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In 76 regions of Russia people went to voting stations on March 14 to cast their votes for local
mayors and regional legislature representatives. The ruling party “United Russia” has
won in most of those elections. However, the victory of the party in power wasn't absolute: in
Irkutsk people preferred opposition candidate Viktor Kondrashov but this was the only case.
Despite the increasing wave of protests (like in Irkutsk [RUS] itself,
Kaliningrad, Moscow and others), “United Russia” managed to keep its dominance in
all Russian regional legislatures as well as city administration offices.
One of the secrets of such “political stability” (besides state-controlled mass
media) is a range of alleged numerous fraud techniques used both by party members and public
officials during the elections. These elections were the first to show the power of Web 2.0. in
uncovering them. Bloggers gathered evidence of fraud with their cell phone cameras and published
them online.
Particularly members of the election observer association
“Golos” [EN] (”A Voice”) were quite active in promoting election
transparency and exposing fraud. The association installed a fraud hotline website
“88003333350.ru” where everyone could post a
fraud report. So far, 561 fraud cases have been noted.
Anti-Fraud Hotline, 88003333350.ru
Telephone Voting, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk region
Blogger leonwolfmade a
capture of the local TV programme where a head of the regional election committee was
inviting people to vote by using a phone line and without signing any papers (which is illegal).
“You can just call, tell your passport details and if they match those in the database your
vote will be counted,” the head of election committee said on TV.
Protocol Rewriting, Stanitsa Dinskaya, Krasnodar region.
Russian oppositional newspaper Novaya Gazetaposted a video [RUS], where an employee of the
local election committee was allegedly rewriting the election protocol (a document presenting the
final result of the election).
Vote For Relatives, Yekaterinburg
In the video below two women confess they were brought to the election station to vote for their
parents (probably unable to get to the election station by themselves). Such procedure is legal
if a person possesses an absentee ballot. But these two women, as well as the whole bus (can be
seen on the background) of their “colleagues,” do not have it. And still they're
allowed to vote. Not to mention that their transfer was paid by the regional government, as well
as a sightseeing excursion after the election.
Mass Preliminary Vote, Ivanovo
The most popular fraud technique is a directed at a preliminary vote. It's been practiced among
soldiers, policemen and sometimes students. In other words, regional authorities try to mobilize
as many people as they can, especially if they have channels of pressure. For students such
channel of pressure are various: grades, scholarships, ability to passing an exams, etc.
This video
shows a woman checking the absence of students, while these
pictures depict a huge crowd at the college hall.
Ballot Insertion, Astrakhan
The video captures two people putting packs of ballots into the ballot box.
All these cases represent current situation with the Russian electoral system. The dominance of
the ruling party is based on numerous illegal actions that result in the “expected”
election results. At the same time, it shows the weakness of the political system that fails to
conduct its political course without such anti-democratic and unlawful measures. But as the
bloggers become more and more powerful and as the evidence of the fraud is being more efficiently
distributed among Russian netizens, the government's failure to provide free and fair elections
can become a real, not virtual, problem.
Russian Minister of Interior Rashid Nurgaliev gave an order to check
 if the action of police against a popular Russian hosting ifolder.ru was legal.
According to Lenta.ru, the order was
given following request by president Medvedev.
A new twist in the Air Force's 10-year effort to build an aerial refueling tanker may bring a bid
from a Russian state-owned aerospace company for the $35 billion tanker contract, according to the
company's U.S. attorney.
A new twist in the Air Force's 10-year effort to build an aerial refueling tanker may bring a bid
from a Russian state-owned aerospace company for the $35 billion tanker contract, according to the
company's U.S. attorney.
The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the first beta release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term
Support) Desktop, Server, and Netbook editions and of Ubuntu 10.04 Server for Ubuntu Enterprise
Cloud (UEC) and Amazon’s EC2. Codenamed "Lucid Lynx", 10.04 LTS continues Ubuntu’s
proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a
high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop and Netbook Editions continue the trend of ever-faster boot speeds, with
improved startup times and a streamlined, smoother boot experience.
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition provides even better integration of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud,
with its install-time cloud setup.
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the Ubuntu Server
Edition to cloud computing, whether you’re using Amazon EC2 or your own Ubuntu Enterprise
Cloud.
The Ubuntu 10.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu,
also reach beta status today.
Desktop features
————————
Social from the start: We now feature built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook, and
other social networks with the MeMenu in the panel.
New Design: Cleaner and faster boot, new notification area, new themes, new icons, and new
wallpaper bring a dramatically updated look and feel to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu One: Choose any folder in your home directory to sync, choose from millions of songs for
purchase in the Ubuntu One Music store.
Cloud computing: The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud installer has been vastly improved in order to
support alternative installation topologies. UEC components are now automatically discovered and
registered, even with complex topologies. Finally, UEC is now powered by Eucalyptus 1.6.2
codebase.
UEC and EC2: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS continues the tradition of official Ubuntu Server image releases
for UEC and for Amazon’s EC2, giving you everything you need for rapid deployment of Ubuntu
instances in a cloud computing environment. UEC images, and information on running Ubuntu 10.04
on EC2, are available at:
Stability and security: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS brings many improvements over Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to keep
your servers safe and secure for the next five years, including AppArmor profiles for many key
services, kernel hardening, and an easy-to-configure firewall.
Ubuntu Netbook features
———————————-
Ubuntu Netbook Edition is optimised to run on Intel atom based netbooks. It includes a new
consumer-friendly interface that allows users to quickly and easily get on-line and use their
favourite applications. This interface is optimised for a retail sales environment.
It includes the same faster boot times and improved boot experience as Ubuntu desktop.
Kubuntu features
————————
Kubuntu 10.04 LTS will be the first LTS to feature KDE 4 Platform and Applications. KDE 4 has
come a long way since its early releases and is now suitable for the high demands of LTS users.
Being an LTS we have focused on bug fixing and stability for this release, but we did find time
to add features such as touchpad configuration, Firefox KDE integration, Kubuntu notification
improvements, and cross-desktop systray menu standardisation. Kubuntu features the Plasma Desktop
while Kubuntu Netbook Remix comes out of preview status with the Plasma Netbook workspace.
Edubuntu in Lucid features a more complete live environment containing more software from
universe and all existing language packs as well as our usual educational software in their
current version. For Lucid the text installer has been removed and so is LTSP for the time being.
We expect to have LTSP back on the DVD for the next beta. The DVD is then much smaller than it
used to be but will still provide a complete education environment based on Ubuntu Lucid.
Also included on the Edubuntu DVD is a small repository containing the required packages to
transform the regular Edubuntu desktop into a LTSP server or install the Netbook edition
interface.
Mythbuntu features
—————————
Mythbuntu 10.04 introduces MythTV 0.23. This new version is significantly faster and should feel
more responsive and stable than older versions. It also integrates better into the OS with better
support for things like ConsoleKit and Upstart.
Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and servers, with a fast and
easy installation and regular releases. A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications
is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.
Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other
companies around the world. For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support
To Get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1
———————————————
To upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 from Ubuntu 9.10 or Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, follow these
instructions:
Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Beta into the best
release of Ubuntu ever. Please note that, where possible, we prefer that bugs be reported using
the tools provided, rather than by visiting Launchpad directly. Instructions can be found at
If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try
asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu
forums:
  Les communiqués du Quartet sur le Proche orient sont
généralement courts. Et fades. Ils sont le résultat du consensus entre les
parties (Etats-Unis, ONU, Union européenne, Russie).
   En général, Washington s’arrangeait
pour que le “Quartet” reste dans la ligne.
Mais il semble que les Etats-Unis aient décidé de s’impliquer nettement plus.
Les diplomates voient du changement. Si Obama n’arrive pas à faire pression sur
Israel, alors Washington cessera de faire rempart aux pressions collectives.
  Le communiqué publié vendredi à Moscou est des
plus directs. Cela fait longtemps que l’on n’a pas rappelé certains faits.
  - “The annexation of East Jerusalem is not recognized by the
international community”.
  - “Unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the
outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community. The Quartet
urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, to
dismantle outposts erected since March 2001, and to refrain from demolitions and evictions in
East Jerusalem”.
Â
   Le Quartet veut un réglement dans les deux ans. Et qui comporte un retour aux
frontières de 1967…Â Et avec une conférence internationale
à Moscou !
lire le communiqué :
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release: March 19, 2010
2010/T25-2
MEDIA NOTE
Joint Statement by the Quartet
The Quartet – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East
Peace George Mitchell, and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the
European Union Catherine Ashton – met in Moscow on March 19,2010. They were
joined by Quartet Representative Tony Blair.
In the article on icons, that I referred to previously from the
Catholic weekly OSV, there was an interview with a Catholic iconographer named Marek Czarnecki.
Czarnecki has been writing icons for fifteen years. For him, this is more than a simple job, it
is his personal calling. He sometimes devotes whole periods of time to prayer and fasting before
writing. The Connecticut-based artist studied iconography for ten years with a Russian Orthodox
iconographer before he began his work. Here, to give you an idea of what such a writer of icons
does, is a small part of that interview:
***************
OSV: How does iconography relate to art, to theology, to prayer?
Czarnecki: People think that iconography is a style of religious art, and
it’s not. It’s a whole vision of reality, but we use art as a tool to scribe that
reality. . . .We say icon writing instead of icon painting because what we are making isn’t
just a picture but a theological text. That theological text can in no way disagree with what is
the written text or what stands in holy tradition. It’s not my job to figure those things
out. The church has already decided those things. My job is just to articulate them.
OSV: When you get ready to write an icon, do you have to prepare in a spiritual
way?
Czarnecki: I’ve been doing this for so long it’s just an integral
part of my life. I teach, and as a group we start with a prayer of consecration and a mission
statement about our work. Then, while we work, we pray. That’s just as important as the
preparation you do before you start working. It’s that way with the very simple Jesus
Prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” [I pray the
Jesus Prayer every day, all day, and into my sleep at nights.] You just repeat it over and over,
and it’s like a wheel that turns in your head. What it does while you’re working is
that it forces you to focus on what you’re doing. It’s a real prayer, so while
you’re praying it, you’re connecting yourself with God. It acts like a metronome
while you’re working, too. It gives your mind something to hold on to, and it paces you
while you work so that you don’t rush through your work, you connect it with your
breathing, you connect it with every brush strike. Eventually it just doesn’t stop.
It’s like your heartbeat.
OSV: With icons, there are certain images that would be considered classic, but
you’ve also done images of St. Maria Goretti and Faustine Kowalska and others. Is
iconography something that can be both classical and contemporary?
Czarnecki: It has to be both. I think one of the classic functions of the church
is to work as a treasurer keeper, and the treasures of the church are the lives of the saints.
The prototypes that were created for the lives of the saints, even ancient ones, have some
historical truth to them, and that’s why we don’t have permission to change them. . .
. These old prototypes, some of them go back to the catacombs. The icon of the nursing Virgin is
the oldest image we have of the Virgin Mary historically, and we still make an icon almost
exactly like that fresco. There’s a deepness to those prototypes that we can’t even
begin to approach. . . . Even if you’re going to write “new” icons you have to
have a grounding and a foundation in that traditional language. There’s no way you can
create new icons without immersing yourself in all of that.
***************
I particularly note several things in this interview that
intrigue me as an evangelical Protestant. While I do not invoke the saints merit on my behalf I
have come to believe the saints, thus all of those who have died in the Lord, are praying and
worshiping as they stand before Jesus at this very moment. They are most active in prayer and I
cannot help but believe they pray for you and me. I also believe it is right we remember them in
our worship and prayer given a passage like Hebrews 11. They are not dead! They are very much
alive, more alive than we are really. It was D. L. Moody himself who reproached people at his
death bed who felt that he was about to enter the land of the dying by saying, “No, I am
about to enter the land of he living, it is you who will remain in the land of the dying.”
How true. There is a great deal that we simply do not know about life after death but it seems
apparent that those who die in the Lord reign with him on high right now and are as active in his
kingdom as ever, more so than we on earth in one way at least. Yes, their activity is different
but there are no passive bystanders in heaven. I have come to believe that it is right for us to
celebrate the victorious completion of their earthly journey and to remember them in more ways
than scrap-booking and biography.
Note that Czarnecki also says the church “is to work as a treasure keeper.” It seems
to me that when evangelicals were pushed away from the Roman Catholic communion during the 16th
century they forgot this point. We ceased being “treasure keepers” seeing this work
as Roman and unbiblical. It seems that we have often forgotten much more than we can afford to
forget. We despise tradition and have no collective memory of the past. So far as I can tell
multitudes of evangelical Protestants will not even go back to what happened last Sunday, much
less what happened in a previous century before the sixteenth. But even when we do go back we
know next to nothing about any treasures of the past except those that came to us from Wesley,
Whitefield, Edwards and Spurgeon. Now don’t get me wrong. I love these men, always have and
always will. I have photographs of each of them around me in my library. But these are not the
only great men in the treasured history of the Christian church. And this doesn’t even
touch on the question of great women. Evangelical Protestants have forgotten the great women of
faith even more than their Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters.
Finally, we note that in this interview Czarnecki speaks about his “not having
permission” to change the old prototypes. There is a respect here for that which is
ancient. Few people in my evangelical Protestant background understand this at all. It is this
very kind of thinking that has deeply penetrated my own mind and heart because of my growing love
for the Great Tradition of the one, holy, catholic church. May God open your minds and hearts to
all of his truth, even the truth found in places you may never have expected to find it.
posted by Neil Aching, tired and really happy: leaving Manila after two days, having signed books
for hundreds of people (and, the way of this place, having not signed books for thousands of
people). I was there for the third Philippine Graphic/Fiction award. I started the award back in
2005, with Jaime Daez from Fully Booked (they do all the hard work and heavy lifting. I just put up
the prize money). I'm just thrilled to see the quality of SF/horror/fantastic fiction coming out of
the Philippines.
Two boxes of gifts are being sent home. In my luggage, just one box of chocnut, a package of dried
mangoes, a book and a bottle of local rum (because posting alcohol is sometimes problematic).
Now in an airport lounge. I fly to Amsterdam, where I change planes and go to Warsaw. Tomorrow
(Saturday) I accompany Amanda to Wroclaw, where she's playing a festival. Then she comes with me to
Warsaw, where I'm doing interviews and a signing.
It's at Empik Junior Marszalkowska Str, where I do a Q&A at 5 pm and a signing at 6 on Monday
the 22nd.
And from Poland I go to Moscow, where I talk and sign on the 24th and 25th. (Details over at
Where's Neil - http://www.neilgaiman.com/where/.)
Come and say hello, and spread the word on Russian blogs and LJs - I've never been to Russia before
and have no idea what to expect, or if anyone will turn up or not...
The latest - after last year buying France-Soir, the country’s smallest daily, for €50
million, shipbuilder’s son Alexander Pugachyov is now spending a further
€20 million on a marketing campaign to take it mainstream. He’s
upping the print run by 20 times, has halved the cover price and has more than doubled
newsroom staff from 40 to 100.
Jealous?There’s no part of this that makes immediate sense. In
fact, contrasted with the cutbacks, climbdowns and contraction many parts of the industry are
seeing, it looks like madness.
...
The Pugachyov scenario in France mirrors that of Alexander Lebedev in the UK ... The former KGB
agent took the London Evening Standard, whose
circulation was falling, off DMGT’s hands for just a nominal fee, forewent cover-price
income in favour of free distribution on a higher print run, and pledged a £25
million investment over three years.
“£25 million investment??” That’s unheard of in today’s
news publishing economy... Now Lebedev’s set to repeat the act by buying The Independent.
I think I can help Mr Andrews understand what's going on. It has nothing to do with "saving
journalism."
These are prominent publications in their country. They are being bought not to make money but as
vehicles to influence politics and society.
It's not the first time this has happened. Hearst used his newspapers for political influence,
and many others have done the same.
Investing in propaganda...
The Russians, in particular, understand the power of media. At the heart of the Bolshevik party
was its newspaper, Pravda.
The Bolshevik party wasn't investing in journalism when it funded and published Pravda -- it was
investing in having its ideas discussed in society, and in the political realm.
These are ultra-rich individuals, they aren't buying the publications as investments in that
business, but as an investment that will aid their other businesses.
Mr Andrews notes that Alexander Pugachyov is the son of a Russian shipbuilder and that the French
government may place an order for four battleships. I think that's a pretty big clue that the
investment isn't about "saving journalism."
Media businesses are often loss-leaders that help drive other businesses. You see this today a
lot. Most online media sites, especially blogs, don't make money from online advertising but from
selling other things, such as services, or research reports, hosting events, etc. You don't make
money directly from the traffic.
- - -
I already have a loss leader, I just need to add services and products that I can sell to help
support my journalism. That's why I've started to do some consulting for companies such as Intel,
Pearltrees, SAP, and others.
Let me know if you need some help on media/business strategies - 415 336 7547.
A spate of recent scandals, including a car crash involving a Lukoil executive, is intensifying
public outrage over Russia's traffic police, notorious for corruption
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