Also, we learned that if you stick your fingers out going Mach 2.0, the air friction will super-heat your skin.
...and knowing is half the battle.
“Speaking in March, [Timchenko] aides said the oil tycoon was determined to go ahead with the case and had 'nothing to hide'...Timchenko's decision to sue in Britain could have forced him to reveal potentially embarrassing details of his private bank accounts and the ownership and asset structure of his Swiss-based oil trading company, Gunvor.”
Putin: "It won't eat us, will it?"
Scientist: "It won't eat anyone, but it could spray you."
Putin: "Probably if it gets angry."
"Without government restrictions, IP telephony causes certain concerns about security," said a pro-government lobby group.
-Putin: "Remembering this, I would like to return today to the issue we have discussed with Alexander Isayevich – the propaganda of his work.."
-Natalya Solzhenitsyna: [Interupting] "I would rather say 'studying' than 'propaganda.'"
-Putin: "...the 'learning' of his literary heritage."
Did you hear about the Polish tank that invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968? The crew “got lost” and was never seen again.
Turns out, Czech filmmaker Jacek Glomb has used this classic communist-era joke as the inspiration for a comedy of errors, Operation Danube. But rather than escaping to the west, Glomb imagines that the tank crashed into a village pub on its way to crush the revolution. Eventually, everyone realizes they’re all victims of the same hilarious tragedy.
My God, what would we do without the Czechs?
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Also, Medvedev wants everyone to know that he loves the image of Russia as a bear, "It's an image close to my heart," he said. Come to think of it, maybe Russia should adopt the cuddly panda as its national symbol. If the demographic crisis continues, both will be extinct sooner or later."Our image needs to be comfortable for those who deal with us," President Medvedev said, adding, "We should not be prickly and hard to approach, but at the same time we should be able to give a firm response when circumstances call for it."
Last week, the mayor of the Romanian city of Constanta, Radu Mazare, thought it would be hilarious if he and his son dressed as Nazis and goose-stepped down the runway of a fashion show.
These instincts were wrong.
Friendly note to Mazare from ER: Its not funny if your country was responsible for the deportation or death of 420,000 Jews during the Second World War, even less funny if government officials denied Romania’s participating in the Holocaust up until 2004, and it’s down right inappropriate when Romanian newspapers still blame Jews for the financial crisis.
Video here.
"...[Medvedev] wants to control history as a means of controlling the present. This is the classic George Orwell scenario."
"Bulgarian society displays significant prejudice against African, Arab, Vietnamese and Chinese minorities, sees Roma as thieving and dirty but views ethnic Turks as hard-working and entrepreneurial...The Armenian community was seen as 'ingenious'"
“I don’t have any guarantee that that’s how it’s going to play out.”Okay, first of all, the US sent Biden to ease fears? Really? Really? And they let him speak? Really?
According to RIA Novosti President Mikhail Saakashvili has had a self-proclaimed "psychological turnaround." After being visited by the ghosts of his past, present, and political future, he's remembered that democracy is what life's about and has resolved to nurse Tiny Tim (aka Georgian democracy) back to health, tossing aside the crutch of dictatorship.However, unlike Scrooge, the Georgian President's announcement has not been surrounded by whimsical songs and dancing in the streets. In fact, the opposition is decidedly underwhelmed. Even Saakashvili himself seems a bit depressed about it, calling Georgia's NATO bid "almost dead" and telling reporters: "It's tragic. It means the Russians fought for the right reasons." I like Disney's version better...
"You should think about my rights before you proclaim to the whole world that I am guilty of Estemirova’s death!"
"If employees of Memorial leave the Chechen Republic, if I and others leave, who will protect the rights of the citizens?"
First it was Bulgaria, now even the Turks are banning public smoking.
No word yet, on how the new law will impact huka bars or the Turkish economy (yes, the economy). But Ankara isn’t taking any chances that the public will disregard the new law. The Turkish government has created a 4,500 man force to hunt down the Jedi smokers and destroy them, or at least issue a fine.
That's a pretty light punishment, considering that Prime Minister Erdoğan has equated smoking with terrorism.
That’s what Oleg Orlov, the Head of the Russian Human Right’s group Memorial said about the murder of Natalia Estemirova, adding:
"A terror campaign is being conducted in Russia — terror against people who dare say things that are uncomfortable and unpleasant for the authorities, who talk about the crimes of those in power."
Public reaction to her death has even forced President Medevdev onto the record. “I am sure the person who committed it will be punished," he said.
But perhaps Taus Dzhankhotova, a woman whom Estemirova had helped before her death, said it best: "They kill only the good people here. If she was bad, they wouldn't have touched her."
And speaking of bad people, Checehen strong-man Ramzan Kadyrov is taking full advantage of Estemirova’s death. While Kadyrov is widely believed to be involved with the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, his government will launch two investigations into Estemirova’s slaying, “one official and one unofficial, following Chechen traditions.”
Just like OJ Simpson, we’re confident that Kadyrov will find the real killers. We’re even more confident they will happen to live in Ingushetia, and offer Kadyrov an excellent excuse to extend his control over the neighboring republic.
“She was the leading figure in continuing to document human rights abuses from the government in Chechnya...[Chechen] militias had much to fear from her,” says the BBC.
"The completion of the Intergovernmental Agreement represents a significant breakthrough in the realization of this project," said Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director of the Nabucco Pipeline Int.
European Union antitrust regulators imposed a combined fine of more than 1.1 billion euros ($1.54 billion) on German utility E.ON and GDF Suez for secretly carving up gas markets.
"East German citizens had a nice life," says Birger [who was ten when the wall fell.] There is no fundamental difference between dictatorship and freedom."
"I had a good conversation with the prime minister and I think his approach to the issues is very similar to yours," Obama said.
"Other zoos abroad told us not to worry ... when people began to realize the disease doesn't come from the pig itself we decided to release the pig," said zoo manager Aziz
Gul Saqib.
“In medieval Russia, squirrel pelts were a common currency of exchange. So common, in fact, that snouts, claws and ears were also used, presumably as change.”
Presidential candidate Zhenishbek Nazaraliev, the founder and director of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Bishkek, has proposed that the solution to Kyrgyzstan's economic woes lies in the legalization of opium cultivation for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.
Opium production is a lucrative industry; global corporations such as Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline depend on opium derivatives to manufacture cosmetics and medicines, including morphine. Nazaraliev says Kyrgyzstan would be foolish not to claim a piece of the pie.
The Chinese government has approved a decision to provide the Ukrainian government with 25 million yuan in assistance. This money can be used for technical and economic projects that both sides agree on.
"How more derogatory can it be for Our Own NNPC in NEW Joint Venture partnership with Russian GAZPROM to set up a NEW company for the JV and named it NIGAZ....this is derogatory -surely not Nigerian-like."
"KIEV (AFP) - Residents of a Ukrainian village want to rename it after the late pop superstar Michael Jackson, a lawmaker who represents the village told AFP on Wednesday. 'They want to create a house-museum and collect his records there. This is a depressed region, all the factories are closed. They hope this will attract tourists,' he added."
"BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European Union commission on Tuesday called for public places throughout Europe to be smoke-free by 2012 in order to tackle the deadly effects of passive smoking...A similar ban is due to come into force in Bulgaria next June."
The pardon comes as Belarus, once Moscow’s most loyal post-Soviet ally, tacks sharply to the West. For almost a year, Mr. Lukashenko has been making moves to accommodate Western criticism, like granting amnesty to a series of political prisoners. This spring, Belarus was invited to join the European Union’s Eastern Partnership, and it received an additional International Monetary Fund loan of $1 billion, increasing its total pledge to $3.4 billion.
