Windows to Russia

A good reader of “Windows to Russia” sent this link today: Georgia hopes France won’t sell Mistral to Russia. They know how much that I love it when Georgia jumps up and down, all upset over what Russia is doing.

I have written several articles about this sale of the French Warship to Russia. Now that Medvedev is in France, it seems that the whole world has restarted jumping up and down about how bad it is to sell a French Warship to Russia…

Well for all you Doom Sayers, it is not just one (1) ship but 4 French Warships being talked about. The last I had heard it was 3 French Warships. Then to my surprise, today it was announced by the Russian news that Medvedev and Sarkozy have laid the ground work for the sale and transfer of information to produce 4 of these Mistral Class French Warships…

After talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, on a state visit to France, Nicolas Sarkozy, his French counterpart, said one or preferably two 21,300-ton Mistral-class ships would be built at the STX shipyards at Saint-Nazaire, western France. The others would be built in Russia. (Link)

So all the Doom Sayers can go home and hide under the bed! France is going to sell 4 of these Mistral-class Amphibious Assault Ships to Russia…

Oh My – Lions,Tigers and Russian Bears – Oh My!

Windows to Russia!

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking about what does the Average Russian make? Then compare that to what does the Average American make? So I did some search on the subject.

The average salary in Russia in 2007 has just reached $545 per month! $6540.00 per year!
The average salary in America in 2007 was at $48,409 per year or $4034.08 per month!
http://www.consumeraffairs.com, also .

The average American almost makes as much per month as the Russian does per year. I know this is true because I was the average American at one time. I made with in a few dollars the same exact salary.
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“The average salary in Russia stood at 13,800 rubles ($545) in September, 25 percent more than last year, the Federal Statistics Agency reported on Friday. Analysts warn that the growth of incomes will slow down in the next few years.
Incomes and salaries in Russia are still growing fast, the Federal Statistics Agency said in a report on Friday. The average wages went up 24.7 percent over the past year following a 25-percent hike a year earlier. The inflation-adjusted real salary went up 14 percent in the past twelve months. Disposable income rose 13.5 percent this year compared to 8.5 percent a year before.
Experts note that this year has not seen any dramatic economic changes in salaries. Incomes are rising mainly because of growing wages which make up 40 to 42 percent of the overall income.
Analysts note that the salary growth is pushed by the private sector. Pensions are still growing nowhere as fast as salaries. In 2004, the average pension amounted to 28 percent of the average salary and as little as 23 percent in 2007.
Director of Rosgosstrakh’s Center for Strategic Research Alexey Zubets predicts that the GDP growth will drop to 5 percent and income growth will go down to 6 percent in Russia.
Meanwhile, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry is concerned that the income growth is much higher that the growth of labor productivity. Low competitiveness means that both economy and living standards are not growing fast enough, the government says. www.kommersant.com”
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I find it interesting the huge wage gap between countries. I am here in Russia and the costs of material items are the same as in America. The cost of food is the same.

How many Americans could live on nothing?

Windows to Russia!