Российская наука и мир (дайджест) - Февраль 2001 г. (часть 2)

MOSCOW, February 14 (Itar-Tass) -- The USA lacks technology to deploy its antimissile defence "space shield" system in the near future, a Russian scientist said on Wednesday.
Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergei Rogov, said several tests of land-based interceptors have failed and the sea-based and space-based systems will take some years to develop even before testing could begin, he said.
"Testing of a space laser has been scheduled for 2012", he said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda military newspaper.
"That means that the republicans have a wish to deploy the antimissile defence system but have no opportunity to do it within the next few years, with the exception of a ground anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system, which they themselves criticise as ineffective and insufficient", the scientist said.
"The USA has been spending some four billion dollars on the ABM system over the past few years", he added. "Expenses should be increased to 10-15 billion dollars a year to deploy the strategic anti-missile defence system", he said.
"And finally comes the political aspect - the 1972 ABM treaty which bans deployment of a territorial strategic antimissile defence", Rogov said. "That means that to carry out its national anti-missile defence plans, the USA should withdraw from the treaty".

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ITAR-TASS / 02/19/2001

Schoolgirl to represent Russia at engineering exhibition

Екатерина Будаковская, девятиклассница одной из школ столицы Кабардино-Балкарии, получила право представлять Россию на международной научно- технической выставке, которая будет проведена в мае в Сан-Хосе, штат Калифорния. В феврале Екатерина Будаковская стала призером на подобной Российской выставке, под названием "Шаг к будущему", выставив в Техническом Университете им. Баумана небольшой прибор, который регистрирует геомагнитные бури. Она выполнила научную работу под руководством Хаймурата Бойсиева, ученого из республиканского геофизического института. Доклад называется "Диагностика и медицинский прогноз геомагнитных бурь"

NALCHIK, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Yekaterina Budakovskaya, a ninth-form schoolgirl from Nalchik, capital of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, has qualified for a contest of young scientists of the European Union. She will represent Russia at an international scientific and engineering exhibition, due to be held in San Jose, California, next May.
In February Yekaterina Budakovskaya became a prize-winner at a similar Russian exhibition, called Step Towards The Future. She displayed at the Bauman Technical University a small-size instrument, which registers geomagnetic storms. She did her research work under the guidance of Hajimurat Boisiyev, a scientists from the highland Geophysical Institute. The paper is entitled "Diagnosing and medical forecasting of geomagnetic storms".
Husein Dikinov, director of the scientific and technological youth centre of the republic, told Tass on Monday that the Step Towards The Future programme had been in effect in Kabardino- Balkaria since 1995. Every year 350 to 400 schoolchildren display their scientific and technological developments at regional congresses of young scientists of the Caucasus.

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ITAR-TASS / 02/13/2001

50% Russia children can't master half school program: official

Российский Министр просвещения Владимир Филиппов сказал, что каждый второй российский ребенок не может овладеть половиной школьной программы, особенно по таким предметам, как физика, химия, математика и биология

MOSCOW, February 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Education Minister Vladimir Filippov has said every second Russian child cannot master half of the school program, especially such subjects as physics, chemistry, maths and biology. "Some 25 percent of schoolchildren cannot understand "the most 'elaborate' sections of these sciences, while another 25 percent choose to study the humanities, Filippov told Itar-Tass. Some ten million of such students mean tremendous expenses on textbooks, teachers' salaries, as well as moral costs of the pupils and their parents, he said.
The minister noted that "in such conditions, the educational system must be changed". At present, a seven-year school education experiment is underway. One of the main directions of the reform is vocational training for senior grades. It then will be continued in accordance with the chosen profession. Engineering education has already undergone radical changes. At the first stage, students receive comprehensive three-year education. It is followed by another year of training, and then the student is awarded a bachelor's degree. The second stage at which a student trains for another year allows to acquire qualification which is sufficient for a job at an enterprise. The third stage will provide an opportunity for graduates to engage in science. According to the minister, Russia's higher education, on the whole, will be based on this model.

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AP Worldstream / 02/19/2001

Russian environmentalists protest against nuclear waste bill

By Anna Dolgov, Associated Press Writer

Российские защитники окружающей среды протестуют против закона об импорте радиоактивных отходов

MOSCOW, Feb 19, 2001 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Environmental activists from across Russia gathered outside parliament on Monday to protest a bill that would allow the government to import nuclear waste for profit.
The bill would allow Russia to accept spent nuclear fuel from other countries for processing or storage. Proponents argue that it would allow Russia to earn billions of dollars, and solve many of the country's economic problems.
Opponents argue that the risk of contamination is made even higher by Russia's spotty nuclear safety record. The bill "can only be described as a national humiliation", said Igor Artemyev, a member of parliament's liberal Yabloko faction, which organized the rally.
"The country ... will be turned into the world's nuclear waste dump", Artemyev told a news conference. The bill received tentative approval in December in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma. It needs to pass two more readings in the Duma, be approved by the upper chamber and be signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.
The dozens of environmental activists lined up outside the Duma came from some 20 Russian regions, the rally organizers said. "People's health is more valuable than profit", read one poster. Another read: "Mr. President, show will and courage - stop the insanity of the State Duma, don't allow Russia to be turned into a nuclear waste dump".
Importing nuclear waste "would create problems for thousands of years, and the money would run out in just a few years", said Nikolai Zubov, the head of an environmental group from the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk.

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The Associated Press / Tuesday February 20 11:49 AM ET

Protesters Mark Mir Anniversary

By Andrew Kramer, Associated Press Writer

Ученые возражают против запланированного затопления космической станции Мир, которая была когда-то символом космической славы России

MOSCOW, (AP) -- On the 15th anniversary of the Mir space station, scientists and others protested Tuesday against the planned end of what was once the symbol of Russia's space glory.
About 100 protesters stood outside the headquarters of the Russian Space Agency, chanting slogans and stamping their feet to stay warm in the freezing temperatures.
Protesters criticized the Russian government's decision late last year to bring down the Mir in a controlled descent, which has been tentatively scheduled for mid-March.
The decision brought praise from Moscow's partners in the International Space Station, which want the government to devote its scarce resources for space research to the new station. Many were also relieved that the increasingly accident-prone Mir would end its orbit.
But the decision provoked anger among some cosmonauts and others who argue that the Mir has not outlived its usefulness, and among nationalists who see the space station as a national treasure. "There's no point in dumping Mir before the International Space Station is open for scientific work", said Vladimir Bryukhanov, an engineer at the Moscow Institute for Space Instrument Design, at the protest Tuesday. Nobody from the agency came out of the building during the demonstration. The 140-ton space station was the jewel of the Soviet space program when it was launched on Feb. 20, 1986, and it has far surpassed the three to five years it was expected to last. But as it aged, it suffered a long string of accidents, including a fire in February 1997 and a near fatal collision with an unmanned cargo ship just four months later.
According to current plans, the Mir will be directed to a stretch of the South Pacific about equidistant between Australia and Chile in mid-March. The exact date will depend on solar activity. Some 1,500 fragments of the station are expected to survive the fiery re-entry and fall over an ocean area 120 miles wide by 3,600 miles long.

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ITAR-TASS / 02/16/2001

Kaliningrad's role in Russia-EU contacts on agenda

В Калининграде пройдет конференция региональных представителей. Цель конференции - дать рекомендации региональным и федеральным органам власти с целью выполнения программы развития Калининградской области как экспериментального региона в сотрудничестве между Россией и Европейским Союзом

KALININGRAD, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - A conference of the regional deputies' corps will be held in Kaliningrad on Friday to discuss its development as a pilot region in the relations between Russia and the European Union.
Solomon Ginbzburg, Director of the "Regional Strategy" fund for social and political reserch, told Itar-Tass that the conference was organized by the Agency for regional development under the Russian trade and economics ministry, the East-West international organization and the Kaliningrad regional Duma.
The aim of the conference is to make recommendations for regional and federal bodies of power for purposes of implementation of the programme of the development of the Kaliningrad region as a pilot region in cooperation between Russia and the European Union.
The conference will be attended by representatives from the government apparatus, scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of international relations and political studies under Vilnius University and diplomats from Germany, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania.

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ITAR-TASS / 02/14/2001

Russia seeks to prevent militarisation of outer space

Россия начала активную подготовку к международной конференции по предотвращению милитаризации космоса, которая будет проведена в Москве 11 -14 апреля

MOSCOW, February 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russia has started active preparations for an international conference on the prevention of militarisation of outer space. This widely-representative forum is to be held in Moscow on April 11-14 under the motto "Outer Space Without Weapons: Arena of Peaceful Cooperation in the 21st Century", a Russian Foreign Ministry official told Itar-Tass here on Wednesday.
The idea of holding such a meeting in Russia under U.N. auspices was suggested by President Vladimir Putin in his speech at the Millennium Summit in New York. Conference organisers say the forum is called upon to accomplish a dual task: its participants are to consider ways to prevent an arms race in outer space and discuss prospects for the peaceful uses of outer space.
The forum is to involve the directors of national space agencies, officials of Foreign and Defence ministries, international and non-governmental organisations, scientists, as well as cosmonauts and astronauts. The conference is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of man's first-ever space flight.
The conference results are to be summed up in a final document which will contain recommendations to the United Nations and other international organisations, the Russian Foreign Ministry official said.

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The New York Times /February 14, 2001

Ussuriysk Journal: A Tipple That a Tiger, It Seems, Finds Toothsome

By Michael Wines

USSURIYSK, Russia, Feb.13 - Galina Savostyanova cupped her hands as if holding a delicate crystal snifter and lowered her eyelids to half-mast. All but purring, she proffered her personal advice on imbibing one of the finest beverages in all Russia. "You should drink balzam like you would drink a fine cognac", she said. "You should warm it in your hands. You have to have a fireplace going. It should be warm; maybe a sad winter evening. You should keep it in your mouth. You should feel all the flavors".
You should also not forget that you are drinking 90 proof alcohol, lest you forget everything else. If Russia is admired worldwide for its sophistication in some circles - epic literature, classical music, advanced rocketry -its drinking habits, critics say, have never been hailed for their subtlety. Russian drinking, these critics say, is about as subtle as a Russian circus, and Russian circuses dote on costumed bears riding tiny motorcycles. But these critics have never heard of balzam. And they surely have never heard of Ms. Savostyanova's balzam - Ussuriyskiy Balzam, the one with the contented Siberian tiger gazing languidly from the label. Ussuriyskiy Balzam is not just alcohol, though it is certainly that. It is a tonic for life's ills, Siberian Prozac, a nostrum whose uses are, a brochure says, "as broad as your fantasy: juices, jellies, added to ice cream, tea, coffEE". It is a booster of low blood pressure, a lift for sufferers of chronic fatigue, a recommended medicine (the brochure says) for rescue workers, emergency physicians and anyone else "in extreme situations".
All that, and it tastes, well, subtle. Somewhere between a finely aged bourbon and a domestic burgundy with no breeding, but amusing pretensions. For those who know nothing about balzam - which includes most everyone outside Russia and the Baltics - the premise can be summed up in an old Russian saying, "I'm not drinking; I'm healing myself". At its essence, balzam is vodka that is not merely good-tasting, but supposedly good for you as well. In Russia, a place where local balzams are bragged about the way Kansas City brags about its barbecue, Ussuriyskiy Balzam has the cachet of a pulled-pork sandwich that prevents heart disease.
In Ussuriysk, a placid city of close to 160,000 perhaps 60 miles north of Vladivostok, they churn out 360,000 bottles of balzam every year. And the profits have helped equip the balzam factory with the latest Italian bottling equipment and a new laboratory devoted to analyzing the qualities of water.
A little bit of history: balzams, sometimes called balsams, seem to have been invented in Latvia before the 1700's, when Norwegian traders first began hauling casks back home. They share one heritage: each is an inky-black blend of local herbs, berries, spices, roots and a heavy dose of pure alcohol. A tradition of folk medicine runs exceptionally deep in Russia, and the healing qualities of balzams, proven and otherwise, are among their major attractions. Riga Balzam, the most famous, is still served in Latvian cafes with herring; its makers boast 99 different ingredients mixed in pure vodka alcohol. Russian Astrakhan balzam, with 30 ingredients, "is significantly better than the famous Riga balzam", the provincial governor's office brags. A new balzam from the Republican Tasting Committee of the nouveau-Stalinist government of Belarus relies heavily on prunes.
By contrast, Ussuriyskiy Balzam claims but 17 ingredients and a tradition that stretches back not to the 1700's, but to the 1970's, when the distillery - then a state bottler of Stolichnaya Vodka - began making balzam on the side. "In very, very small amounts", Ms. Savostyanova said. "You had to have connections to buy it", mostly from distillery workers who got bottles on state holidays.
The current Ussuriyskiy Balzam is dervied from that Soviet product, but it has two advantages a Brezhnev balzam could never have offered, and its rivals have not matched. One is a formula devised with the help of Russian biotechnologists, who helped choose exotic ingredients with some basis in medicine. The other is a marketing campaign that might draw envy on Madison Avenue.
The ingredients were selected with help from medicinal herb specialists at the Far East Academy of Sciences, where Ms. Savostyanova worked in the 1980's as a specialist in sugars. Besides well-known components like raspberry, mint and camomile, the balzam includes ginseng, which grows wild in the area; schizandra, eleutherococus and red linden berries from Altai Province, near Mongolia, which are said to improve one's mood and restore energy. The mixes of berries and herbs are aged in huge stainless-steel vats at the two-story Ussuriysk distillery, then mixed with pure alcohol before bottling. The result, the company claims, is not just booze, but "a biologically active supplement" good for everything from depression to the common cold - though not, the company warns, for bad nerves, insomnia, hypertension or arteriosclerosis. Used after a drinking bout, it is said to ease hangovers as well.
Another variant, dubbed Russian Island, is even advertised as a cure for alcoholism. Users are advised to take four to six teaspoons a day, straight or with other drinks, for the best effects.
Since being privatized in the early 1990's, Ussuriyskiy Balzam's owners have hammered the message home in billboards and paintings that cover the sides of entire buildings throughout Primorsky Province. The image is unmistakable: a placid tiger, lounging in the woods or beside a waterfall, over the slogan "Ussuriyskiy Balzam: A century of experience, world-class quality; great choice, low price".
The company is doing something right: sales have tripled in three years, and not long ago the balzam began appearing in better Moscow stores. With such snob appeal, Ussuriyskiy Balzam would seem to have a future outside Russia. But so far, Ms. Savostyanova said, efforts to sell the drink in South Korea and the United States have fallen flat.
"Once we sent a container to America", Ms. Savostyanova said. "They said in America, `We don't know what these balzams are; balsam is a cream.' So we called it a liqueur". Americans didn't buy it. "America is a very complicated market", Ms. Savostyanova said.