Windows to Russia

Russia’s GDP to grow 3-4% in 2010 – Central Bank:
Russia expects its gross domestic product to decline less than projected in 2009 and grow 3-4% next year, Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said on Tuesday.

One dead in shooting in Russia’s Ingushetia:
One person was killed in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia on Monday when unknown assailants opened fire on a car driven by a police officer, Ingush police said.

Two Russian security officials found beheaded in N.Caucasus:
The headless bodies of a court bailiff and a police officer have been found in the southern Russian republic of Kabardino Balkaria, a security official said on Tuesday.

Russia may be forced to stop issuing biometric passports:
Russia could soon stop issuing biometric passports due to technical problems, a newspaper reported on Tuesday citing the head of the Federal Migration Service.

Men in police uniforms beat man to death in Moscow:
Three unidentified men dressed in police coats beat a man to death in southeast Moscow on Tuesday, a law enforcement source said.

US ready to continue talks with Russia on Afghanistan:
The United States is ready to continue dialogue with Russia on Afghanistan-related issues, Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Monday.

Naftogaz delegation to visit Moscow to sign gas documents:
A delegation of Ukrainian state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz will visit Moscow on Tuesday to hold talks with Russian energy giant Gazprom and sign documents excluding fines for Ukraine.

Iran completes 1st stage of drills to protect nuclear facilities:
Iran’s armed forces have completed the first stage of a large-scale air defense exercise to protect the country’s nuclear facilities.

Medvedev says Belarus has not been asked to become part of Russia:
President Dmitry Medvedev has said Moscow wants to build a closer union with Belarus, but has not invited the country to become part of Russia.

Russia pledges 30-40% discount on gas for Belarus in 2010:
Russian natural gas prices will be 30-40% lower for Belarus than for EU states in 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

That is all for today: Come back tomorrow and I will try to post another round of pictures!

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/11/trip-to-israel-was-blast-photo-set-1.html

While Svet and I traveled Israel this time we went to the Lebanon border and saw the grottoes! As always Svet loves to take pictures and movies. I picked this movie because it shows not only the star attraction of this article but some of the beautiful landscape that is around the area. While you watch the movie remember that the tiny little creatures that are shown in the film are a relative of the Elephant – Yes an Elephant…

Called a hyrax (from Greek ὕραξ “shrewmouse”) is any of four species of fairly small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea: The Rock Hyrax Procavia capensis, the Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax Heterohyrax brucei, the Western Tree Hyrax Dendrohyrax dorsalis, and the Southern Tree Hyrax, Dendrohyrax arboreus. They live in Africa and the Middle East.

Hyraxes are sometimes described as being the closest living relative to the elephant. This is because they may share an ancestor in the distant past when hyraxes were larger and more diverse.

Hyraxes are well-furred rotund creatures with a short tail. Most measure between 30–70 cm long and weigh between 2–5 kg. From a distance, a hyrax could be mistaken for a very well-fed rabbit or guinea pig. (Link)

My first reaction was that they are rodents but after closer examination of the creature I have discovered that they are very interesting and considered very important to the ecology of the Middle East.

So hope you enjoyed our little Israel tidbit of information today?

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/11/trip-to-israel-was-blast-photo-set-1.html

Remember Litvinenko? The ex Russian KGB that defected to the West and was murdered? (They say he was murdered.)

Well – it has been three years since former Russian security officer Aleksandr Litvinenko died of polonium poisoning in London and that seems to be the end of the story. The simple fact that he died of polonium is about the only true statement that can be upheld in anyone’s book. The rest of the so called facts and statements have all been falling to the wayside.

This very month – Scotland Yard’s case against Lugovoy sustained a huge blow. A German court dropped its legal action against another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun, who was suspected of transporting the polonium-210 that Britain believed was used to kill Litvinenko. (They are saying dropped because of lack of evidence.) Kovtun has now been given access to the evidence that was to be against him.

“Already now we can see a lot of inconsistencies. If we study carefully all the documents and discrepancies in this case, it will help us to prove the guilt and to show to the world that the Russian party had nothing to do with that,” Kovtun said.

This issue now brings into focus – How strong is the British evidence? MP Mike Hancock, chairman of Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Russia says:

“I sometimes wonder if the evidence is as strong as what we suggest it is. I’d like to think it was because the whole country is being led to believe that the evidence is so overwhelmingly patently easy to prove. Then we should try it and see if we can convince the Russian judicial system of the merits of the case. If we can’t, then let’s be honest enough to say we can’t!”

I remember well the hate emails and comments of death and destruction over these articles that I recieved. People at the time had no doubts that Lugovoy killed him and if you questioned the facts you where attacked from all viewpoints…

Links below are the articles that I did since the beginning of this case. I will stand by my thoughts: I think that Britain has been barking up the wrong tree all this time. But they were led to that tree by the ones who really did the killing! (Time to chase other cats up other trees.)

http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/01/no-one-knows-who-killed-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/03/could-litvinenko-have-pois
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/05/russia-says-lets-work-tog
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/06/russia-was-polonium-210-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/07/russia-moscow-has-reques
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/07/london-rejects-bbc-litvinen
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/07/russia-more-on-litvinenko-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2008/07/russia-german-prosecutor-

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Well surprise, surprise – Lets watch a video and see what America is up to today with our tax money. The talk of reset by America with Russia just fell apart with this inexcusable renewal of stupidity.

America has reconfirmed the desire to continue the political meddling in the gas industry in Europe in attempt to disrupt the business. This was already well known in Russia but ignored in the Western world. It will be interesting to see if the EU can show any independence from the Washington bull and circle of influence. Is the new EU presidential team, a political puppet of the USA, or a free thinking independent body?

It seems that the US just has lots of extra money to throw around on more foreign bureaucrats and more pointless underhanded escapades.

Why does America care about the Russian/Ukrainian gas issues? (Nabucco alternative this has been the main objective of USA foreign policy since 1989)

Yuschenko has just received more billions of dollars in support from the best public relations US firm that money can buy.

Is this America’s part of Ukraine’s election campaign to stir up the issue of gas in Europe? (With out a doubt it is.)

Why would Yuschenko miss such a wonderful opportunity to create destruction? (He will not win the election so he might as well finish taking the country down the road to ruin and get as rich as he can from it…)

So as I watch the protests continue about UCLA raising tuition 32% and watch students being arrested – I also watch our government take billions in American tax dollars and pour them into foreign countries political games, instead of helping our kids get a reasonably priced education… Sad

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Hey Everyone,

We just got back from Israel and we had a great time. We got to spend some wonderful time with the best people that we could ever meet. We stayed with Chelita and Misha who have lived in Israel for many years now. They were born in Moldovia and decided the climate in Israel suited them better. So take a look at the pictures and I will try to put a little comment below or above each one…

We covered all of Israel this time and even stopped at the dead sea. The pictures of the hotel is when we stayed and bobbed around in the dead sea for two days. We spent considerable time in the West Bank area studying the settlement issue that is causing heat on Israel… (Talk about that later on next week)

We met lots of new people and gained lots of phone numbers from new friends. We found the people of Israel were ever we went to be helpful and friendly.

We even buried the rental car in the sand at the beach and lots of people helped us get her out.

Part two of pictures tomorrow.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

If you follow “Windows to Russia” you know then that I like to follow vessels that sail the oceans of the world and especially ones that have a Russian background. These vessel’s that we will talk about today are as Russian as it gets: Video – “The retired Russian ice-breaker Sampo based in Finland is the only vessel of its kind in the world to offer tourist trips. The ship’s captain says it takes about 10,000 tourists each season around the Bay of Bothnia who like to see it smash its way through ice up to a meter thick at this time of year.“

So when I found this great video I had to post it. 🙂 But then I started to check on that statement about being the only vessel of its kind…

Not so, it is not the only tourist ice breaker –

MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) – A group of mostly British tourists on board a Russian icebreaker in the Antarctic are getting more of a trip than they bargained for as the ship has become stuck in the ice.

The Kapitan Khlebnikov is inching its way towards open water – about 5 nautical miles (9 kilometers) away – covering approximately 1.5 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

The ship is waiting for a favorable wind to help loosen the ice, but the 105 passengers, including tourists, scientists and a BBC television crew, will end their tour a day or two later than planned.

So it looks as though there is more than one old ice breaker from Russia that is cruising the icy waters of the North. The Kapitan Khlebnikov has after a three day extra wait finally got the winds it needed to break free and has now returned to cruising.

VLADIVOSTOK, November 20 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian icebreaker that had become stuck in the Antarctic ice has finally managed to leave the heavy ice zone, a spokesman for Russia’s Far Eastern shipping company said on Friday.

The Kapitan Khlebnikov, with over 100 tourists, scientists and a BBC television crew on board, has been inching its way towards open water – about 5 nautical miles (9 kilometers) away – covering approximately 1.5 nautical miles since Sunday.

All is well that ends well!

I am going to keep looking around and see how many other old ice breakers are doing cruise work…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Murdered Russian priest received death threats:
A Russian Orthodox priest who carried out missionary work among immigrants from ex-Soviet republics received over a dozen death threats before his murder on Thursday, a Russian paper said.

New outfits for the Russian army: bulletproof clothes and boots:
This exhibition of modern army equipment in Moscow features fire-resistant clothes for tank crew, grenade-proof boots and vitamin bars for special forces.

Youth group vows to get “Putin’s granny” out of psychiatric clinic:
Activists from Nashi – a pro-Kremlin political youth movement – have stepped up their efforts to help Natalia Karpova, an 83-year old ardent admirer of Vladimir Putin, out of a mental institution.

Russia-Germany: strategic partners in Europe and Asia:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has met with his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, who is on his first official visit to Moscow.

Clearing a path for Nord Stream:
A risky underwater operation underway in the Gulf of Finland is aimed at clearing the sea bed of old mines from past wars, in order to free the path for the Nord Stream pipeline, carrying gas from Russia to Europe.

Tips on bilateral ties from Putin:
While Vladimir Putin and Yulia Timoshenko have been discussing future collaboration on gas issues, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been meeting his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili in Kiev.

Teenage Georgian prisoners: smugglers or political pawns?:
Four Georgian teenagers caught at the South Ossetian border with explosives and grenades have made it to the center of a growing international row, and now could be exchanged in return for South Ossetian detainees.

Prime Ministers put on smiles to fend off new gas dispute:
This New Year’s Eve will not be clouded by gas cuts, says an optimistic Vladimir Putin after meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Timoshenko in Yalta on Thursday.

A-ha back in Russia to say goodbye:
Norway’s all-time bestselling band A-ha is returning to Russia, with two gigs in St.Petersburg and Moscow. The legends of synthpop will promote their latest album “Foot of the Mountain” and farewell to their fans.

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I did an article on these guys before we left for Israel and I never got to find out who won. I found this video of the last round and after watching this video and other videos on the fight…

I would have to say – Haye ran away the whole time and Valuev chased him all over the ring. (The Judges say Haye won?)

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.