Windows to Russia

Sveta and I just got back from Ukraine and we had a great time spending Christmas there. One of the things that I like to do is to keep people abreast of any changes by the border guards as I travel. There was a change this time and it was on the Russian side. The Russians had new electronic gadgets to record and scan electronic passports now. Not just one or two of them but all of the border guards I saw had these new devises. The devises were a walkies-talkie, PDA, scanner and who knows what all in one devise. They even had a camouflage case to cover them with…

I know why they are doing this and it makes sense when the rest of the world, including Russia, are going to electronic passports. I have had a electronic passport since my last one was stolen several years ago and the USA replaced it with a scannable version…

It looks like Russia is finally getting closer to having a electronic database on people as they cross the border. They do not have it yet but they are working on it. They still carry a huge book to look up names in and check if you are on a not wanted list in Russia. Sometimes they have to call and have another book brought and they check two books against your name. Looks like sometime in the future Russia will have all that on electronics…

But all in all, crossing the border by train into Ukraine is easy and quick. I never have any issues (Knock on wood please!) and have gotten to know many of the border guards and they are really good people…

So nothing very exciting about a border controls this time. New toys and such is the extent of it all…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

That is what I was thinking after this trip to Ukraine. After some of the things that are being done by the Western world in Ukraine and Russia lately. I can only say, “Go Away – I like it here in Russia and Ukraine…”

Sveta and I came upon a political area in downtown Kiev, Ukraine. At first it was interesting but then when I saw the British instigators and then the American instigators had themselves a little political party going on. I was very upset at what was happening. Then to top it all off I watched people walk up to an American staffed tent and get a protest sign and cash (in dollars) to carry that sign around Kiev…

I also saw that much of the signage was in English around these political tents and why, but why would Ukrainians need English signs to pass on their political agenda. The answer is simple they don’t! Only for the Western press do we need to have English signs predominately displayed…

The outer edge of the tent area was in Russian and Ukraine signage but as soon as you entered inside the tent area the signs became English…

Also the Western press in Ukraine as in Russia is laced with lies and deceits that have nothing to do with reality. Well I guess only if your reality is spreading hate and deceit then would it be correct…

Sveta was so excited when she first saw the tents because she automatically assumed that they were selling Christmas stuff and we could find a good deal. I said sweetie, “We are in Kiev Ukraine and those tents are for political agendas. I know because I spend a lot of time in Kiev.” After we crossed the street, Sveta was disappointed in that she wanted to shop at a market. Then she is the one who pointed out as to all the English signs everywhere. That is when I snapped pictures as silently as I could and caught several non Ukraine’s playing around in the political arena. It was at this time that I watched a huge truck unload into one of the English signed tents a whole bunch of Chinese cell phones in the boxes. We are talking about thousands of them. I snapped a picture through the tent opening. No – they are not setting up a cell phone shop but they are going to give them away…

So as usual all you have to do is walk around Kiev and the Western world will scream at you how bad Ukraine is. This time, luckily very few were listening around Ukraine, but when you are paid to do nothing but spread lies and discontent like it seems to be so common now in this side of the world, by Western idiots. Then sooner or later you come upon enough people who will listen…

The bottom line is that I like it here on this side of the world. I do not want to see things change because America and Britain keep pissing off the Eastern countries. It looks more and more like I will be forced to make a decision for the future, because Sveta is my sweetie and having to leave her behind in Russia while I get removed because I am part of a country that can not keep its nose out of other countries business, is not on my agenda…

So: Go Away – I like it here in Russia and Ukraine…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Looks like someone has not been paid yet by America…

Lets look at some e-mails I got about the protest in Russia:

I am a Russian women, protests are legitimate, we want Russia to become like USA ,with free market and more liberal values.

I want more immigration and more and more Russians can marry a non Russian mostly a black.

Russia must become multicultural society and lesbians and gays must be elected into Duma.

I want orthodox church to be removed and synagogue must be built in its place.

I want to see Russian society embracing Jewish values and wall-street firms will open their banks in Russia, with huge oil and gas wealth.

Russia has to invite more people and more immigrants, more interracial, gay, lesbian marriage.

We must become like western country and enjoy, and consume as much as possible.

Ben bernake must be elected as chairman of Russian central bank.

We can make Russia into another USA, I want to see Russia turning into Las Vegas casinos, pole dancers, every where.

Finally Russian women are hot, you can have some pleasure with all of us.

In terms that you simple mind can understand: We Want – NOT!

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First, when I looked at the footage’s shown on the Western media, I didn’t pay much attention at the presence of “communists”. Because, this is the last thing I would expect to see — they not only nothing to do with those like Prokhorov, Kasparov, Nemtsov (the New Russians, who stole what Communists created), but, they suppose to be fierce ideological enemies…

But, then, to my big surprise I noticed those “suppose to be communist” slogans some protesters were carrying. And that made my day! Then, I started to pay attention on details and, I will tell you, it is much more entertaining (the protest) than I thought. No wonder it gathered so big crowd. By the way, by just looking at the crowd, I estimate only about 30-40% of those who are “protesting” (by their own will or because they have to) and the rest — random Muscovite’s who were just attracted by noise and colors of the demonstration. If you noticed many of them carry the shopping bags — probably were going to the market and were lost

Anyway, I am sure that, those “communists” among protesters — just actors playing their role in this spectacle (whoever is behind it). The funny part of it — it seems, the “screen writers” didn’t even bother to look at the demonstration of the real Communists in Russia, because, the slogans look out of contexts and, therefore, just stupid and inappropriate. More like those “Russians” in the Hollywood movies whom even I cannot understand when they speak their “native” language.

Apart, of course, from the fact, that there are no those familiar patterns which every demonstrations of the Communists exhibit. For example, I didn’t see the “old” guys behind those banners with slogans. It was a group relatively young guys vigorously carrying the Soviet flags. Or, why so few of them? Normally, the Communists go in big groups. Also, why they are in the middle — to create impression that they are the core part of this show?

That raises the question — For whom those “communists” were shown? To Russians? Something is telling me that it is not the case.

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You, Russian people protesting out there and asking for fair elections, you should have lived for a few years in the USA, “the champion of democracy in the world”. That would have straightened you up in no time… and would have made you realize you have far more freedom in Russia than in the USA…

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Talking about March of 2012… I think, it would be funny, if on March 1st, Putin would load the “opposition forces” (Prokhorov, Kasparov, Nemtsov, Navalny and their supporters) on the cattle wagons and send them to the East Siberia to cool down and contemplate for some time on the questions — If the elections were fair? And, who is the King?

But, I think the Neocons do not have a sense of humor and might misinterpret that Putin’s gesture of good will. Though, I could understand them — they pumped some money in those guys and expect some return. So, it is not really humorous matter for them…

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It it such a coincidence….

America is loosing influence, going bankrupt, kiil its citizens, has 50% of it people living under the povrety level, hates Putin BUT  it is in Russia that people wants things to change….bla bla bla..yes CIA is behind this. End of story. Rrussia has a great futur but the west is anger and does not want to fall down on it knee alone. This is only mass media manipulation. PUTIN is Russia’s future. In Putin we trust. Silent majority does not walk into this trap! CIA get a real job!

I send you picture – Hillary should pay what she owes they are waiting….

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Their guy doesn’t win and they cry “foul” and commit anarchy. Some things never change.

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That is all of them plus the one photo I was sent. The Russians are not near as vocal as the Americans when it comes to a blog in English but I was pleased with these expressions. I think I saw a couple of them on comments also on other sites. Tomorrow when I have everything back in line after the Ukraine trip we are going to talk about these English signs everywhere in all of these protests. They were all over Ukraine just as they are in Russia…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Hello Everyone,

Sveta and I are in the Kiev train station as I write this. We got our business done and Sveta and I spent last night tripping the lights fantastic in Kiev, Ukraine…

I will make this short and sweet but add a few pictures to show the New Year lights in Kiev…

Oh and I want to thank everyone for the record days while we have been gone this time. The site rocked off the charts and it looks like the new host has been able to handle the load with no problem…

Sveta and I wish everyone a happy holiday and we will be back in Russia Monday. I have some good stories to tell and there is an interesting political situation going on in Ukraine right now…

Kyle and Sveta…
Windows to Russia!

President Dmitry Medvedev delivering his annual address to the Russian Parliament. He is speaking in the St George Hall of the Moscow Kremlin. The address started at noon Moscow Time…

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President Medvedev says Russia will not allow meddling in its internal affairs. Addressing the Federal Assembly on Thursday, he stressed that every citizen has a right to express his or her opinion, but attempts to enkindle hatred in the society from abroad are unacceptable…

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President Medvedev began his annual address to parliament with his comments on the recent parliamentary elections.

Medvedev said that different people reacted differently to the elections and that a positive or negative response was nothing unusual.

As for allegations of vote-rigging, Dmitry Medvedev pledged to prevent any attempts to drag the country into chaos and said that the government wouldn’t allow any intervention from outside either. People have the right to express their views but attempts to sow discord are inadmissible, the president said.

Medvedev greeted the newly elected members of the lower house of parliament and said he was ready for dialogue with them…

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Commenting on the recent opposition rallies across Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev, who is delivering his annual state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, said that he sees the protests as a sign of a maturing democracy in Russia.

“The fact that our citizens are becoming more active in expressing their points of view and bring forward demands to the authorities, proves that Russian democracy is getting stronger. I think, this is a positive trend, and it will only do us good.”

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Russia’s efforts on tackling corruption.

“The results of this work [anti-corruption efforts] have seen more than 3,000 Russian officials brought justice over the first six months of 2011,” Medvedev said during his final annual state-of-the-nation address before he steps down as president…

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President Dmitry Medvedev has made several breakthrough statements during his annual presidential address to Russia’s Federal Assembly.

­Chief among them is a proposal to move to direct voting when electing regional governors.

He said that all politically active citizens should be given the opportunity to participate in Russia’s political affairs.

The Russian president also wants to simply the process of registering political parties for elections by reducing the number of signatures required to 300,000.

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Among steps he said he was going to make to implement the reform, Mr. Medvedev mentioned the need to elect governors and cancel a procedure when a candidate has to collect enough signatures to get his name officially registered.

The Russian president also suggested the Duma elections to be abolished and replaced by the proportional representation system across 225 districts so that each area could see its delegate in the parliament. Medvedev also suggested changes to the existing system of forming the central and local election commissions.

“These measures take on a special meaning ahead of the 2012 presidential elections, which must be fair and transparent and meet the present-day requirements for the legislation system”, Mr. Medvedev said.

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Russia’s economy is the sixth largest in the world. President Medvedev told this in an address to the federal assembly in Moscow on Thursday. He stressed that Russia had overcome the hardest economic perturbations and restored the impressive rate of growth. The economy is growing by about 4 percent per year.

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In his annual address to the nation as head of state, President Dmitry Medvedev has unveiled his plan to carry out a reform of Russia’s political system.

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Russia and the EU have intensified their efforts to ease the visa regime, with prospects emerging for visas to be abolished, Dmitry Medvedev said as part of his annual state-of-the-nation address on Thursday. “;Twenty-three partnership agreements have already been signed with the EU member states….

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty works towards strengthening strategic stability. Medvedev said so in his annual address to the Federal Assembly on Thursday.

“One of the biggest achievements is the conclusion /between Russia and the USA/ of the treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive armaments,” the president announced.

“It /the treaty/ works towards strengthening strategic stability. Also, this Treaty launches the establishment of a new architecture of equal and indivisible security,” Medvedev said.

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President Medvedev has reiterated that Moscow is open for a constructive dialogue and partnership on missile defense. In his annual address to parliament on Thursday, the president said that Russia expects the West to demonstrate the same readiness for dialogue so that the parties involved could reach a mutually acceptable decision on missile defense bases in Europe.

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Russia&amp’s President Dmitry Medvedev believes that citizens should get an opportunity to decide on the time of retirement. “; We have to build a long-term strategy of developing the pension system. I think, we have to give to the people an opportunity to choose when they want to retire considering the correlation between their pensions and their salaries.

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President Dmitry Medvedev has hit Twitter’s Trending Topics during his address to the Russian Parliament. The address is the last one for Mr. Medvedev as President. Twitter’s Trending Topics feature hashtag used in at least 10-20 thousand tweets in one hour. Dmitry Medvedev’s name appeared as a hashtag in Cyrillic. (RIA Novosti)…

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President Medvedev has said that the current system of state purchase contracts will be replaced with that of federal contracts as a measure to combat corruption. During his annual address to parliament on Thursday, the president said that a corresponding law would come into effect in the first half of 2012. (RIA Novosti)…
Windows to Russia!

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President Medvedev said in his annual address to parliament that most of defense ministry orders are being placed with companies of the military industrial sector for several years ahead. This, he said, should prop up defense enterprises. In their turn, the businesses working for the defense sector should meet their deadlines with maximum efficiency and according to schedule. (RIA Novosti)…

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President Medvedev has suggested creating public television on one of the federal television channels. “To improve public communications modern technologies should be used,” Medvedev declared.

“I suggest that the problem of creating public television, possibly on the basis of the existing federal television channels, should be resolved in the near future,” the president said.

“Neither the state nor any owner of new public television shall exercise any influence on the adoption of any decision,” Medvedev said. “In that case none of the owners of public television should have a decisive influence when making decisions,” Medvedev explained. “Neither the state nor any private owner,” he reiterated.

“I am confident that such public television will make our media environment more competitive and more interesting,” the president declared.

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Windows to Russia!

Well the train tickets that we could get, have us leaving on the 22nd of December at 9:30 pm and we will be back in Moscow on the 26th of December at 5:00 am. Two nights reserved and was just verified by the hotel for the nights of the 23rd and 24th of December. That is my thinking’s this morning as I drink that cup of coffee…

I am really looking forward to visiting Kiev, Ukraine. It is one of my favorite places in the world to visit. The people are wonderful and Kiev is just a joy to run around. It is a large city but tiny compared to Moscow and that makes it easy to get to and to see things. Sveta was wanting to go see a theater (play) show or something in Kiev and that is fine by me. So after business is done then the fun begins…

So it looks like we will be spending Christmas in Ukraine and as Sveta would say, “That is just right!”

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: Don’t worry people because in Russia our real Christmas starts on the 31st of December till the 7th of January. So that is when we will celebrate Christmas / New Year in Moscow…

How US can improve its image in Pakistan? by Nadir Mir:

Regardless of US, Pakistan remaining allies or not, they were never destined to be enemies. Yet anti Americanism grows in Pakistan and frustration with Pakistan increases in America. Even though ‘disenchanted allies’ for long, the last decade, post 9/11 has resulted in a growing animosity. This is a result of American geopolitical naiveté, Pakistani wishfulness and Indians deceit creating an explosive brew. Yet there is a clear distinction between US and Pakistani global perceptions. US being a global albeit sole super power has to worry about a long list of geopolitical rivals, allies, surrogates and fence sitters.

Washington has to relate to Putin’s Russia, China’s rise, the Middle East Arab Spring, Turkish growth and independence, keeping Israel on a tight leash, Iran’s defiance, North Korean wild card antics, European economic gloom and doom (of EU), India unreliable both as friend or foe etc. Besides the mess American Neo Con policy resulted in at home and abroad (bankrupt at home and over stretched abroad).

Pakistan’s case is much simpler. Its geopolitical world is limited. Indian threat, Afghanistan issues and American relations are key subjects for now. Afghanistan the geopolitical square on the global chessboard for testing both! American stock in Pakistan has plunged to the lowest depth. America needs Pakistan, while it is in Afghanistan. But Washington will need Islamabad even more later. Pakistan’s geography is globally pivotal. (This scribe’s book ‘Gwadar on the Global Chessboard’ makes it quite evident). Pakistan’s demography will be the most numerous in the Muslim world (3 billion Muslims by 2030). Pakistan may be the world’s 3rd or 4th most populous state decades from now. According to Mr. Bruce Riedel (former CIA and advisor to President Obama) Pakistan will possess the world’s 4th or 5th biggest nuclear arsenal in the next decade. The key question Americans should address – how to improve its image in Pakistan?

A few cardinal points to ponder are presented here:

People:

The only people who are duped by Fox TV, Neo Con plus Globalists Media etc are some gullible Americans. The rest of the world including Pakistanis are quite clear about these issues. Even if the majority of Pakistanis lack high end education, there is ample rustic wisdom in the Pakistani Nation. America’s constant reference to Pakhtoons, Baloch, Punjabis, Sindhis, Sunni, Shia etc, are seen as attempts to divide the Pakistani people. As is US patronage of dictator dispensation and elite, viewed as corrupt plus treacherous by many in Pakistan. Washington’s investment in Pakistani liberals is also a complete waste as far as containing extremism is concerned. Pakistani Nationalists with moderate views are the best recipe for dealing with extremists of various hues. Pakistan’s liberals are frequently and often correctly seen as puppets with self aggrandizing agendas. Many NGOS have been discredited due to American links. Even European or other western NGOS, organization have fallen in disrepute (for no fault of theirs) as being fronts and full filling US agenda.

Bottom line: ‘Befriend the people of Pakistan’.

Nukes:

Pakistani nukes though guarded by its military are the pride of the nation. In a country of corrupt elite, hungry and angry people, internal and external threats, the nukes are seen as deterrents, equalizers and symbols of national pride.

Relentless American inspired propaganda against Pakistani nukes – missiles (even if contributed by India and others) is threatening, shocking and pride snatching for Pakistanis. Indo – US nuclear deal is nuclear apartheid for Pakistan. (Regardless of what Americans say about AQ khan’s affairs). Pakistani Nation would prefer nukes to be used if it ever faces – ‘use them or lose them scenario’.

The average Pakistani knows that India does not have the capability or courage to attempt nuclear defanging of Pakistan. But the Gungho – cow boys might attempt it, resulting in a regional – global catastrophe.

Bottom line: US should accept ‘Nuclear Pakistan’ or at least stop its tirade against it.

Centre of Gravity:

Geopolitically speaking ISI – Pakistan military is the center of gravity. Though over all historically speaking, it is the freedom spirit of the Pakistani Nation. A concerted campaign against ISI and Pakistan military, amounts to degrading its center of gravity. (After ten years of Pakistanis sacrifices in blood, treasury, infrastructure, national emotions in the so called global war on terror).

Bottom line: US should abandon attempts to divide Pakistani Nation from ISI – Armed Forces and forgo demonizing them.

Kashmir:

Genocide in Kashmir by Indian Army has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris killed besides thousands of Kashmiri women raped. US intervention in Bosnia, Libya and numerous other places was for much less. Unresolved Kashmir is the core issue preventing peace in South Asia. By condoning Indian war crimes (2000 plus in unmarked graves recently identified in Indian held Kashmir), US is aggravating the problem.

Bottom line: Help resolve the Kashmir issue.

Afghanistan:

The majority of Pakistanis want peace in Afghanistan. Peace cannot prevail until foreign forces leave Afghanistan, whether by agreement or other quick exodus. As long as foreign forces remain, the Afghans will resist. It is not a question of Haqqanis involvement or anyone else for that matter but of US departure.

Bottom line: US should relent and withdrawal its forces from Afghanistan. A negotiated peace agreement in Afghanistan involving Pakistan is the solution.

National Emotions:

A history of US betrayal haunts Pakistani minds. The current issue is not only US walking away from Kabul but installing Indians before departure. As American drone strikes killing many innocents and attacks on Pakistani Soldiers signify US hubris, entrenching Indians in Kabul would once again prove American betrayal. If Washington does this, it will lose the Pakistani nation’s confidence. Any US or US sponsored attempt, be it diplomatic or military against Pakistan’s nukes, would end Pakistani nation’s relations with USA forever. (Lead to a conflagration and create a sea of radioactive hostility).

So far the PERCEPTION of American strategy towards Pakistan has been:

§ Patronize liberal puppet elite

§ Divide Pakistani nation

§ Demonize ISI, nuclear, military in Pakistan.

§ Support the enemies of Pakistan to destabilize and encircle it.

§ Aim to denuclearize and balkanize it.

Obviously this has resulted in the lowest level of US – Pakistan relations in history. Going further down can best be summed up by the German philosopher’s famous quote.

“When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you” Friedrich Nietzsche

Geopolitics of Peace: by Nadir Mir. Author of the book “Gwadar on the Global Chessboard” Blog: Pakistan and Geopolitics wwwpakistangeopolitics.blogspot.com/ The author is a retired Brigadier of the Pakistan Army.

Windows to Russia!

The views of the above author are not strictly only the views of Windows to Russia. They are an independent view from an outside source that brings a better light on the world in general and Windows to Russia is pleased to have Nadir Mir’s thoughts on its pages today and in the future. So take a look at his site and read a few articles. – Kyle Keeton

Once during the old days in a little Russian city, there lived a old lady known as Babushka. Babushka invariably had worked hard to try to to clean her house by sweeping, polishing, dusting and cleaning. Her house was the most effective kept, most tidy house within the whole village. Her garden was stunning and her cooking was wonderful. One evening she was busy dusting and cleaning, therefore so busy that she did not hear all the villagers outside, within the village square talking regarding and searching at the new star in the sky…

She had heard regarding the new star however thought, ‘All this fuss over a star! I do not even have the time to appear to see it as a result that I am behind with all my work. I need to work all night now!’ Therefore, she missed the star because of work as it shone brightly, high overhead. She conjointly missed the small line of twinkling lights coming back down towards the village at dawn. She also did not hear the sounds of the pipes and drums. She missed the voices and whispers of the villagers wondering whether or not the lights were a military or a procession of some type. She missed the sudden quiet of the villagers and even the footsteps developing on the trail to her door. However the one issue that she could not miss was the loud knocking on her front door that erupted and disturbed her cleaning!

‘Now what’s that?’ she questioned, gap the door. Babushka gaped in amazement. There was 3 kings at her door with one amongst them as their servant! ‘My masters would like an area to rest,’ the servant said, ‘and yours is that the best house within the village.’ ‘You need to remain here?’ asked Babushka. ‘Yes, it might solely be till night falls and therefore the star seems once more,’ the servant replied. Babushka gulped. ‘Come in, then,’ she said…

The kings were very happy once they saw all of the of the home-baked bread, pies and cakes. She dashed regarding, serving them, asking many queries. ‘Have you return a protracted way?’ ‘A terribly ways,’ sighed Caspar. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘We’re following the new star,’ said Melchior. ‘But where?’ The kings did not hesitate, however they believed that it might lead the to a new-born king, a King of Earth and Heaven. ‘Why do  you not go along with us?’ asked Balthasar. ‘You may bring him a present like we tend to do. I bring gold, and my colleagues bring spices and perfumes.’ ‘Oh, I am undecided that he would welcome me,’ said Babushka, ‘and what may I bring for a gift? Toys! I do know what I would bring as a toy. But I’ve got a cabinet choked with toys,’ she said sadly. ‘My baby son, died when he was little.’ Balthasar stopped her as she visited tidy the kitchen up. ‘This new king may be your king too. Go along with us when the star seems high tonight,’ he said. ‘I’ll have faith in it,’ sighed Babushka…

As the kings slept, Babushka tidied up as quietly as she may. ‘What plenty of additional work there was!’ she thought, ‘and this new king, what a funny plan, to travel off with the kings to seek out him.’

Babushka shook herself. There was no time for dreaming, all this washing-up and putting away had to be done. ‘Anyway,’ she thought, ‘how long would she be away? What would she wear? What regarding the gift?’ She sighed. ‘There is such a lot to try to to do. The house has to be cleaned to be cleaned when they’ve gone. I could not simply leave it.’ Suddenly it had been night-time once more and therefore the star was within the sky. ‘Are you prepared, Babushka?’ asked Balthasar.  The Babushka said, ‘I should simply tidy here some and realize a present.’

The kings went away sadly. Babushka ran back to her house, keen to urge on with her house work…

Finally, she visited the little cabinet of toys, opened the door and gazed the least bit at the toys. however they were terribly dusty. They weren’t fit for a baby king. They might all need to be cleaned. She cleaned all of the toys till every one shined. Babushka looked through the window. It had been morning! The star had came and gone. The kings would have found elsewhere to rest by currently. She may simply catch them up, however she felt therefore tired. She had to sleep. Consequent issues she knew, she was then awake and it had become dark outside. Oh my! She had slept all day! She quickly pulled on her cloak, packed the toys within a basket and sped down the trail the kings had taken…

Everywhere she asked ‘Have you seen the kings?’ ‘Oh yes,’ everybody told her, ‘we saw them. They went that approach.’ For a day Babushka followed the path of the kings and therefore, the villages got larger and have become big cities. However Babushka never stopped in her pursuit. Then she came to a town. ‘The palace,’ she thought. ‘That’s where the royal baby would be born.’ ‘No, there’s no royal baby here,’ said the palace guard when she asked him. ‘What regarding 3 kings?’ asked Babushka. ‘Oh yes, they came here, however they did not keep long. They were soon on their journey.’ ‘But where to?’ asked Babushka. ‘Bethlehem, that was the place. I do not imagine why. It is a terribly poor place. That is where they went.’ replied the guard.

She went off towards Bethlehem. It had been evening when Babushka found Bethlehem and she had been travelling for a protracted amount of time. She went into the native inn and asked regarding the kings. ‘Oh yes,’ said the owner, ‘The kings were here 2 days ago. They were terribly excited, however they did not even keep the night.’ ‘And what of a baby?’ Babushka cried. ‘Yes there was a baby.’ Said the owner. The kings asked a baby, too.’ When he saw the frustration in Babushka’s eyes, he stopped. ‘If you would like to examine where the baby was,’ he said quickly, ‘it was across the yard there. I could not provide the couple something higher at the time. My inn was extremely full, in order that they had to bed within the stable.’

Babushka followed him across the yard. ‘Here’s the stable,’ he said. He left her within the stable…

‘Babushka?’ somebody was calling her from the doorway. He looked kindly at her. She questioned if he knew where the family had gone. She knew currently that the baby king was the foremost necessary issue within the world to her. ‘They have gone to Egypt, and safety,’ he told Babushka. ‘And the kings have gone to their countries. However one amongst them told me regarding you. I’m sorry however you’re too late. It had been Jesus that they found, the world’s Saviour.’

Babushka was terribly unhappy that she had missed Jesus and it’s said that to this day Babushka remains looking for him…

Windows to Russia!

This morning the thinking’s over that wonderful cup of coffee (chicory) looks like Sveta and I are traveling to Ukraine this Christmas. We are leaving Thursday or Friday and will be back around Monday morning! It counts on when we can get tickets on the train to go to Ukraine. Since there is no Christmas in Ukraine or Russia on the 25th of December it is just in my head that it is Christmas. In this part of the world it is business as usual and since Sveta and I like to enjoy life we are going to take an extra day and see some sights of the Ukraine capital, Kiev…

It is nice not worrying about a visa this time and since I got a multiple entry visa last time, I have been able to come and go already several times from Russia and I do not have to count my trips any more. It costs very little more to get a multi-entry visa to Russia and it makes a big difference if issues come up that you have to leave several times to do things outside of Russia…

So that coffee is wonderful and it makes the thinking’s extra special today. I am looking forward to going back to Ukraine because there is a gentleman there that I want to try to look up. He was a wonderful person and I really liked his philosophy in life…

Of course we will stay at our usual hotel the Slavutich. as that is the best deal in Kiev. There also is a little pizza place right around the corner from the Hotel that I have already made dibs on for Christmas dinner. It has the best pizza in the world and that is coming from a guy who worked for upper management with Pizza Hut for 8 years. So eating pizza is not high on my list even all these years later…

I will keep everyone informed and may even take the little computer to post while I am there. I still have my modem and Sim card for Kiev and that will allow me to post…

One last thought before I finish my coffee and wind this post down today: Windows to Russia has set all records in views for the last few days. It looks like December will be the largest month in the domains history. If it holds up to the end of the year we will top 16,000,000 views for the year. To be honest I am just stunned and hope that I continue to produce what you want and need for you to keep coming back to Windows to Russia. I could not imagine a better Christmas present for me than to see windowstorussia.com finally come into her own after all these years…

One thing that I am struggling with is whether or not to rent out ad space. I really have never been much on ads and use ad-sense just to pay the servers. I will have to decide what to do because I have a slew of desires to have ads of various types on Windows to Russia. I just personally hate ads and find them unattractive to a site. I would love to get rid of ad-sense but really have to have the money to keep the sites on line. Three servers and possibly a forth is in the works to mirror everything and create a place to store videos and images. With the disaster that America is causing the video industry and keeping videos online almost impossible. A little known or talked about issue is that many, many and many videos from America are blocked so that Russia can not view them. I know because I live in Russia and it is a constant issue for me to deal with. We have to create something to counter the internet stifling by America…

Maybe a donation button would allow me to remove ad-sense completely and keep enough money flowing to support the servers? It is something that I have to think about and it might be worth it to enough readers to have a totally ad free environment. Now this would be the whole domain of windowstorussia.com. Russian News From Russia, Fresh Coffee News, Thoughts of Moscow and Windows to Russia would be ad free if I could get enough money generated by other means than ad-sense to keep it on line…

Good time to think about it is over a good train ride to Kiev and Sveta and I have just such a ride coming this week. In the mean time leave me an e-mail in contact and let me know what you think about a donation button…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: Misha Svetas son will watch Boza and I have so much to do to get ready to leave. I love train trips in Russia and Ukraine…