Windows to Russia

ST. PETERSBURG, June 1 (Xinhua) — A substance extracted from meat fly maggots can increase the effectiveness of existing antibiotics, said Russian biologists.According to their research published in the journal Infection and Drug Resistance, the extract can intensify the effect of antibiotics and destroy biofilms – specific groups of microorganisms that complicate wound healing and often cause chronic ulcers, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Friday.Russian scientists are working on the creation of a technology that allow mass production of this extract, the news agency said.

Source: Russian biologists extract substance from maggots to increase effectiveness of antibiotics – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Seriously? I have looked for Mexican food in Russia and now here it is…

Mexican food? I take what I can get… Russian style most likely…

A special fan zone for Mexican and Russian fans will be open 24 hours a day at the Izmailovsky Kremlin compound from 14 June through 15 July.From 14 June through 15 July, the Izmailovsky Kremlin will host a special fan zone for fans from Russia and Mexico. Apart from enjoying Mexican cuisine, visitors will be able to familiarize themselves with the culture and arts of Mexico, the cradle of ancient civilizations.Free tastings will be available each day. The Mexican chefs will prepare nachos with guacamole

Source: Burritos and guacamole: Mexican food at the 2018 World Cup / News / Moscow City Web Site

Maybe this will be the start of more Mexican food in Russia…

I can dream…

WtR

And…well this morning it was freezing outside. It always amazes me how cold summer can be in Moscow, Russia…

Just some images as I walk around the town…

One thing you will never see is a fire hydrant as you are use to in America. Or at least I am use to. The connections are made if needed and this is what they look like when connected. I think the sever cold has something to do with such an arrangement. Water pipes are buried very deep here in Russian Land…

A few weeks ago the stump shown was just a stump and then all of a sudden, it became a ecosystem for a whole new world. The biology side of me cannot pass such things up and I am always taking images of such happenings. If you knock on the stump it is literally solid still, yet it has life bursting out of it. Now that is so cool and so wonderful…

Therefore, I will have a second cup of coffee and look at the pictures I took. Just posted some to let you see Russia and its life all around…

Russia is so much more than you are told…

Have a nice day…

WtR

International relations have entered a very difficult period, and Russia once again finds itself at the crossroads of key trends that determine the vector of future global development.

Many different opinions have been expressed in this connection including the fear that we have a distorted view of the international situation and Russia’s international standing. I perceive this as an echo of the eternal dispute between pro-Western liberals and the advocates of Russia’s unique path. There are also those, both in Russia and outside of it, who believe that Russia is doomed to drag behind, trying to catch up with the West and forced to bend to other players’ rules, and hence will be unable to claim its rightful place in international affairs. I’d like to use this opportunity to express some of my views and to back them with examples from history and historical parallels.

It is an established fact that a substantiated policy is impossible without reliance on history. This reference to history is absolutely justified, especially considering recent celebrations. In 2015, we celebrated the 70th anniversary of Victory in WWII, and in 2014, we marked a century since the start of WWI. In 2012, we marked 200 years of the Battle of Borodino and 400 years of Moscow’s liberation from the Polish invaders. If we look at these events carefully, we’ll see that they clearly point to Russia’s special role in European and global history.

History doesn’t confirm the widespread belief that Russia has always camped in Europe’s backyard and has been Europe’s political outsider. I’d like to remind you that the adoption of Christianity in Russia in 988 – we marked 1025 years of that event quite recently – boosted the development of state institutions, social relations and culture and eventually made Kievan Rus a full member of the European community. At that time, dynastic marriages were the best gauge of a country’s role in the system of international relations. In the 11th century, three daughters of Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise became the queens of Norway and Denmark, Hungary and France. Yaroslav’s sister married the Polish king and granddaughter the German emperor.

Numerous scientific investigations bear witness to the high cultural and spiritual level of Rus of those days, a level that was frequently higher than in western European states. Many prominent Western thinkers recognized that Rus was part of the European context. At the same time, Russian people possessed a cultural matrix of their own and an original type of spirituality and never merged with the West. It is instructive to recall in this connection what was for my people a tragic and in many respects critical epoch of the Mongolian invasion. The great Russian poet and writer Alexander Pushkin wrote: “The barbarians did not dare to leave an enslaved Rus in their rear and returned to their Eastern steppes. Christian enlightenment was saved by a ravaged and dying Russia.” We also know an alternative view offered by prominent historian and ethnologist Lev Gumilyov, who believed that the Mongolian invasion had prompted the emergence of a new Russian ethnos and that the Great Steppe had given us an additional impetus for development.

However that may be, it is clear that the said period was extremely important for the assertion of the Russian State’s independent role in Eurasia. Let us recall in this connection the policy pursued by Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, who opted to temporarily submit to Golden Horde rulers, who were tolerant of Christianity, in order to uphold the Russians’ right to have a faith of their own and to decide their fate, despite the European West’s attempts to put Russian lands under full control and to deprive Russians of their identity. I am confident that this wise and forward-looking policy is in our genes.

Rus bent under but was not broken by the heavy Mongolian yoke, and managed to emerge from this dire trial as a single state, which was later regarded by both the West and the East as the successor to the Byzantine Empire that ceased to exist in 1453. An imposing country stretching along what was practically the entire eastern perimeter of Europe, Russia began a natural expansion towards the Urals and Siberia, absorbing their huge territories. Already then it was a powerful balancing factor in European political combinations, including the well-known Thirty Years’ War that gave birth to the Westphalian system of international relations, whose principles, primarily respect for state sovereignty, are of importance even today.

At this point we are approaching a dilemma that has been evident for several centuries. While the rapidly developing Moscow state naturally played an increasing role in European affairs, the European countries had apprehensions about the nascent giant in the East and tried to isolate it whenever possible and prevent it from taking part in Europe’s most important affairs.

The seeming contradiction between the traditional social……(Keep reading link below…)

Source: Sergey Lavrov’s article “Russia’s Foreign Policy: Historical Background” for “Russia in Global Affairs” magazine, March 3, 2016 – News – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation