Geopolitical mosaic: because of mass protests, Turkish hotels suffer heavy losses, and in the USA they invented bullets with pork
Russia is helping Syria. At the airport "Al-Basel" of the city of Latakia, two sides of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations landed with 25 tons of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people. The humanitarian aid was transferred to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent organization, SANA.
On behalf of the Syrian people, the governor of Lattakia Province, Ahmad Sheikh Abdel-Kader, expressed gratitude to Russia for its support in the difficult time of the fight against terrorism.
The head of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Karen Basilyan, said that support for the Syrian people will continue until peace in the country. Humanitarian assistance is aimed at ensuring the basic needs of refugees and victims.
For illegal entry into Syria - a prison. Bashar Asad issued a law that provides for imprisonment and a fine for illegal entry into the country. Reports about it MIGnews.com with reference to SANA.
“Any person who illegally entered Syrian territory secretly will face imprisonment from 1 to 5 years,” the article says. The law also provides for fines ranging from 5 to 10 million Syrian pounds (25000-50000 dollars).
Ankhar Kochneva reports. Her article appeared on the resource Utro.ru.
The material reported on the airfield, recently returned under the control of the army.
The military airfield ceased to be in the 1980s. It was converted to an airfield serving the needs of civil agricultural aviation. But little is known about this. That is why the militants recorded their videos here for the Al-Jazeera channel.
One civilian aircraft was burned at the entrance to the territory of Debaa, another militants were taken to a neighboring village to "participate in the shooting."
Protests in Turkey continue. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Istanbul under police supervision, reports RIA News" with reference to Hurriyet Daily News.
According to the newspaper, on Tuesday evening, people gathered in the square to protest in connection with the release of a policeman suspected of murdering a demonstrator before the trial. Similar actions took place in a number of other cities.
The demonstration in Istanbul was peaceful.
The tourism industry in Turkey can be seriously affected. Almost 216000 armor in hotels has been canceled by tourists since the beginning of mass protests. Such data are presented in a report submitted by the Association of Tourist Hotels and Investors of Turkey (TUROB), writes MIGnews.com.
Riots and demonstrations forced many tourists to cancel their reservations.
The report divided Istanbul into three areas: 113 hotels in the Taksim-Beyoglu-Sisli-Besiktas region suffered losses in the amount of 51,3 million euros with 181737 cancellations; 150 hotels in Fatih - Ataturk Airport have suffered a loss of 2,7 million euros with 18582 cancellations. More 35 hotels on the Asian side of Istanbul suffered losses in the amount of 598300 euros with 4426 cancellations. Total: what happened in the park Gezi cost hotels 54,7 million euros of losses.
Karzai and Obama want to talk peacefully with the Taliban. The presidents of the United States and Afghanistan, in a telephone conversation yesterday, confirmed that they support holding peace talks between the Afghan authorities and the Taliban, correspondent RIA Novosti Peter Martynychev, referring to the press service of the White House.
The report says: “The leaders reaffirmed that the reconciliation process conducted by the Afghans themselves is the best way to stop the violence and ensure stability in Afghanistan and the region, and expressed support for the Doha office to negotiate between the High Peace Council and authorized representatives of the Taliban.
Elizabeth II awarded the creators of the Internet. The Queen of Great Britain held a reception yesterday in Buckingham Palace dedicated to the establishment of a prize in the scientific and technical field in the amount of 1 million pounds (more than 1,5 million dollars). This was announced by the representative of the press service of the Queen’s London residence, reports correspondent ITAR-TASS Grigory Zimenkov.
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is awarded to authors of engineering innovations that have had a significant impact on human progress. The people who directly participated in the creation of the world wide web became debutants of the award: Englishman Tim Berners-Lee, Frenchman Louis Puzen, Americans Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf and Marc Andreessen.
Berlin is waiting for an explanation from London. The German government sent a request to London in connection with the published information about the program of spying on e-mail and phone calls conducted by the British special services. "Lenta.ru" with reference to The Guardian. German authorities are interested in, among other things, the answer to the question of whether the citizens of Germany are not objects of surveillance.
Also in the letter, which the Minister of Justice of Germany Sabina Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger sent to the British ministries of justice and home affairs, asked whether the program was sanctioned by the court and what its legal framework was. Also, the German minister is interested in whether the surveillance program is used selectively to search for specific information, or its scope is broader.
Representatives of the German authorities are not the first time criticizing the program "Tempora". Angela Merkel expressed her disappointment, and the Minister of Justice called this the “Hollywood nightmare”.
However, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, declared the work of the special services legal, and called the exchange of the data obtained with the United States, in which the British special services were convicted, “irreplaceable.”
The material on the Tempora program, conducted by the British Government Communications Center, recalls Lenta, was published on June 22 in the newspaper The Guardian with reference to Edward Snowden. The intelligence service connected to transatlantic cables to track private telephone conversations, emails, and social media posts. Then the information received was exchanged with the United States.
Replacement for the premiere. Czech President Milos Zeman appointed his economic adviser Jiri Rusnok as prime minister - instead of leaving the post in connection with the Peter Nechas scandal. Reports about it "Lenta.ru" with reference to the TV channel ČT24.
According to Zeman, the office of the Rusnok may work only until September, Reuters reports. The term of office of the new government may be limited if it is not supported by the parliamentary parties. In this case, they can dissolve the lower house and appoint new elections.
The scandal in the Czech Republic was described in detail in previous releases of the Geopolitical Mosaic.
Deadline for Berlusconi. Giuseppe Guastella ("Corriere della Sera"; source abbr. translation - "Inopressa") talked about the sentence Berlusconi.
The Milan court not only found Silvio Berlusconi guilty, but also decided to initiate an investigation into defense witnesses, suspecting them of giving false testimony.
“The judges sentenced Silvio Berlusconi to 7 years in prison in the Ruby case, although the prosecutor demanded 6 years: in 2010, 73 the summer prime minister had paid sex with Karima el-Marug, while he was aware that Moroccan was total 17 years. When the girl was taken to the questura for identification, the former prime minister, in order to prevent her from telling about what was happening at Villa Arcore during the “Bunga-Bunga” parties, put such strong pressure on the police leadership that Ruby was transferred to bail out to a regional adviser Nicole Minetti, ”notes the Italian edition.
The court’s decision also refers to the transfer of witness cases to the 32 Prosecutor’s Office (almost all represent the defense) for giving false testimony.
True, the court decision is not final, it will be sent to the Court of Cassation.
Belarusian businessmen against the Customs Union. Belarusian entrepreneurs plan to collect signatures for the country's exit from the Customs Union. The relevant decision, according to the “Belarusian News”, It was adopted at the forum of entrepreneurs, held on June 24 in Minsk. The dissatisfaction of representatives of the Belarusian business is caused by the technical regulations of the TS, which will enter into force in the near future, notes "Lenta.ru".
27 June businessmen are going to arrange a one-day strike against the introduction of technical regulations in action (according to the Charter 97, they are going to hold a strike throughout the country). At the same time, the signature collection campaign details will be clarified.
The regulation applies to light industry products. In Belarus, it should enter into force on July 1 2013 year. Local entrepreneurs are not happy with the fact that he obliges them to obtain certificates for products imported from Russia. Belarusian News notes that certification is an expensive procedure.
The Belarusian authorities are ready to meet businessmen. A number of ministries and departments are preparing a decree designed to simplify the certification procedure.
Business representatives propose “to accredit testing laboratories and centers in importing countries so that manufacturers of imported products independently certify them on site and equip them with a sign of compliance with the requirements of technical regulations”. They also advocate that retail entrepreneurs should be exempted from product certification.
Kazakhs will not deploy Irtysh. In Kazakhstan, they do not plan to deploy the channel of the Irtysh River. With such a statement, as reported "Lenta.ru" With reference to Tengrinews, the press service of the Astana branch of the Kazakh Research and Design Institute for Construction and Architecture (KazNIISA) spoke.
As reported by KazNIISA, the scheme provides only for the transfer of a part of the Irtysh flow - with a volume of up to six cubic kilometers (earlier in the press it was reported that we are talking about the construction of the Irtysh-Syrdarya channel). The institute also noted that this issue will be considered with the participation of neighboring states.
“Who counts with him, with this empty man?” Moldovan Orthodox believers can organize protests if President Nicolae Timofti attempts to obstruct the visit of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill to Chisinau. On this edition of the "Pulse of the Day" said the Bishop of Balti and Falesti Markel, reports "Lenta.ru".
So he commented on the information that the head of state does not approve the visit of the head of the ROC. Timofti had previously argued, recalling Lenta, that Kirill’s arrival was due to “the political context that puts the country in a position of hostage between East and West.”
“Who counts with him, with this empty man (Timofti. - Approx.“ Tapes ”)? Should he raise his filthy voice against His Holiness Patriarch Cyril? If we organize a church, then we’ll clear everything in our path, can he at least understand his 65-year-old head? ”Said Markel, urging the president to deal with more pressing issues, such as raising pensions.
The visit of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to Moldova and Transnistria is scheduled for September 7-9.
Will Japan create ballistic missiles? The Ministry of Defense of Japan has begun to consider the development of ballistic missiles with a range of 400-500 km, which will be used for the defense of Senkaku. Reports about it correspondent ITAR-TASS Igor Belyaevreferring to the Sankey newspaper.
Ballistic missiles are planned to be deployed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to prevent a possible invasion of the Senkaku Islands from China. A detailed project plan will be prepared by July as part of the national security program.
In the case of a missile project, Japanese self-defense forces will receive ballistic missiles for the first time: until now, Japan did not have long-range offensive weapons.
What happens in the APR in 2021 year. The Asia-Pacific region in less than ten years will bypass North America in terms of military spending. This forecast is contained in a published study on defense and trade allocations. weapons in the world. Prepared by his military weekly "Jane's Defense Weekly", writes correspondent ITAR-TASS Dmitry Kirsanov.
ATP will bypass the United States and Canada in terms of such expenditures on defense expenditures by 2021. The countries of the Asia-Pacific region, led by China, India and Japan, will increase military financing by 35% compared to the level of 2013 of the year - up to 501 billion dollars. So say the experts. In 2021, China will spend on defense 207,24 billion dollars, India - 68,43 billion, and Japan - 65,71 billion, analysts say.
Russia's expenses for similar purposes in the same year will be 106,39 billion dollars, the authors say.
The United States, according to the forecast, will spend on defense by this time 472,25 billion dollars.
Chavez Street in Khoroshevsky district. The street in the Khoroshevsky district of Moscow will be named after Hugo Chavez. This decision was reported by the acting chairman of the public relations committee of the city, Alexander Chistyakov.
“It was decided to rename nine projected passages and one nameless bridge. In particular, it was decided to assign to the projected passage №5509, located in the Khoroshyovsky district in the north of Moscow, the name of Chavez street, ”- quoted Chistyakov channel "RT".
Street length - 170 meters. It is a square and leads to the hotel.
American abbreviation. The United States will reduce the number of ground forces by 2017 thousand by the end of the financial year 30 (by September 80), Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno told journalists, correspondent RIA "News" Peter Martynychev.
According to him, the number of troops will be reduced by 14%: from 570 thousand troops to 490 thousand. The cuts will be accompanied by reorganization: instead of 45, brigades in the ground forces will have 33.
Snowden lives in Sheremetyevo. A former US intelligence officer is still at the Sheremetyevo airport. Location of Snowden at a press conference during a visit to Finland, Vladimir Putin revealed, writes Interfax.
“He is like a transit passenger in the transit hall and is still there,” the president said. “He came as a transit passenger - and he does not need a visa or other documents. As a transit passenger, he has the right to buy a ticket and fly where he wants, ”the Russian leader stressed. “He does not cross the state border, so he does not need a visa,” Putin said.
Moscow, according to Putin, is not going to hand over the American to Washington. “With regard to the possible extradition anywhere, we can extradite some foreign nationals only to the states with which we have relevant international agreements on the extradition of criminals,” the Russian leader said, adding that such an agreement with the United States Russia did not conclude.
The accusations that Russia was involved in organizing Snowden's flight from American justice, Putin called "nonsense and nonsense."
Humiliation of Obama. In a review on the hot topic of the fugitive Snowden, "Inopressa" led the opinion of Western observers.
“A measure of respect: our friends in Hong Kong, China, Russia and Ecuador,” the commentary on The Wall Street Journal is so entitled.
“As president, I’m going to restore America’s status to the world,” Obama’s words from the presidential debate in 2008 remind this publication. Today, the White House administration announces to the world that it is very important for her to return Snowden to the US.
Oh, if only the world was equally important to the opinion of the United States! - writes a magazine.
The United States asked Hong Kong to arrest and extradite Snowden, but the Hong Kong authorities allowed him to fly to Moscow.
Then Secretary of State Kerry called on Russia to send Snowden to the United States, and the Russian media write that, according to the statements of the Russian authorities, there are no legal grounds for his arrest.
The Snowden Saga demonstrates that the Obama administration’s foreign influence is drying up, according to Bret Stevens in the same edition of The Wall Street Journal. “It's funny that Putin seems to always reveal a civil liberty activist when it gives a chance to humiliate the United States. If the Russian government wants someone not to walk on Russian soil, it either expels it from this land or hides it under the ground, ”the material says.
The main lesson of the Snowden case is that the “era of American powerlessness” has arrived.
“The Obama administration has decided not to get involved in annoying situations abroad, and now wonders that its foreign influence is drying up,” Stevens sighs impatiently.
“The Snowden case highlights the double standards of Ecuador,” indicates The Washington Post.
China defiantly showed disrespect for the Obama administration, facilitating Snowden’s departure from Hong Kong. “Russia may do the same. But it’s impossible to surpass Rafael Correa’s anti-American impudence, which is intended to give Soden political asylum. “With Snowden in the lead, Correa will be able to advance his most precious dream - he intends to become the main anti-American demagogue in the whole hemisphere instead of the late Chávez,” writes the publication.
But every cloud has a silver lining: the Snowden case will focus on the fact that Correa suppresses freedom of speech, and also builds herself from the enemy of the United States, at the same time profiting from trade preferences. After all, Ecuador exports many goods to the United States duty free. “By the way, in July the period of preferences expires if the US Congress does not extend their validity. If Correa welcomes Snowden hospitably, there is an easy way to demonstrate that trying to tease the Yankees must be paid for, ”the newspaper notes.
Obama prefers not to speak out about the situation with Snowden, because each threat will only finally confirm the powerlessness of the United States, according to columnist Uwe Schmitt in the German Die Welt.
"Hide and seek" of a former CIA and NSA programmer has become truly humiliating for the United States, the journalist said. Washington faces diplomatic implications of Hong Kong, Beijing, Moscow, not to mention Cuba and Ecuador, but no one “seems to be seriously bothered by the US threat”.
As for the Russian position, which consists in the fact that "Snowden didn’t commit any illegal actions on the territory of the Russian Federation on the territory of the airport", it is hardly possible to find fault legally. The transit zone at the airport is not Russian territory.
“It is unlikely that the Americans themselves would have used a different argument if there was any former employee of the Russian special services at the American airport who exposed a gigantic tracking program for the Russian special services,” the journalist said. - The Congress would immediately begin to put pressure on the White House so that it “would not kneel before Moscow”, and senators or deputies would immediately appear who saw the hero and freedom fighter in this Russian agent.
“In the meantime, Edward Snowden is leading the United States and applauding such US geostrategic competitors as Moscow and Beijing, these same politicians blame Obama for weakness,” the journalist said. And this, as American politician John King admitted, "is definitely a diplomatic defeat for Obama and the United States."
America came up with how Russia will give Snowden. The US authorities are convinced that Russia has a “clear legal basis” for expulsion from the country of Snowden. Reports about it "Lenta.ru" with reference to Reuters.
As stated by the official representative of the US National Security Council Caitlin Hayden, relevant legal grounds are the lack of a valid passport at Snowden, as well as official accusations of disclosing secret information brought against him in the United States. Hayden said that the Russian authorities had been asked to "immediately" send Snowden out of the country.
Cut to earn. The USA Today journalists studied data from the government, insurance companies, and medical professional associations. It turned out that from 10% to 20% of surgical operations is done by doctors without sufficient reason - for the sake of earnings. Details - from the correspondent "Voices of Russia" Roman Mamonov.
US medical statistics has data that tens of thousands of unnecessary surgeries are performed in the country each year. Thousands of people are victims of fraud and incompetence of doctors. This problem is hidden from society.
History 34-year-old Jonathan Stelli is like that.
Fraud opened by chance. The doctor is now in jail, Jonathan's pacemaker removed. He can forget about the athlete's career: he no longer passes under medical restrictions.
In the US, tens of thousands of such victims. In some areas, the number of unnecessary operations comes to 20%. We are talking about such serious interventions as surgery on the spine, knee joints, cesarean section and removal of the uterus.
New York lawyer George Gellis says that the root of evil lies in the principle of pay. Doctors receive money from insurance companies for each operation. Therefore, fraudsters in lab coats convince patients to agree to costly procedures unnecessary for them.
“The problem has really become serious in the last 3-4 of the year, mainly because of the ongoing health care reform in the United States,” says George Gellis. - And usually we are not talking about medical errors, but about fraud with insurance payments. In most cases, such unnecessary operations are harmless to the health of the patient. The reason is that doctors have the opportunity to issue additional bills to insurance companies. Basically we are talking about fraud with the programs "Medicaid" and "Medicare", that is, programs that are funded by the government. "
The damage from fraud is in the hundreds of millions. According to the audit of the pensioners' medical insurance program - “Medicare” - only in 2011 a year, approximately 10% of vertebral arthrodesis operations were carried out without sufficient grounds. And the budget paid for them 175 million dollars.
The state spends taxes on wine and porn. The US Tax Inspectorate (IRS) check again revealed abuses: employees were spending budget money on wine, plush toys, and porn. This was reported in the report of the Inspector General of the Ministry of Finance, writes correspondent RIA "News" Peter Martynychev.
With another check, the US Treasury found out how the IRS employees were spending money from business credit cards.
Once for lunch, officials bought 28 bottles of wine. In other cases, official business cards were used to buy plush animals, a device for the production of popcorn, pills, romantic novels, steaks, smartphones, children's games. Two business credit card holders spent on online pornography. They didn’t find anything better than to declare later that they had stolen the cards from them. One of the employees managed to “sow” as many as five credit cards.
RIA “Novosti” reminds that at the beginning of May 2013 of the IRS apologized for the fact that “by mistake” conducted intensive checks of organizations in 2012. Additional checks were made for organizations claiming the tax-free status of 75, the names of which included the words “Tea Party” or “Patriot”.
Last week, the management of the Tax Service appointed a new director for the tax exempt organization, Lois Lerner left this post. It is noted that she confessed to illegal tax audits of opposition organizations.
American trade will steer the billionaire. The US Senate approved Penny Pritzker as Minister of Commerce. 97 lawmakers were in favor of her candidacy, 1 was against, reports correspondent ITAR-TASS Dmitry Zlodorev.
Barack Obama thanked the senators for supporting Pritzker’s candidacy, calling her “a proven leader, a successful entrepreneur, and one of the most respected women in modern business.” According to the president, “she will be a key member of the economic team” in the administration.
Obama's longtime acquaintance 53-year-old P. Pritzker is considered one of the richest American women and the most affluent among all members of the current cabinet. Her condition - 1,85 billion.
Earlier, the Ministry of Trade led John Bryson. He resigned in June 2012 for health reasons. Minister’s duties were performed by his deputy, Rebecca Blank.
Pork innovations. Covering bullets using pork will discourage Islamic extremists from jihad, some Americans believe. About the new "invention" tells the channel "RT".
The cartridges manufactured by South Fork Industries were called “Jihawg Ammo” (from the words jihad and the distorted hog - boar).
The developers are convinced that the novelty will help eradicate the manifestations of aggression among Muslim radicals. The main pig of an advertising campaign is: "The world through pork." The firm considers bullets to be "a peaceful and natural deterrent to radical Islam."
Moreover, Americans believe that with such bullets you can not only kill a terrorist, but also send him to hell: after all, according to the Quran, they think that a Muslim who died during the "holy war" cannot go to heaven if his body it was defiled by pork.
Experts, however, doubt the effectiveness of innovative ammunition. Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University Shannon Dunn says that the Quran does not define punishment for those who accidentally come into contact with pork. Moreover, according to one of the versions, a Muslim is allowed to eat pork, if otherwise he faces hunger.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, believes that the idea of releasing such cartridges is a way to make money from Islamophobia.
Will we hear please help from Uncle Sam? Second of August. What is this black day? It turns out that the term before this day was appointed by the US Treasury. By the 2 number, Congress must decide on increasing the maximum amount of public debt. If members of Congress do not come to a common opinion by this date, the country's economy will shake, the portal writes Mixednews.ru with reference to faithbasedinvestor.com.
The expert of the non-profit organization Bipartisan Policy Center believes that in August the Treasury will be able to pay a little more than half of 80 million monthly liabilities to creditors. The head of the Treasury will have to make a decision about paying bills on a selective basis.
First of all, Geithner will close his obligations to buyers of government bonds in order to avoid technical default. After meeting the requirements of institutional investors, the Treasury will remain in front of the problem of multi-million liabilities to domestic creditors: social insurance payments, payments to employees of federal agencies.
S&P threatens to lower the US debt rating from the current AAA immediately to level D. This will happen if the maximum amount of government debt is not increased before the deadline set by the Treasury. Moody's can downgrade three levels to Aa.
"We are a great Russia, enough for us to be rude." Jill Doggerty's Blog CNN (translation source - Mixednews.ru) spoke about why the Russian president is the focus of news sources.
Here is the story of the allegedly assigned “Super Bowl” ring worth 25000 dollars, which belonged to Robert Kraft. Here and the announcement that Putin at odds with his wife after almost 30-year marriage. And then the “ice meeting” with Barack Obama at the G8 summit.
Where does ice come from and why is there no humor?
There are all reasons for this, the journalist notes: economic growth in Russia is slowing down, and Putin is climbing into the reserve fund. In addition, the "revolution of shale oil," said Doggerty, promises to reduce the needs of Europe for Russian energy resources. But about this - tsss - you can not talk to Putin. Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies at Georgetown University Angela Stent notes:
They would like to receive more investments, but they understand that in any case they will receive investments, because they correctly calculated that the enterprises of the United States and other countries are interested in Russia. ”
In the book The Limits of Partnership: American-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century, A. Stent explored complex relations with Putin's Russia. According to her, several years ago, the document of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said: "We must have good relations with the West, if we want them to participate in the modernization of our economy, and if we want to extract economic benefits," became known. However, Stent says, “now they don’t think so. They think they can get investments no matter what they do. ”
Nevertheless, Stent notes, the Russian leadership seems to be “lacking realism” regarding the real state of the economy. “If they want to get away from an economy based on raw materials (although this is not obvious), they need Western know-how and technology. But I think the people who understand this, whom we would associate with former President Dmitry Medvedev and this camp, are not honored now. ”
The mockery of the United States, says the researcher, works well in Russia and at home. “Putin has the support of a certain part of the population, who positively perceives the declaration“ We are a great Russia, that's enough for us to be rude. ”
Andrew Weiss, an expert on Russia who worked for the National Security Council during the Clinton presidency, and now serves as vice president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, states that Putin is in isolation. “Russia has few international partners,” the analyst notes, “and Putin has no close personal connections and relationships. But this does not affect his views ... that the West is in decline, and that America is retreating. He is still sure of that. ”
"Potemkin village" on a global scale. In the article "Post-apocalyptic image of Russia" (Nowa Europa Wschodnia, Poland; source of translation - "InoSMI") Zemovit Shcherek declares that Russia enjoys not too good fame in the world, and therefore Moscow is going to change the order of things. How will she do it? Will create "another Potemkin village - this time on a global scale."
Here is the Russian landscape through the eyes of a western citizen:
The journalist believes that this nightmarish image is tired of Russia, and she is going to correct it. The result of the “amendment” should be: a) spilling balsam on Russian souls; b) improving the country's performance in rating agencies; c) expansion of the scope of "soft power".
The scope of the “soft power” of Moscow today includes: Serbia, the Republika Srpska in Bosnia, Northern Kosovo, Greece, Cyprus, Eastern Ukraine, Belarus, and partly Central Asia with the Caucasus, the author notes. Well, plus a few more countries - “so remote and romantic-minded, that the memory of the Soviet Union is still alive there ...”
But the majority of Serbs puts not on Russia, but on Brussels, the journalist believes. Greece and Cyprus airings in Moscow are due to the fact that the EU has devastated their pockets. Eastern Ukraine and Belarus cherish the Russian-speaking cultural community, and for part of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Russia is a place where you can earn more than at home. About the distant "romance" the author does not see much point to talk.
Everywhere in the application of "soft power" Shcherek sees some failures.
“Balanced” image of Russia, issued by the channel “RT”, failed in 2008 year - “after the Russian invasion of Georgia, when the international and professional Russia Today team did not doubt for a moment who was bad in this conflict and who should be sprinkled flowers on the streets of liberated cities. The march of a positive image of Russia in the world ended before it began. ”
Putin instructed diplomats to improve the country's image abroad, but the customs officers on the Russian border are just as rude, arrogant, and meticulous "to idiocy," the author writes.
The police in Moscow continue to complicate the lives of businessmen, owning in full "the art of looking for the most amazing reasons for extorting bribes from their (often random) victims."
The country's infrastructure, the journalist notes, "breathes its last: its margin of safety comes to an end, as can be seen from the increasing number of construction, air, river and other disasters."
Attempts to “improve the image of Russia” remind the author of the tactic of “advertising the white-painted grave tomb”.
Moscow may be trying to improve its image, the author writes. But it does not have the “charm of Brazil, the energy of India or the reliability of China.” Therefore, sooner or later it will be reproached for the superficiality of change.
At the same time, the author forgets, let us add that the persistently imagined “drunk disfranchised beggars” persistently imagined by some, sadly wandering among swamps and stunted birches, is a very convenient stereotype. And the destruction of it means not only reporting the truth to ordinary people eating popcorn at televisions, but also weakening the already shaky image of the West.
- especially for topwar.ru
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