Russia consumer goods sector | Retail sector in Russia | BRIC Report on Russia consumer goods sector Russia has long been known as major resource exporter. Justifiably so, as the oil and natural gas sector contributes a lion’s share of the country’s exports and makes up a majority of its gross domestic product. Yet Russia has never been thought of as a nation of spenders, especially given its past crusades against capitalism. But some interesting statistics and a flurry of recent M&A deals in consumer-oriented sectors in the country would tell a different story. Russia, with a population of 142 million, is the largest consumer market in Central and Eastern Europe. Starting from 1998, the consumer boom in Russia has been the result of nearly eight years of economic prosperity, a period fueled by high prices of oil and natural gas in the country, which resulted in growth averaging 6.6 percent a year. Emergence of the Russian middle class During the Soviet days, the general public had access only to basics such as tinned fish distributed by state-run ration shops. Source: Rossstat
The Anti-Media - Very pleased to announce that Libertas Bella News has acquired The Anti-Media (TAM), which came about after reading this from their editor-in-chief: Drawn to activism after discovering the Ron Paul revolution, we (TAM) came of age in the post-9/11 era and we felt we had good reason to push back against the ever-encroaching political system that has heavily indebted us and increasingly infringed upon on our rights whilst expanding its reach and power….Our goal: Awaken people from their passive subservience to big government and corporatism. And this on their Patreon page: We’re guessing they don’t like the fact that we (TAM) highlight and expose corruption wherever we see it, be it in the government or from corporations. TAM is a brand deeply aligned with our own values and worldview: One which runs counter to the sycophantic state power narratives of traditional media outlets.
In Russia, the iPhone is an expensive flop Map: CIA Factbook Despite heavy advertising and early black market interest, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone is an expensive flop in Russia, according to a reportposted Thursday by Svetlana Gladkova. Gladkova, Russian editor of the tech blog Profy.com, writes that Russia's three major carriers cut a deal with Apple last year that requires them to sell a total of 3.5 million iPhones over a period of two to three years. But in the first 6 months after Apple's phone became officially available, according to CNews Russian, the three carriers -- in conjunction with their Russian retail partners -- only managed to sell 250,000. Now, according to Gladkova, one of the largest of those retailers, Euroset, owes the carrier it was working with, MTS, 279 million rubles -- roughly $8.5 million -- for iPhones that it can't unload. Part of the problem, according to Gladkova, is that the estimated 400,000 iPhones that entered Russia through the back door satisfied much of the initial demand.
What is a Wiki War? Essentially a wiki war is an ‘edit war’ that occurs on Wikipedia. It happens when editors disagree on article content. The ‘war’ is when many points of view engage in three dimensional chess strategies with each other using Wikipedia policies or admin support to block editing permissions to those with opposing viewpoints, or how veteran Wikipedia contributor David Gerard puts it – “battles to the death for insanely low stakes”. It can be a seriously nasty business, and I’m skeptical that the stakes are so small. The general public is not aware what serious business it can be, because these activities are ‘buried out in the open’ in WikiMedia’s software system. WikiMedia doesn’t discuss them much, nor how dark and sordid they can become. A wiki war is far more nefarious than just a bunch of nerds arguing over sources. I believe this is just a natural signature of an ideological struggle in society. Who ever controls the narrative – influences potentially the entire world through media.
Economy of the Soviet Union The economy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was based on a system of state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, industrial manufacturing and centralized administrative planning. The economy was characterised by state control of investment, public ownership of industrial assets, and during the last 20 years of its existence, pervasive corruption and socioeconomic stagnation. After Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, continuing economic liberalisation moved the economy towards a market-oriented socialist economy. All of these factors contributed to the final dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The stagnation that would consume the last years of the Soviet Union was caused by poor governance under Leonid Brezhnev and inefficiencies within the command economy. Beginning in 1928, the entire course of the economy was guided by a series of Five-Year Plans. Planning Heavy industry was always the focus of the Soviet economy, even in its later years. Time frame
Charlie Hebdo investigator took own life hours after attack: report The Associated Press, Paris Wednesday, 14 January 2015 France ordered prosecutors around the country to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism, announcing Wednesday that 54 people had been arrested for those offenses since terror attacks left 20 dead in Paris last week, including three gunmen. The order came as Charlie Hebdo’s defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the satirical newspaper that fronted the Prophet Muhammad anew on its cover. France has been tightening security and searching for accomplices since the terror attacks began, but none of the 54 people have been linked to the attacks. Among those detained was Dieudonne, a controversial, popular comic with repeated convictions for racism and anti-Semitism. Like many European countries, France has strong laws against hate speech and especially anti-Semitism in the wake of the Holocaust. “There should be no more ‘Yes, but,” he insisted.
Culture of Russia Orientation Identification. "Rus" may derive from the name of a tribe that gained political ascendancy in Kiev and other Slavic towns and lent its name to the language, culture, and state. People ethnically identified as Russians have been politically and culturally dominant in a vast area for five hundred years of tsarist and Soviet imperial expansion. Location and Geography. European Russia, the most densely populated, urbanized, and industrialized region, lies between the Ukraine-Belarus border and the Ural Mountains. The great plains are divided by six ecological bands. The climate of much of European Russia is continental, with long, cold winters and short, hot summers. Russia huge forests provide for foraging, hunting, and logging. Many great rivers transect the country, such as the Dvina, Don, Oka, and Volga in the European heartland and the Ob, Yenisei, and Lena in Siberia; most of these rivers are linked by subsidiary waterways. Demography. Linguistic Affiliation.
About - Serial On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She'd been strangled. Sarah Koenig, who hosts Serial, first learned about this case more than a year ago. Distressed Debt Investing: Stressed High Yield: CEDC CEDC is one of the largest producers of Vodka in the world and the largest integrated spirit beverages business in Central and Eastern Europe when measured by volume. The Company produced and distributed 32.7 million nine-liter cases in 2010. Business activities include the production and sale of proprietary brands of spirits, and the exclusive importation of a variety of other branded spirits, wines, and beers in select locales. Poland (8.6 million nine-liter cases sold in 2010 / 21 million liters sold in 3Q11): CEDC is one of the leading producers of vodka in Poland and maintains two production facilities there. Russia (21.3 million nine-liter cases sold in 2010 / 38 million liters sold in 3Q11): The Company is the leading integrated spirits company in Russia and maintains 12.4% market share in vodka production. Hungary (2.8 million nine-liter cases sold in 2010): CEDC’s business operation in Hungary principally includes the sale of Royal Vodka. Valuation Waterfall Comps Poland Financials
Hullabaloo Black market iPhones big in Russia, China - Technology & science - Wireless MOSCOW — In the Soviet days, Russians asked their American friends to bring blue jeans, rock records and other Western goods into the country. Today Russians can buy almost anything they want here — but they are still begging for one item: Apple Inc.'s slick iPhone. The new iPhone went on sale in 21 countries July 11 and will soon be released in 70 nations. Officially, Russia and China are still on hold — neither last year's original iPhone nor the updated model have been launched in those countries because Apple is still negotiating with mobile service providers. And yet analysts estimate that only the U.S. has more iPhone users than Russia and China. In both countries, the device enjoys super-exclusive status, thanks to a thriving market for "unlocked" iPhones adapted for local use. Moscow and Beijing have become an iPhone trader's paradise. "They are being brought in in suitcases," said Eldar Murtazin of Moscow's Mobile Research Group.