Somebody forwarded this piece to me recently...
After months of negotiation with the authorities, a Talmudist from Odessa (in Russia) was granted permission to visit Moscow. He boarded the train and found an empty seat. At the next stop a young man got on and sat next to him. The scholar looked at the young man and thought:
This fellow doesn't look like a peasant, and if he isn't a peasant he pr
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Well, well, well. The Cold War is back. Or more accurately, it’s a Hot War with actual gunfire.
“Battlefield: Bad Company” resurrects our long-ago nemesis, the Russians. Apparently, terrorists and modern desert armies weren’t interesting enough anymore to anchor “Battlefield’s” battlegrounds.
“Bad Company,” a worthy sequel to some pretty
Spain won against Sweden and is the 4th team to qualify to Euro 2008 Quarters of Final joined to Portugal, Croatia and Netherlands.F. Torres 15' gave advantage to Spain but Ibrahimovic 34' put the draw back. When the draw was almost confirmed, Villa 92' scored the winning goal and put Spain on Quarters of Final without depending of the third game. Sweden / Russia will define the second team to get
Well, from my sources in Thailand and elsewhere it seems that Viktor Bout, weapons merchant extraordinaire, is worth quite a bit to the Russians. Bout, in prison in Thailand awaiting extradition to the United State, may not make it back, despite having a long history of providing weapons to terrorists, criminals and some of the world's most vicious thugs, such as Charles Taylor, Laurent Kabila, th
"The Russian billionaire now bestrides the art world just as the American tycoon did a century ago, with limitless resources and limited taste, provoking precisely the same combination of awe, envy, snobbery and quiet admiration."1 Vote(s)
"The season after next we will have three teams in the Champions League." So spoke Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko.An Observer piece titled "The Russians are coming" follows up on a story that I have been following closely (see here and here): the re-emergence of quality football at both the club and national levels in Eastern Europe.And Russia leads the way. Zenit St. Petersburg (2008) a
According to Petrelis Files:"Gay activists in three U.S. cities will mobilize for vigils on May 16 and 17 for IDAHO, International Day Against Homophobia, and the focus will be to apply pressure on the Russian government to grant all necessary permits to the organizers of Moscow's third gay pride parade, scheduled for late May.Last year, despite the mayor of Moscow refusing to grant permits to par
Many people in eastern Europe celebrated the end of World War II and paid tribute to Russian soldiers who drove out the Germans. However, there are areas such as in the Baltic states where many people harbor hate toward Russia for seizing their lands and making them part of the Soviet Union. In Estonia, sculptures [...]
"The system is to work in this way: special equipment will catch brain signals that go through the metal helmet with electrodes. Then with the help of the signal enhancer the signal will go to the computer. This will make the life of disabled people much easier. Those who can’t move will be able to write email letters and even IM people around the world."[via pravda]
The swearing in of the new Russian President next month will be followed a few months later by the inauguration of the next U.S. president. The 2008 U.S. presidential race, the most exciting in decades, is being watched closely in Russia.Nikolay Petrov from the Carnegie Centre in Moscow says interest in the American election in Russia is growing and coverage in the press “is huge”.But Russians aren’t just watching from a distance, they are getting involved.Daria Konovalova and her colleagues have created Obama.Ru, an independent website where Russians can learn about the policies and promises of their favourite candidate.“He has a great chance of winning and we thought he was an interesting person and people should know more about him,” Konovalova says.Visitors to the site can al
A third of Russia’s citizens will soon have access to the Internet, according to Dmitry Medvedev, who was speaking at the 12th Internet Forum, held in Moscow region. However, the President-elect hinted that freedom of speech on the internet comes with certain responsibilities.“I think the answer to this question is quite simple. Laws have to be observed everywhere, including the internet. There should be no conflict with the Criminal Code. At the same time the state has to be tolerant and wise, especially during the current development,” Medvedev said.He also said he approved of popular social networking websites and opposes a total ban on access to them at schools.Medvedev also said the state needs to have a liberal policy towards the World Wide Web and to enrich services and pr
Mazda, a Japanese car manufacturer, sold approximately 57.7 thousand vehicles at the Russian market in the business year of 2007-2008. Thus, the companyТs annual sales in this region have advanced by 63%. Interestingly, demand increase for Mazda cars in Russia is higher than in European countries. E.g. in Belgium demand for companyТs vehicles grew 36% (4.9 thousand cars), in Hungary it made up 25% of growth (3.1 thousand cars), while Ireland showed a 24% increase (4.9 thousand cars). Russia surpassed the United Kingdom (53.4 thousand cars), Austria (17.3 thousand cars) and France (15.1 thousand) in terms of total volume of Mazda vehicles sold.
The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) has finally announced the long-awaited Top 100 world outsourcing service providers. Four critical characteristics are taken into account by an independent jury: size and growth, customer references, organizational competencies, and management capabilities. It’s good news to know that six Russian companies have been included in the rating in comparison with only four in the previous year: Auriga, DataArt, EPAM Systems, IBA, Luxoft, and Mera. The results of the rating speak for themselves: the most rapidly growing segment of IT services in Russia is IT outsourcing. As Maxim Troitsky, director of special solution and service sales department at ISG, says “…those engaged in retail sales, finance sector arrangement, and sev
A short clip about how many Russians are inspired by the Anastasia books to move back to the countryside and live closer to nature.
The story began in 1994 on the bank of the River Ob amidst the endless expanses of the Siberian taiga. The well-known Siberian entrepreneur Vladimir Megre met with two elderly gentlemen who [...]
The government authorities are investigating Mr Leonid Beyzer, a Russian on whom a show-cause notice has been served for cancellation of his visa and his subsequent deportation, for various land deals in the state and his involvement in other illegalities. They have also written to the central government to ban his entry in the country [...]
Russian restaurateur, Arkady Novinov, has apparently purchased Gianni Versace's Villa Fontanelle on the shore of Lake Como - Price $52 million. Full details here:Villa Fontanelle Sold
Former British ambassador to Russia, Rodric Braithwaite, writing in the Moscow Times, explored the issue as to whether the Russian people are ready to enjoy a democratic form of government. He believes President Putin’s approach is based on the assumption his people are no yet ready for true democracy and achieving that goal must be [...]
Novak gave an interview two days ago on first media conference before the match against Russia in Serbia saying he has no fears that the Russian National team supporters will not be friendly to our players.Novak said in Moscow: "We are all friends with Russian players, and in my opinion, there's no reason for the Russian supporters to be unfriendly to us", also adding that he hopes Serbian players will not be welcomed the same way that Izraelis welcomed Maria Sharapova.Dmitrij Tursunov made sure to make good atmosphere, he said: "Novak does not win thanks to the surfaces, crowd or judges, but thanks to his knowledge", while Marat Safin added it will be hard to play against Novak as his self-assurance arose to maximum after Australian Open and he's full of positive charge.Discussions and do
The UK overseas property industry magazine Overseas Property Professional (OPP) reports on the new bread of international property buyer that is set to make a huge difference to the industry in 2008. These new buyers are Russian and they have already turned the London housing market on its head.
Five years ago, India was synonymous with IT offshoring. Today, that is not the case. IT buyers can find IT developers and engineers in every corner of the world.Two areas are seriously challenging India's supremacy: China (position No. 2) and Russia (No. 3). Today, many IT outsourcing buyers are experienced offshore customers. They are going outside of India for specific skills they can't find there, in the US, or in Western Europe. And they want to mitigate risk by sending work to more than one locale. China and Russia have been the big beneficiaries.According to the Russian Software Development Association (RUSSOFT), Russian outsourcers have enjoyed 40 percent annual growth since 2003; 2007 is on par to equal that growth spurt. EU and US-based IT outsourcing buyers are sending work to R
Im kind of loving the sound of OPI's Russian Collection. Vodka & Caviar, Russian Navy, St. Petersburgundy, Catherine the Grape, Siberian Nights, Krème de la Kremlin, Boris & Natasha, Midnight in Moscow and four other shades of OPI's Russian Collection for Fall/Winter 2007 are a chic nod to modern opulence. And how adorable are the names? Time for a mani-pedi!!To view all the colors go to: http://www.opi.com/Russian.aspPhoto Cred: opi
Russian nationals wanting to visit the Philippines for business and tourism purposes can now travel to the country without the usual hassles of securing entry permits. The Department of Tourism (DOT), together with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Bureau of Immigration, recently announced the implementation of its visa-free entry program for Russian tourists beginning October this year.
Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano welcomed the arrival of the policy, stressing that such move augurs well with the government’s objective of encouraging more tourists into the country.
“We expect that the privilege will attract more Russian visitors into the Philippines. It will help strengthen our travel trade industry as it boosts revenues among hotel and leisure establishments, as well as increase business for shops and transport services” Durano said.
The visa-free entry feature was made possible through Foreign Service Circular No. 125-07 dated August 17, 2007 issued by the Department
An infamous hacker gang is sending malicious PDF docs, stealing financial dataA notorious Russian hacker gang is responsible for ongoing attacks using malicious PDF documents, a researcher said today.Users can thank the Russian Business Network (RBN), a well-known collective of cybercriminals, for the malware-armed PDF attachments that began appearing in in-boxes yesterday, said Ken Dunham, director of response for iSight Partners Inc. If the rigged PDFs succeed in infecting the target Windows system, the attack code installs a pair of rootkit files that "sniff and steal financial and other valuable data," said Dunham via e-mail.The rogue PDF documents are attached to spammed e-mail and arrive with filenames such as BILL.pdf, YOUR_BILL.pdf, INVOICE.pdf or STATEMET.pdt, said Symantec Corp. in a separate advisory yesterday. They exploit the "mailto:" protocol vulnerability disclosed more than a month ago by U.K.-based researcher Petko Petkov.Link to complete story: http://www.computerwo
Update: this joint is fake.
A collaborative effort from Sanrio and the NRA? Or did San Francisco start producing weaponry… Just kidding. But for just about a stack, GlamGuns will sell you this customized Hello Kitty AK-47 assault rifle. Also included would be the hand-crocheted shoulder-stock muffler you know, just in case the recoil is too much to bare for your sensitive collarbones…
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Okay, so I'm on a roll with the misleading titles, but really you can't blame me given what today is.Happy Birthday to Sputnik!That's right, today is the birthday of the flight of Sputnik in orbit around our little blue planet. In a way, it was both the most amazing and most frightening thing in a time when one world war had ended and people were deathly afraid that another would occur (with the Russians obviously). But, seeing how, in theory, the Cold War has ended and, in theory, we're semi-decent buddies with Russia, for however long that will last, we should pay some respects to that little spacecraft that captured the world for a rather brief moment in time.For a little more info, Sputnik flew for about 3 months and then dropped out of orbit. The interesting thing is that you could actually pick up the beep of its transmitter (or whatever it was that was sending the beep in the first place) on little radio receivers--you know, those ones that people used to use to talk to p
How is this for a change? President Putin has recently calmed fears, mostly European, that the vast amounts of capital will be used to finance updating Russian infrastructure rather than buying Europe. This, from the Times:
Russia has no intention of using its huge currency reserves to infiltrate Western economies or to invest improperly in Western equities, President Putin has told American and European Russia-watchers.
He said that Moscow would use its vast gold and foreign currency surpluses to rebuild Russia’s roads, ports, railways and infrastructure, to construct energy pipelines, raise pensions and give a vital economic boost to small business.
Western governments have become increasingly nervous that Russia will use its huge reserves, now the third-largest in the world after Japan and China, to buy up strategic Western assets such as aerospace industries and energy companies and run these in its own national interest.
What a difference a decade makes.
Forte Dei Marmi - a small Italian town has turned into the second Courchevel within two years. Russian money has forced up prices for all goods and services in the town, situated 20 minutes drive from Pisa, and now Forte-Dei-Marmi is one of the most expensive populated areas in Italy. Being a usual provincial town Forte-Dei-Marmi has rapidly changed: boutiques of the world-famous brands such as Prada, Gucci, Burberry, are mushrooming here.
The Kartuzov family, shown in June 2007, drive away in their new UAZ-Patriot SUV, which they won as a grand prize in a regionalcontest titled "Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia's Independence Day."Photo Credit: API have written an article previously on the population crises in Russia: Islamic Russia and the End of Civilization.
Although most of the world is getting overpopulated, Russia and the more developed nations have a birthrate that is too low. MSNBC,14 Aug 2007,Russians offered day off, prizes to procreateA Russian region best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin has found a novel way to fight the nation’s birthrate crisis: It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate.
The hope is for a brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia’s national day. Couples who “give birth to a patriot” during the June 12 festivities win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.
Ironically
Owning a medieval castle in Europe is too expensive for most Europeans, but it seems like a good investment for growing numbers of Russians. More and more are settling in France, where they have the choice of some 12 thousand antique estates. Several dozen Russians have purchased French castles in the past two years. Yet many of them choose not to save on taxes, keeping their luxurious homes for themselves alone, rather than opening them to the public.
Women competed in a high-heel sprint in St.Petersburg, Russia a couple of days ago. Yeah, that's right. Why, you may ask? For money of course. Duh.From Xinhua:100 women took part in the race wearing high-heeled shoes with a required minimum height of 3.5 inches to compete for a shopping voucher worth 50,000 roubles (about 2,000 U.S. dollars).$2,000 bucks? Damn. Here in America we have women that will do unspeakable things to you in the alley behind the gentlemen's club (or so I hear) for that kind of dough.Apparently there was also some requirement that they all had to be hawt, too.Yeah, that's going to leave a mark.(Hat Tip: Deuce of Davenport)STUB HUB: The Safe Way to Buy & Sell Tickets Online
When I first saw this clip I said to myself "just look to his face" Oh those Russians,they made him drink Vodka in the G8 ,poor French boy but it turns that there could be another explanation , cherchez la femme sa nom est Cécilia -translation search for a woman called Cécilia who is his wife You know it was not me only whom Cécilia caught her eyes in the G8 Summit with her haute coutre dress or behavior but the British press too was interested and thus the independent gave its readers worldwide this in depth look about this new rebel first french lady and her hubby Cécilia Sarkozy: The First Lady vanishes - Independent Online Edition > Europe From what I reading I understand at last what Sarko meant when he referred to the wisdom of the Mubarak , that is in controlling the media ,having influence friends here and there ,man why on earth this man whose wife is bold enough to leave him alone for months to go with another man and live in another continent is not the bes
NINE in the morning is a little early for cocktails and corsets but lingerie label Pleasure State had a lot to celebrate when it launched its new collection in a former strip club in Sydney yesterday.
In just three years Pleasure State has achieved a remarkable feat: stockists in 27 countries with major deals in Britain, [...]
The IABA have confirmed that Ireland will take on Russia in two senior internationals at the end of the month.Both countries will meet at the National Stadium in Dublin on 27 April and in the Athlone Institute of Technology on 29 April. The exact match-ups for the eagerly awaited double header have yet to be decided.
(Shortly after the Northern Alliance chased the Taliban from Kabul)We are driving in a convoy from Bagram airport to the capital. There is a huge traffic jam, as one of the bridges on the road was bombed, and a tank is stuck in the middle of the by-pass. There are probably twenty Russian military trucks in front of us. I get out of the car, and see they are all from Emercom, the Russian Emergency services.I find their convoy leader and joke: "So, you Russians are back in Afghanistan, hey? Let's hope you will be more successful than last time you guys were here! Hahaha". They did not think it was funny. More stories on this site related to Afghanistan, you find here.
From People's Daily OnlineThe world's richest are getting younger and richer, with more Russians and Indians cropping up among the 946 people on Forbes magazine's 2007 billionaires list unveiled on Thursday.The number of billionaires is 19 percent higher than last year when there were 793, and their total net worth grew 35 percent to $3.5 trillion, the magazine said.The average billionaire's age fell by two years to 62, and 60 percent started with very little. Two-thirds of those on the list were richer, with net worth up for nearly everyone in the top 50."This is the richest year ever in human history," said Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes. "Never in history has there been such a notable advance."Among those joining the list are Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, which pioneered the $3 cup of coffee, and former Walt Disney boss Michael Eisner.Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates was the richest man for the 13th straight year, with $56 billion, followed by Warren Buffett,
Actuality February 15,2008 Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov hurries his government. However, it is quite clear, he has been given not so much time to achieve concrete results. But Zubkov has no other way out: the president gave tasks that the Cabinet should execute, though for a short period of time. ...
Actuality March 25, 2008 Russians have adapted themselves on the whole to the new economic relations for the 15-year reforms period as considers the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) corresponding member, RAS Sociology Institute director Mikhail Gorshkov. He spoke at the press-conference devoted to the 50th anniversary of sociology revival ...
Updated March 31, 2008 The majority of Russians still appreciates highly Vladimir Putin and is fully content with his Prime Minister post. But the majority would not like to change the presidential form of government to the parliamentary one in Russia. Such is the result of the last public opinion ...
