What Happens in Magnitogorsk...

What happens in Magnitogorsk... stays in Magnitogorsk. 

I had hoped to write at least a drive-by account of this city, which was modeled to be like Gary, Indiana or Pittsburgh, PA, during Stalin's first Five Year Plan.   During Soviet times and modern times the city was and is the largest producer of iron and steel in Russia. 

When we landed in our small plane I was reminded of the airport in Altoona, PA, which I visited only a few weeks ago.  The  " magnet mountain city" of Magnitogorsk has a population of about 410,000, but I don't think many people visit it or leave. 

One reason not to visit or even live here is pollution.   By one ranking it is in the top 25 of the world in terms of pollution -- lead, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals, etc.  In 1992 a local newspaper reported (if you believe Wikipedia) that only 28 percent of babies were born healthy to healthy mothers. 

Ironically a short drive away is a area renown for ecological purity -- and that was our destination.  The town of Abzakovo is a resort area popular in the Urals for downhill skiing.   In September the weather is pleasant, and Slava selected this place as the location for a major conference and the celebration of the formation 25 years ago of his Science and Engineering Center for Large Systems and Machines. This celebration is the reason I came to Russia at this time. 

The conference starts tomorrow. Today we spent some time exploring the area. Abzakovo is located in the semi-independent republic of Bashkortostan.  Ethnics Russians are only 36 percent of the population, and the Bashkirs and Tatars which make up a solid majority are Sunni Muslim. Out of a population of 4 million, 1.4 million speak Bashkir, which is a second language here. 

Once upon a time Bashkir was written in Arabic, and in the 20th century the people experimented with the Roman alphabet. Now it's written in Cyrillic. Fortunately Russian is found everywhere.