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Gunpoint Supremacy Seminars with Konstantin Komarov
November 9-11, 2007
[Seminar participants]

Reviews by Rachel Klingberg
Photos by Igor Shteynberg

Friday, November 9

On Friday, Konstantin first covered the basics. This was helpful because I think most of us had very little shooting experience. I had only just loaded and fired my Airsoft for the first time (incidentally, startling Konstantin so that he jumped. I didn't want to begin the exercises having never fired it before, though probably it would have made no difference.) Goggles were a must; many people had full face masks. Long sleeves were a wise precaution. I soon found that thick pants are helpful, too, and on the third day, I actually wore long johns under my BDUs, as well as a sweatshirt underneath my nylon jacket. The jacket was good protection; it's a police coat sans insignia, and the pellets just slipped right off it. Baggy clothes seem to helpful with allowing the pellets to slip off. I had a ski mask for facial protection and it was marginally better than bare skin. The pellets that hit my face left bruises; they did not break the skin, but stung quite painfully for a few seconds. I think getting hit in the inner thigh was the worst, though. Generally it was not as painful as I expected it to be; we were all hit hundreds of times and I only heard a few people crying out in pain, usually from shots fired at point-blank range.

	Val illustrates the 'zero point' where Konstantin asked us to aim.
	Konstantin demonstrates shooting from a sitting position...
	... and laying down.
	Comrades Konstantin Komarov and Edgars Tsakouls, Fighthouse Systema teacher

Konstantin talked about the proper grip for the gun, which is just the way you'd naturally hold it. He demonstrated passing it from one hand to the other, getting comfortable with the feel of it, as a recommended drill. He also showed how to draw it from behind the belt � throughout all three days, we kept our guns there in the Mexican carry style. A few people used holsters. Several of us did end up shooting ourselves inside our pants while trying to draw � in my case, this was because I am so uncoordinated with my left hand.

In addition to passing from one hand to the other, he also demonstrated drawing the gun, and how to compensate when you draw in such a way that the gun is a little loose in the hand. It's almost like you are dropping the gun, then sliding your hand down to catch it, which settles it more firmly in your grip. It's hard to explain � almost like a yo-yo action. Konstantin said we should practice these three exercises on our own. He also recommended working with a laser dot or a gun outfitted with a laser dot to improve aim.

He mentioned a few other basics: for safety reasons, don't shoot each other in the face. Aim for the 'zero level' � the midsection (reasons for aiming at midsection were explained a little later in the seminars - one reason is that it's psychologically easier to shoot someone in the stomach than in the head). Keep the gun close to your body, shoot from the hip. In the next few days we'd try different kinds of shooting but starting out, we shot from the hip. He also told us to keep the wrists straight just as you would do with punching. I found it extremely difficult to shoot from the hip and also keep my hip straight. I had to angle my body to hit a target directly in front of me, because shooting from the hip would mean missing a target directly opposite me. Konstantin also showed how to move the gun up or down, or side to side, by tilting the pelvis.

His introductory remarks were interesting. He said, "Ask yourself, 'why am I doing this?' Don't trust me to tell you; trust only yourself." That gave me some pause because I wasn't really sure why I was doing the gun seminars. The only reason I had was that Konstantin is such a fascinating person, I felt I could not pass up the chance to learn from him, although I am not that interested in shooting. It's okay, I like to do it the same way I like playing pool or darts. Konstantin said we'd be learning about combative shooting, not sport shooting. I'm afraid that I'm more interested in the latter � hitting paper targets or clay disks seems like fun; shooting at other people, a source of anxiety.

We did a drill where your partner draws and as soon as you detect his draw, you have to draw as well � sitting, standing, and lying down. We worked in groups of five on the passing drill � simply passing the guns from one person to the next. You take the gun by the barrel with one hand, pass it to your other hand, and finally to the person on your right. We reversed it to pass both ways, and also to do this sitting, standing, and lying down.

Konstantin used the "holding a fly" analogy for how tightly we should grip the guns. I have heard this used about punches, also. The grip should be tight enough to contain the fly, but not tight enough to kill it (until you land the punch, at which point, you should squeeze the fist to 'kill the fly.') To that effect, we did an interesting exercise where the entire class walked around with one fist held out, and the gun in the other hand, elbows bent, wrists straight, and we lightly pushed first the fist, then the gun, into each other as we passed. Then we paired up and one person pushed the other, first lightly, then really hard, and the person being pushed had to turn and draw simultaneously, using the yielding to the push to instigate the draw.

"You must be calm," said Konstantin. This was a recurring theme throughout the three days. "If you get too excited, do pushups to calm yourself." But he frequently stopped us to urge us to calm down, not to be too excited or fearful.

Next we did a very straightforward drill where you simple draw and shoot your partner, shooting from the hip and aiming for the 'zero point.' This was my first experience with being shot with an Airsoft pellet and it wasn't too bad if it hit my midsection. It was very painful on the inner thigh, face, and hand, though. But fortunately my partner was accurate. Later, Konstantin complimented her on her steady, calm work. I think she is the only student that he singled out for her excellent shooting.

Konstantin also had us practice tilting the pelvis to raise or lower the shot. Since I didn't think my aim was so great, I forewent tilting my pelvis, as I was already missing my partner sometimes anyway. Then we shot in groups of three � Konstantin wanted once person to shoot the other two, as we all stood in a triangular formation, but not to step or move side-to-side. Remaining in the same place, but swiveling the pelvis as necessary. Strangely, I found it easier to shoot two people than one.

We then did a "readiness" exercise in groups of three. One person turns around, the other two decide who will be the shooter and then say "ready." When the third person turns around, he has to spot which of the two is pointing the gun at him and shoot that person.

One of Konstantin's final pieces of advice was "Don't draw the gun unless you intend to use it." He explained how people get into arguments, they run out of angry words, and since hitting each other hurts too much, they draw their guns to threaten. He said that we should never use the gun to threaten but only draw if it was necessary to shoot someone. He repeated that advice several times throughout the three days.

I felt a little more comfortable with handling the gun after Friday's training, but I was still not that interested in shooting, as compared to other kinds of Systema training. Maybe because, unlike a knife or even a stick, a gun is a weapon I am not likely to use. At best, after investing a few thousand dollars, I'd only use a handgun in my home, if someone were to break in or otherwise threaten me. And I don't plan to make that investment anytime soon. If concealed carry was legal in NYC, I might feel differently, but as it stands, shooting is something I wanted to learn only to round out my Systema education, and because Konstantin is such a fascinating individual. However, I did start to take a shine to it by the third day, so my next two installments will reflect my increasing enthusiasm for combative shooting practice.

Saturday, November 10

On Saturday, Konstantin gave us a piece of advice he'd repeat several more times: "The gun doesn't protect you; you protect the gun." He also reminded us that you don't need to aim if you line up properly. "Shooting is just an afterthought." The idea is to create favorable circumstances leading up the squeezing the trigger. He re-capped what we had covered on Friday; the introductory material. I forgot to add in my Friday review, he had also advised us not to point the gun upward, that's it's faster and easier to change targets if the gun is pointing down between shots, and you are less likely to shoot yourself if you point the gun downward. But for most of the drills where we fired more than one shot, the gun was parallel to the floor.

	Konstantin had us practice shooting from every position as well as transitioning between.
	He demonstrates shooting while stepping; the best time to shoot is when one foot is in the air.
	Edgar holds up some important training equipment at the Saturday banquet.

With this advice in mind, we again did the drill where we simply shoot each other, drawing from the hip, and then in groups of three, shooting two people, moving smoothly from one to the other without stepping or excessive turning. Then a repeat of the alertness drills in groups of three: one person turns around, the other two decide who will be the shooter, and when Number One turns around, he has to instantly see who's drawn and pointing at him and shoot that person.

Launching off the "you protect the gun" theme, we did an exercise, still in our groups of three, where one person turns around, another person claps, at which Number one turns to face the other two, and one of the two rushes at tries to get the gun. The goal is to draw and shoot the rusher before he gets too close.

We then practiced shooting from a distance with our partners, starting three or four steps away from each other. If you missed, you had to take a step closer, and if you hit your partner, take a step back. I was able to shoot my partner from about three-quarters of the length of the room. I did this with several different people and unfortunately the second kept shooting me in the face. After asking him not to several times, I gave up and resigned myself to being shot in the face. It is really uncomfortable without a helmet, though the ski mask was better than nothing. I found myself feeling a sense of dread each time I faced him, knowing I had to just stand there and take the shots in the face, and that he couldn't, or wouldn't, aim for the midsection as Konstantin had asked us to. I don't know if he had terrible aim or just a grim determination to shoot to the face, but it was very uncomfortable. This was the only person I encountered who seemed to be a bit reckless with the Airsoft. I did work with another guy who vented the magazine, shooting rapidly over and over again, which, being a New Yorker, I always associate with those NYPD panic-shooting deaths that we occasionally hear about. You know, the suspect is reaching for his wallet and ends up with 200 rounds in him. How many shots do you really need? I asked my classmate rhetorically during the lunch break. A Fighthouse boxing coach overheard us and answered, "Just one, if you aim correctly."

"Each bullet costs money, life, and health," Konstantin told us on Sunday. "Practice with three bullets in the chamber. The act of re-loading will make you think."

We practiced shooting while walking, which I find a lot easier than shooting from a stationary position. Later, Konstantin said he also found it easier to shoot while in motion. We walked past our partners, drew, and shot them while continuing to walk "just as if you were on your way to work," said Konstantin. We also did this while walking towards our partners from a 45 degree angle.

"You must pull the trigger while your foot's in the air," said Konstantin. Throughout the three days, he constantly reminded us to keep moving, before and after we shot. I had to be very diligent about remembering not to freeze after I had fired.

In groups of four, three of us stood at different distances from the fourth, and he had to step forward and shoot everyone. For this, we practiced a different kind of draw � no longer shooting from the hip, we held the gun in front of the belly button, slightly extended, but arm still bent.

"Don't aim, don't hesitate. Position your body so the shot is just an afterthought," said Konstantin again. With that in mind, we broke for lunch.

After lunch, we did an interesting exercise in pairs. One person pressed the barrel of the gun into the other person's body, and then moved around, stepping, rotating, rising up and down, all the while maintaining the shot. Then we did the same thing, but actually shooting each other (not from point-blank, we stepped back a little). We did this for 5-10 minutes each.

Konstantin told us we had too much tension in our shoulders, and that we were 'pushing' the gun forward into the target as we shot. He said this is how soldiers are taught to shoot and that's it's a low-level skill that can be easily learned, but we were aiming for a higher standard of work.

Next we did an exercise where we shot our partners while walking in a figure-8. I found this very difficult. I guess I have a little trouble with the figure-8; at the risk of making myself sound like a moron, I somehow found it difficult to keep walking in a fluid, consistent, figure-8. Then we remained in the same place and our partners walked around us in a circle and we had to shoot them standing, sitting, and lying down.

At this point, I was without a partner and remained so for the last hour of the seminar. There was another student whose gun had malfunctioned and that is why I ended up without a partner. This happens sometimes and I don't get so upset about it as I used to. I did have a chance to observe and take some good notes.

They did a crowd exercises with partners. At Konstantin's command, everyone had to walk around, draw, and fire two shots at their partners; both of them had to be accurate and hit each other. Next they did the same thing in groups of three, and each person had to fire two shots and hit their two partners. You were not supposed to put your hand on your gun in preparation, you arms had to hang normally until your opportunity to shoot presented itself.

"People have a tendency to shift responsibility to a piece of metal," said Konstantin. Of course the gun itself can't be blamed for anything. "When you think you can't be seen, you relax, and if you think you will not be seen, you will get closer," Konstantin observed. Again he reminded us to focus not on the shot itself, but on the circumstances preceding it. "Calm, confident movement," he advised. "You should be able to change your movement at any given time." He encouraged us to use our inner vision for the crowd work exercises, to keep our eyes soft, and not to reveal our intention. It's been awhile since I've heard a reference to the 'unfocused gaze' of Systema. This is when you use your peripheral vision, look above your opponent's head, and try not to focus too intently on any one thing. Using the unfocused gaze often causes my partners to believe I am not 'ready' to be attacked because I appear to be looking in a different direction, but it's intentional on my part.

To conclude, Konstantin summarized what we'd learned: proper grip, trigger pull with relaxed finger. He suggested an exercise: shooting with a shell on top of the barrel. If the shell was undisturbed after the shot, that was smooth work. He suggested starting with the shell close to the hand and moving it all the way to the end of the barrel. He also mentioned some sort of 'paper cone' exercise but I wasn't quite clear on what that entails. He said that the hands will get used to the weapon, but shooting is mostly psychological. He also said that the 'floating arm,' was still raw and not yet developed; we had been working with the arm and the body moving as one unit.

A few people asked questions, which I did not note, though I have a few notes about questions on Sunday. At this point, I was still undecided as to whether I wanted to attend the seminar on Sunday. I just wasn't as enthralled with shooting as everyone else seemed to be. I was a bit daunted by getting hit in the sensitive areas of the face, hands, and inner thigh. And finally, though it's a lame excuse, I was a bit put off by the 9 AM starting time of the seminar. But I eventually decided that I had invested in the gun, and spent two days learning from Konstantin, and I'd be cheating myself if I didn't finish off the training. So I resolved to return the next day.

Later that evening, we had our Russian banquet, which is always a good time for all who attend. I tried some delicious Long Island wines and watched my classmate make a fool out of himself with an athletic cup. I had to leave earlier than I wanted to so that I could be well-rested for the following morning's training.

Sunday, November 11

Sunday's session started off with Konstantin taking questions. Someone asked, how do you tell when someone's carrying? And also, how can you conceal the fact that you are carrying? Konstantin said that people either try to hide the fact that they are packing, or else they make it more obvious, for example, by walking with a swagger. In response to the question, he had us practice telling who was carrying. He pulled aside three people, told two of them to leave their guns, and took them outside the room, where he gave the gun to one of them. The three of them walked into the room and across the length of the floor, and then back again, while we observed. Konstantin then asked who was carrying the gun � he pointed to one, and asked everyone who that that he had the gun to raise their hand. Surprisingly, the class wasn't evenly divided among the three. Most people thought that one person had it. I chose correctly � the woman was carrying the gun. I had seen the way she walked � very upright and confident, with hips slightly thrust forward. It seemed like the walk of someone who was carrying.

	Konstantin demonstrates the same principles we practiced with handguns with an AK-47.
	Two-gun shooting demonstration using the crossed-arms technique.
	Comrades-in-arms enjoying snacks and conversation during the lunch break.

We did this with two more sets of three. I picked the wrong person for the second set but the right person for the last set. The woman had revealed herself to be carrying by her confident walk, but in the last set, the man who had the gun seemed to be hiding something. He looked almost guilty about it. It wasn't hard to spot him. But I did surprise myself by getting two out of three right. I guess all that research into body language paid off. Konstantin said he chose the people not randomly, but because of certain characteristics they had. He said that some things, like a hangover, could make people walk in such a way as to give the impression that they are concealing something. One of my classmates, who did have a hangover, fooled most of the class into thinking he had the gun, but I was familiar with the way he walks and knew that he did not have anything.

Our first drill was a reprise of the readiness drills we had done previously. In pairs, one person turns around, the other positions himself, draws, points, and says "Ready," at which, the first person has to turn around and shoot his partner. The person drawing could be standing, sitting, lying down, or at any position within the room.

Konstantin stopped us to review some mistakes: big flashy movement, 'pushing' the gun into the target, which he again said was a technique for the lower order of soldiers who can't be expected to become expert shooters.

In groups of four, one person served as the 'director,' and one person turned his back. The director positioned the other two throughout the room and they both drew and pointed at the person with his back turned. Then the director said "Ready" and the other person had to turn around, spot the two partners, and shoot them both. It was difficult to spot your two partners in the crowded room. Often I saw them and wanted to shoot, but there were other people in the way. I didn't want to risk hitting someone else, even with plastic pellets. Also, the penalty for hitting someone who wasn't your partner was 20 pushups!

We did some interesting blindfold work with eyes closed. Konstantin demonstrated on the ever-valiant Denis the Menace, who served as his target all weekend. Denis stood against the wall and Konstantin closed his eyes. Denis said, "Here," and Konstantin had to fire based only on the sound of his voice. Most of the time, he hit Denis, but of course it wasn't 100% of the time. Our own results were considerably less impressive. We practiced this in groups of four, first, just pointing the gun at three people against the wall. I asked my partners to say their names and if my pointing was completely off, to repeat their names again so I could readjust. We did the same thing, only this time we fired at our partners with eyes closed. It wasn't as dismal as I expected. Most of us managed to hit 40%-50% of the time.

I was a little sleep-deprived, as it's hard to leave a Systema party early enough to be well-rested for a 9 AM seminar the following day. When we broke for lunch, I ate rather quickly, as I wasn't very hungry and had brought my light lunch to save money and calories. I thought I'd nap on the floor but it was cold in the room, people were talking, and I was concerned that someone might hit me accidentally. I made my way to the back room where the girls had slept. It was toasty warm because they had been running a space heater the previous night. In case you are wondering what it's like to bunk down at Fighthouse, it's actually quite cozy. I stretched out on the floor and using my jacket as a pillow, had a lovely refreshing 30-minute nap. I was surprised by how comfortable I was on the hard wooden floor, but I'm blessed with this ability to fall asleep anywhere.

After lunch, Konstantin talked for a little while. He's so fascinating, I'd have been happy to just listen to him talk all day. "We are not learning to shoot," he said. By that, I think he meant we're not learning to aim and hit a target, as you'd do at the shooting range. It all leads back to his definition of combative shooting as creating a set of favorable circumstances that allow you to shoot accurately without having to aim.

He talked about distances and the distance recommended in a Russian soldier's handbook. I can't recall the exact number but it was a very far distance, from which a soldier is expected to shoot accurately. Konstantin said that he himself was unable to hit a target from this distance.

He also talked about psychology and body language, coping with fear and stress, and how fear is stored in the body in muscular trigger points. He demonstrated with a volunteer, showing where the tension was stored in the back muscles. He said that if a person is knocked unconscious, they go soft and the muscles release the tension, but when they recover consciousness, they tighten up again. He whipped the volunteer with the Cossack whip coiled up. He hit him pretty hard and the guy took it well. The whipping is a kind of massage, though it seems bizarre and even sado-masochistic, but it isn't. Science has proven that whipping improves mental and physical health and wards off depression. I have found that it brings a lot of blood to the surface of the skin and helps to relax the muscles. But it does hurt; in fact, it's quite similar to the feeling of being struck on a vulnerable part with an Airsoft pellet; the same kind of stinging, burning sensation.

In groups of three, we did another variation on the kind of drills we'd been doing all weekend. Two people walk towards one, and one of the two draws and fires, and the one has to detect the draw and fire. The rule was that you could not put your hand on your gun until you saw one of your partners drawing on you, and also you could not shoot a person once they had walked past you. In generally, this exercise led to exchanges of shots rather than one at a time. I did find that I often froze up when I saw that someone was pointing a gun at me, and this delayed my reaction time. I asked Konstantin about this at the end of the seminar and he gave me some thoughtful advice, see below, a little farther down in this review.

We also did some disarm drills that I liked quite a bit, as I had missed the good ol' Systema hand-to-hand. Konstantin demonstrated the disarms and said it was quite a bit easier when the gun was actually touching your body. I quickly found that it was nearly impossible when your partner won't come close enough to touch you. My first disarm went quite well but my partner quickly discovered that staying close to me meant he'd end up underneath me, with my knee grinding into his gun hand to force him to drop it. It's not that I was being brutal, but I am much more fluent with disarms than with shooting in general. After my initial success, my partner came close only until I started to disarm him, then he quickly ran away and shot me from a safe distance. I don't know if this was wrong; it seems to me that a person with a real gun might act in such a way. But it didn't look like the drill that Konstantin had demonstrated, where the person with the gun kept close to the person who was to effect the disarm.

We also did a version of this disarm drill where the gun-wielding partner threatens from a distance and says "hands up ... get down on the ground," and so forth, and the 'victim' attempts a little psy-ops to bring him closer, saying he doesn't understand, doesn't speak English, etc. In my case, I didn't have to try to be too inventive as my partner's demands were often unclear. However, as with the first disarm exercise, even when I could draw him close enough, if I tried any sort of disarm, he simply ran away and shot me from a distance. I am not saying that's wrong, just different from the exercise that Konstantin had demonstrated.

I did manage to throw him off-guard a little bit just as he was going to shoot me from a distance. I grabbed a stack of loose paper on which someone had written notes and tossed it right into his face just as he was going to pull the trigger, thereby buying myself a few seconds. Though a little unorthodox, Systema is all about using what you've got, and in that case, I had nothing against a gun but a stack of papers that happened to be nearby. In case you are wondering if this ninja-style tactic works, it does. Having a bunch of papers suddenly flying right into your face is disorienting enough to make you miss your shot.

Next we practiced in groups of three with two people in a line, side by side, a few feet apart. The third had to walk past them and as soon as he detected one or the other drawing, he had to shoot that person. This was very characteristic of the awareness drills we practiced all weekend, where detecting intent was the most important factor.

The last 45 minutes or so were spent on crowd wor. In groups of three, you had to shoot each of your two partners twice, at a distance of no more than 6 feet, and shooting from the hip. We then mixed it up so that you shoot one and the other one shoots you, so we had to shoot and avoid at the same time, which puts a totally different spin on the exercise. And then we reversed the targets so the person who had been shooting at you was now your target. I found one of my partners quite easily; her long black coat was distinctive. The other was much harder to spot and he seemed to hide out in the corners a lot. Also, his windbreaker looked so much like everyone else's jacket. It was hard to recognize people who were wearing face guards, unless their clothing was unique.

For our final exercise, everyone shot everyone else, up to three shots each, and whoever used up their three shots had to go stand against the wall. I fired only one shot. Konstantin asked us, what's the hurry to shoot? He said this is how gunfire happens in crowds; it only takes one shot for the other shooters to panic and fire, too.

I wasn't quite sure what he was getting at. He told us to fire three shots and it seemed the people who did that the quickest were told to stand up against the wall and those who took longer to fire their three shots were the 'survivors.' We tried this exercise again and Konstantin said not to rush to shoot, and anyone who got hit had to go stand against the wall. It was hard for me to tell if I got hit as the pellets just slid right off my jacket, so if someone hit me at the zero point, I would not even feel it. But I don't think anyone hit me, nor did I fire a single shot. I noticed that the people who were against the wall were more spontaneous and impulsive. The people who were left milling around, who had not fired, tended to be more cautious and thoughtful. I'm not saying spontaneity is necessarily a bad thing, just that those of us who were left were waiting for any one of us to draw before shooting, so we had this kind of stalemate, as none of us drew, therefore, we didn't fire.

Konstantin said that the training applies to all different kinds of guns, and someone had an Airsoft AK-47, which he used to demonstrate. As I mentioned previously, he said that each bullet costs money, life, and health, and suggested we practice with just three rounds in the magazine, to make us stop and think between shots.

In conclusion, he took questions, of which there were many. I asked him how to stop myself from freezing up when I knew that my partner and I would be shooting each other simultaneously. He commended me for noticing that tendency in myself, which kind of surprised me as I saw it as a kind of failure, but I guess as long as you are conscious of it, it's not a big a failure as if you pretend it's not happening. Konstantin said I should remember to breathe, and to use the short panting breath if necessary. He said to practice re-creating the situation, the exact moment where I froze, and work through it from that point. He said don't stop and start again, but keep going even if I freeze up.

One of my classmates asked how to quell the panic and fear of the blowback from a real gun, but I don't recall the particulars of Konstantin's answer. Denis said that Airsoft was similar in feel and blowback to a real .22. Konstantin had encouraged us to pick a gun that feels right for us, and not one that is big or shoots fast. He said all that was irrelevant in the long run, if the gun wasn't comfortable in our hands.

Someone else asked why aim for the zero point, the midsection, when the American shooting schools teach you to aim for the chest. Konstantin replied that it's not necessary to aim, the stomach happens to be in line when you shoot from the hip or from the navel level, so that eliminates the need to aim. He also said the stomach is less mobile than the head or chest and therefore can't get out of the way of incoming fire as easily. Previously, he had also mentioned that shooting to the stomach is psychologically easier than shooting to the head.

There was an inquiry about shooting with two guns and Konstantin did a brief demonstration. He said there were two methods: shooting with a gun in each hand in direct line, and crossing the guns and shooting the to the left with the gun in the right hand and vice versa. He demonstrated both ways, again with the intrepid Denis as the target.

There were a whole bunch of other questions, but I didn't write them all down. Many were just re-iterating what Konstantin had already told us earlier in the seminars. We spent a good half-hour in the Q&A and finally Konstantin concluded by saying that we could not expect to retain this knowledge that we'd gained in two weeks' time unless we practiced. He also once again told us not to trust him, but to trust only ourselves. We all applauded him for sharing his wonderfully astute wisdom with us during the three days. I also publicly thanked Val Hainley for providing such tireless translation of Konstantin's words. I wish to also thank Peggy and Edgar for hosting the seminar � it was not easy, as we had to work in a segregated, padded room with all the mirrors covered and the windows blocked out. Many thanks also to the people who travelled great distances to participate in the seminar and make it a truly successful event. Spasibo!