“The Russians Are Here”
Via a comment on Yuri Mamchur’s “Russia Blog” I came across a website I’d like to bring to your attention. The site is called “The Russians are here” and is run by Luther G. Quick.
This is what Luther wirtes about Russia on his website:
Only one nation on Earth is both a nuclear power and energy self-sufficient. And that nation is Russia. Couple these realities with a recovering economy, and time will prove Russia will be resurrected as an advanced democracy and world leader, and in truth, a super power. Democracy and human rights will prevail in Russia as we have seen since December of 1999. The new leadership is making Russia strong and preparing a massive hegemonic power backed by energy, high technology, advanced education, self sufficient in all raw materials, and a financial track record that is turning Russia not only debt free, but into a financial center.With the arrival of “Peak Oil”, energy exporting nations will be flush with hard currency, gold, wealth and stronger political power. Every economist will agree that as Russia diversifies her economy using her energy export wealth, that she would dominate world power. Imagine as Russia invests most of her energy wealth into IT, aerospace, defense, transportation, education, production, maritime, health, consumerism and many other world class economic sectors. Not only does Russia have the energy to keep such capital flow back to her country, but she also has the best human capital as well as the world’s largest land mass that contains the raw materials and commodities to supply such diversification.
Russia’s competitiveness will continue to grow as her economy diversifies and recovers. Capitalism will drive this recovery while the government will optimize natural resource extraction so as not to damage oil and natural gas reserves. You could say that today’s Russian recovery is similar to Ronald Reagan’s “trickle down economics”. Reagan’s theory allowed the rich to prosper, while the wealth trickled down to the middle and poor classes. And in this case, Russia is doing the same principle where the energy sectors of the economy are growing at unprecedented rates and thus creating a trigger that is revitalizing all other sectors of the economy.
No other nation, not even Saudi Arabia has such a good future as Russia. The reason is, countries like Saudi Arabia have little places to invest such energy wealth. Saudi Arabia has no aviation, defense, space, or auto industry to revitalize. Saudi Arabia can’t place a man in space or protect her boarders with high tech missile defense systems or nuclear weapons. In fact, the only thing Saudi Arabia has done with her wealth has been the purchase of US debt and notes.
In truth, Russia’s economy is already diversified. The rest is a new chapter of mixed economics, and a new chapter kicking Russia’s economy into high gear while managing and protecting her human capital, and natural resources from abuse and uncontrolled exploitation.
Today it is easier to start a business in Russia than it is in the US. Taxes are lower in Russia than in any advanced Western capitalist nation. True democracy is growing in Russia while vanishing in Western nations. Human trafficking and slavery are still the greatest in the US, while Russia continues to advance her human rights that in most cases surpasses those of the US. Freedom, liberation and democracy can not exists without a great economy. “Peak oil” is giving Russia and her partners this advantage and trigger, while her government produces incentives that will make Russia the most peaceful and prosperous nation on Earth.
Besides the text, Luther has quite a few videos on his website. They do not only portray Russia but also China, many of them are about military technology and equipment. The ones on China are somehow impressive, so the site might be an interesting view for those who are interested in the military in Russia and China.
When accessing Luther’s site make sure your speakers are turned on as one video starts right away.
Most Tourists in Russia are from Germany
After two years of decreasing numbers, the amount of tourists visiting Russia rises again. The latest offical statistic shows a rise by 2 % to a total number of 2.433 million foreign visitors to Russia in 2006.
The statistic suggests a changing trend in the travel-business to Russia. In 2004 the numbers had decreased by 9.2 %, in 2005 by 16.6 % in comparison to the previous year respectively.
In 2006 most of the foreign tourists came from Germany, 328.500 in total, increasing by 15.000 regarding the previous year. The nations to follow Germany in numbers are Poland (2nd), the USA (3rd) and China (4th).
The statistic is not based on information provided by the Russian tourism industry but rather by numbers provided by Russia’s borderguards who handle the “immigration cards” obligatorily handed in by foreign nationals when travelling to Russia. The Russian authorities counted only those cards reading “tourism” in the field where travellers have to note down the reason of their journey to Russia.
According to this, also “shoppers” are counted being tourists althought they mostly stay only hours, not days, in Russia. Russia notices quite a few Polish nationals travelling to Russia, particularly to the Kaliningrad area, for shopping purposes. Fuel and alcohol are in Russia significantly cheaper than in Poland. But not only Polish nationals like to shop in Russia, the Vyborg area regularly welcomes significant numbers of Finnish nationals visiting Russia for the very same reason.
The numbers of Polish tourists to Russia rose by 76 % in comparison to 2005. Exact numbers for Finnish travellers are presently not available.
It has also to be mentioned that many business travellers to Russia prefer to apply for tourist visa instead of “business visa” as the procedures required to obtain visa for business purposes significantly differ from those required for tourist visa.
To receive reliable numbers, regarding ”real tourists” to Russia, and to exclude shoppers and illicit workers travelling to Russia “disguising” as tourists, the countries directly bordering Russia should be excluded from the list of countries from which tourists travel to Russia. Having done this, the actual numbers should read
1. Germany 328.500
2. USA 225.000
3. Great Britain 124.000
4. Italy 116.000
5. France 102.500
6. Japan 59.500
7. Spain 54.000
8. Turkey 47.000
9. South Korea 43.000
10. Sweden 31.000
11. The Netherlands 29.000
12. Switzerland 27.500
13. Israel 27.000
Increasing prices in Russia suggest that the tourist numbers in Russia will decrease again in 2007 as the average costs per day, for accomodation (hotel) and catering as well as for the average tourist’s activities (fees for museums, attractions, ect.) sum up to 200 to 250 Euros (265 to 331 US $) per day.
This blog entry is based on an article of the German Internet newspaper “Russland Aktuell” which researched the topic and provided the numbers. Their article may be found here.
