Windows to Russia

Is This a Pidgeon hole...

I read several articles today from other blogs and websites. They were complaining about the lack of hot water in the cities every year in Russia due to cleaning the systems out…

It then dawned on me that we were almost done with our turn at no hot water…

It also dawned on me that I never cared this year. I have been taking cold showers and washing dishes in water that you heat in a pot. I never even blinked an eye at doing this. Then I realized that I have almost totally adapted…

I hear and talk to newbies to Moscow and they are mortified the first time they see the famous squat toilets at the rail station. They literally scream when they lose hot water in the summer for a week to two weeks. They gasp when they are told to filter all drinking water. They wanna go home when they find that ice cubes are part of another world they left behind…

Many newbies never make it and I have never understood why. Life is very good here but it is different and that makes it even better than good…

So I smiled today at the realization that I have become a Muscovite sorta-be!

I even think the pigeons are wonderful now…

Windows to Russia!

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• About Russia – Tidbits of information about Moscow! (windowstorussia.com)

Hello,

Putin was in an interview and when he was asked this question below about how fun his job is he was caught off guard a little bit. I really do not think that he expected this question…

Q: “What’s the funnest part of your job? Not funniest, but funnest.”

Putin: “I’m not working in a circus, you know! There’s not much fun in my job. Well, you got me. I haven’t found anything that would be fun. No, I don’t think there’s anything fun about my job. The funniest thing was your question!”

“I’m not working in a circus, you know!”

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

This is a cool video of the new high speed train going from Moscow to St. Petersburg. This was just a trial run and it will be a few months wait before allowing regular passengers to ride.

This will be a blast when it is official – Svet and I are going to St. Petersburg and have a visit then… 🙂

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

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A reprieve happened today. The air cleared a little bit and the sun poked her nose at us today. That does not mean that all is good but it does mean that there still is a possible life without smoke. This let up in smoke will most likely be short lived because over 520 fires are estimated to be blazing across Russia as I write this post…

The fires have also surrounded Moscow…

The smoke is reported to have even carried as far as St Petersburg. I read a letter from someone that said they woke this morning in St. Petersburg the sky was dimmed and the smell of smoke drifted in the air…

I find the responses of the Government interesting and the fact that they promise to give everyone new homes that lost them in these fires is intriguing to me. It seems that many have received compensation money already and that within three months they will have new homes…

Sveta was telling me that it looks like the new homes will be flats instead of the village homes that many lived in. The flats will have running water, sewer and other amenities. Don’t be puzzled by what I have said. Most villages have no running water and use outhouses as the norm. So this is a huge step up in the world for many of these people…

I have read many angry letters by people on Live-journal and I sense some frustrated non believing people. I really do not blame them because they have just watched all their possessions go up in flames and nothing could stop it. The heat and fires make non believers out of the best of us…

But the excitement of a new home is in the air and if the Kremlin fulfills its promise you could have a better ending then the beginning of this tragedy…

So Windows to Russia will keep an eye on the progress of rebuilding the villages and see if what has been promised will come to bear fruit…

I think it will…

Windows to Russia!

• Smoke on Smoke on Smoke on Moscow… (windowstorussia.com)
• Have You Ever Thought a Country Could Burn Up… (windowstorussia.com)
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• Russia Battles Her Fires… (windowstorussia.com)

In fact, the year of 2008 is the sequel of 1939. Hitler was in Germany. Enormous pains were taken by the West to strengthen Adolph in hope to set him against the USSR; Mussolini and Spanish Fascists were treated kindly with the same purpose, while Hungary was almost considered an example of statehood.

With an approach like that, one would surely venture too far, and what goes around, comes around. There is a feeling that the western leaders’ seats are occupied by historical D-students: time has taught them no lesson.

Assessing the situation that developed around Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the years before the August 2008 events and after them, one can say that Saakashvili is just an axe in the hands of an executioner. He could not have acted differently. A punisher does not ask why burning this or that village; he just executes an order, which was clear enough: formally, “set up constitutional order”, while in fact, “destroy everything pro-Russian and create maximum tension for Moscow”; use all means, do not bother about people and do not hesitate to be cruel, for we’ll cover you. As to the West, it has got rich experience in contemporary history.

After a cease-fire agreement that did not at all fit in with US’ plans, Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia under their owners’ pressure. It resembles Serbian Kraina when Serbians approved a cease-fire agreement and Z4 plan and the next day, under US’ pressure, Croatia attacked Kraina. Knin was on fire; the territory was mopped up within a few days and the “international community” kept silent.

The same scenario was repeated in 2008: destroying everything “alien”. This time, there will also be someone else to blame or to be secretly condemned. Things would not have gone as far as collisions should Saakashvili not be America’s servant. However, CIA taught him not to be sorry for Russian or Georgian victims, and it is important that Georgian Nazis will continue pursuing their aggressive policy.

Collisions were triggered directly from the USA; it was Washington’s fighting reconnaissance to see how far Russia will go. Georgia is just one of American colonies used as a mousetrap. US would attack Russia themselves instead of doing it via Georgia if they had a chance to.

Saakashvili picked the day when the Olympics started in Beijing for attacking the peacefully sleeping Tskhinval and Russian peacekeepers. On August 5, Georgian Ministry of Defense announced “Olympic armistice” implying the cease of any military actions seven days before the games and for as long as they last. “Not only does Georgia support this principle; it is generally opposed to any military actions at any time. Georgia considers negotiations to be the only way of conflict settlement”, – the statement of Ministry of Defense went.

Treachery is one of Fascism’s traits. Having lost the military operation, Saakashvili has been fighting in the information sphere for two years. It looks like Washington supplies him with theses. Mishiko has always lied, is lying still and will go on lying – there is nothing else he can do.

For instance, he asserts that in August 2008, the South-Ossetian capital represented a “military camp” and its assault at the beginning of the military conflict with Russia was justified. Saakashvili made it clear that he saw no need for international investigation of the crimes committed by the Georgian Army in South Ossetia, having stressed that Georgia has already performed the necessary proceedings: “It must not look like there was a small and helpless Tskhinval, as Russians would present it, and we came at night all of a sudden and cruelly attacked the sleeping town. The population had been evacuated before the full-scale intrusion, for the people would have become an obstacle for the troops advancing along a narrow road. The town was turned into a military camp. Russian intruders were already there, laying down fire at our positions”.

Let me translate his words: first, it is none of your business whether we kill our own people; second, Ossetians were crushed by Russian armor spoiling for a fight with the Georgians. The madman went on: “It’s a pity we could not apply disproportionate force against them: we’ve got neither disproportionate, nor proportionate force. Our forces were incomparably poor…”, – Saakashvili confessed, making it clear that he could achieve the desired victory by increasing the forces to overlap the last-year figures. That is a statement to think about.

The president is longing for revenge just like any Fascist. Blood is again going to be shed in this marvelous nook. Saakashvili will end up bad but what does it have to do with the people having to live under a rain of lead?

Saakashvili and company believe it all happened as they said. Here is a full copy of Doctor Goebbels’ cynical verbal exercises: “You may lie only when you will definitely not be caught, or will be caught too late”, and Saakashvili was virtually found out in a lie.

The main thing is that Georgian authorities have committed a crime against humanity, which is confirmed by confessions of captive Georgian soldiers, citizens of Tskhinval who survived the leaden hell, and by many other things. There is evidence of the official Tbilisi’s cannibal policy, and retaliation is inevitable.

And that was not provided for in the West’s plans. The reports, investigations and opinions are only aimed at placing Saakashvili and Russia on the same shelf and proving that both parties are wrong. A mean tactics that is sure to fail. The words of President of the Nixon Center Dmitry Sims are quite illustrative here: “All the leaders in Obama’s team, Clinton, Gates, and General Johns see it clearly that the war was launched by Georgia. This fact has been known not only from the European Union’s recent report, from observers staying in Georgia and from independent journalists’ investigations but also from a whole group of Georgian officials who have left Saakashvili’s administration since then”.

Thus, American administration has got no doubts the attack was initiated by Georgian side upon Saakashvili’s personal order. The purpose of the war was not only to free South Ossetia for Georgians but also to “chase”, as Saakashvili put it in his talk with Burdzhanadze, Russian troops “on their rusty tanks” and demonstrate Russia’s “impotence” to the entire world.

In other conversations, he admitted that it was his personal desire to send Putin about his business.

Should we expect any positive steps from Georgia in future? No. Saakashvili is one of those who do not like to make it another way and does not understand the way he can behave under the circumstances. The end they set for him justifies the means they gave him. He is driven far aside and has got his crimes ahead of him. There will be no repentance.

Georgia Times

By Vladimir Anokhin vice president of the Academy of geopolitical problems…

• Putin Responds to Clinton’s Repeat Performance… (windowstorussia.com)
• Georgia expands military budget amid rising paranoia (rt.com)
• ROAR: Medvedev’s visit to Abkhazia “marks Russia’s presence in the region” (rt.com)
• Here comes the new war with Georgia (barbaradiamond.blogspot.com)
• War and peace (bbc.co.uk)
• Moscow calls on world to stop selling weapons to Georgia – official (rt.com)
• Clinton Assails Russian Occupation of Georgia Regions (businessweek.com)
• Moscow vows support for breakaway Georgian regions (dailycaller.com)
• Russian president visits Abkhazia (bbc.co.uk)
• “Medvedev on Georgia” and related posts (robertamsterdam.com)

(Views expressed in this article reflect the author’s opinion and do not necessarily reflect those of Windows to Russia. Windows to Russia does not  vouch for facts and quotes mentioned in the story)

Illegal Skyscraper...

The builder called  “House on Mosfilmovskaya” has for the first time in the history of Moscow, begun to disassemble the top of an already constructed 47-story skyscraper. The skyscraper was built illegally to specs and  exceeded the parameters agreed upon with the city authorities according to original plans. Moscow said lower it or else…

So they have already completely disassembled the horizontal part of the concrete roof and removed part of the piers to support it. Builders have also pulled down part of the cladding and glazing, which covered literally 5-6 floors.

During the construction of the residential complex “House on Mosfilmovskaya” stuck in  “a flagrant violation” – a 40 meters increase in the height of the building.  The exact number of floors the building would be lowered has not been specified at this time.

You may ask why did they try to get away with this?

Because price of 1 square meter in this building is from 217 thousand to 320 thousand rubles. Building was scheduled to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Oops… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

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Thought that I would pass on a little tidbit of information about what is called the Pole of Cold! This thinking came about because a good reader (Ludmila) of ours commented about the -59 C. weather we where having in Siberia. So we started to look around….

The Northern Pole of Cold: There are several places in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia, Russia which vie for the honor to be considered the “Pole of Cold”. These are Verkhoyansk (located at 67°33′N, 133°23′E) and Oymyakon (located at 63°15′N, 143°9′E).

In the Southern hemisphere, the location of the Pole of Cold is much more clearcut: in Antarctica near the Russian (formerly Soviet) Antarctic station Vostok at 78°28′S, 106°48′E. On July 21, 1983, this station recorded a temperature of −89.2 °C (−129.8 °F) This is the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

Russia is a vast country comprising a large part of eastern Europe and the whole of northern Asia. The traditional geographical division between Europe and Asia is the Ural mountains, which split the country from north to south in about longitude 60°E. The whole of northern Russia is within the Arctic Circle.

Weather Warnings That Are Being Issued!!!:

Moscow – Expected temperatures of as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius (minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit) in Siberia prompted weather warnings from Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry on Wednesday.

The ministry warned the unusually cold weather could kill, cause frost-bite, cut electricity to homes, disrupt transport, increase the rate of car accidents and even destroy buildings across Siberia.

In a statement, the ministry ordered regional departments to be on high alert and to contact local administration officials to prepare for the extreme chill expected to last until January 21.

Average temperatures in large Siberian cities in January usually range between minus 15 degrees Celsius and minus 39 degrees Celsius, according to data from the US site weatherbase.com.

Two people have already died in the region of Irkutsk in central Siberia, Russian state television reported. More than 30 others have been hospitalised in Irkutsk with frost-bite.

The freezing temperatures have also caused overloading of electricity grids because of heaters being switched on. That caused cut-offs to thousands of homes in the regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk, state media reported.

Schools have been closed down in at least four regions because of the cold. – AFP

What does Weather in Russia Mean?
In this large country climate ranges from cold Arctic conditions to hot desert and subtropical lands where tea and rice are grown. The dominant feature of Russian weather and climate is the extreme cold of winter, which prevails in all but a small part of the south of the country. This harsh Russian winter has helped to defeat invaders such as Napoleon and Hitler, and it affects most aspects of Russian life even today.

Adaptation to the Russian winter is a necessary but difficult process. Anyone intending to visit the country between late October and April should study the temperatures in the accompanying tables and take appropriate clothing! Only Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska, and Northern Canada experience comparable cold, frost, and snow as are found in winter over most of the Russian Federation.

Surprisingly, over much of the country temperatures in summer are quite warm, even during the short summers in northern and eastern Siberia. There is a rapid rise of temperature in spring, the season of the thaw (rasputitsa), and an equally rapid fall of temperature in the autumn.

In effect, over much of the country there are only two seasons, winter and summer. This is a characteristic feature of what climatologists call a continental climate, and some of the best examples of this can be found in the Russian Federation.

There are two principal reasons for the cold of the Russian winter: the great size of the land mass of Europe and Asia, which means that the country is isolated from the moderating influence of warm ocean waters; and the high latitude of much of the country with a northern coastline on the Arctic Ocean, which remains frozen for most of the year.

The severity of the Russian winter is significant for transport. Except in the extreme south of the country the rivers are frozen for prolonged periods in winter and inland water transport comes to a halt. Road transport is also difficult and therefore the railways and air services are particularly important. The period when rivers are completely frozen varies from 70 days a year in the west of the country to as much as 250 days in northern Siberia.

It is a good general rule that the severity and length of winter increase eastwards. The only harbours that are normally ice free throughout the year are those on the Black Sea coast and around Murmansk and Archangel, where the influence of the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic raises sea temperatures. A shipping route from the Atlantic to the Pacific along the Arctic coast is kept open for brief periods in summer with the aid of powerful ice-breakers.

So intense is the cold in winter that northern and eastern Siberia experience a phenomenon called permafrost. Here the subsoil remains frozen all year although the topsoil may thaw out during the summer. This raises special problems for building construction and the laying of pipelines.

Almost everywhere in the country precipitation is rather low. In some of the major grain-producing areas of southern Russia, drought can drastically reduce crop yields in some years.

Spring and early summer months are the wettest over much of the country with rainfall of the showery, thundery, type. Winter snowfall, although frequent, is rarely very heavy and strong winds, the buran or blizzard, often sweep the ground bare of snow.

So as you can see Russia has some rough weather!

Thanks Ludmila,

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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20 Million Live in Poverty in Russia:
In spite of its gradual reduction, the poverty level in Russia remains extremely high. The proportion of resident living in poverty in Moscow is significantly higher than the national average. The amount of poverty may increase this year due to inflation. Raising the minimum wage has not influenced the situation.
According to the government, the minimum cost of living in the fourth quarter of last year was 4005 rubles per month, up from 3879 rubles in the third quarter. The amount of poverty in Russia dropped from 24.5 percent at the beginning of 2005 to 14.8 percent in the third quarter of last year, 14 million people fewer. That figure is today about 13.5 percent. In Moscow, the minimum cost of living in the fourth quarter of last year was 5855 rubles. According to Mosgorstat, the city statistics service, 23 percent of Muscovites live in poverty. In Moscow Region, by contrast, 10.5 percent of the population lives in poverty.

Income disparity has always been sharper in Moscow. The difference between the 10 percent richest and 10 percent poorest among the population in Moscow was a factor of 41.6 times in 2007 (compared to 41.7 times in 2006 and 38.6 times in 2005). In Russia as a whole, that difference was 16.8 times in 2007, up from 16 times in 2006.

Experts note that a portion of those living in poverty have jobs, but earn very little. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has expressed the intention of raising the minimum wage to 4330 rubles on January 1, 2009.

Wages stated are per month & even raising them to 4330 Rubles equates to $183 to $184 per month.

I think that 20 million in poverty is a very low number. I have traveled the country of Russia many times. I would say that 60 million in poverty would be a better number.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Wendy’s – the world’s third-largest fast food chain – is opening its first outlets in Russia next year. To start with, Moscow and St. Petersburg will get 10 restaurants each.

We heard this on the news and I looked at Sveta and said, “Russians are going to get fat!”

Sveta thought for a few moments and agreed that she has now noticed chunky kids and adults with bellies are becoming more prevalent. She then went on thinking and said, “I see kids getting fatter from McDonald’s fried foods.” Svet then looked at me and also said, “It seems that the men in Russia now think that having a belly is good!”

This got me thinking and I found a video on Russia today about Wendy’s coming to Russia.  Everyday that I spend in Russia I see a little more America show up at the door knocking to get in…

I remember when Sveta came to America and we took a vacation to see the sights. We stopped at Shoney’s Big Boy and I treated Sveta to a breakfast buffet. Sveta could not believe the food assortment and could not believe that Americans can eat like that anytime they feel like. She said that is why we have big healthy people… 🙂

Svet and I have worked real hard at cutting the kilos off and we both are getting near our goals of our idea weights. Sveta has actually obtained her ideal weight and I am very proud of her…

But I see that Russians have gained weight in the time I have been here and that is just 4 years. Looks like the day of Russians being able to laugh at Americans for being heavy is coming to an end.

I will be honest with you. I wish that McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and now Wendy’s would just leave…

Eat That Fast Food…

Windows to Russia!

• Three leading fast food chains fight for fed-up Russians (rt.com)
• U.S. Wendy’s chain to enter Russian market early 2011-paper (reuters.com)
• Fast Food Salads–Best, Worst Salad at McDonalds, Wendys, BK, KFC (food-facts.suite101.com)
• Appetite for “Better Burgers” Shows No Satiety (abcnews.go.com)
• Fast Food Wars: Battle of the Burgers (food-facts.suite101.com)
• D.C. becoming a burger capital (washingtonpost.com)
• New burger chains see an unending appetite (msnbc.msn.com)

I sit here typing this article in a room swirling in smoke. The mercury is climbing to the top of everyone’s thermometers. Records are falling almost everyday in the weather department and I personally would not trade it for being anywhere else in the world…

I find it interesting how Russia is dealing with all of this. I have grown fond of Russia and find myself hurt by the destruction going on. It seems so senseless yet unavoidable at the same time. The conditions are perfect for fire…

But today is the icing on the cake, so to speak. Temperatures in Moscow today (Friday) are forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) as the heat wave in Russia continues non abated and heavy smoke returns to the capital with a vengeance.  Plus the Russian Emergencies Minister is warning of possible radiation risks, as wildfires approach closer to the area affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster…

The term “The sky is falling” seems to be more appropriate everyday here in Russia. It seems that this fire is a living creature that has a soul and mind of all her own. Kill it in one spot and it roars to life in another spot. We checked the thermal maps of Russia and it looks like our village is surrounded by fires everywhere, so we most likely will not have a village anymore… 🙁

I figured out what was making me sick and have adjusted for it. I am now doing better…

I think Sveta and I need to check into helping to deliver goods to the victims of the fires. It seems that they have plenty of goods but not enough vehicles to deliver. We have a station wagon and my thoughts are on that aspect. So if we are silent for a few days that will be what we are doing…

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