Windows to Russia

I was drinking my coffee this morning after a good night sleep and came to a conclusion that Russia has really messed up this visa issue. It is strange how a good cup of coffee will make things clearer at times…

Russia has been talking about how they are working so hard to make it better for expatiates to get visas and how Russia has stream lined registration. Medvedev has been trying to express how Russia is going to be better for people from the outside world to come and work in the Russian environment… 🙂

I sit here in Ukraine and think about how they have messed up the visa situation. I also was informed that they have changed the registration process and only “God knows” what that means to my fate in Russia yet…

To top off everything: When the Russian consulate takes your passport to put a visa in it. You do not have proper documentation during that time they have the passport in their possession. It was OK when it was only a day or two. But I am now stuck in Ukraine without my passport. It is in the Russian consulate sitting in a file for two full weeks while they let time tick slowly by…

I have copies of my passport and such, but that does not mean anything when the going gets tough. You have to have your passport as documentation to do many things or to prove many things when you travel the world. It is much more powerful though similar as a State ID in America…

I find it interesting of all the bull Russia puts you through. They then leave you stranded in a foreign country with no passport for two weeks at a time. On top of that they just give you a receipt for the money you pay and you really have nothing that says, hey this is your replacement for passport while it is kidnapped at the Russian consulate…

So as I sipped that wonderful cup of coffee here in Ukraine, I was grumpy with Russia this morning. But Russia gets hers. Everyday that I am in Ukraine I spend money with Ukraine. Everyday that they make me stay here is less income being generated in Russia. I do my business now from Ukraine. I buy cell phone cards in Ukraine. I buy food in Ukraine. I pay for sleeping arrangements (hotel) in Ukraine. I bank in Ukraine. Ukraine is home away from home and I can stay 90 days in Ukraine with out a visa…

Now Sveta is getting ready to come to Ukraine and take her vacation. Boza has to have a dog sitter and it looks like her (Sveta’s) mother will watch him. We are also trying to figure out how to go to the Black Sea without my passport?

So if you understand what I am saying. Russia has because of her inability to conceive a thought beyond today. Has lost out on tremendousness income potentials. I am now spending all my money that I was going to spend vacationing in Russia – vacationing in Ukraine. I am only one of a huge amount of people that have to deal with this issue and we all have buying power…

So while Ukraine smiles all the way to the bank at Russia’s ineptness over visa’s. I am going sip my coffee and grumble at how rescinding Russia is in the business world and convenience for human sageness…

Russia should quit complaining because of a lack of people willing to deal with the headaches. That is the same reason that Sveta has not gone to Britain for a family wedding. Countries make it hell on each other to travel…

I just love Russia and all the fun she puts expatiates through… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

Posted by Mobile!

Russia will “make the right choice” on regulating the Internet, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday, hinting that the government did not intend to impose Chinese-style bans on websites.

Unlike the Russian press and state-run TV channels, the rapidly growing Runet, or Russian Internet, has avoided government censorship and restrictions, turning it into forum for anti-government discussion.

“When people talk about Internet regulation, there is a feeling that the state wants to stick its hand in and create the kind of barriers that only exist in specific countries,” Medvedev told a meeting of online media representatives.

“The president’s task is to make the right decisions in terms of regulating public relations, including the Internet.”

Three weeks ago, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) caused alarm among Russia’s estimated 60 million Internet users by demanding access to Internet communication services like Gmail and Skype.

In a move reminiscent of Soviet style repression, the FSB claimed the “uncontrolled use of these services could lead to a large-scale threat to Russian security.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dismissed fears of full-blown state regulation, saying that “it is not possible to restrict anything.”

Medvedev also said on Friday that Russia may bring forward an initiative to protect intellectual property from internet piracy.

MOSCOW, April 29 (RAI Novosti) 

I am having an extra cup of coffee today and it is really good. It hits the spot after the week that I have had. To sum the week up in a short post of text. Well – Russia just changed the visa rules again and they had just spouted and touted them as being much better than in the past. Life was to be better they said. I had my doubts and kept my mouth shut until I experienced them this visa trip… 🙂

Guess what? Russia succeeded in destroying any semblance of reality that they had in a visa program. After several years of good visa runs. I have now had one of my worst times getting a visa that I ever had. I was not alone in this wonderful escapade that Russia calls a better visa situation…

Nine of us tried to get a visa this week that I know of. I got one but have to wait two weeks. A South Korean man got turned down. Another American got turned down. A person from Britain got turned down. So on and so on and so on. We all have been getting visas for years from this consulate and all of a sudden, “Wham Bam Thank You Mama…”

So I have to smile and enjoy what comes my way. I will be in Kiev until at least the 13th of May. (Maybe longer.) Looks like Sveta will try to take a vacation and her I will trip the lights fantastic in Kiev Ukraine. That is alright with me, because anywhere with Sveta is like heaven…

So I have to make this short today. I am posting from my cell phone and it is not that easy for long winded posts. I will be writing a full post of details when I get back and explain what the new rules are… 🙂

Be looking for more updates in the next few days…

That is really why I love Russia! It just plain is stupid at times…

Windows to Russia!

Posted from cell phone…

Commander of Russian Space Forces Lt. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko outlined on Friday Russia’s proposals for the future European missile defense network.

Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so-called Euro missile shield during the Russia-NATO Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system with full-scale interoperability.

“We are ready to develop together with NATO experts on missile defense the architecture of this [joint] network, from the concept and selection of the best sites for the deployment of radars and interceptors to the set up and operation of joint data processing and control centers,” Ostapenko said in an interview with Izvestia daily newspaper.

The general said it would be logical and efficient to create a network of “sector” defenses where each member state or group of states would assume responsibility for intercepting and destroying ballistic missiles over assigned territory.

Russia is ready to provide a “missile shield” over Eastern Europe, the Black Sea, the Barents Sea and the Baltic Sea, Ostapenko said, adding that a decision to deploy missile defenses must be coordinated by a joint command center on the basis of information provided by a joint data processing center.

“In order to ensure a reliable and uniform exchange of information it is necessary to set up a joint data processing center which would obtain, process and relay target data to a joint fire control center,” he said.

Russian military specialists must be part of teams operating these centers on rotation basis, the general added.

Commander of Russian Space Forces Lt. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko

Ostapenko stressed that Russia had no plans to place interceptor missiles outside its territory.

Russia has retained staunch opposition to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense systems near its borders, claiming they would be a security threat. NATO and the United States insist that the shield would defend NATO members against missiles from North Korea and Iran and would not be directed at Russia.

Ostapenko said a joint missile defense network would alleviate Russia’s concerns over potential missile threats from NATO.

“In case of a joint missile defense network, there would be no need to place missile systems on the territory of the countries protected by the Russian missile umbrella,” the general said.

In addition, cooperation in the framework of the European missile shield would allow all the participants to cut the expenses on the project because NATO will need to protect less territory on its own, Ostapenko said.

 

MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sharply criticized NATO’s military actions in Libya on Tuesday, saying the North African state was being illegally destroyed by “so-called civilized society.”

“We must act within international law, with an awareness of our responsibility, with concern for peaceful civilians,” Putin told a news conference in Copenhagen after talks with his Danish counterpart. “And when the whole of so-called civilized society gangs up on one small country, destroying infrastructure that has been built over generations, is it good or bad? Personally I do not like it.”

This is not the first time Putin has publicly criticized the NATO-led intervention in Libya. In late March he made international headlines by likening a UN Security Council resolution to enforce a no-fly zone in the country to a “call to a medieval crusade.”

At today’s news conference, the premier also criticized the Western coalition for dropping two guided bombs on Gaddafi’s compound in central Tripoli last week.

“What kind of no-fly zone is this if they are striking palaces every night?” Putin said. “What do they need to bomb palaces for? To drive out the mice?”

A commander of the coalition forces denied earlier on Tuesday claims made by the Libyan authorities that NATO aimed to eliminate Gaddafi. He said the Gaddafi compound was a military compound and therefore a legitimate target for airstrikes.

Putin lashed out at the West for attacking Libya in the interests of oil.

“Libya has the biggest oil resources in Africa and the fourth largest gas resources,” Putin said during a news conference in Copenhagen. “It raises the question: isn’t that the main object of interest to those operating there.”

Russia abstained from the UN Security Council resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been less critical than Putin of the Libya intervention and publicly called Putin’s crusade remarks “unacceptable.”

The Russian premier made a further dig at the West in answer to a journalist’s question about international media criticism of him running in the 2012 presidential elections.

“Future presidential candidates in Russia do not need support from abroad. They need support from the Russian people,” he said

Putin, who served two presidential terms from 2000 to 2008, is widely expected to run again in 2012.

COPENHAGEN, April 26 (RIA Novosti)

 

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin continued on Wednesday to criticize NATO military operations in Libya, saying that he was “dumb-founded” over how easy decisions are made to use force against countries.

When asked by a Swedish journalist, Putin, who is currently on a visit in Stockholm, said “this happens despite human rights and humanity concerns which the civilized world is believed to advocate,” apparently referring to reports about NATO planes bombing civilian objects in Libya.

“Don’t you think that there is a serious controversy between words and practice of international relations?” he said, adding that this “misbalance” should be eliminated.

Russia, one of the UN Security Council’s permanent members, did not use its veto right to block a UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, preferring to abstain.

On Tuesday, speaking during a news conference in Copenhagen, Putin made several strong statements criticizing NATO’s operation in Libya, saying that the North African state was being illegally destroyed by “so-called civilized society.”

The premier said the Western coalition had gone beyond the UN mandate when it dropped guided bombs on embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s compound in central Tripoli last week.

“What kind of no-fly zone is this if they are striking palaces every night?” Putin said. “What do they need to bomb palaces for? To drive out the mice?” He also suggested that Libya’s waste oil resources could be “the main object of interest to those operating there.”

This is not the first time Putin has publicly criticized the NATO-led intervention in Libya. In late March, he made international headlines by likening the UN Security Council resolution to enforce a no-fly zone in the country to a “call to a medieval crusade.”

Comparing the situation in Libya to what happened in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Putin told the journalist a story about his friend, a KGB officer serving there at that time. When Putin asked him about his success, the officer told him that he was measuring it by the number of airstrikes that he did not approve, explaining that Soviet airstrikes were killing civilians along with rebels.

NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero said on Wednesday the alliance was not commenting on Putin’s remarks, adding that the UN resolution stipulates the use of “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from forces loyal to Gaddafi and that NATO was implementing this mandate.

The unrest in the North African country, which began in mid-February, has already claimed thousands of lives, with Gaddafi troops maintaining their combat capabilities despite massive NATO airstrikes against them.

STOCKHOLM, April 27 (RIA Novosti) 

We all remember Grigori Perelman. Grigori Perelman is a mathematician from Russia. He proved the Poincaré Conjecture and has just been awarded the prestigious Millenium Prize and $1 million by the Clay Mathematics Institute… but Grigory Perelman refused to accept it…

There was not too much information about Grigori Perelman in Internet. But today all media of Russia printed different versions of his first ever interview. I was very intrigued by it. So let’s read the Grigori Perelman’s interview. Click the picture.

If you want to know more about Grigory Perelman look at links below:
Russia’s Grigory Perelman Solved the “Poincaré Conjecture”
Grigory Perelman Has Officially Declined the $1 million prize…
Russian Video: Russian Mathematician Grigory Perelman!
Man who knows how to control universe has no need for $1mln

Published byWindows to Russia

Fighting inflation is more important for the Russian economy than keeping the ruble from strengthening, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Monday.

Inflation has been steadily rising in Russia since wildfires and the worst drought in decades triggered short grain supplies last summer. Despite a 2010 average of 8.8 percent, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he targeted a maximum inflation rate of 7.5 percent for 2011.

“I believe lowering inflation is a more important measure as it ensures low lending rates,” Kudrin at a joint meeting of officials from the finance and economic development ministries. “It is a fundamental factor for the increase in the number of loans and investments.”

Kudrin also said Russia was planning to increase annual excise duties on alcohol and tobacco by 25-30 percent in the next few years to help reduce the state budget deficit.

The minister said the deficit could be as low as 2-2.5 percent of GDP in 2012 if the oil price continues to average $93 per barrel.

MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called on Monday for the state to reduce its “unnecessary presence” in the economy.

“It is necessary to reduce the unnecessary presence of the state in the economy and the excessive scale of government property, to expand the space for private initiative,” Putin said during a joint meeting of the Economic Development and Finance Ministries on Monday.

He said it was necessary to pull down barriers created by “quasi-government enterprises” with no interests in improving business performance.

MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti)

Well for the next few days. Windows to Russia will not be as active as normal. It is that time for a visa run and I will be leaving April 26th, 2011 on a train to Kiev, Ukraine…

There will still be a few posts as I have a new software that will allow some basics posts to happen. I also have my cell phone and I can post from that if I so desire. So there will still be activity…

I should be back by Friday if all goes well. I say that because I always expect the worse then when the best happens it is great… 🙂

So at this time I want to thank the huge numbers of readers to Windows to Russia. Windows to Russia has averaged 25,000 page views a day for almost a year. I was very surprised at that yearly number. That was over 9,000,000 page views during the last year. We also have an average of 12 page views per reader. That means some of you do some serious reading on Windows to Russia! That equates into 2080 unique visitors a day on average (My unique is based on a 24 hour period.). Other words, someone (Readers) is on the Windows to Russia site reading articles literally non stop all day long. I would also like to express a thanks to the Russian readers. They account for 30% of my reader base now. Russia has finally exceeded the USA reader base for the first time this month. In fact in “Alexa” – Windows to Russia ranks 20,000 in Russia for popular sites. This month Russia is number one followed closely by the USA. Then Germany is right behind the USA. In fact if Germany will pick up by 10 to 15 readers a day then it will surpass the USA in readership just like Russia has done…

Bottom line is that without all you readers, Windows to Russia would not be where it is today. One of the number one English based Russian blogs around…

While we have a lot to do to become a big time site. I can see it happening one day. That is what keeps me going and improving Windows to Russia. The loyal reader base…

Thanks everyone…

Windows to Russia!