Category: Eastern Europe

  • Russian women claim Chess Olympiad gold

    Russian women claim Chess Olympiad gold

    Russian women’s chess team of Tatyana Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Alexandra Kostenyuk (Image from chessolympiadistanbul.com)

    httpwwwchessolympiadistanbulcom image 878.nRussia’s women’s team have triumphed in the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey with the country also claiming silver in the men’s competition.

    ­The Russian quartet of Tatyana Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Alexandra Kostenyuk collected a 4-0 win against Kazakhstan on the final matchday in the event.

    Their main rivals from China lost points in their tie against Bulgaria, whom they only managed to beat with 2,5:1,5 score.

    Despite the two top sides grabbing 19 points, it’s Team Russia who took the gold, thanks to a better a tie-break performance.

    The Russian women have defended their title from Khanty-Mansiysk 2010, but, according to Valentina Gunina, the current success came at a lot higher price.

    “We are proud, but indeed there is a big difference between these 2010 and 2012 Olympiads,” she told World Chess Olympiad’s official website. “In Khanty-Mansiysk we won 11 games in a row – and there was nothing to be sorry about. However, the real team is made only through defeats, when you have to overcome the obstacles and difficulties. This time we had hard times but we managed to do well. I am proud of what we have done.”

    Meanwhile, the Russian men’s team have come away with silver at the Olympiad, repeating their result from two years ago.

    Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karyakin, Aleksandr Grischuk and Dmitry Yakovenko scored 19 points after 11 rounds to finish level with Armenia, but came in second on technicalities.

    via Russian women claim Chess Olympiad gold — RT.

  • New energy between Cold War foes Turkey, Russia

    New energy between Cold War foes Turkey, Russia

    By Jacob Resneck – Special to The Washington Times

    The skyline of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, rises above the Bosporus. (AP … more >

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    Story Topics
    • Environment
    • Turkey
    • Russia
    • Foreign Policy Studies In Istanbul
    • Sinan Ulgen

    AKKUYU, Turkey — Russia and Turkey, which were Cold War adversaries, are finding common ground on energy despite ongoing diplomatic disputes.

    Turkey has agreed to allow Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline to cross its territorial waters, and Russia is investing $20 billion to construct Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.

    The deals have been made even while Turkey criticizes Russian support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and Moscow fumes over a NATO early-warning radar system in Turkey.

    “These are countries that have been able to compartmentalize their differences,” said former Turkish diplomat Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul (EDAM).

    “It has been a relationship driven by mutual economic gain.”

    Gas- and oil-producing giant Russia has enlisted Turkish support for its proposed South Stream pipeline to diversify its access points to European markets.

    One of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Turkey has significant energy needs. The majority Muslim nation’s energy demands will double by 2023, according to one projection.

    But Turkey cannot do it alone and has sought international partners to build, own and operate a nuclear plant.

    Only Russia has come forward and is constructing the Akkuyu nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast near the southern city of Mersin. The plant’s design calls for four 1,200-megawatt reactors scheduled to go on line in 2019.

    The $20 billion venture will be wholly financed by a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia’s state-controlled nuclear energy corporation.

    Unprecedented cooperation

    The Russian firm has agreed to build, own and operate the plant for its entire productive life, with spent fuel sent to Russia for reprocessing. The deal represents an unprecedented level of cooperation between the former adversaries.

    “We are the nearest neighbors with Turkey, and we should trust each other,” said Rauf Kasumov, a spokesman for Akkuyu NGS, the Russian company that will own and operate the plant. “Logically, Turkey needs that. It’s one of the fastest-growing economies of the world, and they need it badly.”

    Questions linger about what would become of the core waste leftover from the plant, a perennial controversy whenever a reactor is to be built.

    “That is a decision to be done later between the Turkish republic and the Russian Federation,” Mr. Kasumov said.

    Under terms of the agreement signed in 2010, decommissioning will be funded by a cent-and-a-half levy on each kilowatt hour sold over the plant’s 60-year productive life span.

    Critics such as Erhan Kula, an economics professor of Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, say that relies on vague assumptions on what the long-term costs will be.

    “The most important thing [regarding] nuclear power is the decommissioning and storage of highly toxic waste,” Mr. Kula said. “There’s just a couple of sentences in the environmental assessment report, which is mind-boggling.”

    Mr. Kula said the 4,800 megawatts produced by the four reactors would provide only about 5 percent of Turkey’s energy needs and that the current grid is losing more than 14 percent to theft.

    “If we stop that, we don’t need nuclear power,” Mr. Kula said.

    However, A. Beril Tugrul, director of the Energy Institute at Istanbul Technical University, said Turkey’s energy needs are rising, and nuclear power, with all its risks, is an essential alternative to burning fossil fuels.

    “I think many of the problems [with decommissioning] can be solved — but maybe not,” Ms. Tugrul said. “But it’s not just nuclear power that has problems. All plants have huge problems with carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases.”

    Even EDAM’s study, which found that the agreement could work in Turkey’s favor, cautions that Ankara has failed to lay the groundwork for proper oversight of atomic energy.

    “Turkey is rushing toward nuclear power,” Mr. Ulgen said. “Turkey does not currently have the regulatory capacity to minimize the risks inherent in nuclear power.”

    Officials at the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources did not respond to requests for comment.

    Turks fear nuclear power

    Turkish officials have been eyeing the Akkuyu site since the 1970s, but it has been only in recent years that the project has taken shape.

    Nuclear power in Turkey has generated little debate, though the most exhaustive study conducted shows broad public skepticism.

    Memories of the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine, which irradiated parts of Turkey’s Black Sea region, may help explain why 62.5 percent of the more than 2,400 people surveyed said they are opposed to nuclear power, making it the second-least popular choice after coal.

    “If they listened to what people say, they shouldn’t go nuclear. Turks are very scared of nuclear power,” Mr. Kula said.

    The survey was conducted in 2007, and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan last year has further sullied nuclear power’s reputation, he said.

    Organized opposition has been limited. The site is relatively undeveloped, but road access along the craggy cliffs that tower above the Mediterranean has been upgraded.

    This summer, a small tent encampment was erected in protest to raise awareness as grass-roots groups lodge legal challenges.

    Opposition groups — backed by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) — argue that the site is crisscrossed by active earthquake fault lines. Court challenges have been lodged against the site plan, but the government has not stopped construction.

    “We are going to both challenge the government and draw the public’s attention through direct action,” said Sabahat Aslan, one of the protest leaders at the encampment.

    Meanwhile, another site on the Black Sea coast has been identified for a second plant, but the Turkish government has been unable to find an international partner willing to build it.

    Turkey has been in talks with China, Canada, South Korea and Japan to replicate a deal similar to Russia‘s.

    Mr. Kasumov, the Akkuyu NGS representative, said it is unlikely that another country would be willing to invest as heavily as Russia has.

    “I really doubt that any other country would be in the position of financing the [build-own-operate] model. It’s pretty expensive,” he said.diplomat Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul (EDAM).

    “It has been a relationship driven by mutual economic gain.”

    The Russian commitment to the project appears unshakable publicly, but the Turkish press has raised questions about Moscow’s willingness to spend vast sums as cost projections rise.

    The project’s future depends largely on the good will of the Russian government and its faith in Turkey as a strategic energy partner.

    “They really need to commit the $20 billion,” said Mr. Ulgen of EDAM, “and there is no clear penalty in the agreement if they don’t.”

    Read more: New energy between Cold War foes Turkey, Russia – Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/3/new-energy-between-cold-war-foes-turkey-russia/#pagebreak#ixzz25WnBI5Nn
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  • Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria

    Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria

    Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria – OpEd

    By: VOR

    August 25, 2012

    By John Robles

    Syria’s claims that the uprising on its sovereign territory is being orchestrated from outside the country were given further credibility, by an eight-hour-operational-meeting held in Ankara behind closed doors between US Ambassador to Turkey Elisabeth Jones, Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Under-Secretary Halit Cevik, diplomats, military representatives and intelligence agency representatives.

    The detailed self-avowed plans for bringing about the hasty collapse of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were discussed.

    Syria.svg

     

    Since the beginning of the crisis Turkey has positioned itself as one of the staunchest opponents of President Bashar al-Assad who was once seen as a “friend and brother” according to a recent statement by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    Turkey wishes to be one of the main players for NATO, the West and its Middle-East Allies in the region and has many times failed to support the positions of its once allies and friends, including Syria as well as Russia. Recent statements in support of Russia’s position against an armed outside intervention into Syria were obviously carefully staged lies to attempt to appease Moscow which will protect its interests in the region.

    The meeting follows the recent provocation by Turkey where a Turkish F-4 Phantom Fighter was shot down in Syrian airspace but which did not bring about the planned result.

    Ankara and the Western “architects” had hoped to draw NATO into the conflict by claiming Turkey was being threatened by Syria. Unfortunately for NATO and Turkey the real facts behind the incident came out and even though Turkey claimed the plane was shot down in international airspace and the wreckage somehow flew into Syrian territory, no one was buying it.

    The aircraft was in violation of Syrian Airspace and was shot down in Syrian Airspace by Syrian anti-aircraft batteries with a range of only a few kilometers, those are the facts and no matter how Ankara wanted to repaint the picture that is how events occurred.

    Now the anti-Assad bloc is attempting to terrorize the world into allowing it to invade Syria by using the pre-Iraq-invasion claim of chemical weapons. This has been repeated many times over the past two months and appears to be the new “point of contention” after the provocative airspace violation did not bring about the result sought by the West.

    The fact that Turkey and the West have been openly funding and supplying violent insurgents, introducing Jihadists and every type of foreign mercenary and terrorist into Syria to continue the bloodshed is a point that should be causing international outrage, yet the West is unimpeded and openly admits to such violations of international law and international norms.

    Turkey has admitted that along with Washington and a number of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf they are training and providing support for foreign fighters on its territory, fighters that are being sent into Syria to support and aid the insurgents. There are reports that as many as 15,000 such foreign fighters are staged along the Turkish-Syrian border.

    Moscow has been opposed to foreign military intervention into the Syrian conflict since the very beginning and this includes “secret” armies being funded and trained by the West in their continuing attempt to force a violent regime change in Syria.

    The West has never held talks or in any way promoted the bringing about of a peaceful resolution to the internal Syrian conflict and this has alarmingly become completely and totally evident by all the steps that the West has taken and all of the statements issued by Western Officials over the past few months. This includes an August 11th joint statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on their joint planning to implement mechanisms to bring about the hasty termination of the current Syrian Government.

    Turkey, the West and their Persian Gulf allies are in violation of international law and internationally accepted norms and should be facing serious international resistance, yet the United Nations and the World continue to allow such infringements on the territorial sovereignty of Syria.

    All contentions by the West and United States that they are the World’s “moral policemen” and “guardians of humanity” now seem to be outrageous.

    The violent overthrow of a sovereign government can only be called an egregious violation of international norms. Russia has always called for stopping of the bloodshed by establishing peace in order for the Syrian people themselves to decide the fate of their own country.

    The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Voice of Russia.

    via Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria – OpEd Eurasia Review.

  • It Can not happen to Me Chapter 18

    It Can not happen to Me Chapter 18

    IT CAN NOT HAPPEN TO ME.  GUESS WHAT?  IT WILL!!!

    Chapter 18

    The SHADY SIDE OF SILVER

    While everyone seems to ignore the casino atmosphere of the securities markets worldwide, there is a time bomb about to explode.

    The volatility of the silver futures market is like bungee jumper without a rope.

    It seems a complex game, but when you break it down, we all going to pay the devil. We all know it is wrong, but few speak up.

    For starters , The Federal Reserve Board of the United States and other central bankers around the world are keeping their funds which they transact business with other member banks artificially low.   This was done during the banking crisis, but they have failed investigate the abuses.

    One glaring abuse is a major bank can “borrow” a million dollars and with high frequency trades [i]and short the  silver contracts on the COMEX .[ii] They are selling contracts that they do not own. Another scheme is to place factious orders to sell to scare the buyers away. This drops the bids temporarily low. In an nano second the computers cancels the sells and instead buy at the depressed prices. These trades place an artificial cap on the price. Now the computers , some instances are trading among themselves with no human benefit.

    AS is the case of silver, the industrial demand far outstrips the world’s supply. The total amount used is 755.7 million ounces. Here is the breakdown for industrial uses. One can quickly observe that over half is for industrial use.

    Silver has unlimited applications in science, industry and art plus investments. Total demand in 2010 was 487.4 million ounces for industrial use only. 167 million ounces were used  for jewelry and 101.3 million ounces  were used in medals and coins which were probably increased in 2012 because of the Olympics. Silver is used 1000 ounce bars for industrial use. There is about 1.25 billion ounces of silver in the entire world in 1000 bars. These bars are not just floating to be plucked out of thin air. They are often broken down for use in computers and solar panels and mirrors just to name a few.

    J P Morgan Chase was reported to be short 95 million ounces as of August 18, 2012. The 8 largest silver traders are short 40.9% of the entire COMEX future trading on a net basis. These contracts are in 1000 ounce bars. This will take over 100 trading days for them to cover(buy back) their shorts sales. This could be the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as inflation is concerned.

    When industrial users discover they might have a delivery problem they more than likely double order. This in itself will put added pressure on the shorts and send silver on a par with gold. There is three times more gold around than silver. If silver ever reached the price of gold, forget the Euro and everything else. Heaven Forbid!!!

    What one can do. Own silver  for cash only. NOW

    What the authorities must do  worldwide.

    Raise Interest rates NOW.

    Abolish margin rates NOW.

    Bring back the uptick rule NOW.

    Reinstate the usury laws NOW.

    Hire outside Law firms  that will sue or try violators ona contingency basis. There only fee will be a fee based upon a predetimined percentage of the judgement. If they loose – no fee.  This will give would be violators second thoughts of breaking laws.  

    Finally go back to chapter one and review every chapter that I have written so far

    Cheerio !!!

       


    COMEX(Commodity and metal exchange) offers gold, silver, copper and aluminum contracts as well as FTSE Eurotop 100 and 300 stock indices.

     

    [ii] High frequency trades (HFT) are done by computing an allogrintem into a computer program that will trade silver contracts in nano seconds. This can also be done by posting factious offerings to scare away would be buyers causing the security to drop in value quickly. Then in a nano second it will buy back  the security. The difference in sale price and buy price is the profit. Using a million dollars on margin;  fractional change in price can be a tidy sum. It is estimated that 80 to 90% of all trades are  now HFT’s.

  • It Can Happen to Me. Guess what? It Will ! Chapter 17 Breaking Up the Banks

    It Can Happen to Me. Guess what? It Will ! Chapter 17 Breaking Up the Banks

    IT CAN NOT HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? IT WILL !!
    Chapter 17   Breaking Up the Banks.

    “A GREEDY MAN BRINGS TROUBLE TO HIS FAMILY, BUT HE WHO HATES BRIBES WILL LIVE.” PROVERBS 15:27       When an industry is at the top or number one it has no place to go but down. This has been my observation for over 55 years. In the US Army it is called OJT (On the Job Training).  WE as citizens going into our local bank should be warned   WATCH OUT- THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE LUNCH.

    Albert Einstein said man’s greatest invention is compound interest. Banks love it when they can put it to  use to an unsuspecting public.  Any funds one gets to work down the principal will find that it has expanded.  At some point one will not be able to pay that principal or off.

    A funny thing happen on the way to the bank. They did it to themselves. Easy credit will kill the goose every time. You see in order to gain more wealth , banks had to issue more debt in order to lend more.  GREED – it is a killer. Once one starts making and spending money; one needs more. It is at the very top that one takes chances in order to gain more. Usually these chances are at the detriment of us the average citizen trying to provide for a family.

    The names of Corzine, LIBOR, JP Morgan-Chase; Dimon and Weill mean little to the average citizen-until  they want to pay off debt. This is when the “Rule of 72” comes into play. It is very simple. Just divide the interest rate you are paying into 72.  Your answer is how many years the bank is doubling its money on you. So if you are paying an 8% mortgage for 30 years divided by 72 is every 9 years. To me that seems fair because you are using the banks money.  Credit cards can work on a monthly basis and now one is “going where no man has gone before”-STAR TREK. Once a debt is in outer space it is up to the courts (and the courts have to follow the law) the debtor is a pawn to spineless attorneys who seek a quick reward for returning a pittance to the lender. This is legal larceny and a USURY law supported by all nations would halt this practice and create more jobs and distribute more wealth over a wider area.

    Once a bank has you in their indebtedness you lose your freedom. The more debt you take on; the deeper the hole you are in. If you are a lawmaker, one should open their safe deposit boxes. IN the days of yesteryear, politicians would accept tax free municipal bonds, but today they have to be registered. Now one finds cash that has been unreported?

    So Nothing big can happen until elections are held, because it is more likely that the legislators involved with any kind of finances are on the take. So our votes are very important. We must elect enough new members that a group can control any committee. This has to be done in a bipartisan spirit.

    So to break up the banks in a meaningful term we must have a majority turnover in world wide elections.  WE must enforce a strong Usury Law for the protection of us all.

    When JP Morgan has outrageous short positions in Gold and Silver futures on the COMEX and the CFTC is powerless to enforce them against this giant bank. The CFTC entire budget is around $200-$300 million while JP Morgan could spend $5 billion defending their illegal position. When a giant bank can out maneuver their government of laws – the bank should be broken up rather quickly.

    My next chapters will have to do with the brokerage and financial management part of the break up.

  • What Goes Around Must Come Around Chapter16

    What Goes Around Must Come Around Chapter16

    WHAT GOES AROUND MUST COME AROUND

    IT CAN NOT HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? It will !!!

    Chapter 16

    On February 10, 1941 then Senator Harry S Truman made a speech telling the [1]Senate what he had found on his investigations of government waste in the war effort.  The Senate passed his resolution and authorized $15,000 and made him Chairman.

    That was the beginning of the “Truman Commission.” It saved the taxpayers over $15 BILLION dollars and saved thousands of soldiers lives. FDR even encouraged Truman to look into certain areas. Every report made by the committee was unanimous. During the course of the war the committee’s budget was increased from the initial $15,000 to $300,000. That is amazing considering how today this congress is so divided.

    Because of his positive efforts as a fine senator FDR chose him to become his vice President when he ran for a fourth term.

    Truman felt that people dealing with government funds , whether they are local, state or national have very little respect for those funds.

    It is my belief that when you have a boom period, people become very sloppy because IT IS NOT THEIR MONEY.   Then when times are tough which is usually the case after a boom period- good times can not last forever-they get too dependant upon those loose funds and create clever schemes to cover up their begotten gains.

    A perfect example of this is what went on with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the two giant government mortgage agencies that are now controlled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency at the cost of over $150billion. They (bureaucrats) are trying to figure out what to do with them.  These entities should be closed down immediately. The mortgages, if found, should be returned to the originating bank and serviced there interest free. I believe this is one of the reasons Collateralized mortgages (CMO”s) and derivatives were created as another way to fleece the public. The firms that created these monster fraud vehicles should be the ones to pay and forced to leave the business. This is a process of power and corruption. What goes around comes around. Too big to Fail should mean too big to save. The public worked hard to save and invest for a home, it is the politicians and the bureaucrats that squandered their savings and ruined their dreams. They are trying to muddy the thought process by bringing up the fact that there are some folks who have been paying. If they can pay the principal then forgive the interest payments. Give them a second chance – not the politicians.

    Some of these instruments have been traded into oblivion and should be trashed with the creator of these funny money obligations taking the loss. That is if they can be found. This will ultimately be a good savory bone for the beleaguered savings industry.

    When a mortgage was submitted to the Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac those funds left the local community and fleeced the pockets of bureaucrats inWashingtonD.C…Simply put – more fingers tasting the pie.

    IT BEHOOVES EVERY NEWLY ELECTED POLITICIAN IN EVERY DECOCRATIC FORM OF GOVERNMENT WORLDWIDE TO INVESTIGATE FOR WASTE AND CORRUPTION IN THEIR COUNTIRES.  Some agencies should be dropped and other downsized and maybe some increased. The main purpose is to recover ill-gotten gains even if they were transferred to other entities. This will help bring down government deficits and reduce government debt. If Harry Truman’s committee saved billions of dollars in the early 1940’s; think of all the moneys that can be saved today. One of the wealthiest cities in the world today is WASHINGTON.DC.

    Governments should not get into the people’s business, but they must set fair and honest rules so the participants are guaranteed an equal chance. Participants that break the rules should be severely punished.

     


    [1] Plain Speaking An Oral biography of Harry S Truman, Chapter 13

    Merle Miller