Public Television in Russia May End Up Satisfying No One | Features, Opinion & Analysis | RIA Novosti

President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for a new public television platform last December conjured visions of a Russian BBC for the country’s liberals. Yet worries are now growing that the president’s control over the new television station could prevent it from broadcasting opinions critical of the government. Medvedev has maintained that the new station will be the freest television channel in Russia. But like a number of other liberal initiatives that Medvedev has undertaken in the waning days of his presidency, the television station is increasingly being seen as a half-measure meant to mollify the public.

Medvedev signed a decree creating the new public station on Tuesday, saying it would likely be released by next January. Speaking at his “Open Government” initiative, Medvedev said that “measures have been taken to relieve needless government influence on the activities of this public institution.”

Now, controversy is centering on just how independent Russia’s public television will be.

via Public Television in Russia May End Up Satisfying No One | Features, Opinion & Analysis | RIA Novosti.

Public Television in Russia May End Up Satisfying No One | Features, Opinion & Analysis | RIA Novosti

President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for a new public television platform last December conjured visions of a Russian BBC for the country’s liberals. Yet worries are now growing that the president’s control over the new television station could prevent it from broadcasting opinions critical of the government. Medvedev has maintained that the new station will be the freest television channel in Russia. But like a number of other liberal initiatives that Medvedev has undertaken in the waning days of his presidency, the television station is increasingly being seen as a half-measure meant to mollify the public.

Medvedev signed a decree creating the new public station on Tuesday, saying it would likely be released by next January. Speaking at his “Open Government” initiative, Medvedev said that “measures have been taken to relieve needless government influence on the activities of this public institution.”

Now, controversy is centering on just how independent Russia’s public television will be. The decree signed by Medvedev gives the president the right to appoint the general director and the editor-in-chief of the new station. Moreover, the station’s board of directors, entrusted to provide for public oversight of the station’s content, will also have to pass through a presidential filter.

via Public Television in Russia May End Up Satisfying No One | Features, Opinion & Analysis | RIA Novosti.

News Desk: “We Are Not Sheep” : The New Yorker

One of the pleasures of a recent trip to Moscow was getting to know the country’s best-known and most political hip-hop star, Ivan Alexeyev, who goes by Noize MC. He is part of a galaxy of civil-society activists whom I wrote about recently for the magazine in a piece called “The Civil Archipelago.” Alexeyev became widely known for his rap “Mercedes S666,” in which he expressed his outrage at yet another politicized incident on the Moscow roads—a car ferrying an executive for a major Russian oil concern, Lukoil, smashed into a much smaller private car, killing two women. The police blamed the “civilian” driver; eyewitnesses said the Lukoil car was to blame. The video is a cry of outrage, and there is a decent translation from a YouTube viewer:

via News Desk: “We Are Not Sheep” : The New Yorker.

Russian nuclear icebreakers fleet – Bellona

Putin and Kiriyenko meet to discuss new nuclear icebreakers

In a meeting yesterday between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin requested Rosatom develop long term plans for strengthening Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet for the purpose of gaining predominance in the Northern Sea route, the official Russian government website government.ru reported.

via Russian nuclear icebreakers fleet – Bellona.

Russia taking on Northern Sea Route as Bellona raises alarm over Norwegian vessels under escort of nuclear icebreakers – Bellona

MURMANSK – The Russian news agency RIA Novosti earlier this month hosted a roundtable discussion on developing the Arctic Northern Sea Route, the possibilities of exploiting cargo transport through it, the future of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet, and legislation needed to effect these plans.

Anna Kireeva, Charles Digges, 12/04-2012

Notably, legal instruments concerning icebreaker escort through the Northern Sea Route and amendments to Russia maritime law were the target of much of the discussion.

The theme of the roundtable had particular resonance in Norway, as the scandal surrounding the Russian nuclear icebreaker 50-Let-Pobedy (50-Years-Victory) that set sail two years ago to to clear ice for the Norwegian owned MV Nordic Barents vessel as it travelled the route to China has been the focus of a recent Norwegian media scandal.

The MV Nordic Barents was hired by a Danish shipping company by the Norway-based Tchudi Shipping Company, owned by Norwegian billionaire Felix Tchudi.

Scandal over Northern Sea Route shipments in Norway

Last month it was revealed by Norwgiain daily Dagbladet that Tchudi has received expedited grants – including a grant that was approved four days after it was applied for – from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Tchudi’s close friend and Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre.

According to the paper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008 granted NOK 6 million to the establishment of the Centre for High North Logistics (CHNL). The application for the 5-year project, which is stipulated to end in 2013, had been made by billionaire Tschudi, and Tschudi is also chairman of the board.

“We are strongly critical of Norwegian companies using nuclear icebreakers and that public money from foundations that Tchudi oversees have gone to such a project,” said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s managing director and nuclear physicist.

“It is very unfortunate because there have been several serious accidents involving nuclear powered icebreakers, including fires. A nuclear accident far out in the ice can cause catastrophic damage in the Arctic’s sensitive ecosystem,” he said, adding, “During a serious accident far from shore, accompanied by a meltdown of an icebreaker’s reactor, it is such a long distance to land that it is almost impossible to mount a rescue mission – it would take too long to arrive and would be too late.”

Defining the area considered to be the Northern Sea Route, Bellona Murmansk director Andrei Zolotkov said, “we can figuratively say that the Northern Sea Route begins at the Kola Peninsula.”

Industrial and nuclear waste concerns in Russia

Zolotkov’s concerns lie with the massive industrial build-up certain to follow on more shipping through the area.

It is precisely along the western side of the Kola Gulf that enormous build-outs in the area of the coal and oil industry, such as terminals, refineries, are planned – meaning tens of thousands of tons more cargo, said Zolotkov.

“One can assume that the [Russian Naval] Northern Fleet will start building up their own number of vessels and submarines,” said Zolotkov.

Zolotkov noted that neither Murmansk nor Severomorsk – another important port city on the Kola Gulf – have the means to clean oil spills.

“The Kola Gulf has already been seriously polluted by petroleum products, industrial waste and sewage. This is all visible to the naked eye. But for all of these problems, the concerns and consensus about these developments for local residents remains invisible,” said Zolotkov. “We better be careful, Gazprom, Rosatom, and the Ministry of Defense, before we kill off Kola Bay, turning it into a lifeless basin.”

via Russia taking on Northern Sea Route as Bellona raises alarm over Norwegian vessels under escort of nuclear icebreakers – Bellona.

Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project | History | Early Soviet Exploration

Early Soviet Exploration (1920s-1930s)

The rapidly growing fleet of Soviet icebreaking vessels was also opening up the Arctic. The icebreaking steamer Sedov was used on two research expeditions in 1929 and 1930, headed by O. Schmidt. The first year, a polar station on Frantz Josef Land was established where Georgy Sedov had wintered, becoming the world’s most northern settlement. The next year, another station was located on Domashniy Island near the western coast of Severnaya Zemlya. From 1930 to 1932 a special expedition determined that the archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya consisted of four larger and a number of minor islands, filling in the last “white spots” on the map of the Arctic.

Icebreaking steamer Sibiriakov under sail power. Image courtesy Ecoshelf.

Click to enlarge this image and to see photo of Captain Voronin

To join the western and eastern legs of the Northern Sea Route and make a regular working transport way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, the Chief Administration of the Northern Sea Route was established in 1932, and more polar stations and observatories were created. The first passage through the Northern Sea Route during one navigation was performed by the icebreaking steamer Sibiriakov, organized by the All-Union Arctic Institute (presently known as the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute). The Sibiriakov sailed from Archangelsk, crossed the Kara Sea and chose a northern, unexplored way around Severnaya Zemlya to the Laptev Sea. In September the propeller shaft broke, the icebreaker drifted for 11 days, and using sails arrived in the Bering Strait in October completing the first successful crossing of the Northern Sea Route during a single navigation without wintering.

In 1933 the second sailing from Murmansk to the Pacific Ocean was undertaken by the icebreaking steamer Cheluskin. There she was taken by the current northward through Bering Strait, trapped in the Chukchi Sea pack ice, and crushed and sank. The expedition members escaped to the ice, organized a camp, and were rescued with the help of aircraft. The icebreaker Litke first navigated along the Northern Sea Route without accident from Vladivostok to Murmansk in 1934. In 1935 the first commercial cruises were carried out by two cargo steamers each way between Murmansk and Vladivostok, proving the practical possibility of safe navigation in the Arctic seas. Gradually the Northern Sea Route was supplied with more powerful icebreakers and reliable radio communication, new ports were founded along the coast, and the network of polar stations increased.

via Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project | History | Early Soviet Exploration.

The US-Russia Space Race: An exercise in Cold War brinkmanship (More Key Events)

The US-Russia Space Race: An exercise in Cold War brinkmanship

October 4, 1957: The Soviet Union launches the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1, stunning the United States November 3, 1957: The Soviet Union puts the first animal in space, a dog called Laika who orbits the Earth but dies in the process.

January 1, 1958: America successfully launches its first Earth satellite.

October 1, 1958: America sets up the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA.

September 12, 1959: The Soviet Union launches the first spacecraft, Luna 2, to reach the surface of the Moon.

August 19, 1960: The Soviet Union launches a spacecraft carrying two dogs, Belka and Strelka. The two dogs survive the mission and return to Earth, paving the way for the first manned space flight.

April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to journey into outer space orbiting the Earth once in a flight that lasted 108 minutes.

May 5, 1961: America’s Alan Shepard completes a suborbital journey into space.

February 20, 1962: America’s John Glenn orbits the Earth three times.

June 16, 1963: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space.

January 27, 1967: America’s Apollo 1 Moon mission ends in tragedy as it catches fire during a launch test killing three crew members.

July 16, 1969: America’s historic Apollo 11 mission lands on the Moon.

July 20, 1969: America’s Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the Moon.

November 17, 1970: The Soviet Union lands a remote-controlled robot on the Moon in another world first. America does the same the following year.

April 19,1971: The Soviet Union launches the first space station, Salyut 1.

April 12, 1981: America launches its first Space Shuttle in orbit.

1986: The Soviet Union launches what will become the first permanently-manned space station. Mir. It is permanently manned from 1989-1999 but decommissioned in 2001 by Russia which is struggling to fund what is left of the Soviet space programme.

 

Key events in the history of space exploration

Key events in the history of space exploration

4 October 1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, igniting the space race. Sputnik’s radio signals continue for 22 days until the transmitter batteries run out. It burns up on 4 January 1958 as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere

3 November 1957: The dog Laika, the first living creature ever to orbit the earth, is launched aboard Sputnik II. Laika dies a few hours after launch, although this is kept secret until 2002. Instead, the Soviets claim she lived for several days

Read on for 30 more key events.

(Via The Telegraph)

Divorce in haste, repent at leisure

Divorce in haste, repent at leisure

19 March 2011

Twenty years today the USSR held a referendum on whether to support the proposed New Union Treaty. The new setup would have given much more power to the republics; the word used to describe it then was “confederation”.

This infographic displays data on how people voted during this referendum (click for full size)

(This graphic could be misleading, as it takes numbers not from the whole population of potential voters but from those who actually did vote; in several areas not voting was voting “no”). The three Baltic SSRs, the Moldavian, Georgian and Armenian SSRs did not hold votes, on the grounds that they had not legally been incorporated into the USSR in the first place. But the Abkhaz ASSR voted by a small margin to stay in. The Chechen-Ingush ASSR voted to get out as did the Nakhichevan ASSR

Three quotations are instructive: “The recent dramatic events [ie the coup attempt] showed that our republic is absolutely unprotected… ” (Kravchuk 1991); “if Ukraine really will not be in the Union, I cannot imagine such a Union” (Yeltsin 1991); “I believed that Ukraine is so rich that it provided for the entire [Soviet] Union” (Kuchma 1993).

Divorce in haste, repent at leisure: a recent poll from Ukraine says half the population now regrets the breakup. (See article More than half of Ukrainians regret Soviet breakup [Ria Novosti])

(Via Business Special Report [BSR] Russia)