Windows to Russia

Svet and I had a good weekend and stayed away from posting any articles. At least very many articles. 🙂

We went and got two tires for our Volga and we need to have them put on this week. We picked up Russian made tires and got a pretty good deal on them. We have elected to go with a very heavy tire that has one nylon belt, two polyester belts and three steel belts. This assures better protection against the famous Russian roads, also since we travel to the village a lot which is located literally on a goat trail, (that we have to crawl through mud and deep ruts), we elected to get an aggressive tread that has some deep biting lugs…

But now after a fairly sunny weekend we are dealing with rain, rain and more rain. Our weekend was extra long this week. Day of Russia was celebrated this weekend. Some seem to call it Independence day in Russia but as Svet says: What were we independent from?

That is a good question and I have found out that no where in official documents do they attribute independence day with Russia day. But I do not care because any holiday is good to me anymore. So the more the better… 🙂

So Svet and I just took it easy for a few days and I tried to ignore all the stupidity that we call news in the world. 😉

Windows to Russia!

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in February 2010 announced the establishment of a modern center for research and development, which the media quickly dubbed Russia’s Silicon Valley.

It is officially located in the town called Skolkovo. Skolkovo already is home to a very prestigious business school and other highly advanced facilities. The facility is around 20 km outside of Moscow and the research center will focus on five spheres of priority: energy, information technologies, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technologies. Russia considers the development of the high-tech and innovation sector a top priority, pledging billions of dollars to finance the sphere.

Today on Russian news it was announced that the first official project for Russia’s new research center has been verified. All we are being told is:

The Almaz Capital fund has financed a project that is based on cloud computing, an Internet-based technology that allows complex mathematical calculations to be performed using hundreds of thousands of computers around the world.

This has made Medvedev very happy and he has in the last few days been promising to pay special attention to the innovative high-tech research hub in Skolkovo and that Russia considers the Research Center a priority.

This is one of Medvedev’s projects that he has started and sees this a future for Russia…

Windows to Russia!

No – you got the title correct. deliminator: “A string or pattern used to delimit text into fields, but which is itself eliminated from the resulting list of fields.”

That is how I look at these new sanctions against Iran and with these sanctions are so many promises not to do this and not to do that. But these promises are not really that visible because backroom, under-table and slight of hand techniques were used to get the job done. Nothing is as it seems and everything is what it seems…

{The Obama administration fears tough U.S. sanctions against companies doing business in Iran would anger foreign allies.} (Read More Here)

I will let the article above stand for what is happening in America. I can tell you what is happening in Russia first hand though…

Russia has three or four articles on every subject to do with the Iran sanctions. One minute they can sell defense missiles to Iran, the next minute they can not, the next minute Medvedev has to decide and then the next minute we start all over again. This has been a pattern on all subjects associated with the sanctions, since the sanctions were voted on and that seems to be a quandary that will extend for a while… (Guilty feelings anyone?)

I see by the news from China that the same issues are happening and one minute this is the way it is and the next minute it has changed. China also is “Gung-Ho” on staying buddies with Iran. (Guilty feelings anyone?)

Also to top this all off – Europe is wanting to run ahead faster and increase the sanctions on a sorta a personal level associated with Europe only… (Read Here)

So here is what I see: America is fretting over what they have done will piss off the other half of the world that is not already pissed at them. Russia is running around like a chicken with its head cut off and has no idea what the bottom line is. China keeps saying, We are Iran’s Friends and buddy. The the “icing on the cake” is Europe who wants to beat the war drums and impose their own sanctions to the evil Iran. (Which Russia has made clear – You better not do that and bother us…)

Then there is Iran’s words of wisdom: “These (U.N.) resolutions have no value…it is like a used handkerchief that should be thrown in the waste bin. Sanctions are falling on us from the left and the right. For us they are the same as pesky flies.”……

You gotta admit Ahmadinejad has a way with words…

Windows to Russia!

PS: My Grandma use to say, “Do not do anything that you have to worry about after you do it, because it means it was not right in the first place!” Hummmm… (Seems to be a whole lot of worrying going on…)

Hello,

The second cup of coffee brought my attention to: One of the oldest and most respectable U.S. newspapers has published an article on the political situation in Georgia following the South Ossetian crisis. According to The Washington Post, “Georgians inside and outside the government have begun to question the wisdom of the costly confrontation, and of the leaders who set it in motion”.

Title of Article: Georgians Question Wisdom of War With Russia, President’s Future At Stake, Some Say! (Link: you must sign up)
By Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 9, 2008; Page A12

Initially, questions made by Georgia’s opposition to Saakashvili were raised quietly. Now they are growing louder and louder. While Russian peacekeepers are still in Georgia, some opposition leaders have spoken out about what they call ‘failures in diplomacy and warfare’, claiming that Saakashvili’s own actions have damaged his standing in Georgia.

Others predict Saakashvili, who reclaimed South Ossetia and Abkhazia back in 2003, will be forced from office by a war he hoped would earn him a place in history.

“Through military force, and all kinds of provocations, Saakashvili tried to show that he had the ability to reclaim these territories”, said the leader of the opposition New Rights party David Gamkrelidze to The Washington Post.

Saakashvili is blamed for not having a clear outlook on the situation due to the information provided to him by ‘his small circle’ of intimate followers.

Though an anonymous official quoted by the Post predicts that Saakashvili will be out of office this very year, the president himself is convinced that he will survive this crisis politically.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and checking on the rumors that America was messing around in the Crimea again. If you ever had any doubts that the USA was messing around in Ukraine then let those doubts be cleared up.

“In December 2008, Ukraine and the U.S. signed an agreement on defense and security cooperation, as well as the development of economic, trade and energy ties in the region. Under the terms of the agreement, Ukraine allowed the U.S. to open an office in Simferopol.”

Now lets get to the heart of this matter. Simferopol is the capital of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea. This means the Crimea is like South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia.

That is not a good thing and it seems that Ukraine has every intention of causing an issue in a Republic that wants to be free from Ukraine. Most of the Crimean’s have Russian passports and have very close ties to Russia.

So what does this all mean? It means a lot of political tension that is not necessary and will help destabilize the area. Ukraine seems to have lost any common sense lately and by allowing the USA to open up a diplomatic office in Simferopol creates this type of problem:

“Crimean demonstrators had a bonfire on Wednesday at the Capital of Crimea. A Uncle Sam dummy was set aflame during a protest rally against Ukraine plans to open a U.S. diplomatic office in Simferopol, (the capital of) the autonomous republic of Crimea. The dummy, with a model cruise missile in each hand and the words U.S.A. written on it, was covered in petrol and set alight as hundreds of people attended a protest rally in front of the republic’s upper house of parliament.”

It seems that the Crimean’s feel that America will only be there to spy and help undermine the Black Sea Fleet Base.

Guess what? They are right!

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I hope on one of our many trips to the Crimea and Ukraine, that they don’t think I am the American dummy…

Following the talks, the two presidents signed a package of documents regarding anti-missile defense, further reduction of strategic offensive arms, military cooperation, and nuclear cooperation.

In particular, the presidents signed the Joint Understanding on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.

An intergovernmental agreement was signed regarding the transport of weapons, military hardware, defense materials, and personnel through Russian territory, to aid US armed forces in their efforts to assure security, stability, and restoration in Afghanistan.

The two sides signed a framework document on building cooperation between Russian and U.S. armed forces, as well as a memorandum affirming a working plan for improving military cooperation between the two nations’ armed forces in 2009.

A decision was made to create a U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission to provide better structure to their bilateral relationship. This new coordinating mechanism for building bilateral cooperation will replace the existing Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission.

A memorandum was signed between Russia and the United States’ health ministries, and the sides exchanged notes on the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action.

Following the talks, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama held a joint press conference.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Take a quick look at this graph on wikipedia showing tax rates around the world. Yep, the US is a free country indeed….

read more | digg story

They defeated the robot but only by a technicality…

I love the part with the young girl playing against the robot, she is so intelligent. I am not sure how old she is but just think, she is playing with some of the best.

Russians love their chess and just today, I walked by a group of guys playing in the rain. They had an umbrella to shield the board. They were not going to let a little rain stop them… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

I had really forgotten about Pavel Chekov until I came upon this video on YouTube. Then the memories flowed back to a different time and era and I remembered how he always played with everyone and expressed how Russia was the best…

I decided to post it because I know many people will remember this character and if you enjoyed Star Trek like I did, then you enjoyed the intermingling that all the characters developed over the years…

“The Garden of Eden was just outside Moscow!” said, Pavel Chekov!

You know – I think Svet and I need to go look. It could be on the Golden Ring Road, around Moscow! 🙂

Windows to Russia!

June 6, 2008,
Konstantin Palace, St Petersburg

Beginning of Meeting with President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mikhail Nikolayevich, I am pleased to have this chance to see you and talk.

I was in Germany yesterday and spoke with my German colleagues. They are concerned about the future of Russian-Georgian relations.

I think that we ourselves are capable of resolving all the issues that face us today, overcoming the difficulties before us and building relations for the long term? What do you think?

PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA MIKHAIL SAAKASHVILI: I agree with you completely, Dmitry Anatolyevich.

I am happy to have this chance to come here and talk. I am very pleased to be able to see you face-to-face and get to know you better. I hope indeed for fruitful and long-term cooperation and that we will be able to settle all the urgent and painful issues in our relations.

In my view, there are no issues that cannot be resolved. There are plenty of issues we still need to resolve, but there are no problems for which solutions cannot be found. Practically any problem can be solved so long as we have good will and mutual understanding.

Russia and Georgia are countries that share very close historical, cultural and human ties. Today’s situation is not natural and it is not benefiting anyone.

I think we must settle all of the issues between us. There are issues of principle, problems that have built up. We will resolve them. We hope that this will indeed be possible.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Let us do just that: let us continue our discussion and settle these issues.
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Thought this was interesting because of the issues way down South in the land of Georgia….

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.