Analysis Opinion

Even the Furniture Circassians Use Contributes to Their Longer Life Expectancy, KBR Researchers Say
Friday, June 13, 2025
Even the Furniture Circassians Use Contributes to Their Longer Life Expectancy, KBR Researchers Say
Paul Goble
Staunton, June 10 – New research by scholars at the Kabardino-Balkaria State University finds that the cultural code of the Circassians – the Adyge Khaze – the clothes they wear, and even the furniture they have traditionally used contributes to longer life expectancy — including an unusual number of centenarians among them.
The North Caucasus is famous for the number of people who live to great age, and many have offered their theories as to why that is so. (My personal favorite is a cartoon showing an older North Caucasian in traditional dress who, when asked how he has lived so long, replies that it is because he has never criticized the state.)
But now scholars at the KBR University have offered a more scientifically-based explanation. They say that “an enormous role” is played by their cultural traditions, which include behavior, dress and even furniture (https://kbsu.ru/podrazdelenija/fakultety/meditsinskij-fakultet/news/uchenyj-kbgu-vyvel-formulu-dolgoletija-iz-tradicionnogo-byta-adygov/). Read more
Paul Goble’s 50 Windows on Eurasia / June 13, 2025
Paul Goble’s 50 Windows on Eurasia / June 13, 2025

Correction: Circassians Were Deportees, Not Refugees / Erased by Occupation: The Deportation That Shattered Circassia
Correction: Circassians Were Deportees, Not Refugees
Erased by Occupation: The Deportation That Shattered Circassia
Adel Bashqawi
June 7, 2025

Paul Goble’s 50 Windows on Eurasia / May 28, 2025
Paul Goble’s 50 Windows on Eurasia / May 28, 2025

The Patriotism of Hypocrites—More Perilous Than the Treachery of Collaborators
Kremlin Returns Crosses to Its Emblem, Opening the Way for Crosses to Appear on State Symbols More Generally
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Kremlin Returns Crosses to Its Emblem, Opening the Way for Crosses to Appear on State Symbols More Generally
Paul Goble
Staunton, May 23 – On May 21, the Kremlin inserted Orthodox crosses in place of diamonds on its coat of arms, a change the Russian Orthodox Church had long sought and that likely opens the way for a wholesale return of such crosses to Russian symbols across the entire country. Read more