2 November 2013. RIA-Novosti Infographics. Russia Issues 100-Rouble Olympic Bills

______________________________

The Central Bank of Russia (TsBRF) started the production of commemorative banknotes for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The TsBRF will issue 20 million copies of the bills, releasing them for unrestricted circulation throughout Russia. Our infographic will give you all the details of the new 100-rouble (3.08 USD. 3.21 CAD. 3.27 AUD. 2.30 Euros. 1.95 UK Pounds) banknote. The first Olympic commemorative banknote appeared in China for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, issued as a 10-Yuan (54 Roubles. 1.64 USD. 1.71 CAD. 1.74 AUD. 1.22 Euros. 1.03 UK Pound) bill. Russia decided to continue this tradition. The Bank of Russia’s numismatic programme “Sochi 2014” includes 38 types of memorabilia and 9 kinds of investment coins. The programme began in 2011; the third and fourth series of coins are now in production.

Click here for more on the preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

2 November 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/sochi2014_mm/20131102/184469322/Russia-Issues-100-Ruble-Olympic-Bills.html

http://ria.ru/sochi2014_around_games/20131030/973702629.html

Advertisement

2 November 2013. Sergei Yolkin’s World. To Be or Not to Be?

To Be or Not to Be?

Sergei Yolkin

2013

******

Of course, it’s a riff on Shakespeare! The Bard of the Avon is as popular in Russia as he is in the Anglosphere (perhaps, even more so)… in Russian translation, natch. Everyone knows Dr Onishchenko for his blunt opinions and decidedly undiplomatic “bedside manner”. He’s not a “soft soap” peddler or glad-hander, that’s for sure…

In the fridge, on the left side are cheese and milk. On the right, on the top shelf there’s a tin of Baltic sprats, a fave Russian munchie. On the bottom, it’s a sprig of dill, the most popular Russian herb used in seasoning. It seems like you sprinkle a little bit of it over every savoury dish. The cheese is in reference to a ban on Belarusian dairy products in 2009, the milk is there because Onishchenko banned Lithuanian milk in 2013, the dill is there because he banned food imports from Georgia and Moldova in 2006, Finally, the sprats are in the icebox beause he banned certain food imports from Latvia.

By the way, this cartoon was published on 22 October… on 24 October, PM Medvedev gave Dr Onishchenko the sack in his present post (he stepped on one set of toes too many). However, Medvedev made him a personal aide, and hinted that he might become the chief doctor of Russia. If so, he’s a good fit… he’s rumoured to have told one pol, “You can listen to me, and live, or, you can do what you want, and die. It’s all up to you”. Ya gotta love somebody like that…

BMD

______________________________

The news that Gennady Onishchenko was leaving the post of head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being (Rospotrebnadzor) caught everyone by surprise. However, it soon became clear that he wasn’t resigning his post. Sergei Elkin reacted to this ambiguous situation.

22 October 2013

Sergei Yolkin

RIA-Novosti

http://ria.ru/caricature/20131022/971895728.html

2 November 2013. Sergei Yolkin’s World. The FSB is Watching YOU

The FSB is Watching YOU

Sergei Yolkin

2013

******

Here’s proof that there’s freedom of speech in Russia (perhaps, more so than in the politically-correct USA). Let those with eyes see the truth of the matter!

BMD

_____________________________

Kommersant reported that the Federal Security Service (FSB) wants to control as much information as it can on the Internet. Sergei Yolkin sees it this way…

21 October 2013

Sergei Yolkin

RIA-Novosti

http://ria.ru/caricature/20131021/971504285.html

Editor’s Note:

Most of the repressive measures (TSA, PRISM, Guantánamo, and “extreme rendition” anyone?) in the USA came in after 9/11, at the hands of the “conservative” Bush administration. Bush was about as “conservative” as Adolf Hitler was (and favoured the Affluent Effluent just as blatantly)… and both of them waged aggressive war in foreign parts. Fancy that…

Look at Yolkin; then, look at the CNN/Fox News duopoly (they’re NOT polar opposites… they’re two sides of the same debased and corroded coin). I rest my case…

BMD

2 November 2013. Bears 1, Russians 1, and a Drawn Contest… The Match Continues

_____________________________

On Monday, the local MVD said that a 55-year-old resident of the Sakha Republic in Siberia stabbed a bear to death with a knife when the animal attacked him. A male bear attacked the man when he visited his horses in a remote enclosure about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from his home village. The cops said, “The bear attacked him when he was feeding his horses. The man stayed calm and resisted the attack… he took out a knife and managed to stab the animal several times and kill it”. The man sustained numerous wounds to his head and face; he went to hospital. Doctors said that his condition wasn’t life-threatening.

******

On Tuesday, local officials in the Russian Far East said they had to call in the cops after someone spotted a brown bear and its cub wandering about near a sports stadium. Recently, a spike in bear activity near residential areas in the remote Kamchatka Peninsula worried authorities as it put people’s lives at risk. Locals noticed the bears at the Spartak Stadium in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at approximately 22.30 local time Monday night. The local MVD said that there were no people in the stadium at the time. Police went to the stadium in a patrol car and blew their horn to scare away the bears. The animals retreated to a nearby hill, about one kilometre (2/3 mile) from the Kamchatka Krai local government building. There’s been a marked rise in bear activity on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Rangers at the Kamchatka Volcanoes National Park had to shoot fifteen animals dead between May and October for posing a threat to people.

******

Local television reported that an elderly shepherd in the North Caucasus survived a bear attack by fighting off the animal with kicks and headbutts. Yusuf Alchagirov, 80, also tried to stab the bear when the beast approached him in a raspberry field in Kabardino-Balkaria, but he said that the animal knocked his knife away. Alchagirov told the regional affiliate of VGTRK TV that the ensuing tussle culminated in the bear, enraged by the headbutt, throwing Alchagirov off a cliff and walking away. Alchagirov was briefly in hospital with bruises, bite wounds, and four broken ribs. His family baked him three traditional pies to celebrate his survival. He said on TV, “I got off easy. It would’ve killed me if I’d chickened out”. The incident took place last week, but national media didn’t pick it up until Wednesday. Locals told the media that they didn’t hunt down the bear because they believed it was only playing with Alchagirov.

7/22/30 October 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20131007/183980595/Siberian-Man-Armed-Only-With-Knife-Kills-Bear.html

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20131022/184301757/Bear-Takes-Its-Cub-to-Stadium-in-Russias-Far-East.html

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20131030/184439861/80-Year-Old-Russian-Headbutts-Bear-Survives.html