Day: February 14, 2009

Hello,

I was thinking about the Soviet Union and the Afghanistan War while drinking my coffee today. It seems that 20 years ago this 15th of February the Soviets left Afghanistan.

Now the comparisons of that war and the one the USA is waging in Afghanistan is ironically similar.

“As Russia marks the 20th anniversary of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials in Moscow are warning that US and NATO-led forces are making exactly the same mistakes as the Soviet Union made when it invaded the country in 1979.”

The Military in Russia have stated many times that it seems strange that no one seems to have learned from their mistakes in Afghanistan. There is still plenty of men who fought in that war still alive. This was a war that will never be forgotten by Russians.

But it seems that bad wars can be forgotten and America seems to have pushed aside the nightmare called Vietnam and now they are in two similar wars that will never end.

Now just 20 years later, the Russians are looking with astonishment at the way the US and NATO-led forces are waging their war in Afghanistan.

Russia shakes her head in disbelief as America has now been caught in this vicious circle called Afghanistan.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

PS:

Russia does not laugh like America did when the Soviet Union was buried in the quagmire called Afghanistan. Russian does not supply Americas and NATOs enemies with money and weapons to fight against them. (Like America did.)

Russia just feels sorry, because Russia remembers…

Hello,

Back in 1992 Coke took some small steps in Russia and showed that they were willing to start small and let it grow. Pepsi was here before Coke was and Coke knew that they had to build a reputation slowly.

January 17, 1992 (New York Times)
COMPANY NEWS; Coca Cola Sets Russia Venture

The Coca-Cola Company said today that it had formed a joint venture with the city of Moscow to make and sell Coke products in Russia.

Coke is making an initial investment of $12 million in the operation, to be called Coca-Cola Refreshments-Moscow. The venture will focus at first on fountain sales, with distribution through a network of some 2,000 kiosks in the Russian city.

Well 15 years later Coke is calling Russia to be the 5th largest Coke Market in the world in a few years and it seems that Coke will now spend some money and try to finish off its rival Pepsi Cola.

Coca-Cola sees Russian growth, to invest $1.2 bln!

Wednesday 16:09, February 11th, 2009 (Budapest Business Journal)

US drinks maker Coca-Cola Co said it would invest $1.2 billion in Russia over the next 3 to 5 years as it bets sales of the carbonated drink will increase during the economic crisis.

“The company can afford to have aggressive positions in Russia,” Coca-Cola’s Russia, Ukraine and Belarussian head Zoran Vucinic told a news conference on Wednesday. “The market of non-alcoholic beverages is growing during (the) crisis and we want to continue investing in the Russian market.”

It seems that even though the market in the USA has dropped around 3-4% in sales for Coke they are saying that the International market has had continued growth. The market in Russia seems to have grown slightly during the financial crises.

I myself can say that Coke and Pepsi products have dropped in price over the last few months. I just bought a can of Diet Coke for 14 roubles and that is down from almost 20 roubles a few months ago.

Seems that there is a lot of profit in that little can of Coke…

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 13.02.2009, Moscow 19:04:16.Russia will submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the Nord Stream project to the Baltic states by March 1, head of the Russian Natural Resources and Ecology Ministry’s environmental protection department Rinat Gizatulin was cited in a ministerial press release as saying during a meeting of the EIA working group.

RBC, 13.02.2009, Moscow 18:56:51.A significant number of joint Russia-Nato programs have been disrupted due to the economic crisis, Russia’s envoy to Nato Dmitry Rogozin told a press conference organized by RBC. The financial crisis has hit a number of nations very hard, and some of them even face bankruptcy, Rogozin noted, adding that these countries were rapidly cutting their military expenses. He explained that “by using this European-Atlantic solidarity, such countries are trying to save on their defense.”

RBC, 13.02.2009, Moscow 16:28:17.Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss preparations for the international conference on the Middle East to be held in Moscow with representatives of Persian Gulf and Middle East states. Lavrov is due to pay a visit to the region on February 15-19, said Alexander Zasypkin, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry’s information and press department.

RBC, 13.02.2009, Moscow 15:42:58.Trade between Russia and Turkey exceeded $32bn in 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced after talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, who is currently in Russia on his state visit. He specified that according to Russia’s estimates, trade stood at over $34bn. “Our Turkish colleagues were remembering a period when trade amounted to a mere $1bn, which enables us to say that it increased 35 times over the past decade,” Medvedev stressed.

RBC, 13.02.2009, Moscow 14:47:47.Russia tops the list of the 11 largest countries in the world in terms of inflation, with the year-on-year rate at 13.3 percent as of December 2008, the Federal State Statistics Service reported citing the findings of the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and national statistics services published on the Internet in accordance with IMF standards. As such, year-on-year inflation was 9.7 percent in India, 5.9 percent in Brazil, 3.1 percent in Great Britain, 2.2 percent in Italy, 1.2 percent in Canada, 1.1 percent in Germany, 1 percent in France, and 0.4 percent in Japan.

RBC, 13.02.2009, Moscow 10:54:42.Lukoil expects its oil production to reach 90.8m tonnes in 2009, President Vagit Alekperov said on Thursday during a meeting in Kirishi, Leningrad region. He indicated that the increase in output will amount to 2 percent compared to the previous year. Alekperov reiterated that the announced figure was true for production in Russia only and did not include the company’s foreign projects.