Windows to Russia

30 people have died after the bus they were in drove into a ravine in the south of Israel. At least 21 injured, some of them in grave condition, have been taken to the nearest hospital. In total there were 49 Russians and two Israelis on the bus. All of the passengers were tour operators from St. Petersburg. The employees of five Russian travel agencies were taking a tour around Israel to lean more about the hotels and sights they will offer to their customers. The trip was organized by an Israeli tour-operator.

The accident happened not far from the Egyptian border, near the resort city of Eilat. Witnesses say the bus fell over 80 metres into the ravine.

Both military helicopters and dozens of first aid medical units were on the scene.

Sad situation: 80 meters is about 250 feet!

Kyle & Svet

Red area is super cold!

Russia’s Yakutia Republic suffers from Arctic temperatures

Temperatures in some settlements of Russia’s Yakutia Republic may reach 60 degrees below zero Centigrade (-76F) during the next couple of days. This year’s winter in Yakutia is a lot colder than usual: the republic sits on the way of cold Arctic air currents that reach the territory of the republic without any obstacles, and the air becomes even colder at nighttime under the clear sky. Yakutia is washed by the Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean – the coldest and the iciest waters in the northern hemisphere

This is what people get when they complain that it is the warmest December on Record. It drops to -76F. (Yes that is right negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit.)

I do not think we want to visit right now….

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Russia getting ready to revamp the Energy Issues?

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking about the issue of OPEC. OPEC is getting ready for a huge decrease in production and they realize that they need Russia to help out. Russia is not a member and OPEC wishes they were.

Russia is the second largest supplier of oil in the world. and OPEC knows that with out Russia going along with the program chances of success are slim. OPEC has invited Russia to join and it looks like Medvedev is thinking seriously about joining.

Factors that are driving this decision are centered around an oil based economy. Russia has to make decisions that help her economy. By joining OPEC – Russia would have a lot of pull in the decisions, being the second largest oil producer in the world and Russia and OPEC together would make a OPEC that produced over 50% of the worlds supply. Another factor is that Russia’s Budget is based on 70 dollars a barrel oil. Russia has about a 3 year supply of reserve money before they run out. (better than most countries)

My worry in all this is that all of a sudden the world is going to be very short on oil. I think that countries like the USA are having very little slow down in usage, but that they are using reserves and after the first of the year the reserves are going to show a considerable decline. (Sorta like robbing Peter to pay Paul.) I think that the USA government is playing games to keep oil down until after the new administration takes over in Washington, DC.

These strategies always cause huge price issues and it would be better for all to just to not play games. Because once oil production has been stopped it does not turn back on like a water faucet. It takes time to get production back on line again.

It seems from what I am seeing on TV that the Oil companies in Russia are in agreement on following the OPEC mandate and looks like Russia will be taking a new role in the oil industry sometime in the next year.

Looks like Russia most likely will say yes to OPEC!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 16.12.2008, Moscow 09:56:24.Russia’s male population numbered 65.7 million and the female population 76.3 million in early 2008, as women outnumbered men by 16 percent (10.6 million people), the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported. Women are seen to outnumber men by population from the age of 28 years old, and the gap increases with age. The only two Russian regions where the male population was higher than female were the Chukotka autonomous district and the Kamchatka region, where there are 931 and 980 women for each 1,000 men, respectively.

RBC, 16.12.2008, Chisinau 09:24:50.Informal 5+2 consultations on the Transnistrian peace process with the participation of guarantor countries and mediators from Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, and monitors from the EU and the United States, as well as representatives from Chisinau and Tiraspol will take place in Vienna today. Transnistrian President Igor Smirnov was notified of the scheduled consultations by the breakaway republic’s Foreign Minister Vladimir Yastrebchak, the leader’s press office told RBC.

RBC, 15.12.2008, Moscow 16:59:09.The government will lend support to roughly 300 nationwide companies as part of its plan to shore up the Russian economy’s real sector, Deputy PM and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced following today’s meeting of the government’s Presidium. Specifically, the government is ready to aid companies working on special technologies in the defense sector. Kudrin also added that each of Russia’s federal subjects had to prepare its lists of troubled companies that were vital for the region or providing the main source of employment in certain cities and towns.

RBC, 15.12.2008, Moscow 15:54:09.The government will provide support to at least 1,500 Russian companies to stabilize the economic situation in the country, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the government’s Presidium today. The PM said that the list of these companies was to be approved by Wednesday, adding that they would together account for 85 percent of Russia’s GDP. The annual turnover of most of them exceeds RUB 15bn-RUB 16bn (approx. USD 539m-USD 575m) each, and the head count tops 4,000 employees. Support must also be lent to companies employing more than 30 percent of the labor force in a particular city or town, Putin said.

RBC, 15.12.2008, Moscow 14:47:38.The visit of Russian warships to Venezuela, Panama, and Nicaragua marks a steady trend towards closer relations between the navies of Russia and those countries, aide to Russia’s navy chief Igor Dygalo said, adding that the move contributed to stability and trust in the world’s oceans and seas.

RBC, 15.12.2008, Moscow 14:37:36.The MICEX index grew 5.5 percent to 655 points, and the RTS index added 5.5 percent as well, reaching 688 points. On MICEX, the gainers were led by Gazprom Neft (up 10 percent), LUKoil (up 8 percent) and Sberbank (up 7.5 percent).

RBC, 15.12.2008, Moscow 12:25:17.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) expects Russia to cut oil production by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day in 2009, head of LUKoil Vagit Alekperov told journalists today. He emphasized that the decision was to be made by the Russian government, and that if approved, Russian oil companies were ready to follow it. Alekperov added that oil producers were ready to inform the government on the specific oil fields and wells on which operations could be suspended with minimum losses, and where it would be easy to resume production.

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee today and removing comments that said many bad and nasty things. We had a total of 30 really bad comments that expressed the desire to either rearrange our existence or say foul words that should not be printed.

What were these wonderful comments over: Article 1 and Article 2!

Article one (1) is about things going on in Russia but we hit a sore spot with the happenings with illegal rallies this weekend. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3. I had proceeded to express the fact that people will be arrested because they do not follow the rules. (Ouch)

Article two (2) is about a certain Roman Dobrokhotov who was arrested for his attitude at a press conference with Medvedev. (Trouble with a capital T!)

We will say that if the attitude and foul language that we received in comments on this article and the previous article are an example of these followers expressions then we see why they are having communication problems with the Government people.

We are all for rallies and expressing yourself but if you do not learn how to do it correctly you will have a long road to travel!

We seem to have hit a sore spot this weekend…….

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

School Blown Up!

Truth for Ossetia has left a new comment on your post “Russia: South Ossetia Traveling To The USA!“:

Thanks for the mention, and for your interest in our visit, Kyle and Svet. For more information or to help the cause of peace in Georgia and South Ossetia, visit truthforossetia.org and helpossetianow.org.

——————————————————————————–

Give these websites a view and help out if you can! I was working on an article about these sites and then after my last article about South Ossetia going to America, I received this comment above.

As you know we have been a huge supporter of South Ossetia! As many Russians have been. I have a different view point than most Americans because I live in Russia. So I have tried to give all information I could about the war between South Ossetia and Georgia.

The site Truth For Ossetia caught my attention a few days ago. The site is full of photos and stories about what happened. So I just changed my article and posted this….

Take a look at both sites they will give you a different outlook about what happened.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Dmitry Medvedev met with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

The discussions covered various aspects of Russian-American relations in the context of the changes taking place in the United States following the election of Barack Obama as President, and also international issues. (Link)

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking about what South Ossetia is up to. It seems that South Ossetia has sent a delegation to Washington in the USA! This is an attempt to put some faces with the tragedy that was entailed by Georgia in South Ossetia. They hope that their presence will stimulate more awareness of the situation.

Do you think anyone will listen?

A group of peace activists from South Ossetia has arrived in the U.S. capital, Washington DC, to give American politicians their accounts of the August war in the republic. (Link)

According to the preliminary reports it seems that they where listened to by officials in the USA. That is good and South Ossetia now hopes that America can put a little pressure on Georgia to never attempt the destruction that they did last time.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 12.12.2008, Moscow 15:51:03.The Russian Constitution must be a directly applicable law, President Dmitry Medvedev told a conference marking the 15th anniversary of the Russian Constitution. “The most important recent achievement is that any amendments to the Constitution and other laws must be made according to the rules that we have established for ourselves,” the president said. He called the Constitution “the indisputable backbone of the Russian legal system.”

RBC, 12.12.2008, Moscow 15:19:30.According to the truck maker’s General Director Sergei Kogogin, KAMAZ believes that it would be economically senseless to suspend production. He noted that the company had received orders for trucks that are not available at the warehouse. For instance, KAMAZ has orders for 1,800 trucks for December, of which it planned to produce 1,000 trucks and take the remaining 800 from the warehouse.

RBC, 12.12.2008, Moscow 13:59:10.Moscow needs a financial development plan until 2025, the Russian capital’s First Deputy Mayor Yury Roslyak told an international conference today. According to him, a financial plan like this will help project further development for the city’s social, tax, and other spheres, as well as city infrastructure. Roslyak added that the document would help determine when the standard of living in Moscow will reach the same level as any average European country, and pointed out that the plan would play an especially important role amid the financial crisis.

RBC, 12.12.2008, Moscow 13:45:48.The German automotive giant Daimler will get one seat on the Russian truck maker KAMAZ’s Board of Directors, the companies reported.

RBC, 12.12.2008, Moscow 13:34:44.Gazprom and Japan’s Economy, Trade, and Industry Ministry plan to build natural gas processing and chemical facilities at the Sobinsk oil and gas condensate field in the Krasnoyarsk region, the Russian gas monopoly’s press office reported today. The move to allow the project’s joint feasibility study was approved during a meeting of the coordination committee of Gazprom and the Japanese Natural Resource and Energy Agency. The study will be carried out while taking into account a preliminary study held by Japanese companies based on Gazprom’s original data. The parties have signed relevant agreements.

RBC, 12.12.2008, Togliatti 11:50:06.AVTOVAZ plans to float five commercial paper issues worth a total of RUB 5bn (approx. USD 179m), or RUB 1bn (approx. USD 35.8m) each, the Russian car producer said in a statement today. The decision to place the commercial paper was approved by AVTOVAZ’s board of directors. Each issue will consist of 1m securities worth RUB 1,000 (approx. USD 35.8) each, maturing on the 364th day from the beginning of the placement.

RBC, 12.12.2008, Moscow 11:08:17.Russia may reduce oil production to provide support for oil prices, President Dmitry Medvedev said during a meeting on the social and economic development of the Urals Federal District in Kurgan, one of the oldest cities in Siberia. He also did not rule out the possibility of Russia joining OPEC, or other organizations of oil exporters that might be established in the future. Medvedev noted that Russia was ready to coordinate its oil and gas supply policies with other hydrocarbon exporters, including OPEC, adding that representatives of this organization were “rather actively asking Russia” to do so. The president also stressed that it was necessary for the Russian government to consider all possible options, as oil prices directly affected the country’s national interests, its budget, and development. Russia could not be guided by any “abstract criteria” or international organizations’ recommendations while making decisions on such issues, Medvedev stated.

RBC, 11.12.2008, Moscow 18:40:55.Russia and the United States will hold another round of talks over the missile defense issue in Moscow on December 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry told RBC. The meeting is to be attended by U.S. experts and representatives of the U.S. State Department.

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and came across this interesting tidbit of information: This information came from Экспресс газета (Express Gazeta). The Gazeta Express, is a Kosovo newspaper published in Pristina by MediaWorks.

Smoking may be bad for you but in Russia the tobacco plants are the key to a cure for cancer.

The cost of one dose of such medications as mabtera, herceptin or avastin makes up about $2,800. A patient would have to pay over $100,000 for one year of treatment. There were incidents when cancer patients had to sell their property to be able to take the course and stay alive. What is worse, there is no universal remedy for cancer. Such medications have to be made individually for each patient. The process may last for up to six months. To crown it all, the use of animal cells may not be safe – a patient can be infected with other deadly viruses.

Russian scientists paid attention to plants, for they make the endless and cheap source of protein on the planet. Herbs do not contain any infections which could be dangerous to humans. Their biggest advantage is speed. Researchers made herbs use all of their resources to produce a required substance very quickly.

The healing tobacco plantation is located at the Moscow-based Institute for Physiochemical Biology named after A.N. Belozersky.

It seems that while smoking tobacco may cause cancer, the tobacco plant that we smoke can help cure cancer cheaply and safely. Russia has developed this unique approach because cost is such a factor. Sometimes a different approach is what it takes to make something work.

Lets hope that this is an approach that will work out to be successful.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.