Obama´s never gonna tell a lie and hurt you...

In 2007 Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme in which an estimated 25 million Internet users were tricked into watching Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by posting it under the name of other popular video titles. The practice is now known as Rickrolling. The phenomenon became so popular that on April 1, 2008, YouTube pranked its users by making every single featured video on the front page a Rickroll.

Here is Omaba singing. And lyrics here.

By the way. Also McCain dances.

17 killed in Ukraine explosion

At least 17 people have died in an explosion in an apartment building in the south of Ukraine. Another 15 people are still missing. Twenty-one people are known to have survived the blast, which ripped through a five-storey building in the Black Sea resort of Yevpatoria. The cause of the explosion is not yet known but the Ukrainian authorities have said there are no signs of a gas leak.First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov said Sunday that human voices could be heard coming from 700 meters (2,300 feet) below ground, CNN reports. 

No ready for the (b)east?

Lubos Palata writes in Transitions Online about how the EU offers a new deal to the countries on its eastern frontier, and an implicit challenge to Russia .In the eyes of Eastern Europeans, the European Union is a standard measure for quality – the quality of products, of democracy, of housing, of lifestyles. Not America or Japan, but Europe. Millions of Ukrainians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis and Belarusians dream of one day living as people do in the EU. Those who can afford it actually act on those dreams. Cities like Berlin, Vienna, Karlovy Vary and Nice are full of rich Eastern Europeans who have used the millions they made in the east to move west and live the "eurolife."

Lubos Palata is the Central and Eastern European editor for the Czech daily Lidove noviny and a contributor to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and the German monthly German Times. He thinks that the problem is that the EU doesn't want Eastern Europe. It is already having a hard time digesting the 12 new member-states – including 10 from the post-communist regions of East-Central Europe and the Balkans – that were added to the union in recent years.

"This difficulty is evident in the rejection of the European constitution and the difficulties surrounding the Lisbon agreement"

Bush. Before and after.

It's funny to see this 2 interviews. First is the first one after Omaba´s victory. Second is made before Bush became president, talking about the good economic situation not being involved in any big war. In exit interviews, President Bush sounds reflective, even chastened, while Vice President Dick Cheney is defiant to the end. Historians say presidents, especially those who serve two terms, often grow reflective at the end of their tenure. “They tend to be exhausted, they’re worn out, they’re trying to make some sense of their administrations, and there’s a natural tendency for them to want to give their own perspective,” said Jay Winik, who got to know Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney after they read his book, “April 1865,” an account of the closing month of the Civil War.

"All I can report is it is a size 10"

Quotation of the Day. PRESIDENT BUSH, after an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.

"All I can report is it is a size 10"

In the baltics people don’t trust banks and banks don’t trust customers

Financial Times published today that Lithuania faces a sharp contraction of economic growth next year, but is determined not to follow the example of Hungary and Latvia and turn to international institutions for emergency help. As Lithuania's incoming prime minister said on Thursday, "The economic and financial situation in the three Baltic states is becoming really quite difficult. Kubilius predicts a 1.5 per cent drop in Lithuania's gross domestic product next year. His government would aim for a budget deficit next year of about 0.6 or 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product.

The global credit crisis is forcing a rapid economic slowdown in the ex-communist states of central and eastern Europe, particularly in countries dependent on international financial flows, says the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The worst performance is expected in the Baltic states, with recession in Estonia and Latvia next year. Bank clients and policymakers remain nervous. "People don't trust banks and banks don't trust customers," said Mr Spredzis, manager of Skandi Auto (which operates four showrooms selling Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Bentley models) to FT. Andrius Kubilius, the Lithuanian premier-elect, said this week that he was "sitting on a ticking time-bomb". In Estonia layoffs have hit white-collars as well, when there was slightly more than 2,500 unemployed in this category a year ago, then today the number has nearly doubled, ERR News reports. Nearly fifth of 25,000 unemployed are highly educated, wrote Marge Tubalkain-Trell in BalticBusinessNews.

Central Europe and the Baltic states as a whole are predicted to see growth almost halve from 4.3 per cent in 2008 to 2.2 per cent. In south-east Europe the forecast fall is even greater, from 6.5 per cent to 3.1 per cent. In Poland, the second biggest economy after Russia, the EBRD predicts a decline from 5.3 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

Российских женщин (Russian women)

Today I read that Russian women are completely different from Western or American women. 

This is due to the environment they live in, what they see from a young age, and what they are taught by their families. They have a completely different set of values and things that are important to them. What they value and hold high in importance, they will most likely never compromise. Here are some ways in which Russian women differ from most women.They don't care about age. As explained above, Russian women would much rather be with a well established and kind older man than a young man who is quick to get angry or lose his temper and who is not financially secure. Age is simply not as important as the quality of the relationship.

I think this is too much a simplification. And really sounds a bit stupid to me, even if it can be true in some cases.

And what about the image above?

Anyway, according to the latest data, in Russia there are only 88 males for 100 females (87 in Ukraine, 88 in Belarus, 92 in Kazakhstan, 92 in Moldova) - Pocket World in Figures: 2004 edition, The Economist, 2003.

So, less men. Still, russian women say that there are some very good ones. The problem is Russian family model. Sexism is a natural part of it, writes Elena Petrova - the creator of Russian Brides Cyber Guide.

In capitals (Moscow and St. Petersburg) the situation is better, they are more westernized, but in regions it's still very chauvinistic. If you are a single woman, you're worth nothing. Any man can offend you. You must have a strong boyfriend (or lover - even if he is married) to protect you. So a woman is not considered as somebody respectable unless she is married, and even then, she will be considered in regard at to who is her husband. A widow / ex-wife of a person with high social status (who can be a high-level criminal as well) is still considered according to his social status and gains respect according to it. Even being married to a guy who has many lovers a woman gains higher respect that if she were single.

If it was not clear: 

This leads to the situation when single men have a choice of available women, and worthy men quickly get spoilt. You probably will not believe me but in Russia it's women that are cherishing men, and not the other way around.

She thinks that society considers women looking for a husband abroad as looking for a better life and money - "selling themselves for money"; in some extent it can be viewed like this, but mostly Russian women's search abroad is the result of absence of suitable men in Russia.

So lets think twice next time.

Autumn in Sapiega hospital, Vilnius

Autumn in Sapiega hospital, Vilnius, originalmente cargada por karinga.

and Vilnius can be yelow too

(Thanks Inga, always on time)

Not so rich. But still oligarchs.

The Guadian published an article titled Twilight of the oligarchs. Communism's collapse made Ambramovic and others multi-billionaires, but now Russian capitalism is in trouble. Can their colossal fortunes survive the downturn, or is this the end of an era?

Something strange is happening in Russia — the country that invented the word oligarch back in the 1990s to define a new kind of state-connected entrepreneur. In the new post-credit-crisis world everyone can concur on one thing — that Russia's oligarchs are in trouble.

Over the past five months, according to the financial news agency Bloomb erg, Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost $230bn (£146bn). Tycoons like Oleg Deripaska — Russia's richest man and friend, we now know, of British politicians — have seen their fortunes vaporised. On paper, Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea FC owner, has suffered a $20.3bn wipeout. Alisher Usmanov, the Arsenal shareholder-tycoon has lost $11.7bn, Bloomberg estimates.

Analysts say that private jets could soon be going for bargain basement prices, while some super-rich are scrambling to sell off their villas in Sardinia and Surrey. In Moscow, elite nightclubs have relaxed their strict entry rules — there aren't enough customers. The capital's top restaurants, meanwhile, have stopped accepting credit cards.

Not that Russia's oligarchs are in the mood for entertaining. Since hosting Peter Mandelson and George Osborne on his yacht in Corfu this August, Deripaska has slithered into a classic Westminster political scandal. The aluminium magnate's British-related woes do not stop there: a former business partner, Michael Cherney, is suing him for $4bn in the high court. Rumours suggest he's even been forced to lay off his servants. A spokesman said Deripaska does not comment on private matters.

Is, then, the era of the oligarch now over?

For a few, then, Russia's wild capitalist party isn't quite over yet. "I'm not worried about it. I have my husband to worry about that," said Tatyana Nekrasova, 24, her blond hair tied into a neat bun, as she emerged from Gucci clutching an 11,000-rouble shirt. She admitted, however: "I have a lot of friends who have investments. They've lost them. They're in a state of shock."

Paradoxically, Russia's often-surreal ride from communism to capitalism appears to be going full circle. Under Boris Yeltsin a small, favoured group of businessmen was allowed to acquire the country's newly privatised assets at auctions for a fraction of their real value. Last week Putin offered a $50bn state loan to Deripaska, and other cash-strapped oligarchs, struggling to pay back debts to the west. In effect, the Kremlin is poised to renationalise many of Russia's strategic industries.

Nobody is in any doubt as to what befalls oligarchs who disobey the Kremlin. In 2003 Putin arrested Russia's then richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and broke up his Yukos oil empire. Khodorkovsky was convicted of tax evasion; his real crime was to seek to influence politics and to challenge the president. The former tycoon is serving eight years in a Siberian jail and was recently placed in solitary for not sewing properly.

New accounts about South Ossetia

Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression, writes C. J. Chivers and Ellen Barry in the Herald Tribune.
The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West. But they raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgia's insistence that its shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, was a precise operation. Georgia has variously defended the shelling as necessary to stop heavy Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages, bring order to the region or counter a Russian invasion.

Yes they can

Democrat Barack Obama has defeated Republican John McCain to make history as the first black to be elected U.S. president.

The next president will inherit horrendous economic problems that will limit the scope of his ambitions. Obama, in his final rallies, was already tempering his early promise of change with warnings about how he would have to curb some of his more ambitious plans, trying to lower expectations that he would be able to move quickly on healthcare and education reform, The Guardian says.

Is Russia celebrating? Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said the victory of either Barack Obama or John McCain would satisfy him, Interfax reported.

But The friendship of John McCain and Mikheil Saakashvili is no news. Two policymakers even water-skied in 2006.

Who did the Kremlin favor to be the next U.S. President? Was it John McCain, the hard-nosed hawk who grew to maturity during the Cold War? Or was it Hillary Clinton - the militarily well-studied Senator from New York? Nope - it seems that, according to this op-ed article from Russia’s Kommersant newpaper, Barack Obama was the best bet for Russia - although only marginally so. Konstantin Kosachev who is chairman of the Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, writes, ‘Barack Obama looks like the candidate that can be expected to take the greatest strides toward Russia, since unlike McCain, he’s not infected with any Cold War phobias, and unlike Clinton, he won’t be tied down by the old habits of his advisors’, wrote Konstantin Kosachev in The Kommersant before the election.

Wliliam Kern thinks that For Russia, Obama’s the Best of a Bad Lot

But McCain has long criticized Russia, particularly for what he sees as its backsliding on democratic reforms and human rights. "For many years, I have warned against Russian actions that undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors," he said. "Unfortunately, we have seen in recent days Russia demonstrate that these concerns were well-founded."

Worst day in the life of a geek: no internet connection

Can you be proud to be a geek? Is it cool to be a freak? Enjuto Mojamuto is a low cost cartoon and one of the stars of Muchachada Nui, a humor program made for/by people in his 30`s. Enjuto can be translated like "dry" or "without muscles". He has not many friens and spends 100% of his free time in front of computer. When internet is not working he feels anxiety and fear. He is really freak but... is so easy to understand him!

Cold war on TV

Here is a clip from Fox News i found at Freaknomics.  An interview with a 12-year-old American who, along with her aunt, was in South Ossetia when the fighting broke out in Georgia. Both are supporters of the Russians and blame everything on the Georgian government.

In the next clip we seee the Russian TV version.  

Russians journalist say how "American media is engaging in information warfare against Russia". They provide an example of [how] one American interview went wrong. The voice-over in Russian makes it seem as if — when the aunt starts blaming Georgia — the interviewer starts coughing loudly to cover her comments, becomes extremely rude, and cuts her off without giving her a chance to continue. 

As we can tell by watching the original clip all of this is completely fabricated.

The Kremlin seized upon the interview as evidence that the United States was censoring criticism of Mr. Saakashvili. A Russian anchor said the guests’ treatment indicated that the United States would use “any means available” for a disinformation campaign against Russia

NYT pointed out that the man who dubs Mr. Smith’s voice in Russian not only exaggerates the anchor’s tone, but even coughs and groans loudly when Ms. Tedeeva-Korewicki blames Mr. Saakashvili for causing the conflict — something that did not happen in the original.

Red Bull gives you wings!

Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov drank vodka and red bull between the jumps on a Grand prix event in Lausanne. At the last jump he had trouble getting up again.

Red Bull gives you wings!



Another perspective here

EU needs a russian friend. US wants a russian decline

Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia's first president, after 11 years in power in late 2003 lost the election with 95% of the votes in favour of his opponent, in an interview in El Pais stated: "This is not the moment for criticism, but when Russian troops have gone, [Saakashvili] will have to give explanations. Anyone who has made mistakes will have to pay". Russia doesn't want to see its old lands as part of Nato. But ther USSR was also against  a membership of the united Germany in the aliance. Ignacio Sotelo wrote today a brilliant article explaining why EEUU is not so worried about russian anger. And why in Europe does matter.  

The essential thing is to be aware that in relations with Russia we see that interests of the United States and the European Union are not the same. The neighbourly relations with Russia, energy dependence and especially European investment in this vast country with enormous potential for trade development, make Europe more interested in stability and rapid growth of the Russian Federation. Instead, in trying to prevent regain its status of great regional power, the United States intends to replace it in the Caucasus and Central Asia, regions where it is battling the world hegemony. The EU has yet to learn that their vital interests do not always coincide with those of the United States.

Sotelo thinks that international law "could justify military intervention in Georgian South Ossetia, as part of its territory". But finds it more suprising that "with the Chechen conflict open in the region, Russia play with fire on this issue". 

Let me play for you

Let me play for you, originalmente cargada por txd.

And question for you Tikras Vilnietis is...

In wich street of Vilnius is this girl always playing?

Prize for the first to answer with a comment here: one Svituris

Taibo on Georgia

Relations between the European Union and Russia go through a bad time after the recent war in Georgia. Carlos Taibo, a professor of political science at the Autonoma University of Madrid and expert on Eastern Europe, had chat with readers of EL PAÍS on the role of Russian neighbour in the coming years. 

Is there any possibility that Russia recognizes the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Transistria or in the near future? Could this serve as a precedent for resolving other conflicts frozen in the former Soviet Union?

I sense that if this happens, it will take time. My impression is that the Kremlin has already done what they wanted, and not seeking a confrontation greater.

The Georgian president is a messianic irresponsible, or a smart Machiavelli?Should the movement initiated war without the acquiescence of U.S. and the EU?Behind the usual rhetoric about the right of self-determination versus territorial integrity and sovereignty What is the hidden agenda of the powers in the area?

I think, frankly, that is a toy manipulated by the U.S.. I do not think that at your own risk had launched the military operation in South Ossetia. Behind all, and apart from national problems not minors, there is a collision between the interests of Russia and U.S. in a region very important geostrategic and geoeconomic.

Read more, in english, here.

Russian Roots of Breakdance (Run DMC - It's Like That)

That Soviet Union with their Russians were already getting it on with the moves! This should have been some real propaganda during the Cold War! Thanks to S.Buitenhuis

Borat versus Irina

xenia and i were born in kazakhstan. borat CLAIMS he was, but he's lying., originalmente cargada por irina slutsky.

Today I wanted su give some moral support to Irina Slutsky. She posted on Flickr: "Xenia and I were born in kazakhstan. Borat CLAIMS he was, but he's lying".

Nobody cares.

But it is true!

Problems for the western media in South Ossetia

Only Russian journalists are allowed to move around freely in the are of conflict. Dmitry Steshin, a reporter for the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, drove down through the scorched villages on Saturday. He was not stopped at a single checkpoint. He was shocked at the level of destruction.

"They just don't want you to see that all the Georgian homes have been burned down," he said. "It's really as simple as that."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia keeps track of the incidents www.georgiamfa.blogspot.com

Georgia discovers that Europe doesn`t consider it part of the continent

Tbilisi, was the once-volatile capital of a traditionally unstable Georgian nation. Since the 2003 nonviolent Rose Revolution, the country has seen how corruption was down and foreign investment was up. Rather than being a Russian satellite, Georgia chose to see itself as the easternmost outpost of the WestTo persons that went to live there remind us in Transitions Online all this changes. Andrew Bennett has been a political organizer for the Canadian government and the National Democratic Institute in Armenia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. He lives in Tbilisi. Leah Kohlenberg is a journalist and journalism trainer in Georgia and Armenia. She lives in Yerevan.

Of all the former Soviet republics to suffer during the aftermath of perestroika,
Georgia had probably fallen from the highest pedestal. It was once the playground of the former Soviet Union, with verdant landscapes, wineries and lush Black Sea coastal towns dotted with resorts and sanatoriums. But since independence in 1991, Georgia had been plagued for more than a decade with energy shortages, poor infrastructure, rampant corruption, and battles with Russia over two of the most beautiful, and agriculturally productive, parts of the country – Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In those wars in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Georgian inhabitants were forced to flee from their homes under heavy fire.

Authors says Georgia has also taken a more serious approach to the challenge of democracy building than its former Soviet counterparts. In Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, flawed elections were followed by a trend of brutality, and the suspension of basic civil liberties. But in recent days, as the Western nations failed to take substantial action, either through military aid or sanctions, to help protect Georgia as the Russian military darted menacingly back and forth into Georgian territory, ordinary Georgians approached Western foreigners not in anger but in disbelief. How could anyone imagine that it was possible for Georgia to fight the West’s wars, participate in its institutions and adopt its laws and systems, only to be left defenseless at this critical moment?

Russia has claimed that Georgia committed genocide in Tskhinvali. The Georgians, for their part, have accused the Russians and Ossetians of a calculated campaign of cleansing. None of those claims can be independently checked, because the Russian government is not allowing foreign journalists into the areas, reports nyt

Photo of metro station Rustaveli taken by Paata Vardanashvili. See more at www.paata.ge

Gori in peace time

originalmente cargada por BarryGeo.

Foto taken in the republic of Georgia in town Gori (hometown of Joseph Stalin) Trolley is an electric bus powered by two overhead wires, from which it draws electricity using two trolley poles. This one is more than 50 Years old, according to BarryGeo. Please, visit his blog http://photobarry.blogspot.com. It's old photos are very interesting.

Free way to war

The overwhelming majority of Russians sympathizes with South Ossetia and approve of the Kremlin's policy on the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, a survey conducted by the Levada Center. In September 2004, 36 percent of respondents expressed sympathy for South Ossetia. That number grew to 71 percent by the end of last week.

Political scientists say that the rallying around the flag effect takes place whenever the state faces challenging situations. The effect is transitory, however, and does not stick to errors in judgment. The almost universal approval of the military actions in Chechnya in 1999 immediately after the terrorist bombings of residential buildings in Moscow was nearly completely reversed eventually. Similarly, the cancellation of gubernatorial elections announced immediately after the terrorist act at Beslan is now being reconsidered by the public, writes Kommersant.

In an interview on CNN, the Georgian president said the Russians "are closing on the capital, circling," with the intention of establishing their own government.He made repeated references not only to the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan in the 1970s, but also to the invasion Prague in 1968 and even repeated references to the German invasion of Poland before the start of World War II.

There they go again

Is the the worst clash between Russia and a foreign military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Russia landed ground troops off of warships into the disputed territory of Abkhazia and broadened its bombing campaign to the Georgian capital’s airport. Georgian authorities said Sunday morning that they expect Russian attacks to come on three fronts — from Gali and Zugdidi, two spots on the Abkhazian border, and from Ossetia, according to Gigi Ugulada, the mayor of Tbilisi. They also expect more bombing on the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia that remains under Georgian control.

Along the road, refugees carried their possessions in wheelbarrows and plastic bags toward the Georgian city of Gori, NYT reports.

The two sides may have different definitions of where the border with
Georgia lies. The official borders of the administrative region of
South Ossetia are larger than the area traditionally held by
pro-Russian separatists, so if Russia occupied the whole administrative
region it would be moving into areas normally held by Georgia.

And russian media are talking about The First Peace-Keeping War

Только лежать

Greetings from Spain to the followers of this blog. My month in Russia ended this week after a traffic accident. I spent a week at a Russian hospital, an experience that gave me much material for this blog. I want to thank Ilia Magin for all his suport during my horizontal torture (Только лежать). I'm still recovering at my place, in Spain; and I am allowed to walk, wich makes me less intelectual but much happier. Posting staff keeps me connected with the world. Or maybe not. But feels good anyway.

Simón Bolivarienko is alive in Minsk

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was in Belarus this week for a one-day visit. He had negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Both are unpopular in the West. And both are ruling states wich are not pure democracies.

The first thing Chavez was asked in Minsk is what contracts he brought with him from Moscow, and is it true that they worth $30 billion. "I do not engage in the perversions that various agencies spread," he told journalists. "Numbers like that are crazy! Better to ask me how much money we invested in the development of our country!"

For Vadim Dovnar, journalist in Minsk, an answer like that is well within the limits of neither confirming nor denying, and Chavez decided not to return to the topic. Kommersant says that Chavez took a keen interest in buying a large lot of Igla-S portable ballistic missile complexes (up to 2.500 of them). A Rosoboronexport spokesman told Kommersant said that "the Venezuelans expressed the intention of obtaining Iglas during the first round of our meetings in 2005, when questions of providing factories to make Kalashnikov machineguns, helicopters and fighter jets were also raised," the spokesman said. "However, we are not making an agreement on portable ballistic missiles, because of agreements with the United States on the nonproliferation of that type of weapon."

In spite of the fact that Chavez spent only one day in Minsk, Belarusian authorities tried to make it a memorable day for the Venezuelan leader. A square in Minsk was renamed in honor of Chavez' idol, South American revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar. Chavez was touched. Laying a wreath at a bas relief of the national hero of his country, Chavez promised to fight against the enemies of Belarus. "I have fallen in love with the Belarusian land, the Belarusian people, and I commit myself to being the friend of that people. We fight one enemy. We have to call it by name. It is American imperialism. We have won, we will win, but the battle will be long," he said.

An agreement on that was signed in 2007 during Lukashenko's visit to Caracas, and in April of this year the document was ratified by the Belarusian parliament. Under the agreement, Belarus will help its ally create a unified air defense system and radar defense facilities. And both will anger United States together, wich seems to be more important from time to time. During the past years Chávez has focused considerably on Venezuela's foreign relations via new bilateral and multilateral agreements, including humanitarian aid and construction projects. Chávez has engaged, with varying degrees of success, numerous other foreign leaders, including Argentina's Néstor Kirchner, China's Hu Jintao, Cuba's Fidel Castro,Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
 
Some critics of Lukashenko use the term Lukashism (lukashenkoism) to refer to the political and economic system Lukashenko has implemented in Belarus. The term is also used more broadly to refer to an authoritarian political ideology based on cult of his personality and nostalgia for Soviet times among certain groups in Belarus. It is not known where the term was first used, though the earliest documented use was in 1998. In Venezuela population is divides about Chavismo, a national discrace for some and the salvation for others.

By the way, Lukashenko has the The José Martí Order (Cuba, 2000)

Hungry bears, tasty humans

A pack of enormous bears searching for food killed and ate two men at mines in Russia's Pacific Kamchatka region and have kept hundreds of geologists and miners from reaching the mine, news agencies reported Wednesday.Village official Viktor Leushkin was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying that a team of hunters will be dispatched to shoot or chase off the bears.

A pack of up to 30 Kamchatka bears — which are similar to grizzlies — prowled around two mines of a local platinum mining company where they killed the two guards on Thursday, local officials were quoted by the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency as saying. About 400 company workers have refused to return to the mines for fear of the bears, which stand 10 feet tall on their hind legs and weigh up to 1,500 pounds, Rampant fish poaching in the Kamchatka tundra often forces the bears to seek other sources of food, such as garbage. Bears frequently attack humans in the scarcely populated peninsula region.

“George W. Bush is a pathetic idiot”: Michael Stipe shares his discovery with us.

Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., spent a great deal of time explicating on Thursday night, good-naturedly turning Madison Square Garden into a lecture hall, writes NYT. Before the final song, Mr. Stipe couldn’t quite help but offer one last mini-sermon. “This,” he said of “Disturbance at the Heron House,” from 1987, “is my rewriting of the novel ‘Animal Farm.’ ” “Ignoreland,” from 1992, was his “barely adult reaction to the Iran-Contra scandal.” And “Man-Sized Wreath,” from this year’s album “Accelerate”(Warner Brothers), was inspired, he said, by the day in 2004 when, met by several hundred protesters, President Bush visited — or, in Stipe’s description, desecrated” — the grave of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “George W. Bush is a pathetic idiot,” he said, then looked forward: “I feel very, very hopeful with 2008.” How that optimism, not historically R.E.M.’s strong suit, will translate into song remains to be seen.

Lithuania was OK...upied

Again, Lithuania has angered Russia. This time by proposing a bill that would prohibit the public from displaying Soviet symbols, including the red flag with a hammer and sickle and the national anthem. Not so long ago, soviet simbols were not rare in Vilnius. And National Anthem of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic survives on the world wide web.

This ban includes flags, emblems and badges carrying insignia, such as the hammer and sickle or swastika.

National Anthem of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

In fact, Lithuanian SSR was first proclaimed on December 16, 1918, by the First Congress of the Lithuanian Communist Party supported by bolshevik armed forces. It failed to create a de facto government with any popular support.The Lithuanian SSR was first proclaimed on December 16, 1918, by the First Congress of the Lithuanian Communist Party supported by bolshevik armed forces. It failed to create a de facto government with any popular support.

What happened later, was not a jocke. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of (August 1939), between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, stated that Lithuania was to be included into the German "sphere of influence", but after the World War II broke out in September 1939 was amended to transfer Lithuania to the Soviet sphere in exchange for Lublin and parts of the Warsaw province of Poland, originally ascribed to the Soviet Union, but by that time already occupied by German forces. The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was established on July 21, 1940.

The United States, United Kingdom, and other western powers considered the occupation of Lithuania by the USSR illegal, citing the Stimson Doctrine, in 1940, but recognized all borders of the USSR at post-World War II conferences.

Several waves of deportations affected Lithuania. only in July 12-16, 1940 more than 500 people were arrested - most of them were public men and politicians, army officers, office employees of the independent Lithuania. In the short run, among the dangerous enemies of the Soviet system were reckoned ordinary members of legal parties, organizations that existed in independent Lithuania, police officers, teachers and even Esperantists and philatelists. The repressive departments established pursuing the example of the Soviet Union took into their disposition Lithuanian archives and looked for the "anti-Soviet elements".

The first mass deportation began on June 14, 1941, at night. People realizing nothing were woken up, sat into lorries and conveyed to the nearest railroad station. Thousands of people woken up from sleep (women, children and old people) were told to leave their homes in a hurry.

The Lithuanian SSR was renamed the Republic of Lithuania again, and on March 11, 1990, all legal ties of sovereignty were cut with the Soviet Union as Lithuania declared the restitution of its independence. The government of the USSR recognised Lithuania's independence one year later.

Till then some rock groups sang "Lietuva yra OK OK OK!" (ok... occupied)

Moscow's official interpretation of history is that Lithuania, Latvia
and Estonia were liberated from Nazi Germany by, then voluntarily
joined, the Soviet Union.

In comparison with other parts of the USSR its economy fared better and
today Lithuania remains one of the wealthiest of the formerly
Soviet-controlled states.

These are the toughest bans on symbols from the Soviet past adopted in any of the 15 countries that emerged from the USSR.Correspondents say equating Soviet and Nazi symbols in this way is certain to infuriate Russia, BBC reports.

Coal and tragedy

5 Injured, 37 Missing in Yenakiyevo Coal Mine Blast, Ucraniana blog reports. A massive methane explosion at a coal mine in Yanakiyevo, Donetsk oblast, comes less than a week after the recovery of 11 bodies from the May 23 accident at the Krasnolymanska mine.

Liberals. Or not.

Russia's economic stability and ability to establish itself as a leading global economy is at the heart of a debate in government, with the liberal faction represented by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin arguing that the economy is expanding at unsustainable levels, Moscow Times reported.

Jim O'Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said his bank predicts that Russia will be one of the leading eight economies by 2020, up from 10th place now, as the rapid jumps in the oil price slow down over the next decade.

Elvira Nabiullina, Economic Development Minister, who was moderating the session and is one of the government's keenest proponents of accelerated economic growth, accused him of "forecasting inertia."

Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister, showed more interest in policy than the intricacies of economic measurement, arguing that the government should take a liberal tack and step back from interfering in the economy if it is to modernize: We have to repeat again and again — the protection of property rights is the top and most important task for the state," he said.

Alireza Ittihadieh said that "Medvedev wanted to emphasize that past and present have nothing to do with each other," , She is CEO of British aviation company Freestream Aircraft, said following the meeting. "The summary of the whole thing was — this is me and this is not somebody else. The country's leadership is changed, so what I am saying is not what my predecessor said … He seemed to be trying to be more open-minded and to move things forward."

A hug? Not now, thanks.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivered an extensive speech to German politicians and businessman during his visit to Germany. It became Medvedev’s first landmark public appearance of international significance. The speech clearly showed which problems the new Russian president considered as vital. One of the most talked-about subjects – the deployment of the US missile system in Eastern Europe and the expansion of NATO – became one of the most important aspects in Medvedev’s speech:

“It is very indicative that discrepancies with Russia are interpreted by many in the West from the point of view of the need to pull Russia’s stance to that of the West. We do not need to be hugged. We are seeking after truly equal relations and nothing more”

The president argued for the removal of barriers for Russian companies looking to invest overseas, stressing that its outward investment is neither "speculative nor aggressive." Existing global institutions are becoming obsolete, he said, demonstrating their inability to tackle pressing global problems like rising food prices.

Is this girl the most beautiful of Russia?

Ksenia Sukhinova, 20 years old, was officially crowned "Miss Russia 2007." She won also won $100,000 and the right to represent Russia at "Miss Universe," the international beauty contest. She is from from Tyumen, where she is a student in the department of "Technical Cybernetics" at Tyumen University of Oil and Gas.The last Miss Russia to win Miss Universe was Oksana Fedorova in 2002.

Looking as a president (but he is a prime minister)

Vladimir Putin began his first major international visit since becoming prime minister son Thursday, meeting with officials in Paris to conduct negotiations on a presidential scale, the newspaper Kommersant said.
Though there is nothing strange about a Russian prime minister taking a role in foreign affairs, Mr. Putin "is not simply a prime minister," a source from France's Foreign Ministry said. The ministry has had to improvise on diplomatic protocol and President Nicolas Sarkozy prepared to discuss several issues not typically covered with visitors of Mr. Putin's official rank: like, for example Russia's political relationship with the European Union, a subject usually reserved for the Russian president.
Russian press is fond of that. Sarkozy, who is on a first-name basis with Putin and addresses him in the familiar "tu" form, greeted him at his car as it pulled up to the palace, as Moscow Times pointed out. Sarkozy, who is on a first-name basis with Putin and addresses him in the familiar "tu" form, greeted him at his car as it pulled up to the palace. (As president, the only countries Putin visited more than France were Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Germany. He made seven visits to France, and his Friday schedule was to begin with a meeting with the man who usually played his host)

President Medvedev

In his first speech as head of state, newly inaugurated President
Dmitry Medvedev vowed to strengthen the rule of law and to
bring as many Russians as possible into the middle class. The ceremony, mixing czarist splendor with renewed Russian confidence, served as a tribute to the enduring stature and popularity of Putin, whom Medvedev nominated as prime minister within hours of
taking office.

"быстро! ...si vous plait"

Meat after all, yes. But this word souds familiar for all russian speakers. Even for those frome the first level: "Where did I heard this?"

Bistro as a concept was developed in Paris. Bistros are restaurants defined mostly by the foods they serve. The word "bistro" may come, , if we believe the urban legend, from the Russian быстро (bystro) which means quick. According to an urban legend, it entered the French language during the Russian occupation of Paris in 1815. Cossacks who wanted to be served quickly would shout "bistro!".

Is this true? Larousse Gastronomique, the world's ultimate culinary encyclopedia, states that the word bistro did not appear in the French language until 1884, nearly seventy years after the Russians had left. The most likely origin is doubtless an abbreviation of the word bistrouille, a French slang word for a mixture of coffee and cheap brandy once served at such places. So writes bistrosets.com, whose autority in this subject I can not discuss.

(Image: "At the Bistro," Jean Beraud)

Putin likes all women, not only Kabayeva

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned a reporter's question about his marriage into a discourse on female beauty, saying Friday that "I like all Russian women." Putin praised his countrywomen in response to a reporter's question about a recent tabloid report that claimed he intends to marry a former Olympic gymnast less than half his age.

"There is not a single word of truth" to the report, Putin said at a news conference in Sardinia with incoming Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

"Putin divorced", The Moscow tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, reported.

Kabayeva, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Games, is now a member of the lower house of Russia's parliament from the pro-Kremlin party. The tabloid report, which was published April 12, has been largely ignored in the Russian press. But it's received wide play in many European newspapers.

"I have always had a negative opinion of those who, with their snotty noses and their erotic fantasies, meddle in other people's lives," he said.

The Independent: "Russian town is so toxic even the mayor wants it closed down "

The residents of many Russian towns might feel that they have cause for complaint. But in Chapayevsk, a town of about 70,000 inhabitants in European Russia, the mayor himself has suggested a novel way of solving the town's problems – abandon it. According to The Independent, you can hardly blame him – 96 per cent of all children there are deemed unhealthy.

Chapayevsk, close to the Volga river and the city of Samara, is home to factories that produced chemical weapons for many years, and is blighted by air and soil pollution. According to the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, at a round table meeting on the environment in Samara this week, the town's mayor, Nikolai Malakhov, said that resettling the town's residents would be an "ideal solution" to Chapayevsk's problems"

Bucharest, a battle of the legacies

For Putin and Bush, Bucharest was a battle of the legacies, and on points Putin won. For The Times, president Putin was the first winner from the Nato summit in Bucharest, "and he wasn't even there". So writes  Bronwen Maddox Is true that the summit has revealed a deep split on how to deal with it: between the US and Eastern European countries, who want to press the borders of Nato up to Russia without apology, and Germany (with some back-up from France), which wants to tread softly.
But anyway, reality is still hard for Russia. Soumaya Ghannoushi wonders in The Guardian if is any wonder Russia looks angrily westward. "As a Russian politician put it, "Russia can't just twiddle its thumbs when it sees the Americans taking root in the Baltic and Caucasus countries and strengthening their positions in East European countries. When Nato's steam engine is directed toward us, we simply must respond."

GMail Art - Google explained with art to the Russians

A fun little advert/video that Saatchi Moscow created to turn more Russians on to Gmail.
There is also a fun video by Commoncraft about how Twitter works. It’s a great video - Commoncraft doesn’t say it’s an ad - but at times it sure feels like an ad.

Thanks to Art Threat

Иван Грозный = Ivan the Formidable (but terrible anyway)

Former russian rock star Piotor Mamonov will play the role of Ivan the Terrible. Mamonov, who starred in Pavel Lungin’s Ostrov (The Island) (2006) and Taxi Blues (1990) will represent the story of relations between Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Philipp.

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н четвёртый, Васи́льевич) (August 25, 1530, Moscow – March 18, 1584, Moscow) was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of tsar (or czar). His long reign saw the conquest of Tartary and Siberia and subsequent transformation of Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. This tsar is known in the Russian tradition as Ivan Grozny (Russian: Ива́н Гро́зный listen to the pronunciation here), which is traditionally translated into English as Ivan the Terrible. But the English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivan's nickname, but the modern English usage of terrible, with a pejorative connotation of bad or evil, does not precisely represent the intended meaning. Grozny's meaning is closer to the original usage of terrible—inspiring fear or terror, dangerous (as in Old English in one's danger), formidable, threatening, or awesome. Perhaps a translation closer to the intended sense would be Ivan the Fearsome, or Ivan the Formidable.

The movie will be filmed in the ancient town of Suzdal (which in in former times it functioned as the capital of several Russian principalities and forms part of the Golden Ring) and Spaso-Efimievsky Monastery on River Nerl. Is expected to be released in spring 2009, acording to the blog Russian Film:

“Ivan the Terrible was a very contradictory person. He executed people at daytime and spent nights praying,” – Pavel Lungin says – “In any case, it is not going to be an entertaining story”. According to the film director, “Pyotr Mamonov has got that kernel, which might become a key to the portrayal of Ivan the Terrible”.

It will not be the firs film about Ivan The Terrible. Thre is a two-part film about Ivan IV of Russia made by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein. Part 1 was released in 1944 but Part 2 was not released until 1958 due to political censorship. The films were originally planned as part of a trilogy, but Eisenstein died before filming of the third part could be finished.

You can see the first part of the movie here!

In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, which may have caused a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son's (accidental) death. This event is depicted in the famous painting by Ilya Repin, Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on Friday, November 16, 1581 better known as Ivan the Terrible killing his son.

"The only lesson we ever learn is that we never learn"

Five years on, and still we have not learnt, writes the british jorunalist Robert Fisk about the invasion of Irak in The Independent. He complains about "Five years of catastrophe in Iraq and I think of Churchill, who in the end called Palestine a "hell-disaster". He is specially critic with is country, UK:

Today, we are engaged in a fruitless debate. What went wrong? How did the people – the senatus populusque Romanus of our modern world – not rise up in rebellion when told the lies about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam's links with Osama bin Laden and 11 September? How did we let it happen? And how come we didn't plan for the aftermath of war?

Oh, the British tried to get the Americans to listen, Downing Street now tells us. We really, honestly did try, before we absolutely and completely knew it was right to embark on this illegal war. There is now a vast literature on the Iraq debacle and there are precedents for post-war planning – of which more later – but this is not the point. Our predicament in Iraq is on an infinitely more terrible scale.

Pat Buchanan wrote not long ago: ""They drove the Brits out of Palestine and Aden, the French out of Algeria, the Russians out of Afghanistan, the Americans out of Somalia and Beirut, the Israelis out of Lebanon. We have started up the road to empire and over the next hill we will meet those who went before. The only lesson we learn from history is that we do not learn from history."

We have lost Afghanistan as surely as we have lost Iraq and as surely as we are going to "lose" Pakistan. It is our presence, our power, our arrogance, our refusal to learn from history and our terror – yes, our terror – of Islam that is leading us into the abyss. And until we learn to leave these Muslim peoples alone, our catastrophe in the Middle East will only become graver. There is no connection between Islam and "terror". But there is a connection between our occupation of Muslim lands and "terror". It's not too complicated an equation. And we don't need a public inquiry to get it right.

The Iraqi civilian death toll since the invasion is now greater than the total number of British military fatalities in the Second World War, which came to an astounding 265,000 dead (some histories give this figure as 300,000) and 277,000 wounded. Minimum estimates for Iraqi dead mean that the civilians of Mesopotamia have suffered six or seven Dresdens or – more terrible still – two Hiroshimas.

He was a dissident

His last television report on Channel One earlier this month was about the reconstruction of an Orthodox monastery in Abkhazia, a pro-Russian separatist region of Georgia, RIA Novosti news agency said. Today the body of Channel One correspondent Ilyas Shurpayev was discovered tby firefighters in his rented studio flat. A spokesman for the state-TV channel said a fire was apparently started there after the attack.A porter was quoted as saying Shurpayev had called down to her in the early hours to ask her to let two young men into the building.

More than a dozen journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, have been killed in contract-style killings in Russia since 2000. Hate attacks on members of ethnic minorities from the Caucasus and former Soviet Central Asia are also common in Moscow.

Hours before his death, Shurpayev wrote a blog saying the owners of a Dagestan newspaper had banned his column and told its staff not to mention his name in publications. "Now I am a dissident!" was the title of the last entry in his web piece.

Shurpayev was born in the mostly Muslim Dagestan province. He had worked in Russia's North Caucasus region, which includes Dagestan and Chechnya.

Critics say Russia has witnessed a steady rollback of post-Soviet media and political freedoms during President Vladimir Putin's eight-year presidency. Top independent television stations have been shut down and print media have also experienced growing official pressure, Pravda writes.

A planet called Užupis

Houses in Užupio #2, originalmente cargada por aevarg.

Užupis is a district of Vilnius, located in the Old Town, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Its name means "on the other side of a river"; that river is the Vilna River which gave Vilnius its name. The region has been popular with artists for some time, and is often compared with Montmartre in Paris. Now the ruins there are becoming very expensive. "More expensive than an egg of a bishop", as we say in Spain. The district houses art galleries, artists' workshops, and popular cafés. The district declared itself an independent republic (the Republic of Užupis) in 199. Uzupis (in Polish: Zarzecze) is a place to love during the sunset. To walk during the daytime. And, just in case, to run at night.

The area unilaterally declared its independence on April Fool’s Day 1998, which is celebrated annually at the somewhat ramshackle Angel of Uzupis Statue. Is a bohemian place whose Constitution ends: "Don’t conquer. Don’t defend. Don’t surrender". Copies of the 41 articles of the Republic's constitution, in three languages, can be found affixed to a wall on Paupio street in the area. Some of these articles would be unremarkable in a constitution; for instance, Article 5 simply reads "Man has the right to individuality.". Others are more idiosyncratic. A typical example can be found in Articles 1 ("Man has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by man."), 12 ("A dog has the right to be a dog.") and 37 ("Man has the right to have no rights."), each of which makes an unusual apportionment of rights. There are a number of paired articles, such as Articles 16 ("Man has the right to be happy.") and 17 ("Man has the right to be unhappy.") which define man's right to either do or not do something, according to his desire.

Owen Lipsett, from Philadelphia wrote more about this corner of the world.

Congratulations to Ævar Guðmundsson, from Iceland, for this great photo. It was taken near a hostel were I slept in my last trip to Vilnius, a place I recomend.

The Volkovs: Take off in USSR and land in Russia. And now again...

Sergei Volkov hopes to do as well as his father, a highly decorated Soviet-era cosmonaut, when he lifts off in a Soyuz rocket April 8. Sergei Volkov is the son of Alexander Volkov, 59, a veteran cosmonaut who logged up 391 days in space on three separate space missions in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was awarded an Order of Lenin and named a Hero of the Soviet Union for his performance.
The Soviet Union broke up in 1991. At the time Volkov was orbiting Earth on Mir with Sergei K. Krikalev,"the last citizens of the USSR ". Having gone into orbit as Soviet citizens, they returned to Earth as Russian citizens.
When Sergei returns to Earth, space tourist Richard Garriott, son of astronaut Owen Garriott will be aboard the same spacecraft.