Originally Posted by KGB_resident

Originally Posted by Alsacien

Originally Posted by KGB_resident

Originally Posted by Herrumph

I just heard that the head of the British Council in Russia has been stopped on made-up traffic violations.

Reportedly - drunk driving. I fancy that mr.Kinnock jr. was surpised because previously his diplomatic status made him untouchable.

There is no such thing as a genuine traffic violation in St Petersburg - on the spot fines are the only wages local police can be sure of....and they certainly cannot afford breathalisers!

Oh, there is no problems with alkometers in Russia

http://www.ip-video.spb.ru/controlalkometr.html

Btw. it is St.-Petersburg's site.

Prices are from 40 to 100 pounds for unit. The last one has name - Alkometer-GIBDD (GIBDD - Russian traffic police service).

Last time I was there they made my taxi driver walk along a kerb (at 0930 in the morning) for 5 mins before he made a "donation"....

Originally Posted by Alsacien

Last time I was there they made my taxi driver walk along a kerb (at 0930 in the morning) for 5 mins before he made a "donation"....

You are bloody right. Russian road police is likely the most corrupted structure in Russia (if not in the World). Btw, not only road police, but also police, prosecutors, judges, politicians are corrupted. Though politicians are corrupted everywhere.

In this case however, the operation was rather staged by FSB. According to Russian (and I believe not only Russian) law any driver must agree to be checked by alkometer. No doubt, high precision unit (maybe even British made) was proposed to mr.Kinnock.

Originally Posted by KGB_resident

Originally Posted by RP578

The Russians have really got it in for our diplomats there. As this article from yesterday's Guardian points out, the poor old British Council seems to be an easy target for a playground bully.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said the move against the British Council was a "counter measure" for the diplomatic expulsions from London that followed Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the businessman sought for Litvinenko's death. The irony is that Mr Lavrov sent his daughter to the London School of Economics. If British education is good enough for him, why should it be denied to other Russians?

No one doubts that British educational system is one of the best in the World. But British council is a very strange organisation. Its services look as not transparent and high quality.

Only strange to you and your paranoid colleagues who seem to be unable to grasp the concept of cultural diplomacy. It is very simple - the British Council provides educational services and scholarships to foreign students in the hope that they will remain "friends of Britain" in later life. Germany's Goethe Institute and the Japan Foundation do exactly the same thing. I'm sure no-one would have any problem if Russia wanted to open up a similar organization around the UK - I just doubt there would be many takers.

Originally Posted by msr

Your call:



http://socialdemokraterne.dk/persona...tpage.personal

MSR

Presumably this means their kids will be:

1. Socialists
2. Redheads
3. Europhiles
4. State employees

Three generations living on state handouts; talk about the inequalities inherent in the system

Quick, fetch me a shovel and three Greenjackets!

Originally Posted by bearstillinthewoods

Originally Posted by KGB_resident

Originally Posted by RP578

The Russians have really got it in for our diplomats there. As this article from yesterday's Guardian points out, the poor old British Council seems to be an easy target for a playground bully.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said the move against the British Council was a "counter measure" for the diplomatic expulsions from London that followed Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the businessman sought for Litvinenko's death. The irony is that Mr Lavrov sent his daughter to the London School of Economics. If British education is good enough for him, why should it be denied to other Russians?

No one doubts that British educational system is one of the best in the World. But British council is a very strange organisation. Its services look as not transparent and high quality.

Only strange to you and your paranoid colleagues who seem to be unable to grasp the concept of cultural diplomacy. It is very simple - the British Council provides educational services and scholarships to foreign students in the hope that they will remain "friends of Britain" in later life. Germany's Goethe Institute and the Japan Foundation do exactly the same thing. I'm sure no-one would have any problem if Russia wanted to open up a similar organization around the UK - I just doubt there would be many takers.

Well, let's look at Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Council

The British Council ... is registered as a charity in England.

Clearly the British Council, as a legal charity, must by definition be independent of government, and so cannot be a department of the UK government. So why English (even not British) charity should have any special rights in Russia (tax exemption for example)?

Charities registered in England (like British Council) which now wish to operate in Scotland are required to register as cross-border charities in Scotland from February 2007.

Why do you think?

The Sunday Herald obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act showing that British Council's Marketing Co-ordinator in the USA had been referring to The University of Stirling as 'The University of Sterling' (sic)...

As for China...

The British Council in China operates in rather murky waters. It employs non-Chinese English language examiners on contracts that do not appear to be enforceable under either Chinese or British law. ... The effectiveness of British Council efforts to promote higher education in China have also recently been examined in England by The House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills in a report issued on 5 August 2007 [24]. It expressed concern that in terms of joint educational programmes involving Chinese universities, UK lagged behind Australia, USA, Hong Kong China, Canada and France.

British council closes its librares and offices arounfd the World:

In June 2007, MPs were told of further closures in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (where there had been a British Council Library since 1946). The British Council libraries in Athens[13] and in Belgrade[14] are also to close. Similarly in India, the British Council Libraries at Bhopal and Trivandrum are facing closure early next year...
...
British Council libraries and offices have also been closed in a number of other countries judged by the British Council to be of little strategic or commercial importance as it refocused its activities on China and The Gulf where it can get a 'bigger bang for the buck'. Council offices were closed in Lesotho, Swaziland, Ecuador and provincial Länder in Germany in 2000–2001 — as well as Belarus... The British Council office in Peru also closed in September 2006

hi ho hi ho its off to aiya napa we go with a shovel and pick and a danish chick hi ho

The Russians had better be careful:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7191411.stm

...or Milliband will keep saying it is "unacceptable".

I can imagine how threatened the Kremlin must feel when Milliband comes out with such strong condemnation.

One of the comments following the Guardian piece pretty much articulates my own feelings on this:

MartinGarthwaite

January 15, 2008 10:37 AM

Tax evasion appears to be the blunt instrument of choice for the current Russian "government", to be honest I object to tax payers money going to Russian citizens and funding places at UK universities. I'm a graduate of The London School of Economics and my MSc cost me 13K. The whole point of these education programs is that the recipient goes back to their home country with a first hand experience of British culture and a first class education. Surely this Russian minister is better placed than most to understand the value of the British Council especially as his daughter is a recipient of this program.

Why bother with the Russians, it's not a democratic country and is responsible for state sponsored murder on British soil. Lets see what happens when energy prices drop by 50%.

Let's just pack up shop. The Russians obviously think the Council is some sort of MI6 front (see KGB_Resident's insinuations above) and don't want us there. And on our side, well what's to be gained? Give the university places and language training to the Poles, I say. There are a far more productive immigrant community, an EU trading partner and comrade in arms.

The situation is as transparent as muddy water. The Russians are trying to force US to close the place - so they can then feed it to the masses that it was our decision. However it is simple tit for tat as part of the ongoing diplomatic argument about Litvinenko being topped, Berezovsky nearly being dayglowed, the Russians' refusal to extradite the prime suspect (Lugovoi) and the UK expulsion of Russian diplomats.

Unfortunately its going to get worse before it gets better.

And yes I would kick the Danish bints back and front doors in.