So lets try an egg salad that is as close to Russian as I can get. This actually is a recipe of mine and I have altered it some for the occasion. In Russi, mustard is horseradish based so keep that in mind as you make it.

Lets make Salat Iz Yaits or Russia Egg Salad…

Ingredients
120ml/4fl.oz. of real mayonnaisep90ml/3fl.oz. plain yoghurt
1 tsp spicy mustard
salt to taste
1 garlic clove, crushed
6 hard boiled eggs, diced
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens
1 tbsp finely chopped pimento as a garnish before serving

Instructions

Place the mayonnaise, yoghurt, mustard, salt and garlic in a small mixing bowl and mix well first. Then place the egg and spring onion greens in a the same serving bowl and mix well. Chill before serving and in fact make this the night before, then refrigerate and allow flavors to blend. Then it is exceptionally better…

Garnish with the pimiento just before serving. Feeds 4…

Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/kindle/2012-05/17/content_15317703.htm

Found this cartoon as they call it in ChinaDaily.com! It hits the point just right and the state of affairs right now is sliding quickly to the bottom. I find it interesting…

Oh by the way! Medvedev is going to the G8 summit and he has plans on meeting Obama and it is a short meeting. From what I understand, Medvedev is going to pass a few words from Putin along and from what I understand these words have much to do with the way Obama respected Putin, when Obama came to Russia. We all know that Obama acted like a ass in Russia and that was a major turning point in relations…

I always think of this quote: “If an ass goes traveling he will not come home a horse.” by Thomas Fuller…

The G8 meeting is worthless and Putin knows it. Obama is only worried about reelection so he will miss the important APEC meeting for no reason other than spit back at Putin. Putin will be at the G20 meeting which is the meeting that counts, compared to the G8. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a summit that America can not afford to snub and by doing so they will slide down the power pole a little farther. Asia is the future!

We have a saying in America that Obama has seemed to never have learned…

“What Goes Around Comes Around…” The “reset” dies a little more in a spiraling death…

The fear of the West is back: Putin does not respect, nor is scared of the Western Empire…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

A number of key questions have arisen since Assad gave his last interview over half a year ago. Assad answered them all in a new interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel.

‘West outplayed Syria on media battlefield’

Assad admits that Syria is losing the media war against the West, but says “the reality is what really matters” and not “the illusions” created by the media.

He said that the media outplayed the Syrian government in the very beginning of the conflict by making up stories and spreading rumors. But in the long term the media cannot beat the reality, he added, and eventually the circumstances have changed because what is really happening is very much different from what the media reports.

Assad also said that the Syrian government repeatedly tried to express its point of view to numerous international journalists, but the agencies kept sending to Syria only those people who would stick with the same lies and false picture created in the first days of the conflict.

Not so Free Syrian Army

Assad says that the Syrian National Council, an “opposition” operating from abroad, has from little or no influence on what is happening in Syria and does not have any kind of significance within Syria. Though on the ground the Free Syrian Army is widely considered to be the core of the armed and organized opposition movement, Assad believes the FSA has not much to either with freedom or the organized army.

“First of all they are not free,” the head of state said, explaining that they will never be free while they are supplied with guns and funded from abroad.

He described the Free Syrian Army as a crowd of convicted criminals, comprised among other things of Al-Qaeda type religious fanatics, extremists and terrorists and to some extent of foreign mercenaries, predominantly from other Arab states.

Assad revealed that Syrian forces had captured a number of foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition. He explained the authorities had not advertised the fact until now because they did not have enough evidence to prove the fighters were indeed mercenaries.

“Some [of the mercenaries] are still alive,” he said. “They are being detained and we are preparing to show them to the world. Many of them have been killed.”

Syrian rebels are also known to have gone to Kosovo to study partisan warfare tactics, Assad added. “There is information that a group of people who call themselves opposition went to Kosovo to train in organizing military intervention by NATO into Syria,” he told Rossiya-24.

Western sanctions and UN mission – both one-sided

At the moment there are 212 military observers and 68 civilian staff working for the UN observer mission in Syria monitoring the implementation of Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

Assad says that a decrease in direct military confrontation with the opposition due to the redeployment of the military was the only positive result of the mission’s arrival. At the same time, he says, the number of terror attacks targeting civilians has sharply increased and is now at its highest level since the beginning of the crisis.

The West keeps talking “about violence, but violence from the side of the government, not a word about the terrorists,” the Syrian leader said. “Mr. Annan will come to Syria this month, and I will ask him about this matter.”

Slapping Syria with all sorts of sanctions and embargoes is another one-sided decision by the West, Assad believes.

“Sanctions affect only ordinary people, not the government,” Assad explained.

He said that the world is wide enough not to focus only on the US and Europe.

“We are finding alternatives to overcome these difficulties,” he said. “We have wonderful relations with the greater part of the world, except for the West.”

Not a regime but a form of government

President Assad believes that what Russia and China, who repeatedly expressed their support for Syria and backed the country in the UN Security Council, are in fact supporting is neither the regime (Assad prefers the expression “form of government”) nor Assad as the head of state, but international stability.

Both Russia and China have a good grip on the geopolitical situation in the region and they understand that without their support not only Syria but a lot of its neighbors will plunge into chaos, Assad explained.

“It is not a question of Syria, it is a question of international stability,” Assad said.

Windows to Russia…

The US Attorney General granted an interview to a select number of Russian media outlets, namely Itar-Tass news agency, Vesti-24 TV and Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated recently that the country will do everything possible to get Bout back .

Earlier this week, the US Bureau of Prisons announced that it was reconsidering its plan to send the Russian businessman to the high-security Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Bout’s attorney Albert Dayan said that he was informed about this decision on Tuesday. On the same day, prosecutors notified the judge in a letter that the Bureau of Prisons was re-evaluating where to transfer Viktor Bout from a federal lockup in Brooklyn.

Viktor Bout, a former Soviet military officer, was found guilty of conspiracy to kill US nationals, including military officers and employees, conspiring to use anti-aircraft missiles and selling millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC. He is now serving his 25-year prison term in the US.

Russia has repeatedly condemned Bout’s trial on the grounds that the charges were not connected to any crime, but rather were over alleged criminal intent.The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement that blasted the US trial as politically motivated, adding that it has blacklisted the US officials involved in the case.

Windows to Russia!

Above: Putin Travels Russia...

Oh one thing that I really think you need to think about. Here is a huge difference between Russia and America on safety. I have  told you many times that traveling and walking around Russia is much much safer than doing the same in America…

If you remember that Putin traveled and drove many of the kilometers himself all over Russia. He drove not in a bullet proof armored car but a regular LADA that he was given to test drive. It was nothing special and not altered in anyway for his trip. Putin drove 1300 miles at least that trip and did it in a regular car. The trip was not a secrete that came out after the fact. Contrary it was a trip that was planned and was mediated constantly from beginning to end. We all knew what he did and where he would be the next day and nothing was hidden…

Could you imagine Obama driving 1300 miles across America in a car that was not armored and bullet proof? Much less a car equivalent to a LADA. Or could you imagine Obama driving the car at all? Could you imagine Obama filling the gas tank and paying for the gas himself? Could you imagine Obama on a vacation and we all knew every step of the way what he did and it was in a normal car? Not in America, I cant imagine that happening with the president of America. Maybe in the old days, you know, the wild west days when they traveled by train and talked to the people as they ran for president and such. You know those wild west days that were very unsafe, but it seems to me now that they were safer than the modern age…

Above: Obama Bus to travel America...

In fact Obama travels in the “Beast” most of the time on the ground and also now he has a bus: If the Obama Bus is similar to The Beast, it will have tank-like armor and cutting edge technology. For example, The Beast has 8-inch thick armor-plated sides, special bulletproof glass, and Kevlar-reinforced tires. The tires are mounted on specially designed rims that can continue to drive even if the tires are missing. Like The Beast, the bus is probably airtight, and likely has an advanced fire suppression system, oxygen tanks, and is built to withstand a chemical attack. In case of a medical emergency, bags of Obama’s blood are likely carried on-board just as they are in The Beast.

From what I understand is that they even take the “Beast” along with the bus in case an issue comes up that the bus is disabled…

I have thought about the difference in the two countries and this really makes me wonder what has happened to America. Is it that terrible that we have to guard our president with such means and measures? Is it that bad that we have to guard against chemical attacks and 8inch armor against what? Missiles!

The day that our president can not take a trip across the country with out fearing for his life tells me that something is incorrect and has gone haywire in America. But that is just me and you all know that I am just a blogger who has a screw loose…

Yes Putin has body guards and yes they make sure all is cool before he does certain things. That is normal and expected for the president of any country in the world…

What is not normal is when even the president of a country can not travel as a human and fill his own gas tank. What is not normal is that America is a land where we have to fear so bad that we build vehicles that are like a tank to transport our president around the country to meet his people that he works for…

I see Putin and Medvedev all the time in Russian media and life and they enjoy freedoms just like I do. They drive their own cars when they feel like it and they do not cower behind inches of high tech steel armor at the fear of their own people as they move about Russia…

That should make you think as you bad mouth Russia all the time. Russia is a lot safer than you understand and America is a lot less safe than you know…

I understand that you may not want to get the point that I am making and you want to tell me that apples and oranges are not the same as apples to apples. Well in my mind this is apples to apples and if Putin can traipse around Russia with very little fear, surely Obama could also traipse around America with very little fear! Or can he?

Oh yes! Maybe Russia has a bad area that Putin would not want to go! Maybe the Russia’s North Caucasus region, but Sveta and I have been there and I really think he would do just fine. Admittedly I am not in power in Russia so I am not a target, but it was a fantastic region and the people were simply sweet and wonderful. So it seems that other than a few factions that cause issues, the area is safe…

But with the armored vehicles that our American president has to travel in, to transverse the American countryside, you would think that all of America is like Russia’s North Caucasus region…

Makes you think…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: I remember that Putin said that the LADA was a great car and he would buy one. In fact he has personally bought a LADA Niva a 4X4…

The first visit by a president of a country with as much power as Russia has, is very important to watch and it lays a path for the future of the mainline of the Russian president that has just taken over…

I put a lot of weight in who the president of any country or countries that they visit first, when they take over presidency of that country. A president has two ways to go…

1. They can make the visit a political play and game…

or

2. They can make the visit to a country that matters and needs help…

Belarus is a country that needs that help and connections as they are being strangled and crushed by the West as the West plays games as it always does with certain countries that do not kowtow at their feet…

I have always said that Putin is an inside man and he has little love for the Western world and her antics. While the West does things for political ploy and show 90% of the time, Putin does things because they are needed to be done and he tries to respect the people at the same time…

So Putin shows by his first two country’s to visit by how he is going to run the presidency. Belarus to help and China to grow respect…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Now why am I thinking about the good ole days? Well while drinking that cup of delicious over priced coffee this morning, I was reading about how much debt the world has and how over leveraged the banks are. Debt exceeds world actual money by an ungodly amount and we have literally made a sweet little time bomb that when it explodes the world will never be the same for a long time…

Now lets go back to me as a little kid and his savings and loan book. I was under the assumption that every dollar that I put into my account allowed the bank to loan that dollar back out. So in my head it seemed a fair issue. I put a hundred dollars into my account and the bank has a hundred dollars to loan. The back gets interest on that hundred dollars that they loaned and out of that interest I received my part, for keeping my money in the bank. That all made sense and I accepted this as okay. Other words if a bank has a million dollars in money in deposits then that bank can loan a million dollars and make interest on a million dollars. I know it is simplified, but a kid will look at it that way. I assumed that a bank only loans out no more than it has in deposits and that seemed to me a high risk, because if everyone wanted all their deposits. Then the bank did not have the money to pay back even that million in deposits. That is what I considered as a kid as gambling and that was an adult thing to do…

Now as a kid I mean that I am 7 or 8 years old and opened up my own account at the savings and loan. I also had an account at the local and only main street bank. I worked hard for my money, even at that early age and the fast that I put my extra money in the bank, the less that I would spend. Money burns a hole in your pocket as it sits there…

Now imagine my surprise when I discovered many years later that banks and such leverage their money not just 1 to 1 but as high as: “Many of the big investment banks were leveraged for between 30:1 and 50:1. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were very close to 100:1… <<< Read More”  Now that kind of leverage should make everyone go and yank their money out of a bank right now and do not hesitate. Collapse will happen and it will not be kind at all…

But enough of that, back to being a kid and banks: I considered that a bank leveraging money 1 to 1 was a risk. This is from a 8 year old and the desire to see his money available to him at all times if he needed it, you know for books and candy. If I had known that my money was being loaned out 30 times (Lets say for ease of working with it!) and that my dollar was good for 30 dollars. I would have expanded my horizons way back as a little guy and loaned the money out myself and kept all the interest. Someone as I found out later in life will always borrow money and pay high interest on it. You just have to be able to collect and then the understanding of mafia made its way into my life… :)

The greed that I saw in the system as a young kid was not even comprehensible to me as being as bad as it really is and as an adult we are mislead so bad and working so hard that we do not have time to even stop and contemplate what is happening around us. So my thinking’s went on hold for many years as I killed more people in the name of the USA around the world, then you even want to know about and then worked 16 hour days, 7 days a week until I had 6 heart attacks at 45 years old. Then it has not been until years of being in Russia and starting to read again, starting to think again and starting to enjoy freedoms of expressions again, that I realized how bad things really are. How corrupt things are, how non free things are, how terrible things are, how controlled things are and how greed is the center of everything that we do…

So basically for every dollar out there in the world be it dollars or rubles or yen or what ever. It is leveraged. The physical money in the world is far under the owed money in the world. We have created a monster that is incomprehensible to everyone on the plant and that includes the ones who created it and drive it everyday. It is a monster called greed that will take the world down and we will all be starting over from scratch. I have done that several times in my life and it looks like I will do it again and again before I pass away…

So as a kid I could just accept the thought of 1:1 leverage on my deposit, but anything more is just plain wrong and greedy…

Greed sucks and that is what makes the world go around: Greed…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

The aim of the Nabucco project was deliver Caspian gas to Europe.

Now the German company says that it is going to reassess whether it makes business sense for it to remain involved in the project.

Earlier, a similar decision was announced by Hungarian company MOL.

The skepticism of these two companies is shared by many experts, who add that the less popular Nabucco becomes, the more attractive becomes its alternative suggested by Russia, “The South Stream”.

According to RWE, since the project’s conception, its cost has increased from the original € 8 bln to € 15 bln. However, the project doesn’t even have a proper legal grounding so far. It is assumed that the main suppliers of gas will be Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan – but no contracts with either of these countries have yet been signed.

“Small wonder that RWE doubts the potential benefits this project could derive,” President of the Russian Union of Oil and Gas Producers Gennady Shmal says.

“The very decision to build this pipeline was dictated more by political than by economic considerations,” Mr. Shmal continues. “But the project isn’t even backed by appropriate resources. The hopes of Nabucco’s initiators that Azerbaijan would be prepared to supply its gas to Europe have not come true so far.”

“Another country on which the project’s authors pinned their hopes was Turkmenistan – but the latter doesn’t seem to be eager to take part in it either. Talks between European countries, on one side, and Turkmenistan, on the other, have been going on for a rather long time, but they still haven’t bore fruit. In the meantime, Turkmenistan has built two pipelines to deliver its gas to China, while a third pipeline is currently under construction.”

“Germans have always had a reputation for being pragmatic, and RWE is simply being pragmatic. The company just cannot afford investing in a project of such dubious feasibility. And, even if it is implemented, it will most likely be much less profitable than the Russian South Stream.”

Nabucco was conceived as one of the main components of the so-called European South Gas Corridor. It was intended to make Europe less dependent on Russian gas. However, by the end of 2011, this project already had very few supporters. The Azeri company SOCAR and the Turkish BOTAS still remain Nabucco’s shareholders, but now they plan to build a pipeline of their own. This pipeline will be called TANAP and will deliver Caspian gas to Turkey’s borders with Europe. According to a new decision adopted by the shareholders, this is where the Nabucco pipeline is intended to link up with TANAP, carrying the gas across the border to Europe.

Thus, the Nabucco pipeline has turned from a pan-European project into a local one. This has even become reflected in its name – now it is called “Nabucco West”. Besides, it will now carry smaller amounts of gas than what was initially announced (if this project is ever implemented at all).

Russian analyst Grigory Birg says:

“Initially, it was planned that the pipeline would carry 31 bln cubic meters of gas a year. Now, there are plans to decrease this capacity more than two-fold. Of course, this will change the project’s cost-effectivenes. Now, the construction costs of one kilometer of Nabucco will be nearly the same as one kilometer of The South Stream, while the latter has a greater capacity and could solve Europe’s energy problems for longer than Nabucco.”

“Besides, Turkey, which is also involved in the Nabucco project, has given Russia permission to construct The South Stream across Turkey’s part of the Black Sea.”

“Summing it all up, I’ve come to the conclusion that at present, the Nabucco project has very few chances to be successfully implemented,” Mr. Birg says.

And here is what Russian businessman Grigory Shmal adds:

“I believe we can already say for curtain that the Nabucco project is effectively dead. The project’s shareholders will probably make some attempts to revive it – mainly by using political means. But this would be unlikely to help. Another gas-producing country in the Caspian region is Iran. However, given the West’s current attitude towards Iran, there are few chances that the EU would want to invite Iran into this project or that Iran itself would want to get involved in it.”

As mentioned above, the first European company that publicly expressed doubts about Nabucco’s success was Hungarian energy group MOL. Moreover, the Hungarian authorities have also said that they are interested in joining the Russian South Stream.

Initially, Nabucco was intended as an alternative to the Russian project. Now, there is every reason to believe that Nabucco can no longer be called a serious competitor to The South Stream. Recently, Russia’s new President Vladimir Putin ordered to start the construction of The South Stream as early as this year, ahead of the original schedule. Mr. Putin wants the Russian pipeline to start operating in 2015, not in 2017 as it was initially planned. The initiators of the Nabucco project do not expect their pipeline to come into operation until 2018.

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_05_16/74920749/

Windows to Russia

Germany’s RWE energy company has confirmed a report in Der Spiegel that it is withdrawing from the Nabucco project to pump Caspian natural gas to Europe across Turkey. It cited the doubling of cost estimates to $15bn and the uncertainty over gas supply contracts with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

A few weeks ago, Hungary said it was withdrawing from Nabucco.

The Nabucco pipe was designed as a competitor to Russia’s South Stream.

ITARTASS

When Sveta and I travel we come upon this more often than we like to see. But people pass away and we always stop to the side and let the funeral procession go by. This time I decided to video the procession and have a record of how a funeral is done in a small village. It is always done the center of the town/village and the procession is on its way to the grave yard as you watch this. The church is down the road to the right. They will carry the casket over two kilometers as the grave yard is that far a way…

A funeral always sobers people and as you can tell by the few words Sveta and I say, Sveta is in a somber mood and I really felt kinda bad filming it, but I am glad I did and it shows a piece of Russian culture that has lived down through the ages…

The burial procession in Russia…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!