Day: March 5, 2011

Breaking Free: I Broke Free to Russia – You can do it – Anywhere in the World…


Breaking Free [FULL] from Matador Network on Vimeo.

Wow what a video! I found this wonderful site Matador Network. The worlds largest independent travel Magazine…

The video is called “Breaking Free” and it may not be about Russia but it is about Expats like me and they talk about Breaking Free… http://matadornetwork.com/

Ditching routine, comfort zones, and their own personal fears, they have sought and found vibrant, purpose-driven lifestyles to inspire viewers of all ages.

Filmed in diverse locations around the world, each hour-long episode investigates how these remarkable people started over, understanding the unique challenges, goals and passion that allowed them to follow their heart.

Windows to Russia!

IKEA’s Broken Reputation and the Smear Campaign on Russia…


The Swedish company (IKEA) says it won’t build more stores outside the Moscow region until local officials stop withholding permission for two outlets in the central cities of Samara and Ufa. After investing US$4-billion in Russia over 10 years, IKEA placed a freeze on expansion in June 2009… (Link)

I got 8 emails from America that point to this fact. People are so sure that Russia is a bribe city. That makes me smile. Then I have to smile when I see companies like IKEA whine and cry. Lately this company has done a lot of crying (literally) trying to cover up their reputation flaws…

Also Notice that IKEA says, “it won’t build more stores outside the Moscow.” Rats I hoped they would not build anymore stores at all…

So they plan on building more stores in Moscow?

The reason the stores aren’t opening is that IKEA is refusing to pay bribes to safety inspectors, said Kirill Kabanov, head of the non-governmental National Anti-Corruption Committee in Moscow…

Sounds like IKEA has internal problems, who thought that they should pay bribes to get business done in Russia. They thought wrong…

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, considered one of the wealthiest people in the world, controls the company through a secret foundation worth 100 billion kronor ($15.34 billion), according to a Sveriges Television (SVT) report… (Link)

and how about this for employees: (It takes two to tangle!)

Ikea’s founder Ingvar Kamprad on Friday expressed “distress” over a bribery affair which has led to the firing of the Swedish furniture giant’s two top managers of its Russian division… (Link)

Orders come from the top on such decisions…

Companies like IKEA are despicable and two-faced. Work the smear campaign to save face at the home town front and hope one of its biggest external markets does not catch on and quit buying from them…

I say, “IKEA is going nowhere and will stay in the Russian market, because it is so damn lucrative. IKEA is a corrupt company and will undermine any and all legit countries, trying to get a better deal for themselves…”

But you do not care. If it is anti-Russia then all is good…

Windows to Russia!

Coffee and Spring in Russia…


Life is like a Cup of Coffee...

It is the start of Spring and instead of seeing buds of jonquils and blooms of crocuses emerging from the ground. We have a dropping thermometer and a new foot of snow being laid down, in a furious storm with winds that are drifting the snow into meter high piles. So that cup of coffee is really good this morning…

But my thoughts are really about that Russians are very optimistic about Spring. In my opinion they have developed rituals that promote that optimism:

Maslenitsa 2011: February 28th to March 6…

These rituals have to do with Spring and making sure that Winter goes away and Spring is welcomed… (Except this year Old Man Winter is Cranky!)

It seems that we just go from holiday to holiday at this time of the year starting at the New Year occasion. We just ended Defender of the Father Land on the 23rd of February. Remember we also had 11 days off at the first of the year for Winter Holidays.

Plus we have had several other wonderful holidays. It seems to be the therapy for the super long Winter… 🙂

Now we have International Women’s Day on March 8th. It is sorta like Mothers day and if you treated it that way you would not fail at making women happy. Just act like all women are mothers and you got it. The flower shops are ready and the flowers will be sold. Plus chocolates are a huge favorite with the women in Russia… (Just make sure to carry them upside down as you walk to deliver them…)

Spring In Moscow...

All this is part of what makes Russia what it is. Russia is a world that unless you live here you really can not understand it. Especially if you are from the West…

So we are enjoying our Spring in Moscow. As the snow flies and frostbite nips at your nose. Gotta Love It…

Windows to Russia!

And Now, The Gaddafi Genocide? It Never Happened…


Article by Keith Harmon Snow: (Very Good read!)

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23481

Claims made by Libyan ‘opposition’ and reported in the western press that Gaddafi is committing genocide against his own people represent the height of western arrogance and hypocrisy. At this very moment the wars being prosecuted by the USA and its allies, including Japan, Europe, Israel, South Africa, Canada and Australia, far dwarf the ‘atrocities’ committed in Libya. While we have no credible reporting about who is killing, who is opposition, how many dead, etc., out of Libya, we have credible report after credible report establishing that the US and its allies have perpetrated massacres, tortures, and other atrocities, in the millions of people, in Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan – for a short list.

The claim of genocide here, akin to the one-sided charges against former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, or against Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, are one more clear example of the Politics of Genocide delineated in great detail by this writer and others. Reports in western media — provided, again, by the FNSL and other western intelligence, covert operations or psychological operations flak organizations — are filled with harsh language and characterizations not seen in reporting on or by western military campaigns. For example, in many western reports we can find, such as Gruesome Footage Proves Libya Using Heavy Arms makes claims that “newspapers obtained shocking footage of corpses with bodies blasted off and several torsos in Libyan hospitals.”

So there are several torsos. That is not quite genocide. Where are the images? If such images of death and destruction do appear it will be in sharp contrast to the complete whiteout on dead bodies in the Pentagon’s other theaters of war, in the eastern Congo or Somalia, or in Afghanistan.

Images of dead bodies can be produced and published but these are easily stripped of context. How do western audiences and propaganda consumers know that these are authentic and not recycled images of protests from Yemen or Bahrain dumped into the western press (with their willing acknowledgment) by Britain’s MI-6, as has been alleged? Al-Jezeera shows its true western colors by not reporting much of anything, and that certainly not critical of western manipulation or involvement.

Read More >>>

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23481

Windows to Russia!