Category: Russia

QUESTION: Mr President, the member states of what has now become the “Five” are all very different, with a mass of mutual contradictions, directly competing for global investment. Is there anything that really unites the BRICS states apart from high growth rates and the aspiration to increase their weight in the world? And the second question: how do you assess Russia’s investment attractiveness compared to the other members of the group?

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: It is obvious that at present our countries are united not only because they are all emerging economies: some have more rapid growth, in others it is slower, some have been affected by the global economic crisis to a greater extent, some less, but there is no doubt whatsoever that our countries are rapidly developing and are attractive markets.

But apart from that, now that the forum has been joined by South Africa, the BRICS states are also united by shared views on development of international affairs, the world economy and political processes. The positions of our countries on key issues are very similar.

Let me remind you that at present the BRICS states are all members of the UN Security Council. China and Russia are its permanent members, as you know, while the others are non-permanent members. Despite some differences in the voting, for example, on the Libyan resolution, on the whole we hold very similar views. This shows that apart from economic factors, there is a bigger similarity between our nations, and that is the fundamental outlook on the future of global development, international cooperation, world economic system, and in general the way life should develop on our planet.

Now about Russia’s investment attractiveness: I would not want my comments today to be at odds with what I recently said about the investment climate. In general, there is no doubt that Russia is a very attractive country, because we have huge opportunities, an immense territory and an equally enormous market, great reserves of mineral resources, a growing economy and economic institutions. But we have also a lot of problems – I do not want to say that we are worse than other countries, that would be absolutely wrong, but our investment climate still requires a cardinal change, it must become a priority for the government, and a number of institutions have to be refined, there is no doubt about that. In this sense, our competitiveness is somewhat low compared to other BRICS countries. We must focus on the investment climate, which is what I did not so long ago.

QUESTION: A question about Libya. Have the BRICS countries agreed a position on Libya that they can present at the UN Security Council? And did you discuss at the bilateral meeting with the President of South Africa the reasons why the African Union’s initiative failed?

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Let me just say that the BRICS states have very close positions: four countries abstained from voting on Resolution 1973, and South Africa voted in favour, but not because its views on this resolution were fundamentally different (we were fully aware what we were voting for and what the resolution signified), but rather out of solidarity, because that was the position of the African Union. I spoke about this issue with President of China Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Singh, as well as with President of South Africa Jacob Zuma, and in addition all of us discussed it with President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff.

Our views are very similar, and they are as follows. We believe that the Security Council resolution must be executed regardless of whether we voted for it, like South Africa, or abstained. It must be executed in accordance with its spirit and the letter, and not in accordance with the arbitrary interpretations which have been made by several states.

Ultimately, what did we concede to or vote for? A resolution imposing a no-fly zone, which would stop the conflict from escalating and break up the warring parties. And what have we got as a result? We have what is in fact a military operation, which is not taking place on the ground but it is happening in the air, an operation in which a number of states are taking part and which was joined by NATO as a military bloc. The resolution has no mention of this. So when I hear that the resolution is at fault, that’s wrong. The resolution is absolutely adequate, but it must be implemented as it is, instead of trying to exceed the mandate that is laid down in it. This is a very dangerous trend in international relations. In fact, what we see is the misuse of powers laid down in Resolution 1973, which is a very broad interpretation of the resolution.

For example, the resolution on the developments in Ivory Coast, Resolution 1975, if I remember correctly, talks about using United Nations agencies, but not about supporting one of the sides in the conflict. The UN generally cannot support any side, but in fact that is what we have in Ivory Coast. To be honest, we have some very serious questions to the leadership of the United Nations because it is a very dangerous trend. The UN certainly should make an effort to separate conflicting parties, but it must never help one of the parties, even if we believe that it is in the right. If we talk about the events in Ivory Coast, we’ve seen atrocities and murders committed by both sides. Therefore, the resolutions must be implemented and enforced in accordance with their content, in accordance with their spirit and letter, and the BRICS states are in absolute agreement about this.

Link to this page: http://eng.news.kremlin.ru/transcripts/2076

www.kremlin.ru

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Obviously, the main goal of this decision (reforming of international monetary and financial system by the BRICS countries) is to boost the international importance of the national currencies of the BRICS countries, but basically the greater usage of the national currencies in international settlement and international transactions will clearly increase the demand for these currencies and, possibly, at the expense of the global reserve currency which is the USD.

So I guess one of the targets of this decision is to replace dollar as a settlement currency between these countries. This idea is not new I would say we had similar initiatives on bilateral basis between Russia and China for example or China and other countries.

This decision is a continuation of earlier efforts. Why not? I don’t see any reasons why it shouldn’t be successful, for example the yuan and Russian ruble is already actively used for the international trade between these two countries, Russia and China, and respective currencies of other BRICS can be used in international settlements between other countries as well.

One of the constraining reasons could be that the trade flows between BRICS countries, that happen between China and Brazil or Brazil and India something like that, are not that significant at the moment. I think this decision might, actually, support the extension of international trade between these countries.

WtR

Moscow police have uncovered an “underground town” housing more than 100 illegal migrants from Central Asia in the capital’s east, a Moscow criminal police officer said on Thursday.

Police officers together with security and migration officials have raided a factory near the Mozhaiskoye highway following a report about a large illegal settlement in its territory, Andrei Mishel said.

“A total of 110 men and women were living in an underground bomb shelter behind a 4-meter high concrete fence with a barbed wire,” he said, adding that there were even bathrooms and praying rooms organized in the “underground town.”

Most of the uncovered illegal migrants were employees of the factory involved in producing parts of sewing machines, Mishel said. The majority of them will be extradited from the country, and 16 people suspected to have been involved in criminal activity will be questioned by investigators, the police officer added.

Police are considering opening a criminal case against the factory’s director, he said.

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It has been a back and forth issue. One minute the sale of the Mistral is final and the next minute the sale of the Mistral has failed. Then the cycle starts all over again… (Link to our articles on the Mistral)

So today the news is full of the report: France and Russia have agreed that the Mistral-class helicopter carriers France will build for Russia will be fully equipped with the communication and control systems, a senior official in Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. “Russia has reached an agreement with France that meets the Defense Ministry’s demand to provide Mistral with the communications and other systems that would satisfy the requirements of the Navy,” the source said…

It looks like this is official this time and it looks like Russia got what they wanted on these ships: The purchase of two Mistral ships including the delivery of the helicopter carriers with the Zenith 9 communication and control system as well as the spare parts for the ships and technical documentation. The weapon systems will be Russian home grown and made…

It seems that four ships will be built. Two in France and the next two in Russia. That is according to the agreement. France will help build the ones in Russia just as Russia will help build the ones in France…

I know that the Russian Navy is excited, they get new toys to play with… (Link)

I guess we will wait and see if this information changes again… 🙂

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The leaders of the BRICS nations – Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa – believe the situation in Libya should be resolved through diplomatic means, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

“Like the other BRICS nations, Russia is deeply concerned by events in Libya and the civilian deaths there,” Medvedev said after a BRICS summit in the southern China resort of Sanya.

“Our shared opinion is that the problem should be resolved by political and diplomatic efforts, not through the use of force,” he added.

A statement after Thursday’s summit said the BRICS member states were united in the desire for “peace, stability and progress” in the countries of the Middle East and Africa hit by recent violence that “the use of force should be avoided” in resolving the conflicts.

“We intend to continue our cooperation with the UN Security Council on Libya,” the statement went on. It also praised the African Union mission – headed by South African leader Jacob Zuma – to Libya.

Russia and China – the only BRICS nations with permanent seats on the Security Council – also called for a greater UN role for Brazil, India and South Africa.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, paving the way for a military operation against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi which began two days later. The command of the operation was shifted from a U.S.-led international coalition to NATO in late March.

Despite dozens of sorties carried out by NATO aircraft against Gaddafi’s forces, the government troops maintain their combat capability and continue to pound poorly-equipped rebels with heavy artillery and rocket fire.

France and the U.K. said on Tuesday that the allies should intensify their efforts to cripple Gaddafi’s war machine.

Gaddafi has accepted an African Union road map to ending the civil war in the North African country, but rebels says they will not back down on their demand that Gaddafi must go.

SANYA (CHINA), April 14 (RIA Novosti)

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While it seems that Russia is trying to switch gears away from Libya and get the peoples minds on things like, “Who will run for president.” It is not working. Russian media and news is deluged with the fact that the situation in Libya is exactly what was told would happen and that is unfair to Libya. The people in Russia are not happy campers and it is showing on support for Medvedev.

“Russia’s leading political party United Russia will support Dmitry Medvedev’s possible candidacy in the presidential election, but only if United Russia leader Vladimir Putin is not running.”

Medvedev stands alone on the decision at the UN over Libya. He rode that fence and fence riders never come out ahead. He should have said yes or no and stood by it. He would have the respect for a firm decision. But as he performed the vote he looks really lame trying to support a abstention from vote and then complain about what is happening in Libya…

Remember the Movie Forrest Gump when Forrest said. “Stupid is as stupid does” ?

That is what comes to mind over this whole Libya deal. Libya was about two days from ending the uprising and the West interfered. The West back stabbed Libya. Russia turned her back on Libya and failed Libya at the UN. China failed in the same way that Russia did. So they have as much fault as the rest. In fact the whole world sat back and watched the West “Rail Road” Libya over oil. In fact, the lies were at a magnitude that makes no real sense except for the bases that they are sheer folly to try to cover up more lies on top of more lies…

Lets look at what was going on with the lies:

On March 26, over a week after he ordered the strikes on Libya, hitting tanks, anti-aircraft, radar sites, troops and Gadhafi’s own compound in Tripoli, 600 miles away from Benghazi, Obama told the nation he had acted to prevent a “bloodbath” in Benghazi.

“We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi – a city nearly the size of Charlotte – could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”

White House Middle East expert Dennis Ross reportedly told foreign policy experts: “We were looking at ‘Srebrenica on steroids’ – the real or imminent possibility that up to 100,000 people could be massacred, and everyone would blame us for it.”

A hundred thousand massacred! And our fault? But that is seven times the body count of Katyn, one of the Stalinist horrors of World War II. Was Benghazi truly about to realize the fate that befell Carthage at the hands of Scipio Africanus, at the close of the Third Punic War?

How did the White House come to believe in such a scenario?

In this low-scale war, the cities of Zwara, Ras Lanuf, Brega, and Ajdabiya have changed hands, some several times. Misrata, the only rebel-held city in the west, has been under siege for seven weeks.

Yet in none of these towns has anything like the massacre in the Ivory Coast taken place, let alone Srebrenica. The Guardian’s Saturday report read, “Fierce fighting in Ajdabiya saw at least eight people killed.”

Yemeni President Saleh’s security forces killed six times that many civilians just to break up one rally in his central square.

Remember that stupid remark about 100,000 could be killed? I do and still can not believe that it was said. But if I take it in context of when we go in and attack. Then I could see 100,000 die. That is about the size of Qaddafi’s forces…

This video tells in just a few minutes what it is the nitty gritty on the Libya situation..

The video from RIA tells it like it is and pulls no punches. Russian media has a tendency to ignore the demands to silence itself about things like Libya. They like to produce videos and lots of them. The talk shows in Russia have had a hey day with this issue…

The statement at the beginning, set the tone of the video, “It is not right, Not that I like this Eccentric Colonel, It just is not right…”

This video also makes it real clear on the back stabbing going on by the West…

Trust in world for the West has dropped out of site after these charades…

The classic point in the video is when he says, “It makes you wonder how much all these guys (West) owe Qaddafi that they want to take him out…”

Now that should make you think about some things…

I heard a good statement the other day and I forgot where it was I heard it, “Anyone with 500 brain cells still functioning can figure out the absurdity of the Libya situation!”

They came, they saw, they… got confused. Operation United Protector – the official name for NATO’s operation in Libya — seems bogged down in the desert, “united” only in name and “protecting” pretty much no one within striking range. Is this perplexing and deadly display of Western firepower a fight for democracy and human dignity? Is it an elaborate, international ruse to foil an eccentric autocrat and “protect” his oil? Taking no sides, at least not seriously, 2-Minute Warning gently lifts the veil of hypocrisy surrounding this Mess in the Maghreb. 

Hummm…

“It is not right, Not that I like this Eccentric Colonel, It just is not right…”

Windows to Russia!

While sipping that cup of coffee this morning in Moscow, Russia. I was doing some thinking’s. It dawned on me that we (The world) have come full circle…

April 11, 2011 saw the value of the US dollar dip below 28 rubles for the first time in over two years. The lowest it was traded on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange was 27.98 rubles. For April 12, the Russian Central Bank set the rate for 27.97. The last time the dollar was this low was back in December 2008. Shortly after that, during the peak of the crisis, the dollar’s value was as much as 36.35 rubles…

This is not a good sign…

For those of you left who can comprehend and think on their own. Then it is time to put on that thinking cap. It is time to realize what is happening…

As of right now, we are back at square one just before all hell broke loose with the world financial situation years ago. But this time there are two huge differences and we are in a lot worse shape than before. We do not have the ability to print our way out of the mess and Japan is toast… (Though we will try to print our way out…)

Look at commodities: No really look. It is not just oil this time that is going off the scale. It is everything going off the scale…

I bought silver at $11 dollars an ounce, just a little more than a few years ago. I bought gold in America before I came to Russia at less than $500 dollars an ounce. I bought copper back in pre crises days at less than 2. With heating oil and gasoline going through the roof. Many people are in trouble with a capital T!

The ones they try not to talk about: cotton and corn have a future effect that will put the icing on the cake. As of right now the crop situation in the whole world is looking rather bleak. Russia still has a ban on exports of grain and it seems that Ukraine does also. Do you also understand that because of price, corn has been neglected this year in favor of growing cotton. Corn we eat – cotton we don’t…

Russia is making changes that will also affect the future of oil and gas commodities:

For the longest time Gazprom, Russia’s number one oil & gas producer has held monopoly over market and infrastructure, hindering the growth of other Russian oil majors and concerning Wester European nations who perceive Gazprom as a remnant of the cold war era. In February 2011, Putin has set the ball rolling and Gazprom will now have to open their gas pipelines to competitors like Rosneft, Novatek and one of the largest oil producers in the country, Surgutneftegaz. Once this is accomplished, dependence on the Kremlin will ease making Russia the best option for the world to rely on. Middle Eastern Islamic nations are no longer the world’s best bet. The ways of capitalism and matters of national security are suggesting a move to greener pastures, which is Russia right now… (Link)

Russia is a chess player as I have said in the past and they are setting future ground work for her Empire. The world has just become much more reliant on Russia for fuel to survive. Because the Middle East has become a shambles and if you have not heard, that extra 3,000,000 barrels a day in oil that Saudi Arabia promised has failed to materialize as we read this post. That is putting pressure on whether the Middle East has the oil that we hope they do. That makes little countries like Libya all the more important for their oil…

Now lets retouch also in this post on Japan. Japan has gone Chernobyl and they are now at a level 7. That is as bad as it gets, because any worse is uncharted territory. They are now moving people farther away from the disastrous plants and it is looking like Japan could glow in the dark before long…

Toyota a Japanese company has just shut the doors of all their plants in Mexico, USA, Canada and Europe looks to be shut down also, for an unknown amount of time. From what I understand about 50,000 employees in America alone will be laid off. I also have been reading that Russia is turning away shipments of cars from Japan. These cars are coming to the border with high radiation readings…

VLADIVOSTOK, April 11 (Itar-Tass) – Twenty cars shipped from Japan were detained at Vladivostok port on Sunday because their background radiation level was exceeded. (Link)

With the Japan Chernobyl effect on the world economy. I expect to see the effects in the summer when all the bottom lines hit from companies that rely on Japan for goods. Everything from automobiles, consumer electronics, computers, semiconductors, copper, and iron and steel, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, bio-industry, robotics, shipbuilding, aerospace, textiles, and processed foods. Did you forget that Japan is one of the main powerhouses in the world economy. As Japans bottom line crashes so goes the worlds bottom line…

So I am sitting here sipping that coffee. That cup of coffee that is one of life’s little pleasures. I am starting to wonder do Sveta and I need to stock up on life’s little pleasures? For when things crash implode this time…

I can always drink chicory… 🙂

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed Yury Gagarin’s flight into space 50 years as a symbolic, revolutionary event, adding that his country still dreams about “conquering” other planets and flying to distant stars.

The first manned space flight remains a landmark for humankind, he said in an interview with China Central Television CCTV.

“I believe it was a truly revolutionary event, a highly symbolic one,” Medvedev said. “It was a tremendous achievement of Soviet cosmonautics, which divided the world into ‘before’ and ‘after the flight,’ what has been termed the ‘space era.'”

“I am proud of the fact that it was my country that made this first step,” he said.

On the subject of future space programs, Medvedev said although they have become less idealistic and more pragmatic, the Russian space dream lives on.

“We still cherish a hope, however, that sometime we will be able to conquer other planets, other stellar systems.”

“I don’t know how soon we will be able to achieve that, but I think that mankind will always try to follow these two approaches simultaneously – on the one hand, the dream of exploring outer space, and, on the other hand, a truly pragmatic approach to outer space, which may bring both scientific and practical benefits.”

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