Year: 2011

Cup of Coffee (Chicory), Walking and Snowing in Moscow, Russia…


Today is a good day to curl up and read a book or write an article. In my case I think I will do both. So with cup of coffee in hand and the computer warmed up. I think that I will do some thinking’s…

I had walked the dog earlier today. It was snowing outside and the breeze was blowing little snow swirls all around. It is strange outside because as I pointed out yesterday that all the stray dogs have been rounded up. No dogs are barking and no dogs to come check out Boza. This has created a vacuum in the city. It seems that the whole city has changed. Sight, sound and energy in the air is all different now that the dogs are gone. I can feel the absence of life. Kinda like it feels when you walk in a forest that has just been cut down. Life has been destroyed…

I learned a long time ago that all living things have energy that contributes to the whole of the world. Remove that energy then it takes time for other energy to flow into the vacuum that was created. 100,000+ dogs was a lot of energy and it is very strongly felt by its demise…

It felt good to walk around today because I have been cooped up in the flat for days. Sometimes things just get to the point that you have to stop and rest. I read a lot of books but nothing is better than walking Boza to get exercise. For Boza is one of those dogs that takes life as it comes and all of life is a bowl of cherries! (Boza also does not see any pits! :))

As I said it was snowing and it seems to me that snow changes the world. Snow puts a mask on the world and makes things better. We all know that the world is a sucky place right now and a fresh coat of snow seems to hide all that pathetic human behavior that is so embarrassing to have to face everyday. So snow has its place and as it gets deeper then maybe the drums beating to destroy Syria by the West and the destruction of Libya will be muffled and muted for awhile. Winter seems to stifle humans into hibernation and it is all most humans can do to just carry on with work during the Winter, much less declare war. But with new technologies such as the advanced drones that we have, it takes less energy to destroy and everyone loves to play video games in the Winter! Right?

So while walking I watched a couple of moms swinging their kids in subzero weather and the kids where having a blast. They loved the snowflakes that were hitting them in the face… πŸ™‚

As we walked away the kids were yelling at Boza. All kids love Boza he is one of those dogs that is small enough (15 kilos) to be less scary and his face has those markings that make him look human. He also is very tolerant of little ones who want to touch his wired fur head. I wonder what Boza is thinking as these little humans come up and try to check him out…

So all in all it is a good day. I am going to read a book and get warmed back up. The heat is not full blast yet because it is just around the freezing mark. So we have to make sure that we are dressed in warm clothes. Long underwear and long sleeve shirts become everyday attire in Russia during the Winter. So that means from October to May (8 months) you definitely have to think about Winter clothes in this side of the world…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Related articles

Georgian script for the WTO…


By Ilona Raskolnikova:

Russia is not too eager in the WTO, but it’s so funny to watch for Georgia, which imagines itself the mistress of the situation. Mikhail Saakashvili should understand that today he is playing exactly the role that is very suitable for the Russian Federation.

Despite the fact that the United States have completed their negotiations with Russia on the WTO accession, the European Union has long remained a stumbling block. Yes, it was a continental union, not Georgia, screaming at every corner that trade fate of Moscow is in their hands, stood in the way of the Russian authorities. The reason is simple – duties on roundwood and Siberian overflights did not give rest to Europeans. But during the recent negotiations between the EU and the Kremlin, all the obstacles were removed.

Moscow does not like Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation Moscow, since it is not possible to resolve the issue with the payments till 2013 – the scheme is too complicated. Because compensation payments to Russia each year are carried out by some twenty foreign airlines, which compensate the country’s loss of profits from non-stop flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. This, according to various sources, amounts about $ 420 million. Cancellation fees will deprive the Russian budget of additional revenue items.

Brussels was very loyal on the other issues. It managed to negotiate with Russia on a new mode of industrial assembly at productions, extending this provision to the major car manufacturers, but only for a transitional period, while the integration in the WTO. After that all the arrangements will cease to act to avoid compensations to the EU due to leakage of personnel in Russia. In return, Moscow would reduce duties on exported cars and spare parts of foreign manufacturers, and foreign cars would become more affordable. In this case it’s not difficult to imagine what is waiting for the domestic auto industry and other industries, if we follow such a scenario.

Thus, it becomes clear that the pull of Russia into the trap of the World Trade Organization can last almost indefinitely, as long as both parties do not get tired of inventing new reasons and rules in order to the general laws of the international trading community could operate at Russian territory. So, which is the role of Georgia in this. It is surprising, but the role of Tbilisi in the negotiations on the WTO is very high, but they will fulfill it according to the Kremlin’s script. Since the trading part of the debate had long been resolved, diplomacy and geopolitics, that is “territorial integrity” of Sakartvelo, appears at the stage.

Tbilisi demands to establish control of the movement of goods at the Russian border with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as they still consider them their own enclaves. But Moscow has recognized their sovereignty in 2008, and can not afford to track its trade turnover with the independent states. And in this case the talks always reach an impasse, because according to the law both sides are right, but on the content even the world community has no certain position, which made Switzerland to become mediator between the Kremlin and Sakartvelo.

So what a compromise can be achieved, provided that Russia really wants to join the WTO on their own, and not on the factor of restart policy between Russia and the United States? If Moscow and Tbilisi do not achieve agreement, and patience of those, who is interested in Russia’s joining, will run out, there will be used a voting procedure. And in this case, the diplomatic defeat of Georgia is inevitable, because then the accession of its northern neighbor will happen bypassing them. Moreover, a part of the international community de facto recognizes the new borders in Caucasus, drawn in August 2008.

The Republicans, in anticipation of these events, have already written a lengthy letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, urging the administration to fully consider the interests of Georgia before giving its consent to Russia’s accession to the WTO. However, considering that now the head of the White House is Democrat who is not going to give up his positions in the upcoming presidential elections in 2012, it is doubtful that Obama will listen to his rivals.
Source:

Windows to Russia!

Related articles

Libya No-Fly Zone Lifted: 9 months too late…


The UN Security Council on Thursday ended the no-fly zone over Libya. All 15 UNSC members voted unanimously to lift the ban imposed on March 17 to protect civilians. Zippity do da…

The problem is, it is 9 months too late…

There really is nothing left to blow up except sand in the dessert, because the cities are destroyed for the most part. The only reason Tripoli is not leveled is because Gaddafi left to save the people who live there. But they (NATO) made up for it in many other cities in Libya. I never understood how a no-fly zone became a dead zone for anyone supporting Gaddafi…

Do you like that new black paint job? A NATO special...

Does not do any good to keep bombing blown up buildings. NATO has a budget you know? Also NATO has other countries now in its sights to blow up! But yes I know that we saved all kinds of civilians in Libya (Just ask the politicians like Hillary – they will tell you!) that were on the verge of being slaughtered by Gaddafi. I guess it is better to be slaughtered by the Western Empire…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: But as long as everyone is happy and got big smiles! I guess it is all OK! πŸ™

Related articles

Artyom Savelyev Court Case is Beginning in the US…


The famous return to sender note…

Pretrial hearings in the drama of the adoption of a Russian child are beginning as Artyom Savelyev is on the docket in the United States…

In April of 2010, the American boys adoptive mother Torry-Ann Hansen of Tennessee returned eight-year-old foster child Artyom Savelyev like a return to sender letter, unaccompanied, on a plane to Moscow, with a note saying he is no longer wanted because he was psychologically unstable…

Artyom Savelyev case prompted Russia to suspend adoptions to the U.S. and start negotiating a treaty on adoptions, which was signed in July of this year…

The court in the US will hear the request of Torry Hansen to close the case. If the request is rejected, the trial will begin on January 3, 2011…

So this is where the status is on the case of a mother who adopted a child from Russia and returned him to Russia with less respect than she would unwanted socks for Christmas at Walmart…

Lets hope that the courts do not let this woman get away with what she did. She needs to be put on trial in front of her peers…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: Not sure about what this is about? Then read some links below. I have been following this from the beginning…

Related articles

9,000,000 Migrants in Russia…


I am a form of a migrant in Russia, but I am not the normal type of migrant. I come from the USA not the old Soviet satellites. The number of 9,000,000 migrants is way off because most migrants are here illegally. There could be 9 million just in Moscow if the truth is known. The truth will never be known…

I am the rare migrant. I am registered in all aspects that I am suppose to be. I am even registered in a flat as a proper occupant. I have a visa that allows me to come and go as I please. Most migrants have crossed illegally and are stuck once they get here. But they are here to work and send money home to the family. It is kinda sad really. For many of these migrants will never get home before they die, ever…

It is being said that migrants are to be fingerprinted. As I know Russia pretty well and that means people from the CIS countries to start with. I do not suspect that people like me will be bothered for quite awhile. But I am seeing this as ultimately getting a fingerprint data base for all of Russia, including Russians, at some point in the far future…

So there are about nine million foreign immigrants in Russia at present, working mostly from former Soviet republics, director of international cooperation department of the Russian Red Cross (RKK) public charity Sergei Kobets said, citing information provided by the Federal Migration Service…

“Migrants are not really in the best situation, most often they can not obtain medical care and social support of the state, and can only rely on the payment of medical services, dramatically reducing their protection in the country,” said Kobets…

He noted that in September, his organization “observed the situation of migration in all regions, has proved the readiness of RKK regional branches for interaction with government bodies, and saw the provinces implementing the policy toward migrant workers “…

“The Primorye Territory is the region that we believe requires the utmost attention to migration issues. You need to develop a concept of working with the migrants bordered by Japan and China, which supplies a large influx of migrants,” he said, adding that the need to address migration issues arise in the light of the upcoming summit of the APEC countries. “…

Today, the opportunity is being studied to establish the migration center under the aegis of the Red Cross in the Primorye Territory, which will provide assistance to migrants, including medical care…

“We intend to work in the field of migration, in order to counteract the development of xenophobia in the country, which unfortunately is reaching its highest point,” said the director of RKK…

For its part, the head of the laboratory for studies of migration, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Zhanna Zaionchkovskya stressed that the natural decline of the population without disabilities raises the problem of attracting immigrants with advanced education and are specialists in the this or that field…

Windows to Russia!

Related articles

Umka (YMKA) the Arctic City – the Soviet-era hero cartoon bear cub…


Russia has approved a nearly $ 8000 million to build the city for the first time with an artificial climate, as the country approaches the frost conquered world, with its vast resources, and Russia said that the Moon and Mars will be next…

Umka name – a popular late Soviet-era hero cartoon bear cub – the city is proposed to be built in the remote island of Kotelny in the archipelago of Novosibirsk…

Located just outside around 1000 miles from the North Pole, which has in the past been called one of the less hospitable regions of the Earth with summer temperatures rarely above freezing, while in winter dip of -40 C average…

The initial population is expected to be just 5,000, most of whom will be scientists and workers involved in the extraction and transportation of vast oil and gas underwater Lomonosov Ridge wealth…

Umka...

“The city will not only be a place of extraction and transportation hub, but a place to live comfortably. We want people to not realize they are in an enclosed space with an aggressive foreign climate of the Arctic. So we aim to have not only scientific laboratories, homes, but also parks, an aquatic complex, hotels, schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, hospital, sports facilities, and a cathedral, “says Valery Rzhevskiy architect…

Initially you will get electricity from a pair of floating nuclear power plants, expected to be closed as the removal of the oil comes into operation. Fish farms and poultry, greenhouses and bakeries will be responsible for food supplies, while the waste is processed in two different processing plants…

So far, this is the first project of this magnitude, with artificial climate and comprehensive support of life in the history of mankind. Its design is based primarily on the International Space Station (albeit much larger – 1.5×0. 8 km), with a central transport links homes and laboratories…

And cities like Umka said Rzhevsky, They would be perfectly viable on the moon or anywhere else…

The project is waiting on the final say of the Russian government, and then it will be presented to other members of the Arctic Five – Denmark, Canada, Norway and the U.S. – who want to build similar cities themselves…

Windows to Russia!

Related articles

Dog Here – Dog There – Dog Gone…


Strays ride the metro...

I have not walked the dog the last few days because I have been feeling bad. So I was surprised when Sveta came in last night and said, something is very different and strange outside tonight. I then found out that she meant that all the stray dogs are gone…

So I went out today (Just don’t tell Sveta!) and looked at the spots that I know that strays (dogs) are always there. The dogs are gone! We had at least 12+ living around our flat complex. People always fed them but at the same time everyone gripped about them. Sveta said that she is seeing bowls of food and water laying around on the ground and nothing to eat it. Cats are always fed on window sills and such. So you can always tell who the food is for…

The people in Moscow are having a fit over the plan that is in effect, to round up the strays. It seems that they are going to take all these dogs (officials say 25,000+) and take them about 200km away from Moscow. What is going to happen is being mauled around right now, but my thoughts tell me that they will be killed…

So while sipping that cup of coffee (chicory) this morning I was doing some thinking’s about Moscow and her stray dogs. First off to say there was only 25,000 strays is a gross underestimation. I would say 100,000+ would be closer and that may be underestimated. Moscow has a huge stray dog issue (or at least they did) and people feed these dogs constantly. People are strange in Moscow. They get up in arms about getting rid of dogs but they will not take a dog into personally take care of. People in Moscow will feed dogs on the street and tolerate these dogs by even stepping over them in the doorways of the train stations and subways. They will care for a dog but never take one in their own home…

One big reason for so many stray dogs is that people toss puppies out on the street and kick their own dogs out on the street because they do not want to be bothered. No one believes in fixing their pets so that excess puppies are not reproduced. It just does not cross their minds here in Russia and or actually considered bad…

So now people are wound up like a fat tick ready to pop. Over something that they created and endorsed for years and years…

But as Sveta said something like, “It is just strange outside.” then “All the dogs are gone!” Then she asks something like, why do the people not just take a dog in to care for if they are having such issues?

That is a good question…

You see Boza was a stray and would have been killed by now. He was found by us near a very busy highway and he would not have lasted long. I look at Boza and realize that he is our buddy. He stays by me very close when I am having issues with health as I am now. He seems to know (I need to get in to see my cardiologist and have my medications adjusted)…

So I guess we will see how many of the dogs they got. We will see if any have been hidden or hid themselves real well. But like Sveta said also, “It is so quiet outside!”

She is right, The dogs are gone…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: Many people do not want the responsibility of a pet in Moscow, but they will feed the dogs on the street to make themselves feel better about stray animals. We did find one puppy today. It is a she and she is a terrier mix about 6 months old. So many of our dogs are gone and Boza is missing his friends… πŸ™

Related articles

7-billionth person will be born on October 31 in Kaliningrad, Russia…


The world’s 7-billionth person will be born on October 31 in Kaliningrad.

The decision was taken by the United Nations Population Fund, which is presenting its annual report in Russia’s westernmost city.

While no one knows if the child will be a boy or a girl, one thing is for sure: the mother will receive a special certificate and gifts from the local administration.

In 1999, a boy born in Sarajevo was named the 6-billionth person on the planet.

Windows to Russia!

Related articles

Russia: What Is A Sandwich?


A Dagwood sandwich

That is a sandwhich...

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking about sandwiches! In America a sandwich is food, meal, art & tradition! The term Dagwood Sandwich comes to my mind.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Dagwood A real sandwich is awesome!

buterbrod

In Russia; the concept of a sandwich is still very foreign and new. Russia has a form of a sandwich called, Π±ΡƒΡ‚Π΅Ρ€Π±Ρ€ΠΎΠ΄ (buterbrod).Β  >>>>>>>

“Dagwood Sandwich – It is a multilayer sandwich with a variety of fillings. Used to denote a sandwich put together so as to attain such a tremendous size and infinite variety of contents as to stun the imagination, sight, and stomach of all but the original maker…

Dagwood sandwiches, a term so well-known it made Webster’s New World Dictionary.

caviar

1930 – A term that originated in the comic strips in the 1930s after a comic strip character named Dagwood Bumstead, a character in the “Blondie” comic strip. According to the creator of the comic strip, Murat Bernard β€œChic” Young (1901-1973), the only thing that Dagwood could prepare in the kitchen was a mountainous pile of dissimilar leftovers precariously arranged between two slices of bread. Dagwood became know for his huge sandwiches he created on evening forays to the refrigerator...

What is a buterbrod: According to my Wife: who is an expert on Russia. πŸ™‚ –
Buterbrod is one slice of bread, with or without butter, & could have one of the following; Sausage (kielbasa), cheese, salmon or caviar. Never two of those items?? (Yummy?)

Because I am America, I happen to disagree with this Russian form of sandwich. So I have tried to converted my wife to American sandwiches! πŸ™‚

I make her every kind of sandwich that I can think of. She has eaten & liked grilled cheeses, hamburgers, grilled ham & cheese, Monte Christos, cold cuts & many more styles! (but she still tells me that Russian do not eat sandwiches like this) So I have met her half way and make sandwiches with only one slice of bread…

She is right: All you have to do is go to McDonald’s in Russia and you will see what I mean! The art of eating sandwiches in Russia is a new concept. Russians are prone to removing the top of the bun and eating the burger. They like to balance the burger on their finger tips and munch around the outside edge…

You learned something new about Russia today. That is why I love Russia!

Kyle
Windows to Russia!

PS: Sveta likes a grilled cheese on one slice of bread. That is her favorite and of course it has to be black bread…

Related articles

Do You See What I See / Do You Hear What I Hear? Boom Boom…


Those War Drums are beating so loud that they keep people up at night even all the way over here in Russia…

“Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” McCain told a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan.

Now that is a really loud beating of a War Drum if I ever heard one…

I have got to say: It looks like America has a really big desire to just hop from one small country to the next in the Middle East and bully everyone until they are dead or cry Uncle…

With things destroyed in Libya and messed up worse than a kids toy box in his room. We now want to go and kill another 100,000 people in Syria…

How do you sleep at night? I sleep only because I myself refuse to be quiet about it! If I can get one person out of my readers to stop and say to himself that we are killing people all over the world in the name of democracy and that is a bad thing. Then I have made a difference…

So Boom Boom Boom beat those drums, lets go blow the hell out of Syria. You know they deserve it our government says it is so… πŸ™

By the way: We are killing people all over the world in the name of democracy…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Related articles