There’s a hand on my shoulder

MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – Two warships of Russia’s Black Sea fleet joined the country’s Mediterranean task force on Monday, a spokesman for the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Capt. First Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachyov, has said.

The Defense Ministry said in April Russia has begun setting up a naval task force in the Mediterranean, sending several warships from the Pacific Fleet to the region. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in March a permanent naval task force in the Mediterranean was needed to defend Russia’s interests in the region.

“During a planned rotation, large landing ships Nikolai Filchenkov and Azov from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet have started performing their tasks in the Mediterranean,” Trukhachyov said.

The task force currently includes vessels from the Pacific, Northern, Baltic and Black Sea fleets: the Admiral Panteleyev and Severomorsk destroyers, the Yaroslav Mudry frigate, the Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoi amphibious warfare ships, the Fotiy Krylov, Altai and SB-921 salvage/rescue tugs, the PM-138 repair ship, the Pechenga, Lena and Dubna tankers.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, head of the parliamentary defense committee, previously told RIA Novosti that the Mediterranean task force should be comprised of 10 warships and support vessels as part of several tactical groups tasked with attack, antisubmarine warfare and minesweeping.

The Soviet Union maintained its 5th Mediterranean Squadron from 1967 until 1992. It was formed to counter the US Navy’s 6th Fleet during the Cold War, and consisted of 30-50 warships and auxiliary vessels.

Fiji’s military ruler said Sunday he would meet Beijing’s leaders in China this month, a week after unveiling an official trip to Russia, as he looks beyond strained regional ties in the South Pacific.

Voreqe Bainimarama has been banned from Australia and New Zealand since seizing control in a 2006 coup.

His announcement that he would hold talks with Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping came a week after he said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next month when he is in Moscow for the Rugby Sevens World Cup.

“I have been invited to visit China late this month to meet with the Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, and President Xi Jinping,” Bainimarama told the Fiji Sun from France.

The self-appointed prime minister has previously said he wants to ditch traditional ties with regional powerhouses Australia and New Zealand and align his Pacific Island nation with China.

He said the Chinese understood the reforms he has been trying to implement before a return to democratic elections scheduled for next year.

He also chaired a recent meeting of the Group of 77 developing nations and China.

In the continuing stand-off at a regional diplomatic level, Australia last year agreed to restore full diplomatic ties with Fiji, but Fiji has refused to endorse Australia’s preferred choice for high commissioner.

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We arrived in Irkurst and were able to witness the May 9th celebrations being prepared for. For most North Americans we may scratch our heads as to why they have a celebration on May 9th. World War 2, the end of it more specifically, is celebrated May 8th across Europe. Well many moons ago when the treaty was being signed it ran late into the night and was so late that for those in Moscow it was May 9th. In Russia people receive I think 3 days off for this Holiday (and 4 for one at the beginning of the month for another one, making May a rather unproductive month) and is a BIG DEAL. For days we had watched in our room (on their equivalent of MTV) celebration commercials leading to the 9th. There here is the central park in Irkurst.

They take this holiday very seriously and decorations are everywhere!

We wandered about for a while and saw an Orthodox church.

And then several seniors and veterans visiting the war memorial.

A school trip was also out visiting the monument in town.

The orange and black (maybe brown?) ribbon is their equivalent to Canada’s red poppy.

A short jaunt from the memorial we came to an overpass, which was full of lovers locks. We had seen these before on one of the daily images Bing displays and were somewhat giddy to have found one.

There was a large variety of locks, although the 2 more decorative lock winners was a red heart or a black lock that looks like a log cabin/home.

We visited the inside of the church, which was pretty neat. It was still completely decorated from Easter and looked beautiful. Again this was a sharp contrast from the churches we are used to since the inside was full of icons and consisted largely of a painted mural.

An example of a mural, but on the outside.

The architecture on these buildings was really intresting.

After the church we continued into town and quickly came across this van. We still aren’t sure what these guys are, although we are guessing an armed private security firm. We had seen the logo in Listvyanka earlier when we bore witness to that warning shot being fired.

Some of the historic buildings in the city were stone, although not many.

There were a few roads where some more traditional houses were protected, since modern buildings are concrete and tend to lack shutters and the colors the older buildings do.

Many of the buildings were not in that great of shape. The connection for the addition for this house had a gap where light shone through.

Although some of the places were well kept.

The woodwork was impressive. Although I ask what else are you going to do when trapped indoors during their winters.

The rest of the day we just wandered through town. To be honest, it was a bit depressing and not exactly screaming beauty (and this from a person that thought that the abandoned ship part factory in Listvyanka was gorgeous), however sometimes we were able to find some nice places. This house belonged to a Decemberist. Back in the day they realized that martyrs were a bad thing and just exiling people to Siberia was much more effective.

Some more shutters.

It seemed that plants were very popular things to have indoors. The green would be needed for sanity when everything would be covered in snow.

A little girl wondering if she should run through the fountain – like the three older girls had (with partial success).

Nope, she decided to stay put.

A park in the downtown area, also decked out for May 9th. We were kinda sad realizing that we would be somewhere on the train that day, and not in Moscow. We found out later that in Moscow they paraded an ICBM through Red Square for the celebrations.

After a run to a grocery store where we could grab goods we stumbled onto this place. Apparently I could have received a Lake Baikal MBA J

I mentioned that we visited a grocery store where we could grab goods, since many of them just have large numbers of items behind the counter. With our Russian, or lack thereof, it was easier if we could grab the items off the shelf rather than pointing and saying ‘ete’ all the time.

We did find a statue of Stalin in our travels. Leesh decided to look cross like him.

We were fully stocked up for our train ride and going back to the hotel to meet our ride when we noticed a large number of police blocking off roads. Uh-oh we went. Buses and cars were being stopped or rerouted and after some time walking to our hotel we found out why – they were hosting a youth May 9th celebration.

We watched them pass and made it to the hotel with a few minutes to spare, enough for some coffee. Norbert and Norman enjoyed some of it too J

And with that we were driven to the train station, all the while listening to what could be called 80s Dance Mix. The driver was super helpful and pointed us to the right platform. So here I am waiting for the train with tickets in hand. Neat things in this photo. The train number is 349, as we were wondering and would soon confirm, larger numbers on this leg meant older trains. It is also around dinner time in this photo, not 13:21 as one may believe. All the trains run on Moscow time. This may seem initially stupid, but it does make sense given all the time zones. And lastly look at all the overhead wires, those are 2.5k or 5k volt lines for the trains. And by trains we mean all trains – our trip from here on in was going to be 100% electric!

So we waited some more since the train hadn’t shown up yet.

Took some more photos.

And on time the train came squealing into the station. We boarded and sat down to dinner. The Russian way of eating had really become engrained in our head by now, so we had a wonderful meal of bread, cheese, sausage and cherry tomatoes.

The train rolled out of the station and we started the next leg of the journey, 87 hours straight on the train. You can so see I was psyched for it!

(Reuters) – Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas have fought their biggest battle yet for Syria’s beleaguered president, prompting international alarm that the civil war may spread and an urgent call for restraint from the United States.

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So now Hezbollah has openly and actively entered the civil war in Syria and that creates an odd situation, they will be fighting Al-Qaeda members, effectively expanding the Shiite vs Sunni war to Syria since Al-Qaeda is Sunni and Iran (Shiite) supports Syria and Hezbollah. Does that mean that Al-Qaeda would start direct actions against Hezbollah? Both are ardent foes of Israel and Israel would benefit either way Israel benefits – Hezbollah knocks over Al-Qaeda or the other way around.

What would be really strange is if Israel made an alliance with Al-Qaeda against Hezbollah to overthrow Assad and for regime change. But I can’t see that as if would be trading the devil you know for the one you don’t. But never dismiss the principle of,
“the enemy of my enemy is my friend – and I can kill my new friend after the former enemy is dead”. And if Jordan was to ask Israel for help, Israel would be hard put to refuse.

For Russia the outcome is bad either way.

Assad stays in power and Russia keeps access to it’s only port on the Mediterranean, Tartus Syria. That pisses off Al-Qeada enough that they spend more active time stirring up the Caucasus region, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Dagastan – and most importantly – the town of Sochi, where the 2014 Russian Olympics will be held, which is deep inside an unstable area of Islamic revivalism. A lot of people are already afraid of terrorists attacks in Sochi during the Olympics and the Russians have played it down. 

Sochi isn’t that far from Dagastan where the Boston Marathon bombers came from, so you do the math.

But is Assad is overthrown, Russia loses it’s port on the Med

For the US the situation is either neutral or has an upside because one way or another Russia loses big time and Russia will be tied up in internal affairs for the next generation, long enough for Putin to lose any chance of office in Russia. And, hopefully, Al-Qaeda and the wrath of the Islamic world gets focused on Russia. Iran is neither Islamic, no matter what they say, nor Arab, they are Persian to the core and want to use Islamic ideology to restore the Persian Empire. They have always been and are now, a loose cannon no one controls.

China doesn’t have dogs in this fight except some political support. Al-Qaeda might try and stir up some trouble in China’s western provinces that border Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan but I doubt it since Al-Qaeda hasn’t done too well with a multi-front strategy so far. But at some point, the bedrock core of Chinese politics, self-interest, will weigh in and decide if supporting Syria is worth stirring up it’s own Islamic elements, notably the Uighars.

The US should stay out, along with England and France, and let the mess sort itself out and tie Russia up.

Earthquake swarm continues at Kamchatka peninsula. Strong M 6.0 earthquake occurred off coast of Kamchatka at 01:55:08 UTC on May 21, 2013. The epicenter was located in sea, 136 km (84 miles) ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia at coordinates 52.505°N 160.470°E. USGS registered depth of 33.9 km while EMSC registered depth of 10 km. It was followed by little deeper M 4.9 seven minutes later. There was no tsunami warning issued.

Global, regional and local view (Credit: EMSC)

Read Full Report  Here

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April 29 2013 from Gleb in St. Petersburg, Russia

Crown Fountain

So far I’ve got many postcards of St. Petersburg (check out the St. Petersburg tag and you’ll see them!)

I’ve spent a summer in Russia when I was a college student. I stayed in Ufa for 5 or 6 weeks, and then headed to Moscow and St. Petersburg for sight-seeing. Due to the plane tickets we had only 5 days and that was absolutely not enough!

I like St. Petersburg a lot! It’s very different from Moscow. Chill, yes, even in summer. There are beautiful buildings everywhere! We stayed only 2 days there and I didn’t get a chance to see the summer garden, it was not open. Hope to visit there again! There are so much more to see!

In December 2011, Russia implemented legislative changes establishing a specialized intellectual property (IP) Court. The purpose of the IP Court is to ensure the proper adjudication of IP disputes which are notorious for their complexity. Although the IP Court was officially formed in February 2013, it has not yet begun hearing cases. On May 15, 2013, during the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, Presiding Judge Ludmila Novoselova stated that she expects the IP Court to start hearing cases in approximately July 2013, although further delays are possible. Some of the reasons for the delay are: (1) infrastructure remains to be built; (2) professional and administrative staff positions remain vacant; and (3) proposed new legislative initiatives could expand the jurisdiction of the IP Court.

With respect to the proposed new legislative initiatives, these initiatives relate to whether the jurisdiction of the IP Court should be expanded in include trademark non-use cancellation actions. Presently, these actions fall within jurisdiction of the Arbitration Court of Moscow; however, technically, these cases are to be transferred to the IP Court once it begins hearing cases. Nonetheless, in April 2013, a bill was introduced to exclude non-use cancellation actions from the jurisdiction of the IP Court and to instead provide jurisdiction for these cases in the arbitration courts (based on the location of the defendant). The bill was introduced by Mr. Pavel Krasheninnikov, the chairman of the State Duma’s (lower house of the Russian Parliament) committee on civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural legislation. It is quite possible that the opening of the IP Court may be further delayed until this issue is resolved.

Jurisdiction of the IP Court

The IP Court has a dual role in the Russian court system acting as a first instance and second appeal (cassation) court. The IP Court will operate as a first instance court, hearing appeals of decisions of the Russian Patent Office, including its revocation tribunal, the Chamber for Patent Disputes. The decisions of the IP Court can be appealed to the Presidium of the IP Court. The IP court will also operate as a second appeal (cassation) court for IP infringement actions. Figure 1 outlines the types of cases that will fall within the jurisdiction of the IP Court. Figure 2 outlines the role the IP Court will play in IP infringement actions.

Figure 1

Types of cases that will fall within the jurisdiction of the IP Court

Figure 2

IP Court role in IP infringement actions

Procedure

All cases in the IP Court will be heard by a panel of at least three judges. The decisions of the Presidium of the IP Court with respect to appeals against Patent Office decisions, and in IP infringement cases, can be appealed to the Supreme Arbitration Court. Figure 3 depicts the four-level (Levels I-Level IV) system for IP disputes.

Figure 3

This chart depicts the four-level (Levels I-Level IV) system for IP disputes

Transition period

Currently, appeals against Patent Office decisions are filed at the Arbitration Court of Moscow. These decisions can be appealed to the first (appellate) appeal court 9th Arbitration Appellate Court and then to the second (cassation) appeal court Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow Circuit.

Once the IP Court begins hearing the cases, any pending appeals filed at the Arbitration Court of Moscow will remain in that court. However, any second (cassation) appeals may not be filed at the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow Circuit, but must instead be filed at the Presidium of the IP Court.

As mentioned above, the IP Court is expected to start hearing cases in July, at the earliest. Once the IP Court starts to hear cases, it is important to consider the implications of the “transition period.” The implications of the transition period with regard to challenging Patent Office decisions (for example, patent revocations) could unfold as follows:

1. The Patent Office issues a decision to revoke a patent;
2. Patentee appeals the decision to the Arbitration Court of Moscow as the first instance court (the case stays in this court even after the IP Court begins hearing cases);
3. The Arbitration Court of Moscow renders a decision upholding or reversing the Patent Office Decision;
4. The decision of the Arbitration Court of Moscow is appealed to the 9th Arbitration Appellate Court as the first appeal court;
5. The 9th Arbitration Appellate Court renders its decision; and
6. If, by the time of filing of the second (cassation) appeal the IP Court begins hearing cases, then the second appeal must be filed at the Presidium of the Supreme Court instead of the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow Circuit as is currently the case.

Judges

The IP Court is presided over by Ludmila A. Novoselova, an ex-judge of the Supreme Arbitration Court. Ms. Novoselova was an unexpected choice, as she is a corporate law specialist. A minimum number of 15 judges is required for the IP Court to operate. At the time of this post and according to the official website of the IP Court (http://ipc.arbitr.ru), 13 judges have been appointed. Most of the IP Court judges are former judges of the arbitration courts. Only two judges have technical backgrounds such as in physics (Judge Rogozhin) and mechanics (Judge Vasilieva). Specific details on the judges are provided below.

Location

The IP Court is located in downtown Moscow (Mashkova St., 13), close to the Supreme Arbitration Court.

Please watch the BRIC Wall for future posts on the status of Russia’s specialized IP Court.

Thanks to Gowlings for providing their insights on Russia’s specialized IP Court.

A spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, known as NAK, said on state television that the militants were Russian citizens who had received training along the Afghanistan-Pakistanborder. They were not identified.

Russian special forces regularly announce that they have thwarted terrorist attacks, although this most often occurs in the Caucasus region of southern Russia where an Islamic insurgency is simmering. The last major terrorist attack in Moscow was a suicide bombing at the Domodedovo international airport in January 2011 that left 37 people dead.

NAK spokesman Dmitry Pavlov said special forces surrounded the building where the militants were holed up in the Moscow suburb of Orekhovo-Zuevo and ordered them to surrender, but instead the militants opened fire. He said one of the special forces was lightly wounded in the operation but no local residents were hurt.

It was not clear when the operation took place and no further information was immediately available.

Meanwhile, two bombs exploded outside a court building in Russia’s restive province of Dagestan on Monday, killing at least four people and wounding dozens of others, officials said.

The first bomb exploded in a parked car and the second went off in a trash bin about 15 minutes later after police had arrived on the scene in Makhachakala, the provincial capital, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov. He said the second blast, which was much more powerful, caused all of the casualties and many of those killed and wounded were police.

Health officials in Dagestan said about 45 people were taken to various hospitals for treatment. The federal Health Ministry in Moscow later said 35 people were hospitalized.

Investigators said it appeared that both explosions were set off by remote control.

Two separatist wars in Chechnya killed tens of thousands of people and spawned an Islamic insurgency that has engulfed the entire region, mainly neighboring Dagestan.

Deadly attacks on police and other officials occur almost daily.

http://m.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0520/Moscow-terrorist-attack-foiled?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+feeds/world+(Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+World)

White Russians in Turkey demand return of church

Read Here – Reuters

Russians buy most property in Turkey

This video has been circling the Internet for a while now, but I felt like it could use a couple more views. As we now, many russians install dash cams on their cars for security reasons, who hasn’t seen the russian car crash compilation? But these cams also capture the best of the human soul. Watch as many strangers perform little acts of good, making us, recover some faith in humanity. Really, all this men and women deserve the best, what good have you done today?

______________________________

One wonders… is Cossack attitude inborn or is it taught? I, for one, vote for it being part of one’s being… that is, you “get it through the tittie”. That’s not only true of Cossacks, it’s true of all the Orthosphere peoples… be they Greeks, Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians, Russians, Serbs, or Hillbilly Ossetians (don’t mess with ‘em, y’ hear; they DO know how to take care of themselves, they proved that in the recent war). We have not only a religion, we have a culture that comes wrapped indissolubly around it. That’s why it’s so difficult for newbies to “get it right”… it doesn’t come out of a book, “it comes through the tittie”. A whole new world has to be born in a convert’s soul to receive the Truth… which means that they have to walk away from the whole lot that they once believed in. They’re not doing that… ergo, they’re not truly converting. Sad, ain’t it? However, for how much longer can we afford to tolerate posturing semi-converted Anglicans amongst us (I know real Anglicans… they don’t have the hangups that the konvertsy have, trust me on that one)?

You can have the books or you can have the iaias and babas… that’s what on offer… I think that you know where I stand…

BMD

Russian sailors march near their Navy vessel in the bay of the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, which is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

By Jim W. Dean

There was a lot of distraction in the news last week, particularly the flank attack moves on Obama that obscured a huge development in the Mid East… the first return of the Russian Pacific Navy for Mediterranean deployment since 1992.

The first big part of the news is the active word ‘permanent.’ Corporate media decided to ignore the strategic shift consequences of that, and the West may be looking back soon at the wisdom their aggressive regime change military moves, despite the extensive use of proxies.

The recent Israeli attacks on Syria, particularly the use of a nuclear bunker buster gave the Russians a gift from heaven, opening the door to make a defensive deployment to protect their longtime ally in Syria. The Russians are back in the Med to stay, and this might be a good lesson to the folly of the Western slow motion aggression policy in the region, which has put a match to the whole place.

Russian Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov has announced that a permanent staff was being set up, and the present force might eventually include their nuclear submarines. In speaking to RIA:

“Overall, already from this year, we plan to have five or six warships and support vessels [in the Mediterranean Sea], which will be replaced on a rotating basis from each of the fleets – the Black Sea, Baltic, Northern and, in some cases, even the Pacific Fleet. Depending on the scope of assignments and their complexity, the number of warships in the task force may be increased.”

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu let the cat out of the bag when he stated that a permanent naval task force was needed to defend Russian interests in the region. The world has watched for two years now how coolly Russia has dealt with the continuing escalations in the fighting there, supported by a growing number of outside states who have effectively declared war on Syria thinking that such was a no-risk deal.

Here is what corporate media has not been telling you all. The preemptive strike doctrine of the Israelis and Neocons is going to be challenged. Netanyahu can talk all he wants to about red lines which will trigger a preemptive ‘defensive’ strike, but yours truly has written in these columns that eventually the intended targets would adopt that policy themselves. They have actually been given permission to by the dummies who invented it.

US Navy sources can sneer at the ‘old’ Russian ships all they want to, but there is nothing old about what they will be carrying, a game changer… their state-of-the-art missiles which they made a top priority in their defense policy as the new missiles are revolutionizing the next generation of warfare. The will sweep the skies of planes and the seas of ships. Air forces are working now to deploy robotic war plane drones that are basically missiles themselves by matching their speeds and aerodynamics.

Part of the corporate media hoax has been the fraudulent story of the S-300s being ‘introduced’ to the region as being destabilizing. Anyone wanting to check a copy of Jane’s in 1996 will find them already in Syria. Maybe some definition game has been going on that if they were under Russian physical control, as American munitions are in many foreign bases, they are not officially Syrian. But I would ask the lazy media what they thought brought down the Turkish F-16 provocations, a waste of those unfortunate pilots in peace time.

Yes folks, the S-300’s have been there all this time, and not fired at Israel yet. But that is all going to change. Israel’s days of roaming freely over Lebanon airspace and their ability to launch air flight munitions without entering Syrian territory may be over, or it will be when the Russians decide to.

Their fleet, even its older ships will be carrying their state-of-the-art weapons like the S-400’s where a pilot only has two or three seconds to live once the ‘beep beep’ that they are locked onto at tremendous speeds. The Russian ships on patrol will be able to shoot any attacking Israeli planes down, including those returning to base post attack. They can even be shot down while taking off.

Any retaliatory strike by Israel would trigger a full response by the Russians that could include their bases and command structure. Their updated Iskander missiles are stated to have speeds in the Mach 6 to 7 range but our sources say over Mach 8. To evade anti-missile fire they can pull 30+ g turns and make a 90-degree dive onto a target while doing so. The Israeli bullies have never had to stand up to a modern military but they may get the chance. They won’t like it.

The beauty in all of this is the scenario described above could all be done in a purely defensive mode while resisting an Israeli attack. After one incident alone the Russians might tell the Israelis that any Israeli warplane leaving Israeli air space would be considered an attack and both the plane and the base it flew from subject to attack.

Oh… I forgot to mention above that the targeting can be done either by satellite or programmed into the missiles so jamming would not be effective. This is not the Gaza Strip mortar shells on a back yard rocket tube, which Israel claims to be such a mortal threat where they have repeatedly launched civilian punishment retaliations as ‘deterrents.’ The dummy Israelis did not realize that they were giving moral permission for the same thing to be done to them someday.

Veterans Today has reported that the US Army Corps of Engineers has been spending huge amounts of money building the Israelis nuclear strike proof command centers. More American taxpayer money was wasted to protect Israel, which has a huge weapons-of-mass-destruction inventory threatening everyone else. Under the Bush/NeoCon preemptive strike policy the Russians could have taken these out of ‘potential’ threats, and similarly the Patriot missile batteries.

As for accuracy, the Iskanders can take the Patriot missile batteries out the first day. And the Russians could surrender to the international court the next day on the grounds that their response was totally legal under international law. And if that did not suffice, their second defense would be the Bush doctrine of preemptive strike for defensive purposes… not to eliminate a future threat, but one that had already signaled its hostile intent.

If any of you are thinking I am hyping this scenario, I held up publishing this until I got confirmation from the Israelis. The headline of the Israel Hayom for May 19th was:

“Expect Israeli strikes on Russian arms shipments to Syria-Hezbollah… US officials tell the Wall Street Journal another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of Yakhont advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future.”

This was nothing more than laying the ground work for the IDF to continue aggressive strikes in support of the Syrian rebels. Note the automatic linking of Syria and Hezbollah like they share arms depots or the Russians let them give their arms away to others. Do the Israelis have US permission? Well, kind of. Obama said Israel has the right to defend itself, so that means others have the right, also. But the game is a bit different when someone is in the Med who has full retaliatory ability including nuclear weapons.

Oh, I forgot to mention something about the nuclear bunker buster that the Israelis used in Damascus. The Russians of course have them also, to use on their newer missiles to keep their weight down for higher speed or longer range, and to make sure one missile does the job. Despite Bibi’s claiming that Israel is ready for all eventualities, it is ready for none of this. And if the Russians responded to an Israeli attack, believe me the US would not intercede.

The US would be in enough trouble for having put the region in such danger by arming Israel to the teeth to a level its own population could never have afforded, nor would they if they could have.

When Israel suffers a substantial retaliatory strike after an aggressive attack on their part, I can promise you the average Israeli is going to have an instant different opinion of the bully buzz they have grown used to when attacking weak or defenseless opponents.

In the long run more than a few international civilian and military Intel entities have long suspected that this is what eventually would have to happen to remove Israel as a threat to everybody. They would attack the wrong people at the wrong time.

Nobody in the American military is going to willingly die for bully Israel other than maybe the Christian Zios in the Air Force. But that said, the world would be a safer place with them gone anyway.

Source: Press TV

We can now expect to see the inquest opening earliest in October, in the absence of such central papers, or moves to close this process and open another one. Can’t decide which is worse.

Read my full story from last Friday here.

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The Easter season stretches on to Pentecost, which falls on 23 June this year. That means that we have another month left in the festal time… hey, if we keep the Easter Lent for all forty days, then, it stands to reason that we should keep all fifty days of the Easter feast. God did NOT intend us to walk about with long faces and be insufferable misery-guts to all about us. Christ is risen! That’s what our religion is all about… not rules… not crusades… not marches… not politics… but Christ is Risen! It was good enough for baba and dede, it’s good enough for me…

Христосъ воскресе!

Воистинну воскресе!

BMD

5 years may seem like a long time to wait, but as Russia isn’t the sort of place you can go on a whim, when my opportunity to did arise, it hurtled towards me at startling speed. With work being so intense and a million other things on my mind, I didn’t have a great amount of time to build up any expectations, and with that reasons to be disappointed. Nevertheless, I had my own small hopes and fears head of touching down in Moscow.

Hopes

My vision of Russia was a sort of forgotten grandness; a kind of clinging sense of a bygone era. I refer not only to Imperial Russia, but also to the Communist times – my birth coinciding with the beginning of Glasnost and the fall of the Iron Curtain. I have no real comprehension of the realities of the Cold War era, and I grew up more influenced by the European Union than the Soviet Union. With that in mind, I hoped to learn more about how modern Russia came to be, why did the Russian Revolution happen, how incredibly wealthy were the Tsars and why couldn’t the world just place nice after World War II.

Moscow State University – one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters

Since spending time in a number of Communist and former-Communist countries – in Europe, Asia and Africa – I’ve become a fan of the physical propaganda of Soviet architecture. It’s just so ridiculously optimistic and positive, powerful and effective, despite the harsh reality for many during that period. My hope was that Moscow held the crème-de-la-crème of Soviet-era buildings.

After my failed attempts to teach myself some Russian, I hoped I would have the opportunity to at least string a few very basic sentences together and show I had actually learned something useful.

Finally, I was dearly hoping there would be great food. All my previous experiences with Russian food were incredibly satisfying – even that £10 bowl of borsch I had during a stopover in Moscow Shermetyevo Airport. I packed my bag with cravings for amazing soups, delicious vodka, filling stews and the God’s greasiest gift to mankind: pirozhki.

Fears

I often travel without huge expectations and take things as they come – which leaves little room for disappointment. Despite that I still feared that Russia wouldn’t be all I hoped it was. Would the building not be as spectacular as I expected, would the ballet be a tedious evening of watching women prance about on stage, would I be too worried about the price of things to enjoy myself… Still, in the run up to leaving, I kept these thoughts to a minimum.

That better be real gold on top!

Not having the opportunity to learn as much about Russia as I would like to was another fear. It was a long way to fly, and a very large expense to shell out, for it just to descend into being one huge piss-up. Would people help me with my pitiful excuse for Russian? Would my experience in Russia be more than just a superficial introduction?

Ultimately would I be safe? Too many films have made Russia out to be the bad guy – was it really true? I knew full well of the widespread corruption throughout the Orthodox Church and the political elite – did that trickle down to every level of society? Is Russia really a kleptocracy? Would street crime be an issue? What about the persecution of ethnic, political and sexual minorities? Too recently were the moronic St Petersburg “gay gag” law and Moscow’s 100 year ban on Gay Pride events passed. Then there was the furore surrounding Pussy Riot’s imprisonment. Chechnya, Litvinyenko, countless people groups struggling against “Russification” policies… Would I be safe to speak my mind and voice my opinions?

First Impressions

Upon landing in Moscow, I had my first initial indications about whether my hopes and fears would be realised. My first impressions of Russia were that:

1. Russia is magical – the first night was spent walking around Moscow at night. The Kremlin was lit up like Christmas. Bridges were bejewelled with lights and flags rippling gently in the cool night air. The gaudy spires of St Basil’s Cathedral looking like ice creams and a sheer overabundance of gold in the form of domes, statues, signage… It was like something out of a fairy tale.
2. People are friendlier than I expected and don’t give you a hard time for not speaking Russian/speaking poor Russian. If anything they are bemused by the “point and nod” routine. More people speak English than I expected.
3. Being able to read the Cyrillic alphabet is a godsend when navigating your way around Moscow. The vast majority of signage on the Metro is only in Russian and you can save yourself a lot of time (and reduce the likelihood of you becoming a target for pickpockets) if you can understand the station names with a single glance rather than constantly referring to your own printed map with transliterated place names.
4. Despite warnings about street crime prior to going, I very quickly felt a lot safer in Moscow than I usually do in London.
5. Moscow wasn’t as extortionate as I thought it was – it is possible to eat, drink and entertain yourself without spending all your pocket money at once – IF you know how to do it.
6. Moscow was a lot cleaner than I expected – and there are always an excessive amound of people cleaning the place up. Compared to the likes of Berlin, the Russian capital is positively glorious – at least from a distance.

Those were my initial thoughts on my visit to Russia. You shouldn’t always judge on first impressions, and no doubt some illusions were to be shattered during my trip. But my first experiences of Russia challenged my previous perceptions and overall were very positive.

]]> http://patrickdehahnlive.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/dagestan-deals-with-a-rocky-day-of-two/ Mon, 20 May 2013 22:48:58 +0000 Patrick deHahn http://patrickdehahnlive.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/dagestan-deals-with-a-rocky-day-of-two/ Dagestan deals with a rocky day of two car bombs and gun shootouts, resulting in deaths and injuries Monday. The province in Russia’s North Caucasus region is now subject to an insurgency between multiple armed groups.