Tidbits of News on Russia! (5-29-09)

Hello,Windows to Russia!

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.

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