Interesting News Tidbits From Russia… (7/25/2011)

A while back a Russian newspaper made a false statement about former Moscow Mayor Yury and he got mad and sued. Well he won, not a lot of money but he won the principle of the matter. Check your sources before you decide to call it fact…

Former Moscow mayor wins damages from newspaper:
Moscow’s Savelovsky Court awarded damages of 20,000 rubles ($715) to former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov on Monday after he won a case against Russian newspaper Tvoi Dyen, and its owner News Media…

I thought that was interesting and only correct. It is a fact that ex-mayor YTuri did not have property in Abkhazia…

Then we are winding down on the investigation on the Volga riverboat incident…

Final death toll rises to 122 as last bodies recovered from cruise ship:
The final death toll from the sinking of a Russian cruise vessel on the Volga river was confirmed at 122 on Monday after rescuers found the last two bodies that had been missing following the tragedy…

That was a sad happening and lots of children died in this tragic accident. They are saying that the Captain who went down with his ship was trying desperately to reach a shllow area of the river and ground the boat. They say he was 40 meters from grounding the stricken boat and saving many lives… 🙁

Just too many people dieing right now from just too much stupidity. Lets look at the political and energy section of Russia, it seems that Gazprom has a plan to help the Korea’s with energy and make North Korea’s use of nuclear energy defunct as a sound reason to implement…

Russian Gazprom may reconcile two Korea’s:
Russian gas giant Gazprom is preparing a project on gas supplies to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that will be implemented if Pyongyang winds up its nuclear program…

Lets hope that Gazprom plan can be of use to the Korea’s…

This was surprising! At least to me, because I see Russian police all the time. I have to wonder about the performance reviews that were conducted. 90% – Hummm…

Over 90 pct of Russian police pass performance review – interior minister:
Over 90 percent of Russian police have passed their performance review as part of the ongoing police reform, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on Sunday…

Lets end this with an interesting nature story:

Single swan father hatches offspring all by himself:
An amazing story of love and fidelity has taken place in southern Russia, where a male widower swan has unexpectedly managed to hatch baby swans after his partner was killed by a stray dog…

That is a good daddy and now all he needs to do is find another mate for next year. But that is not easy to do because he is a rare black swan from Australia…

Hope that sparked a little interest in you today. It gives you some idea of what is happening in Russia…

Windows to Russia!

New Russian Visa Dance for Americans is in the Works…

My thinking’s this morning have centered around getting the next visa for Russia. I leave on Wednesday and will spend some time in Ukraine getting my next visa. As I said a few weeks ago I will be getting a year visa this time. The reason for the switching from every three month visa is because for me to get a three year business visa I have to have a recent one year visa first. This is little known information and I am now in the process to be able to get a three year visa next time. Then maybe I will be able to finalize getting a residency permit during the three year visa span…

I have already gotten my HIV test done and I have my office form that says that I do not have HIV. We have already confirmed that the telex invitation is at the Russian Consulate in Kiev and is good for the days that I get there. We are hoping that this invitation will allow me to get a fast visa? We even had them put on the telex for a hurried visa. I really dislike hanging around Ukraine for two weeks when I could be busy back home getting things done…

You still have to have invitation, two filled out applications, two visa/passport photos, one copy of your passport and a copy of migration card to get the visa. It is just that this time I need an HIV certificate to get a year visa…

Everything around getting a Russian Visa is changing for Americans. This is not for other countries and I will update this visa experience after I get back from Ukraine… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

 

Take a Break and Say a Silent Prayer For the Young People who died on Utoya Island…

I am too mad sad to say much about what happened in Norway…

While you are at it maybe we should all take a break and say a silent prayer for all the needless deaths all over the world. From those dying in needless wars, those drowning in boats on the Volga in Russia, those starving from no food and those that are killed by warped idiots that target innocent children playing on an island…

This quote came to mind today:

I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn’t. ~ Jules Renard

Nuff said…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

Russia: Beer is now an Alcohol…

Back in early 2008 I posted an article about:

Russia: Beer Is Not Alcohol?

I was poking fun at a sign in that article at a grocery store, who was apologizing for not having alcohol. They had every kind of beer in the world but hard liquor was not available. Beer was considered a softdrink…

Well the Kremlin just made the connection and made it law. Beer is now an alcohol…

Medvedev signs law that likens beer to alcohol

They also are going to reenforce rules that have been in effect ever since Soviet times but have largely been ignored.  Such as no selling alcohol to minors and no walking around with a bottle of beer…

They also, according to what the news is saying, will by 2013 make kiosks stop selling beer. Now that will shut down about 80% of the eyesore kiosks…

I have mixed feelings about rules like this. It seems that rules like this are just enforcing the obvious and I always wonder why we have to be such lowlifes that we have to force governments to enact rules to protect ourselves from ourselves…

Simple example is: There is a beer place near us parents send there 8,9,10 and what every year old kids with a note/money in hand to the beer store. The young kid then carries a bag of beer back home. This is common and I tell Sveta all it is about is a lazy ass parent who can not even walk to get their own beer. Well the laws are going to be enforced… (I hope?)

(Reminds me of so many people I knew in America, who always had their kids get them a beer out of the fridge. Just plain lazy.)

So most rules have been on the book for ever in Russia and most people do not realize that. Many of these rules were just stopped being enforced after the Soviet Union died. But the most important rule that beer was never classified as an alcohol was missing. Now beer is an alcohol in Russia…

Windows to Russia!

Interesting News From Putin about Adoption… (July 21, 2011)

MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti):
Couples who want to adopt Russian children should undergo special training in the basics of teaching, psychology and first aid, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

“High-quality training must be compulsory for the adoptive parents,” Putin said, adding that the classes should be required for both Russian and foreign couples.

He also said that the regional authorities should cover the costs incurred by Russian couples going through the adoption procedure.

Russia and the United States signed an adoption deal last week that stipulates psychological testing of adoptive parents and requires them to use only accredited adoption agencies.

The new agreement also envisages that all adopted Russian children will maintain dual citizenship until they become legal adults, after which they may choose their citizenship.

Russia is one of the largest sources of foreign adoptions for U.S. families. The latest official figures show that about 60,000 children born in Russia have been adopted by families in the United States since the adoptions started more than 15 years ago. As of January, 17 Russian children adopted by U.S. parents have died as a result of child abuse.

Hummm, that is interesting…

Windows to Russia!

Update: Things have changed in the Russian American adoption issues…

============================================================

Interview with with Irene Steffas, an attorney accredited under The Hague International Convention on incoming and outgoing adoptions.

I’d like to ask you some questions about the recent agreement on adoptions signed between the United States and Russia. Why was the US federal government reluctant to sign the agreement at the beginning?

Initially, all efforts are being made to everyone to follow the procedure under the Hague convention. And the US has not been very flexible and not willing to enter into any memorandums, as we understand it, or bilateral agreements. However, in this instance we made an exception and the exception is really one of nomenclature, just a name, because if you look at the essence of the agreement, many of the safeguards that are built into the new agreement are the same safeguards we have under The Hague convention.

I heard, one of the parts of the agreement calls for no more independent adoptions.

That’s correct.

Only agencies authorized by the Russian government will be allowed to participate in the adoption process. Where could the parents that want to adopt a Russian child find such a list of agencies?

They are on the website of www.adoption.state.gov.

Are these accredited by the Russian government or by the US government or both?

These are the ones that have been accredited by the US authorities and then you have to actually inquire and ask: are you authorized to work in Russia? And agencies are going to tell you the truth on this because they are not actually going to be able to move a case forward if they are not certified to work in Russia.

What is entailed by part of the agreement? What’s that more complete information that will be given to the adopting parents on the adoptee? What is entailed by more complete information?

There is more emphasis in knowing who the adoptive parents are and training that they are going to receive that was not there in the past and also in having more certain understanding about the child. We now have a more formal child study, which will be one at the orphanage where the child has resided. It will require medical, family, social history. You know, getting good medical background makes the match more secure. We don’t want a family to adopt a child, who is uncomfortable dealing with the prosthesis.

Who is going to be overseeing this process? Is that both sides that are going to be responsible for that or is it the responsibility of the Russian side?

Let me walk you through the process. The US government, through the Department of Homeland Security, is going to certify the adoptive family.

This is a new procedure? Is this something new?

This is a little bit more involved than what we had in the past. Then the Russian authorities will say: we want this child to go to this specific adoptive family in the US. So the matching is not going to be done by an orphanage, it is not going to be done by an individual. The actual matching is done by the Russian authorities, which is your Department of Education.

Russia will now be able to receive reports on the children, on their well-being. How often will these reports be given and how reliable will they be and who will be administering them?

Let me dissect your question. The person who is responsible for getting those reports back to Russia is a US accredited agency. What was happening in the past – and I’ve seen it with my own eyes – is that sometimes agencies had these reports but they never made it to the right place in Russia. So one of the things that this agreement has done is identify exactly where these reports are going with some sort of a receipt system, so that we know, this agency sent a report and it was in fact received. And there will be no ifs and buts about that. We will have evidence that the report was sent and received. The frequency of the reports and for how many years these reports go on – that is a determination made by Russia. We have different requirements for different countries and what I can tell you is that the US adoption agencies and the US government work very hard to make sure there is compliance with getting those reports and getting them to the correct authority.

Who is going to oversee all this? Because normally this was the domain of state governments, and now the federal government is involved. So who exactly will be administering reports, doing checks and so on?

Let’s say we have ABC agency. And ABC agency is accredited in the US and also certified to work in Russia. However, the family lives in a different state, let’s say in Hawaii. And this agency does not have a branch office in Hawaii. The ABC agency will supervise an agency in Hawaii for the family’s home study and will also supervise that agency to make sure that those post-placement reports are done. Post-placement reports are always going to be sent to the accredited agency and then the accredited agency, also certified in Russia, is going to make sure that they get to the right place.

In summery, is this a positive thing?

Absolutely. This is a very good thing. Our two governments worked very hard together to keep inter-country adoptions open and also to improve the system that’s in place.

WTR

Coffee and that “Saving Face” Manuver by the West on Libya…

 

I know you haven’t seen a Libya article in a long time. So today with that morning cup of coffee I decided to write a little article talking about Libya. So after that coffee and some thinking’s it was just too tempting when the you see the great Western countries stuttering about like a bunch of old hens in a chicken yard. Here is that article…

My how the West has failed in the utter destruction of Gaddafi. The USA is in talks with Libya and now France is talking at the same time. The West is looking how to get out of Libya and save a little face at the same time. We barged into Libya for all the wrong reasons and made up lies and when you do things for the wrong reasons and make up lies (Well you know what happens!). So now after missile after missile has failed to work. France is willing to allow Gaddafi to stay in Libya but he has to be a good boy and follow their rules. I understand from the grapevine that France can not keep up the pace of destroying Libya. Their equipment is wearing out (Their aircraft carrier is shown signs of strain!) and them damn missiles are just too expensive… 🙂

France says Muammar Gaddafi can remain in Libya if he surrenders power and follows a Paris-backed ceasefire deal to end the conflict in his country, the French foreign minister said.

“One of the scenarios effectively envisaged is that he stays in Libya on one condition which I repeat – that he very clearly steps aside from Libyan political life,” Alain Juppe said.

The comments were in answer to a question during an interview on LCI television whether countries involved in the Libyan crisis could consider letting Gaddafi remain as part of a way out of the crisis.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/201172082559895902.html

I understand that the USA is in talks with Libya also and the USA is saying basically the same things that France is saying. Gaddafi has to go but maybe he can stay if…

So this is a tale of a Western world that stepped over the Rubicon river and realized that they had gotten in over their heads. But they are a proud group of idiots (Or they forgot how to cross back over the river!) and decided that they could simply bomb Gaddafi into submission in a few days. Well those few days have become 4 months and it is starting to look like NATO is tired,  America is flat stinking broke, France is crying mama and Britain has a huge problem back home that Murdock is in the center of…

What is really behind the France/U.S. reversal on Libya? After almost 4 months of air strikes that have cost billions and billions of dollars With the conflict stalemated, cracks are emerging inside the NATO alliance. Some member states are balking at the burden on their recession-hit finances, and many are frustrated there has been no decisive breakthrough. After all this was just suppose to be a few days and that evil Gaddafi is history…

NATO has only two choices at this point. Ground war or look for a way out of this mess. Even if Gaddafi gets killed. At this point the damage is done and the best that the West can hope for is that Gaddafi steps down. Gaddafi has been elevated to pedestal status just like Osama bin Laden had been. So anything we do at this point is going to harden the situation in Gaddafi’s favor. Dead or alive that he may be at the outcome. Best to keep Gaddafi alive and keep him at human status as long as possible…

Gaddafi has won – the West has lost…

Windows to Russia!

PS: Kinda reminisce of the fact that the USA is in talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Hummm…

Sveta and the Cherry Tree and Coffee…

Sveta like most Russians love fresh fruit. In Russia canned fruit is very rare and hard to find but fresh fruit is sold on just about ever corner, metro station and or bus stop. So as I was sipping that morning cup of coffee. I started laughing when I thought about Sveta and the cherry tree at our village home…

This poor cherry tree met its match with Sveta. Once Sveta realized that our cherry tree was loaded with cherries and these cherries were perfect for eating and picking. All I had to do was go find the cherry tree and I would find Sveta… 🙂

I ate a few and they were delicious but decided that it would be better to let Sveta have all the cherries because she might get grumpy if I tried to eat too many cherries. Now on this tree was thousands of cherries and of course I asked are we taking some home with us. I got this look like: What are you talking about? As cherry pits were spit out into the grass. I realized that the cherry tree was going to be consumed in the few short days we were at the village…

I remember several large pans full of washed cherries and in less than an hour they were all gone. I ate three or four cherries and to find the rest all you had to do was look at Sveta’s red cherry stained lips…

As the days passed I was amazed at the amount of cherries that were being consumed and I started to tease Sveta about that fact. She just smiled and kept eating cherries. Oh once in a awhile she would offer me some cherries and she would hold out two cherries as an offering. But never the whole pan of cherries was offered…

So to close this story out. As we left the village to come home to Moscow. Sveta had one last trip to the cherry tree. She had a big plastic bag and was searching the cherry tree as high as she could reach to get cherries to fill the bag. I stayed away because I figured what cherries she could not reach the poor birds could eat. It looks like she left about 5 whole cherries for the birds…

As we drove about 9 hours to get home. Every time I looked over at Sveta she was spitting cherry pits out the open window of the car. She ate cherries all the way home…

I thought about how proud that cherry tree felt, knowing that someone loved her cherries that much…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

China has more Internet Users than Russia and USA have total People…

Internet usage in China rose to 485 million by the end of June this year, announced the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on Tuesday. Read More >>>

The USA and Russia do not even have a total population together to equal the Internet users in China. I wondered how many Internet users that India has? After looking around it seems India has around 50 million Internet users…

But as far as percent of population Russia and the USA have a much higher percent of the population than China using the Internet. But the Northern part of the world seems to be the Internet per population kings…

It is just an Internet world…

Windows to Russia!

Putin Knows that Joining the WTO is a Ball and Chain…

Putin has expressed several times in the last few years that joining WTO (World Trade Organization) is not worth hurting Russia over. I personally see what it has done to America and other countries. All you have to do is open your eyes and look. Putin is correct. WTO should be helpful not hurtful…

Drawing a line in the sand: that’s essentially what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin did the other day speaking at the opening of a major new steel plant. At Magnitigorsk’s new steel mill Mr Putin said that the country would not abandon its commitments to the country’s auto manufacturers just for the sake of WTO membership. Currently Moscow is in tough negotiations with the World Trade Organization about Russia’s hopefully impending accession to the global trading body. Russia remains by far the largest economy outside of the WTO, with talks having gone on for nearly two decades now. It was thought that coming into 2011 that Russia was on the verge of joining the organization, but so far this year little new progress has been made. Certain government programs to stimulate domestic production have concerned some nations already in the WTO. Crucially, an agreement to significantly cut import duties on car components in exchange for foreign makers agreeing to localize production has worried some in the EU and US. Specifically, manufacturers got the discount if they agreed to churn out some 300,000 cars a year, and promised that 60 percent of the production would take place in Russia. EU and American officials are pushing for Russia to drop the localization requirement, arguing that it limits truly free trade. However Mr Putin has said that it won’t sacrifice certain goals simply for the sake of joining the WTO. The PM said, and I quote, “…our position here is unwavering. This is the red line that we will not cross because we cannot give up the interests of our producers.”

Russia needs to stay on her two feet and not try to mimic the collapsing Western financial world. The WTO is just another ball and chain around the worlds neck. Part of the issues with the Western world collapse is the WTO…

I have watched Putin allow Medvedev to try  to progress with the WTO application but as always the pressure against Russia is vast and really Russia needs to forget the WTO. The West really does not want Russia in it, as if it is some fancy club or something and only the elite get in. After 20 years of trying…

Russia has now started to look seriously at the repercussions if America financially collapses. The writing is on the wall and Russia is and has been trying to figure out how to survive the Western world financial collapse that seems to be looming on the horizon…

Putin is one that sees what is coming and knows that you must protect Russia’s producers…

Windows to Russia!

Gas (Gaz) and Benzine (Gasoline) Prices On Our Recent Village Trip…

The village trip is always a good trip for checking gas and Benzine prices. This article was triggered by an article that I just saw called: AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. I see something just short of $4 a gallon when I look at the chart right now for America. I found a propane price of around $3 per gallon for propane…

Well Russians (like Americans) are having a fit about the price of fuel in Russia. It seems that they feel that they are paying a price too high for Liquid Gold. Lets see what I found on this trip that Sveta and I just took. We easily covered over a 1200 km and found fuel stations back in the isolation of society and fuel stations in busy Moscow. The farther away from Moscow we got the cheaper the fuel got. Here is what we found…

Moscow cheapest price:
Gasoline (Benzine): 23.5 rubles per liter = 88.95 rubles per gallon = $3.18 a gallon…
Propane (Gaz or Gas): 14 rubles per liter = 53 rubles per gallon = $1.89 a gallon…

400+ km from Moscow cheapest price:
Gasoline (Benzine): 21 rubles per liter = 79.5 rubles per gallon = $2.84 a gallon…
Propane (Gaz or Gas): 13.5 rubles = 51.10 rubles per gallon = $1.83 a gallon…

(1 US gallon = 3.785 liters, $1 = 28 rubles)

Now I will not say that you won’t pay a higher price and if you do then the term fool was invented for people like that. The highest priced station in Russia seems to be the BP (British Petroleum) stations. You will find fuel as high as 32 rubles a liter at these stations and anyone who caters to a BP station needs to have their head checked. But like in America, BP stations are a world of “everything under one roof” and you can stop, get fuel, food and fun under one roof… 🙂

Now once again this is regular unleaded fuel for the benzine comparison. I don’t and won’t use that high dollar stuff because it is a rip off. We have stations with two levels of 98 octane, 5 levels of 95 octane, 3 levels of 92 octane and always just one type of 80 octane. (My dreams come true when we find leaded 76 octane for the old farm trucks. The old Volga just purrs when we get to use that fuel, just like it does on propane) We found several times 92 for 23.5 rubles so your car can run on 92 just fine. All those choices are suppose to make your car run faster and clean that engine. We use 80 octane benzine and 100+ octane propane and tool down the road just fine – thank you!

Conclusion is that Russians have it made compared to the rest of the world. Russians need to plan ahead for their fuel stops and not allow the price gouging stations to catch them. There are several brands of fuel in Russia that have very good quality fuel. I keep two or three extra fuel filters in the tool box and some water remover (fuel deicer) for when we get a poor tank of fuel. I was very surprised by the price of propane in America. That is not a bargain at $3 dollars a gallon. Now you see why I am burning propane here in Russia…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

PS: These prices are sad for a person that filled his first tank of gas up on his first car for 18 cents a gallon. (Called a gas war back then!) I remember filling up at a Sinclair station near Grain Vally, Missouri USA. It was a green 1969 Volkswagen Beetle and I got a green dinosaur for filling up. Now that is just right…