Gutter politics will never be cleaned up if we allow MPs to behave as if they are responsible to nobody but themselves You can’t get any more pretentious than when former Army chief-turned-politician …..

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Jack McCallum: USA-Russia still packs a passionate punch 38 years after controversy

ISTANBUL — I met Boris Stankovic, former secretary general of FIBA and the man who pushed the idea of NBA players being allowed to participate in the Olympics, in the ornate lobby of the Swissotel here Thursday morning. (The Swissotel is Stankovic’s quarters for the FIBA World Championship, not mine.)

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Russia strengthens control over nations nuclear power industry

Russia is likely to continue monopolizing the supply of fuel to the nations nuclear power plants, after the Ukrainian government in typical non-transparent fashion picked a Russian state company to build Ukraines first producer of nuclear fuel.

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This is the parade in Moscow’s Red Square, on the occasion of May 1st – a day of international solidarity of workers.

Information, possibilities, digital manipulation. Why does the powerline weave up and down in front of the pyramid? Why does the video only pixelate on the UFO? The Norway Spiral. The pyramid over the Kremlin in Russia. Are they are related? And what are they? Current theories include 1 – a Failed Russian missile, which was quickly and readily accepted by most of the media and online community, which exemplifies an almost psychopathic tendency towards and acceptance of the psychopathic war-like behavior of the nations. 2 – Electromagnetic plasma light effects created by HAARP facilities near the source of the beam. 3 – Project Blue Beam an alleged project meant to eventually display some sort of media in the sky that will help influence society to come to accept a new world order and a one world government. 4 – Could be linked to recent high-energy experiments undertaken at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. 5 – The pyramid could be an actual case of Extraterrestrial intervention due to the development of new technologies, either related to the Norway spiral as a failed missile test, or an entirely separate technology, be it atomic, nuclear, whatever. 6 – the Obama Nobel Peace Prize prelude to extraterrestrial disclosure? 7 – all the videos are created by any joe, any where, on a computer using adobe after effects or final cut pro. – Why is there this strange pixelation only on the UFOs? – And why is the power line only weaving in front of the pyramid? Videos and …

Moscow is a beautiful city with a rich and fascinating history. If you ever make it to the Russia’s capital, be sure to visit one, or all, of these iconic landmarks.

The Kremlin

Located in the heart of Moscow, the Kremlin is the official home of the Russian president. The enclosed complex contains palaces, cathedrals, towers, armories, and the imposing Kremlin Wall. The site has a long, rich history and a trip to Russia would not be complete without a visit to this iconic landmark.

Red Square

Red Square is one of the most famous city squares in Moscow and the world. This historic square separates the Kremlin from the Kitai-gorod business district and many artists have depicted the site in their works. During the Soviet era, the Russian government presented several military parades in Red Square.

St. Basil’s Cathedral

Located in Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral is a spectacular Russian Orthodox cathedral and a well-known Russian landmark. Workers began construction in 1555 to mark a significant conquest, and the structure has been famous ever since. The cathedral is part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bolshoi Theatre

Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre which holds world-renowned ballet and opera performances. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premiered here, as did a number of other well-known operas and ballets. The main building is currently closed for major renovations and is scheduled to reopen in 2013.

Moscow River Tour

A Moscow river tour is a romantic way to spending an evening with your significant other. Here, passengers can see a number of popular Russian landmarks from a river perspective, all while traveling in comfort and style. There are a number of tour operators to choose from so you should have no problem arranging a wonderful outing with your travel companion or a lovely Russian woman from Moscow.

What sites should you see when in Moscow? A river tour, Bolshoi Theatre, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square, and The Kremlin are all worth checking out. Good luck and happy travels!

Where’s Russia headed? One good place to get an answer was the just-concluded St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which followed the strained G-8 meeting in Germany. According to Russian Economics Minister German Gref, upwards of 10,000 people from over 60 countries participated in the Forum, which this year was also done in partnership with the World Economic Forum — otherwise known as Davos.

I attended the forum and chaired the session on energy. I have subsequently been asked to answer some significant questions.

What is the outlook for the Russian economy? What is the investment environment like currently?

The political tensions, suspicion, and tough rhetoric between Russia and the United States and other members of the G-8 that were so apparent prior to that summit were mostly marked by their absence at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. The commodities mainly evident in these very warm days and long white nights were optimism and confidence.

With just nine months to go until the Russian presidential election, this presumably last Forum for St. Petersburg-native Vladimir Putin underlined the growth story in Russia under his presidency. Since he took over at the tail end of an economic crisis in 2000, the size of the Russian economy has quintupled. It’s the tenth largest economy in the world, and some are estimating that it will be the fifth by 2020 or before. It also has the third largest financial reserves of any country.

On the other side, worries center on the extent of vulnerability to lower energy prices, volatility in the Russian stock market, uncertainty from domestic politics during an election season, and what some say is the stalling of needed reforms.

How is Western business looking at the Russian economy?

There was a strong sense among Western and specifically American companies of not wanting to be left out. After all, the Russian economy is now bigger than Brazil’s or India’s. As one American put it when we were talking after a session, “For many years, the ‘R’ seemed to be missing from BRIC. No longer.

Now American companies are scrambling to put their Russia strategy together. They may still worry about the risks, but the opportunity is so much bigger.” A number are already there, of course, ranging from Boeing to Procter and Gamble.

Rising income is particularly what the business community is seeing. It’s estimated that 25 to 30 percent of the population is now at least in the “consumer class,” if not necessarily “middle class.”

That’s a lot of spending power and a lot of new demand. Last year, it was said, a million cars were sold in India — and two million in Russia. This optimism is certainly very different from what one encounters in more political circles.

You were the chair of a panel on energy at the conference. Do you anticipate more western involvement in Russia’s oil industry or less?

The Putin Administration continues to be intent on revising to one degree or another the oil and gas deals that were done in the middle 1990s. The actual rewriting varies from one deal to the next. So you don’t see the same kind of enthusiasm in energy that is evident in other sectors.

There’s a lot of uncertainty, frustration, and pessimism about policy, decision-making and about the role of foreign capital in the energy sector. Also, exploration and development costs have been rising substantially in Russia, as elsewhere, but, at least in the mature region of West Siberia, this goes unrecognized by the very high tax rate.. Yet the resource potential is so great that the major companies can’t easily stand aside.

There are two critical things that they are waiting for, both of which are promised by the end of the year. One is the definition of “strategic sectors” and how those sectors will be managed — in which oil and gas are at the top of the list.

The other are the “rules of the road” for exploration and development in the off-shore and Artic, which will be high cost, challenging technically, but are very high potential.

What is the outlook for Russian oil and gas production? Are there any big changes underway?

For most of this decade, it was the dramatic growth in Russian oil production that, on a net global basis, balanced out the rapid growth in Chinese oil demand. Today, Russia is the world’s largest producer of oil, but growth has slowed very substantially, and the future growth rate will be very sensitive to tax rates, costs, and regulation.

How do fluctuations in oil and gas prices affect Russia?

To understand Russia’s position today on oil and gas, you have to go back to the collapse in 1998. The current leadership never wants to be in the position it found itself when oil prices collapsed back then.

The Russian government, led by finance minister Alexei Kudrin, has constructed a fiscal regime intended to insulate the economy from any future shocks. That means large government reserves and an oil stabilization fund that together, today, exceed 0 billion. This gives Russia two or even three years of protection against a downturn.

At the same time, these reserves have helped to keep down inflation and prevent the currency from appreciating more than it has. Kudrin certainly gets much credit inernationally for the management of Russia’s fiscal position.

The bottom line is that Russia has very strong finances today, although there will be greater pressures to spend in an election year. As one of the senior officials put it in a private session, “At a time of high oil prices, we must resist all the temptations to spend.”

Still the debate will continue as to how sensitive the Russian economy is to any downturns in oil prices. About 20 percent of GDP is accounted for by oil and gas export revenues, although obviously the indirect impact is a good deal larger.

Russia’s economy has boomed under President Putin. What changes do you foresee from your discussions with business leaders when there is a change in leadership?

With perspective, one would say that, from an economic point of view, Putin’s program has been directed to stabilization and restoring growth — and restoring the state — and state direction over the economy.

The macroeconomic results, as we heard at St. Petersburg, would never have been anticipated by either optimists or pessimists when he came to power. As a prominent American international financial figure put it when we were talking as the conference ended, “No one could have thought in 2000 that this was possible.”

Putin’s two most likely successors each scoped out at the conference the future emphasis from their current portfolios. First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov pointed to aviation, shipbuilding, information technology, nanotechnology, space and nuclear power.

The Russian government is consolidating those sectors to make them internationally competitive. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev pointed to the “national projects” for which he’s responsible — spending on human capital, and reconstruction in health, education, housing, agriculture. With Russia’s population shrinking and ageing, pensions are a very big issue; and a second oil fund, this one specifically for pensions, is in the works.

The buildup to last week’s G8 saw some harsh words between Putin and President Bush over an antimissile shield with an ultimate effort to compromise. Is there a change in attitutude toward the U.S. among business leaders? is there a change in the way Russia is treating U.S. business?

Issues like missile defense and domestic politics were not much on the agenda — except for the appearance of the Serbian prime minister on one plenary, apparently to register Russia’s position on independence for Kosovo.

And of course there was much discussion about the controversy around energy issues. It was notable to see that the third speaker on one of the plenaries with President Putin and President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan was Professir Francis Fukuyama of Johns Hopkins University talking about “trust” and “transparency.”

And there was some interesting discussion at senior levels about “Russia’s brand.” Rule of law and contracts got a fair amount of attention, but that is because this conference was about trade and investment.

From the Russian side, despite some some political ripostes, the forum was mostly about doing business. Putin several times cited the surge of capital inflows into Russia — and outward investment from Russia. The perspective was summed up by one of the senior people in a meeting with non-Russian CEOs. “Come to Russia with your capital, your money, your technology,” he said. “We’re delighted to see you here.”

This time — in contrast to earlier years — he was talking to an audience that seemed quite interested in taking him up on his invitation. Perhaps the mood was captured by another senior figure when he, as almost an afterthought, told the same audience, “We’re very business-oriented nowadays.” There was a suggestion that perhaps this person himself was a little surprised to find himself in that position.

The two “soul brothers” had their last get together- that would be George Bush and Vladimir Putin. In their last buddy to buddy meeting with pictures of them standing looking at the setting sun, they failed to overcome sharp differences over a U.S. missile defense system, closing their seven-year relationship Sunday still far apart on an issue that has separated them from the beginning.

Both men are departing the center stage of politics in some regards: Bush far more than Putin, though Bush has nine more months to enjoy his reign as president of the most powerful nation on earth. Who will get to deal with Putin in the future- McCain, Hillary, or Obama. We already know that Putin despises Hillary. But there’s no need to create more enemies now.

Putin steps down as president May 7th and Medvedev, the president-elect would be in charge of Russia’s foreign policy after May 7, uness Putin, who is expected to be named prime minister keeps that role.

Putin said at a news conference with Bush at his vacation house at this Black Sea resort. “We got a lot of way to go.” Despite the impasse, the two leaders agreed that Moscow and Washington would work together closely in the future on missile defense and other difficult issues. Russia remains adamantly opposed to the expansion of the alliance into its backyard, an enlargement that Bush has actively championed over Putin’s vocal objections.

Putin called the U.S. missile plan which envisions basing tracking radar sites in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland the hardest of US-Russian differences to reconcile. “This is not about language. This is not about diplomatic phrasing or wording. This is about the substance of the issue,” he said.

Bush reiterated his insistence that the plan designed to intercept and destroy approaching ballistic missiles at high altitudes should not be viewed as a threat to Russia. In a clear reference to Iran, he said the system would help protect Europe from “regimes that could try to hold us hostage.”

Ah, but politics needs to wait for another day as these two “sould brothers” started the day much like civil brothers as on Sunday, Putin greeted Bush at the door of the guesthouse and escorted him downstairs to a wood-paneled room with tall windows facing the sea. They sat alongside each other in chairs before a fireplace with unlit logs. A crush of cameramen, photographers and reporters crowded the room.

Ahhhh!

When the U.S was working on the Manhatten Project, were there Soviet Union spies in America? How did Joseph Stalin learn about the atom bomb at the same time as Harry Truman?

Best answer:

Answer by What The Duck???
I’d like to know the answer too. I’d like to think that there were Soviet spies in america, that’s the most likely explanation.

What do you think? Answer below!

17 years too late

The meeting of Serzh Sargsyan and Dmitry Medvedev

Video Rating: 4 / 5

From the new START treaty to the international fight against terrorism as well as Iran’s nuclear programme and Barack Obama’s personality – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave his take on a wide variety of issues in an interview with American channel ‘ABC’. Here’s the full interview with the President.