So that cup of coffee is really good today as I look out the window into Russia. The snow is falling so hard that I can not see the buildings around the complex. So an article on snow seemed good…
Sveta made a big mistake the other day! It is the same mistake that I usually make and it has to do with the weather. I talk about the weather and it does the opposite that I say…
A few days ago Sveta said something like, “This is not Winter, there is NO Snow! Winter means Snow!”
I was thinking as she said it that we are in trouble, because you never gripe about a good thing and no snow with very little moisture is a good thing at times. In fact it was the best start to Winter I have seen here in Russia. No mud and no snow up to your knees…
Oops – Guess what? Father Frost heard Sveta and woke up. The snow is so deep in the last few days that I lost Boza in the snow drifts. I found Boza with this strange look on his face as only his head stuck out at one point and that head was covered in snow also. He tried to bound like a deer through the snow and ran into the end of his 5 meter leash, as he fell sideways into a drift. I then found myself trying to walk our usual path and at one point it was up to my knees. Sorry, I can’t bound like a deer anymore, so I let Boza off the leash to play. While I dredged through the drifts…
Winter is here and Father Frost reminded everyone why he rules Russia!
When Muhammad bin Halim stepped out of his front door in Benghazi one September morning, he waved at his neighbor before walking toward his candy-apple-red Hyundai. When the head of the financial-crimes unit in the Libyan Interior Ministry opened the door, a bomb exploded, sending him to the ground and showering him with debris. Luckily, he was uninjured; the same is not true for many of his colleagues.
A wave of assassinations targeting security officials has become the latest setback for a country still reeling from a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead. Eight months of a revolutionary war in 2011 decimated Libya’s already deeply flawed civic institutions. With no security organizations to ensure order and an ineffective justice system unable to prosecute suspects, Libyans fear their country is slowly crumbling around them.
The United States of America remains the preeminent global empire very much by design. Its expansion was not by accident. In fact, it was a necessity. Indeed, America’s instruments of national power–diplomatic, intelligence, military, economic, financial, law enforcement, information and people–remain unmatched in their productive capacity, global reach and destructive power. There is no nation-state (not even the lauded BRIC group) that has so many instruments of national power within its quiver.
But even with all its mighty power, the United States is tangled in a web of its own design, with little room for escape. America’s prosperity and its way-of-life, depends vitally on global domination, not only in the ethereal marketplace or cyberspace, but particularly of critical land, air and sea routes (choke points).
The center of gravity in the tangled webbing is Washington, DC, the epicenter of political, sexual and egocentric intrigue and the birthplace of projects like the “Surge” in Afghanistan and Iraq, “MISO” (military information support operations), and a host of other tinker-toy concepts and initiatives, many of which have cost nearly 100,000 American lives killed or maimed in action and an equally horrific toll in Iraq and Afghanistan that also includes millions of displaced civilians.
Palace intrigues abound in the Capitol of the American Empire, of course. The latest being the sex life of CIA Director David Petraeus. Speculation over Petraeus’ approval of rogue operations in Libya and elsewhere around the globe runs high as of this writing. Many camps in Washington, DC, are cheering at the Princeton and West Point graduate’s forced resignation from the CIA. None more than those who cautioned against drinking Petraeus’ blinding elixir. Such is life in the empire’s capitol. It is all part of the grand theater of power politics.
The Petraeus matter is symptomatic of a debilitated US Department of Defense Inspector General’s office. It is largely compromised according to a military insider.
“The biggest reason why stuff like the General Petraeus scandal happens is because the Inspector General’s Office (IG) continues to discount or ignore complaints from subordinates, until they explode in their faces. There is no way Paula Broadwell could have jumped on a plane and appeared in Afghanistan, without someone asking questions, somewhere. Instead of going after General David Petraeus, or Paula Broadwell, the military would save a lot of time and trouble taking a look at the people who allegedly approved Paula’s access to classified information, and the people responsible for safeguarding that access. I guarantee you that you will find someone who raised questions, who was harassed, intimidated, or removed from their position. The IG complaint process is supposed to provide a safety net for people who come forward with allegations of misconduct. This system appears to have fallen apart, and IG offices appear to be either complicit or disinterested in pursuing allegations of suspicious conduct by senior officers and NCO’s.
Senior officers like Petraeus and Brigadier General Sinclair (accused of alleged sexual misconduct) do not conduct themselves in such a manner unless they have been convinced by the people around them that they have nothing to fear, or that an environment of fear and intimidation was so pervasive, that everyone knew these things were going on, and some may have even complained, but that’s as far as it went.”
That the American system can maintain its empire amidst the intellectual and physical shenanigans of its leaders and institutions is astonishing and quite marvelous in its own way. Who needs Broadway or Hollywood? They are no match for the tragicomedy, theater and “reality television” of Washington, DC, the Capitol of the American Empire.
It was not to New York City, Boston or Baltimore that Wall Street financiers and banking houses ran to in 2008 when they screwed up. It was a sprint to Washington, DC that they made in search of cash to salvage their bank accounts first, and then the American economy, second. This provided a fine lesson for those who deride the citizens and institutions of the National Capitol Region: the action is here DC, not outside the Beltway.
John Stanton’s new book is available here at Amazon. *This article is from the Introduction to The Raptor’s Eye, JIEDDO, MISO, General P and the Prophet Smith. Contact John at cioran123@yahoo.com
As you know, if you follow my writings, that I am sort of a tinkerer in android phones and other computer items. This morning while drinking that wonderful cup of coffee and doing my morning thinking’s, as I always try to do. I have been centering my thoughts around a particular Samsung phone that Sveta bought me. A Samsung Galaxy Note. This is the Galaxy Note with Android Ginger Bread, 1 GB Ram and a dual core 1.4 GHz processor…
It is not the latest and greatest as now there is a Galaxy Note 2, but I liked the older version and it seemed to have more opportunities available for it due to its age and popularity…
Having found a Grey Market* version of the phone at a vastly reduced price…
The phone was the real McCoy and was a 100% Samsung and that is part of the problem. I think I would have been better off with one of the India/China perfect clone phones at half the cost…
The phone had shipped out of the German markets and was set up just fine for Russia as we are all considered Europe, most of the time. They had installed Ice Cream Sandwich on the phone as the latest update to android and that upset me a little bit. I wanted the phone with Ginger Bread, as that is the easiest way to customize the phone. I am not a stock android guy and when I get a android phone it has to be rooted and ROM’ed. The only way to get the full potential is to take control of the phone…
I was excited about this phone, because it was touted as the greatest thing since Apple Pie, Baseball and Chevrolet’s. The mainstream media can not say enough about this phone and how it was the latest and greatest in its day. Heaven forbid how wonderful the newest version (Note 2) is…
In fact the good about this phone in the media completely overwelms people looking for information and finding the truth is not easy unless you scourer the forums, I use forums for fixing things and that is when I found out about the Galaxy Brick Bug! As I sat and looked at a bricked Samsung Galaxy Note…
If you own a Samsung Galaxy S II or the Galaxy Note and are a regular member of the xda-developers forum, you may already be aware of a bug with some of these devices where erasing the EMMC could hard brick your phone.
This problem would surface if the user tried to flash a custom ROM or kernel that used MMC_CAP_ERASE. Thankfully, developer Chainfire came up with an app that would let you know if your device was shipped with a faulty eMMC.
Apparently, this issue has existed for a long time now and even though it was noticed a couple of months ago and was much talked about in the developer community Samsung did not respond to it, until now.
According to user Daniel Hillenbrand on Google+, Samsung has said that “Patches will be out in form of new official ROMs and also sourcecode releases after testing, which might take some time.”
Hmm! Okay well that sums up trash to me and I just happen to have one of these particular phones. Just think if I had a clone, it would never have been an issue. The clones have Chinese android installed and do not have the problems…
Now before we start mouthing about a grey phone and other such things as why root, why flash roms and why why why? I will pass on that this issue is a well known issue and it affects even the phones that are just upgraded through Samsung normal upgrade procedures. That is how the phone acquired the issue to start with, it was flashed with a Samsung ICS upgrade. I will also tell you that if an android phone can not be treated as another computer, than why have it? It either plays my way or no way and in the trash it will go. With that said, lets explore the issues…
Number one fault was Samsung, they have developed and built a phone with major flaws and they knew about it from the beginning. They knew all along that their phone was trash…
Number two thing that happened, the in between people decided to flash the phone with ICS and re-sticker the box as never opened. That set the stage for the EMMC Bug to rear its head. Ginger Bread is safe…
Number three I got very sick and was running a 41+ C degree fever and was trying to work on my phone. Stupid huh?
So it was a combination of several things and anyone of the issues could have been changed to have made things better…
But regardless I bricked the phone and bricked it good. All I had left was the ability to get into download mode. I was too sick to do anything but make it worse and worse I made it. I am good about that and looks like I will never change, You know – “teaching old dogs new tricks” sorta things…
That is when I found out about Svet’s son (Misha) and his wonderful abilities with android operating systems and bricked phones. Misha took the phone and with Svet’s help they un-bricked my phone and it came back to me with original Ginger Bread on it…
I still had a very high temperature (over 40 C) and just played with it for a few days. I also did a whole bunch of studying about this Brick Bug issue. I also found the Samsung update and several other goodies to play with, for when I felt better…
To make a long story short, Misha set the ground work and saved my phone. He got it going again and did what everyone says is the only way to save it and that is to repartition the phone and with that you loose a whole bunch of your internal rom sd card. He did what I could not and from there I took it with my expertise and have recovered all lost sd rom and applied a custom rom and kernel. With a few days of tweaking, the phone rocks and rolls! It is what it should have been from the beginning. I have all aspects of the Samsung software and all the stability of a brick proof rom and kernel…
In fact the phone is running android Jelly Bean from a Galaxy 3 and has an overclock kernel that allows it to run 200 GHz faster than stock. It is smooth, slick and just plain my favorite phone. It looks to be a long time before I find a better phone for the money…
The big thing that I am upset about is that Samsung knew about this issue and refused for a long time to even acknowledge the fact. My studies have pin pointed it as to a hardware and software flaw. They continued to make these phones with these issues and never corrected the problem, They knew full well that they are reputed as an easy to work with phone and unlocked boot loader on top of it all…
Instead of trying to fix it, they went on a huge coverup campaign and spent millions to saturate the market with the selling points of the phone and never once gave what was needed and that would be a fix to solve the issue of the Brick Bug and make millions of happy rom flashers, even happier. I truly believe the phone would have sold millions more if they had played the game correct and not tried to hide the truth…
Now that I have the phone running Jelly Bean and a safe kernel, many thanks to Misha and Sveta, It is able to reach its potential…
Why didn’t Samsung just do what is right in the first place? I will never buy another Samsung after it took three people and three weeks to get the phone under control. Now I know why people are sending the phones back to Samsung in record amounts to get them re mothered boarded after they do a normal update and brick the phone…
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…
PS: I will tell you with all honesty: “Korean Samsung does not hold a candle to the Chinese Huawei and my Huawei has been flashed hundreds of times, with nary an issue!” I have to now leave the Samsung Galaxy Note alone or chance bricking it again, which I have done already and un-bricked it myself – again!” The Galaxy Note looks good and tough on the outside, but is a wimp and weak, on the inside…
Heart surgeons have performed the first-ever implantation of the artificial heart valve, which was developed in Russia. The valve was produced in the Moscow-based Bakulev’s Center of Cardiac Surgery in cooperation with a company from Penza. The valve differs from all of its predecessors for better blood pass-ability. For the time being, the Russian, full-flow valve is considered the best in the world.
“The problem of mechanical prostheses, which make up 85 percent of the total amount of practice, is that they create a so-called gradient – an obstacle for the heart to release blood,” said Leo Bokeria, the Director of Bakulev’s Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery, NTV reports. The folds of the valve would partly hinder the blood flow even in the open position. If the heart is small, the heart of a child, for example, it would become an irresistible side effect.
The surgery to install the valve was performed by a team of cardiac surgeons under the leadership of academician Leo Bokeria on a 63-year-old female patient, a resident of the Kaluga region, says diver-sant.ru. The patient was diagnosed with “aortic heart defect” that caused numerous complications. With this pathology, the aortic hiatus does not close completely, as is necessary for the proper work of the heart, and during diastole, the reverse flow of blood from the aorta into the left ventricle occurs.
The patient is doing well and each year, about 125,000 Russians are in need of such an operation. In addition, this valve is ideal for child surgeries…
“(NaturalNews) In reviewing all the breaking news over the last few months and looking for the “big picture” of where America is headed, one pattern has emerged with striking regularity: America has quietly become less free in many ways than nations like Cuba, China and even Venezuela.
This is especially true in California, where “justice” has become a joke, and the power of the state is unleashed in personal vendettas against innocent citizens who have done absolutely nothing wrong other than refuse to bow down to state-run tyranny.
In California, the most freedom-crushing region of America, a man was recently thrown in jail for four days for photographing police. Photographing or video recording police is not a crime if done in a manner that does not directly impede their actions. But California police simply don’t “like” being photographed, so they throw people in jail, without charge, and let them rot in California’s third-world prisons for a few days as a form of retaliation.
In another case, California’s raw milk man James Stewart has just been released from jail after being forced to sign a plea deal with L.A. County which accused him of the heinous crime of distributing unpasteurized milk. His punishment? Nearly four months in jail, being treated as a terrorist and denied nutrition to the point where he emerged looking like a Nazi war camp prisoner. The state then slapped on two felony charges, five years of probation, and a $300,000+ fine that the man has no way to pay because California raided his business at gunpoint, stole all his cash and then destroyed all the inventory of his business, including over $50,000 in fresh food.”
Having lived in Russia for 6 years now and traveling too many other countries. I realized that I assume that everyone has a passport. I would say that from what I am seeing, 50% of most people in their home country have a international passport. I believe that it is much higher than that figure in Russia…
In fact I see from a CNN article that international passports are at a high of – “Canada’s 60% and the United Kingdom’s 75%” – I think Russians would be in that range also. I know that literally every Russia I know has an internal passport and a international passport. Russians love to travel to other countries to vacation…
The links below are from an article that I found and can not find the link again. I am being blocked from the site for some reason. I can get there by a proxy and since that is the only way to get there, they do not deserve a link from me…
So even if we take the best of figures, Americans do not have passports to travel outside of but just a few hand picked locations. Very controlled and very limited in world spirit…
Now I would say that from my past experience (6 + years ago) in the US, 80 to 90% of the people do not have a passport to allow them to travel to see the world and the fact that they can travel to Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and several other spots fairly easy, does not count as world travel… 🙂
But I am understanding that there has been a huge increase in applications for a passport in the US and most of that is due to the new regulations coming that make it almost impossible to get a passport…
This might be a more interesting figure if it is true and could be a deciding factor on why they are trying to shut down the ease of getting a passport. The numbers are skyrocketing if this is true…
“Times have changed. “More Americans have passports now than ever before,” says Ken Chavez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the US State Department. Over one-third of the population to be exact, or nearly 110 million out of 313 million Americans. That’s more than double the number of US passports in circulation in 2000 (48 million) and around 15 times 1989’s 7 million. At that last number (under 3 percent of Americans), you can sort of understand why my European traveling buddies were scandalized. (Link)”
So it looks like my time away from America has left me clueless and people are getting passports now in America!
Could that be for what is coming as the future unfolds?
(Oh and a hint – when you try to figure out what is true. Do not count a passport card. That is a nothing passport, I am talking about international passports that allow you to travel to many other countries…)
Pumpkin pie with whipped cream (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This year Sveta is getting a Thanksgiving meal. I tried the first year I was here in Russia (By the way – I came to Russia on October 10th, 2006) and Sveta did not take to the idea at all, but this year since she has been doing a lot of teaching English, she has taken a notion to Western world holidays…
So I have gathered together the ingredients and am going to present her with – turkey, bread dressing, broccoli with cheese sauce, mashed boiled pumpkin and last but not least – made from scratch pumpkin pie…
Russians love cooked pumpkin and we eat a lot of boiled pumpkin here in Russia, so I knew that she would like a Russian taste treat mixed into the whole think. Now Sveta has never ever had pumpkin pie. This will be the first for her and last night she even brought home whip cream to put on it. Now that is getting into the spirit of things… 🙂
I know that the spices that are in the pumpkin pie are very strange to her, so we will see if she likes it…
Being that this is my seventh Thanksgiving in Russia, I have a whole bunch to be thankful for and I have been blessed by god with the best woman in the world… (And also Boza the dog!)
Oh last thought today, before I go and finish cooking Thanksgiving food…
I am always looking for “Made in USA” items in Russia as I shop. Sveta finally found an item the other day and it is the first thing that I have seen in years. I know of a few items in Russia that are made in the USA. I see peanut butter, maple syrup, fat greasy, yes fat chickens and now a new item that we found…
.
США is Russian for USA…
These are suppose to be good for Sveta to take and her favorite pharmacist talked her into buying them. So Sveta is taking these as a supplement with her food…
So now I have one more item added to the made in USA list, except that list is really short and according to Sveta items “Made in the USA” were many more years ago. I understand that other than just a few choice items, America does not produce anything per cost factor, that makes it worth bringing in “Made in USA” goods…
I have to say that at the cost of almost 500 rubles ($15) they are an expensive product because comparable items are usually 200 to 300 rubles…
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s recent statement was apt, timely and thought-provoking. It is a positive contribution that evoked a lively media debate. Vested interests tried to portray it as the “clash of institutions”. However, difference of opinion is not at all a sign of “clash” between state organs, especially in a mature and democratic society.
Pakistan today is neither run by a dictator, nor solely governed by foreign diktat. Indeed, national interest is supreme; and wisely the army is not claiming monopoly of it, neither can any other individual or group!
At the moment, Pakistan’s environment is internally diverse and externally demanding. National political power in the state is shared between multiple power centres and is passing through a “defining phase”. The military, judiciary, national and provincial governments, political parties, media, civil society and even reformers are all stakeholders. However, the COAS address was appreciated in numerous quarters; both the PPP and the PML-N responded positively.
The army has and should further distance itself from previous military dispensations. It belongs to the nation and is adored by the people of Pakistan. Similarly, the ISI, while bravely defending the nation, has further improved its image. In the forthcoming elections, it is not supporting any political party, as was the perception some time ago.
The previous mistakes committed by all in the country, including the army, can be accounted individually, since no one is above the law. Undoubtedly, the Supreme Court is revered by all Pakistanis. By the same token, ‘army bashing’, as appears in a section of the sensationalised media, is unwarranted. In fact, when seen in the light of hostile geopolitics, it betrays the sinister aim of an alien game plan.
Today, some of the major geopolitical and national issues concerning Pakistan are:
Afghanistan in post-2014 period: President Barack Obama’s re-election means that the 2014 exit strategy for USA is reconfirmed. Pakistan does not need to fight a war, which the US is itself aborting. The Americans are leaving (even if a rear guard is left behind), while the Talibans are staying in Afghanistan. Pakistan needs peace in Afghanistan and peace on the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistani army needs to be freed from war on its western border. This already enjoys the broad consensus of Pakistanis and the army is contributing heroically to that end.
Balochistan and foreign intervention: Balochistan is in turmoil due to past mistakes and hostile geostrategy. The Indians are keen to block Gwadar and Americans agree; in addition, they want to isolate Iran. A so-called West Asian strategy is being chiselled to create independent Balochistan.
Reportedly, Dr Waheed Baloch, an immigrant, requested the US administration to intervene in Balochistan through the CIA (a la Libya and Syrian model). This was an attempt at balkanising both Pakistan and Iran by alien forces. This was initially a neocon-sponsored balkanisation project. It is hoped that a re-elected President Obama will maintain friendship with Pakistan, rather than allow wildly dangerous misadventures in his second term. China and Russia support Pakistan and Iran; nevertheless, they are also striving to reach the Indian Ocean from Balochistan.
The Baloch have to be brought on board so that Pakistan is united for a national purpose. All Pakistani citizens must support a new amiable army as well as political initiative for peace in Balochistan.
Peace with India and Kashmir: Peace with India is logical, since both countries have nuclear weapons. The nuclear powers cannot afford direct confrontation, simply because it is totally destructive and unaffordable. Pakistan’s nuclear strides cannot be taken lightly, nor can peace be one-sided. Even as Pakistan seeks peace with India and trade flows multiply, India should reciprocate. Instead of planning ‘Cold Start’, Kashmir needs to be resolved.
Economic cycle: Pakistan needs to revive an economic national cycle. This warrants social, political and economic reforms that will boost its growth. In addition to augmenting its traditional economic base, Pakistan needs to embrace geo-economics. Its pivotal geography and diligent demography, can convert the Gwadar dream into a reality. Peace and prosperity go together!
Today, the army is ready to defend Pakistan and its national interests. The people, through both rustic and intellectual wisdom, understand the national interests. Needless to say, the army supported by the nation will defend the country against all odds.
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 General 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 very 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
The United States of America remains the preeminent global empire very much by design. Its expansion was not by accident. In fact, it was a necessity. Indeed, America’s instruments of national power–diplomatic, intelligence, military, economic, financial, law enforcement, information and people–remain unmatched in their productive capacity, global reach and destructive power. There is no nation-state (not even the lauded BRIC group) that has so many instruments of national power within its quiver.
The big thing that I am upset about is that Samsung knew about this issue and refused for a long time to even acknowledge the fact. My studies have pin pointed it as to a hardware and software flaw. They continued to make these phones with these issues and never corrected the problem, They knew full well that they are reputed as an easy to work with phone and unlocked boot loader on top of it all…
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