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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (444739)	1/5/2009 12:48:33 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1576130

I wonder for whom jlallen is an attorney? The Lollypop Guild?

To: combjelly who wrote (444739)	1/5/2009 12:50:01 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1576130

Hmmm.....some semblance of democracy seems to be alive in Russia. Russians protest car-import tariff Some 500 motorists rallied in Russia's far east Saturday to protest the government's decision to raise car-import tariffs, and thousands of others are expected to stage similar demonstrations across Russia on Sunday. By PAUL SONNE The Associated Press MOSCOW — Sergei Morozov fears new import tariffs will keep him from buying the car he wants for months. The Kremlin fears Morozov's discontent — and that of thousands of other Russians — will snowball into the biggest challenge to its authority in years. Some 500 motorists rallied in Russia's far east Saturday to protest the government's decision to raise car-import tariffs, and thousands of others are expected to stage similar demonstrations across Russia on Sunday. The wave of protests may serve as a harbinger of much broader discontent among the Russians accustomed to years of strong economic growth and consumer boom. The Russian government is grappling with the worst economic crisis in a decade, as oil prices tank, the ruble slides and unemployment steadily creeps up. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that the tariffs were designed to prop up demand for Russian-made cars and secure jobs in the ailing Russian auto industry. But Morozov, a 21-year-old university student who's been gunning up support for the Moscow protest on YouTube, said Russian cars just aren't any good. Foreign cars "are much better than those produced in our country, and they are affordable for average people," he said. "It's not like I earn millions of dollars and can ride around in a new Audi like our president or Duma deputies." The tariff increase would send prices for used foreign-made cars up 50 percent, while prices for new foreign-made cars could jump up to 15 percent. The move will not affect cars produced in Russia by foreign companies. Motorists in Vladivostok, the main port on Russia's Pacific coast which is the key hub for cars imported from Japan, would suffer more than others. With local industries in demise since the Soviet collapse, many residents of the economically struggling region depend on car-import business to earn their living. Participants in Saturday's protest carried slogans such as "Putin, fight the oligarchs, not the people!" and played Soviet-era war and revolutionary songs. Motorists in more than 40 Russian cities are to take to the streets Sunday to urge the cancellation of the tariff hike. In what could be an ominous sign for authorities, some police officers openly showed their sympathy to protesters during the rally in Vladivostok.