Windows to Russia

Ukraine recently has said their price is “unreasonably high for gas, at $305 per 1,000 cubic meter” pointing to Belarus, which only pays $168 per 1,000 cubic meter.

Putin gave an answer: Russia and Belarus “are building a Union State and a Customs Union, and that is why we do not take a 30% custom duty.” Putin also said, “Here is Ukraine’s interest about integration in the post-Soviet space. It is essential that our colleagues (Ukraine) assess and weigh everything up and understand what is necessary and what is not.”

Moscow has not put a barrier up that prevents Ukraine from joining the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Kiev is the one that has looked the other way when offered…

Is Putin suggesting where Kiev has messed up in the past?

Windows to Russia!

Hitler’s book banned as extremist:
Adolf Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle) has been recognized as extremist literature by a Russian court and will be banned in Russia, the Prosecutor General’s Office says.

Russia and IAEA to build first international nuclear reserve:
Russia and IAEA will create a first-of-its-kind international nuclear bank. Signing of the deal is scheduled on March 29 in Vienna. Atomic fuel will be available for countries willing to develop peaceful atomic energy.

Gas key issue as Ukraine, Russia look to restart relations:
Russia seems unlikely to significantly lower the price Ukraine has to pay for gas as the Ukrainian Prime Minister held talks with Gazprom and Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

“Putin cares more about what he is doing than about how and when”:
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s press attache, Dmitry Peskov, spoke with RT about the Premier’s attitude towards protocol, his team’s plans and Russia’s handling of the global economic crisis.

Olympic flags travel to next Winter Games venue, Sochi:
The Olympic and Paralympic flags have arrived from Vancouver to Russia’s southern city of Sochi, which is taking over the Olympic baton and preparing to host the winter games in 2014.

Russian officials may be involved in auto-giant bribe fiasco:
Russian government officials are accused of being involved in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal with auto giant Daimler.

Russian military officers jailed for spying for Georgia:
Two Russian military officers and a Georgian citizen have been given lengthy prison sentences after being found guilty of spying for Georgia.

Russia plans to attract tourists to North Caucasus:
An ambitious $15-billion project to create a tourist industry in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus will be developed by June, a deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the region told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday.

Russia to ease immigration rules to draw in specialists, investment:
Russia is poised to ease immigration restrictions for highly-qualified foreign specialists in a bid to encourage the free flow of trade and investment in the country, a Russian business daily said on Friday.

Windows to Russia!

Last year or so – sometime? It seems, I remember Coke entering the Kvas market in Russia. I have bought the Coke Kvas and it is sorta good. But, it is very hard to find in most of the stores that and is much more expensive than the local brands.

<----- Coke Kvas! (The local Kvas is much better.) Well it seems that Pepsi is entering the market and I hope with that competition that Coke will lower their price. Pepsi said their Kvas is going to be priced: “Half-liter bottles will cost 30 rubles, liter bottles – 38 rubles, and two-liter – 54 rubles.” What I can tell you is that I pay 54 rubles a half liter for the Coke Kvas. That is way too much…

Pepsi Kvas —->

A short run down on Russian Kvas: “‘Kvass or kvas (literally “leaven”; borrowed in the 16th century from Russian квас (kvas)), sometimes translated into English as bread drink, is a fermented mildly alcoholic beverage made from black rye or rye bread (which attributes to its light or dark color). It is popular in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and other Eastern and Central European countries as well as in all ex-Soviet states, like Uzbekistan, where one can see many kvass vendors in the streets. Its origins go back 5,000 years to the beginnings of beer production. (Kvas)’“

When I first came to Russia I was leery of Kvas, but I have a saying that holds true and is effective, “Do as the natives do!”

Kvas is good and my preferred drink when we are out traveling Russia. When you see that huge yellow tank on the side of the road, just pull over and get a delicious glass of Kvas…

Windows to Russia!

PS: They say those tanks are old petrol tanks?

The Nord Stream pipeline has the British company Bactec International disarming the mines along the pathway of the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic sea!

Seems the estimated number of mines believed to be buried under the Baltic Sea ranges from 100,000 to 150,000, with most of them located under the Gulf of Finland. Luckily only 80 mines have to be disarmed to put in the Nord Stream pipeline!

This is leftovers from World War 1 and 2 as I understand…

Windows to Russia!

Grigory Perelman who lives in St. Petersburg is a exceptional (that is an understatement) mathematician. He has won a prize, which is linked to the understanding of multidimensional shapes…

US-based Clay Mathematics Institute offered $1 million to anyone to solve one of its seven “Millennium Problems” of the last hundred years. Perelman is so far the only one to have done this feat! He has solved the “Poincaré Conjecture!“

The world press has extensively said that Perelman refused the prize money of $1,000,000. I have seen articles that all but called him… (We will ignore those articles)

Grigory Perelman is what we call a recluse and it is obvious that he does not think on the same level as we normal people do. So to speak for him without allowing him to absorb the facts first, was a disheartening slam to an individual that is seriously over our heads intellectually wise! He has never said that he does not want the money, but a British tabloid press has stated different. In fact he has only said, that he has not decided yet about the prize money!

After reading about the “Poincaré Conjecture”. I feel that Perelman should have the prize money delivered to him and he should not be expected to travel to the prize money. They (Clay Mathematics Institute) made the challenge and someone was capable of doing the impossible.

Grigory Perelman is an incredible individual that deserves much respect for what he has done.

What the Russian press is calling a banner has been found near Smolensk, Russia. They are going to restore it for Victory Day on May 9th. It seems that it was buried underground almost 70 years and was discovered in a dugout, near where heavy battles were fought in the summer of 1941. The banner it seems was wrapped up in oiled paper, which kept it from rotting away like most cloth items do very easily.

I have always said that you have keep an eye on the small news items about Russia! Well something has been said by Putin that is very important and you have to look at the whole picture in the world today.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday: “We have always supported China in the most sensitive issues, including the Taiwanese problem! (and) In the future we plan to build relations with China with respect to our common interests.”

The Eastern power base has grown tremendously in the last 4 years and I have been present to watch that growth…

Windows to Russia!

I like when someone sends links to a mainstream news article from the western press. I have been sent this weekend 45 links on the same articles about the thousands and thousands of protesters in all the rallies all over Russia. These people want to know why Russia is in such bad shape and how come Putin is repressing everyone so bad. They want to know why does the Russian government not allow everyone to rally in peace? (As far as I can tell only one rally was interrupted and that was because of the normal, not sanctioned and we will hold it anyway attitude!) All the e-mails have the same theme. I can not believe this is happening, bad evil Russia and poor mistreated people are now tired of the evil Putin.

My article this weekend: Russia and America: Weekend of Rallies!

My favorite are the links to articles that are written by reporters in Moscow. They start these articles with a line that says, “Our Moscow correspondent Blah blah blah!” As if that makes it worth believing. They still write and answer to a Western press!

My favorite question or statement that was asked of me is about “The Day of Wrath!” The people must be really mad and upset, huh! This statement was treated as a new thing in Russia! Sorry – “The Day of Wrath” was started in 2008 so this is old news…

In fact Russia reports about her rallies and reports about who they arrested. They do not hide anything and the Russian press does a fine job of letting us know what the facts are. You might want to look at ITAR-TASS.

The articles that links are sent to me are from MSNBC – Yahoo – Washington Post – New York Times – Washington Post (Again) – ABC – to name a few. The fact is that these articles are all the same and all very wrong in there information! But that is Ok, because they come from a Western news source and Western news reporters and Western news ideologies… 🙂

My question is: Why so much time invested in a poorly reported news article when right in America 15,000 people were at the Capital in Washington DC? The amount of people in the Russian rallies, pales in comparison to what is happening in America.

I want you to try these two links:

Russian Protests!

American Protests!

Interesting difference and only one word was changed. The name of the country. If I was to believe what I just saw, I would have to believe that Russia is a turmoil of disaster and America had a weekend of everyone happy and go lucky as can be. There is a trick to searching for items about America that they really wish that you would never search for.

Well lets search with more details!

Washington DC Protest 2010 —- That did it! It just takes more steps to get the dirt in America and I sense that most people will not look very deep!

I had to be much more specific and much more detailed to receive the information. I also could have put tea party in the search and gotten there also. With Russia I just have to enter basics and anything that happened today is there in all its glory! In fact as you dig deeper you find that America had rallies on the 18th of March – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the 19th of March “End the War” and the 20th of March – The one we talked about above. Sounds like America had a whole lot more issues than Russia ever has!

The fact is I should have been able to type in American Protests and get all the protests that happened this weekend. Just like I was able to for Russia. They are the hot news and should be reported by all the news sources. What I see as I surf the World Wide Web (WWW), is a different set of standards for America than the rest of the world when it comes to searches. But then America controls the web…

Investing In Mother Russia:
While the world focuses on the debt problems facing Greece, Spain and the rest of the E.U., another European nation is beginning to roar back to life. With oil, gas and other commodity prices gaining steam, Russia is emerging from its doldrums.

Improving China-Russian ties:
Strategic partnership between China and Russia goes well despite global recession, except for some minor controversial issues about frontier trade.

Global gas glut could force Gazprom to refocus on Asian markets:
Russia’s gas industry faces an extremely challenging environment in the short to medium term, with both prices and market share coming under pressure, according to new research.

Moscow’s Arms Purchases Abroad Costing Russians Wages and Jobs at Home:
Moscow has long been proud of the sale of Russian arms abroad, but increasingly it is buying military equipment from foreign firms, a shift that is contributing to wage arrears and even unemployment in that Russia’s own military industry and quite possibly creating a potentially serious political problem for the Russian powers that be.

Russia retains lead in Paralympic medal count on final day:
The Russian team won eight Paralympic medals on the final day of the 2010 Paralympic Games in Vancouver, and retained its lead in the overall medal count.

Medvedev, patriarch congratulate Belarus Church head on 75th birthday:
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on Sunday congratulated the head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church on his 75th birthday.

Putin to open sea cargo transportation route, hold talks with Danish PM:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday will take part in the opening ceremony of a trans-Atlantic sea cargo transportation route in St. Petersburg and hold talks with the Danish premier, the government said Sunday.

Tu-204 plane performs emergency landing near Moscow airport:
A Tu-204 plane with nine people on board performed an emergency landing one km from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.

Ukraine’s new leadership seeks new gas deal with Moscow:
Ukraine’s new authorities are seeking a new gas deal with Moscow, offering Russia a stake in the Ukrainian gas transportation system in exchange for lower natural gas prices, a business paper reported on Monday.

Windows to Russia!