The Devil Went Down to Georgia

TBILISI (AFP) — Georgia on Thursday launched a diplomatic offensive against Russian moves to build closer ties with two rebel regions, accusing Moscow of breaching Georgia's sovereignty and calling for a UN Security Council emergency session.

The former Soviet republic's pro-Western president, Mikheil Saakashvili, called for "serious actions" from the international community and sent senior ministers to the US and Europe to press Georgia's case.

"We demand that Russia stop all actions which breach Georgia's sovereignty," Saakashvili told ministers at a cabinet meeting, his press office said.

On Wednesday, Russia said it would intensify cooperation with the two pro-Moscow breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in trade, culture and other areas and provide "complete protection" to Russians living there.

Saakashvili called on the international community to react, saying "we need serious actions, not only words from our partners in the next days and weeks."

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Georgia is not going to given in to Russia's attempts to breach its sovereignty. The diplomatic tactics of Russia seem to be failing. This is making Georgia very unhappy and they are getting the UN envolved.

You'll Have Me Suicidal

In Russia 15 to 20 teenagers commit suicide monthly. Surprisingly enough, a few of them do this secretly. All over Russia there are hundreds of websites that will gladly help you to lay hands on yourself. At first glance they seem to be nothing but somebody’s stupid game: more than a thousand peers of 11 to 25 years old spend hours discussing several ways to suicide themselves. This, however, is not a game: all these people are dead serious. They will not just advise you on how to die in a more sophisticated and pleasant way, they will also gladly help you to pop off.

This is the wrong place for support and psychological help. In the chat there are hundreds of questions about the better way to die. If you click on one of them, for example, you’ll see that out of 58 responses to the question “How to die painlessly” only 3 people wondered why the person actually wants to die. The rest at once offer countless ways of dying. The first responses are the most common ones: to open veins, jump from the skyscraper, or make a hole in the water. But then come really terrifying pieces of advice. Two of them are especially shocking, because they (as the adviser states) have been already successfully tested.

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Suicde is a very serious problem and teen sucide is even more serious. Russia has a very high sucide rate and this article call attention to that fact. Russia however is blaming the internet but is that the real problem? Or is there something more that the world does not know?

'Threat' to Future of Russia Oil

The future supply of Russian oil is threatened by a likely decline in production levels, one of the country's top oil executives has warned.

Lukoil's Leonid Fedun said $1 trillion would have to be spent on developing new reserves if current output levels were to be maintained.

Recent figures show Russian output fell 1% in the first quarter of 2008.

The possibility of less oil from one of the world's key suppliers will add more pressure to prices now at record highs.

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Russia needs new oil reseverves inorder to maintain there economic status. They can either make new ones or spend trillions trying to maintain the old ones. This article shows some of the future complications for Russia. It also deals with one of the major problems throughout the world today, oil.

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Russia Vows Steps if Georgia and Ukraine Join NATO

MOSCOW: Russia will take military and other steps along its borders if ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia join NATO, Russian news agencies quoted the armed forces' chief of staff as saying on Friday.

"Russia will take steps aimed at ensuring its interests along its borders," the agencies quoted General Yuri Baluyevsky as saying. "These will not only be military steps, but also steps of a different nature," he said, without giving details.

Russia is opposed to NATO plans to grant membership to ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia, saying such a move would pose a direct threat to its security and endanger the fragile balance of forces in Europe.

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Russia is still trying to keep and exert the power they use to have over former Soviet Union countries. The not-so-hidden aggression and threats, both military and other, made by Russia shows that are strongly opposed to any surrounding nations joining NATO.

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Illegal Radioactive Wastes Kill Russians

Russian town Chapaevsk, situated in Samara region, dies off. For several decades there have been produced warfare toxins. As a result for the last 15 years the population of the town has decreased in a quarter. The soil and ground waters are filled with dioxins and other poisons. People die from tuberculosis, throat and liver cancer.

In the 20th there has been constructed a secret plant that would produce the inside part of chemical weapons: sulphur mustard and lewisite. During World War II the chemicals were produced 24 ours a day and all the wastes were dumped into the near river and canals.

After the war the factories continued to produce chemical weapons, projectiles and explosives, which badly damaged the ecology of the town. Since early 90th the defense plants haven’t been producing anything. Soon the chemical plant was also closed down. However even today the citizens find chemical projectiles with strange stinky liquid leaking out of it. The town is situated on the bank of the river Chapaevka, all the wastes have been dumped there, so as a result the river doesn’t meet any ecological demands.

Local authorities don’t conceal the problem. Some days ago the town mayor Nikolai Malakhov proposed the town liquidation as an ideal solution to the problem.

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This article, although roughly translated, shows that the choices Russia made in the past have come back to haunt them. Considering their current position, Russia needs to look ahead and plan their moves carefully, isolating the surrounding countries like Ukraine and Georgia, could be a costly move. The solutions proposed are extremely costly and time consuming.

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Gotta Give a Little to Get a Little

Mr Ban deems that with Russia’s economy developing, the country will manage to boost its investments in the organization. Reuters reports that Secretary-General said he made this point during his talks with the Russian officials.

So far Mr Ban has been on a visit to Moscow, which ends on April 11. This is his first official visit to Russia since assuming office. Received by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin yesterday, Mr Ban conducted talks featuring the current activities and prospects of the UN, as well as crucial international problems.

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The UN wants Russia to increase its contributions to the organization. Russia is one of the big members of the UN. This rticle shows the diplomatic relation ship between Russia and the UN. This is important because the UN is beginning to have more influence in Europe than it has in the past.

Although We've Come to the End of the Road

The two presidents were on first name terms throughout their news conference. George Bush remarked that their meetings had always been agreeable, even when they disagreed.

But disagree they do, and on the most fundamental issues - Nato expansion and missile defence.

On the latter, Vladimir Putin emphasised that his country's opposition to American plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe went deeper than simple objections of protocol.

"This is not about language, this is not about diplomatic phrasing or wording, this is about the substance of the issue," he said. "I'd like to be very clear on this. Our fundamental attitude to the American plans has not changed."

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Since Putin is no longer president a strain will be put on the relationship of him and US president, George W. Bush. They seem to be great friends. However their friendship does not mean much whenit comesto the US's desire to set up a missile defence system. Russia refuses to participate.

Trip From Russia to USA May Take One Hour Soon

The construction of the tunnel linking Russia's Far Eastern Chukotka and the west coast of Alaska in the U.S. will start in the nearest future.

The history of the tunnel between Cape Dezhnev, the most eastern point of Asia, and Cape Prince of Wales, the most western point of North America, dates back to the early 20th century. After the Trans-Siberian railway was completed in 1916, Tsar Nicholas II proposed the building of the railway and ferry connection between North America and Eurasia. The idea was backed by the leaders of the Union of Pacific Railroad, but World War I and the October Revolution frustrated the plans.

Later the construction of the railroad to Bering Strait was proposed by Vladimir Lenin. He even signed a decree in 1918, but the construction wasn’t completed. In the 60s the conversation between America and USSR about the construction of the road between 2 countries started again. As a result the Interhemispheric Bering Strait Tunnel and Railroad Group was founded in Washington, D.C. But the tunnel required developed transportation system. So several years later Russians decided to build a road to the town of Magadan. In 2007 Russian president Vladimir Putin proposed the construction of the 2100-mile transcontinental railroad that would lead to Bering Strait.

The communication between Russia and the USA has been going on for more than 100 years and is still not over. The future tunnel is expected to go under the Bering Strait. Some newspapers link the project with Chukotka’s governor Roman Abramovich. It is estimated that a tunnel will cost 60 billion dollars. The 63-mile tunnel will be twice as large as the famous tunnel under La Manche that links Great Britain to France.

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The article sounds promising but it is still uncertain whether the tunnel dream will come true based up on the past. Talks about connecting Russia to the United States has been going on for one hundred years and something has always prevented the idea from becoming reality. The article goes on to say that the tunnel would not be built anytime in the near foreseeable future.

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