Hello,

This is the news of the day! (Well almost)

This Saturday (5-30-09) in Helsinki, Finland, will be the rematch that will settle the debate all over the world about who is the real champion between these two guys!

Valuev (The Russian Giant) is looking for revenge after a disappointing loss in 2007 to a smaller and faster Chagaev!

Valuev who is one foot taller and much more powerful is the slowest of the two. Chagaev seems to have greater boxing skills and definitely speed that may help him take the WBA belt back.

At the weigh-in the Russian Giant tipped the scales at 40.7 kilos heavier (143.1 kg to 102.4 kg) than Chagaev.

Little known fact about Valuev: In May, 2009 Nikolai Valujev killed a Wild Boar with his bare hands when the animal attacked his dog during a hunt in the area of St Petersburg, Russia.

Now that is cool…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Update: Due to so far unofficial reasons: The WBA heavyweight fight between Russian Giant Nikolay Valuev against Uzbek White Tyson Ruslan Chagaev has been called off by Finnish organizers.

Officials said that “Chagaev has been unable to fulfill the Finnish Boxing Federation’s medical requirements.” However, the organizers refused to give more details of Chagaev’s condition as it is against Finnish law.

Finnish media have unofficially stated that Chagaev is suffering from a hepatitis infection. All 11 boxing bouts scheduled for the evening have been canceled.

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of wonderful coffee here in Moscow, Russia. I was thinking about some tidbits of information that had come to my attention.

The first thing that hit me this morning was the fact that the ruble had strengthened a lot against the dollar. It now has breached the 31 ruble per dollar mark. That is happening even thought the Kremlin is trying not to let it happen. That means the dollar is slipping badly and it is showing against world currencies. This is not a normal drop it is a drop that is in conjunction with a stock market drop. That means that people are pulling away from American finances. America is more and more becoming just a short term betting place for monetary issues.

The second tidbit that popped up was that Russia is looking for the CSTO to be developed into a counter balance to NATO. I have said before that the CSTO had a long term plan to be a huge security force. But all press releases have countered that until now. Now the glimmer of reality or at least Medvedev’s thoughts are starting to sneak out. Medvedev wants a new security organization that is better than NATO which is a defunct Cold War relic.

The third tidbit that popped up really goes along with the second item. Russia has officially approved a 49-year lease of the Kant airbase in Kyrgyzstan, with an automatic prolongation every 25 years thereafter. The Kant base is intended to provide air cover for possible operations by CSTO joint forces in Central Asia. This is part of the variances in effect in Kyrgyzstan that also lead to the expulsion of the American airbase. The facts that the Western press leaves out is that America lost that base because they had the wrong attitude toward the Kyrgyzstan people.

I just thought I would share what I saw this morning that had to do with Russia, while drinking my coffee.

I saw much more but I thought that we have all had enough of the daily reports of deaths in Iraq, Pakistan and other war zones.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Russia News Source – RIA: May 29th, 2009!

Italian investors to develop tourism in Russia’s Altai Territory:
Investors from Italy’s South Tirol region have agreed to develop tourism in southwest Siberia’s Altai Territory, the Altai administration said.

Russia wants CSTO to be as strong as NATO:
Russia is planning to build a strong military contingent in Central Asia within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) comparable to NATO forces in Europe, a Russian business daily said on Friday.

Dollar down 34.16 kopeks, euro up 5.11 kopeks:
The official dollar rate set by the Russian Central Bank for May 30 is 30.9843 rubles, down 34.16 kopeks from Friday, the Central Bank said.

Russia’s richest man to build ‘seven star’ hotel in Turkey:
Metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s richest man, has received permission to build a ‘seven star’ hotel near Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast, national media reported on Friday.

UN chief rejects Georgia’s claim of ‘Russian blackmail’:
The head of the United Nations has dismissed a claim by Georgia that he was forced to amend a report on the UN Caucasus mission due to Russian “blackmail”, and called the allegation “unfortunate.”

Russia opens chemical weapons destruction facility in Siberia:
Russia opened on Friday the first unit of a chemical weapons destruction facility in Siberia’s Kurgan Region, and pledged to destroy 45% of existing stockpiles by the end of 2009.

NASA extends contract with Russia for trips to space station:
NASA has signed a $306 million deal with Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos extending the current contract for transporting crew to the International Space Station.

Nissan to open car factory in Petersburg on June 2:
Nissan will officially open a car factory in St. Petersburg on June 2, the Japanese car giant said.

Russia’s international reserves surge to $402 bln as of May 25:
Russia’s international reserves, which include foreign exchange and gold, have grown to $402 billion as of May 25, the Central Bank chief said on Thursday.

Hello,

Today I found a couple of videos that I thought were pretty cool. The first one is a step back in time. Lets go for a short ride from the back seat of a Volga GAZ Model 21!

Now lets take a short slide show and have a good picture look at the Volga Gaz Model 21 and then watch it become the next generation Volga GAZ Model 24, then on up the scale to the modern Volga!

As you know I think that the older Volga cars are some of the best cars ever made. My interest has been stirred again because we have a reader (Mark) who loves the Volga GAZ Model 21.

I am getting ready to paint our Volga and will get pictures taken as I proceed. We call our Volga – Nelly – and she is one tough car.

That is all today and I hope that you enjoyed the videos. Even though I think on the second one the music would have been better with the real Russian version and not the English version…

Link To Our Volga GAZ articles!

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.