Russian press review 06.11.2006

Russian press writes about power outage in Europe, nuclear program of Iran, lack of financial knowledge among Russians, need for the “high level elite” in the country and the prospects of airship's use in Russia.

After the massive power outage in the European Union the daily “Moskovsky komsomolets” speculates on what can be learnt.

The daily says the Russian government should take a closer look at how Europe dealt with the situation and learn effective damage control. Especially as energy consumption is growing faster than production.

It's likely Europe will relax its political grip on Russia, according to “Moskovsky komsomolets”, to secure energy supplies from the country. 

The weekly “Moskovskie novosti” looks at why Russia isn't overly alarmed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The main reason, the paper thinks, is Russia doesn’t believe Iran would attack anyone. It understands an American counterblow would destroy the Islamic state and that an attack on Israel would endanger neighboring countries and risk destroying Islamic relics in Jerusalem.

“Moskovskie novosti” also writes that one of Russia's main goals should be the creation of a “high level elite”.

By elite, the weekly means people who are “good idea generators, managers and decision makers”.

The paper suggests that soon the world will be “divided” into countries of “managers” and countries of “workers”.

So Russia has to choose now which camp it wants to be in.

The weekly “Rossiya” writes that many Russians lack basic financial knowledge, which is a serious problem that could impact economic development.

The financial sector is offering an increasing number of products and services, but the diversity and complexity is confusing to the people.

According to “Rossiya”, Russians have a hard time understanding what the modern world can offer, and don't know how to use the benefits of civilization to their advantage.

The weekly quotes a survey which suggests many young people can’t even answer basic questions about bank machines or loans.

The paper says that with growing incomes the need for basic financial knowledge intensifies.

The “Profil” magazine looks at the pros and cons of airships concluding that Russia is the best place to use them.

The magazine suggests that with the modern technology there are few dangers involved these days and that Russia, with its huge flat territories where road construction is often not practical, is a perfect place to utilize this airborne form of transport.