Windows to Russia

Sveta and I just had a wonderful long weekend at our village that is called Sunrise to Freedom. I have written many articles about this village. This is a link to our articles on Sunrise to Freedom… (Read More >>>)

So this morning as I was drinking that wonderful cup of coffee. I was thinking about the village and how nice it would be to live there. It is so much the same as when I grew up in America that it really makes me homesick for the old days…

We have electricity in the village house, but that is where the niceties stop. You walk to the well and fill up buckets with water and wood is the fuel of choice to heat water, unless you are fancy like us and have propane. But propane is in small tanks and you have to haul those tanks yourself. Also finding propane is easy but finding someone with enough energy to fill it is another story all together. You also have the modern convenience of outhouses to let you know that you are in the modern world…

Speaking of outhouse ours survived the winter. Sveta and I rebuilt the outhouse and after the tons of snow that fell this last winter, I was sure that it would be crushed into the ground. But it was not! We also had re-supported our back overhang on the house and Sveta was sure that that would be on the ground. But it looks like Sveta and I are pretty good at “Jury rigging” because it all still stood strong and solid… 🙂

I realized that one of the attractions of the village is the fact that what you do is up to you and know one is there to tell you that you can not build that, or cut that, or smash that and or eat that…

Another true pleasure in the village is fresh goats milk. Our neighbor almost always supplies us with goats milk. That is as long as she has extra. This year momma goat has had four kids and by that fact she is producing a ton of milk. The kids are eating solids now and so momma goat is a milk producing machine at this particular moment. Sveta and I got several liters of goats milk while we were there this time and that makes for a perfect weekend. Raw goats milk is the best bar none. Real cream for the coffee and just shake the rest up good for the best glass of milk that you can find…

Our village is located near a fish farm that produces literally tons of farm raised carp. Carp is a delicacy in Russia. So there is always people coming and going taking care of the fish. Several of the men that still live in our village work on the fish farm…

So Sveta and I had a wonderful weekend and when we got home I realized that it was Memorial day weekend in America. But for Sveta and I, it was a weekend full of special memories and fun. For me it was also another trip back down memory lane to a time that was definitely cleaner, better and more fun than what the world has turned into…

Windows to Russia!

PS: Sveta and I will make several more trips to the village this year. We have lots of work to do on the old village home and we need to make sure that she will be a good village home for years to come…

Something that is very interesting while traveling Russia is the unheard of growth everywhere that you see while traveling. I mean unbelievable growth of businesses. Businesses from all over the world…

The real interest in this growth for me started the last train trip to Ukraine. I was on a day time train and had a good window seat. I was stunned at the factories being built and warehouses being built. There had to have been at one point 50 km of nothing but newly built warehouses in various stages of completion. I recognized many German names among the companies and one of the biggest warehouses that I have ever seen in my life belonged to the Broen company of Denmark. I quit counting at a hundred docks for big tractor trailer rigs in a row…

This interest that I filed away in my head, extended over into this latest trip that Sveta and I just took to our village. I spent the driving part of the trip studying the changes in business along the way to our village. Now we travel about 400 km on way so we get a good look at what is happening way down south of Moscow…

Sveta and I saw many upon many new warehouses being built and all kinds of new economic growth happening on our excursion to our village. One thing that was a pleasant surprise was the amounts of new roads being built and the highways that we traveled this time were tip top modern highways. Road construction everywhere…

One village near the little village that we go to had a huge chicken farm. It was brand smacking new. I saw it last year when the beginnings of the farm was being started and I had no idea at that time what it was. But now it is clear that it is a chicken farm. It looks like a modern American chicken farm in America. They have neglected to put up a sign telling us who owns this farm. But it is fenced and guarded and I know what a modern Chicken farm looks like. This is in fact a antibiotics fed chicken farm for mass produced very fat unhealthy chicken meat. Looks like someone has figured out how to get by the Russian rules on chicken. And I will lay money on the fact that an American company is behind it… 🙁

The plain fact is that everywhere Sveta and I went this weekend we saw new buildings, new businesses, new construction and thriving older businesses. I saw lots of new tractors in the fields and a whole bunch more old fields opened up and planted this year. In fact Sveta and I saw hundreds of new farm trucks running the roads from farm to farm. They are Russian made (KAMAZ) and orange in color. There also is four new John Deere dealers and two new Cummins dealers (Plus a Cummins factory) in the various small towns. If that tells you anything at all. (It tells me something!) It is strange to see John Deere green in the Russian fields…

I have a head for noticing things and that is what insured my survival in many past situations and excelled my business escapades. I can assure you that lots of money is being circulated in the farm arena in Russia…

On top of the money being circulated. Sveta and I noticed this time that there is kids everywhere. We are out in the middle of nowhere and we see 4 or 5, (around 8 to 12 year old) boys fishing and shooting BB guns. The classic moment was seeing three boys sitting on a creek bank with fishing poles and a little Dachshund dog protecting them and telling them how to fish… 🙂 They were 10 km from the nearest village…

That is what I call fishing…

Windows to Russia!

NATO said on Wednesday it had extended its Libyan mission for a further 90 days, after Muammar Qaddafi made it clear he would not step down, dashing hopes of a negotiated end to the uprising against his rule…

Of course we will only be there for a few days at most…

Libya: NATO bombings killed 718 civilians “718 people have been killed and another 4,067 injured since NATO Alliance started bombing Libya on March 19. 433 people are still in hospitals, with their conditions described as critical, said Mussa Ibrahim, an official spokesperson of the Libyan government at a news conference, citing data from local medical services.” For its part, NATO stressed that it had targeted only military objects and equipment. Ibrahim added that Qaddafi’s ousting, which, the international community is pushing for, would be “the worst possible scenario for Libya.” NATO has a proven history of killing civilians and now it is insisting its prerogative to keep on killing civilians in Libya…

Sounds a lot like what I insisted would happen. Lets rejoice and party over our humanitarian help for the Libyan people. For without our help they would have never had this war to their deaths in the name of HELP…

I don’t blame Libya for fighting. The West is trying to control the country…

CAIRO — Al Qaeda’s likely next leader says NATO’s operations in Libya are meant to topple Moammar Qaddafi so the West can install a puppet government and control the country’s oil wealth…

So that short war of humanitarian help, that control of just the airspace over Libya has turned into a slaughter of innocents trying to kill Qaddafi. Most people in Libya do not want him dead, except after NATO kills thousands and thousands over many months. The Libyans then will want Qaddafi gone. The bombings have extended to the seas and all over the Libyan lands. The very thing that Obama and others said we would not do, has happened. We opened mouth and stuck foot into it and then realized that Libya does not really want Qaddafi gone. So we are bombing Libya to get the results that we want the people of Libya to accept. Qaddafi out of power…

I will say that the West has lying down to an art…

Windows to Russia!

PS: Nato aircraft have flown more than 5,300 bombing runs Sorties since the no-fly zone was put in place in March…

Data summary
Nato operations in Libya by country (May 22nd, 2011)

It is interesting that Canada is all over the news because they have had to order more bombs. America and Britain have resupplied numerous times already and it is looking like hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent on this short war…

We are bombing the Hell out of the Libyan people…

After what I have seen in my lifetime I realize that we never learn and people are so happy to follow as we kill and kill and kill…

Windows to Russia!

Windows to Russia!

Is there a war on RT?
I had an article a while back that expressed this issue that RT is dealing with today. The Western Media is lambasting RT and trying to discredit RT as a legit news source. The bottom line fact is that RT has growing ratings and that is starting to affect the Western Controlled Trash Media such as CNN, Fox, USA Today, Time and a whole bunch more…

Good video and RT has a right to start firing back at the accusers. Russia Today is great news about Russia and the world. It is the world part that is stepping on some toes… 🙂

You should watch RT you might have an eye opening experience…

Windows to Russia!

Could this be true or just smoke in the wind? If it is true then at least the G8 sidelines got something important done, because the main G8 meeting was a joke as usual…

As a first major step, we have instructed our officials to concentrate on visa liberalization on a reciprocal basis for the largest segments of our traveling nationals – business travelers and tourists, traveling both as individuals and in groups, and official representatives.  Taking into account the significant progress achieved by our negotiators, we are working on a new agreement to issue, as a general rule without unduly formalized invitations and justifications, multiple-entry visas for eligible business travelers and tourists of 36 month validity at a unified and reciprocal fee, as well as the issuance of 12-month, multiple-entry visas for official representatives of our countries.  We aim to settle these issues and sign the agreement in the very near future, consistent with domestic procedures in both countries.

Now that is interesting and lets see if they mean what they say. Wonder what “very near future” means to the governments? It means like tomorrow or next week at the latest to me… 🙂

Hummm… 36 month visa! Wow – what a dream…

Windows to Russia!

PS: Update

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2011

Joint Statement by the Presidents the United States of America
and of the Russian Federation
Regarding Cooperation on Visa Issues

Last June, when we met in Washington, we expressed our determination to establish stronger bilateral ties on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation.  We are seeking to expand our economic and trade relations, and also to strengthen contacts between our citizens.  As has been highlighted in many of the meetings of the Working Groups of the Presidential Commission, the current state of visa procedures between our countries does not correspond to the present level of collaboration nor to the development of bilateral relations that we hope is to come.

We continue to seek ways to facilitate travel between our countries, consistent with the laws and regulations of both countries.  Over the past year, our officials have clarified the requirements for travel for purposes of tourism, work, and study, and we intend to streamline this process in order to make travel easier.  As a first major step, we have instructed our officials to concentrate on visa liberalization on a reciprocal basis for the largest segments of our traveling nationals – business travelers and tourists, traveling both as individuals and in groups, and official representatives.  Taking into account the significant progress achieved by our negotiators, we are working on a new agreement to issue, as a general rule without unduly formalized invitations and justifications, multiple-entry visas for eligible business travelers and tourists of 36 month validity at a unified and reciprocal fee, as well as the issuance of 12-month, multiple-entry visas for official representatives of our countries.  We aim to settle these issues and sign the agreement in the very near future, consistent with domestic procedures in both countries.

As relations between our countries grow stronger, and the ties become more intense, we will seek even greater simplification and liberalization of our countries’ visa systems on a reciprocal basis, aimed at providing entry of U.S. citizens into Russia and of Russian citizens into the U.S. unencumbered by unnecessary formalities, in accordance with domestic legislation of each country. We are instructing our government agencies to work in this direction.

Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2011/05/20110526090353su0.6149822.html#ixzz1NXUSTDUE

By Paul Ames: DEAUVILLE, France, May 26 (Xinhua) — Russian President Dmitri Medvedev was in the thick of the action early at the G8 on Thursday. He’d met separately with both his American and French counterparts even before the summit proper go underway.

But the bonhomie with Barack Obama and the conclusion of an important military sales deal with Nicolas Sarkozy couldn’t hide the fact that Russia remains very much the odd man out in the group of the eight world economic powers.

While the other seven have been lining up to voice their support for protests in the Arab world, Russia is wary. Moscow has expressed outrage over the NATO bombing raids in Libya and threatens to block a UN resolution that condemns the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria for it’s “violent clampdown” on protesters.

“This is not easiest issue. We have convergent views with Russia on lots of issues … but each of us brings their own history to the Libyan issue,” Sarkozy said. The French president’s suggestion that the G8 discuss tightening sanctions on Syria’s leadership was unlikely to gain support from Moscow.

Then there is missile defense. Among the G8, only Russia has concerns about the planned anti-missile shield which the United States wants to build in Europe.

Washington says the system is needed to protect against an eventual threat. Moscow is demanding cast-iron guarantees that it won’t be targeted against its ballistic arsenal.

After his meeting with Obama on Thursday Medvedev warned that it might take years before a new generation of Russian and American leaders can reach an agreement on the “sensitive” subject.

“I have told my counterpart, Barack Obama,that this issue will be finally solved in the future, like, for example, in the year 2020,” Medvedev told reports. “We, at present, might lay the foundation for other politicians’ activities.”

Obama limited himself to saying that the pair of them are committed to finding a solution that “is consistent with the security needs of both countries, that maintains the strategic balance, and deals with potential threats that we both share.”

Russia is also the only country that sits both in the G8 and the BRICS group of emerging powers that brings together Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

While the other European members of the G8 were throwing their weight behind French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to succeed her disgraced compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund, Russia was joining the BRICS in demanding an end to the “obsolete unwritten convention” in which the IMF top job goes to a European while an American holds the presidency of the World Bank.

The United States, Canada and Japan are still hedging their bets on Strauss-Kahn’s successor.

Some from Moscow see Medvedev’s stand-alone stance on some of the key Deauville dossiers as being in Russia’s advantage, as it seeks to diversity its relationships to reach beyond the G8 while keeping a toe hold in the rich Western club.

“Russia is not giving up on the West, but it wants to diversify … it’s not willing to give up on issues that it judges important for its interests, in order to preserve G8 solidarity,” says Dr. Victoria V. Panova, associated professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

“Russia is not in a worse position at all, it’s in more of the informal groupings that are springing up now, than the geriatric powers are,” she said.

Russia’s economic importance was certainly underscored by the deal sealed by Medvedev and Sarkozy which will see four French Mistral-class assault ships sold to the Russian navy, despite concerns from the United States and others among France’s NATO allies about the transfer of sensitive military technology that may be involved in the deal.

“The Cold War has come to an end, that the Berlin Wall has fallen and that we should treat Russia as a friendly state and involve it in our deliberations about creating an extensive space of security and prosperity,” Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy said the price of the four ships will only be revealed when the contract is signed, sometime in the next two weeks. However, the warships are expected to cost at least 400 million euros (568 million U.S. dollars) each. Two will be build in French shipyards and the other two in Russia.

The Mistral-class ships are capable of carrying 16 attack helicopters and dozens of tanks. Editor: Mu Xuequan

Original Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/27/c_13895971.htm

Windows to Russia!

I was drinking that morning cup of coffee and enjoying the aroma wafting in the air. It was a cool 10 degrees Celsius this morning and that as always is good weather for a hot beverage. My thoughts this morning with that cup of coffee centered on Syria and Pakistan…

It is starting to look like Syria is a focal point with Russia. Just as Pakistan is a focal point with China. It also seems very clear that the charades situation that we call Libya. Has really sunk in to Russia and China that the West is a untrustworthy facade of a Empire. Both China and Russia took a real beating on the home front over their lack of votes in the UN and their trusting of the Western Coalition…

So now as the leaders in the West call for a “Charge of the Light Brigade” and protect Pakistan from evils and nuclear disaster. The same calls are being manifested in the Western news media as we watch the protruded deaths, now by some standards approaching several thousand in Syria. (After months of silence) But it seems now that Obama has given a stern warning to Syria and we can’t have our fearless leader look weak now, can we?

It looks to me like the Western turmoil tactics are just part of a bigger issue that means to cover up the fact that the West is the most incredibly in-debt Empire in the history of the Earth and Empires do not die quietly…

If you do not see that Russia by standing behind Syria and China by standing behind Pakistan, is not a perquisite to World War Three. If you can not see that the reset between America and Russia has failed. If you can not see that Russia is pissed about the missile defense issues in Europe. If you can’t see that Medvedev was made to look like a buffoon in his peoples eyes. If you can’t see that China has been ramping up her military very quietly. If you can’t see that Russia is in a military restructure. If you can’t see that the West is invading countries illegally. Then you are living in a hole somewhere and or really do not care that the world is on the true edge of a flash point at this moment…

At some point Russia and China will have had enough and that point is developing as we drink our coffee…

Windows to Russia!

PS: Lets hope that Russia and China are adults about the world problems and not children like the West is and have been…

PSS: Update – Since Syria and Pakistan are road blocked temporarily. Yemen has now become to the forefront and the threats are now centered on Yemen…

A U.S. national killed his Russian wife and then committed suicide by jumping from a window on the 15th floor of the Izmailovskaya hotel in the northwest of Moscow, a police source said on Thursday.

“The man stabbed his wife with a knife and then jumped from a hotel window,” he said.

The source declined to give more details, saying only that police are currently working at the scene.

MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti)

Batka Bows for CashBy Tai AdelajaRussia Profile05/25/2011
Pressed up against a rock and the hardest of places, combative Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has finally thrown in the towel, agreeing last week to the sale of stakes in some of his country’s highly sought-after assets. The first salvo in the long-awaited privatization program came with the announcement of a deal to sell a 50 percent stake in the Beltransgaz company to Russia for $2.5 billion. “The Russian side is ready to buy our stake in (pipeline operator) Beltransgaz for $2.5 billion,” Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich told state news agency Belta on Friday. Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom already owns a 50 percent stake in Beltransgaz, which it acquired through a series of purchases between 2007 and 2010.

Hummm…

What a deal, talk about timing for Russia…

Windows to Russia!