OPEC basket price rises to $110.84…


The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says that its basket price has increased by 2.4 % to $110.84 per barrel. The OPEC oil basket price reached a record high of $140.73 per barrel on July 3, 2008. In March of the same year the 12th type of crude was added to the OPEC oil basket.

Looking kinda bad on on the old home front with these kind of statistics. The old record is not that far away…

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Russia’s Reserve Fund will reach 1.5 trillion roubles by year end…


Once again Russia is able to stash surplus money again. The last few years have been rough and Russia has been relying on its reserve fund to make up budget shortfalls. But what really strikes me as important is that Russia has virtually no debt. Russia has come out of the depression stung but smiling still. She can and is and did put money away for a rainy day. That has been very instrumental to keeping on budget in the last few years…

So it was announced the other day that Russia’s Reserve Fund will again reach 1.5 trillion roubles by the end of 2011… (Link)

That is about 50 billion American dollars for those that need to know. I remember when it was 150 billion American dollars…

Stop and think a second. (You can scoff all you want and say that is small chump change.) But does America have a reserve fund? You know money for a rainy day? You know money for when the going gets tough and life deals a bad hand of cards…

Leading Foreign Holders of US Treasury Securities
December 2010 November 2010
Nation/Territory billions of dollars (est.) percent of total foreign holdings billions of dollars (est.) percent of total foreign holdings
China 1160.1 26.1% 1164.1 26.4%
Japan 882.3 19.9% 875.9 19.8%
United Kingdom 272.1 6.1% 242.5 5.5%
Oil exporters1 211.9 4.8% 204.3 4.6%
Brazil 186.1 4.2% 189.8 4.3%
Caribbean Banking Centers2 168.6 3.8% 159.3 3.6%
Hong Kong 134.2 3.0% 134.9 3.1%
Switzerland 107.0 2.4% 107.0 2.4%
Taiwan 155.1 3.5% 154.4 3.5%
Russia 151.0 3.4% 167.3 3.8%
Subtotal of top 10 holders 3,428.4 77.2% 3,399.5 77.0%
Grand Total 4,439.6 100.0% 4,413.8 100.0%

No – I did not think so, unless you count the above holders of USA debt as reserve funds by buying bonds and such…

I wish that America was doing as well as Russia was in the financial department. We could be – it is simple math and nothing else…

You spend only what you have and nothing more…

My grandma use to say, “If you need to borrow the money to buy it! You don’t need it…”

She was correct…

Windows to Russia!

Coffee and Russian Patience…


Once a long time ago in America. I was considered very patient. Compared to most people in America I was extremely patient. I worked in management and dealt with the service industry. Yes I was very patient…

But then I came to Russia. I found out that I am not patient compared to Russians…

When I first came to Russia, I was typical American. Get it done and get it done now. If you can’t get it done then what is the hold up and get after who ever is in the way of getting it done. So just get it done…[pullquote] …That cup of coffee…[/pullquote]The reason I am thinking of this today over my cup of coffee is because Sveta and I are working on the paperwork of our flat. Svet and I decided to buy our flat from her family. This is the flat that we have lived in over the last year or so and we really like it…

In Russia things have there own pace and speeding up that process is not in the cards. I really think that the hype of bribery and corruption is exaggerated by Western world people trying to speed up the processes of things in Russia. If you asked my mother in law about bribery and corruption. She would tell you that she has never paid any bribes in her life to get anything done in the Soviet Union or in Russia. In fact Sveta’s mother goes way back into the Soviet Union times. She would tell you that the bureaucracy is terrible but not corrupt. I believe her, and after all the dealings that we have done with government agencies and such, it proves her correct…

So lets get back to the purchase of the flat. Yesterday Sveta met with her mother and they progressed on the paperwork to accomplish the mission of us buying the flat. When Sveta came home after spending all day working on said paperwork. She explained what happened and now what the next steps are going to be…

To make a long story from being super long. I will just say that what has taken months to get to this point will take several more months to get farther along and maybe sometime with in the next year we will have all the paperwork done…

In my past, I would have said, “What is wrong with everything (or everyone)! Why can’t we (they) get it done?” I still have those feelings, but I have learned to smile and nod and say to myself, “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 – just be patient!” Then in typical American fashion, I could and would also say, “I could be dead before all this gets done!” Then Sveta would just look at me like I am some little puppy that wants to go outside and play and she would say, “Have patience. That is why you had heart attacks…”

So now I smile and say, “It will get done when it gets done!” I say under my breath that I just hope that, “The world does not come to an end before it gets done.” Sveta would just say at that remark, “Have patience, If the world came to an end, then who cares about the flat?”

She is right…    🙂

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Russian Says No Proof of Air Strikes in Libya…


Russia Today has released a video that we all know has the backing of the Kremlin. This video is making it clear that the Western propaganda about Air strikes on the Libyan people by Gaddafi just might be just that! Propaganda…

The reports of Libya mobilizing its air force against its own people spread quickly around the world. However, Russia’s military chiefs say they have been monitoring from space – and the pictures tell a different story.

­According to Al Jazeera and BBC, on February 22 Libyan government inflicted air strikes on Benghazi – the country’s largest city – and on the capital Tripoli. However, the Russian military, monitoring the unrest via satellite from the very beginning, says nothing of the sort was going on on the ground.

At this point, the Russian military is saying that, as far as they are concerned, the attacks some media were reporting have never occurred.

The same sources in Russia’s military establishment say they are also monitoring the situation around Libya’s oil pumping facilities.

Question or statement: Looks like Al Jazeera may be playing the field on this situation? I have watched their videos and see nothing that resembles what they say is happening…

Whose boots are under whose bed…

Windows to Russia!

Russia Says Slow Down On Libya Issues…


Good Gravy – You would have thought that Russia just stole the candy from the baby. The Western press is full of Bad Russia and no support for “No Fly Zone on Libya…”

It was no surprise to us here in Russia, that Russia supported the UN sanctions freezing Gaddafi’s assets and banning travel. But it would have been a surprise if Russia accepted the American push for military interference. Yesterday we found out where the Russian brakes are applied. The Russian ambassador to Nato in Brussels, Dmitry Rogozin, expressed strong Russian feelings about exterior military action. “If someone in Washington is seeking a blitzkrieg in Libya, it is a serious mistake because any use of military force outside the Nato responsibility zone will be considered a violation of international law,” he said. “A ban on the national air force or civil aviation to fly over their own territory is still a serious interference into the domestic affairs of another country.”

Does America want to attack Libya that bad?

Now lets see if Russia continues to do what is correct…

Windows to Russia!

Gaddafi addresses supporters in Tripoli…


Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi addressed his supporters at a televised public rally in Tripoli on Wednesday, according to the Libyan state TV…

It was Gaddafi’s third televised speech since the anti- government protests broke out in the country. The event was to mark the 34th anniversary of the launch of the Popular Committees.

Gaddafi reiterated that people exercised their authority through popular committees and popular conferences and he is merely a “symbol”.

“People are standing behind their symbol leader,” he said, insisting that he has handed authority to Libyan people since 1977.

He said the demonstrations which support him are not shown by the international media, adding that he is “not following any satellite television.”

His speech was interrupted several times by chanting from his supporters, saying that they swore they would not abandon their leader.

Gaddafi said that oil production in the North African country was now “at its lowest” due to unrest flamed by what he called Al- Qaida “cells.”

Gaddafi has vowed to fight to the “last man and last woman” to defend his country.

He also called for the United Nations and NATO to investigate the facts about what had happened in Libya, and said he saw a conspiracy to colonize Libya and seize its oil.

“Libya has not fallen, it is them who will fall,” Gaddafi said, adding that all those who had launched the attacks would be investigated and punished.

Gaddafi challenged the world to find out if any peaceful protesters were killed. “In America, France, and everywhere, if people attacked military stores and tried to steal weapons, they will shoot them,” he said in a speech.

He urged the United Nations and NATO to “set up fact-finding committees” to find out how people were killed.

He asked how the Security Council could decide resolutions on the basis of media reports, rather than proper facts. “What was happening in Libya was domestic and not international,” he said.

He said he was sure the Security Council would eventually agree that it had taken the wrong decision.

“Should that not be the case, all states would have lost their sovereignty and been subject to the Council,” he said.

Clashes between protesters and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi broke out when both sides were trying to gain control of the eastern oil export terminal of Marsa el-Brega.

The Libyan forces have launched air strikes on facilities that store weapons in areas controlled by the protesters.

(Something is just not right about the news coverage from the West. The news in the East has a totally different flair to it. Just like night and day. It is starting to remind me of the huge difference that happened when Georgia attacked South Ossetia…)

Windows to Russia!

Russia to build metro for India…


Russian specialists have signed a $430-million contract for building a subway system in one of India’s most densely populated cities – Chennai (former Madras). The overall scope of work provides for laying five underground lines, two of which will be entrusted to the Russian-Indian consortium, press secretary of the Mosmetrostroy construction company Alexandra Abramova said in an interview with the Voice of Russia.
Windows to Russia!

Will Russia Lift Visas For Foreigners?


RIA NovostiRussian border guards proposes lifting visas for foreignersRussian border guards proposes lifting visas for foreigners
01/03/2011 The Russian Federal Security Service’s border guard department proposed on Tuesday introducing a visa free travel regime for foreign citizens amid falling numbers of visiting tourists from the European Union.Read More >>

Golly if that is true! That would be interesting. I am sure that it is only for Europe and an American like me will still have to jump through hoops to get things done…

But it is a wonderful thought… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

Russia Has Police…


It is official and I am not sure really what I think about it yet. In my world the word police is not really all that wonderful of a term. But this is not my world that I was born into and these people here might just need a change…

The video is the best English video that I could find. they have lots of Russian videos but that won’t help most of you…

So for good or bad, here we go with another change in Russia…

Looks like Medvedev not Obama should have run for president on the change word… 🙂

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