KIRILL VLADIMOROVICH POKROVSKY A.K.A DR.KEYREAL Visit my page and Guestbook KIRILLPOKROVSKY.COM
In public, they appeared to live ordinary American lives — working regular jobs and walking their kids to school.They posed as Canadians.
But, authorities say, 11 people accused in the U.S. of being "deep cover" Russian spies were anything but ordinary — speaking in code, engaging in covert money exchanges and communicating via private wireless networks.This is especially upsetting after a week as Obama shared the hamburgers with Medvedev. Apparently our spies were after American nuclear secrets .
It is hard to be a Russian spy nowadays -not the same respect as during sweet Cold War times.
Considering that the world is severely overpopulated it is ridiculous to consider the Russian situation "drastic." In fact, it could be argued that the Russian people would be better off with a lower population. Canada's population density is much lower than that of Russia, which allows for the resource wealth to grow. It seems to me that a drop in the world population towards a more sustainable number would do us all a lot of good. Is the encouragement to produce more people yet another symptom of nationalism and grow-or-die economics? I do not understand. There are over six billion people in the world. Why do we want more people consuming energy, causing pollution and contributing to global warming? Encouraging someone with several children to have another that will use more oil than I could possibly save by getting a hybrid vehicle, make no sense to me. There are almost seven billion people crowded onto this planet, does Russia really want to add to the problem? If the country believes it needs a larger population, perhaps it would be better to do more to encourage immigration. If the government officials want hero mothers, they should stop the sex slave trade of Russian women to European brothels. It's a tragedy of national proportions - an entire gene base is being killed, drugged and raped into thin air, and the government is denying the very existence of slave trade. Moscow alone has 80,000 prostitutes, which is 8-10% of the population. It would be interesting to read about that in your blog - and the reactions of Muscovites to the rise in sexual violence against Eastern European women since the break-up of the USSR. Rather than encouraging large families, President Medvedev should be encouraging immigration to Russia. Allowing in Chinese and Indians would help Russia connect with these emerging strong economies. Why is a declining population bad? We're always being warned that the earth can't support so many people. Instead of trying to increase their populations, countries with declining populations should focus on supporting their elderly and be glad that they're helping global resource sustainability. After hearing only extremely negative comments on Russia from BBC reporters, even the slightly negative comments by James Rodgers seem refreshing. The fact that Russians manage to work in such extreme climatic conditions speaks volume about their mental and physical stamina. Even Eskimoes and Scandinavians take long winter breaks to get over harsh winters. |
Moscow Diary: Traffic jams | ||
Russian passion for cars and how the capital's roads have changed since communist times. STUCK IN TRAFFIC "You must have seen a lot of changes," people often say when I tell them I first came to Moscow in the last years of the Soviet Union.
There was a joke in Soviet times. It went something like this: Sergei had been waiting for ages to hear when he would get his new car. Finally, the call came. "We'll deliver it on Tuesday 12th March, 19xx" (here you'd add a date in about five years' time). "Oh no," says Sergei. "That's the day they're coming to fix the washing machine." Sergei wouldn't have to wait that long these days. Foreign manufacturers have flocked to Russia. They've set up factories here to feed the insatiable demand for a set of wheels. Late last year, the authorities in Moscow estimated that there were three million cars registered in the Russian capital. That number is growing by 10% annually. Many more are driven into the city every day. It's the most obvious sign of Russia's new wealth. In the dying days of the USSR, car parts were in such short supply that motorists went to extraordinary lengths to frustrate thieves. If it began to rain, drivers would suddenly leap from their vehicles to tend to their windscreen wipers. They kept their wiper blades in the glove compartment. Leaving them on an unattended parked car was an invitation to robbers. A replacement set was hard to come by. Now there are shops stacked with spare parts. Some of them are even open round-the-clock. Sometimes it feels like there's heavy traffic 24 hours a day, too.
Now it's six lanes of traffic which often moves painfully slowly. Last autumn, it ground to a complete stop. The Spartak football team's bus got stuck. The players had to finish their journey to the stadium by metro. You can understand why the desire for car ownership is so strong here. For decades, getting behind the wheel was nothing more than a dream for many people here. Millions more Russians now have the chance to take to the road. But one of the side-effects is that it's impossible to be sure how long it will take you to get anywhere by car. There are fears that it will begin to take a toll on the economy. There were even reports last year that the mayor was considering making city employees start their working day at 0700 so they could beat the traffic. That hasn't happened - at least, not yet. It's unlikely to be popular in a city where, in midwinter, it doesn't get light until 0900. So what's the answer? Some Muscovites ask me about the congestion charge in London. In a city where having to pay to park is still considered daylight robbery, the idea of paying to drive won't be an overnight hit | ||
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This is how I reflect the essence of all the movies I've seen this year so far.
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Main work - "The Garden of Lucifer".Skulls of a deferent shape, decorated with the fresh roses and strawberries...
