Curious about the mood in Russia

[roykirk]

For the person claiming the entire world is united on being a puppy dog of Bush; even your own C. Powell acknowledged that Georgia was responsible for the events. Bush and the white house surely knew as well.

You're mixing up what I said and clearly didn't read my entire post.  The world is certainly not united behind our idiot President.  In case you haven't noticed, the rest of the world hates the United States.  What I said was that the world was united in condemning Russia's actions in Georgia, and in recognizing Osetia's independence.  Even communist China refused to support Russia's actions.  That in and of itself speaks volumes.  The issue isn't whether Georgia started it, all the media has truthfully noted that Georgia struck first.  The difference is that the Russian response was not calculated and measured.  They were in the process of invading and crushing the entire country until world outrage caused them to pull back. 

You're also confusing your source on Russia being the largest manufacturer of cars in Europe.  That is not what the article says.  It says Russia has surpassed Germany with the most in-country sales....in Russia.  Russia is not the leading maker of cars sold in other European countries.  http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb20080711_765850.htm   Maybe you lost something in the translation.  It's impressive enough by itself that Russia is selling more cars internally than Germany, but I think it will be a cold day in you-know-where before we see Ladas on the streets of Rome.  In case you are curious, the best selling automobile in the EU is the Peugeot 207, made by France.  In fact, none of the 10 top selling cars in Europe are made in Russia:  http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/top_ten_article.aspx?cp-documentid=7319152

[SANDRO43]

Thanks Marina, however your post is a bit confusing, let me see if I got it straight:

Now, applications have a specific maximum processing time (10 days), maximum cost (30euros), limitations on requiring applicants to travel to Embassies or consulates for interviews, to the specific countries of interest. Before we had to apply for a Shengon visa in a cooperative country such as Finland and travel there first before going on to our intended destination.

This applies to Russians seeking visas to Schengen countries, right ? Doesn't seem much of change from previous regulations, though. While times and costs may have changed, the basic Schengen visa rules still seem to apply. Contrary to what you say, an RWD member recently had his fiancée arriving in Italy with a visa obtained from a Greek Consulate, similar to the Finnish situation you described.

There are new visa application rules for Russian consulates that were mandated by this new agreement. EU countries hosting Russian consulates no longer can take applications from foreign nationals unless they have residency permits for that country. Before, a visitor to Scandinavia for example could decide to visit Russia by simpy going to the nearest consulate and apply. Now they have to go to a country not a party to these agreements, or return and apply in their home country.

While this applies to EU citizens seeking visas to Russia, correct ? I did not know of the possibility of obtaining a Russian visa from a Russian Consulate abroad. However, since this requires a few days anyway, depending on the fee paid, it probably was not an opportunity available to most.

[roykirk]

Contrary to what you say, an RWD member recently had his fiancée arriving in Italy with a visa obtained from a Greek Consulate, similar to the Finnish situation you described.

That would have been me. Yes, she had to get a Schengen through Greece because Italy insisted that she fly from Novosibirsk to Moscow for an interview before they would consider giving her one.  Greece was willing to grant her one by mail, so she just got a Schengen through them and we used it to see Italy.  It certainly should have had nothing to do with her being undesirable, as she was able to get a B-2 to the U.S. a short time later.  Her travel agent told her, however, that there are some European countries, that go out of their way to make it very difficult for Russians to visit unless they are in an approved tour group (she said Italy in particular considers all single Russians undesirable, especially women).  That's why she said all Italian trips she sells to Russian citizens carry a Greek Schengen visa.  This all happened three months ago.

[Ooooops]

It's impressive enough by itself that Russia is selling more cars internally than Germany, but I think it will be a cold day in you-know-where before we see Ladas on the streets of Rome. 

May be not Ladas, but their prototypes are Italian made   

The Fiat 124 is a mid-sized family car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1966 and 1974. It was the replacement of the Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500. Today it is also known as the car used as the basis for the Russian-built Lada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_124

[roykirk]

May be not Ladas, but their prototypes are Italian made   

The Fiat 124 is a mid-sized family car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1966 and 1974. It was the replacement of the Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500. Today it is also known as the car used as the basis for the Russian-built Lada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_124

Personally, I think the Ladas are kind of a charming retro car.  The husband of my fiancee's best friend, however, calls them "cheap pieces of overpriced junk."     He's got his eye set on some European sports car that I can't even pronounce, which he says he can get as an import for about the same as it would cost him for a new Lada (which in either case he's going to be saving money for a long time).

[Ade]

You're also confusing your source on Russia being the largest manufacturer of cars in Europe.  That is not what the article says.  It says Russia has surpassed Germany with the most in-country sales....in Russia.  Russia is not the leading maker of cars sold in other European countries.  http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb20080711_765850.htm   Maybe you lost something in the translation.  It's impressive enough by itself that Russia is selling more cars internally than Germany, but I think it will be a cold day in you-know-where before we see Ladas on the streets of Rome.  In case you are curious, the best selling automobile in the EU is the Peugeot 207, made by France.  In fact, none of the 10 top selling cars in Europe are made in Russia:  http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/top_ten_article.aspx?cp-documentid=7319152

Actually, I think it was you that was confused about what she said;

Some markets such as automobiles are exploding, for example Russia has overtaken Germany as the largest sales country for retail car sales in Europe.  By maintaining high duties, Russia has gained dozens of factories building those cars in Russia. Besides China, which car manufacturing country is seeing major growth and the increase in jobs that brings? Opportunities go to those who stay current, relying on old or out of context figures does not help you understand what is happening.

She never mentions anywhere that Russia is the largest car manufacturer. Or was there an edit in there that I didn't see? I just noticed that I edited my post and there was no "last edit" line added; didn't there used to be that feature here?

Now that was strange; the first modification I saw no "last edit...", the second time, there was.

[roykirk]

Admittedly, there could be some misinterpretation on both sides.  Now that I look at her post again, it's confusing as to the actual meaning.  Then she goes on to talk about the high duties Russia is getting from presumably exporting their cars, which I take to mean her intent was to say that Russia has the highest car sales to Europe. 

Frankly, I find the whole premise confusing.  I don't know about other people, but I've never really thought of Russia as being a European country.  Geographically, only a small western portion is (which is, granted, where most of the population lives), and culturally, I think of only St. Petersburg as being truly European.  One study showed that 71% of Russians do not think of themselves as European and in fact 50% think that the EU is a threat to Russia.  http://www.eu-russiacentre.org/assets/files/levada_release.pdf  They're certainly not part of the EU, nor will they ever be.  So when I first read the article about car sales above, I also initially interpreted it as highest car sales to Europe.  Reading it several times over, however, I realized they were considering Russia as part of Europe and noting their internal sales surpassed even that of Germany.  Very confusing.