An interesting post by Shurygin Quoting almost in full:
Hello, suckers! Our President Medvedev was unable to visit the Kuril Islands today after all. “This is a very important region of our country,” Medvedev told journalists today in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. ?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O / “Unfortunately, the weather there is currently not suitable for flying, but we’ll do it—we will definitely go there very soon,” he added. Yeah right! Not suitable for flying... I wasn’t lazy and checked the weather websites. And here’s what I saw there: Phobos: Weather in Yuzhno-Kurilsk ?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = V / +10°..+15° Weather in Yuzhno-Kurilsk
THU 30.09 +10°..+15° Weather conditions, atmospheric phenomenaAir temperature, °CAtmospheric pressure, mmHgWind, m/sAir humidity, %Comfort, °CNight
Clear+14°755W 771+13°Morning
Clear+14°757SW 869+13°Day
Clear+17°758SW 560+17°Evening
Clear+16°760SW 473+16°Night
Clear+14°761NW 377+14°Morning
Clear+13°761N 184+13°Day
Clear+16°760SE 471+16°Evening
Clear+15°759S 389+15°Night
Partly cloudy, rain+15°759NW 687+14°Morning
Clear+14°762NW 665+13°Day
Clear+14°763NW 760+13°Evening
Clear+12°764N 469+12° Then Yandex: mmHg m/s Thu September 30 Sunrise 07:05 Sunset 18:52 morning +14…+15 clear 759 75% 12 Water temperature +15 °C Magnetic field: calm Day +14…+15 clear 760 75% 8 evening +13…+15 partly cloudy 762 87% 6 night +13…+15 partly cloudy 763 87% 4 In other words, the weather here is absolutely flyable! For local conditions, it’s ideal! I say this with authority as someone who was on Iturup himself ten days ago. And I’m very curious why Mr. Medvedev is lying to us so stupidly and clumsily. “Weather not suitable for flying...” It seems to me that the secret behind his “bad weather” over the Kurils is this: “Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to the Kuril Islands could seriously damage relations between Russia and Japan, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said. Agence France-Presse reported this, citing the Kyodo news agency. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a press conference that Japan’s Foreign Ministry had already asked the Russian side to abandon plans for the Russian president to visit the Kuril Islands.” Read in full: http://top.rbc.ru/politics/29/09/2010/473838.shtml The Japanese “asked,” and the President of Russia complied. It looks like very soon we’ll be seeing yet another “breakthrough” in relations with another country—Japan. Just like with Norway: http://shurigin.livejournal.com/222362.html Really, why engage in this dumb little lie? Who are we trying to fool? It’s clear that this is a sensitive issue. It’s clear that no one wants to aggravate relations with the Japanese and create problems for the current government. No one wants to play into the hands of Japanese nationalists. So he didn’t go, and he didn’t go. Plans changed. He urgently needed to dash into the Apple Store before closing and buy a fashionable Hello Kitty case with rhinestones for his iPad. Who knows what business the President of Russia might have. But no, damn it, we absolutely had to lie so that “the Japanese wouldn’t think it was under their pressure.” What did that achieve? People are catching the President in a cheap lie. The Japanese are chuckling ominously and having a laugh: not only did he not go after our statements, he also started lying and making excuses. At the very least, it’s unpleasant for all of us that the President of our country looks like a schoolboy lying about his homework. And there is only one explanation... Update. I woke up and saw that Shurygin wrote that he was wrong. http://shurigin.livejournal.com/224628.html Well, okay. I was wrong too. I should have looked into it myself instead of posting snide comments. I admit it. Copy-paste is evil. Medvedev is brave and honest. He will fly to Iturup and stare menacingly at the opposite shore through binoculars. Of course I’m not going to delete the post—once I wrote it, I wrote it. Even old women can have a slip-up (Russian saying meaning anyone can make a mistake).