adult or fictional character in question “looks” really young should be completely irrelevant.
I should point out while I strongly oppose the state making lolicon a crime, I also strongly support platforms removing this stuff from their news feed. Freedom of speech is about preventing the government from censoring or prosecuting you over lolicon cartoons, but you are not entitled to a microphone to post it. They have the freedom of speech to not allow it on their platforms. I’d rather see it in it’s own little space where people like myself aren’t going to stumble into it. The same goes to hardcore pornography, I strongly oppose banning it, but I like social media platforms that protect users from stumbling into it.

3rd article: by Sam Bowen
Question: Do I deserve to die for liking lolicon?

I’m going to be truthfully honest here; seeing this question pop up in my e-mail immediately lowered my mood and made me feel a great deal of misery. In short, I don’t think you deserve to die. But, of course, I’m also going to present a longer answer to your question.
First and foremost, there should be made a clear distinction between lolicon and pedophilia. Pedophilia is a form of paraphilia - an abnormal sexual desire, usually involving extreme or dangerous activities that can harm oneself or others. Pedophilia in particular is the sexual attraction of young, prepubescent children. Lolicon, on the other hand, is the sexual attraction to fictional characters, whether or not they are canonically prepubescent doesn’t matter as long as they appear to be so, which can be found in lolicon media in the forms of anime, manga, and other anime-related media such as visual novels. It’s also worth noting that pedophilia can be an attraction to both male and female children, whereas lolicon is exclusively an attraction to females. The male equivalent to lolicon is shotacon.
Now, why did I feel the need to define both words? That would be because some people confuse pedophilia for lolicon, and vise versa, and some use the words interchangeably. However, I believe lolicon to be a completely different sexual desire to pedophilia, and now I will try to explain why as best I can.
Pedophilia is a harmful sexual desire. Child molesters will try to groom and/or rape real, young, impressionable children. I cannot stress just how disgusted I am by child molesters, and I sincerely hope you’re disgusted - or at least angered - by them as well. There are also pedophiles who do not physically try to have sex with children, but still do directly harm them through child pornography. It doesn’t matter whether they are the ones producing, distributing, or consuming it; the mere fact that they are supporting the production of child pornography will inevitably put more children at risk.
I know that there are also pedophiles who try to sugarcoat their sexual attraction, claiming themselves to be “pedosexuals” and a part of the LGBT+ community. While I do support the LGBT+ community, I can never support pedophilia. One can not compare pedophilia to, say, homosexuality. The two are very different and homosexuality is completely harmless as long as it’s between two consenting adults. Pedophilia is not a mere sexual attraction, it is paraphilia. Paraphilia itself is not necessarily a bad thing; other examples of paraphilia include sadism and masochism. However, pedophilia is one of the most, if not the most, dangerous paraphilia.
Even with all that said, I do not believe pedophiles deserve to die. Maybe it’s just my own subjective morality, but I do not believe any person truly “deserves” to die. Of course, there are those that I despise and believe should be locked away and left to rot, but I wouldn’t personally kill them even if I had the chance. I should also state that not all pedophiles support the production of child pornography. It is possible to be a pedophile and live your whole life never acting on your urges. I think that these pedophiles deserve some help and therapy, instead of blind hate. However, child molesters and pedophiles that do act on their urges definately should be hated, since they are scum.
Now, let’s talk about the matter at hand - lolicon.
Lolicon does not harm anyone. As I’ve stated, pedophilia is the sexual attraction to real children - key word: real. Lolicon is the sexual attraction to drawings and depictions of young girls. It should also be noted that these depictions are never realistic and always have an over-exaggerated appearance in the moe style of anime and manga. “Why is this difference important?” one may ask. “They are both sexual desires targeting young girls,” one may state. To put it simply, liking lolicon is no different to being attracted to stick-men.
Lolicon cannot be compared to pedophilia. One involves the sexual abuse of actual children, and the other does not. No child is present in the making of lolicon material, thus no child is being harmed. If it’s the characters age that causes one to believe that lolicon and pedophilia are the same, I have two things to say. Firstly, not all lolicon are children. Some of these characters are older but happen to look much younger. Secondly, even if the character is canonically a child, it doesn’t matter. It still wouldn’t be child pornography because their age, much like their appearance, is entirely fabricated. This doesn’t just apply to lolis, this applies to all fictional characters. They are not real. Their age is not real. Nothing about them is real.
If it’s their appearance that causes one to believe that lolicon and pedophilia are the same, I must leave the reminder: it’s not real. I still struggle to comprehend why it’s seemingly so difficult for others to understand that art which depicts things similar to reality, depicts things that do not actually exist within reality; regardless of how close to life-like it may be. Viewing lolicon material is not the same as viewing child pornography: they are two separate industries.
Now, what about those that claim you’re a pedophile for liking lolicon? They are wrong. Not everybody who likes lolicon is a pedophile, however, there are some pedophiles who like lolicon. What do I think of them? I believe it’s better for them to use lolicon as a substitute instead of sexually abusing real children. But what if they start harming children after viewing lolicon? This is an absurd question! Tell me, do those who play violent video games suddenly begin to commit actual acts of violence? No, of course they d- But what about all those school shootings? This is an even dumber question. Violent video games don’t suddenly cause people to become violent. Those that commit violent acts after playing video games were already violent before playing video games. Likewise, those that harm children after viewing lolicon were already doing it - or thinking about it - before viewing lolicon.
I also should mention that those that like lolicon are supporting many talented artists and the freedom of expression in art. There are many artists and writers that produce lolicon material within the anime and manga industries, both male and female. You may even be shocked to find out just how many females are working in the industry. These women wouldn’t even have jobs if it wasn’t for all the people supporting their work.
I strongly believe that it is okay to like lolicon. You’re not harming anyone for liking lolicon. You’re supporting talented artists by liking lolicon. Most importantly, you’re not encouraging child pornography, but rather a healthier alternative. There is so much good that can come from you liking lolicon. You do not deserve to die.
So, tell me: Why do you think you should die? Why should anyone think you should die? Who has the right to dictate the worth of your life? Do you think there is anything wrong with lolicon?
It is okay to like lolicon. Let’s all love lolis.

Let's see how antis will react to this lol

Sanctions, suspensions, being stripped of major events. Russian sport has certainly been put through the wringer in 2022.
After Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine, the nation’s sporting professionals have become collateral damage in the broader anti-Russian campaign which broke out.
Athletes have fallen victim to politics, unable to practice their trades on the international stage despite the mantra that sport should supposedly be immune from cross-border conflicts and intragovernmental rows.
The trend was precipitated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the end of February, and has led to a multitude of federations directing a frenzy of bans and bluster at Russia’s sportsmen and women throughout the past ten months.
But as a turbulent year draws to a close, there are signs that 2023 could bring some welcome relief for Russian sport.  

Why was 2022 such a difficult year?

• The IOC’s recommendation on February 28 that international federations should, wherever possible, refuse to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to their competitions set off a chain of sanctions. The likes of football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA soon fell into line, but even in sports as diverse as canoeing and karate, Russians and Belarusians were soon forced to kick their heels on the sidelines.
  
• Perhaps the cruellest early blow came in March when Russian and Belarusian athletes were cleared to compete under neutral status at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, only for that decision to be reversed just hours before the Games were due to start.
  
• IOC president Thomas Bach has since attempted to defend his organisation's stance, claiming that sanctions are only directed at the leadership of Russia and Belarus for supposedly breaching the Olympic Truce. According to Bach, athletes themselves are subject to “protective measures” partly designed to shield them from hostility they would supposedly face at international events, while ensuring the “integrity” of competitions.
  
• Unsurprisingly, that kind of language doesn’t wash with many in Russia (and others beyond). Russian officials have decried the bans as discriminatory and contrary to the IOC’s own principles – something which Bach himself has effectively admitted.
  
• In a scathing assessment in March, the Russian Union of Athletes described the measures as a “sporting genocide” against their country. It has also been noted that nothing remotely similar was applied to athletes from countries such as the US and its NATO allies whenever their governments launched foreign military escapades down the years.  
  

Who is paying the price for anti-Russian bans?

• Along with widespread bans, Russia has been stripped of a litany of sporting showpieces. That included the 2022 UEFA Champions League final which was set for St. Petersburg in May, and the 2023 editions of the men’s and junior World Ice Hockey Championships. There are dozens of other examples.
  
• Sports federations themselves have often paid the price for depriving Russia of events. The Russian Volleyball Federation is seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation from governing body FIVB after losing the 2022 World Championships. Elsewhere, swimming federation World Aquatics (formerly FINA) has been hit with a big financial loss in 2022, according to reports, partly as a result of relocating major events from the Russian city of Kazan.
  
• The price has not just been financial. The absence of Russian talent at international events has deprived sports such as figure skating, gymnastics, and cross-country skiing of some their standout stars. Commenting on the level displayed at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships, renowned coach Tatiana Tarasova said the women’s competition was like seeing a 20-year regression without the likes of Russian Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova in attendance.
  
• Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin recently argued that it would be “impossible” for world sport to develop without competitors from his homeland. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko has been among those to argue that any major titles handed out in the absence of Russian athletes will inevitably be devalued.  
  

Will Russian athletes return to international events in 2023?

• There are at least signs that things could be looking up in 2023. The IOC said at a summit in Switzerland earlier in December that officials would explore a proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at events under its auspices. Crucially, that could mean Russian and Belarusian athletes across numerous sports being granted the chance to participate in Olympic qualifying events next year, ahead of the Paris Games in 2024.
  
• Any Russian and Belarusian presence would most likely come with the caveat that athletes compete as neutrals and without their respective national symbols or anthems. Russian and Belarusian athletes may also be required to confirm that they will not make statements or gestures in support of their governments.
  
• Even competing under neutral status would, at least, be a route back to global competition. The chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), Susanne Lyons, confirmed that her organisation supported exploring the Asian proposal – a further sign that the current state of affairs is not sustainable for the Olympic Movement. The president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Stanislav Pozdnyakov, has said that “common sense” is at last starting to prevail.
  
• Elsewhere, even officials at tennis showpiece Wimbledon are reportedly reconsidering their stance on Russian and Belarusian players, after banning them from the event in 2022. Officials at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) were said to have been surprised by the “unexpected strength of the backlash” they faced, which included hefty fines from governing bodies the ATP and WTA, the stripping of rankings points, and condemnation from the likes of Novak Djokovic.
  
• Wimbledon was an outlier in the tennis world, with both the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tours allowing Russians and Belarusians to continue to compete under neutral status. The French and US Opens both permitted Russians and Belarusians entry after Moscow began its military campaign, while the Australian Open will do so in January. Tennis is held up as an example by some that Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete freely at international events without the kind of security fears that the IOC has raised, signalling more hope for 2023.
  
• One federation which has fully overturned restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes is amateur boxing governing body the IBA, which announced in October that it would allow them to return to competitions with their national flags and anthems. IBA president Umar Kremlev, who is Russian, said that “there should be no discrimination based on nationality. It is the duty of all of us to keep sports and athletes away from politics.”
  
• Russian and Belarusian athletes will hope more federations adopt that type of reasoning in 2023, and that the existing bans do not drag on into the new year.  
  

How can Russia weather the sanctions storm?

• Russian athletes may have been sidelined from myriad events, but they have not sat completely idle in 2022. After the IOC heralded a tsunami of sanctions, Russian sports federations acted rapidly to arrange a host of alternative domestic competitions.
  
• Paralympians were invited to the ‘We are Together – Sport’ games in Khanty-Mansiysk following their late snub at the Beijing Games. The Soviet-era ‘Spartakiad’ games were revived across numerous sports during the summer and autumn. The second stage of the ‘Friendship Games’ was held in Kazan in November, focusing on swimming and diving.
  
• More specifically, the Russian Figure Skating Federation set up its own Grand Prix series after stars such as Anna Shcherbakova and Kamila Valieva were banned from ISU events. That was a pattern repeated in sports such as gymnastics.
  
• Should the bans from global competitions continue into 2023, expect more of the same as Russia continues to provide high-level domestic alternatives for its athletes for as long as they are forced to miss out globally.  
  

Will Russia look east for more sporting competition in 2023?

• The anti-Russian sporting sanctions have intensified the debate on whether the country might be better off handing in its membership cards at various European sporting organizations and moving to their Asian counterparts.
  
• One example is football. Faced with UEFA and FIFA bans, officials at the Russian Football Union (RFU) have discussed a potential move to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), where they would presumably be more welcome. The RFU could yet consider the move, but it announced on December 30 that for the time being it would establish a working group with UEFA in an effort to find a way back to competitions for Russian teams.
  
• The RFU has set a deadline of April to draw conclusions on the issue. After the Russian men’s team was deprived of the chance to reach 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and was withdrawn from qualification for the 2024 UEFA European Championships, officials are desperate to ensure they are given the opportunity to reach the 2026 World Cup. The RFU will also hope that Russian teams at club level will be able to return for international tournaments in the 2023/24 season, having been banned from the likes of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in the current campaign.
  
• More broadly, the Western-driven sanctions have facilitated a trend of Russia strengthening its sporting ties with allies in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) groups of nations.
  
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that the SCO could set up a sports association; elsewhere, Deputy PM Chernyshenko has noted that the potential audience for competitions within the SCO – which is the world’s largest regional organization – is several billion people. Just this month, Sports Minister Matytsin said Russia and China are planning to hold more than 600 joint sports events in 2023. The aforementioned proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia for a potential pathway for Russian athletes to return is indicative of the notion that Russia will perhaps find more friends if it looks eastwards.
  
• There are those who have urged caution, and it seems unlikely that Russia will rush to burn bridges with organisations such as UEFA, but the growing talk of an eastward pivot for Russian sport is something to look out for in 2023.  
  

What about Russia’s relations with WADA?

• As if life wasn’t complicated enough for Russian sport in 2022, the bans imposed because of the Ukraine conflict played out alongside sanctions already levied by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
  
• Indeed, talk of neutral status and suspensions was nothing new for many athletes after WADA imposed a four-year ban on Russia in late 2019 due to allegations of data tampering at a Moscow laboratory. That was the among the acts in a long-running saga which emerged after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and was fueled by the testimony of fugitive doctor Grigory Rodchenkov.
  
• The WADA sanction was later reduced from four years to two upon appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and formally expired on December 17, 2022. WADA, however, warned in advance that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) would not automatically be declared fully compliant upon the expiration of the ban. Instead, RUSADA will have to pass through a comprehensive review before being welcomed back into the fold, WADA chief Witold Banka has said.
  
• Russia, in turn, has initiated steps to ensure that domestic legislation is in line with WADA requirements. RUSADA chief Veronika Loginova cautioned earlier this month that full restoration with WADA could take the whole of 2023, even though she said her organization is fulfilling its duties “in full compliance with international standards.” Loginova has insisted that there are no grounds for mistrust between the two organisations heading into 2023.
  
• Somewhat compounding matters, RUSADA and WADA are at loggerheads over the case of teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva. Then aged 15, Valieva won gold in the team event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February, but was later revealed to have returned a positive test for banned heart medicine trimetazidine based on a sample taken in December of 2021.
  
• RUSADA investigated the case but said in October that it would not disclose the findings publicly, citing Valieva’s status as a minor. Angered by the time it has taken to resolve the case, WADA has filed a complaint at CAS seeking a potential four-year ban for Valieva – which would also see Russia stripped of the Beijing team event gold medal it won, partly thanks to Valieva’s superb performances.
  
• That issue, and the broader one of Russia returning to full compliance status with WADA, remains an important one to resolve moving into 2023.  
  

Will Russia still have success on the international stage in 2023?

• Despite all the bans across numerous sports, Russian athletes were still prominent at major events in 2022.
  
• In ice hockey’s elite NHL, Russian winger Valeri Nichushkin was integral as the Colorado Avalanche won a first Stanley Cup in two decades. That ensured Russia has had at least one player on the roster of the NHL champions for the past seven seasons. Elsewhere, Russia’s Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers won the Vezina Trophy for the NHL’s best goalie last season.
  
• Dozens of Russians remain on the rosters at NHL teams and are set to be prominent as the current season develops. Not least Washington Capitals leader Alexander Ovechkin, who is pursuing the league’s all-time goalscoring record, having recently overtaken Gordie Howe in second place on the list.
  
• In tennis, 2022 came to an end with two Russian men’s stars – Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev – inside the world’s top 10. Both will be expected to challenge again at Grand Slams in the new year, while 2021 US Open champion Medvedev will be aiming to recapture his former status as world number one.
  
• In the women’s game, Russia’s Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova are inside the WTA’s leading ten stars, while Ekaterina Alexandrova and Luidmila Samsonova occupy places in the top 20. Russian-born Elena Rybakina, who has represented Kazakhstan since 2018, won the Wimbledon women’s singles title in 2022 and will hope to build on that success.
  
• In chess, governing body FIDE has continued to allow Russian players to compete under neutral status. After winning the Candidates Tournament in 2022, Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi will contest the world title in April 2023 when he faces Ding Liren of China. Ding was named Nepomniachtch’s opponent after reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen declined the chance to attempt to win the title for a sixth time.
  
• Combat sports continues to boast some top-level Russian talent. Islam Makhachev captured the UFC lightweight title in October – following in the footsteps of friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov. Makhachev’s first title defense comes against Australian featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 in Perth in February.
  
• In boxing, Russia’s Dmitry Bivol did what only one other man has ever done by defeating Mexican great Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in their WBA light-heavyweight title fight in May. Bivol will again be among the top fighters to watch in 2023 – as will Dagestan’s Artur Beterbiev, a unified light heavyweight champion with a staggering 100% knockout rate in his 18 fights as a professional. Beterbiev faces Britain’s Anthony Yarde in London in January, but beyond that a potential blockbuster unification fight against compatriot Bivol has been mooted further down the line.
  
• From chessboards to boxing rings, and tennis courts to ice hockey arenas, Russian athletes are still proving themselves at the top. They will continue to do so in 2023 – even if some of their compatriots have frustratingly been forced out of action on the international stage.
  

Merry Christmas everyone! And with Japanese and Russian Nationals over, the next exciting events on the horizon are Canadian and American Nationals!
I would argue that US Ice Dance is the most exciting discipline this season, and u/summerjoe45 already did a great overview at the possible rankings, but I wanted to do a deeper dive into each of the teams. It would be impossible to give an adequate understanding of ice dance without talking about the coaches and politics behind it, so this is part one of the series on US Ice Dance, covering the coaches and a bit of the history of US Ice Dance.

Arctic Edge - Canton, Michigan: Marina Zueva and Igor Shpilband (Defunct)

Past Notable Teams: Tanith Belbin / Ben Agosto, Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir, Meryl Davis / Charlie White, Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani
Starting the list off with the now-defunct school of Marina and Igor. Even though this school no longer exists, any guide to American ice dance would be wholly incomplete without describing the school that turned it into a powerhouse in the first place.
Marina Zueva rose to fame in Russia for choreographing programs for Ekaterina Gordeeva / Sergei Grinkov, and she's widely seen as one of the best choreographers in the sport. As many say, "Marina Zueva programs are forever." Some of her masterpieces include Virtue/Moir's 2010 Mahler Olympic Free Dance, Virtue/Moir's 2008 Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Davis/White's 2014 Scheherazade, and many many more. She started coaching in the United States in the 90s, but the era really kicked off when she teamed up with Igor Shpilband in the early 2000s.
They had their major breakthrough with Tanith Belbin / Ben Agosto. Belbin/Agosto put American ice dance on the map, as they were the first American ice dance team to medal at Worlds and won silver at the 2006 Olympics. They were almost unable to go to the Olympics because Tanith is Canadian, and it required special Congressional approval with the backing of one of Michigan's senators to get Tanith citizenship in time.
At the same time that Belbin/Agosto were succeeding at the senior level, Marina and Igor also had two extremely promising junior teams, the American team of Meryl Davis/Charlie White and the Canadian team of Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir. Both these teams became incredibly successful, with the two teams occupying the top two spots on the 2010 Olympic podium. Not only did they have their marquee senior teams, Marina and Igor also had many junior teams who were achieving great success, including Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein and the Shibutanis. Arctic Edge reached the peak of its power at 2011 Worlds, where their teams occupied all three spots on the podium.
Things came crashing down quickly, as in June 2012, Marina abruptly fired Igor. It's still incredibly unclear as to what was happening between the coaches for everything to get so icy. Their relationship was so toxic that Igor later sued Marina, and several of their skaters were deposed in the lawsuit. Everyone involved signed NDAs, so we will never really know exactly what happened.
After Igor left Canton, Marina continued as the main coach for Davis/White, Virtue/Moir, and the Shibutanis. Davis/White won the 2014 Olympics and retired, while Virtue/Moir felt like Marina wasn't in their corner and did not return to her during their comeback. The Shibutanis won bronze at the 2018 Olympics, and Marina moved from Michigan to Florida. Now, Marina is essentially soft-retired, as her only senior team is the Japanese team of Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi.
The success of the Arctic Edge training camp is what made American ice dance relevant and their streak of successful teams inspired many other American skaters to switch to ice dance. Despite all this success, it's super important to mention that Marina and Igor ran an incredibly toxic training environment. Each coach is known for picking favorites. Marina's son, Fedor, dated Tanith, Tessa, and is now married to Meryl. It was pretty disturbing to see how Marina's favored team switched from Belbin/Agosto to Virtue/Moir to Davis/White depending on which partner her son was dating at the moment. The teams that were out of favor were given worse programs and just generally less attention.
They were also incredibly toxic towards the women in their school. Tessa Virtue has an eating disorder while training with Marina and Igor. They were very much subscribers to the idea that ice dance women should be as thin as possible. After Belbin/Agosto left Marina and Igor, Tanith was told by their new coaches to gain muscle, which improved their skating skills and made lifts easier for Ben because Tanith was more capable of holding herself up.
Marina and Igor's Arctic Edge Academy is dead, and it's probably for the better that it is, considering how toxic the training environment was, but it has also left an undeniable legacy on US ice dance. None of the other coaches on this list or any of the current teams be where they are without the legacy of Arctic Edge.

IAM - Montreal: Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, and Romain Haguenauer

Current American Teams: Madison Chock / Evan Bates, Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-Luc Baker
Past American Teams: Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue
The most powerful and famous school on this list, it would be hard to follow ice dance without getting to know the Ice Academy of Montreal. Ice dance fans have affectionately dubbed the coaches as jacket collectors, since they have team jackets from seemingly ever single federation. They got on the map when Papadakis/Cizeron won their surprise World title in 2015, and gained even more attention when Virtue/Moir came back to competition in 2016 and chose to train with them. Hubbell/Donohue also switched to training at IAM in 2016.
After their success at the 2018 Olympics, where they almost swept the Olympic podium, IAM really became the United Nations. So many teams announced that they were moving to Montreal that it almost became a meme format. Having teams from every federation really helped push Montreal ahead in the political game. Just looking at SkatingScores.com gives a pretty clear picture as to which judges favor Montreal teams, and it lines up almost identically with teams from federations who are coached by IAM.
With the additions of Chock/Bates and Hawayek/Baker, IAM swept the top 3 places of the US podium for the entire quad after 2018. Despite all this success, there is of course some backlash to IAM. The most common complaint is that they aren't good at teaching the technical side of ice dance. The technically proficient teams at IAM are generally the teams who were strong technically before moving.
IAM also commonly face the complaint that they have too many teams and thus aren't able to truly devote their time to all of them. This is not something that any IAM team has complained about, and IAM has managed to avoid the favoritism problems that come up when one coaching team has so many teams. They are very transparent to their teams about ice-time and coach-time, which is probably a major reason why this has not been an issue. However, even if time is divided evenly, it is humanly impossible for all thirty teams to get precisely equal attention from their coaches, and it is often clear from the program quality when the coaches felt more inspired by certain teams compared to others.
IAM is also undeniably one of the healthiest coaching environments that has come out of skating (which admittedly isn't saying much). Many of the female ice dancers have talked about feeling more secure in their bodies and just gained so much more self-confidence from training at IAM and the philosophy that the coaches have. It is also very sweet that many of the skaters at the school are close friends despite being direct competition (see Madi Chock and Madi Hubbell getting matching tattoos).
However, IAM is obviously still not perfect. In a documentary earlier this year, Gabi Papadakis talked about how unsupported she felt by the coaching team and her partner during a really tough time for her mental health. IAM has also had a somewhat disturbing amount of concussions among their female ice dancers (both Madison Chock and Kaitlin Hawayek have had concussions while training in Montreal, though Madi Chock's wasn't a training injury).
If you're interested in learning more about IAM, because what I wrote only scratches the surface, the Olympic channel filmed a docuseries called On Edge which followed 6 of the IAM teams (Papadakis/Cizeron, Hubbell/Donohue, Chock/Bates, FeaGibson, Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen, and Smart/Diaz) across their Olympic journey in the 21-22 season. It's a great look into their training/competitive lives.

IAM - London, Ontario - Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell, and Adrian Diaz

Current American Teams: Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko
Most ice dance fans didn't quite know what to make of IAM - London when it was announced in early 2021. On the one hand, many fans were very excited to see how Scott Moir, arguably the greatest ice dancer of all time, would do as a coach. However, it did feel interesting that IAM - London was supposed to be a subsidiary school of the already well-known IAM - Montreal. Plus, Scott Moir had extremely limited coaching experience, and when IAM - London started, they didn't have any senior teams. At first, many perceived IAM - London to be somewhat of a feeder school for IAM - Montreal.
IAM - London got their first major senior ice dance team when Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko announced their switch to Scott Moir after the pandemic season. With the additions of Madison Hubbell and Adrian Diaz to the coaching team after the 21-22 season, IAM - London is starting to find its footing. It's still a very new school trying to find its identity, and its teams have not gotten the same political boost that the teams at the Montreal school get, but they're definitely on the right track.

MIDA - Canton, Michigan - Charlie White, Tanith White, and Greg Zuerlein

Current American Teams: Caroline Green / Michael Parsons, Emily Bratti / Ian Somerville, Katarina Wolfkostin / Jeffrey Chen, Molly Cesanek / Yehor Yehorov, Angela Ling / Caleb Wein
MIDA was announced in early 2022 to much fanfare and hype. They are located in the same arena where Marina and Igor had their legendary ice dance school, which catapulted North American ice dance into the spotlight. Tanith White is one half of the partnership which put American ice dance on the map, the first ever American ice dance team to medal at the Olympics. Charlie White is one half of the greatest American ice dance team of all time, winning gold at the 2014 Olympics. Greg Zuerlein may not have the same competitive accolades as Charlie and Tanith (though he's certainly no slouch, having won 2009 Junior Worlds with Madison Chock), but he's the most experienced coach of the three. After retiring, Greg coached with Igor Shpilband for years, before moving to coach at another school on this list that I will talk about later, WISA. Thanks to his year coaching at WISA, MIDA have been able to take many teams who have left the Maryland school.
Their first team was Bratti / Somerville, who found quick success in the American ice dance field last year, placing fifth and getting an assignment to Four Continents. In the off-season, they poached three more American ice dance teams, Cesanek/Yehorov, Wolfkostin/Chen, and their biggest coup, Green/Parsons.
Still, it's hard to know what to make of MIDA. They're such a new school that they don't have an identity yet. Obviously, many ice dance fans hold a lot of affection for the coaches from when they competed, but MIDA is really just one big question mark because it's still so new. The programs they've given their teams this season haven't been standout, but this is also their first full season. Overall, it's hard to know how MIDA is going to turn out.
They do look like the school that's most likely to challenge Montreal's dominance largely because they could be anything, and their coaches have such a strong competitive reputation. They also seem dedicated to providing a healthy coaching environment for their students, but again, it's too soon to say whether that's been created or not.

WISA - Leesburg, Virginia - Alexei Kiliakov and Elena Novak

Current American Teams: Lorraine McNamara / Anton Spiridonov, Diana Davis / Gleb Smolkin
Previous American Teams: Caroline Green / Michael Parsons, Molly Cesanek / Yehor Yehorov, Lorraine McNamara / Quinn Carpenter, Angela Ling / Caleb Wein, Katarina DelCamp / Ian Somerville, Rachael Parsons / Michael Parsons, Caroline Green / Gordon Green
This is the school that probably had the most off-season drama in the last year. For many years, the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy was located in Wheaton, Maryland. They moved to the Ion Training Center in Leesburg, Virginia a few years ago, but are still largely referred to as WISA by fans. WISA has been one North America's ice dance powerhouses, particularly in the junior field, for a while. However, this team is also known for failing to achieve senior success due to bad packaging and general mismanage.
The quintessential team that probably shows how they mismanage is Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter. A very talented junior team, they were the 2016 Junior World Champions. After this win, instead of moving up to seniors, they decided to stay in juniors for another season. This essentially killed any momentum that they had, as the next season, they finished 7th at Junior Worlds and were surpassed by their training mates, Rachael Parsons/Michael Parsons.
Despite bad packaging, they are able to train extremely technically skilled ice dancers. Some of the teams with the best skating skills in the USA come from WISA. WISA seemed to finally find senior success last season when Caroline Green / Michael Parsons won Four Continents with a creative and well-received free dance and almost made the Olympic team.
And then the drama of the summer happened. You may have noticed that Green/Parsons are no longer training at WISA and that Davis/Smolkin, a team who may or may not be American, are now listed as training with them. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Diana and Gleb were vocally opposed to the war, and since Diana was born in the United States, she has American citizenship. She and Gleb have always trained in America, and especially once the Russians were banned, there was a lot of speculation that Diana and Gleb were going to switch federations to represent USFSA.
They left Igor, and then went to train at WISA. Alexei Kiliakov is one of Eteri's old ice dance partners, which is probably why he was willing to take them despite the fact that Diana and Gleb are very controversial. There's speculation that part of the reason Caroline and Michael left WISA so late in the off-season is the Diana/Gleb drama. Regardless of why, it's definitely a massive blow to WISA that their marquee senior team left them.
As of now, Diana/Gleb have not switched federations, and they have vocally said that they are not going to. However, they did get married right after the invasion, leading to speculation that they're trying to get Gleb an American green card. They have also not competed at a single Russian competition this season. What Diana/Gleb plan to do is anyone's guess, but as many can probably tell from the number of teams in US Ice Dance, switching to USFS would probably be a strategic blunder.

Novi Ice Arena - Novi, Michigan - Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo

Current American Teams: Eva Pate / Logan Bye, Emilea Zingas / Vadym Kolesnik
Previous American Teams: Madison Chock / Evan Bates, Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko, Katarina Wolfkostin / Jeffrey Chen, Diana Davis / Gleb Smolkin, Avonley Nguyen / Vadym Kolesnik
Marina may be retired, but Igor is still in the business. After getting fired by Marina in 2012, Igor set up shop down the street at Novi Ice Arena with some of the teams that chose him over Marina (most notably Chock/Bates). Getting fired by Marina didn't change any of Igor's training methods, and Igor has a very specific style of team that he tries to curate. He expects a small woman who is performing and is carried around the ice by a stronger male partner. This has created a pretty toxic environment at Novi as well, and the sheer list of teams which have left Igor over the years to find healthier training environments and more success is pretty staggering.
Igor also heavily plays favorites and is incapable of balancing the needs of all his teams. After splitting from Marina, his preferred team was Chock / Bates for years, until they left him in 2018. Carreira/Ponomarenko were then his focus for another year before he found the heir to the Chock/Bates style in Nguyen / Kolesnik. After N/K split, he went all in on his partnership with Eteri Tutberidze and is an underrated aspect of why Davis/Smolkin were able to get such crazy scores in the 21-22 season. Igor is still a political machine. Davis/Smolkin left him at the end of the 21-22 season, and he seems to have found his new favorites in Zingas/Kolesnik.
Ice dance fans also joke that Igor is very "eco-friendly". He loves to recycle programs from old teams, and while Marina Zueva programs may be forever, Igor is not a creative genius. Chock/Bates skated to Rachmaninoff in the 2015-16 season, and then in the 2019-20 season, he gave the Rachmaninoff piece to Nguyen/Kolesnik. Chock/Bates skated to Dr Zhivago in the 2012-13 season, and CPom showed up in 2020-21 skating to Dr Zhivago. He even copies from programs that he didn't help choreograph, as Davis/Smolkin showed up last season with a Moulin Rouge program just like Virtue/Moir's 2017-18 free dance. Any original programs he comes up with are hardly original, as it's usually just a warhorse.
In 2019, Pasquale Camerlengo joined the coaching team at Novi. Pasquale is also a famed ice dance coach, as he used to coach at the Detroit Figure Skating Club and was the coach of Hawayek / Baker. But, he's no better than Igor when it comes to body positivity or healthy coaching environments. I will definitely talk more about it in my deep dive on Hawayek / Baker, but Kaitlin Hawayek has talked about her old coaches would encourage her to lose weight.
There just aren't many positive things to say about Igor. His teams routinely leave him because of his vile training methods, and he's mostly useful because of his politicking, but he's nowhere near as powerful as he was in his heyday.

Hello everyone!
I created this forum for Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov fans to unite and discuss their stunning figure skating!

• Art Billings Uncle of Holmes’ spouse
• Genevieve Billings Holmes’ spouse’s grandmother
• Genevieve Bolster
• Kristian Bolster
• Mary Armstrong Crane
• Friend of Elisabeth Holmes’ father
• Carole Holmes Delouvrier
• Philippe Delouvrier
• Anne Evans Spouse’s grandmother
• William Evans Father-in-law
• Grace Evans Sister-in-law
• Susan Evans Mother-in-Law
• Sharon T Freedman Gems of Wisdom
Consulting
• Christian Holmes Brother
• Genta Hawkins Holmes Aunt
• MIchael Dayton Holmes Uncle
• Isabel Jasinowski
• Redacted
• Iyinoluwa Aboyeji Andela, CEO & General
Partner Future Africa.
• Vijay Albuquerque
• Alicia Ashton
• Signed by a husband and wife
• Col S. Bankoul, Prof. MD Head of the medical
CBRN Defense of the
Swiss Armed Forces
Senior Consultant to the
Surgeon General of the
Swiss Armed Forces
• Ekaterina Batzoglou
• Ronald M Bergeron Sr and Aleida Bergeron
• Paul Berloty
• Gina Bianchini
• Linden S Blue Vice Chairman General Atomics
• Fabrizio Bonanni
• Senator Cory Booker
• Thomas D. Brumett, Jr
• Basil A. Burke, PhD
• Jeremy Carr
• Timothy Carroll Venable LLP
• Amy Pernell Cavers VP, Medical Affairs
Elevation Oncology, Inc.
• Lawrence Cheng
• Joe Chung
• Austin and Sarah Cook Kiessig
• Timothy Cooper
• Doug Dalton
• Dustin Devan
• Christine Dillon
• Sean Zachary Donohue
• Michael Downes
• Timothy Draper
• Alexandra Duisberg
• Lisa Durkin
• Leslie Durso
• Shawn Englert
• Susan Evans PhD
• Jessica Ewing
• Gage K. Fain
• Gratia Fan
• William Foege MD
• John Fogelsong
• Veronica Froman Rear Admiral, US Navy, Retired
• Kfir Gavrieli
• Andrew Goldberg
• Karen Goldberg
• Donald Goldberg
• Ken Goldman
• Hilary Grenier
• Christina Gualy
• Prerna Gupta Founder & CEO, Hooked
• Joshua Hamilton
• Elizabeth Heng
• Stefan Heuser
• Michael Hoffmann
• Tim Houweling
• Craig Josephson
• Friend signature
• Family friend signature
• Jordan Koch Friend
• Brett Kuprel
• William J Lamping, Jr
• Jacqueline Lamping
• Ricki Noel Lander
• Barry Wm. Levine
• Bryan Liptzin
• Jeffrey S Lloyd PhD
• Frank Loy
• Jason Lu
• Dr Charles MacCormack President Emeritus, Save the Children
• Tyler MacNiven Owner of Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside, CA
• Jessica Mah
• Shalin Mantri
• Nicholas Mason
• Mike McCarthy
• Kathy McCoy
• Beverly McIntyre
• John E Moalli Principal Exponent Inc
• Alex Moore
• Bienvenido Morel
• Ryan Gross
• Nicolas Newman
• William R. Nicholson
• Kelly O’Neill
• James C. Orr
• Vanessa Perez-Rubio Maffia
• Jeffrey Pfeffer
• Shize Daniel Qi
• Bryce Raleigh
• Tara Raleigh
• Debbie Raleigh
• Julia Raleigh
• Michael Raleigh
• Justin Randolph
• William K Reilly
• Dr. Sonia Samagh MD, MBA
• Monique Sanders
• Breanne Smith
• David Sokol Teton Capital, LLC
• Erica Sorgi
• Lauren Stat
• Debbie Sterling Glasband
• Carl W. Stern
• Taylor B. Stockdale Head of Schools, The Webb Schools
• Alice Warnecke Sutro
• Maria E Sutle
• Maley Thompson PhD
• Mary Holmes Thompson
• Alexis Tobin
• Donald L. Tschirhart, MD
• Diana C.K.
• Martin G. VanTrieste
• Hung Vu
• Jimmy Walker
• Daniel J Warmenhoven
• Andy C Weber
• Yinne Yu
• Corinna Zygourakis
• Lisel Loy
• Joan F. Tobin
• Gerald Commissiong

Anyone have any good ice skating recommendations? I haven’t read one before. I just discovered the two gold Olympic wining pair skaters Sergei Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva. Their love story is so beautiful but ended tragically. I just finished watching a film/documentary on their lives together and now I’m in tears. I need a good ice skating romance - happy ending is a must. Thank you!

Welcome to Reading The Big Book of Classic Fantasy!
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/kjmichaels) will be reading 5 stories from Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, which includes a curated selection of fantasy stories written between 1808 and 1945! We’ll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some vintage fantasy stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
“The Big Bestiary of Modern Literature” by Franz Blei (published 1922, translated from German by Gio Clairval)
A satirical encyclopedia of recent and contemporary authors as “literary beasts.”

• Farragut’s thoughts: This is the first full translation into English for this story, according to the VanderMeers, as a past edition only translated a thousand words (one-tenth the actual length). It’s a very interesting piece of satire, as Austrian humor appears to be more confusing and/or vicious than I’d imagine. Some authors (in the guise of literary “beasts”) are described as tapeworms or fish or mice, and there’s far more scatological references than I expected (so much poop). A lot of the authors described are really famous (a few Nobel Literature Prize winners and even more that were nominated), and amusingly, a good portion have been authors we’ve already read (Chesterton, Meyrink, Hesse, Kafka, Tagore, and Tolstoy). The longest entry is devoted to Nietzsche, and Kafka is described basically as a vegetarian mouse with human eyes (kjmichaels’ note: I can’t believe the VanderMeers didn’t steal that descriptor for their own Kafka introduction). In any case, I pretty much had Wikipedia open for every entry, but many of the references were still incredibly opaque (I did learn just how many of these Austrian and German authors had to flee the Nazis though). I’d love a heavily annotated version of this story, but encyclopedia-style stories are always hard to pull off in my opinion.
  
• kjmichaels' thoughts: I agree that it’s hard to get into this story without annotations. Even when I recognized an author (which happened more often than I expected), the actual satire of the descriptions was often lost on me. The variety of descriptions and animalistic comparisons is rather fun though. And Blei’s clear admiration/derision of many famous writers makes it a bit interesting from a gossip perspective. Had he written this story a hundred years later, it could have easily been an HobbyDrama shitpost – an idea which I think is equal parts complimentary and mocking.
  

“The Alligator War” by Horacio Quiroga (1918, translated from Spanish by Arthur Livingston) (link to story)
The alligators try to stop a steamboat going up and down the river.

• F: Quiroga was a Uruguayan writer who loved stories about man and nature, and this is a great example of it—it was fun and funny watching the alligators trying to figure out how to stop the boats from traveling the river and scaring their fish away, and the resolution of this conflict was delicious. I would definitely read more from this author.
  
• K: I don’t really know what more to add to this. It’s a very straightforward story, a perfect example of a “it says what it is on the tin” story. (Farragut’s note: I can’t believe that THIS is the one story you have the least to say about so far in this series)
  

“Friend Island” by Francis Stevens (1918) (link to story)
An old sailorwoman tells a tale of when she was shipwrecked onto a friendly island. No men need apply.

• F: The editors rightly point out that this story was considered “feminist” . . . for its time (K: I audibly winced at the “for its time” part of the intro). Set in a future where women are the dominant gender and men are just good for taking care of the home, Stevens uses the island with a personality to demonstrate the differences, which is apparently just using curse words around ladies (the island is a lady and was mightily offended by it). It comes off rather bizarrely to me, reading it over a hundred years later, even as it’s entertaining. There’s one point where the sailorwoman is telling the story to her male sycophant who is keeping her supplied with tea and macaroons—and she’s eaten at least fourteen of them.
  
• K: I agree there’s a weird mixture of attempted progressiveness and tired gender norms in this story. Women are the superior sex and also cursing is enough to drive any woman to the point of impassioned violence for insulting her delicate sensibilities. It’s an odd and uneven story but the imagination at times is really quite remarkable. Even with the weird baggage, this is one of the funnier stories we’ve read and much of it intentionally so.
  

“Magic Comes to a Committee” by Stella Benson (1919) (link to story)
A charity committee during the war encounters a strange woman who claims to be a witch and brings a bit of magic into their lives.

• F: The first two chapters of Benson’s novel Living Alone introduces us to a rather amusing and yet also touching set of circumstances. No connection to E. F. Benson from last week, this Benson was apparently quite popular in her day (part of Virginia Woolf’s and other circles), but fell quickly to obscurity. It starts off quite biting—I really enjoyed the line, “The more committees you belong to, the less of ordinary life you will understand,” and the witch herself was an amusing breath of fresh air. I could definitely see myself finishing this, especially since the VanderMeers picked a really funny place to end the excerpt (K: easily one of the top 5 best failed winks in literature).
  
• K: Excerpt! Drink! Get drunk on this pain of endless excerpts. (F: Woohoo!!!!!) Though actually this is one of the best excerpts we’ve read so far in part because of how ridiculously funny it is. What do you get when you mix magic, bureaucracy, and British prudishness? An excellent satire, apparently. Like Farragut, I too want to continue on with this one and I’m both surprised and curious that Benson isn’t better remembered given her humor.
  

“Gramophone of the Ages” by Yefim Zozulya (1919, translated from Russian by Ekaterina Sedia)
In a pan-European socialist society, a man invents a machine that can listen to sounds of the past.

• F: One of the most interesting things about this story is its context, published 2 years into the Russian Civil War between the Bolsheviks and everyone else. Zozulya was often arrested by the authorities for his political satire, and he died just two months after joining the army in World War II. Here, the invention from the story title is used to listen to the past, which horrifies nearly everyone who listens to it; sounds of affairs and beatings, and executions and pogroms. The sounds from one stone used as an executioner’s block are just constant death screams. The young people run away, and the old people who remember life before universal peace don’t want to remember. One of the few depressing stories I think I liked, but I don’t know what that says about me.
  
• K: This really is such a tragic tale about being able to actually listen in on the wrongs of the past and it slowly becomes apparent that everyone would rather forget and ignore them than wrestle with them. It’s not hard to see parallels with our own current political climate and willful blindness regarding past tragedies. (F: Fiction is a funhouse mirror sometimes.) It’s a depressing story but it’s hard not to be moved by it.
  

That’s it for this week! Check back the same time next week where we’ll be reading and discussing "Joiwind" by David Lindsay, "Sound in the Mountain" by Maurice Renard, "Sennin" by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, "Koshtra Pivrarcha" by E. R. Eddison, and "At the Border" by Der Nister.