Welcome to Cali Russia 2011,

Welcome to Cali Russia, an informative blog designed to share basic information and news about the Russia.
This online resource was originally created in 2007 by Ioan Elvis Sersea, M.A., M.A.T., aka MaestroSersea, English as a Second Language Instructor, who wished to connect his adult English learner students with the wonders of the internet.
Now, in 2011, this website has been revisited and improved with formatting and a new template, to ensure ease of use and accessibility.
More information can be included here about Russia, with topics varying from tourism, to culture, to economics, to entertainment. What features would you like added to the Cali Russia blog?
Do some research using our helpful Russia page search engine, and add a comment below on what else you'd like featured here on Russia.
If you need an online translator to conduct your online research on Seychelles, you're invited to use our 41-language online translator.



Thank you for visiting,
MaestroSersea

Maps of Russia

People of Russia from CIA World Factbook

Population:	142,893,540 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:	0-14 years: 14.2% (male 10,441,151/female 9,921,102) 15-64 years: 71.3% (male 49,271,698/female 52,679,463) 65 years and over: 14.4% (male 6,500,814/female 14,079,312) (2006 est.)
Median age:	total: 38.4 years male: 35.2 years female: 41.3 years (2006 est.)
Population growth rate:	-0.37% (2006 est.)
Birth rate:	9.95 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate:	14.65 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate:	1.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio:	at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.46 male(s)/female total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Infant mortality rate:	total: 15.13 deaths/1,000 live births male: 17.43 deaths/1,000 live births female: 12.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:	total population: 67.08 years male: 60.45 years female: 74.1 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate:	1.28 children born/woman (2006 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:	1.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:	860,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:	9,000 (2001 est.)
Nationality:	noun: Russian(s) adjective: Russian
Ethnic groups:	Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)
Religions:	Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.) note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule
Languages:	Russian, many minority languages
Literacy:	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.6% male: 99.7% female: 99.5% (2003 est.)

Russia Economy Overview from CIA World Factbook

Economy - overview:

Russia ended 2006 with its eighth straight year of growth, averaging 6.7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998.

Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003-04 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role. Over the last five years, fixed capital investments have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand.

Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis.

The federal budget has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2006 with a surplus of 7.4% of GDP on a cash basis. Over the past several years, Russia has used its stabilization fund based on oil taxes to prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. Foreign debt has decreased to 31% of GDP, mainly due to decreasing state debt, although commercial debt to foreigners has risen strongly.

Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $315 billion at yearend 2006, the third largest reserves in the world. During Putin's first administration, a number of important reforms were implemented in the areas of tax, bankng, labor, and land codes.

These achievements have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects, with foreign direct investment rising from $14.6 billion in 2005 to an estimated $30 billion in 2006. In 2006, Russia's GDP grew 6.6%, while inflation was below 10% for the first time in the past 10 years. Growth was driven by non-tradable services and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to oil or mineral extraction and exports. Russia has signed a bilateral market access agreement with the US as a prelude to possible WTO entry, and its companies are involved in global merger and acquisition activity in the oil and gas, metals, and telecom sectors.

Despite Russia's recent success, serious problems persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports and 32% of government revenues, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world commodity prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth.

A 20% appreciation of the ruble over 2005-2006 has made attracting additional investment more difficult. The banking system, while increasing consumer lending and growing at a high rate, is still small relative to the banking sectors of Russia's emerging market peers. Political uncertainties ahead of the elections, corruption, and widespread lack of trust in institutions continue to dampen domestic and foreign investor sentiment. From 2002 to 2005, the government bureaucracy increased by 17% - 10.9% in 2005 alone.

President PUTIN has granted more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy. Russia has made little progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy. The government has promised additional legislation to make its intellectual property protection WTO-consistent, but enforcement remains problematic.

Background to Russia from CIA World Factbook

Background:

Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities.

In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific.

Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire.

During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household.

The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period.

While some progress has been made on the economic front, and Russia's management of its windfall oil wealth has improved its financial standing, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and democratic institutions remain weak. Russia has severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.

Welcome to CaliRussia

This blog invites people from all over the world who are interested in learning more about California and its people, as well as making new friends.We are in the proccess of creating our own website under CaliWorldFriends, and creating sister blogs, and websites, representing some of the many international communities represented here in California.So, be on the lookout for other sister websites where people from representative communities will participate. The following online communities are underway:CaliRomania, CaliKorea, CaliChina, CaliIndia, and CaliVietnam,for starters.We plan on creating an online environment for friendship and the exchange of information for people of different cultures residing in or out of California.Won't you join us?Please attach comments with any ideas you have in making this dream a reality enjoyed by all.