Windows to Russia

Unbelievable – we have followed this for what seems like years now. This is big news in Russia and I hope it helps the situation. It has been a long process and I know it means a huge change in how America handles adoptions with Russia. There are a lot of Russian children that are adopted by good families in America but there has been some terrible situations happen and several are in American courts right now. It seems the straw that broke the camels back was the Artyem case. (Artyem (Artem) Justin Hansen: Someone Did Not Want Him?) Tory Hansen never got in trouble for what she did and that pissed Russia off. Which led to this communication with America by Russia on getting rules set up for adoption by Americans…

The work over the Russian-American which outlines the rules of adopting Russian children by Americans is over. Russia also plans to conclude similar treaties with France, the UK, Ireland and some other countries.The work over the treaty was stirred by several scandalous cases when American foster parents mistreated their adopted Russian children. This work started in April 2010, when a delegation of the US Department of State came to Moscow to discuss this subject. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement, which was released at that time, said: “The new treaty must provide a good mechanism of monitoring the life of adopted children both by Russian and American bodies, in order to prevent cases of violence against adopted children.” From that time, adoption of Russian children by Americans was suspended until the introduction of the treaty. Not long before that, it had become known that the American couple Cravers had beaten their adopted Russian son Vanya Skorobogatov to death. The trial of Cravers is not yet over. The American prosecutor is demanding that the both foster parents must be executed…

Read More >>> Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/30/48215824.html

Windows to Russia!

PS: These are just some of the Windows to Russia links on adoption issues…
Information on the Status of Russian / American Adoption Proceedings…
A Russian Adoption Abuse in America – Again…
Leschinsky Sisters not to Return to Foster Parents…
Russians Are Really beginning To Question American Adoptions…
Adoption Talks Between Russia and America Still Going On…
CNN On Artyem Saveliev!
Mother Woman in Adoption Scandal wanted To Adopt A Georgian Child Next!
One Little Boy Brings America to Her Knees! (Artyem)
Artyem (Artem) Justin Hansen: Someone Did Not Want Him?
American Parents Just Shipped Adopted Child Back To Russia Alone, With Note!

A number of HIV infected people in the Moscow Region rose by 64.5% in January and February in comparison to the same period in 2010, Russia’s sanitary watchdog said on Wednesday. The Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare said currently the number of the HIV infected people in the Moscow Region stands at 29,337. However, as a result of the annually increased efforts to combat HIV, in 2010, the Moscow Region dropped out from the top ten Russian regions most affected by HIV and is now in 14th place,” the watchdog said. Last year, the government earmarked more than 13 billion rubles ($430 million) to HIV treatment and announced plans to raise the figure to 19 billion rubles ($606 million) this year. According to official statistics, over half a million people have been registered to have HIV, while the actual figure may be higher.

Windows to Russia!

Russia’s heavyweight WBA champion Nikolai Valuyev may run in forthcoming elections to the State Duma, the Novgorod Vedomosti newspaper said on Wednesday. Valuyev, 37, has joined the United Russia party last year and received his party membership card from the head of the United Russia branch in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city. United Russia, Russia’s ruling party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is known for attracting celebrities to its ranks. The party counts many sport figures among its members, including popular gymnasts Alina Kabayeva and Svetlana Khorkina, as well as footballers Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Former secret agent Anna Chapman is a leading figure in its youth wing…

Windows to Russia!

Even though I have been in Russia 5 years now. I still reach for the light switch on the wrong side of the door. Every time…

That is my thought this morning as I sip my cup of coffee…

It seems that I will most likely never get use to a different placement of the light switch to turn the lights on when you enter a room. You see in Russia the switch to turn on the bathroom light is on the outside wall of the bathroom by the door. In America most times it is inside the bathroom by the door as you walk in…

Also in Russia it is common to see string operated pull switches to turn the lights on all through the flat. They are mounted up near the ceiling outside the rooms…

There is a million little things like that (light switches) in Russia. That make life interesting and different. I find that habits of mine are almost unbreakable when it comes to issues that have been part of your life from birth on up…

Another example is stop lights in Russia. In Russia the stop lights on the streets are somewhat opposite of America. In Russia you sit at a red light and the light turns yellow then green. In Russia you have a green light and before it turns red it starts flashing green. Then changes to red. No yellow warning at all. The yellow warning is for the person sitting with a red light…

At first this makes no sense but after being here for a while. It makes sense. Everyone and I mean everyone runs red lights and the fact that you are warned by a yellow before you get a green is correct. You can get a green light and watch 10 cars run the red that they just got. So the yellow light to me means, “Warning – stupid idiot drivers are around! Proceed with caution…” 🙂

It boils down to:

In America a yellow light means put the “pedal to the metal” to beat the light…

In Russia the flashing green means put the “pedal to the metal” to beat the light…

Have a nice day…

Windows to Russia!
Coffee and Russia and Undertow Intentions to her Society…
Old Soviet Playground?
Sipping Coffee in Russia and Watching the Turmoil…
Breaking Free: I Broke Free to Russia – You can do it – Anywhere in the World…
Coffee and Russian Patience…

I have received a whole bunch of e-mails demanding to know why Libya is even being posted about on Windows to Russia…

So here is the straight fact:

In the high-profile debate surrounding the rights and wrongs of the Libyan revolution, Putin is largely winning at home, and Medvedev in the West. Putin put his finger on the attitude most prevalent among Russians: 80%-90% are outraged by not being asked their opinion on bombing Libya, as though Russia did not exist. Neither the ruling elite nor ordinary Russians seem to like this. Medvedev, on the other hand, has been out there, forging a new policy toward the West since the conflict with Georgia [over South Ossetia]. He has seen relationships with Germany, France, and the United States improve and naturally does not want to ruin this or slow it down. That is why he will do everything in his power to defend the UN resolution on Libya. (Link)

I can vouch over the upset Russians about Libya. Then Medvedev did what he did, to kiss up to the West and Putin has stood up for what is correct. That put “icing on the cake” so to speak. The article tries to play it off as being a good thing but the underlining truth is very obvious and to a Russian it is a slap in the face. The West is not a priority to the Russian…

So since this is a Windows to Russia you get what Russia is pissed about as much if not more than what Russia is happy about. In this case Russia is pissed because the West has set up the opposition in Libya to sell oil, start a Central Bank in Libya, recognize the opposition in Libya as legitimate, Getting ready to supply the opposition who is al-Qaeda run with weapons, not following the UN mandate and so on and so on and so on. As far as Medvedev and his quirks. The people are starting to rumble…

I said months ago that Putin has let Medvedev to go his way and sink or swim on his own accord…

Libya is huge news in Russia and the conflicts that it has caused internally is forefront in the news. Now you know a little more about Russia and that includes Libya right now…

Windows to Russia!

Well the story continues and we still are not 100% positive yet that Doku Umarov is dead. But it is starting to look like he is dead. After watching the video you will realize what kind of firepower Russia took to the party on Monday. Trees were blown down and splintered and we are talking about a fair size area of destruction… (Take a peak at the video and watch the background, not the news casters.)

It looks like they dropped a small nuke on the camp…

So which is it? Is he dead or not? I see every news source having a different story to tell…

Windows to Russia!
Worrisome Survey in Russia: Special Operations Cures it…
Chechen militant leader Umarov ‘may have been killed in attack’
Coffee and a Rebel or a Terrorist…
Russian Video From Russia: Check this out on the bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport…
Doku Umarov Now Claims The Moscow Metro Bombings!

I am going to tell you that I will be staying on this story. What a dream for us here and those coming to Russia. There seems to be a huge push in the Russian government to get this done. No visa visits under 90 days with America and Russia…

Russia and the United States may ease or even cancel visa regime soon, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the State Duma’s international affairs committee said on Tuesday.Earlier reports said Russia was persuading the US to sign a deal to scrap visas for visits lasting under 90 days. Kosachev said the idea might be implemented in the foreseeable future, at least where it comes to easing visa issuance procedures.Speaking at the World Russian Forum annual conference in Washington Kosachev suggested using the same negotiating practice Russia already has with the EU. (Link)

Russia is not letting this drop and Putin instigated it when VP Biden came to visit Russia. Looks like Russia is trying to get the visa situation changed with almost all countries. Russia is willing to go “tit for tat”…

Windows to Russia!
The Rules of Accreditation and Stay of Correspondents of Foreign Mass Media on the Territory of the Russian Federation…
Breaking Free: I Broke Free to Russia – You can do it – Anywhere in the World…
Get a Visa to Russia… (Update – 2011)
Going To Ukraine and get a Visa to Russia…
Pickpocket: We All Think That It Will Never Happen To Us! (Part 3 – American Embassy Experience)

The Levada Center has done a survey in Russia! The survey was conducted 18-21 March 2011 among 1,600 Russians in 45 regions of the country and published on the anniversary of the explosions in the Moscow subway…

It basically said:

77% of Russians feel that another terrorist attack is eminent…
66% do not think that law enforcement can do anything about it…
Trust in the state as a protector against future terrorist attacks has been steadily declining since 2007…

So today it was announced that on this Monday (March 28, 2011), a high-precision air strike and ground operation destroyed a training base for suicide bombers in Ingushetia. The operations were launched by special services and the Investigative Committee in cooperation with the Defense and Interior Ministries.

Seventeen militants were killed including the leader of the North Caucasus militants Doku Umarov is thought to have also been killed in this operation…

Medvedev has praised highly the action and abilities of the strike…

Looks like to me  it was a good time to wipe out some militants for good public relations…

From what I understand several captured militants rolled over and told of the whereabouts of this particular camp for training suicide bombers. That set in motion the gears to take out this camp and hopefully catch Doku Umarov in the process. It is said that a strong fight was put up by the militants. But all the militants were killed in the operation. With several special services injured and killed…

We will have to wait to see if  Doku Umarov was amongst the dead…

Update: Doku Umarov was not amongst the dead per witnesses who know him? But evidently many of the bodies were in bad shape and they are having to do DNA testing to see if he is one of the dead. So he may be still alive…

Windows to Russia!
Coffee and a Rebel or a Terrorist…
Russian Video From Russia: Check this out on the bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport…
Doku Umarov Now Claims The Moscow Metro Bombings!
The “Caucasus Mujahideens” Claim Responsibility for The Moscow-St. Petersburg Train Crash!

Japanese authorities said that the situation in the nuclear power plant emergency is very serious. Nuclear engineers are trying to pump radioactive water from the first reactor. In the soil at the station found plutonium, and the particles of radioactive iodine were detected in the atmosphere over the U.S., China and Iceland…

Tuesday at the Japanese nuclear power plant  “Fukushima-1, continued work on the pumping radioactive water from the turbine hall of the first reactor. This was reported by the company-operator station, Tokyo Electric Power ( TEPCO). At the same time, experts can not resume pumping in turbine halls of the second and third reactors, as the tanks filled with radioactive liquid, and the radiation level in water exceeds the rate of 100 thousand times, reports the news. Work to restore electricity to the reactor has been suspended.  Previously, three workers to lay cables in the power, got the deadly radioactive dose…

Read More in Russia: http://www.gazeta.ru/subjects/zemletrasenie_v_japonii.shtml

Windows to Russia!
Chernobyl 25 years on: a poisoned landscape
Russian, U.S. experts to conduct joint stress tests at nuclear plants
Gazprom studies ways of delivering more LNG to quake-hit Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan…
Japan declares Nuclear Emergency as Russia Mulls Remembrance of Chernobyl…

Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot said on Tuesday it will begin regular commercial flights of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in mid-May.

The company has placed orders for 40 models of the aircraft, which will initially conduct flights between Moscow and the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

The Super-jet, championed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is designed to replace the Soviet-era mid-range planes that entered service in the 1960s and 80s.

Sukhoi is seeking to sell at least 800 planes, more than half to foreign airlines. It currently has over 120 confirmed orders, with the first Superjet to be delivered to neighboring Armenia’s air carrier Armavia by the end of April.

Windows to Russia!
Main news of Russia March 23, 2011…
Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s visit to France – 2010…
Russian News From Russia: August 21st, 2009!
Russian News From Russia: August 11th, 2009!
Russian News: 05-20-2008
Russian News: December 7th, 2007!