Supposed Terrorism Attack in Russia November 2009

SkyNews: Several carriages of the Nevsky Express travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg were derailed.

Gazeta.ru: Reuters Photos on Nevsky Express

RIANews: Ten killed, 130 injured in Nevsky Express train accident

Federal news channel “Vesti”

US Ambassador To Russia: Speech At Muskie Club Conference, Moscow, Russia

JOHN BEYRLE, US AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA

SPEECH AT THE MUSKIE CLUB THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE

IN ARARAT PARK HYATT, MOSCOW, RUSSIA

ON OCTOBER, 17HT, 2009

Transcript by Dimitrie Ross, www.muskieclub.ru

Thank you very much. Ничего, если я буду говорить по-английски?

[Laughter]

Any problem? No problem. I don’t think there is any problem speaking almost any language before this group.

I want to thank Dmitry [Vishnyakov], I want to thank the members of the Muskie Club for this invitation to join you this morning. It really means a lot to me. As some of you know I am a big fan of the Muskie Club in particular.

When I arrived in Moscow as Ambassador, it was July, 3rd, 2008, I was very very tired. I have been just sworn in as Ambassador twelve hours before in Washington in the ceremony in the State Department, flew all night over the ocean, landed in Moscow, went to the Foreign Ministry to present my credentials and then came immediately to the Spaso House for the 4th of July reception, which is being held that day on the 3rd of July, as a new Ambassador and I met a thousand people in a space of about two hours.

At the end of the reception, and I think few of you in the room were with me, I was talking to a group of people who were inspiring me, giving me a lot of energy which I needed at that point because I was pretty tired. They were talking to me what they’ve done, what their experiences were. The problem was that I have joined the group in the middle and I hadn’t figured out who it was I was talking to.

So I said «Кто Вы такие? Какая это организация или группа?». And they said «А-а, это мы – Маски Клаб». Muskie Club? Я подумал, о каких масках мы говорим?

[Laughter]

Я не понял. Теперь я понимаю, что такое Muskie Club.

And I am proud of the fact that now there are over 60000 of American exchange programs in Russia. And I am consistently amazed at the wonderful, talented, creative things that these alumni, people like you, accomplish every day.

The Muskie Club, through the charity work that you do, through the professional work of the members, I think really epitomises not just the power of cultural and educational exchanges to build bridges and to create bonds, but also you really epitomise the diversity of talent and tremendous strength of the people that make up the Russian Federation, and the commitment that you all share to making your country and the world a better place to live. It’s really that simple.

And I know about very much from my own experience, because as many of you know I was in exchanging just like you in the 1970′s. In a very different world but I had the same experience of visiting a new culture when I came to Leningrad, lived in a dormitory, took classes at Leningrad State University and had my eyes open to a completely different world that I had only the slightest suspicion of before I came. That’s what this is all about. And that’s why I’ll always be a very very strong supporter of exchanges as not just a way to build bridges between societies, but to make people smarter and stronger, too.

As Dmitry [Vishnyakov] said I want to talk little a bit today about what I see as a very new and a very promising phase venturing in US-Russia relationship. And I want to talk about your role as alumni of exchange programs and the Muskie Program in particular, and helping form this new relationship. And then I’m very happy to answer questions.

US Secretary of State at Moscow State University

On October, 14, 2009 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with students of the Moscow State University stressing that their country’s prosperity was dependent on its willingness to cultivate core freedoms, including the freedom to participate in the political process. Here is what the AJC wrote:

“Citizens must be empowered to help formulate the laws under which they live,” she told about 2,000 students at Moscow State University. “They need to know that their investments of time, money and intellectual property will be safeguarded by the institutions of government.

Her message to the students appeared aimed in part at countering the fears of Russia’s beleaguered liberal democrats that the U.S. would no longer seek to hold the Kremlin accountable for the rollback of democracy and violations of human rights in exchange for Russia’s cooperation on Iran and Afghanistan.

“In an innovative society, people must be free to take unpopular positions, disagree with conventional wisdom, know they are safe to challenge abuses of authority,” Clinton said.

“That’s why attacks on journalists and human rights defenders here in Russia is such a great concern: because it is a threat to progress,” she said, standing in front of a monumental Soviet mosaic topped by a red hammer and sickle, the showcase of the university auditorium.

Clinton told the students that one of the books that most affected her life was “The Brothers Karamazov” by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, in particular the parable of the Grand Inquisitor, which she saw as “an object lesson against servitude.”

“I believe one of the greatest responsibilities we have as human beings is to open ourselves up to the possibility that we could be wrong,” she said. “One of the greatest threats we face is from people who believe they are absolutely, certainly right about everything and they have the only truth and it was passed onto them by God.”

[muskieclub.ru]

Public Diplomacy VS. Siberia & Fat Barbies

Prior to the visit of Ms. Clinton to Russia, the State Department blog asked its readers a simple question: “What is the most important issue facing the US-Russia relationship?”.

The answers to this question were rather stunning and couple of lines hit with still quite well preserved memories of the CW. Surprisingly enough, it’s a pain in the US-[Russia relationship] that it’s not necessarily politicians and diplomats who keep in mind issues from the past which separated our countries and still do. But it’s simple [but way too smart!] Internet users who have absolutely nothing to do with politics and who don’t even travel back and forth on the inter-coastal rout between Russia and USA, it’s these users who relish the CW, Russian mafia (btw, can anyone give me a description of what it is?) etc.

Well, I am not a politician and not a diplomat. I just travel between USA and Russia a lot. To be honest, it’s the cold war or mafia which concern REAL people of these two countries. But it’s those casual iconic stereotypes we need to be working on as a priority. So, my answer to the question of the Dipnote’s blog would be: The most important issue facing the US-Russia (or, if you are a Russian citizen – Russia-USA relationship) is the public diplomacy [PD] issue. I believe the more PDs, the better the relationship. So that Americans don’t say that SIBERIA is bad and has a bad connotation. So that Russians don’t think that all Americans look like fat Barbies.

And while Internet users think and argue about the most important issue, Hilary Clinton and Dmitry Medvedev go to the Bolshoy Theater to see the opera “The Love for Three Oranges” by Prokophiev.

“Jolly Fellows” in Oh-so-homo Moscow

A new film by Felix Mikhailov, “Jolly Fellows” ["Veselchaki"], is a story about five travesty actors – drag queens – who definitely feel the tension between their life style on high heels and their “male” sex according to their passports.

It’s a show. It’s a drama. And according to the main character’s phrase, it’s a “fucking happiness”. On October, 13th, 2009 the movie is in theaters in Moscow. It will be interesting enough to observe the reaction of the Russian – in its majority still – homophobic society to this film.

Muskie Club & ACYPL Exchange Program For Young Political Leaders

The US-Russia exchange program for young political leaders organized and managed by ACYPL and Muskie Club started on September, 12 and ran for two weeks giving Russian young politicians an opportunity to visit three regions in the USA – Washington, DC, Raleigh, NC and Colorado Springs, CO.

A group of six Russian young politicians escorted by Dimitrie Ross, Muskie Club board member, was carefully selected from over 200 applicants from all across Russia. The winners of the contest had to be under 40 y. o., representatives of the legislative or executive branch, members of divers political parties, coming from different regions of Russia. This year the participants of the program were:

Dmitry Niskovskikh, 27, Yekaterinburg, elected member of regional parliament of Sverdlosk region, member of “United Russia” political party and a President of a charitable foundation devoted to youth development in Sverdlovsk region.

Tatiana Katankina, 33, Kirov, aide and chief of staff to the Governor of Kirov region, member of “Pravoye Delo” political party, extensively experienced in legislative and executive branches of power at the regional level.

Andrey Gromov, 33, Zhukovsky, press-secretary of city Zhukovsky, Moscow region, member of “United Russia” political party.

Konstantin Lazarev, 34, Moscow, spokesman and aide to Irina Khakamada, politician, writer and former Presidential candidate (2004). Konstantin is one of the founder of the political movement “Russian People Democratic Union”, former member of the SPS and the “Our Choice” political party.

Galina Nemtseva, 34, Tomsk, elected member of the regional parliament of Tomsk region, member of “Just Russia” political party and a chairwoman of the commission for childhood and maternity. Galina is also heading the Regional branch of the “Just Russia” political party and actively  participating in the “Just Russia” Central Council.

Oleg Nikolaev, 39, Tcheboksary, Chuvashia, spokesperson and aide to the State Duma deputy Anatoly Aksakov, member of the “Just Russia” political party.

The agenda of the visit was made in accordance with the guidelines of the US State department. The program included several visits with the US government officials and major businesses in the US capitol, such as Department of State, Democratic National Committee, Federal Election Committee, Department of Coomerce, US Chamber of Commerce, Republican National Committee, Congress, International Relations Committee, VISA and Toyota. On the state levels in North Carolina and Colorado the Russian delegation was hosted by the ACYPL alumni of those states and had unique opportunities to meet representatives of Governors’ offices and city councils, State Attorney Generals and members of State legislature.

The program of the visit was uniquely designed to introduce young Russian political leaders to policy and decision making processes and political and electoral dynamics in the USA. The exchange experience is to strengthen each participant’s leadership and public diplomacy skills in a climate of mutual understanding and trust to future relationships.

Since 1966 the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), a bi-partisan, not-for-profit organization based in Washington, DC, has become recognized worldwide as the pre-eminent catalyst for introducing rising political leaders and policy makers to international affairs and to each other.  The ACYPL has conducted programs and exchanges with more than 90 nations, producing a global network of several thousand alumni, a large number of whom have risen to positions of great influence in the United States and in nations around the globe.

D. Ross
Moscow – Washington, DC – Raleigh, NC – Colorado Springs, CO – Moscow

Testing Barcode 2D

Moscow Cowboys

Wild Western Festival 2009 took place in Russia in a small town Mozhaysk only 110 km [68 Mi] outside of Moscow. It was the third time the festival was run for Russian cowboys and cowgirls.

Here are some pictures from one of the Russian bloggers ottenki-serogo who attanded the festival:

MORE PHOTOS HERE

US Ambassador: Blogging In Russian

On June 6th, 2009, US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle published his very first post in the Russian blogosphere using LiveJournal to interact with Russian speaking bloggers. The reasonable question to Ambassador Beyrle would be: why does he need a blog in LiveJournal and what is he going to write about?

US Ambassador to Russia John Byerle

It seems that Ambassador Beyrle explains it very well saying:

“Today, when we are opening a new chapter in Russia-US relationship we have to understand what Russian people think about America, US politics and how this relationship should develop. That’s why I decided to create this blog and an official USA Embassy community in LiveJournal where everybody can ask questions to US diplomats and to find out their opinion on international politics and other issues. I also will be writing about my job, travels in Russia and will share my personal thoughts. I hope very much that with your help my blog will play acertain role in the improvement of mutual understanding between our nations “.

In the “Interests” section of beyrle-profile are listed some topics US Ambassador is interested in the most including Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, US Embassy and theatre.

It will be interesting enough to observe how far will US Ambassador go into “sharing his personal thoughts” and if he himself will be writing in that blog. However, it’s clear that social networking becomes more and more to information and interaction source number one. In the Ambassador’s blog everybody has a chance to speak up, ask questions, critic or help with insights.

According to the recent blog post in beyrle.livejournal.com, Ambassador Beyrle hopes very much that

“this blogging project will become our joint contribution to the “perezagruzka” – “reload” – of the Russia-US relationship”.

In his blog, US Ambassador to Russia invites Russian bloggers to ask him questions. Questions can be asked till June 19th, 2009. The most interesting questions will be answered in a special video which will be made for LiveJournal.

[muskieclub]

Russian National Flag Over TV Tower In Moscow

The Russian National flag is now flying over the Ostankino TV tower in Moscow as a mark of Russias Day celebrated on June, 12th. A 540-meter [1772 ft] high TV tower will again be the highest flagpole carrying a 2,5×5 m [8x16 ft] flag. The flag was raised on June, 12th, 2009.