Today's guest is Gasan Gusejnov, a linguistics professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. Many people in Russia are learning about him right now because of a Facebook post he shared on October 29, where he complained that Russians show too little interest in other languages. He said specifically that newsstands in Moscow — a city with hundreds of thousands of ethnicities besides Russian — offer only publications in “the miserable and foul Russian language.” He also argued that Russians try to justify their aversion to other languages as the privilege of a “great power,” but this insularity, he says, is actually the result of Russia’s “barbarity.” The Facebook post led to a national scandal, including threats and even a whole segment on pro-Kremlin pundit Dmitry Kiselyov’s network TV show. Gasan discussed the issue and why he thinks so many have reacted so harshly. https://www.hse.ru/en/org/persons/72525472 Support this very podcast here: www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock Music and audio: Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7s Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ