Windows to Russia

I received an interesting link from a reader. When I first saw the article I realized that name was familiar. I read the article in Wikipedia and could not figure out why that name was so familiar. Then toward the end of the article came the recognition link…

Joseph R. Beyrle is thought to be the only American soldier to have served with both the United States Army and the Soviet Army in World War II. He died in 2004 for the second time? The first time he died was when he was pronounced KIA (Killed In Action) by the USA government. Of course they had no idea that he had escaped from a Germany war prison camp and had jumped on board a Soviet Tank Brigade and became a fighting solider with the Soviet Army.

This is an amazing story and you need to read the Wiki article and get the whole situation.

Near the end of this article is when I discovered what the name meant to me. Joseph R. Beyrle has a son named John Beyrle, who is the United States Ambassador to Russia! Now that is a name that I have seen many times and it seems that John Beyrle has a good relationship with Russia.

Now I know why… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

PS: Keep sending these great links everyone. I receive two or three a night and sometimes wish I had more time in a day to post them all. I promise to try to get to them as soon as I can. If they fit into Windows to Russia, they will get posted…

Hello,

We decided to make a video today called “Peace in the Russian Village”!

Hope You Like It.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

There is no longer any need for UN sanctions? Think America can accept that situation?

Iran, Brazil and Turkey have reached and signed an agreement under which Iran will ship 1,200 kilos of its low enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 120 kilos of nuclear fuel for a Tehran Research Reactor.

The leaders of the three countries also signed a joint statement:

“We stress commitment to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and related materials, distinguishing without any discrimination the right of all the members, including Iran, to produce and use nuclear energy and enrich uranium for peaceful purposes,” the statement reads. “We believe that the nuclear fuel swap will serve as ground for cooperation in all fields, especially peaceful nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of a nuclear power plant and research reactor.”

Looks like Iran has a few more backers and the playing field just became interesting…

Windows to Russia!

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as one of the fathers of modern linguistics. (Link)

It seems that Israel stopped him at the Jordan border as he was going to give a lecture at Bir Zeit University, and meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after the lecture. The border patrol it seems held him for hours and interrogated him. They even wanted to know why he did not have a Israel passport because he was Jewish. They also wanted to know why he was not lecturing in Tel Aviv. He replied something like, I have an American passport and I lecture a lot in Tel Aviv…

An official at the border was quoted as reading the following statement: ‘Israel does not like what you say’.

To this, Chomsky replied: “Find one government in the world which does.”

Chomsky who has received many honorary degrees from universities around the world: University of London, University of Chicago, Loyola University of Chicago, Swarthmore College, University of Delhi, Bard College, University of Massachusetts, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Amherst College, University of Cambridge, University of Buenos Aires, McGill University, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Columbia University, Villanova University, University of Connecticut, University of Maine, Scuola Normale Superiore, University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, Harvard University, Universidad de Chile, University of Bologna, Universidad de la Frontera, University of Calcutta, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Santo Domingo Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, University of Athens, University of Cyprus, Central Connecticut State University, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) (To name some) Looks like he is more than a little upset…

Now according to news reports Israel has tried to explain that it was a mistake!

Noam Chomsky said, “I find it hard to think of a similar case, in which entry to a person is denied because he is not lecturing in Tel Aviv. Perhaps only in Stalinist regimes!”

Oops……..

Windows to Russia!

After NATO was brought to life in 1949, the Soviet Union then decided to buid up its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact. The then Soviet Union and seven more European socialist states joined the treaty on May, 14, 1955.

Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania made up the members of the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Treaty pledged the mutual defense of any member who is attacked; relations among the treaty signatories were based upon mutual non-interference in the internal affairs of the member countries, respect for national sovereignty, and political independence.

55 years ago the Warsaw Treaty was a huge part of the Cold War. Now The Warsaw Treaty has been history since July 1, 1991. Seems that NATO should have been history with it…

Windows to Russia!

As I walked the dog today. I was thinking of what huge society differences we have from America to Russia. Many of these society differences would not have been a difference 30 to 40 years ago in America. The one difference that stood out today was children and toy guns…

When I was a child having a toy gun was fun and normal. If you did not have a toy gun you used your fingers and made a gun from them. You shot each other and everything…

Strange now to think back and remember 20 to 30 kids all in a Cowboy and Indian fight. Everyone wanted to be Cowboys and no-one wanted to be an Indian!

I watch the children in Russia and little boys will have toy guns. They will carry their toy gun in the mall, at the grocery store and running around the playground. That toy gun is part of life just as it was part of my life in America as I grew up. I watch gun fights between 10 or more kids in Russia and they all fall down and die the same as we did in America. Fast to the ground and back up shooting with an unlimited supply of bullets. We never stayed dead long and the air was full of – I shot you, you are dead! You missed, was the return answer… 🙂

At my era of growing up it was a dream of many little boys to have his first BB gun. At 12 years old I worked hard delivering newspapers on a bicycle everyday, right to everyone’s front door. That money bought me my first Daisy BB gun and that was my pride and joy!

I have read multiple articles following this theme of kids and guns in America. It seems to me as time has gone by we Americans have lost many important parts of our culture and life. Freedom is the word I think of over incidences pertaining to situations exasperated over toy guns. {These are an example of a case like hundreds that you can find surfing the Internet, (Link- Here) (Link-Here).}

So as I watched a group of boys and girls here in Russia today playing the equivalent of Cowboys and Indians in a past America. I was saddened by the change of time that I see in America, which has taken more and more memories and turned them to dust in the wind…

What do you think would happen if a kid carried a fake assault rifle in an American mall? Is the kid psychologically imbalanced? Does society have to be protected from every aspect danger? Is zero tolerance correct?

In Russia no one pays attention… (Yet)

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Kefir is most likely something that if you live in America, you do not drink. In fact being also considered sour milk – Kefir would get a lot of disgusting looks from people in America.

The closets thing in America that I can compare to it is buttermilk…

When I first came to Russia years ago, I was confronted not by vodka as the Western world thinks you would be, but by everyone drinking this terrible milk drink called Kefir!

What is Kefir? – – Kefir is a fermented milk drink that originated with shepherds of the Caucasus region, who discovered that fresh milk carried in leather pouches would occasionally ferment into an effervescent beverage. Kefir grains are a combination of bacteria and yeasts in a matrix of proteins, lipids, and sugars. This symbiotic matrix forms “grains” that resemble cauliflower. (Link)

Sounds just plain terrible and I refused to give into the tradition of drinking this beverage so loved by most Russians. Until about 6 months ago…

I finally after years of prodding by my wife, I decided to drink a whole glass full. Not just sip at it and make faces at the taste like I normally would. I drank that glass full of Kefir and after that found that I really liked the flavor. It was satisfying to the pallet and when I read about how the Russians consider it excellent for your health. I decided to make it part of my regular diet and find out if it helps…

By Golly, I feel better after a few months of drinking this fermented milk and now drink more than my Russian wife. I have lost almost 20 pounds and Kefir has been a part of that weight loss…

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.