Windows to Russia

Yesterday I posted an article that got a bit of heat going in America: Is It Censorship If You Keep It Within Your Borders?

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: I visited the Best of Russia 2009 photo exhibition. Given my personal interest in the subject, I wanted to say a few words about photography.

In historical terms, photography is a relatively young art, only a little more than 150 years old. All art forms share the common function of helping to represent the surrounding world, see something new in it, something we hadn’t noticed previously, learn something we hadn’t known earlier.

Photography also has a specific function of its own. Whether daguerreotype or digital, taking photos is a fairly straightforward procedure and photography can therefore seem a simple affair, just a form of amusement that gives us all the chance to snap away on anything from the best camera to the most basic model. But as the years pass, each negative created, or each digital file, takes on special significance in that it remains an exact copy of a particular moment in life, and in this sense creates a particular atmosphere for the photographer, for those in the photo, if it is a photo of people, and for those simply viewing the photo.

I think that the main sense of photography, of photos as an art, lies in that they capture the special sadness of moments already gone and never to be returned. This is photography’s real meaning, I think.

People often ask me how long I’ve been interested in photography. My interest dates back a long time. I first got into it probably almost 35 years ago, as a child, when I spent time at the Pioneers’ Palace. I had a marvellous camera – a Smena 8M. Anyone involved in photography back then will know that this was the cheapest, most basic model of Soviet camera, with the worst optics – well, with the most ordinary optics, shall we say – and probably the most difficult to use. It was hard to use because there was no range finder. You had to do everything by eye, decide on the exposure. The camera had none of the features needed for taking good quality photos.

But this very lack of features was a good thing really because it meant you had to put effort into taking photos, learn to judge the exposure, the light, the contrast. It meant learning by trial and error. Then there was working with the negatives, the whole process of developing, fixing, printing, repeating these procedures, drying the photo, and this is all a part of my life that I will never forget. Perhaps it is for this reason that photography still interests me so.

True, there was a long period when I stopped taking photos, and then I started again, as an adult this time, probably after 30, and I got really interested in it once more after it became possible to buy modern cameras.

What to take photos of? Anyone who picks up a camera asks themselves this question. I like to photograph nature, architecture, and of course, people. Though, to be honest, photographing people is no easy task for me because, given my job, it would look a bit strange if I were to suddenly turn up with a camera in my hand and start taking photos of people. I’m afraid it would make people wonder what on earth I think I’m up to. But I enjoy photographing all other kinds of objects. Of course, the results vary, as is the case for anyone taking photos.

As far as technology goes, people also often ask me in blogs what kind of camera I use. These days we are lucky in having such a big range to choose from. Around ten years ago, I bought several decent Canon cameras, the ones that use film. These days, I mostly use digital technology, but sometimes I still like to use film. It is more complicated, true, but it has its own special appeal.

I like to use different kinds of cameras. Here is one of them, one that your average person would find rather complicated to use. This is a Leica, a classical Leica, and this is the new M9 digital version. I use other cameras too – Canon and Nikon, for example, good digital wide-lens cameras. I recently got the chance to try out the new Leica, and I must say that this is a good camera, and I notice that photographers have praised it. It is quite a complicated camera, but has high resolution capability and a very good matrix – in other words, it has a large number of pixels.

When I get a free moment I try to take some photos. I don’t just take photos at home, but take my camera with me on practically every trip. To tell the truth, I often don’t end up getting the chance to actually use it, and if I do, I usually end up photographing mostly the views from the residences or hotels I stay at, or even out the car window, but when I do get the chance the resulting photos have an interest for me as memories of the places I’ve visited, and I travel a lot.

That is about all I wanted to say about my interest in photography. I hope that this art will continue to develop. This excellent exhibition that I just visited presents a picture of our country, a picture of the specific moment in time that was 2009. These photos represent photography at its highest, when each photo is a work of art in itself. These are random shots, but what is most important is that they are all little pieces of our country and our life in 2009. I think these exhibitions are of interest for everyone and they attract all kinds of people, from masters in the art with years of experience to those taking their first shots on an inexpensive camera. Here, they are all equals and this is really good to see.

I wish you all good luck with your photos. I think this is a fine art and also a fine way to pass the time.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

I have several articles about the fiasco that GM made in Germany over the sale of its division Opel. Now GM is trying to continue the fiasco and play games with Germany. This is months after saying that GM will keep Opel and can make it better.

This is the same deal being drug into the mud after GM refused to sell Opel to a Canadian/Russian group called Magna/Sberbank. Germany had approved the Magna/Sberbank for buying and saving the Opel company with the least amount of disruption of the German country.

I have watched over the last few years, a slow but noticeable censorship of videos and websites coming out of America. I try to watch videos from local news stations all over America and half the time get a well worn message: “sorry the content is unavailable in your country.” This applies to websites and videos!

I can get around this issue by using a proxy that tells everyone that I am from the USA. “But doesn’t that seem like censorship?”

I find it interesting how American press has just gone crazy on the snow in East Coast America. As I sit here in Russia and watch it snow again and again! I would say out of the last 60 days it has snowed 55 of those days. The multiples of feet of snow is packed down to about a foot and a half. It is like a solid sheet of ice now. All areas can virtually be transversed safely (pertains to not sinking out of sight) because the surface is like rock. The sidewalks are sometimes two feet higher than in the summer and stepping off the side walk can be a very dangerous proposition. The work crews have big metal rods with a strong steel blade on the end and they chop for hours trying to clear a path for people to walk. My favorite thing is when they chop a set of stairs from the road surface to the sidewalk. Sometimes it can be several stairs high…

I have been posting about the fact that Russia wanted to buy a French made Mistral-class amphibious assault ship! I have posted about the fact that the French agreed to sell said ship to Russia! Now we get to post about France having to defend her decision on why she sold the ship to Russia:

French President – Sarkozy told U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a brief meeting on Monday that in his opinion the sale did not pose a military problem because Russia should be treated as a real partner. “One cannot expect Russia to behave as a partner if we don’t treat it as one,” Sarkozy said.

NATO is in Moscow right now and this subject is sure to cause a few rumbles. NATO wants Russian help but wants it on NATO terms. So just days after NATO and Russian officials clashed at the Munich Security Conference, a group of prominent experts from the NATO alliance is to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday. (Feb. 9th 2010)

Hot off Russia’s Interfax news:

“Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc has said it will contest in court the conduct of the Ukrainian presidential election she appears to have narrowly lost.

Deputy leader Elena Shustik said the bloc would contest results at some polling stations and ask for a recount, Russia’s Interfax news agency reports.
Another bloc official accused Viktor Yanukovych’s party of falsification.”

Russian Doughnuts (Ponchiki) is a wonderful treat and easy to make. Very likely you have all these ingredients available in the household and on a snowy winter day or night these doughnuts are a great treat for kids young and old! So when you can not drive to the store to get your favorite doughnut, try these Russian doughnuts – They may become your new favorite…

Lets gather the Ingredients:
2 eggs
4 tbsp sugar
quarter stick softened margarine or 25 grams (butter is better)
1/2 cup milk (I like to use sourcream)
2 cups self raising flour (or 2 cups plain flour and heaping 1 tsp baking powder)
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon (no sugar in it)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (for the skillet to fry the doughnuts)

Lets Mix them there doughnuts:

Melt the margarine or butter. Pour into a mixing bowl with the eggs and sugar until creamy smooth.

Then add the milk and mix another 30 seconds.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour and the cinnamon into another mixing bowl and make sure mixed into a blended product. Then gradually stir in the liquid from the first mixing bowl until you make a bread like dough.

Continue to knead the mix to make a smooth elastic dough, while adding half the remaining flour and then add the rest as needed to create a dough that does not stick to the sides of the bowl. (This mixing should be done by hand.)

Roll the dough out to around quarter inch thick. Cut out rings of dough using two concentric cutting circles. Two different cookie cutters are great as long as there is about a half inch difference in circumference.

Lets cook them there doughnuts:

Heat a skillet with the vegetable oil on medium – not too hot.

Drop the dough rings into the oil when oil is hot and cook until lightly golden. Flipping doughnuts over as one side browns and get the other side.

Temperature is important because the doughnuts will puff up and cook only on the outside. (Better to cook more slowly then fast!)

Remove the cooked doughnuts from the skillet and set aside onto a plate covered with paper towels.

Lets eat them there doughnuts:

Eat them while still warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or cinnamon sugar and dip in your favorite icing.

Yummy……….

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

France OKs carrier sale to Russia:
08 February, 2010

France has agreed to sell the Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia. The Russian Navy also has its eyes on three more similar vessels in the future.

The approval of the defense deal was announced Monday by Jacques de Lajugie, the international development director of France’s armaments board Delegation Generale pour l’Armement (DGA). He added the possible addition of three more helicopter carriers has only been discussed on the technical level, not on the political.

Russia’s Navy voiced its intention to buy a helicopter carrier last year. The goal is to study the technology and tactical advantages of such a ship.

The French warship Mistral is the main candidate for the purchase, and she even paid a three-day visit to St. Petersburg in November so that top brass could examine it personally. However, the final decision has not yet been made and Russia is considering alternatives.

France currently has two vessels of this class deployed, which means additional warships will have to be commissioned if Russia wants an extra three. Some Russian Navy officials also speculated that the Mistral can go with a license to build similar vessels in Russian shipyards.

NATO Wants Russia to believe:

“NATO is not an enemy of Russia,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich.

Russia does not believe NATO:

President Dmitry Medvedev signed into approval his country’s new military doctrine Friday. The doctrine identifies one of the “main external threats of war” as NATO’s expansion east to Russia’s borders, and it sees U.S. plans to create an anti-missile shield in Europe as a concern for national security. It also reaffirms Russia’s right to use nuclear weapons if the country’s existence is threatened.

Why is this? Because the lies run deep! Russia has learned what my Grandma always said, “Only believe half of what you are told, the other half is a lie!”

For Russia it will be a long time until she will believe anything the Wests says…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.