Sipping Coffee in Russia and Watching the Turmoil…

It is strange to watch the world from Russia. I sit here and drink my coffee and watch the world in exceedingly more turmoil (or lack of balance) over the last few months. What I see is 13 or 14 ++ (Could it be twenty countries?) countries with huge uprisings and expressions – bordering in most countries as riots. It is strange in Russia because the news is so unbiased and just encompasses everything. Russia just tells it all. If the Western press prints it. Russia also tells it. It is their way of showing both sides of what is happening. Sometimes there is so much volume of news that you forget more than you remember. The Eastern press is an increasing wealth of information that sometimes overwhelms you with its blatant bluntness…

What countries are having fun around now? Well USA, Egypt, Jordan, Rome, Yemen, Sydney, Tunisia, London, Seoul, Libya, Algeria, Spain, Iran and Greece. For starters. (Link) There also are multiples of other countries staring in the eyes the same situation as a reality and possibility of country disruption. Including Russia in the Southern part, known as the Caucasus…

Just in the last few days. I see an Israel that has asked the USA for $20 billion in military aid because of What is happening in the Middle East and let me tell you Israel is feeling distressing emotion at what is manifesting itself in their next door neighbors. I watch as 600 people attempt to citizen arrest a judge in Britain. (Link) They were within their rights, in my eyes. The next fear that is being mongered in the press is that Saudi Arabia will have a revolt. (Link) Or has it already begun there? I see a world that interferes in other countries business (Link) as if they have a right to. Such as arming the opposition groups of countries that we do not like. (Link) Yea we like to arm the opposition (rebel or terrorist makes no difference) as if it is a good thing to do. I see that we don’t care if some countries kill all their people. But care if other countries do. I see that we allow some countries to kill people in other countries with no repercussions and not allow some countries to kill people in other countries. I also see a world that is flat broke and no food, while we as humans play war all over the world…

Is it my imagination or is the human race looking more like a virus or parasite on the planet earth than part of the ecological balance of things? Is it my imagination or has it always been this way (past) and we are just not smart enough to learn any lessons?

I see a world of no balance and hence we have created turmoil…

tur·moil/ˈtərˌmoil/

Noun: A state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty.

Windows to Russia!

OK – Windows to Russia Comments Opened Back Up…

I received a lot of e-mails (lots) asking that I open the comments back up. In fact I was given by one e-mail a source, to a place, to report my “Washington DC bad mouth brigade” and was told that things would be better. I had another high school in America that wanted to be able to post comments easily…

So I will allow the comments to be opened back up again. But comments will be moderated. Everything will be moderated. I dislike the cussing and the death threats. They will no longer be allowed to get past go…

So we will try the open concept on comments again. Hence the revamping of the template. I have created a different comment system based on what I personally could code and we will see if it still keeps the spam out. The only step I am trying hard to keep from doing is putting a Captcha on the system. I really dislike those on a comment system. I will say, Google Friends-connect really kept the spam out…

While I was revamping the comments I decided to solve a few template issues. Such as flexible width and such. It was causing me headaches trying to implement posts…

You asked politely,  I listen…

Thanks Readers…

Windows to Russia!

Will Gaddafi Step Down?

RIA NovostiMuammar GaddafiRebels give Gaddafi 72 hours to step down

18:12 08/03/2011 The head of the rebel National Libyan Council said on Tuesday the opposition would not pursue President Muammar Gaddafi for war crimes if he steps down within 72 hours, Al Jazeera said.Read More >>>

Interesting…

Windows to Russia!

Fruit Varenye (Preserves)

Making varenye at home
Boiling Raspberry Varenye...

One of the things that is plentiful in Russia is berries. When in the village it is a pleasure to walk the woods and old village roads and trails. In these areas is always an abundance of berries. Just carry a plastic bag with you and several walks later, you will have enough berries to produce a Winters worth of Jams…

Making and canning your own Varenye (runny style jam) the Russian way is very easy. Just follow the recipe to see how to do it. This works equally well for strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, cranberry, blueberry, boysenberry, dewberry, gooseberry, loganberry, marionberry, peach, plum, damson plum, tayberry, youngberry and etc etc etc. Make by individual fruit or mixing them to make a berry jam…

Lets Make – Raspberry (any fruit will do) Varenye (Jam):

2.27 kg (5 lbs) freshly picked raspberries

1.5kg sugar

Several big jars, sterilized in boiling water (sterilize the lids as well and make sure very dry)

Making:

Clean raspberries. (remove stems and leaves)

Use a large bowl.

Dump the raspberries and pour all the sugar on top and cover all berries.

You may mix lightly but be gentle and not destroy the berries.

Let the mixture sit until the berries begin to produce fluid. This can take anywhere from 4-8 hours.(or longer if too cold)

Put the mixture over a low heat and warm until the sugar dissolves, then raise the heat and bring to a boil for 1-3 minutes. (Do not burn…)

Leave to cool, then transfer into jars. Make sure to wait until the varenye stops steaming. It’s also important that the jars are completely dry, as moisture will cause mold to grow.

Close (seal with lids) the jars and place them into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Make sure that boiling water is over the top of the lids…

Remove from boiling water and set on a towel on the counter…

When the jars cool to the touch, store in a dark, dry place until needed for that sweet tooth. (Most Russians save Varenye for the Winter time to enjoy this treat of the senses…)

Eating:

In Russia, they eat it in a little bowl with hot tea, and many use it a a sweetener in the tea. I eat it on bread and pancakes, but it would also make a good topping for waffles, since the berries are floating in a homemade syrup…

PS: This can be used with apples, lemons, oranges, plums and or any fruit to make a wonderful jam. Store bought is just as good and I make a wonderful Kiwi Jam from the store bought variety. So even those stuck in the big cities can have homemade jams. I was also raised to use paraffin to seal the top with. Mason jars are great but to do it the Russian way just follow the above recipe.  It works for them…

 

Windows to Russia!

In Russia Odd Not Even Number of Flowers…

Remember: Today is the 8th of March…

International Women’s Day…

Remember also that you never send even numbers of flowers…

In Russia, odd numbers of flowers are given for romantic occasions. You should send 11 roses instead of the usual dozen. Really, any odd number is good and the more flowers in the bouquet the more attention is generated. Even numbers of flowers are only given at funerals…

Also don’t forget your woman’s mother and daughter. This is the act is of a true gentleman and is sure to get the hugs and kisses of your woman…

Windows to Russia!

Libya and the Oil Troubles…

Crude oil futures continued to rise toward $107 a barrel as unrest in Libya continues and growing fear unrest could spread to other oil-producing states grew deeper.

Crude prices grew by $2.45 to $106.87 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange having earlier hit a day high of $106.98. Futures trading rallied 2.5 percent on March 4, pushing the rise over the past week to 6.4 percent.

Windows to Russia!

Blogging In Russia…

Blogging has become a national hobby in Russia, with Russians among the most enthusiastic users of social networking sites and other new Web 2.0 media.

President Dmitry Medvedev is just one of 642,681 active Twitter users in Russia. The number of bloggers in the Russian LiveJournal segment has exceeded two million, making Russia the second “LiveJournal-addict” country after the United States with its five million bloggers.

With pressure on media to always be the first with news, many wonder whether the rise of blogging is a threat to traditional journalism.

This question was debated by Russian media bosses at a Vedomosti business daily’s annual conference on media business in Moscow on Thursday.

News agencies inevitably lose the battle with bloggers in breaking news first, said Farit Khusnoyarov, development director of Medialogia, which produces and sells online media monitoring to press services of companies, including the Presidential Executive Office.

“Twitter overtook the information agencies while covering the Domodedovo blast,” Khusnoyarov said, referring to the terrorist attack at Moscow’s largest airport on January 24 when 36 people were killed and dozens were injured.

The two leading Russian news agencies, Interfax and RIA Novosti, were delivering the news with almost an hour delay, he said.

The first online reaction to the attack came from a blogger nicknamed laddove, who reported about the attack just five minutes after the initial blast, at 4:37 p.m.

RIA Novosti reported the incident at 4:47, but did not describe it as a terrorist attack, as the origins of the explosion were still unclear.

RIA journalists near the scene of the attack reported “fumes” filling the arrival zone, but “had not rushed to describe it as a terrorist attack as the bloggers did,” RIA Novosti Deputy Editor-in-Chief Valery Levchenko said.

Similarly, Interfax reported at 4:57 p.m. that a “loud bang” had been heard in the airport’s arrival zone.

“In the first Twitter messages people asked where RIA and Interfax were. People were waiting for information to be structured and checked,” said Yury Pogorely, the head of the economics service at Interfax.

Speed versus accuracy is an eternal dilemma for journalists, and citizen journalism together with digital technology has only made it worse. Videos and photos posted online tend to be trusted because “the camera never lies,” although images can be just as misleading as text is if it is misinterpreted.

One factor boosting the media news race is the need to hit top positions in search lists like Google. Being first and grabbing the top positions in search engine results in the number of views is what makes the media attractive for advertisers.

Many media experts think a few minutes’ delay in waiting for an accurate story means little to the average reader. Readers still demand more reliable and in-depth content than a simple blog.

Vedomosti website’s Digital Publisher, Viktor Saxon, said the influence of bloggers on the media market was over-exaggerated. “Bloomberg and Reuters monitor the stock market and no Twitter post can trigger a collapse in a company’s stocks.”

“It is a great myth that in the future there will be no need for journalists since people will write everything themselves,” said Vladimir Sungorkin, editor-in-chief of the popular Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. “They will not write worth a damn.”

“People are irresponsible, they tend toward wishful thinking…we will not receive any clear information about what happened from ordinary people,” Sungorkin added.

Media experts, like any ordinary journalist, love to argue, make forecasts and calculate profitability, but as long as the number one Russian blogger is the Russian president, citizen journalism will flourish. Many news agencies have already hired dedicated staff to monitor the blogosphere.

MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti, Anastasia Markitan)

Windows to Russia!

Russian News (03/07/2011)

NATO not to interfere in Libya

from Voice of Russia, News
NATO does not intend to interfere in the Libyan events, though a real civil war is going on there, NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says. Still, he adds, any further developments are possible, and NATO countries are getting ready to defend themselves if this turns out to be necessary.

Russian skier wins European Cup

The Russian skier Aleksander Bondar has won the European Cup in freestyle cross-country skiing near Murmansk in northern Russia. There were a total of seven races.He came first in two and was sixth in one. It is the first time that a Russian competitor has won this award.

Russia, Poland mull easier border crossing

Russia and Poland are close to allowing free border crossing to residents of their adjacent border areas. These areas would include the entire Russian region of Kaliningrad. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told this to the media Monday after discussing the matter with Kaliningrad Governor Nikolai Tsukanov.

Putin’s playing piano, singing in English pays off for hospitals

Sponsors have been found to provide three hospitals with new medical equipment after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin participated in a fundraising event, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday.

Russia sets up $10 bln fund to attract foreign investors

Russia is setting up a $10 billion fund to boost investments from foreign companies into the national economy, the Financial Times newspaper reported Monday.

Russia wins women’s European track-and-field championships

Russian girls have won the European track-and-field championships in Paris. The have grabbed five gold medals out of the six, and they boast a total of 15 different medals. The French proved the second-best, with the Germans coming in third.

Russian wins silver at European air gun competition

Alexander Sokolov of Russia has won the silver medal at the European air gun competition in Brescia, Italy. Peter Szidi of Hungary won the competition, with Italian Niccolo Campriani grabbing the bronze medal.

Moscow nightclub shrugs off warnings, throws ‘Putin Party’

A Moscow nightclub has held an event entitled “Putin Party. I want the Prime Minister” regardless of earlier warnings by the prime minister’s press secretary that the government would seek legal advice on the possible illegal use of Putin’s name.

One dead as six cars collide between Moscow and St. Petersburg

One person died and three were injured as six cars collided on the highway linking Russia’s two largest cities.

Europe’s pot of Islamic debate is boiling

from RT by RT
Germany’s new interior minister said Islam “does not belong” in the country. With thousands of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa fleeing the violence in their home countries, Europe is facing a profound…

Despite NATO invitation, Russia still waiting to join Euro missile defense

from RT by RT
Two years ago, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow where they announced a “reset” in relations between their respective nations.
Windows to Russia!

How Is That Reset as Russia Ponders it…

RIA NovostiHillary Clinton and counterpart Sergei Lavrov“Reset” rings hollow after two years, say analysts…

19:24 06/03/2011 Two years on, the “reset” in U.S.-Russian ties has changed the tone of relations, but the “hollow” veneer of its overall success does not mask enduring mistrust between the countries and their different national interests, say analysts.Read More >>>

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Breaking Free: I Broke Free to Russia – You can do it – Anywhere in the World…

Breaking Free [FULL] from Matador Network on Vimeo.

Wow what a video! I found this wonderful site Matador Network. The worlds largest independent travel Magazine…

The video is called “Breaking Free” and it may not be about Russia but it is about Expats like me and they talk about Breaking Free… http://matadornetwork.com/

Ditching routine, comfort zones, and their own personal fears, they have sought and found vibrant, purpose-driven lifestyles to inspire viewers of all ages.

Filmed in diverse locations around the world, each hour-long episode investigates how these remarkable people started over, understanding the unique challenges, goals and passion that allowed them to follow their heart.

Windows to Russia!