Russian culture is amazingly rich in history and tradition that’s why it has always been mysterious. It has a long history and tradition and Russians are very proud of it. When one attempts to search for answers to all the questions about Russia, he may be confronted with a lot of complexities. Russia is not behind the iron curtain anymore, nevertheless, people from other countries cannot fully understand the Russian means of living.

Russians consider themselves as a well-educated nation. They are fond of attending live performances at theatres: opera, musical, ballet, drama etc. Russian drinking traditions are very much of a cultural thing, and they drink with a reason. When a person drink and does not get drunk, he is respected. More friends will even respect you if you drink more and don’t get drunk while refusing to drink as much as the rest of the group is considered disrespect. Here are a few suggestions on how to get to know Russians in their own environment and avoid making the following social blunders:

- Conversing too loudly – it is important to keep your voice lower to a minimum either in a public place or at home. Unlike Americans, Russians dislike broadcasting their opinions for everyone else to hear. They prefer to be quiet, polite and not try to dominate a conversation.
- Smiling a lot: In contrary to the notion that everybody loves a nice, sunny smile, this is not applicable to Russians as they only smile when they feel there is a need to. They find constant smiling silly, but even though they do not smile as much as Americans do, they wish you well and are very kind.
- Dishonesty: Russians appreciate openness and value honesty.
- Making negative judgments: Never openly criticize. Think twice before making overly negative comments.
- Wearing your shoes inside the house: Take off your shoes in the entryway because most often, your hosts will have a set of slippers for you to wear during your visit. Furthermore, take off your coat in any building that has a coatroom which most building has.
- Expecting a Tour: Personal space is generally of great importance unlike Americans, who often greet guests by touring them around the house. Never venture off into areas of the house where you have not been invited. Russians are more secretive about their personal lives so, anticipate spending your time in the common areas of the house.
- Habitually making an apology: Only say “I’m sorry” when you’ve actually done something offensive.
- Talking Politics: Find other subjects to talk about aside from politics and avoid criticizing the Russian leadership. Avoid debates too. National pride is part of being a Russian.

Since coming to the office last October, Yevkurov, 45, had tried to fill down anger in the region, said Alexander Cherkasov, who has worked considerably in Ingushetia for the human rights group Memorial. The president extended forgiveness to militants, met with human rights groups and insisted upon the participation of local police in military operations.

“He tried to limit violence against the civilian population and to put back together the split between society and authorities, to show that the authorities in Ingushetia are not against the society,” Cherkasov said. “In this sense, he was much more dangerous for the underground fighters than his ancestor.”

The incident has been considered a terrorist attack by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev
According to him, “The president has done much recently to bring order and ensure peace in the republic. Bandits do not like these efforts.” Fresh backups would be sent to Caucasus according to the Russian security services.

Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said during his meeting with Medvedev that: “Today’s incident was an attempt to destabilize the situation. The militants threatened Yevkurov many times. This is their response.”

Moscow has appeared ready to downplay violence in the disgracefully twitchy republics along its southern border, which lie close to Sochi, host city to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The government confirmed an official end to counter-terrorism operations in Chechnya two months ago, where Russia bled through two brutal wars in the last two decades.

However, the solid drop of violence in Ingushetia, where about half a million people live caught up in poverty, corruption and prejudice, remains to challenge Moscow’s control of the region. Today’s attempt on Yevkurov’s life was the latest in the increasing run of attacks on government officials in Ingushetia, which has edged out Chechnya as the epicenter of separatist Muslim militias in the Russian Caucasus.

Analysts say a Kremlin-backed crackdown on Chechnya itself has fueled an overflow of fighters into neighboring republics, especially Ingushetia. Ramzan Kadyrov, a onetime rebel fighter who rose to become a Kremlin-backed strongman president in Chechnya, taunted Yevkurov’s killers.

He told reporters in Chechnya that: “They have shown their true colors, and they want to start chaos in Ingushetia, to set free an endless armed conflict and to seed fear and ambiguity in the souls of civilians.”

Earlier this month, a judge and a former prime minister were gunned down in separate attacks. A senior Ingush investigator also lost his leg in a bombing attack in a separate attack today.

The procedure will become mandatory for everyone including USA citizens and foreigners from 2010 onward. American authorities say that the procedure will not make passengers stay at the airports any longer than normal.

The screening process will take up to 1.6 minutes US officials claim.

Until recently, fingerprints were taken only from foreigners holding US entry visas. They received special passport inlays indicating the dates of their stay in the country as a result of the procedure. Now the question is this BIG Brother going to far? It almost sounds like a science fiction movie.

“Once a visa is issued and tied with a biometric, and once a passport is issued and tied to a biometric, that passport or visa cannot be used by anybody else,” Mocny said. “There are tens of millions of lost or stolen passports that circulate the globe on the black market used by international criminals and terrorists. This (biometric verification) puts a stop to that,” Mocny said.

The holders of green cards and the US citizens holding biometric passports will have their prints taken too.

Many people from around the world feel this will bring more problems and harm the image of the USA. Are Americans simply misunderstood around the world?

Critics of the USA claim that Americans are militaristic arrogent bullies. What do you think?

Please email us you feedback and we may publish your comments.

After President Dmitry Medvedev was elected last year, then-President Vladimir Putin made a rather telling promise about his chosen successor.

“Medvedev is no less a Russian nationalist than I am, in the positive sense of the word, and I do not think that our partners will have it any easier with him.” - Putin

Many intelligent westerners have alwayed known (beleived) that Russia is a “Directed Democracy”. Meaning a few elite people direct how the Democracy is run. In the Russian Directed Democracy it would be difficult for a unkwon long shot to rise to the top of government like President Barack Obama did in the United Satates. Most Westerners say this as some what of a put down to Russia. I do not think this is fair or correct. Russia has there own unique way of running a Democracy which is equal or perhaps better than the USA.

Vasily Kirilitch, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry press secretary, confirmed to Interfax that all the sailors are Ukrainian nationals. He said the country’s embassies were instructed to “take prompt measures to set constant contact with ship-owner, operating company and authorities in order to clarify circumstances of the capture and free the sailors as soon as possible”.

It seems that the super powers of the world should be able to stop these pirates.

The Gulf of Aden remains one of the most dangerous places in the modern maritime world. According to Kenya’s foreign minister, Somali pirates have collected more than $150 million in ransoms over the last year. Somalia is a political and economic mess – and piracy offers the chance for a profitable business.

Pirates had a constant presence in the news in September 2008 when they seized the Ukrainian freighter Faina. The ship with a crew of 18 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian was carrying 32 battle tanks and ammunition. This just shows how long these Pirates have been getting away with this.

By Sara Freidman

A NATO diplomat claims the Russians were expelled over the case of Herman Simm, who was jailed for treason for handing over over 1,900 pages of information to Russia’s Intelligence Service.

Two Russian diplomats Victor Kochukov and Vasily Chizhov have lost their accreditation to NATO”S headquarters in Brussels. It is not clear how much this will impact relations with Russia. Since Barack Obama has taken office things seemed to be improving however as we have stated in previous articles the long unresolved conflict over proposed missile defense systems remains a major issue and concern of bothe the USA and Russia.

Russia has complained bitterly about NATO’s plan to hold a peacekeeping exercise next month in Georgia. But NATO says Russian officers were invited to take part in the two-week event and Russia is aware the exercise presents no threat.

NATO spokesman James Apparthurai said Thursday he could not confirm whether any diplomat’s accreditation had been withdrawn because he could not comment on intelligence matters.

The amount was calculated by a governmental committee, which the nation supposedly suffered as a result of the Soviet occupation. Latvia currently is very close to bankruptcy and desperately has decided to solve its financial problems at Russia’s expense.

The members of the committee said that they based their calculations on the assumption of how the Latvian economy could have developed if the nation had not become a member of the Soviet Union.

This seems like it would be a difficult case to prove.

Latvia would have at least become a country like Finland if it had not been “occupied” by the Soviet Union. Its GDP would have grown by at least $246 billion from the 1950s to the 1990s, Latvian officials claim.

The most curious thing about it is as follows. As it turns out, Soviet “occupants” plundered Latvia ’s national endowment – its mineral resources, namely two million cubic meters of sand and, more importantly, 32,038,127 cubic meters of dolomite rocks totaling $319 million.

The authors of the report believe that all those “treasures” were used to satisfy the needs of “the army of occupants.” What the army do with so much sand and dolomite rocks?

As a matter of fact, “the Soviet aggressors” were building industrial enterprises and apartment buildings for the Latvian citizens. It may seem at first sight that such activities can not do any harm to anyone, but Latvian official say that “the occupants” were destroying the nation’s ecology. The ecological damage was evaluated at $706 million.

Latvia did not forget the Chernobyl disaster, Latvia barely suffered from the explosion of the nuclear power plant, but Riga considers the catastrophe as an attempt to cause damage to the health of the Latvian nation. The damage was evaluated at $283 million.

“The prime minister expressed satisfaction with the meeting,” Miri Eisen, the premier’s press secretary, said. Russia showed that it “considers Israel’s security interests as a substantial component of its policy in the region.”

U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice had just completed her visit to Israel to discuss with leaders regarding a peace conference planned for December in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Annapolis conference is expected to result in a framework agreement on peace efforts. The Israelis want to set out broad settlement principles, while the Palestinians are seeking very specific terms and conditions.

The United States would like other Arab states to attend the conference, but Arab nations are skeptical and have demanded more details. We think the odds are low they will attend. It is import to keep trying to convince them to attend.

Israel has urged Russia to use its influence to help solve the international standoff surrounding the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Tehran insists its program is for energy production purposes only.

Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Iran, and has long been criticized for assisting in the country’s nuclear activities. China and Russia have been opposed to tougher sanctions on Tehran in the UN Security Council.

It has been 15 years since the two countries restored diplomatic ties, Olmert secured Kremlin assurances that Russia would step up control over arms exports in order to prevent them from being sold on to third countries. These have been long ongoing concerns and disputes.