Month: March 2011

The Great Nuclear Icebreaker Vaigach, in Gulf of Finland…


This is a great video. It is about a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker the Vaigach, and has come to assist smaller icebreakers to release cargo and passenger ships stuck in the ice in the Gulf of Finland…

What a cold cruel world the Gulf of Finland looks like from the video…

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Boza and I Took a Walk… (3/4/2011)


Boza and I take a walk several times everyday, but today is a touch better than most days. It is only -2 c. outside and I can hold the camera to take pictures without my hands freezing. So Boza and I decided that we needed to take pictures on this fine March day with the sun shining… (It is Spring you know!)

First off, this is what all our paths look like. We have spent months walking narrow paths between mounds of snow. In fact there is so much snow that they really do not have anyplace to put it right now…

But for some reason they decided to start digging the playground out today. There is about 2 feet of very hard packed snow on the playground. I really think it has to do with the melt coming. You see under this whole complex is pay parking. At a million rubles each to buy a car spot. I think they need to get the snow off because they have issues with water seeping into the underground areas…

So since Boza and I like big trucks and backhoes we stood and watched for a few minutes… 🙂

Boza says, “I see a dog over all this snow and I wanna play…”

Then this is an example of the business in the basement that I always talk about. In Russia you put a business anywhere. Even two flights of stairs down into the recesses of the earth. This entrance goes down three levels and when they are done there will be about 8 shops down below in this one area…

Then we found our car. I finally got it dug out and it took 5 guys to help me this time. She was buried deep. But she starts at -20 below c. and purrs like a kitten. (Well as much like a kitten that a Volga can.)

Then I turned around and found a pile of snow taller than me by our front door. That pile might be there when the fourth of July comes around…

That is it and we went inside. The wind is blowing like a March wind except no kites in this weather. We also are going to get some more snow and the temperature is going to drop again. So Boza and I enjoyed our Spring walk…

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Coffee and I Wasn’t Going to Say Anything, But…


I see no hope for the American government. I truly see the need for a revamp of the political and governmental systems in America. I see a need for the people to wake up and grow a back bone…

Over the last few days I have gotten my blood pressure sky rocketing and other issues elevated. So this is going to be my last post on America. Oh – I will have posts that has to do with Russia and America and their interchanges and such. But I have lost faith in the American government and I really do not think that it will come back until America implements some big changes. “Real Changes” not false political promises…

I love America and the people of America can be the best in the world. But the world does not know that, because we have a government that gives a false impression of who really is in America. We have a government that has literally messed up the world…

The last few years the American government has reached a new high in total all out lying. It has reached a new high in deceit and corruption. I have never seen media controlled like I do in America and your local news is probably the worst. Americans are trained to watch the local news at 10:00pm. Americans are trained to have TV baby sitters. Americans are trained to have data input as a pacifier. It seems to me that America has reached a crossroad and she is not sure what to do…

America seems to go from one crises to the next and most of these crises are created or manufactured by the American government…

Today I was astonished and most likely that is why I am writing this post…

Chavez of Venezuela came up with a legit good idea. One that makes sense. Qaddafi agreed. Chavez said it was better to seek “a political solution instead of sending marines to Libya, and better to send a goodwill mission than for the killing to continue”…

So who throws stink on the plan? The same ones who threw stink on issues with Iran when a plan to take care of the uranium was suggested…

United States, France and opposition activists dismiss Venezuelan proposal to form a commission to mediate crisis…

Then Obama has proven me correct and danced to the tune of the neoconservative: President Obama said Thursday that he had ordered plans giving the U.S. military “full capacity to act, potentially rapidly,” in Libya if the situation there deteriorates. “I don’t want us hamstrung,” Obama said. He cited the possibility of a humanitarian crisis, or “a situation in which defenseless civilians were finding themselves trapped and in great danger,” or “a stalemate that over time could be bloody” if Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi continues to resist international demands that he step down… (Link)

Surprise surprise surprise – I guess that is why we have sent enough warships over there to blow up a small country.  (That is what we will do if we decide to and kill more civilians than Qaddafi ever will. ) The fact that we think in this manner is wrong…

Looks like the American government does not want a happy ending anyway but the American way…

Number one, we really have no idea what is happening in Libya. No we really do not. I have watched the reported numbers of dead in Libya go from 200 to 500 to 1000 to 2000 to 3000 to now 6000. I have yet to see anything but a few wounded and 4 dead in a morgue in all the videos. I scourer the news and see nothing that resembles what the press is portraying. I have seen fake planted explosions. I have seen a lot of guys shooting guns in the air and waving their arms like they are at a party. Not even the press has facts, they just tell us that is what is happening by so and so witness. Do you know what 6000 dead look like? The streets would be lined with bodies and the streets would be running red with blood. We have seen what collateral damage looks like in Iraq from videos that have been successfully sneaked out from the armed forces. This is not that type of situation. We have no right to enter into a civil war in Libya. No more than anyone (another country) would or should interfere if America had another civil war…

Lets switch to another issue before I stop this long post:

I have also watched an America become so scared of everything that we hinder our own lives and think it is OK…

I will most likely try to never enter America again. The last time I crossed the America border I remember taking shoes off. I had to remove all clothes and objects from my suitcase and so on and so on and so on. I said never again at that time. It pissed me off because it was wrong…

Now I would be in jail now. Because the minute a man or woman puts his or her hands between my legs they have gone too far. I fought for freedom and rights but I would never fight for taking away my rights. I will fight against that process. No one but no one has a right to question me in the name of being a scared rabbit and afraid of your own shadow. Wave a wand metal detector around me and swipe for explosives. I will walk through a metal detector. But never touch me and scan me with any sort of machine that penetrates without a medical reason…

Simple fact: I have done nothing wrong and do not treat me like I have done something wrong. Do not treat me like I am a terrorist…

If you want to live in a world of fear then go ahead. I won’t…

Want a very true story? Many years ago I lived in that world of fear that you live in: I lived in a quiet American suburb. It was typical of the American dream. I had a wife and two kids and a baby on the way. It was 4am in the morning, the morning after we had come home from the hospital and we had lost a baby with the cord wrapped around his neck 6 times. It was a solemn situation and everyone understood that peace and quiet was the best thing for now. At 4am with the world looking like crap because of losing a baby. Someone knocks on the front door of the nice little suburb home we lived in. I walked to the door not worried because it was a quiet little town and no one was ever a issue. Before I got to the front door, I heard someone shoot out the sliding rear door on the house. I turned as was natural and at that moment someone tore the front door off the house inwards and knocked me to the floor with the door pinning my legs. The local police had shot out our back sliding door and used a big door ram to tear the front door down. I was handcuffed and they swarmed the house. Around 15 guys. My two children were up against the wall and so was my wife. They went into all the closets and were looking for something…

It seems that someone had reported that we had killed our new baby and had hid the body in the closet… (Can you say sick person! I know who it was and that is very sad!) I remember that they (Police) never said a word after they realized that it was a huge mistake and took off my handcuffs. They then left the house. I had a broken front door and a shattered rear slider with several bullets embedded in the floor. No one apologized no one even tried to call and ask are we all OK. The police tried to act like it never happened. They never offered to fix the doors and in fact refused to talk to me about it. I know that if we had a dog they would have shot it. I went to the police station several times and did get out of them who it was…

Simple fact:  No one has a right to submit you to that kind of terror that I and my family went through that night…

I have a whole lot of moments of my life like the above situation. I have lived with guns against my head to convince me that I should think different. I have had my house burned down. I have had my cars brakes tampered with. I have been through the wringer in America. I will tell you no when you try to tell me something against my morals and principles. What I have done out of America in the name of America is another whole different story and I regret that even more. That is when I decided that I will never again go against what is right and moral. I have paid dearly at times for standing up for what I believe in…

Yes we need a change of governmental bodies in America. From the small towns to the Federal government. That includes all forms of government from police to politicians…

I won’t live in that world of fear. There is a whole world of delight out here away from the borders of America.  That is one of the many reasons why I am in Russia now. That and my sweetie are damn good reasons. Russia is safe and when it becomes too much like America (Sveta and I have talked) maybe it will be time to go somewhere else in the world……

Lets hope Russia never becomes like America…

Windows to Russia!

Russia and Saudi Arabia on Thursday warned about Libya…


RIA NovostiLibyaRussia, Saudi Arabia caution against intervention in Libya
Russia and Saudi Arabia on Thursday warned against outside political or military intervention in Libya, saying such actions could only make the situation worse…
Read More >>

Windows to Russia!

The Western media lies about Libyan riots just like it did about the Georgian war in 2008…


The Russian tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article entitled “The Western media lies about Libyan riots just like it did about the Georgian war in 2008.” The author wonders why no evidence – not even a single photo or mobile phone video – showing mass casualties and bombings has been presented so far. “Neither Gaddafi’s planes, nor his helicopters have appeared on photographs – as if a magic spell was cast on them,” the article reads…

Eyewitnesses say media whipping up Libyan uproar:

Looks like Russia has a little different thought process than America on this situation. I know that China is thinking along the lines that Russia is and China has been calling for negotiations just like Russia has been…

Also:

It just reminds me of the Georgian war times. I remember that Americans then were totally absorbed into the Western press. They could not see the trees for the forest…

Try this on for size:

Information war against Libya.

Windows to Russia

Гумер Исаев – Gumer Isaev

Ph.D. in History
Chief Editor

After reading the first few days of Libyan unrest on one popular news portal of the bombing of Tripoli, I was contacted on Skype with her boyfriend, more than a year working in Libya. I was surprised that Skype, and consequently, the Internet, work. The logic is simple – once it came to the “bombing” of the capital, it is hardly worth the wait of the Internet and telephone. But as it became clear from our conversation, no air raids on Tripoli was not ….

“Flew a couple of helicopters during the day …” – that’s all the bombing.  Interestingly, the first information about the air strikes has published the main Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera.  No conclusive video evidence – just distorted noise telephony voice eyewitnesses that the bloodthirsty regime of dispersing demonstrators with aviation.

But the picture bombers destroy the protesters formed in the overall image of the demonic Gaddafi regime created the media a few decades ago. My attempts by some media outlets to explain the situation (and to me addressed some of the channel and newspapers) have not been successful. Interviews took, but most important of what I said, for some reason the air leading federal channels are not passed. Trust al-Jazeera and Western media was stronger.

Talk about how many lies and misinformation were poured on the heads of unsuspecting listeners and readers can be endless. Events in Libya showed how monstrous lies, and can be as easy in an age of information technologies to manipulate people’s minds. Those who sought the truth on the “people”, and supposedly more truthful resources such as Twitter or YouTube, and stumbled on carefully collected and shared in a network of information. This does not mean that the video footage from protesters or captured equipment were staged and starred in Hollywood.  Modern information warfare subtleties suggest only a shift in emphasis, which sometimes can dramatically change the perception of events.  A well-chosen shots and tie-in visuals work wonders misinformation.  Sometimes it is enough in the right format to comment on the video – and “disbelief”, the viewer has no doubt that he would say – the truth. One of the best examples of this propaganda I’ve seen in September 2001 – when the TV show who celebrate terrorist attacks in the U.S. Palestinians – dancing and playing. Who then will they sympathize with the next Israeli-Palestinian conflict? But then it turned out that the reason for the joy of these people was quite different – and from all of this was several years before September 11, 2001 A brilliant advocacy work with minimal costs.

The lie can be assembled from pieces of the truth, you have correctly located. As with the same “bombing” of Libyan cities. Someone heard the roar of engines – the aircraft actually bombed military warehouses on the outskirts, so they were not completely looted. There were planes, bombs have been – somewhere in there the demonstrators. And with the filing of the media jets bombed residential areas and peaceful demonstrators. Very soon, this information is repeated even in the halls of the UN.

Here, according to Al-Jazeera, al-Qadhafi runs to Venezuela. Classic propaganda struggle to demoralize the supporters of al-Gaddafi – “your leader escaped, resistance is futile.” But pretty soon nobody will remember about this “Desaix. The leader in Tripoli, speaking at the Green Square in front of supporters. Tripoli airport, according to media reports, or captured by the protesters, or simply bombed. But our experts will leave Tripoli, it was through this airport, which is safe and sound and controlled by authorities. But at it again no one pays attention. The specialists of information sabotage in major media outlets are many techniques in the arsenal. The heirs of Goebbels increase your knowledge and hone them in numerous local conflicts and political developments around the world.  “Gaddafi’s son joined the rebels,” Gaddafi is ready to use chemical weapons “- one of the news is better than another.  And here’s the key phrase – “Gaddafi promises to blow up oil pipelines,” Is not it time the world community to take action and save the Libyan oil?

Apparently, Libya, Iraq will repeat option – through the intervention of the compassionate “demonstrators” from the West. After all, the main wealth – Libyan oil, 9 / 10 which consumes Europe should not become hostage to the Civil War. Bored out of work by NATO troops gladly “help” secure the Libyan resources. Maybe that’s enough, and air support – and most of the work will fulfill the Libyan rebel tribes, who have already pledged money and weapons.

The main thing – to convince the world community of the need for such action. Just for this, and blown hysteria in the media about the ongoing events in Libya. Information art training in a military invasion. Voices of the hawks in the U.S. has openly called for the use of force, while American carriers are taking a course to the shores of Libya.

Understand why and what its viewers are preparing the Western media. But why repeat the misinformation Russian media? Indeed, until quite recently, in August 2008, Russia has taken part in an information war against the background of the events in Georgia. How many complaints have been on the “biased” and “false” Western media!

Why is now the western media believe as ourselves? First, many journalists actually prefer the “pull off” the news, buy a picture or video and do not attempt to analyze the situation. Most of the media in general do not engage in intelligence – they give information to flavor its general commentary (also somewhere staschennymi). Somewhere there is a low professionalism (when Libya confused with Lebanon), somewhere in the first place serves sensationalism. There is a war? Plenty of blood and circuses! This will entertain the reader or viewer – and that means you need to give him the events in the format of an action. Sitting in an armchair, watching the news about disasters, crises, wars, man in the street gets a sharp emotions. Than action-reporting, the more fun the audience – the higher the rating, or circulation.

But in my opinion, there is another reason for such a reaction media – it is obvious that there is a setting for the coverage of events in a certain way. Russia is trying to restart the relationship with the U.S., in recent years are under the sign of improving relations with the West. In fact, there is a new round of Westernization of the country, which has traditionally been the initiator of the Russian government. The police changed the police, the president – the main user of Twitter and iPhone, Russian politicians raise the issue of the imminent WTO membership and the abolition of visa regime with Europe. Russia has recently received such gifts, such as the Olympic Games in Sochi and the FIFA World Cup. That is – the really important things for the country. A loss of several billion dollars in the case of the overthrow of the Gaddafi – trivia. Russia will get a lot more while remaining a reliable partner and friend of the West, selling his oil and gas.

Not so long ago, Foreign Minister Lavrov said in London that Russia no longer has ambitions of a superpower. Few paid attention to this post – but in vain. After all, this is the answer to most questions with regard to the position of the Russian Federation and the Russian press about the events in Libya. <end>

(What a web we weave to deceive. Why do we have to deceive? We sit in our homes and say, “Oh it is OK because Qaddafi needs to be removed. He is a crazy dictator. So it is a good thing.” So – Why do we deceive? The deception by the West makes Qaddafi look better, not worse.)

I am just pointing it out…

Windows to Russia!

Putin Palace is now Alexander Palace…


 

Windows to Russia

Hotel and Commercial Complex...

Russian tycoon Alexander Ponomarenko has bought a multi-million dollar Italianate villa allegedly being built near a Black Sea resort for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Kommersant daily reported on Thursday…

I ran an article about the Ruleaks.ru site, when they ran this particular article about Putin Palace. I then said that they better be careful if  it is not true. The reputation of said site (Ruleaks.ru) was at stake and if they got it wrong then they have no credibility…

http://windowstorussia.com/russian-version-of-wikileaks.html

It seems that while it was a nice fantasy to think Putin was building a Grand Palace fit for a king. (Which of course Russia has lots of such Palaces from the old Tsar days.) It just is not true and the credibility of the site Ruleaks.ru has dropped to nothing. In fact it seems to have fallen off the map and their next big story is going to have to be true. Or they may slide into obscurity…

Sorry people but Putin just does not fit that building in the picture. Putin has a Model 21 Volga car, a LADA Niva, ex KGB, black-belt in Judo and loves to spend his time fishing and working with wildlife. He just is not a pampered Palace type…

Maybe the Kremlin had something to do with the initial building of it. But in Russia doesn’t the Kremlin have something to do with everything about or by Russia?

Nuff said…

Windows to Russia!

Russia Today: Drums of War?


United States and EU government officials have been openly discussing the possibility of military intervention in Libya. From the Pentagon to US mainstream media, there have been calls for war but is it that easy to take over Libya? RT Contributor Wayne Madsen says Ghaddafi is not a knock over, he has good friends in the CIA but there are a lot of neoconservatives who would love to get Ghaddafi…

This is a great video…

Windows to Russia!

OPEC basket price rises to $110.84…


The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says that its basket price has increased by 2.4 % to $110.84 per barrel. The OPEC oil basket price reached a record high of $140.73 per barrel on July 3, 2008. In March of the same year the 12th type of crude was added to the OPEC oil basket.

Looking kinda bad on on the old home front with these kind of statistics. The old record is not that far away…

Windows to Russia!

Russia’s Reserve Fund will reach 1.5 trillion roubles by year end…


Once again Russia is able to stash surplus money again. The last few years have been rough and Russia has been relying on its reserve fund to make up budget shortfalls. But what really strikes me as important is that Russia has virtually no debt. Russia has come out of the depression stung but smiling still. She can and is and did put money away for a rainy day. That has been very instrumental to keeping on budget in the last few years…

So it was announced the other day that Russia’s Reserve Fund will again reach 1.5 trillion roubles by the end of 2011… (Link)

That is about 50 billion American dollars for those that need to know. I remember when it was 150 billion American dollars…

Stop and think a second. (You can scoff all you want and say that is small chump change.) But does America have a reserve fund? You know money for a rainy day? You know money for when the going gets tough and life deals a bad hand of cards…

Leading Foreign Holders of US Treasury Securities
December 2010 November 2010
Nation/Territory billions of dollars (est.) percent of total foreign holdings billions of dollars (est.) percent of total foreign holdings
China 1160.1 26.1% 1164.1 26.4%
Japan 882.3 19.9% 875.9 19.8%
United Kingdom 272.1 6.1% 242.5 5.5%
Oil exporters1 211.9 4.8% 204.3 4.6%
Brazil 186.1 4.2% 189.8 4.3%
Caribbean Banking Centers2 168.6 3.8% 159.3 3.6%
Hong Kong 134.2 3.0% 134.9 3.1%
Switzerland 107.0 2.4% 107.0 2.4%
Taiwan 155.1 3.5% 154.4 3.5%
Russia 151.0 3.4% 167.3 3.8%
Subtotal of top 10 holders 3,428.4 77.2% 3,399.5 77.0%
Grand Total 4,439.6 100.0% 4,413.8 100.0%

No – I did not think so, unless you count the above holders of USA debt as reserve funds by buying bonds and such…

I wish that America was doing as well as Russia was in the financial department. We could be – it is simple math and nothing else…

You spend only what you have and nothing more…

My grandma use to say, “If you need to borrow the money to buy it! You don’t need it…”

She was correct…

Windows to Russia!

Coffee and Russian Patience…


Once a long time ago in America. I was considered very patient. Compared to most people in America I was extremely patient. I worked in management and dealt with the service industry. Yes I was very patient…

But then I came to Russia. I found out that I am not patient compared to Russians…

When I first came to Russia, I was typical American. Get it done and get it done now. If you can’t get it done then what is the hold up and get after who ever is in the way of getting it done. So just get it done…[pullquote] …That cup of coffee…[/pullquote]The reason I am thinking of this today over my cup of coffee is because Sveta and I are working on the paperwork of our flat. Svet and I decided to buy our flat from her family. This is the flat that we have lived in over the last year or so and we really like it…

In Russia things have there own pace and speeding up that process is not in the cards. I really think that the hype of bribery and corruption is exaggerated by Western world people trying to speed up the processes of things in Russia. If you asked my mother in law about bribery and corruption. She would tell you that she has never paid any bribes in her life to get anything done in the Soviet Union or in Russia. In fact Sveta’s mother goes way back into the Soviet Union times. She would tell you that the bureaucracy is terrible but not corrupt. I believe her, and after all the dealings that we have done with government agencies and such, it proves her correct…

So lets get back to the purchase of the flat. Yesterday Sveta met with her mother and they progressed on the paperwork to accomplish the mission of us buying the flat. When Sveta came home after spending all day working on said paperwork. She explained what happened and now what the next steps are going to be…

To make a long story from being super long. I will just say that what has taken months to get to this point will take several more months to get farther along and maybe sometime with in the next year we will have all the paperwork done…

In my past, I would have said, “What is wrong with everything (or everyone)! Why can’t we (they) get it done?” I still have those feelings, but I have learned to smile and nod and say to myself, “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 – just be patient!” Then in typical American fashion, I could and would also say, “I could be dead before all this gets done!” Then Sveta would just look at me like I am some little puppy that wants to go outside and play and she would say, “Have patience. That is why you had heart attacks…”

So now I smile and say, “It will get done when it gets done!” I say under my breath that I just hope that, “The world does not come to an end before it gets done.” Sveta would just say at that remark, “Have patience, If the world came to an end, then who cares about the flat?”

She is right…    🙂

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