Day: June 3, 2010

I have watched the press between Vietnam and Russia lately. There was rumors about submarine sales in the works. Looks like they were more than just rumors…

Nothing ever became fact on information from Putin’s visit to Vietnam last year in December. The information just became fact. Looks like Vietnam is buying six (6) Kilo class diesel submarines. We have talked about these submarines before and they are nicknamed The Black Holes, because of their ability to just disappear in the seas…

Looks like this is the largest sale of Navel Military hardware in Russia’s history. In fact Russia seems to be expressing that they will sell around 40 of these subs to various countries by the year 2015.

From reports coming from various sources at least 29 Kilo class subs have been exported to China, India, Iran, Poland, Romania and Algeria. Over the last number of years…

Interesting…

Windows to Russia!

Hello,

Medvedev made it clear about what he thinks about the world situation…..

Dmitry Medvedev revealed more about his philosophy and approach to governing this week, in a series of speeches in Berlin and in St. Petersburg. He says Globalization is here to stay; the U.S. has misplaced economic ambitions; and Russia is playing a key leadership role in the world.

President Medvedev also said: “It is an illusion that one country, even the most powerful, can act as a global government,” Medvedev said. “No matter how large the American market may be, and no matter how reliable the American financial system is, there is no substitute for global goods and financial markets.” He also said: “Today, we don’t have a choice – whether to live in a global world or not. The modern world is global. This means any political mistakes made by certain countries, as well as national selfishness, have an immediate effect on the whole global economy.”

As for the role of Russia, Medvedev says it will be one of the world’s leading countries. Russia has “come back from the cold”, he said, quoting John Le Carre.

“It returned after more than 100 years of isolation and self-isolation”, he said. “And now it’s making its way back into global politics and the world economy – with all its natural, financial and intellectual resources,” the President said.
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I think that we are starting to see what Medvedev is about. Medvedev is like everything that Putin is not. Whereas Putin is everything that Medvedev is not. Together they seem to be able to cover a very wide spectrum of the country and the world. They just may be on to something…..

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

A broom in Russia is a work of art and a talent that is handed down over the years. For a broom to last it must be put together correctly and Russians have a knack for making some awesome brooms out of twigs and string.

The gentleman above makes his brooms for his usage to clean the streets and playgrounds around our flats. I have seen him make several brooms and he will sometimes spend a whole day making brooms for all the guys to use in sweeping.

He makes two types of brooms one from tree branches and the other from dried grasses.

I was always amazed in this world of modern technology that they do not use regular brooms but after a few years here and seeing how good of a job they do. Why buy a broom when you can just make it.

In America we ran business on the pretense that ‘time is money’. I see that in Russia there is more time than money…

Now you know a little more about Russia!

Windows to Russia!

Svet and I instead of hanging around Moscow with the Victory Day Parade and such. We decided to hit the road and travel to our village (Sunrise to Freedom) and spend a weekend seeing what is happening in our favorite spot on earth.

Part of the news was sad at the village. Another member of the village has passed away and that leaves 4 full time people living there now. Still lots of summertime people but the people who are the soul of the village are almost gone.

You have to pardon the quality of the pictures they were taken from around half a mile away from a hill side. I did not want to upset any apple carts and stayed a great distance away.

They carried the coffin from her house to the grave site which had to be around one kilometer away. From what I understand that is the tradition. They also dropped spruce limbs all along the path that they took.

The village was alive this weekend with lots of people who came for the funeral. So we kept a low profile and worked on our car and the village house.

The last picture is our village house! So that is what we did that weekend!

Windows to Russia!