I was thinking this morning while drinking my morning cup of coffee that Russia has one area that is so different than the America that I came from.
The pictures above are just two examples out of millions in Russia that are in your way during normal travel by foot!
As you see the first picture is a pathway that runs under a series of rug hanging bars. These bars are about 5′ 10″ above the ground. Now that is a fine height for Babushkas that use these bars to hang rugs on to air then out and knock the dust out of them. But for a 6′ 3″ guy like me they are 5 inches too short. It is bad enough that you have one of them but we have to have three bars in the row. They wanna get you! So in the middle of the night, no moon, storm a brewing, while walking the dog and no lights – I went crack the ol noggin…
The second picture is a steel braided cable. Buried deep in the ground except for a nice perfect loop sticking out of the ground! I was walking the dog in the dark near the new flat and this cable just jumped up and tripped me. Boza came over and licked my face and made it all better…
The problem is that cable could be buried 20 feet deep. It is not going anywhere and it also is located near the playground…. (No law suit here – just watch your step)
That is what I love about Russia and I would not want it any other way.
“It has been a year since I started my video blog, in the spring it became part of LiveJournal.
It’s a significant period of time, so it would be good to summarize some things.
Of course, for me it is a necessary litmus test of communication. A litmus test that helps me receive important information, in order to understand the attitudes of different people, understand the logic behind their behavior – these people participate in the blog, discuss all kinds of issues.
In the spring, I think, somebody wrote an interesting thing, while suggesting a topic for discussion – “There are more of us here than deputies in the State Duma”. I can’t argue with that, there are a lot more of us: we only have 450 members in the Parliament, whereas the number of active blog users is more than 20,000 today (11,000 in LiveJournal and 10,000 in the blog on the official website). For me it is simply flattering, first of all. And the majority of them are people who have their own opinion on things, but at the same time they hear what others think and reasonably argue with it. They have a ton of very interesting ideas.
And those who take part in the discussions don’t just complain about problems, but they offer different solutions to these problems, which is very valuable. And these solutions can be very creative.
According to the experts (the data is taken from the Yandex search engine), there were 7.4 million Russian language blogs this spring – twice as many as one year ago. I agree that Russian blogs are not only dynamic and contemporary, but their have a special nature, a specific Russian “aroma” so to speak.
I see a special significance in the fact that in my blogs people actively discuss issues of our every day life. They don’t just talk about some higher matters, but about organizing our every day life – in particular how to make our lives more modern and fair.
I will give you some specific examples, from the computer.
At the end of August, the Children’s Hospital for Infectious Diseases re-opened after a renovation in the Ryazan region (the hospital is in the village of Dashki). When I was on my way to Ryazan, I saw this message about the terrible state of the hospital, along with photographs in my blog (I guess they posted it, knowing that I was going to Ryazan). I pointed the situation out to the governor. And now we see the results.
Of course we cannot renovate all hospitals this way. And in reality this letter about the poor state of a hospital ward should not be addressed to the President’s administration or to me personally, but to the governor’s blog. But at the same time I am grateful to the author of this post – as a result we were able to do a good thing – maybe not huge, but a very important one – and I also hope that we have set an example, a good clear example for all local authorities. Make sure you draw the attention of the authorities to what is going on in the regions, if they don’t know about the situations, or if they simply fail to act. As we know, secret things are sooner or later revealed. And thanks to the Internet, it usually happens sooner rather than later.
Thanks to reports from the blog visitors, many underground, illegal casinos have been checked and closed. If you have forgotten, I will remind you – not all casinos have been closed after the law regulating this business, signed by me, came into force. In some places these casinos just changed the sign, but basically continued their gambling business. This was done in Barnaul, Smolensk, Ryazan and some other places. Following the reports, the casinos were dealt with. In any case, I think the situation is much better now. If you have other information on the topic, write to us.
Proper order is being brought to the notorious website www.zakupki.gov.ru. It was the forum participants on my blog who drew my attention to the inappropriate way of naming the purchase items when some Cyrillic letters had been changed to their respective Latin letters, which made it virtually impossible to search the offers. The technology was tricky, but we sorted it out.
As I see it, in October the website software will be fully updated. Following my direct instruction, the Government dealt with the task. If however the government contractor publishes a notification with an inappropriate label, this information will be automatically forwarded to the Federal Anti-monopoly Service for it to launch an extra-schedule anti-monopoly inspection.
Many topics are being discussed not only emotionally (although emotions are a natural thing), but also in a constructive way, which makes me particularly happy. I know that some proposals expressed in the blogs are subject to scrutiny by the government and agencies. So, this particular instance of mine has proved a success, like proposals on using maternal capital and determining the amount of allowances for children, as well as on rehabilitation of the disabled and improving the pension legislation. There are also proposals related to supporting small business – something we have been dealing with – to supporting students and various charity initiatives.
I can see questions about ordinary citizens – problems are often raised when a particular person gets into a difficult situation, or even serious trouble. And I can see that people, no matter how different they may be, get united so as to help and achieve justice. And it’s done quickly. Perhaps it’s a reality all and those in power in particular, should take into account.
There’ve been nearly 110,000 comments in my blog already – a whole summary of opinions, proposals and ideas of the citizens of our country, so big and various. Now and then it’s emotions and, sometimes, real human pain. It’s true that not all the contributors appear really competent in the issues they raise, but this is not the most important thing. What really matters is they do contribute and offer their ideas aimed at solving problems. The approaches may also differ very much. However, what unites all those who post their messages is that they are not indifferent and try to raise their awareness about the problems and offer their ways of solving them. This very fact deserves tremendous respect. It is exactly indifference that dominates these days. But we are responsible for our country.
I would like to particularly thank all of you who contribute to the blog discussions and assure you that our systemic work with the blog will continue, even though some colleagues believe it’s not the president’s business. At the same time, most of the state power agencies are doing the same, without any particular instructions from my Administration. They have obviously grown accustomed to that, which is good. Various-level officials, including those in the regions and, hopefully, in the municipalities, have been gradually getting aware that they should know the problems of our citizens – it is something the officials simply are bound to know. And what is important, they should get this information not a week or two after it’s posted, but immediately – following the posts in the blogs.
It’s not just a way of solving particular problems (although that’s not bad either) but eventually a guarantee for improving the state management as a whole as it gets closer to the citizens’ needs.
I would like to conclude this video with something pleasant, and it’s always a pleasure to conclude something with congratulations.
Fifteen years ago the RU internet domain space was opened for Russia. Earlier, in 1990, the SU (Soviet Union) domain had appeared. As of today, our RU domain is in demand by more than 40 million users.
Also this year, LiveJournal is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and seven million out of its 25-million community is in Russia, which is a very significant indicator. We can hardly fancy how LJ will evolve during its second decade. It is clear though that the Internet has been quickly transformed into one information vehicle that uncovers great opportunities for all of us already now, and will create more of them in future.”
Svet and I have spent a couple of rough hours trying to switch Windows to Russia to her new domain. We finally got the domains switched and for the next few days we will try to get all the issues of the switch corrected. I have redirected the feed and it works like a champ.
Do not fear your bookmark link to kylekeeton.com still works. I had to do a special redirect because of issues that come up with Blogger Blogspot. But we got everything redirected and working.
Windows to Russia has lost page rank and alexa stats for now and will take some time to come back. That is OK because the long term is better now for the site.
I have an issue that has to do with comments and I have Disqus helping me get that taken care of. So be patient and all will come together in the end…
So if anyone sees any problems that I Svet or I have missed please let us know.
Kyle and Svet Windows to Russia! comments always welcome.
“Britain’s young minister for energy and climate change, Ed Miliband, had come to Russia to talk about global warming. Little did he know he would end up meeting a long-lost member of his family.”
This a article worth reading.
The world gets smaller all the time… (Even though the Miliband family just got bigger!)
In the last day or so – if you noticed that Windows to Russia has displayed various issues like a 404 error message? I had several messages from concerned readers and I want to thank them for alerting me. It made me feel good to know that people really do care…
It is OK – I have been playing with the domain and finally got Windows to Russia directed to http://www.windowstorussia.com instead of http://kylekeeton.com. They both work fine and it was just a maintenance issue that makes me happy.
Russian officials have held “secret meetings” with Arab states, China and France on ending the use of the U.S. dollar in international oil trading, Britain’s Independent newspaper reported on Tuesday. (Link)
Now according to Russian press:
Russia has not considered replacing the dollar as the currency used to buy and sell oil, a top Finance Ministry official said Tuesday.(Link)
Unidentified sources claim that:
Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France “to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf.”
Saving money during crisis: The WIN Crisis Index is released every three months. The Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research, including the world’s largest independent pollsters, evaluated the perceptions and behavior due to the economic crisis of 21,088 respondents in 22 countries from mid June to the end of July 2009.
Russia to invest $10.6 bln in nanotechnology by 2015 – Medvedev: Russia will channel 318 billion rubles ($10.6 billion) into development of nanotechnology by 2015, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
Moscow court upholds refusal to register same-sex couple: A Moscow court upheld on Tuesday city authorities’ refusal to allow a lesbian couple to marry saying same-sex marriages are illegal in Russia.
Russia to hold $17.8 bln Eurobond roadshow in November: Russia will hold a roadshow in early November in London for Eurobonds worth $17.8 billion to be issued early next year to cover the budget deficit, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said on Tuesday.
Landmark Soviet statue to return to Moscow: A giant Soviet-era statue will be put back on its pedestal in northeast Moscow after a long-delayed restoration process on December 5, a city official said on Tuesday.
North Korea says ready to return to six-party nuclear talks: North Korea’s leader has said his country is willing to return to the six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons program, the North’s official news agency said.
U.S. troops pullout from Afghanistan ‘not an option’ — White House: A pullout of the United States troops from Afghanistan is ‘not a decision that’s on the table to make’.
U.S. lacks troops in Afghanistan to outdo Taliban — Gates: The radical Islamic Taliban group has advantage in Afghanistan as the United States and its allies need more troops to be sent there.
Russia to start construction of 4th Borey-class sub in December: Russia’s Sevmash shipyard will start the construction of the fourth Borey class (Project 955) strategic submarine on December 22, a Sevmash press secretary said Monday.
Gazprom had two big goals in the American market. The first (1st) goal was the LPG market in America. They have already accomplished that goal. Once that happened they started to push for the second (2nd) goal. The Russian entry into the the American Natural Gas market. Gazprom as of October 2nd has accomplished the second goal… (Why?)
Because: The USA is the largest consumer of gas in the world: 668 billion cubic meters in 2008 – more than in whole Europe and twice as much as in Russia. The USA makes about 583 billion cubic meters of gas itself, imports 75 billion via pipelines from Canada and imports 10 billion of liquefied gas. (Link)(Link)
Seems that Russia can not ever stay out of the news.
Lets look at Israel hopping up and down screaming – Russians helped Iran with nukes – Israel: A list of Russian scientists who allegedly helped Iran to develop a nuclear bomb was handed to the Kremlin by Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, The Sunday Times reports. Now all this is because Israel is blowing a smoke screen to divert attention from the way the UN slamming Israel over the Gaza war…
Lets look at – The Pentagon: joint use of Russian radars possible: The US is considering jointly using two Russian radars as part of its missile defense system, US Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow said in an interview with a Russian news agency. Now this just gets better all the time. This is exactly what Russia said more than a year ago and at that time answers from America came back not really very nice. Russia is now having the same reaction as then: Is America Going Nuts? (Sometimes!)
Lets look at – Elton John tickles the ivories of his “Red Piano” in Moscow: On October 7th, 2009 not only do you get a wild and full-of-energy Sir Elton John, but you get it all in a truly unique environment also. “The Red Piano”, the spectacular musician’s show, comes to Moscow straight out of Las Vegas. That would be worth seeing but I hear that tickets are all sold out and have been for a long time.
Let stake a peek at – Old Testament to be put behind bars?: A scientist in Russia has sent a statement to the Prosecutor General’s office in Stavropol, Southern Russia, demanding the Old Testament Bible be declared extremist literature. I am going to follow this one because having graduated from a Baptist University I find things like this interesting.
Lets look at an age old problem that seems to rear its head every few months – Moldova’s Transdniester wants independence, accession to Russia: The case of Moldova’s breakaway region is different from that of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, observers believe. Whether it is really different or not I do not know for sure. But what I can tell you is that after being there personally. Transdniester wants to be part of Russia. (Seems a little bit hard with Ukraine between the two though..)
So as always Russia is having fun and stays either in trouble with the world or gets involved in things that cause trouble down the road… (except with Elton John we hope!)
We had an interesting weekend. Svet and I finally won the battle to get our car tagged. This was not an easy war and we lost many battles in the process. But winning the war is what counts – right?
I have stayed quiet about this because I wanted to concentrate on getting tags not writing about how interesting it was to get them. (I felt like I was dealing with the local governments back in America trying to tag my car after crossing a state line to relocate.) The one thing that Russia has is a lot of governmental red tape and they match America one on one in the red tape department department.
To start with we bought the car out of Moscow. That is number one issue – What works in another region does not mean it will work in Moscow! Lets expound on that statement: We took the car to get the tags and they always check the numbers on the car like they should do. That is the start of our fun.
At he factory (GAZ)they had changed the VIN number. Now the inspector said that he knew this was a common practice for the GAZ plant to do this. But it had to be changed on the paper work and we would have to make a visit to an expert inspector to have official confirmation that the car was not stolen.
As you can see in the second picture that the first number has been X out and then a new number is stamped next to it to the right. They say this has to do with production times and runs. (I say the guy who hand stamped it messed up and had to re stamp the number.)
So poor Svet and I {I drove and waited :)} had to visit a 100 different government offices to get enough information on what we had to do to get car tags. We had to take our own pictures of the VIN numbers. We had to make our own copies of all paper work. We had to endure lots of tea breaks by employees. We had to wait in long lines and listen to many lazy government workers explain how it was not their job and the one who did that job was not there until tomorrow. (Sound familiar?)
To make a long story short: Svet was the most patient car owner in the world and overcame all barriers installed in the way. Also the expert of all car inspectors said all was fine and we never paid one ruble of a bribe and never gave up.
When we had the car reinspected after a month of interesting governmental communication – we got our tags… :-]
I was thinking this morning while drinking my morning cup of coffee that Russia has one area that is so different than the America that I came from.
