Meanwhile in Moscow

The toxic smog smothering Moscow showed little sign of abating Monday as media accused officials of covering up the scale of the disaster and the authorities raced to put out a fire near a nuclear site.

Amid Russia's worst heatwave in decades, the raging wildfires and burning peat bogs in central Russia have choked Moscow for several days and even sent plumes of smoke as far as neighbouring Finland.

[...]

There is no official data on the number of smog-related illnesses and deaths but a Moscow registry service official told AFP late last week the mortality rate in Moscow soared by 50 percent in July compared to the same period last year.

[...]

The heatwave created a national catastrophe which has affected all areas of life, with 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of agricultural land destroyed and the government ordering a controversial ban on grain exports.

  Raw Story

The report says that the people in Moscow are blaming the government for not protecting them from the smog and heat. I wonder how the government would go about doing that. At least if they could get those fires out that might take care of the smokey smog. I also wonder if the government is properly protecting the nuclear plant from fire…that's something I think would fall under the government's responsibility…and if not, the smog and the heat will seem like a mere inconvenience to the people.

I will remember 2010 (if I remember anything, that is) as the year of the long, hot summer.