[russia] some myths and misinterpretations

Just ran the Dmitri Panov piece past our new Deputat, home from Moscow for a few days.

Predictably, as a former trade minister and now special adviser on trade to the Gosduma, he took exception to some aspects and I'd like to summarize some of his main points from today.

1. That the Russian mentality is historically as different to the western as is the Chinese.

The Deputat disagrees and says that since 1998, great strides have taken place in 'rethinking' Russia's place in the world economy and putting Russia on a stable economic footing. There are western aspects to people's thinking now which might not have been there earlier. To that end, the probable new president is committed to this new Yedinaya Rossiya mentality, as are most of the newer deputats. A lot of people have done a lot of work trying to restructure the Russian economy to perform more effectively on the world stage and negative stereotypes are therefore ultimately counter-productive.

2. Russia has a different concept of democracy to the west's.

To an extent that's true. There is historical local colour in the complex relations between the different nationalities represented in the RF and these require balance. As yet, this country cannot adopt the parliamentary system of, say, Britain because it has a Tsarist tradition and the decades of Communism.

It has to be introduced carefully to allow the people time to adjust to the new realities and the infrastructure must move with each introduced change. Wholesale change too quickly resulted in 1998 and no one wants that to occur ever again, particularly given the western troubles about to bite over there.

So a reserved stance is necessary - watching, evaluating and deciding how much to introduce and how soon. These are not blandishments and you need to be in here at governmental level to understand what really is on the drawing board. Therefore it's unfortunate the way sections of the western media rush to the most negative assessment so quickly. It was particularly impressed on me today that Russia does listen to the criticisms and weighs them up - there is no collective blindness here - but it makers its decisions based on national interest nonetheless.

3. Russia has a newly aggressive stance towards the west [not specifically in the Panov article].

Just as in the west, there are hawks and doves and shades of opinion and there is most certainly a desire for Russia to be taken more seriously on the world stage - almost all are agreed on this - and trade delegations ffom here will continue to push Russian interests as you'd expect they would. But the prospect of a new cavalier attitude and a newly aggressive policy is not a general stance - where it has been highly publicized by the media, it's been more a case of stonewalling specific things certain countries are doing inside Europe to destabilize the sphere adjacent to Russia.

The overall mood and one even agreed by Mr. Zhirinovsky and other hardliners, is that Russia is a major player and cold war tactics have no place in where this country is going. Trade is the new language of diplomacy when it is allowed to breathe and not misrepresented.

[globalization rocks] according to broony

Well, no debate necessary any more about what Gordon's masters are up to:

In a keynote speech in New Delhi, the prime minister said it was time to build a "new global society".Mr Brown also called for greater international cooperation in the battle against terrorism to "ensure that there is no hiding place for terrorists".

No hiding place for dissenters, he means of course. Bloggers get ready - you are the insurgents of the web and a nice gurney, replete with electrodes, awaits you. Correct thinking will be ensured.

Also, ever wonder who Gordon sees as the leader of the new global society? Djwahl Kuhl perhaps? Or him-glorious-self? Oh, worship the Broon.

Do you detect a slight negativity in today's posts? Got out of bed on the wrong side.

[round the world] record smashed

Joyon's IDEC II

Exciting news not just for the yachties:

Frenchman Francis Joyon [51] has smashed Ellen MacArthur's solo round-the-world record by more than 14 days, finishng his circumnavigation in 57 days, 13 hours 34 minutes and six seconds to beat MacArthur's mark set in 2005.

He set off from Brest on 23 November and crossed the finish line on Sunday. MacArthur [31] congratulated Joyon but has not ruled out trying to reclaim the record one day saying "records are set to be broken".

But the 31-year-old confirmed any attempt would not be launched in the next year because she was already committed to other projects.

Apparently, Ms MacArthur was at the finish line to greet him and that's the thing in this sport - the camaraderie, even when there's rivalry. In my own racing days years ago, we'd fight tooth and nail and then have a hot tea together later in the clubhouse and analyse the whole thing.

Perfect example is the Little America's Cup for C Class catamarans - the racing was fierce but the camaraderie amazing, even down to the winning crew inviting the others to have a sail on their boat. The only other sport I know where we'd try to knock the other's block off and then have a meal together is Rugby Union.

Contrast that with the America's Cup itself which is marred by protests, underhanded tactics and obscene amounts of money. Of course, this description fits The Money perfectly so we know with whom we're dealing in that situation.

Leaving that aside, it is exciting though and raises the question of whether people should attempt these things or else spend it on education and social services.

C Class Catamaran Cogito

One other small matter is that what I've done in this post might be seen as precisely what I was moaning about here. Oh well, I plead guilty.

[hillary] heart skipped a beat

Just checked BBC News and it was like the heart momentarily stopped:

Mourners pay respects to Hillary

Don't tell me! It's not possible. Clinton dead and the world spared. But no, it was not to be:

Hundreds of people file past the casket of Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary, ahead of his state funeral.

Oh well. Don't get the idea I want the Lizard Queen dead - no, no. Not at all. Not any way. I'd like Obama or someone to beat her after the MLK jibes but still ....

Now, as for the real Hillary, Sir Edmund - well, a great man indeed but he'd had a good innings.

[not dormant] just preoccupied

Sorry for the lack of posts and lack of visiting. The whole of the first book is being rewritten and though it uses great slabs of text from the original, it needs linking sections and that's what I've been up to. A professional writer can split his attention two ways but I can't do that, so it has to be one or the other just now. Plan to blog tomorrow.

[diabetes] most certainly there's hope

We all feel that little bit more mortal when one of our own, so to speak, develops a medical condition and the words 'there but for the Grace of G-d' spring to the lips.

Diabetes is, to me, worse than cancer because cancer is a release sooner or later. I wouldn't wish either onto my worst enemy. The worst I'd wish onto an enemy is want of friends. There is most certainly hope, for example with statin drugs, tweaking of ordinary adult cells in the pancreas so they become insulin-producing beta cells, iron-based 'magnetocapsules' of insulin-producing cells and so on and so on.

There is hope.

I don't know why I fear diabetes so, having seen my father succumb to emphazema and hepatitis and my mother to chronic bronchitis and asthma and yet I do fear it. Medical opinion on me is currently that I should fear more for the heart, in more ways than one.

I have no doubt that Iain will face this thing stoically and that all that can be done will be done. Crazy thing to say but better now than fifteen years earlier - there's a better chance now of getting back to that normal life.