Russian news

[TigerPaws]

i'm not concerned...we have a solid grip on the lands we took from mexico...and will for the foreseeable future....even as the areas fill up with Spanish speakers from the South of our border.

Fathertime!   

The Canadians have for some time now had an issue with the Native Population and I-Wana-My-Land-Back, that little failed state south of the border believes it can reclaim the Southwest because the U.S. took it. Next Russia will demand Alaska back and where will it stop?

[AkMike]

FYI, Alaska was purchased not taken. Unlike the Kuban, Krym as well as the eastern regions of Ukraine.

[jone]

FYI, Alaska was purchased not taken. Unlike the Kuban, Krym as well as the eastern regions of Ukraine.

That idiot Seward.  What was he thinkin?

[AkMike]

That idiot Seward.  What was he thinkin?

 Yeah that guy was a dolt of the first order. 

[mendeleyev]

Last year the Kremlin, in a piece published by the Kremlin owned RBTH media, laid out for the Russian people the facts that Alaska had been sold (not taken by, nor given to) to the USA. It assured Russians that they had no further claim on Alaska.

Was there a political play at the heart of that article? Most certainly, and it had to do with back door communications regarding an ongoing dispute with a US ally in regards to certain islands in the Pacific.

Unless Russia wished to engage in an all out war with the USA, Alaska is frozen where it is, and there isn't even a hint of Kremlin interest.

[mendeleyev]

As to China eyeing territory that historically has been inside her borders, most certainly there is concern in the Kremlin, as well as there is interest in Beijing. Putin may play with the Sinos, but he isn't stupid. There is a reason why he wants to lure more white, European, ethnic Russian Slavs to the Far East. There is also a reason why several large Russia troop groupings are permanently stationed at key points along the Chinese border.

Is something going to change soon? I do not think so. But, and Putin understands this, the Chinese will let us all know if conditions ever change.

[AkMike]

Unless Russia wished to engage in an all out war with the USA, Alaska is frozen where it is, and there isn't even a hint of Kremlin interest.

Oh I don't know Mendy, The talk about building a bridge from Siberia to Alaska surfaces every once in a while.    First they need to work on the road of bones to get to the coast. Possibly an all weather year around style, unlike the goat trail there now.

 Then depending on if the US even wants to connect with such a friendly neighbor remains to be seen. (Think Georgia, Chechnia, Donbas and Krym.)  Then there'll be 60 years worth of permitting, with many court decisions involved before the first truckload of dirt is moved on this end.

 Then the question arises as to who'll pay for it?  Russia??      The west?   


The local babauska's went orgasmic when the idea of Alaska first surfaced. But when invited to return to Russia if they were so unhappy here in the west... Well for some reason they declined. 

[2tallbill]

Russians Insult Barack Obama by Naming Black Goat After Him



read all about it here
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russians-insult-barack-obama-naming-black-goat-after-him-n574571

[2tallbill]

Mystery surrounds North Korea's detention of Russian yacht

North Korea had few answers after the rogue nation stopped a Russian yacht and held it for nearly two days before letting the crew and the vessel go on Sunday.

The five crew members reportedly were headed to northeastern Russia after taking part in an international sailing competition in South Korea.

North Korea's coast guard seized the yacht in international waters Friday. North Korean officials ordered the boat towed to the port city of Kimchaek, northeast of Pyongyang.

read all about it here
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/16/mystery-surrounds-north-koreas-detention-russian-yacht.html#

[2tallbill]

What Russia wants
From cold war to hot war
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is part of a broader, and more dangerous, confrontation with the West

THE pens were on the table in Minsk, Belarus’s capital, for the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine to sign a deal to end a year-long war fuelled by Russia and fought by its proxies. But on February 12th, after all-night talks, they were put away. “No good news,” said Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president. Instead there will be a ceasefire from February 15th. A tentative agreement has been reached to withdraw heavy weaponry.

But Russia looks sure to be able to keep open its border with Ukraine and sustain the flow of arms and people. The siege of Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub held by Ukrainian forces, continues. Russia is holding military exercises on its side of the border. Crimea was not even mentioned.

read all about it here
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21643220-russias-aggression-ukraine-part-broader-and-more-dangerous-confrontation

[fathertime]

Oil has been creeping back up in price...nearly $50 a barrel today...




Oil prices hit highest level in 7 months


n case you haven't noticed, oil prices are staging a strong recovery and inching towards $50 per barrel.
Unexpected supply disruptions in places like Canada, Nigeria and Venezuela have caused oil prices to hit their highest level in seven months last night, at $48.41 per barrel....

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/17/investing/oil-crude-prices-rally/index.html?iid=Lead

[jone]

What Russia wants
From cold war to hot war
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is part of a broader, and more dangerous, confrontation with the West

THE pens were on the table in Minsk, Belarus’s capital, for the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine to sign a deal to end a year-long war fuelled by Russia and fought by its proxies. But on February 12th, after all-night talks, they were put away. “No good news,” said Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president. Instead there will be a ceasefire from February 15th. A tentative agreement has been reached to withdraw heavy weaponry.

But Russia looks sure to be able to keep open its border with Ukraine and sustain the flow of arms and people. The siege of Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub held by Ukrainian forces, continues. Russia is holding military exercises on its side of the border. Crimea was not even mentioned.

read all about it here
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21643220-russias-aggression-ukraine-part-broader-and-more-dangerous-confrontation

Bill,

Your article is over a year old.  Time to start reading the bylines again.

[2tallbill]

Bill,

Your article is over a year old.  Time to start reading the bylines again.

whoops, here is one that is an hour old.



Nato risks a nuclear war with Russia 'within a year',
senior general warnsThe West has been advised to act now to avert
'potential catastrophe'
Charlie Cooper Whitehall Correspondent 1 hour  ago



read the story here
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/nato-risks-nuclear-war-with-russia-within-a-year-senior-general-warns-a7035141.html

[mendeleyev]

The Cossacks are to the Russian leadership as the Brownshirts were to Hitler. Here is Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (purple golf shirt) on a tour thru Russia to campaign against corruption. He and his group are wearing backpacks and at the city of Anapa were attacked by Cossacks who guard the local airport. Although to a normal and rational person viewing the scene it would appear that the Cossacks are the attackers, they are now proclaiming that it was they who were attacked by Navalny and his group.

[AkMike]

Those dammed video's..  shooting down perfectly good stories everyday with facts..   

[fathertime]

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Russian economy is reshaping, and becoming less reliant on oil in their economy.  The article states they are making it much easier to do business in their country. 

Russia retools after crash as post-oil economy takes shape


Call it a stealth overhaul.

With none of the fanfare that greeted Saudi Arabia's plan for the post-oil era, the Russian economy is quietly getting its biggest makeover under President Vladimir Putin. A trail left by crude's collapse has turned up some unlikely survivors and even industries that found a way to prosper as the broader economy burned.

"New drivers for growth have already appeared in the economy -- agriculture, chemicals, the food industry, domestic tourism,"....


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-russia-econ-e98ebea6-1ce6-11e6-82c2-a7dcb313287d-20160522-story.html


Fathertime! 

[AkMike]

They opened a new operating room at the 5-th Children’s Corps Hospital in Sevastopol.

 At least for a little while,  during the Grand Opening

http://en.sobytiya.info/show-off-in-sevastopol-governor-opens-a-fake-operating-room.html

[Larry1]

They opened a new operating room at the 5-th Children’s Corps Hospital in Sevastopol.

 At least for a little while,  during the Grand Opening

http://en.sobytiya.info/show-off-in-sevastopol-governor-opens-a-fake-operating-room.html

It's a Potemkin surgery room! That's a first, at least that I've heard about. For those of you who aren't familiar with this term look up "Potemkin villages".

[2tallbill]

Russian President Vladimir Putin warns he'll retaliate against NATO missiles
By Susanna Capelouto, CNN

(CNN)Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will retaliate against the placement of U.S. missiles in nearby countries such as Romania, according to Russia's state-run news agency TASS.

The United States launched a ground-based missile defense system earlier this month in Romania. The system is meant to defend Europe against rogue states like Iran and not intended to target Moscow's missiles, Washington has said.

read all about it here
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/europe/putin-threatens-romania/

[2tallbill]

Behind The Scenes, Belarus Resisting Russian Missile Deployment
by Joshua Kucera

Russian officials have said that they want to deploy new missiles in Belarus in response
to American missile defense deployments in Romania and Poland, a new test for Minsk's
precarious balancing act between Russia and the West.

The United States's new missile defense site in Romania officially became operational
earlier this month, and Russians (justifiably) see the new facility as targeted towards
their country. Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised "strong countermeasures"
to respond. There have been no official suggestions about what that might entail, but
anonymous Russian officials have been saying that one measure could be to deploy
Iskander-M missiles in Belarus.


I found these two photos of the missile system online




There is more read all about it here
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/78976

[2tallbill]

"New drivers for growth have already appeared in the economy -- agriculture, chemicals, the food industry, domestic tourism,"....

They had little choice, they put sanctions on food from other countries and the low value
of the Ruble makes foreign travel more expensive.

[mendeleyev]

The Tribune needs to get out more often. Even Russians are now complaining about the lack of home-products grocery items, bath and personal care products, etc.

The quickest way to sell a substandard product here these days is to put a Western sounding name on the label. It seems that almost every day I have to chuckle at the misspellings one can see on shelves as manufacturers scramble to distance themselves from being identified as a Russian product.

The funniest one last week was a shampoo product named "Sorry." The English description of "Sorry good for hair" just seemed surreal. The label revealed it to be from China. One could only wonder how sorry the consumer would be for using it?

Speaking of China, we were at a banquet recently at a hotel that was also hosting a large delegation of Chinese tourists. With tourism in Russia at the lowest in years (Moscow airports are ghost towns at certain times nowadays), it seems that most of the remaining tourists are from China.

The Chinese delegation was eating in an adjacent ballroom and I heard somewhere between 10-12 commons from Russians about the Chinese planning war with Russia. That, by the way, is a theme recently adopted by some Kremlin-owned media networks.

During that banquet, three different prominent Russians "explained" to me (as if I were ignorant of the fact) that China is eyeing Siberia. The theme is very consistent: China is growing fast, and therefore they need more land. Siberia is attractive to them because there are few really ethnic Russians in Siberia as compared to ethnic Asians. So, China is planning to take Siberia.

Note to self: don't bother to mention that it is no wonder--much of Siberia formerly belonged to China in fairly recent history. For Russians, once they have conquered a land--it is as if they have owned it forever.

[mendeleyev]

FT, as the Tribune is reporting that tourism is a new "driver" of the economy, I'm seeing near empty airports.

Please do inform us of the exact locations where all these tourists are arriving. (Cause is isn't the normal POE such as Moscow and Peter.)

Maybe you can surf the Internet and out that info--I'd be curious to know, and so would my friend Yuri who manages the Radisson properties in Moscow. He tells me that he has never seen it so quiet at his hotels.

[The Natural]

The new tourist "driver" will be when we go to Crimea, hehe.
Will be interesting to see how it's really like there now. Wife say Moscowites talk about how prices there are like in Moscow. Well, we'll see if the beaches are empty or not and what's in the shops. We'll bring along some Parmesan cheese for gifts. And maybe I will make a travel report, even though you guys don't deserve it 

[mendeleyev]

One economic "driver" that is currently missing is the driver of riding lawnmowers. That alone would help jump start the Russian economy.