Windows to Russia

In the Russian village Voznesensk which is located in the Chelyabinsk region is a real ecological disaster of deadly proportions. This video in Russian was presented by a reader. I will keep the gist of it short and too the point.

On the outskirts of the village lies a whole lake of fuel oil. Oil waste just lies directly on the soil surface. Then it slowly has absorbed deeper into the earth as the years go by and now has entered into the water system that the local people drink from.

This waste was left by the road management of the Chelyabinsk region. The head of the village said that repeatedly he has invited the Commission here, and wrote letters to various authorities.

Don’t you love it when government treats you like you are worthless?

I bet that is Yummy water…

Windows to Russia!

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee here in Moscow, Russia and thinking about real Russian Fast Food! RIA has a video that answered my question and after doing a little checking around: I call them, The Pancake Place and The Potato House!

Believe me these places have 100 times better food then a McDonald’s and I would say much better for you.

The Potato House is what my name implies they have the equivalent in America and when I first came to Russia I really thought that this was an American chain of food. The Pancake Place was not like anything I ever found in America. Russians have a different idea of what a pancake is. (Link)

So when you think pancakes do not think International House of Pancakes. Not the same world believe me!

Check out the links to these businesses web sites (Link-Potato) (Link-Pancake) and you will find them very professional and family orientated. These men run a moral business and when people from the West say things like Russia Fast Food is a criminal business they laugh and tell you a much different story.

These businesses were started from the ground up and lots of hard work with family involvement.

Boy, those pancakes sure look good. maybe I can convince Svet to go to the mall and we can walk by the Pancake Place…

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee here in Moscow, Russia and looking at the headlines today. Wanna know what?

They kinda suck except for the last article.

Once again American press ignores Russia and has only concentrated on China and China’s verbalization of replacing the dollar. Well I hate to tell you all this but this time it started from Russia. Medvedev has put out the word and China has made a statement that, yes it is time to consider the possibilities of a new world currency. This is going to be one of the main issues at the G20 meeting coming up. Russia has a new plan of attack on the Global Financial crises, that China is very open to discussing. That is why Obama has come out and said, That the dollar is sound and stronger than ever! (Yup)

Then America went and added fuel to the fire and flamed China again. By printing a report that was very very negative about the Chinese military. (China spends 10 times less than the USA on military.) I am not sure – but I really think that America needs to get some new PR people that will at least try to work with other countries.

The way that everyone in the world looks at America is like this: America is the Rich Uncle that says do not drink (While he has a beer in hand). America is the Rich Uncle that says do not smoke (While he lights up a cigarette). America is the Rich Uncle that says people like you do not need guns (While he has a gun case full of weapons). America is the Rich Uncle that says that you are violating human rights (While he developed Guantanamo Bay Prison). We could go on all day…

I did a real study into the Great Wall of Mexico and I will tell you that we got problems in America and the wall is an example of what is the wrong way to correct the problem unless you have ulterior motives behind it. Take a look at these pictures of the wall, you will be shocked when you see the size of it. Does it keep people in as well as out. (Yes) (Link)

In Russia it has been a very well know issue that much of the Mexican drug cartels are well equipped with American weapons. Well it seems that Clinton has acknowledge that could be true to the Mexican government. Maybe America needs to quit selling arms to the Mexican Drug Lords!

CNN or Time had an article on: “Is Mexico the Next Iraq or Afghanistan?” That is just great “U.S. officials tell ABC News that President Obama has been told the Mexican cartels have become a criminal insurgency, threatening to turn Mexico into an Iraq or Afghanistan.” With American weapons…

It also seems that America and Japan can not get North Korea out of their brain. Is it my imagination or do some countries have fantasies about Evil Empires that want to destroy the world. There seems to be no lack of evil empires: Russia, China, North Vietnam, North Korea, Mexico, Venezuela and there are many more. It is time to leave these fantasies at the theater.

Now The Western press is lit up with headlines that say: “North Korea has placed Missile on Launch Pad!” and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned North Korea that the firing of a missile of any kind would be a “provocative act.” I do not see any Eastern press getting all excited with the exception of Western driven South Korea press.

I have wondered how they know it is a missile and why do they insist that it is a missile. I swear that everyone thinks that this is a doomsday missile and will destroy the earth in one explosion! Japan says: “We will shoot it down if it looks like it will fall on us!” I foresee the missile being shot out of the sky as it is going up to the heavens. Japan will say, I know it started to fall on us…

Lets end with some good news: From Moscow, Russia…

A 39-year-old Muscovite has given birth in one of the city’s metro stations, the Life.ru news website reported on Thursday.

The woman was nine months pregnant when she went into labor at the Altufevo station in the north of Moscow, Russia.

She asked police officers at the station to call an ambulance, but she had given birth to a healthy boy before medical assistance arrived.

Moscow needs more babies and I bet that was an excited station. I can just see the looks on the Metro Cops faces. 🙂

Windows to Russia!
Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Church is located in Prohorovskoe(Belgorodskaya oblast’) in Russia!

Isn’t it great?

Kyle & Svet

There is nothing worse than an upset wife. No – not at me (thank goodness), but a situation in life…

Russia has a lot of con artists just like the rest of the world does and like the rest of the world these con-artists have no problem with exploiting their own people. Money is root factor.

On the bus ride to work Svet happened to be sitting next to a young lady that was on her way to America. This young lady was a student in Moscow University and was offered an opportunity to go to America and work for three months. The opportunity was presented through a foreign exchange program.

Sounds like a good deal! It would be if it was legit…

I know all about the work program for foreign students in America and I used extensively Bulgarian workers for my restaurants in America. Bulgarians were hard workers and it helped them get ahead in life.

I know all the work involved to help get a foreign student to come to America and they have to have a job in writing before they cross the border, if they are on this program. I have worked with all the government agencies that are involved and I have worked students from China, Bulgaria, Russia, Korea and a dozen other countries. One thing that makes these kids a great worker is that they have to have that job that you give them and they take their stay in America seriously. Or they have to leave.

This young lady was so excited and had a contact in America. A contact of this particular program that she was signed up in and had her visa already. She had her plane tickets with a return ticket in three months. She was going to New York City and was told to have $1300 in cash. She was told that she would pay $300 per month and first and last month paid up front, for a room in New York City…?  She had to pay for all expenses to get visa and bought her plane tickets. At  this point she had a lot of money involved in this whole scheme. She was excited and going to America and work for three months… (Except)

Except a small detail that has been overshadowed by the excitement of the excursion.

This young lady does not have a job waiting for her in New York City. They have told her that jobs are plentiful and she will get her own job once she gets there. It is her responsibility to find a job as quickly as she can in New York City! The fact that a job was not available should be a red flag… (Good luck)

I know about these programs and refused to use them. I made my own contacts and did my own paper work for helping the Bulgarians come to America. I know one thing that is a fact. I had to have company letterhead statements that expressed my desire to work said employees and that I would guarantee their behavior in America. Without my word in writing I could not bring my best workers to America and get me through the busy summer months.

I am not sure what kind of program takes students to work in America and tells them to find their own job once they get there. But this is a coordinated effort from both sides of the ocean. For they have to have a work visa which means someone in America is promising them work and pulling strings.

H1B Visa – Applies to foreigners entering America to perform services in a specialty occupation.

H2B Visa – This category facilitates the entry of foreign workers who wish to enter America to engage in non-agricultural employment which is seasonal, intermittent, a peak load need, or a one-time occurrence.

L1 Visa or L1B Visa – The L1 category applies to foreigners who work for a company with a parent, subsidy, branch, or affiliate in America. Applicants must be employed in America in a managerial or executive capacity (L1A Visa) or as a person with specialized knowledge (L1B Visa).

There are also other work visas available. But…

This young lady was approved for a J1 visa and that means:

A J-1 Visa is issued for an Exchange Visitor who is participating in an established J Exchange program pre-approved by the State Department (formerly pre-approved by USIA). Exchange Visitors under J-1 visas include secondary school and college students, business trainees, trainees in flight aviation programs, primary and secondary school teachers, college professors, research scholars, medical residents or interns receiving medical training in the U.S., certain specialists, international visitors, and Government visitors.

You may if pre-approved ahead of time, work with a J1 visa but you can only work in approved studies area. Other words if she was a Biologist she must work with Biology…

This is a sham that takes both sides of the ocean coordinated to make it work.  The only thing that Svet and I can say is that maybe she will have a nice vacation…

Windows to Russia!

PS: Dumped in New York City and need a job!

Svet said, J1 visa does that stand for Jobs Visa? (J1) – Hummm…

Yup 🙂

I have written several times about this subject and Russia is without a doubt a serious contender to purchase Warships that have the latest technology on them.

It seems Russia has gathered data from three countries and the country that gives the best deal on four Warships seems to be the winner. It is wide spread news in Russia that this deal is to gather new technology for advancement of future Russian designs. Some have a real notion that this is not a good thing for Russia to do…

Russia has reached the final stage of talks on the purchase of four French Mistral-class helicopter carriers, the Russian defense minister said on Monday.

“At the moment we are in pre-contract talks on the warships with three states: Spain, the Netherlands and France. We plan to sign a contract for four of these ships,” Anatoly Serdyukov said. (Link)

I think that Russia is smart and getting three countries to give deals on this Warship. The deal is in the additions that are included…

Windows to Russia!

Hey Everyone,

Windows to Russia was on a wild ride yesterday. I woke up at around 8 am and found our Blog Windows to Russia in a targeted (DoS attack) Denial of Service Attack and a SQL attack. The center of that attack was an article about the sinking of the South Korean ship Cheonan!

Well,  A whole bunch of South Koreans did not like our article because it presented an interesting fact, that there were no facts in a released report, that would uphold in a court of law that North Korea sank the South Korean ship…

I had a plug in to help stop these type of attacks and to track where they came from but it finally got bypassed as I was trying to save our data base. They went through the server side and got us finally. I had discovered by then, that we were in the middle of a SQL attack also. I knew at that point that they were trying to destroy our data base.

“Bad Behavior has blocked 122754 access attempts in the last 7 days.” (Actually that number was in just a few hours.)

Before the attacks started I only had 375 attempts. So in a matter of a few hours all Hell broke loose. I was able to get a backup through April 28 before I started to lose data. That little plug in called “Bad Behavior” was a tough little sucker that gave me time to save our blog…

I have to apologize to everyone for the loss of a months worth of data. I had a dozen emails that said,  Hey Windows to Russia is not loading. I was able to respond to one of them, so he knew I was having serious issues. For the rest of you, I will respond as soon as I get a moment. Believe me it was not a fun day. I also have a few tricks that might gain some of the articles back and am working on them.

I have made major changes again to the structure of Windows to Russia and sometimes think life was a lot easier when no one read the blog… 🙂

Sad thing is – They succeeded in stopping that particular article about the sinking of the South Korean Ship. It was on a record run of hits and in a matter of less than a day had exceeded 10,000 hits from all over the world. I could tell that it was going to grow exponentially…

My Grandma always said “people hate the truth”. I guess she was right, the “Truth Hurts“…

Windows to Russia!

• Could It Be That North Korea Did Not Sink The Cheonan… (windowstorussia.com)
• Tidbits and Thinking’s From Windows to Russia… (windowstorussia.com)
• Bribery and Corruption in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)

This amendment was another case of the pot calling the kettle black and as I study more and more history, America has got to be the king at using this method of mannerisms.

Jackson/Vanik had this correct but they aimed it at the rest of the world. Jackson said, “A country that does not respect the rights of its own people will not respect the rights of its neighbors.” He was correct, but excluded America because he could not “see the trees for the forest.”

The most important road block against the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment comes from very likely the most powerful lobby in the USA which is called the “Chicken Lobby.” The chicken lobby uses their clout and tells the US Congress to block Russia’s graduation from Jackson-Vanik unless it buys huge and increasing, poultry amounts. Putin knows this and recently sent a real important message. Russia does not need your damn chicken America…

Also former U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell has a quote in the past that still fits today about the points of tension between the United States and Russia: It was about the issues between Russian barriers to American poultry imports. He said, “I am more worried about chickens going back and forth than missiles going back and forth,” he said. “This is good.””

Now that is the truth… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

I guess I am old fashion because I find one to one communication to be so much better than by electronic ways.

If you have ever traveled Russia by train you will experience hundreds and hundreds of kilometers that are electronic-less vacuums in space. You are in a cocoon that is sealed to the outside world and you must deal with who is inside or as in many cases not deal with who is trapped with you.

This particular trip to Ukraine, 7 guys gathered together out of protection as much as communication. For you see there was only 7 guys on this particular train car and the rest was packed to the brim with women. There are about 50 some places on this car and do the math and realize that us men were out numbered. So survival meant gather as a pack and protect each others backs. Seems strange that this was a natural thing to do by us men. The women did not like the seats near the toilet and we made a deal to allow us to sit there and talk about important guy things…

This was a social network in real time and not electronics. There was men from France, Spain, Britain, Ukraine, Italy and America. Two from Ukraine so that makes 7 guys trying to stay out of all the womens way.

So have be it, we all spoke English as a common language. Some of course spoke better English than others. But we all could communicate and that is what counted…

To not go into another story that I will write, I will say that we had a group of intellects that traveled allot so they understood the world better than many people. We covered a lot of territory both by train and by conversation. I will write another post about our conversation later in the next few days.

To end this story in a sad note:

One of the Ukraine guys named Yuri was a Freemason in Ukraine. I had gotten to know him the best of the group. He was born in Russia and was 56 years old. He moved to Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed. He offered me a drink of Scotch Whiskey. I turned him down like I turned down all the others. I explained that I have had 6 heart attacks and had to quit drinking and smoking. He thought a minute and said, “I proud of you. I could not tell her NO! You can.” Then I will remember these words very clearly. He said,”Scotch will probably be her who kill me. I wonder is there Scotch Whiskey in Heaven?”

One of the guys said a toast to Yuri’s words and I joined them with my fruit juice I was drinking. I sat in silence for a few minutes because I have an uncanny ability to feel when bad things are going to happen. It is what allowed me to survive several years in a war situation. Yuri got a strange look on his face and he asked me to go with him while he smoked. We talked a little more and Yuri said he does not feel good. I helped him back to his seat and went and got a steward. The next large town a group of medics came on board and I could tell that it was not good. Yuri was very blue in color…

They helped him walk off the train and as he passed me he stopped and grabbed my hand. He said, “See us in Heaven!” with a weak voice. I said in response, “I will!”

The train was very quiet after that and a few more minutes at the next stop. Almost all the women on the train had gotten off. They had been on a shopping trip to Moscow and were home. Us men went back to our correct seats and got ready for bed. At this stop the steward came back through and told us that Yuri had died, before he even was able to leave the previous station.

So Yuri, I will be looking for you when I arrive on my train trip to heaven. I wonder, is there Scotch Whiskey in heaven…

Windows to Russia!

Going to Ukraine this weekend and I really expect to find a different Ukraine as compared to the last 3 or 4 times I have been there. The last time in January 2010 that I was there, Kiev was beginning to become a much happier place. Just like it was before the crash of all the world financial system…

I am taking a train as usual and am looking forward to the trip as it allows someone to do a lot of thinking about things. Kinda hard to do anything else since you are pretty well captive for 12 hours. 🙂

My thinking this time will be centered on our blogs because I have been working day and night trying to save them. I hope that I have everything under control enough so that I can not worry about them too much. Svet and I have several projects that we are working on and it centers around being self hosted now…

So I will try to post from the hotel but as always there is very little I can do when Internet becomes scarce or too expensive to make it worth posting.

So I will be back by Tuesday next week… (I hope!)

Windows to Russia!