The main points of what the Russian president said in his state of the nation address: Compliments of RIA:
1. Agreement on missile defense system will either be reached within the next decade or Russia will need to deploy new strike forces
2. Measures against major oil spills should be discussed globally
3. Bribe takers should be fined 100 times the amount of the bribe and intermediaries in bribe taking should also be penalized under Russia’s Criminal Code
4. Russia will discuss the scrapping of visas and Russia’s accession to the WTO at the Russia-EU summit in Brussels next week
5. At least 50 percent of saved budget funds as well as additional income to the federal budget should be spent on modernization
6. The rate of insurance premiums for Russia’s small businesses in 2011-2012 will be cut from 34 percent to 26 percent.
7. Russian authorities at all levels must get rid of property unrelated to their work
8. The government should prepare proposals on penalizing officials for not performing their duties in a timely manner
9. Russia should reduce annual inflation to 4-5 percent in the next three years
10. Use of maternity capital to pay mortgages must become the norm starting in 2011
11. There should be no orphans in Russia because the main goal for orphanages is to help families to adopt children
12. People convicted of child abuse will be banned from employment in the education sector
13. Care of children should be a key state task
14. All Russian regions should have child ombudsmen
15. A law on the criminal responsibility for the sales of alcohol to minors will be adopted in the near future
16. Russian families should be given a plot of land to build a house on, as well as tax breaks, after the birth of a third child
17. Russia must build infrastructure that ensures favorable living conditions for disabled people
18. Russia will spend 30 billion rubles (about $1 billion) on the joint research work of the country’s leading universities and major companies
19. Russia will increase the share of national products on the pharmaceutical market from 20 to 50 percent in the near future
20. Russia will spend 100 billion rubles on the development of children medicine in two years
21. Russia will allocate 2 billion rubles for teacher training
22. Heads of Russian regions should make annual reports on the environmental situation
23. Environmental issues should be discussed with relevant non-governmental organizations before the construction of infrastructure and other facilities
24. The Russian government and regional authorities should focus on the development of a military and patriotic movement in the country
After listening and looking at the whole speech. What RIA did just made sense. I have posted his whole speeches in the past but no one reads them…
While drinking that morning cup of coffee. I found myself thinking about an issue that crops up a lot. I found today that I have been censored from many of the videos that I was able to get to yesterday. I kept links on all the videos that I wanted to study that were on You Tube and such…
So for some reason? 🙂 I get the images above on most of the links I saved. That is if they are on YouTube and only about the Cable Document Dump situation…
Out of twenty videos I can only get to 5 of them without using a proxy. If I use a proxy, based out of America then I can get to them all…
So now I have to fall back, as I always have to do and use videos from this side of the world or use tricks to fool the system. I have written before about this and everyone acts like it is “No Big Deal”…
Well it is a big deal to me when I am censored by America because I live in Russia. It is a big deal to me when anyone is stopped from watching something because any government anywhere does not want people to see it…
I am also seeing my Google Searches on this Cable Dump issue being censored. What took only a few words to find now takes detailed and direct words. I have talked about this before also and everyone acts like it is “No Big Deal”…
What I am trying to say is that all the countries are censoring data. They pick and chose what they censor, when and how they want. One of the worst abusers is China but I am here to tell you America is sneaking up on the Chinese in censorship… I know that some will argue that the You Tube situation is because the owners set the block. Well that is not always true. Many of these links are to sites and channels that I have used for a long time. I would say that the people do not even know that someone has changed the setting on who can see their videos that they post. (For you see who really cares about if someone from Russia can see it or not? I care…)
Sveta has done some experimenting and contacted several owners of channels on YouTube in the past. We communicate because we wanted to know why we were all of a sudden not welcome anymore. Of course they had no idea that they had been marked in such a way. Several have moved to Yandex (Russian) and Baidu (Chinese) video because of it…
Sveta has all but thrown her hands in the air and given up over the video blog that we have. We made a mistake by relying on YouTube for the last few years and now we have a nightmare on our hands with so many videos blocked and censored. Sveta has worked at getting them replaced but posting new videos has suffered tremendously. You will see that I have had big issues with videos and I have turned to outside sources to store my video data because I was having videos just quit working for no reason. These are videos that were from YouTube…
I always think of this little quote, as I get upset and cranky about these things that are always told to me to be “No Big Deal!”
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
So as you read your articles and posts about how free you are. When you are being told how good everything is. Remember that I am seeing news and data related items that you can not see, just as you are seeing news and data related items that they block me from…
You sat by and watched 75 sites get taken down by the USA government. You watch while congress stews over, should the internet be stifled. You accept that videos can be blocked. You accept and accept because it does not involve you at that moment…
This is minor stuff compared to some of the issues going on in the world. But it is all going on while you are concentrating on the TSA and fondling issues. All these little freedoms are being destroyed under the wire…
Journalists’ rights in the United States are in question after an RT news team spent around 32 hours in jail for trying to film a rally. The peaceful protest against the military academy dubbed the ‘school of assassins’ had finished when officers handcuffed the crew covering the event and marched them to a police van. Our correspondent Kayleen Forde described her handling by police as ‘brutal’. She was later released on bail and brought us her account of the arrest…
Now Sveta and Boza will disagree with what I say, but I just love the Winter and one of the greatest things was the fact that Moscow has a lot of cold cold Winter…
They are calling for -20 Centigrade. tonight and tomorrow night. Then a possible -30 Centigrade. in a couple of days…
That cup of coffee is going to be better and better as the temperature spirals downwards… 🙂
“Party of Cold War” resist Russia-NATO rapprochement – envoy:Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin has been “astonished” by reports in the US media that the alliance has allegedly rejected Moscow’s proposals for a joint missile defense project.
Winter Moscow: opening of skating rink on Red Square:Winter has finally come to Moscow. The thermometers plunged to minus 15 degrees Celsius and Muscovites started preparing for the New Year holidays. On Sunday, a skating rink opened on Red Square. Photo: the first visitors skate on the open skating rink on Red Square…
WikiLeaks revelations not worth comment – Kremlin:The documents relating to Russia released on Monday by the WikiLeaks whistle blowing website do not merit comment, the Russian president’s press secretary Natalia Timakova said on Monday…
Investigators finalize suspect list in Krasnodar mass murderThe names of ten suspects have been released by the investigation team working on a horrific mass murder case in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, in which 12 people were killed, including four children…
Restaurant chain in McTrouble over rights of young staff:Prosecutors are to fine Russian branches of McDonald’s after inspections revealed “numerous violations of labor regulations and the rights of underage employees”…
Moldova torn between East and West seeks to end stalemate:Communists are leading in Moldova’s third parliamentary election in two years which is yet another attempt to break a political stalemate that has kept the former Soviet republic with only an interim president for over…
US embassy knew Georgians “moved forces” to South Ossetian border – WikiLeaksUS diplomats in Georgia knew Tbilisi concentrated military force prior to the war over South Ossetia in 2008, the classified documents exposed by WikiLeaks show… Over 300 reporters to cover Medvedev’s state-of-the-nation address:More than 300 reporters from Russia and other countries will cover President Dmitry Medvedev’s annual state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday. According to the president’s blog on Twitter, in his speech he will pay special attention to the problem of birth rates in Russia…
Russia produces more, imports less meat:
Russia increased its meat production by 12 percent and reduced meat imports by 20 percent in 2010, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told PM Vladimir Putin on Monday in Moscow. He also noted that meat prices are stable and haven’t risen.
Last Russian czar family items to be auctioned in SwitzerlandA unique collection belonged to the members of the last Russian Czar family will be auctioned in Switzerland on December 6. The collection includes 1,000 letters, 4,000 telegrams, about 200 postcards and 150 photos as well as silver, porcelain items and paintings…
I have downloaded the diplomatic cables that Wikileaks has posted and have spent hours reading them. The word appalling is not strong enough…
As long as the Wikileaks site survives the attacks it is getting, you can receive the data here at the link above. I understand that news agencies all over the East are planning on posting the information themselves. So killing the messenger is too late…
The Eastern and now Western press is tearing them apart and the articles are flying about all the things that have been said…
Now I see the western press has made some hard decisions and put there lives on the line over this. To be honest I am proud of them for doing this…
As the New York Times says: But the more important reason to publish these articles is that the cables tell the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money. They shed light on the motivations — and, in some cases, duplicity — of allies on the receiving end of American courtship and foreign aid. They illuminate the diplomacy surrounding two current wars and several countries, like Pakistan and Yemen, where American military involvement is growing. As daunting as it is to publish such material over official objections, it would be presumptuous to conclude that Americans have no right to know what is being done in their name. Read More >>>
‘Cablegate’ embarrasses US diplomats (theage.com.au)
In an event that is no less than a political meltdown for United States foreign policy, reporting on 251,287 leaked American diplomatic cables, many classified as secret or confidential, will be published this Monday in Germany by SPIEGEL and SPIEGEL ONLINE. Read More >>>
My grandma would have said to me several times in my life as I grew up: Never say something behind someones back that you would never say to their face. Only cowards do such things!
Looks like America got caught saying a lot of things behind our backs…
Pochep (Russian: Почеп) is a town in Bryansk Oblast of Russia, 84 km south-west of Bryansk. Population: 17,064. According to information Pochep is not a very exciting spot on the earth. The previous claim to fame is the Church of the Resurrection, built to a confident Baroque design by Antonio Rinaldi in the 1750’s…
Well another little said claim to fame has just come forward into the worlds eyes. Pochep has been put on the map now. I personally would wish for a better way to be put on the map…
Russia who is the proud owner of the worlds largest stockpile of chemical weapons and for that matter the largest stockpile of WMD’s. (weapons of mass destruction) Has opened a new plant designed to destroy the country’s large collection of cold war era chemical weapons…
Having signed on to The International Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia rendered almost half of its chemical weapons useless or destroyed. Russia is now facing a deadline in the year 2012 to have all of its chemical weapons disbanded and destroyed. So Pochep, which is the storage site to a vast amount of nerve agent about 7,500 tons or 20% of all the chemical weapons to be destroyed has been given the honors of a new facility to get rid of the weapons…
If Russia still has the worlds largest collection of chemical weapons and they have destroyed half. Could you imagine the vast quantity that they had before they destroyed the first half?
When I think about what I know about the American arsenal and then the more that I find out about the Russian (Soviet) side of the situation. I really do believe in miracles…
It is a miracle that we still have a planet to live on…
As you enjoy the food, drink and football games on this day of remembrance in America…
This will tell you what Wikipedia has to say about the holiday for America… (Link)
So to the whole world, whether you celebrate the holiday or not. Windows to Russia wants you to stop and think about what we all have to be thankful for…
Took a walk with the dog. As I walked I was thinking about what the reason would be that Russia Today would bring up the subject of America and bomb shelters? So I walked and did some thinking’s…
When I got home. I got my morning cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to look over what the world has been doing. I found that, what with South Korea instigating (also admitting that they did), the North Koreans into a mini war! That in Russia’s eyes is more than a little serious. It is a situation that has set off alarm bells in the Kremlin…
Then I was struck with the remembrance of an article that took off like hotcakes and set records for viewers on Windows to Russia…
America and the world became infatuated with the article called:
So then it made sense after the millions of views that the Russia Today video got slammed with. That they would expound on the subject of bomb shelters. It seems that Russia is in a heated frenzy to build said “Bomb Shelters”. So now they ask America – Are You Ready!
Lets jump back to the video and think about the era that it was made from. That is the era that I have mentioned numerous times on Windows to Russia. The era of the Cold War, The Soviet Evil Empire, Death from the sky and on and on and on. The video has some great actual clips from many videos that they have put together and created a 4 minute video that will make you think. Sometimes I question Russia Today’s anti American motives but I never question their purpose and reasons for what they print…
Russia Today prints the facts of life as the Kremlin sees it and I use that to my advantage to help me understand what is happening in the whole world. Because what they put out has meaning from a very powerful source…
Let me touch upon an interesting subject. (At least for me it is interesting) The last few times that I have been in the metro of Moscow. I have seen that they are working on the huge nuclear blast doors that seal all entrances to the Metro. These are very thick steel and concrete doors that are hydraulically operated to close after everyone gets in to safety…
I have seen fresh grease on hinges. I have seen several doors being partially tested. I have seen the removal of cover plates that hide the old doors and the installation of movable cover-plates to allow the doors to operate again or better. Every station that I have seen, has these doors and from what I can tell they are being maintained…
So as the Russia Today article asks: Are Americans prepared for a nuclear strike?
You have to wonder is this a chess move from an enemy to cause issues in America or is this a sincere question of concern, that comes from an ally who may see a reason for protection anew on such a “Cold War” level again…
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Dear friends, Over the past two years we have been gradually implementing our program to transform the Russian political system. The goals of this transformation are clear; I have talked about them repeatedly. What do we want to achieve? We simply want to make our political system more fair, more flexible, more dynamic, and more open to renewal and development. It must enjoy the confidence of our electorate.
It is no secret that for some time now signs of stagnation have begun to appear in our political life and stability has threatened to turn into stagnation. And such stagnation is equally damaging for both the ruling party and opposition forces. If the opposition has no chance at all of winning a fair fight then it degrades and becomes marginal. If the ruling party never loses a single election, it is just coasting. Ultimately, it too degrades, like any living organism which remains static.
For these reasons it has become necessary to raise the degree of political competition. But our main task, the task of any democracy, is to improve the quality of popular representation, make sure that the political majority is not just static, or rather that it does not become a majority consisting of actors and dummies. The task is to make sure that the ruling party has both rights and responsibilities, and does not simply act as a supplement to executive power, that it plays a full part in shaping this very executive power. This is not required merely for the ruling party to feel good about itself. A party is a means, a political tool for ensuring popular representation. Every party represents its electorate, but in the case of a ruling party, it represents the majority of voters, hence the exercise of their rights and respect for their opinions is a fundamental principle of democracy.
No less important – and even more difficult – is the task of ensuring the rights of minorities. This is another fundamental democratic principle. Whatever its specifics, a political system must be so designed that the views of all, including the very smallest social groups, can be heard and taken into account. Ideally, the voice of every single person should be heard. In this regard the system must be transparent, responsive to everybody.
Everyone should know that he or she has kindred spirits in representative bodies. This, by the way, is the essence of representative democracy, when someone represents the interests of a significant number of people. There are people with similar beliefs, views, and interests; there are those who are not indifferent to what happens. So, these minority representatives have the opportunity to criticize the ruling majority, convey the opinions and suggestions of minorities to the officials and to the public.
Finally, I believe that political reforms should not result in chaos and the paralysis of democratic institutions; as I have stressed on numerous occasions, they must strengthen, not destroy, democracy. Therefore in the article Go Russia!, which I wrote last year, I described the method and style of these reforms: reforms must be gradual, but steady. Today I can say that over the past two years we have gradually – but nevertheless steadily – advanced towards that goal. As I see it, we have made decent progress.
At the beginning of the current autumn session of the State Duma we finally completed the adoption of a package of bills that I submitted to the Duma in 2009 and, accordingly, in 2010. I explained the need for such laws in my addresses to the Federal Assembly. In 2009, laws which provided for major amendments to multiparty electoral systems on a national scale, at the federal level, entered into force.
This year, similar changes were extended to the regional level. I have talked about this so I will not bore you by listing all the laws we have adopted, even though it is interesting from a professional point of view. There are many of them and their names are quite cumbersome, but their essence – or as lawyers say, their subject matter – should be clear to every voter and citizen. Let me list the key things.
The first thing we did was minimize the risks of election manipulation. During elections fraud is not permissible and we understand that. To this end we normalized early voting procedures and the use of absentee ballots (representatives of our opposition parties repeatedly drew my attention to the subject); for such illegal manipulations with absentee ballots criminal penalties have been introduced. The most flagrant violations occurred in this very field.
Besides, we reduced the human factor in vote counting, and we will reduce it further. Already this year, electronic devices will be installed in approximately five percent of polling locations (it is an expensive undertaking), by 2012 the figure will be 15 percent and in 2015, 100 percent – but it will bring our electoral system up-to-date. The result of our efforts is worth the money spent. I hope that, ultimately, all taxpayers will appreciate this.
Second. All parties are now guaranteed equal access to state-run media at both the federal and regional levels, which was another regular request to me by representatives of opposition parties. Electoral commissions must monitor the implementation of these guarantees. More so, equality should not be a mere declaration, as it used to be, but real, as measured in hours, minutes and even seconds of airtime. Parties should also benefit from equal rights to use various premises for meetings and campaigning. These rights have also been much debated.
Third. Parties that win a majority in regional parliaments now have the exclusive right to propose candidates for governors – that is, for heads of regions, territories or republics – to the President. In this way, the majority of the electorate has the opportunity to participate in the formation of executive power in its region via the party it supports. Ultimately, it is the party for which you vote that proposes a gubernatorial candidate to the President. Therefore, the rights of the majority of the population have received concrete substance, consisting in the right to form local executive authorities.
Fourth. A number of measures to protect minority rights have been taken, too. In addition to the equal media access that I just mentioned, the opposition is guaranteed certain senior positions in regional parliaments. The number of signatures of party supporters required for registering to participate in elections has been reduced.
In practice, the threshold for allowing party representatives into all levels of parliament has been lowered to five percent. In general votes should not be wasted – those parties who scored more than five but less than seven percent must be represented. And we shall not stop there, but rather continue to improve this institution and expand these opportunities.
Fifth. Our regions were ordered to harmonize the proportional numbers of their representative bodies, because in Russia one region, a small region for example, might have one deputy representing 10,000 people while in another region one deputy represents 300,000 voters. This is not proportional. In addition, too many deputies are too expensive for local budgets. But too few deputies means that it is very difficult to take into account the different views of voters. I hope that we have found a balance at present.
We changed the principles of regional representation in the Federation Council. Now a member of the upper house must be a deputy who has been elected to regional or local bodies, in other words, a member of our upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, must be a person elected by local residents who know who he is, know him well, while he, in turn, knows their needs and their problems.
I hope that our political system has been improved quite significantly as a result of these adjustments. I am absolutely sure that it has become more open and flexible because of them. Ultimately, it has also become more fair. Regional elections that were held in October proved that complaints were far less than, say, six months ago. Both the public and opposition parties were more composed and more calm in their evaluation of the election results.
Of course, we heard some criticisms and that’s fine, it’s as it should be. Still, there was less criticism and this is encouraging.
And one more point I made not long ago. Our democracy is imperfect and we are absolutely aware of this. But we are still at the beginning of the road. The most important thing is that we are not standing still: we are going forward.
Windows to Russia!
Our democracy is not perfect but we continue to move forward – Medvedev (rt.com)
Medvedev: it is necessary to raise the degree of political competition (rt.com)
Moscow mayor joins ruling party’s supreme council bureau (rt.com)
The main points of what the Russian president said in his state of the nation address: Compliments of RIA:
“Party of Cold War” resist Russia-NATO rapprochement – envoy:Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin has been “astonished” by reports in the US media that the alliance has allegedly rejected Moscow’s proposals for a joint missile defense project.