Governance in the Russian Federation

This is simply a series of links for those who care to read them to give you an insight into "Sovereign Democracy" as then-President Putin described it.  The difference between  Democracy and Sovereign Democracy being the difference between a chair and an electric chair as some wag put it.  The trigger for this blog is the recent firing of Moscow's Mayor Luzhkov by President Medvedev. 

During the Yeltsin years, mayors and regional governors were directly elected however Putin put a stop to that in 2004.  He has been criticized by the West for this as "undoing democratic reforms", however these regional people tended to be elected using their own version of Sovereign Democracy.  They created their own private fiefdoms which they used as power bases and pillaged at will.  They were answerable to no one and accountable for nothing.  At least now they are accountable to Mr. Putin, whose authorization was undoubtedly needed for Luzhkov's termination. 

I leave you to draw your own conclusions about Luzhkov's business dealings, his wife's real estate billions and the whole issue of corruption in Russian politics. 

The last two links concern those who have attempted to investigate corruption and Human Rights abuses.  You may also want to Google Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova. 

Medvedev sacks Luzhkov - Interfax.com

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov sacked by President Medvedev - BBC

Analysis - Moscow mayor's messy exit is no Medvedev triumph - Yahoo News UK

 Sacked Moscow mayor fears return to Stalinism - CNN

In shift, Kremlin reopens cases of Russian reporters' unsolved murders - Christian Science Monitor

Russian journalists face violence, intimidation - Christian Science Monitor

 

From Abakan to Antalia in 20 Minutes by Edith Bunker

As recounted in two previous blogs, I now have a Russian Visa but no contract yet.  Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.  But we edged out our competitor and now just wait for the BIG boss to get back next week late.  ALL power is concentrated at the top of any Russian or Ukrainian organization.  This is a carry-over from Soviet times when there was only one ladder to climb and competition was cut-throat.  If you delegated, you would likely find your desk in the hall some day.

I'm running out of time if I am to get anything done in October so today Tanya checked out train and plane schedules on the computer and on the phone with KiiAvia in Krivii Rih.  Moscow to Abakan flies Monday and Thursday.  No tickets to Abakan on Monday Oct 4th so we would fly 11:30 pm Thursday Oct 7 and arrive 5:30 am on Oct 8 and leave on Monday Oct 18.  Ten days is a nice visit with family but too short to get anything useful done even if the contract was signed.

We could go Oct 4 via Krasnoyarsk and arrive in Abakan Oct 5 after a grueling 8 hour bus ride. I'm all for going anyhow and letting the chips fall, just to visit her family and lay some ground work for the project.  Tanya has the tickets booked and we are driving into Krivii Rih with Andrei and Tanya to pay for them (about $1800 USD).  My Tanya points out that a) she is a bad daughter and doesn't want to go to Abakan and visit her family until next year, b) it is no holiday for her regardless and c) if there are two moons in the sky and the contract is signed, our employer can send their agronomists and we can go in the spring and stay until the project is complete.

Tanya calls the travel agent in Krivii Rih.  Forget Abakan, Siberia.  Do they handle all-inclusives to Antalia, Turkey?  They do.  We are going for two weeks to Kemmer near Antalia, leaving Oct 10.  Cost for the two of us a total of $1100 USD. 

The Russian visa?  Written off by your scribe as education - I need to learn to LISTEN to my wife.

Lee Hart Says Kind Words about Our Medical System

Lee Hart is an Ag columnist.  I know his writing shows up in Grainews and maybe other places too.  His blog covers odds and sods on the Ag front but for the past two months has also told of the recovery of a young man who suffered a severe head injury in an ATV accident.  Today's blog recounts the replacement of a palm size piece of skull bone in the boy's head and credits the Canadian health care system.

I hab a code

Sids yedsterday, I hab a terrible code in my node.  By sinuses are rudding and I caddot breed (oh, shud ub). Doday wads Lenaz birdday so we wed to deir blace for 10:00 am brudch.  Do ob her frieds cabe from her hobe villadge.  We drag beddy toads ad by nood by code wadth fide.  I wed hobe ad slebt for siggs hours.  Dow I hab a hedegg ad a code.  Nodding meggs seds eddy bore.

@ Yahoo! Video

Night Train to Memphis

Yesterday was the second 24 hour road trip this week and today I am tired.  I napped from 3:00 pm until about 8:00 pm.  I have my Russian visa now but still no contract between my employer and the client in Khakasia.  I wish I'd had the project from the beginning myself but Agro-Soyuz found the client and I am stuck with them at the moment.

Friday is NOT a good travel day as every student and family is going home or to visit Babushka somewhere.  Our friend Kostia got me a ticket from P'yatikhatki to Kyiv.  Wagon 19 again, Bunk 04.  Except it was Bunk 40* which is at the far end of the car, over the window.  Not a bad bunk if you are 1.5 meters tall (5') and somewhat simian in nature.


The Attendant on duty, a petite brunette named Svetlana, came to my rescue and sold me her bottom bunk in the attendants' little room for 100 UAH ($14).  I'd have paid her triple if she had asked.  I made up the bed, kicked my shoes off, turned out the light and pulled the sheet over me.  A few minutes later the off-duty attendant, a blonde whose name I didn't catch but it could have been Mindy, slipped into the room and climbed up onto the top bunk.  Short skirt and all.  Thankfully, it was dark or I am sure even with my eyes shut tight, I'd have been struck blind.

Two nights previous the train was impossibly hot.  Thursday night the little room was colder than a Mother-in-Law's kiss.  The wind whistled in around the window and I was freezing.  The blankets are on a shelf above the top bunk.

Imagined conversation:
Excuse me, Miss Mindy, but I am freezing.  Could you get me one of the blankets on the shelf above you?
I have a better idea; let's pretend we are married.
Sounds interesting; what do you have in mind?
Get up and get your own &#%$#@ blanket and don't bother me again.

I got up and got a blanket.  They were easy enough to reach.


*I often misread because I do not read carefully enough and I often scramble letters and words.  Like the old joke about the Dyslexic Agnostic Insomniac who lay awake at night wondering if there really was a Dog.  The other day, I misread my sister's Facebook recipe for Greek Chicken as Geek Children.  Sounded like a good idea and the recipe did look delicious but...

An Apple a Day

Tanya and Lena are picking apples today.  Tanya asked me to take some pictures of our apples to send to Ky but I figured I'd post them instead.  These are of our two very tall apple trees where we "grow fruit in the heavens" as Tanya's niece Sveta says.  We have several others but not as impressive as these two trees.  All our fruit trees yielded incredibly good this year.  The apples were so heavy on the branches that, combined with high winds, wee will have lots of pruning problems in February.  There are a great many broken branches that will have to come off.

The grapes are also ripe and ready to pick.  We have been eating them off the vine for a week or so already.  I'd like to make grape jam and jelly with some at least.

24 Hours from Tulsa

A one-day round trip to Kyiv by train takes me 23 1/2 hours door to door.  Yesterday I applied for a Russian visa from the Consulate in Kyiv.  Left the house at 11:30 pm on Tuesday, Andrei took me to the station at P'yatikhatki where I caught the 0040 train to Kyiv.  Top bunk and hellishly hot so I didn't sleep much if at all.  My ticket was for a bottom bunk but the old Babushka and her young grandson needed it worse than I as she could never have climbed into the top bunk which was supposedly hers.  The trains are full these days for some reason.

Got into Kyiv at 7:00 am and went to McDonald's at the station to grab a couple of Egg Mcmuffins and kill 3 hours using their WiFi.  Was lucky to get a seat near a plug-in as the computer battery is so old it won't hold more than 45 minutes charge.  Took the Metro to within 1/2 block of the consulate and had the application paperwork all done by 11:30.  Cost varies with turnaround time.  I needed 48 hours so it cost me $225 USD.

Getting a Russian visa is not simple.  It requires an ORIGINAL letter of invitation, which unless you are a tourist, must be issued by the Federal Migration Service or Ministry of the Interior or some super important agency.  This takes time, which we don't have as I need at least two or three weeks in Khakasia for this project and must be out of Russia by Oct 20 OR delay the entire process six weeks while I get a new passport and a new letter of invitation.  Theoretically the letter of invitation must be requested by the client in Khakasia and issued by the appropriate office in Khakasia.  Takes too long, so the client called in some contacts and my letter of invitation was duly issued by...The Olympic Committee of Russia in Moscow.  Doh.

Went to TGI Fridays for lunch.  Buffalo wings, fries covered in melted cheese (not quite Poutine but...), Hot Fudge Brownie Delight (sounds perverted to me) and two pints of Murphy's.  The latter cost me $6.50 each which I didn't realize when I ordered them.  Flown in from Ireland, I guess. 

Now I needed tickets to come back Friday to get my passport and visa.  Friday is a BAD day to travel.  Our taxi driver friend Kostia was enlisted to help me get tickets.  Got one for the night train same as before but nothing to return unless I stay over.  Kostia knows people and will meet me Friday morning at the station with a first class ticket on the evening express.  I pay him well.

Caught the 5:45 Kyiv-Dnipropetrovs'k Express and was in P'yatikhatki Stikova station by 10:00 and home by 11:00.  I leave again tonight at 11:30 pm to repeat the process Friday.  Two full days of my time* to get a visa for a project that does not yet have a contract.  More Doh.

*A traveling salesman is walking down a country road, and passes a farm. In the middle of the field he sees a farmer, standing under an apple tree. The farmer holds a pig in his arms. The salesman stops and watches as the farmer walks around the tree with the pig, and holds it up so that the pig can eat an apple right off of a tree branch. Amazed, the salesman sees the farmer lift the pig so that it can eat about four apples in this manner.
“Mr. Farmer,” yells the salesman, “wouldn’t it take a lot less time if you just put the pig on the ground, and let him eat the apples that have fallen off of the tree?”
The farmer pauses in his work, turns to the salesman and says, “Well, maybe, but really, what’s time to a pig?”