Delhi's famed 17th centuiry Red Fort has been selected by UNESCO to be on the World Heritage List.

I am really thrilled about this as the authorities in Delhi have been taking special care to maintain the Fort, which is one of the main symbols of India.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/28red.htm

Why don't we rename Global Gallery as Slobal Gallery?

I wonder why on earth TIG is taking so long to approve pictures. It's much easier to post pictures on sites like Facebook and Flickr but I still want to put up pics on global gallery as I feel it's a good way of enhancing TIG's collection. It's too bad that TIG doesn't share my sentiments...

This is the editorial in this week's issue of the Sakhalin Times

The Russian Government’s coercive tactics to take control of the Sakhalin II project hasn’t gone very well with the international business community. While it’s the government’s right to protect its interests (and the environment), the manner in which it went about the Gazprom “takeover” of the Sakhalin II project was unbecoming. Starting with the dismantling of Yukos, the government has been on a collision course with international companies operating in the oil and gas industry. In just 3 years, Russia’s image has taken the kind of pounding that would have been unthinkable in the post-Cold War era.

Despite membership (and presidency) of the Group of 8 industrialised and democratic nations, Russia has maintained several relics of the dark past such as an unreformed judiciary and police. The country has also curtailed individual freedoms guaranteed by the new constitution such as freedom of speech and movement. Sakhalin and many other regions in the Russian Far East have been re-declared border zones, with an eye on restricting travel. Most countries restrict access to sensitive defence establishments but the authorities in Russia have gone overboard.

Short-sighted visa and immigration policies have made it difficult for companies to get work permits for skilled specialists, while at the same time, the country is flooded with illegal immigrants from the former Soviet Union (taking advantage of no visa restrictions) and China (using improperly manned borders and lax border-visa regimes).

In Sakhalin, the oil and gas industry has created an economic boom and the quality of life and standard of living has drastically improved but a large proportion of the populace remain economically vulnerable. The administration, at one time, promised large allowances to each Sakhaliner on the lines of what residents of Alaska get but not a single kopeck has been paid.

Sakhalin’s environment is also at the receiving end of a beating from several elements although media coverage is restricted to the Sakhalin II project. It’s not a matter of too much concern for the media and the greens that the forests and wild areas of the island are slowly turning into landfills. Poachers are driving several species of marine life to extinction and criminal elements are making a killing on caviar, salmon and crabs.

It’s obvious that Sakhalin and Russia need major changes. Being such a large country with a unique set of problems, no western model really suits Russia but there has to be a point where reforms and changes are initiated. Russians aspire to have their country as a member of the civilised family of nations and this is no mean task. Unless the establishment makes tough choices in 2007, Russia will keep going backwards and fall deeper in to the dark pit. It would be tomfoolery for the establishment to think that record-high energy prices will last forever and that belligerence towards other countries and its own citizens won’t have any serious after-effects.

This is the editorial in this week's issue of the Sakhalin Times

Despite denials from both sides, it is clear now that Shell made a good-enough offer to Gazprom so that the latter can enter the Sakhalin II project. The western media in collective rage is on a Russia-condemning spree claiming that the country coerced Shell to part with a large stake in the project. Editorials have streamed in from London and New York calling the Kremlin unethical. Such criticism though harsh, is not baseless but the Russian regulatory authorities didn’t have to work too hard to “coerce” Shell.

While it is debatable whether the cost increases in the second phase of the Sakhalin II project were justified, there is little doubt that the project operator didn’t keep a watchful enough eye on the activities of its sub-contractors. The initial statements from Sakhalin Energy denying environmental violations and the subsequent blame it placed on Starstroi gave the Russian Natural Resources Ministry’s environmental watchdog enough ammunition to make life very difficult for the operator. Although Oleg Mitvol promises to continue his attack on Sakhalin Energy, it is now unlikely that the government’s environmental watchdogs will apply as much pressure as it did when the Sakhalin II project lacked direct Russian participation.

In an ideal world, Gazprom’s entry into the project will keep costs from sky-rocketing, ensure the environment is protected and at the same time the excellent human resource policies and community development initiatives of Sakhalin Energy will continue. Given the uncertainties of business and political developments in Russia, no one really knows what kind of changes we are going to see in the implementation of the Sakhalin II project. It would be a real tragedy if the government’s environmental watchdog decides to ignore environmental violations and Gazprom has the freedom and control to run amok and decides to use the project as a tool for political gains.

Russia is no longer in the economic position it was in the mid-1990s. The present regime has made it abundantly clear that terms and conditions imposed on a weak Russia will never be accepted again in the future. However, the country is on its way to becoming a member of the World Trade Organisation and wants to be immersed in the global economy. If the government makes it difficult for foreign companies to do business in Russia then it can expect the same kind of treatment overseas for Russian companies.

Since the Russia-Shell drama seems to have come to a close, we can only hope now that the Sakhalin II project can be implemented without any major interruptions, ensuring that deliveries of LNG are met as per agreed-upon schedules. This alone, can be a saving grace for both Russia and Shell, which would both lose out if there are more delays in the project.

This is the editorial in this week's issue of the Sakhalin Times

Despite federal policies encouraging the contrary, the Sakhalin Region has been at the forefront of welcoming international specialists. Foreigners are generally respected in Sakhalin and face almost no harassment from the authorities. However, a wave of illegal immigrants from the Caucasus and China has not escaped the eye of the authorities. Following orders from Moscow, the Federal Migration Service (FMS) has decided to come down on all foreigners working on the island without the right documents.

Judging by the sheer rhetoric it looks like the FMS is painting an oil company executive working on a business visa and a document-less shuttle trader from China with the same brush. Such rhetoric and accompanying threats are completely short-sighted. The oil and gas industry is the backbone of the Sakhalin economy and the remarkable changes on the island over the last few years can be accounted to the Sakhalin Shelf projects. These projects cannot be implemented without the help of international specialists. Most executives in Sakhalin would be more than happy to obtain work permits for their skilled foreign staff rather than depend on business visas. But the whole process of obtaining a work permit is ridiculously difficult and time-consuming.

Instead of making it easier or at least more reasonable to obtain work permits, the authorities are trying to clamp down on the very people who try their best to get such documents. Each time Russian visa rules and policies change, international specialists are made to believe by the government that they are unwelcome in Russia. Ironically, illegal immigrants from China and former Soviet republics ignore all sorts of rules and make a decent living in Sakhalin. With open borders for most former Soviet republics and sheer inability to monitor the long border with China, it’s impossible to keep out illegal immigrants from these places.

In the case of immigrants working in the markets, the authorities have failed to take into consideration the fact that many immigrants have actually obtained Russian citizenship and it is illegal and impossible to evict them from Sakhalin. Even in the case of illegal immigrants, one just has to walk ten minutes away from the Sakhalin Administration building to see a row of Chinese cobblers and vendors on the streets. These people aren’t invisible to anyone but the authorities or certain law-enforcers who are “kept happy.”

There is so little coordination between different organs of power in Russia that laws often contradict each other. The Russian Government was supposed to announce relaxed visa, registration and work permit regulations by January 15, 2007 and now using ethnic tensions in Carelia as an excuse, new rules make getting visas under existing categories difficult. We are talking about a country with a growing economy but a shrinking population. If the present trend continues, we are heading for a scenario where the only people that will be available to fill job vacancies in the booming economy will be illegal and poorly educated immigrants from China and former Soviet countries.