Windows to Russia

I feel sorry for people in America and other parts of the Western Empire, that really think that they live in the land of the free and all that bull! It really hit home today as I tried to seriously see what you have as normal information in the Western world media. Guess what? You have a bunch of crap for news and it is geared toward keeping your brain occupied, not informed…

So lets talk about somethings that have been blown out of proportion and blown out of proportion on purpose: Secret Service scandal prostitute pictured for first time and or Breivik resumes ‘gruesome’ attacks testimony in Oslo…

So you don’t care about Syria being railroaded by the West to the path of destruction and you don’t care about Libya is in a civil war started by the Western Empire and is still being torn apart day by day. You don’t care that Iran is being treated wrongly and the same to North Korea.I also know that many of you just tuned out because Iran and North Korea was just mentioned and we all know that they are demon countries that need to be destroyed. So why listen to a pro-Iran and pro-NK article? Heaven forbid this blog is pro-Russia as it is and that is enough to send me to hell in a hand basket according to many people…

But I would like to know why you care about the fact that guys did what guys do every time they run around a foreign country and that we must hang on and listen to every word that a depraved psychotic killer of minors has to say, every time he opens his mouth. Why do we care about these secrete service men and why do we care about Breivik? I will tell you why because they are smoke and mirrors and they cover up what is really happening…

We print nothing but lies about Syria and we have seriously pushed the number of dead in Syria to over 10,000 and we make that 10,000 seem to be all innocents people. The truth is that terrorists are killing the most people in Syria and America supports these terrorists. We also totally ignore the fact that Libya is in a full scale civil war and Russia is working overtime trying to get things back under control there. The same old story happened in Libya that they are trying to do in Syria- The West screwed it up and walked away after they got what they wanted and now it is the same as in Iraq. Ignore, ignore, ignore and ignore some more. How do you explain the fact that we are supplying the Syrian terrorists with money and weapons?

So as I watch people on social media and news sites in America and it is really sad to see what seems to be the best face forward that America presents to the world. If America is what the Internet is presenting of her to the world, then we are a sorry bunch of sap suckers in the USA…

America’s ignorance of the world extends into the world wide web. They truly do not think anyone is out there, but themselves. I have to admit that at times it looks like Americans and Britain’s are the only one on the web, because they seem to be the ones that are the most vocal about the world in the web…

I know better because I have 20 websites that give me statistics and while America may be number one many times on many sites, they are not the only ones and my sites have hits from all over the world. In fact right here on Windows to Russia. The top three are China, Russia and USA in that order. But the hate and crappy comments come 99% from the USA and that can be hundreds of comments a week at times. I have 3300 articles + and that can be a lot of crappy comments to deal with at times. The truth is that it is only about 1 out of 10 comments that is worth really reading. The rest of the comments are propaganda instigated by special government groups to cause issues on websites and ruin their commenter base…

Lets step back to our secrete service guys: Do you think for one second that these guys have never done this before? Do you think for one second that we do not have American guys all over the world doing the same thing right now? So why the hell are you caring about the situation. Why don’t you care about Libya as much as you care about the sex life of a secrete service man. If you ask me, if the guys are married then that is who should care: HIS WIFE…

Then lets cross the ocean and talk about the mass murdering Breivik: Why do you care what a deranged individual says (He should just simply be locked up and toss the key away) and we have to print every word of the trial verbatim? Why do we have to create a cult following of this man?  From what I see he is starting to get a following in America now…

What amazes me is that we can get pictures and interviews with the prostitute that screamed fowl on the secrete service men, but we can’t verify one iota of information about a full scale war in Libya and 10,000 dead in Syria is always unconfirmed…

We have a mass murderer killing young people left and right and even have tons of witnesses and even videos of him doing it. Yet we treat him like he has rights and what he says is important…

I wish that we would demand that we treat Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, Russia, North Korea and  whole bunch more with the same level of truth gathering and wool gathering that we do on subjects that do not matter in this world…

We should care as much about Libya as we did about Tiger Woods and his escapades! But we do not and that is what makes the world a sick place to be…

You can say that you do not care about the lies and conceits that are being portrayed in the main stream media, because you know the difference between what is right and wrong. But you do believe what the media says, because you do not help put the media in its place when it falsifies stories and makes fake videos about war crimes in other countries. You are part of the problem and your complacency is the reason that it is allowed…

It is a age old issue in the world…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: And I did not even talk about the fact that the West is dying in her own throes of monetary death and all who ignore it are going down with the ship. China and Japan using their currencies. India and China using their currencies, Iran and China using their currencies. Russia doing the same. The talk is going on right now between China and Saudi Arabia about excluding the dollar from their transactions. Don’t forget that Nixon was the one to get the petrol dollar going full steam in a deal with the Saudis…

The Western world is an Empire built on debt and debt is a poor foundation as it erodes very quickly…

The petrol dollar is on its death bed and you better watch the repercussions and yes, only you can do something about it…

MOSCOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti) – Outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev has praised Russia’s boosting internet development and called on web users to engage in policy-making.

“The possibilities of the Internet, social networks and blogosphere should be used to make the authorities more open and transparent,” Medvedev said in a video blog posting on Wednesday.

He said hoping for state bureaucrats to “make Russia better” would mean “gratifying [their] abuse of authority.”

Medvedev has pushed his image as a tech-savvy modernizer during his four years in office, frequently speaking up for Russia’s increasingly politicized web community.

He said Runet has a monthly audience of 59 million people aged 18 or older.

“The country needs you active people,” he said.

Runet – Russia’s Internet segment – has been largely free of the kind of state controls exerted over television and much of the printed media.

Medvedev, who steps down in May, said the government was carrying out more of its work online, and called on regional authorities to make more use of the Internet to solve “thorny issues.”

Windows to Russia

This is what we Americans live by and that is just plain wrong...

That cup of coffee this morning was really good and it hit the spot as it was +3 this morning as I walked the dog. It has warmed up and has been almost t-shirt weather the last few days, but this morning it decided to show us that cold can come back at any second…

I received a few e-mails that asked why I was slowing down on posting?

Well it is like this: I have said about 4 times in articles, that I am going to ease off on Windows to Russia and the simple truth is that while I will post, it is not my top priority anymore. I am writing a book and I have many other websites that have a lot more financial advantage than a pro Russia blog will ever have. I have said many times that if I hated Russia then my blog would be on the top of the blog world. Everyone wants to hate Russia and when someone likes and loves Russia, everyone seems to have a hard time in understanding why. Well I am knocking on the door of 6 years in Russia and I can tell you with all honesty, that Russia is a fantastic country that allows you to be you and not what the mainstream says that you should be…

Nothing is average in Russia. It seems to be one extreme or the other and that is why I love Russia…

So I had a few thoughts as I was drinking that coffee this morning and really they are not important because it is the same old thing time and time again. My thoughts are still trying to get a grip on why my government can not leave the world alone. Is it that the American government is so bored that they have to destroy other countries? Is it that the American government is so well loved by the American people that there is nothing that needs fixed back home? It life so sweet and perfect in America that the American government can spend its time wandering the world looking to bully everyone? I guess no one starves in America? I guess no one is homeless in America? I guess everyone has jobs in America? I guess everyone is well educated in America? I guess America is so perfect that our government has lots of spare time to wander around the world and blow up countries?

Then it dawned on me that what I just said was the opposite of what is happening in America. So it looks to me like the American government has screwed up America so bad that they want to make sure the world has the same privileges that the American people have and hence lets go treat the world like we treat our own people. Lets take away freedoms from other countries. Lets take other countries resources. Lets destroy other counties infrastructure. Lets take away other countries liberties. Lets interfere in other countries political system. Lets tell the world what they can or can not do. (Because we all know that America is so perfect and democracy is the cats meow!) Lets just plain screw up the world and then the American people will feel better as they see everyone else in the world in the same situation that they are and they will quit complaining about how stupid our government is!

So those thought are not important, that I have stated above. Well they are not important until the day comes that you only have the liberty and freedom to do what you are told, only when you are told that you can have liberty and freedom and only at the split second that your government tells you that you can have liberty and freedom. Then you will look around and wonder what happened as you ignore the fact that you looked the other way while everyone around you had their freedoms and liberty removed by our government and then when they came to you, no one, but no one was left to say – NO!

So hey, if I do not post as much, then remember that I have tons to do and really I am more worried about stopping the spread of Americanism into the rest of the world. You see most of the world is free and has many liberties that you use to have…

I want to keep it that way, because I like to travel unhindered in the world…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

“After the industries of death brought about by the gas chambers and concentration camps, the industries of life now offer the possibility of a genetically modified human race, calling into question humans born of blood and sperm and therefore the wild, the natural part of humanity. The “naturals” would become the new savages with augmented people leading a new humanity shaped less by political totalitarianism than bioengineering. And now we have entered the question of hyper racism. The deadly consequences of the great ecological fear are extremely disturbing. We are at risk of seeing not military dissuasion established between powers, but civil dissuasion between people.

What would be behind this civil dissuasion? The third bomb, which in truth has not yet exploded, already carries a name: the genetic bomb. It is the mutation of the human species by genetic engineering: the production of a human being with a smaller ecological footprint, consuming less air water and energy; the installation of a genetically modified organism to adapt to new environmental conditions, a new human being with a smaller ecological footprint because it uses less proteins water and oxygen, a creature made compatible with an Earth of dwindling resources…”

“The communism of effects is the privatization of communism. Communism has not disappeared from history; it has been privatized, creating a community of synchronized emotions. Something happened with progress and its propaganda to make us constantly preoccupied with progress and perpetually occupied by it. We are now in a situation of occupation in both the temporal and martial meanings of the word: we are under the pressure of permanent occupation. This occupation places us under surveillance, watching us, revealing us and it is increasingly present, increasingly accepted as a fate, a destiny. Promoting progress means that we are always behind: on the high speed Internet, on our Facebook profile, on our email inbox. There are always updates to be made: we are the objects of daily masochism and under constant tension.”

The excerpts above are taken from the book The Administration of Fear. Inside is an interview with Paul Virilio conducted by Bertrand Richard. The book is part of the Semiotext(e) Intervention series and is distributed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The book is at once intellectually stimulating and terribly frightening. Virilio’s revelations appeal: he has diagnosed the human condition in the early part of the 21st Century with pointed accuracy and may have predicted its end during some century to come. The title Administration of Fear does not nearly capture the wide range of topics ecological, social and political covered in the 93 page learning experience.

His revelatory statements inspire a belief that it is time to move the focus, the critique past capitalism, particularly capitalism accelerated by the agent silicon. The speed of life-economic, political, and social-and the subsequent compression of time and distance is the reality of the day. Money/capital flows and accumulates. Who or what gets that money is decided by algorithms deep within the world of electronic finance. A human may be encountered in such transactions but only briefly. So, who or what is in front of and behind the electronic facade? The answer is everyone and no one.

There are no critiques of silicon capitalism that have not already been written. The “isms” should focus on silicon individualism and collectivism going forward. How can humanity avoid becoming an integrated genetic circuit or node? How can humanity avoid Virilio’s genetically engineered human?

It seems pointless now to rage against silicon based capitalism, at once perfidious and effective. Over the centuries, it has proven that it knows no ideology and, in fact, as Marcuse said, “It has delivered the goods.”. It is flexible enough to fit any form of politics/governance. Silicon capitalism comes in all flavors: communist, terrorist, democratic, socialist, totalitarian, Judeo-Christian, or Muslim. Perhaps silicon capitalism has been so reviled because its practice reveals human beings as predators one moment and cooperative gathers at another: it reveals innate human duplicity, looking in the mirror is painful. Or maybe its ability to absorb the most radical philosophies and ideas that humans can muster disturbs; yesterday’s radical song is today’s car commercial. Everyone relents, there is no space to hide anymore.

Silicon capitalism’s most triumphant product was the Internet and World Wide Web, and the computing and telecommunications devices that attach humans to humans, and humans to the Net/Web. In doing this, it has created non-reflective plug and play individuals and collectives around the globe. This dynamic threatens to erase being, thought, mind and self as proactive agents that filter incoming stimulation to reactive integrated genetic circuits prompted for time-restricted reflexive action. Virilio is rides exactly the right train of thought in stating that humanity’s survival may depend on the creation of genetically designed human beings built to last in a world of empty concrete spaces, depleted resources and recurring ecological disasters. He makes perfect sense. Privatized communism dominates.

In a ravaged world, where will the human as integrated genetic circuit find being-in-the-world, meaning, transaction, or work? Since she/he will be designed for survival on a ruined planet, human thought/emotion will have to be genetically treated and regulated and restricted from thought that may threaten the survival of other genetically modified human beings. Existence for everyone in such a world will depend on genetically engineered captive minds, blank slates that are easily programmed for reflex, not natural thought and reflection. There will be no “questions” in a genetically designed human being that merges mind and machine and whose motive is nothing more than survival. Humans will respond efficiently to prompts like conditioned pigeons in a lab experiment.

No Time Left for You: Unexamined Absorption

“Temporal compression, as it is technically called, is an event that concretely modifies everyone’s daily life at the same time. In the face of this acceleration of daily life, fear has become an environment even in a time of peace. We are living in the accident of the globe, the accident of instantaneous simultaneity and interactivity that have now gained the upper hand over ordinary activities…With the phenomena of instantaneous interaction that are now our lot, there has been a veritable reversal, destabilizing the relationship of human interactions and the time reserved for reflection in favor of the conditioned responses produced by emotion… ”

Virilio is not alone in his sentiments. There is a dedicated effort in some academic circles to bring the humanities into the sciences-neuroscience and biology for example. This action seeks to use the humanities to teach reflection in an era of speedy reflexive thought, and to synthesize best practices from seemingly divergent fields of thought. It is a necessary and laudable effort that may one day prove to have been a roadblock to the genetically horrifying world Virilio reveals. Who knows?

Writing in Bridging the Humanities-Neuroscience Divide: A Field Guide to a New Meta-Field, Barbara Stafford echoes Virilio.

“‘She watches with the raptor’s eye, trained on distance as she is, and dark—so when she turns to what is close, so intimate and huge, she keeps the gift of sight beyond herself, neither sentimental or detached….’Who, indeed, watches the passing show with the raptor’s eye? Couple the quick tweet and modalities of social networking with the videoing and blogging obsession, immersion in video games, overtime on the Internet and the constant interruption of face to face interaction by the cell phone, and you have a recipe for attention deficit in the life world. What are educational institutions to do in the culture of online engrossment and the fast electronic update? The humanities might rearticulate its worth in a climate of unexamined absorption.”

Stafford cites Nicholas Carr’s downside of the digital world as being an environment where it is all about the speed of locating and reading data. Carr believes that “we are transferring our intelligence into the machine and machine is transferring its way of thinking into us.”

“We are beginning to process information as if we are nodes,” says Carr.

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com

The views of the above author are not strictly the views of Windows to Russia. They are an independent view from an outside source and country that brings a better light on the world in general and Windows to Russia is pleased to have John Stanton’s article on its pages today. It is hoped that we will have many more of his writings in the future…

Windows to Russia!

We have a new McDonald’s opening up just around the corner from us. In fact it is much less than two blocks away. This location is about exactly the same spot that I told Sveta several years ago that a McDonald’s would go gang busters right in that very building that was being built as a new mall. As I have mentioned before, I use to be a District Manger for McDonald’s in Georgia, USA!

I spent several years many years ago, scouting locations for new McDonald’s and setting up future plans for growth. That was my job on top of watching over several stores also. At this rate I have picked 6 locations for McDonald’s that have come true in Russia. It is strange to see the same technical and thoughts going into finding new unit locations as is done in America. That tells me how Western orientated the McDonald’s is here in Russia and in fact I have been reading about how McDonald’s is going to franchise in Siberia for the growth of new McDonald’s…

Here is some information about McDonald’s in Russia: McDonald’s plans to open 45 restaurants in Russia in 2012, during 2011, the company launched 37 restaurants in Russia. Currently, the McDonald’s network embraces 314 restaurants in more than 85 cities all across Russia. The company also expects that poultry processing enterprises will be commissioned in 2012 in Russia’s Tula and Kaliningrad regions, and a souse-making line in the republic of Chuvashia. Apart from that, the company plans provide for the launch of a distribution centre in the republic of Chuvashia, a vegetable processing facility/ and a bakery. These facilities will help meet more than 80 percent of the company’s demand in Russia…

I have seen the poultry section around Tula and as in America McDonald’s produces all her own products and it looks like Russia has reached that point. It is being understood that in less than two to five more years McDonald’s Russia will be well on the path of self sufficiency and franchising will become the norm. That is were the money is at…

This weekend as Sveta and I shopped for supplies. We stopped at a McDonald’s that we had not stopped at for quiet awhile. It had been completely remodeled into the new Green Style that McDonald’s is doing all over the world. It was packed with customers and they had removed all the kids play area and made seating like sardines in the remodeled store. This is what we are seeing at all the McDonald’s in Russia. Forget the kids, just get as many people inside that you can and they also have done away with free WiFi also. McDonald’s in Russia does not need gimmicks to make it as they are simply feeding machines at as high of a pace as it is possible. One average McDonald’s in Russia has to be running at the pace of 3 or 4 McDonald’s in America. It was as I explained to Sveta, That I could open another McDonald’s next door to this McDonald’s and both would make huge money. I watched a thousand dollars worth of business walk back out the door as we sat and ate Saturday at this McDonald’s. Yes they have that much business. Lines are out the door and stay that way for most of the day and the drive through which is 24 hours at all Russian McDonald’s is always wrapped around the building. Also most McDonald’s in Russia have a walk up window and it is normal to see 20 people standing in line waiting there also. The employees and management were doing the best they can but as always it is never enough to counter the demand in Russia…

I have learned to look the other way now,  as I am no longer part of that type of life, but I still notice things and that is just ingrained in me…

So while the McDonald’s near us has not opened yet, I see the signs that it is maybe only a few weeks from opening. I promise you that it will go gang busters and our neighborhood is going to become trashed with McDonald’s wrappers and such. I told Sveta, “Just wait, you will know when the doors open as you will see french fry containers for McDonald’s all over the place.”

You see the kids here leave school to eat lunch and McDonald’s will have at least 4 large schools nearby to help boost business… 🙂

Russian’s love their McDonald’s…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, is delivering his traditional Easter address to Orthodox believers.

­I address you, dear brothers and sisters, with this Paschal greeting: Christ is risen!

This greeting, which we have inherited from the days of holy apostles, proclaims divine truth and asserts a historical fact. Indeed, 2,000 years have passed, but nobody can say that this greeting is no longer relevant. It is living and effective, and this alone manifests divine power and truth.

The greeting that you have just heard and that you will pass to each other later today contains a great hope, because our Lord Jesus Christ, being without sin, in other words not having sinned before men or before God, was crucified, and before that subject to suffering, torture and humiliation.

How often, when facing suffering, especially suffering inflicted by other people, we become anxious and desperate. We think that it is unjust for us to suffer, that we don’t deserve this. We resist injustice. Believers often say that by being reviled they are bearing their cross.

So why is apostles’ greeting, ‘Christ is risen!’, a sign of hope for us? It’s because if Christ, who was without sin, suffered, we, too, should remember our Lord and Savior when facing injustice, slander, malice and lies.

Every one of us, even those who suffer unjustly, has some personal sins, some wrongdoings. This alone means that we can regard our suffering as a punishment for our wrongdoings.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who had not committed any wrongdoing and had never lied, accepted reviling from people and even agreed to be put to death being innocent.

The Lord has taken the way of the cross, and now He encourages us to follow Him and remember that resurrection follows the cross.

The Lord has risen from the dead, and this resurrection is His victory over all those lies.

We believe that as we proclaim, with faith and hope, that Christ is risen, we too are heirs to everything Christ entrusted to His apostles, because Easter, the day of Christ’s resurrection, is a day of great hope, which should strengthen us in our sorrows, help us overcome hardships, cope with injustice and move forward remembering that Christ defeated evil, which means that we too should overcome evil in our lives, through the power of God, the power of prayer and the power of faith.

That is why the holy day of Easter is a celebration of hope for all people.

I would like to share the joy of this celebration and the joy of Christian hope with you. Let this hope give you strength to go through your life, following the great, unfading and shining image of the risen Christ.

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Here is how to make a Kulich or also Kuhlich. Recipe is from this blog Windows to Russia…

Recipe From Russia: A Very Simple Kulich! (Easter Pie or Cake)

The photo above is a picture of the kulich that was home made by a babushka of some students of ours, from English lessons. From what I understand, is that she was able to use the ovens and special cake pans at work and all the crew was able to make kulich’s for family this year. I have said before that payment for services in Russia are most likely to come in the form of goods and treats, not cash. In this case this is a very important treat, because it has to do with Easter…

We normally buy a kulich, but this year we lucked out and received this wonderful one made by hand for family and we are very happy to be included in the family part. That is Russia for you and people never forget others as holidays approach and here in Russia we have Easter coming. Oh yes – I realize that you thought Easter was over! But it is not. Easter is this Sunday on the 15th of April…

What is a Kulich?

The classic kulich an Easter cake or bread, was begun several days to a week before Easter. It contains candied fruit, almonds, and raisins, flavored with rum and saffron, and prepared like a bread. It was always baked in a special kind of pan – tall and cylindrical, sort of like a coffee can. When the cake was done, it was decorated with white frosting drizzled down the sides. On the side, spelled out in pieces of candied fruit, were the letters XB, representing the Cyrillic letters for “Christos voskres” — “Christ is risen.”

Often the kulich is carried to church and set out on long tables to be blessed by the priest. The cake sometimes forms a hat shape, since the dough may times swells above the can and becomes wider. Russians often cut off the hat type brim and place it in the center of a large serving plate. The cake is then cut in half horizontally and sliced in thin layers. These slices are arranged around the brim. Sorta as a flower like shape. Regardless how the cake comes out it is to be sliced and served to all guests and friends on Easter…

I know for a fact that many people always have several Kulich’s around before Easter, because everyone has to eat a Kulich ahead of time because it is just too hard to have treats laying around un eaten all day. But only the blessed kulich is for the Easter Sunday. So make sure that several are made, when you make a Kulich because someone will try to munch it…

But a Russian babushka knows this… 🙂

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said on Thursday a lawsuit had been filed against him by an American woman who sent her adopted son back to Russia.

Torry Hansen filed a lawsuit in Moscow’s Savelovsky Court, seeking retraction of a November 24, 2011 article in the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily. She also demands punitive damages.

“The essence of the lawsuit is that I call Hansen an adoptive mother, while she wants me to call her Artyom Savelyev’s former adoptive mother,” Astakhov said.

“I’m glad a lawsuit was filed by Torry Hansen against me and the Rossiiskaya Gazeta. I’ll gladly meet her and request that she visits Russia and the court,” he added.

Hansen was living in Tennessee in April 2010 when she put Artyom Savelyev, then 7, on a flight back to his native Russia unaccompanied, with a note saying she did not want him because he was “psychotic.”

Astakhov said that the Russian side would seek child support payments from the U.S. woman, according to the March 8 U.S. court ruling.

“We will try to make her pay the cost of Artyom’s support, nothing more,” he said.

According to the child ombudsman’s estimates, the boy’s stay in a group home costs 42,000 rubles per month (over $1,400), not including psychological treatment costing 27,000 rubles (over $900) per month.

Update: This is the article that Torry Hanson puts in her lawsuit…

Lucky: Artem Saveliev found a family

The fate of nine-year-old Artem Saveliev, “RG” followed in April 2010, when adopted him from an orphanage, the Partizansk Primorye American Torri Anne Hansen, “disappointed” in the receiver’s son (“he was mentally unstable”), presented him with a Russian passport U.S. visa, birth certificate and a note in which the child refused, and requested the Russian authorities to take him back. After that landed the then seven-year-old Artem on a plane to Washington and sent to Moscow .

The scandal erupted on both sides of the ocean. And, as they say, there would be a blessing in disguise. Shocking story of the return of Russian orphans, as they say, aviaparcel, in violation of all moral and legal norms, was the last straw in the cup of patience of the Russian side. Russia, which had up to that criticism to how fate for inter-country adoption of children by Americans and insisted on the necessity of concluding a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on international adoptions, said that if such a document will not be accepted, suspends the process of adoption of Russian orphans by U.S. citizens. America, to the case of Artem Saveliev, who avoided the development and signing of the agreement, acknowledged its necessity. Then, almost immediately, work started on a document, and July 13, 2011 Russian-American agreement was signed on adoption.

As will emerge Artem lives after returning home, worried about so many – both in Russia and in America. On all matters not whether the orphan be returned to the orphanage, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Pavel Astakhov, who took the boy under his patronage, replied: “To Artem we find a family in a shelter, he would not return.” Ombudsman even had to refute the information that has passed in August last year on the U.S. television channel CNN that Artem Saveliev back to the orphanage Partizansk, where it may be transmitted to the adoption of the new American family: “Despite the fact that the National Council for Adoption United States (NCFA) said Artyom American citizen, hopes to return the child to the United States, and even declares that the boy in America have potential adoptive parents, we will not allow it. Artem Saveliev, above all, a Russian citizen, he will remain in Russia and Here it will be picked up a new family. ”

Commissioner for Human Rights of the Child kept his word as it became known, Artem Saveliev for two weeks, as he lives in the family, Children’s Village-SOS in the suburban Tomilino (about this unique form of device orphans “RG” is not just telling, see ” 700 Friends one village “-” WG “№ 4081 of 01.06.2006,” What gave – that is your “-” WG “№ 4253 of 21.12.2006, and other publications). He has five brothers and sisters. The head of the family, Vera Egorova, says that the boy was already on the second day, called her mother. Artem quite pin. Quickly made himself at home, made friends with the brothers and sisters. Academic performance in second graders Saveliev quite decent. However, travel outside the village-SOS, even for some entertainment, it still does not want to. And about half of his life in an American family who did not want him to become a mother, said with great reluctance “about America, I do not recall, here I have another life. I am the luckiest.”

Meanwhile

On Monday, the U.S. District Court in Bedfordskom American city Shelbyville (Tennessee) opened preliminary hearings in the case of Torrey Ann Hansen – former usynovitelnitsy Artem Saveliev. The lawsuit filed against the family Hansen adoption agency World association for children and parents (WACAP), more than two years ago helped Torrie Hansen and her mother Nancy adoption Artem. Plaintiffs need to oblige Torrey Anne, under the law are still receiving the child’s mother, to pay 27 percent of the salary for the maintenance of the boy, now 9 years old.

Hansen family lawyers insisted that the hearings were closed, citing the interests of the minor. However, the judge rejected the defense motion and ordered the open nature of the meetings with the media and the public.

Assuming that the trial will begin Hansen in March-April 2012.

Source: http://www.rg.ru/2011/11/24/artem-site.html

Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia!

The recent outcry by the American Media complaining of mass riots over the Russian election has gotten me thinking.  Do the youth in Russia protesting understand exactly how free they are compared with the American’s slandering them?  Consider the facts.

1.  America’s Free Press
Six Corporations control the American press (Walt Disney, General Electric, New Corporation, Viacom, CBS, and Time Warner), whether in print, or on the television.  They even used the frequently derogatory term bloggers to refer to free publications that do not follow their talking points.  In covering the protest in Russia the supposedly freest press in the world even saw many programs using falls footage, such as those from riots taking place in the European Union, and mimicking those of the Occupy and Tea Party movements happening coast to coast in America.

2. America’s Free Speech
If you think you can say anything you want if you’re an American consider the American president recently authorized the assassination of an American citizen who was known for recording tapes and CDs denouncing America’s policies as immoral, and oppressive.

3. America’s Freedom of Religion
Frequently in the last several decades children have had to rely on parents taking schools to court to avail themselves of the right to pray; Churches and Mosques are frequently having to show up in court to preserve their rights to call people to prayer, ring bells, or even maintain a cross that happens to be visible from a public highway.

4. America’s Freedom from Taxation without Representation
American’s Pay Almost 50% of their income in Taxes, and work the longest hours of any country in the world.
While Americans insist their tax burden is low, once one tallies the taxes on products, housing, transportation, and hidden taxes employers must pay on behalf of employees Americans work 6 months of the year before they see any profit for their labor.

The average American has 2 weeks of paid vacation, and 3 personal or sick days for unexpected absence at work.  Many are so afraid of becoming unemployed they do not avail themselves even of these.  Expecting mothers in most American jobs are expected to work to within a month of their expected due date and return to work in 6 to 8 weeks.  With the effect of so many families where both parents work the prices of American products are such that only if one member of a married couple is independently wealthy it is impossible for them to survive on an income of a single worker.  Women are not free to stay home and help raise children, and increasingly many children are raised by daycare workers, and school teachers.

5. America’s Open and Transparent Courts, and Corruption Free Police
While other nations are changing the terminology of Militia to Police, America is enacting laws to the opposite.  More and more anti terrorism legislation is targeting ‘special instances’ where American Citizens can be denied indefinitely rights to an attorney, and be held without being charged with a crime.  Further these special situaions call for moving ruling on whether these Americans have committed any crime into Military courts which are not subject to the constitutional protections of traditional American courts.

6. Free Elections
International observers are not allowed at American elections, in fact foreigners present at American elections thought to be spying can be charged, and deported and not allowed to return to the United States.  Increasingly exit polls conducted on those exiting voting sites in America show disparity with officially reported results; and Americans have little means to investigate why.

The electoral college system in America is legally able to elect whomever they choose for president regardless of whom Americans vote for, and it is legally possible, and has happened recently more than once, for the winning candidate for the presidency to lose the majority vote.

While in regional elections there are sometimes 3 or 4 parties on the ballot who occasionally elect a small number of representatives to local or state governments, on the national level it is nearly impossible for any party other than Democrat or Republican to be on the ballot.  In several states laws prevent any other party from even applying regardless of how many people endorse the candidate.  In several states write-in candidates, those not officially on the ballot, can only be counted if the candidate has been added to an acceptable list of write ins.  Ron Paul, who was not on the Ballot in New York was also not allowed onto the write-in list despite massive support which certainly resulted in numerous write in votes for his name.  This would be akin to only votes for United Russia or the Communist Party being counted.

7.  Freedom to Protest
The police in numerous cities have violently reacted to the Occupy Movements in the United States where protesters angered by the United States Government favoring wealthy corporations over citizens who individually are increasingly making so little money they are statistically included in poverty lists.  Old women have been sprayed with gases and physically assaulted by police looking to cover up massive unrest.  The United States hasn’t used rubber bullets against protesters as Georgian president Sakashvili did multiple times in recent years but with John McCain, former candidate for president, and still Senator, stating on multiple occasions his empathy for the Georgian president how long will it be before the increasingly military-like, replete with more powers and weapons previously only available to the military, police begin using those on protesters as well?

The same media that criticizes Gay Pride parades being barred from central Moscow on the grounds it would be disruptive and unmanageable, are fine with the same excuse being used when protestors from one party show up un announced at conventions of rival political parties.  Protesting outside of ‘designated protest areas’ distant from these conventions is grounds for arrest.

8. Freedom to Keep and Bear Arms
Americans have a false belief that most nations do not allow individuals to keep arms or use them against those threatening their life or property.  Many non-Americans are mistakenly of the belief that any American can walk to the store and buy a cart full of automatic machine guns.  The fact is most countries, with the notable exception of the United Kingdom, allow a person to keep weapons for self defense and hunting, the Russian Federation included.  In America Americans cannot purchase or for the most part have access to use automatic weapons.  While many states allow for Americans to carry concealed pistols, these generally require difficult to acquire permits involving the endorsement of long time acquaintances of those applying.  The prevalence of guns in crime stems not from American laws, but from illegal purchases of guns, as it does in other countries.  The American government in fact engaged in selling thousands of illegal weapons which officials now confess are likely to be used in crimes for decades in a failed attempt to gather information about narcotics rings, and mafia organizations.

With all of this in mind I’d like those who consider America to be any freer than its neighbors, or even free at all to consider the original Bill of Rights, designed to keep America a ‘free country’, and whether they are in fact doing so, or whether the American government has simply disregarded them completely.

The Bill of Rights (The first Ten Amendments to the United Stated Constitution):

• First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

• Second Amendment – Militia (United States), Sovereign state, Right to keep and bear arms.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.^[56]

• Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

• Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

• Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

• Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

• Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

• Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

• Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

• Tenth Amendment – Powers of States and people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

I do not observe these facts out of an interest to dissuade protesters in East Europe, or indeed anywhere else in the world, from pursuing a free and transparent government that protects the interests of those it represents.  Instead I ask that they consider what can be the true intentions of those so loudly calling foreign nations un-free.  With Time Magazine calling the protestor the ‘Person of the Year’; what are they doing to help American’s maintain their freedom?  Not much.  Mean time their parent company, as well as News Corporation, have used on numerous occasions falsified or modified footage to deride other nations as un-free, and oppressed.

What can be more oppressed than a people lied to by their press, over worked, and over taxed, unable to elect representation outside the established two parties, which are of course only one party better than a dictatorship, all the while being told they are the freest nation on Earth?

by Author: Vasily Georgevich

The views of the above author are not strictly the views of Windows to Russia. They are an independent view from an outside source and country that brings a better light on the world in general and Windows to Russia is pleased to have Vasily Georgevich’s article on its pages today. It is hoped that we will have many more of his writings in the future…

Windows to Russia!

The Playground is still hardpacked ice and snow...

It finally has happened and it is possible to say Spring is here in Moscow. The birds are singing, the days are long and the weather is warm. Well warm as +1 or +2 Celsius can be. But it is Spring and the snow has finally started to melt faster than it comes out of the sky, in fact the surefire sign that Spring is here is that it has started to rain instead of snow. Or we get lots of sleet also. That is Spring…

Also we get huge rivers and puddles of water everywhere backed up by damns of snow and ice. Some piles of ice are so huge that they literally will never melt and workers are assigned to chop them up into smaller chunks, so that mother nature can take care of what man piled up, off the sidewalks and roads…

Sveta is interesting to talk to at times. I say the weather man has said the temperature will reach +10 this week. Sveta says, “If he is not lying!” Then she will say,”They tell a lie to make everyone happy for a few days!” Then I say, “Oh, that is what you said last time and you were correct!”

Sveta knows how they do things here and I try to look at the future weather reports and have always been fooled…

Sveta says, that you can not look any farther than a few days on a 10 day forecast, because after the first few days it becomes false…

So I have learned to to try to do the same, but today I glanced at the future temperatures 5 days from now. +27 Celsius is what the weather report is for long term. I then looked out the window and saw two feet of snow and 1 foot of ice still on the ground. I realized that even if it wanted to get up to +27 Celsius that it could not unless a volcano appeared right in the middle of Moscow and turned the place into a inferno. Then it might melt that fast…

It is like a refrigerator outside and until the snow and ice is gone, the old icebox or ice chest will stay near freezing. For that is what we are right now, an old time icebox that will not warm up or dry out until that last load of ice is gone and from my window there still is a lot of snow and ice left to melt…

I say about two weeks and then the flowers will be able to poke their heads up and start to bloom. Also the trees will be able to start budding here very soon. I know that me and a whole bunch of Russians are waiting for that to happen…

Spring may be late in Russia but when it comes, I know of no one else on earth that appreciates it anymore than Russians. The Winter is so long and will come again so soon that in a few weeks Russians will be planting all the plants that they have growing on their balconies and their dachas will be full of guests and joy…

I hope that Sveta and I can get to the village before long…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!