In annotations and advertisements of Ayn Rand’s (Alisa Rosenbaum) bestseller «Atlas Shrugged» there was much said about the importance of this work. I believe that the novel is much deeper than it was claimed to be. It is a novel about the human kind and humanity. It’s a philosophical novel. About family. About understanding. About a man and a woman. About sex. It’s a novel about a world view. A novel about a position in this world, about the everyday problem of choice. A novel important for a thinking person of any age and very important for the formation of a young personality. A novel about the world of Alisa Rand. A novel about my world and the world of every person. Without exceptions.

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com/

Everything depends on people. Walking through the city and looking at clean streets and flowering lawns, it is hard to believe that just several years ago it was a place of ruins. Before flying in, I was looking at photos of destroyed Grozny on Ramzan Kadyrov’s blog. Two different worlds – a world of dead stones and a world of the modern city. Respect.

On the route back to Moscow the plane landed in the International Airport of Voronezh due to smog. I don’t mean to offend Voronezh people. But that inconvenient even for short term waiting place is hard to call not even International, but generally a modern airport.

Two cities. Two pasts. Two futures. Everything depends on people.

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com/

Saturday is a day of spiritual enrichment. My volunteer enrichment happened in the Moscow museum of modern art at the exhibition called «Kamasutra Spoon». An announcement by the Administration immediately intrigued me: «Dear visitors, viewing of the exhibition «Kamasutra Spoon" is not recommended to persons under 16 years old, and persons with unstable mentality». And for the spiritual enrichment to occur correctly, the announcement in particularly warned: «Infinite variety of erotic experience causes endless variety of visual expression of the past. The panorama built in the «Kamasutra Spoon» project does not intent to tickles nerves of some lonely libertine, offering the latest perversions of young experimenters. There is a difference between perceiving sex as a physical-sensor experience and sex as a means to transfer cultural and social information». As I have what to tickle my nerves with in life even without the exhibition, and I don’t associate myself with the «lonely libertine», I was left with receiving «cultural and social information». Information about the transformation of a modern world of art I did get. Now I’m transferring my thoughts to you from «the scene of the crime»: several people have created large, three-dimensional formats to express their turbulent emotions. Because all the viewers were older than 16, the second half of the Administration’s announcement was addressed to them. Professional PR agents and organizers monetized this product. And several «lovers of enrichment on a weekend», including myself – materially have supported the project, or, expressing in the modern terms of «transferring cultural and social information» – «I got screwed». Although in all fairness there were a couple of interesting photographs of a dancer and videos of a naked female tango dancer in the hallway. You have to find positive in everything! And one more thing. Osya Bender, as a talented experimenter and an artist, simply out-did his epoch. His undying masterpiece «Seeder» would be, undoubtedly, a social-erotic face of the entire exhibition! :)

You would think it doesn’t matter what part of the globe you’re at. As long as you’re well fed and life is easy. But things aren’t so simple. Entering (walking into, flying into, swimming into :)) some civilized island, right away you feel the special atmosphere of that place. Sometimes neutral. Sometimes friendly. Sometimes hostile. And most of the time you cannot figure out if it is caused by the people, buildings or something intangible. But sometimes you feel like you are visiting your friends – you’re always welcome. I feel that way in Saint-Petersburg and Prague. It is rare when you feel like you came home, where everything is familiar, warm and cozy. I feel that way in Paris, San Francisco, Vancouver. And sometimes you get this feeling that a huge or important part of your past life is connected to this place – Paris, once again, Naples…

I haven’t swam this year yet. I was busy with work, business trips. And here I am on June 12^th, near the ocean. In the morning – to the beach. The sky is dark, the wind is fast, storm has come upon. I didn’t risk it. So, I thought, it all leads for me to open the season on the 13^th. My favorite number! But in the morning I had work, had to take care of an urgent project. M-hm, – I thought again, – the 13^th didn’t work, weird… After lunch our friends took us to show the beauty of British Columbia. The nature is simply out of ordinary, fantastic! And as we were coming back to Vancouver, they offered to go for a swim. The 13^th did work! Although, the water was only 12-14 degrees (or 13? :)), but the swimming season is open! And I opened it in the ocean!!!

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev Dear Vladislav! I work a lot with venture investors: European and North American, especially Canadian funds. How do you see formation of a competitive investment appeal of Russia? Or without it as part of a project, even led by a person with "great managerial experience, a good reputation in business circles, and credibility in the government" can solve such an ambitious task of the state as the IFC, which in the words of our President, "besides, can become a center for financial innovation»? Simply put, what spheres we can and should be more competitive in the world financial market? And how can it be achieved realistically?

Vladislav Inozemtsev In terms of innovations we cannot be appealing today on any ground. Our innovative work is extremely fragmented. I know a lot of people who over the past years have been creatively and selflessly involved in developing innovations. Russia has a lot of original technologies. The problem is that they are very difficult to commercialize and almost impossible to implement, because the volume of existing monopolies, on one side, and the volume within the private sector – from the other, – is devastating. Most processes are tied not only to the technological element, but also an element of interest of managers, suppliers, contractors, workers and consumers. The scale of corruption here is comparable to the scale of corruption in state government. Maybe even more. As an innovative economy, we can not be of interest to the West in the next 10-15 years. Of course, you can create some pockets of innovation, but it's not economics. Investment appeal of «Skolkovo», even if it is big, is not Russia's investment appeal. And if we want to have serious competitive advantages, then it can be only one thing – diversification of resources on the local market. We have to, finally, admit that our attempts to level prices with the world and achieve energy efficiency did not give any results. Today our energy efficiency is higher than in late Soviet by 12-13%, although in Poland, for example, more than twice as much. Even with higher prices on our oil, gas and electricity on the local market we will not see serious market mechanism of energy saving. I think it would be more correct to go the other way. I do not know how this can be done technically – though mass devaluation, a sharp change in tariff policy or government subsidies, but it is necessary to make resources on the domestic market very cheap. It is necessary because then Western investors can come to us, having here cheap resources like in China and other countries to manufacture the final product.

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1407997

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

On Saturdays our corporation traditionally analyzes our position in the information space, including in the World Wide Web – Internet.

The results of the analysis are very important for us. Firstly, position of our corporation in the external environment, dynamics of strengthened attention to our services. Secondly, analysis of the successes of our clients – that too shows efficiency of our work, reaction of the market to the quality of our services. Thirdly, we grade work of the competitors of our clients – that is also a reason to think and structure our recommendations. Victory in informational battles are no less important than in traditional ones.

Sometimes you see useless black PR. At first glance useless. Sometimes it is easy to explain. It is the easiest way to get attention via anonymous and work the contract for some person, without causing too much attention, including famous firms into a company. Then again there can be another variant. Someone feels bad when others are doing well. One of those variants we saw today. Another slander. Author was as per usual, «anonymous». But in the company where we appeared was satisfying, our neighbors in the list are Business Angel Fund AddVenture, famous Scandinavian venture fund CapMan, venture fund Almaz Capital Partners and other major players of Russian and world investment markets. For us it is also a reason to optimistically look at ourselves, we are ranked high, equal to leaders. You can’t just be a plebe in a royal company. Plebes can only squeak something bad from behind the bushes in the dark and run away fast. What can you do, Internet is an open space, it is a part of human culture. Culture, where there is good and bad, bright and dark…

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

"He places the fool in high positions often,
But the nobles dwell in low estate.
I have seen slaves upon horses,
And princes, like slaves, walking on the ground.
And moreover I saw under the sun,
in the place of judgment,
that wickedness was there;
and the place of righteousness,
that iniquity was there.
I said in mine heart, God shall
judge the righteous and the wicked:
for there is a time there
for every purpose and for every work.
And I said: all is vanity. " (Ecclesiastes)

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

«One of the last meetings within the G20 Summit was carried out without the heads of Germany and Britain. Angela Merkel and David Cameron have left the meeting to watch the second half of the World Cup 2010 match between Germany and England».

The British leader said that they both «glued themselves to the screen» while watching the game. (Participants of the G20 promised to decrease deficit by two, http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/international/2010/06/100627_g20_summit_football.shtml)

Simple and understandable priorities of the authorities!

«Recently, American scientists have published facts about researches made on a human brain. They found a segment that is «responsible» for a religion, which activates only at a time of prayers. In other words, that is how we can connect to Space of to God, which explains the God and Space concept of life, in detail explained by many east philosophies».

(Aleksandr Usanin, Research Paper «Change of relations with the world as a method to solve the ecological problems of the modern society» for the First International Ecology Conference «A human and the nature. Problems of ecology in southern Russia». Anapa,May 14-17, 2007, http://usanin.com/?page_id=159).

:)

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

Planning a new book. Let's go! God bless me!

Recently discovered Dina Rubina ...

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

The President of Russia will learn Canadian lessons of development

http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2010/06/23/focus/488786

Love is not a war. If it is war then it’s not love. War is weakness. Love deserves only strong people.

Thunderstorms in Siberia. Hurricane in Moscow. We’ve been flying around the capital for an hour, trying to find glimmers in the clouds and waiting for our turn to land among other desperate like ourselves. But I like long flights. In those hours I can afford to calmly read, and not think of anything else. And each time I reassure myself that a book is an incomparable depth of emotions, feelings, thoughts, which cannot be achieved through any other means. Literature is a spiritual pearl of humanity…

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

All right! :)

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

Unexpected, but very pleasant meeting! I couldn’t have imagined that my destiny will be to meet an American veteran of World War II. 93 year old U.S. Sergeant William Duane Bush has left his home country for the first time since the end of WWII. And went straight to Moscow! A second meeting with Russian co-fighters against fascism in 65 years after a meeting at the Elbe. Shot of vodka and a toast for victory! Thank you to my friend Nathan Hunt for this acquaintance, he is the grandnephew of the veteran, and helped organize the visit to Moscow. And my grandfather could have met William at Elbe or even Moscow if he hasn’t disappeared without a trace close to Smolensk. But his grandson did the job for him…

Konstantin Smolentsev What steps, in your opinion, are necessary for the government to take for business innovations to be economically profitable? And is there a direct correlation between innovativeness and investment appeal?

Evgeniy Yasin We need serious steps towards liberalization of economic and political regimes in the country. Not because it will immediately bring some dividends, but because they are necessary conditions for creative people and original thinkers to appear, who know that success mostly depends on them, who wouldn’t doubt that Russia has more opportunities for creativity and business. Also it is important for the government to set aside finances to support newly emerging companies, which are necessary for structural changes, for promotion of our new products at the international market. Then policies of diversification will become real.

Ъ-Online, 05/20/2010

I have looked at the position of the corporate IC «SMOLENTSEV & Partners» Internet website (www.smolentsev.com) on various search engines.

In Google we are:

- on the first place when inquiring «ангельское инвестирование», «организация ангельского и венчурного финансирования», «клубные облигации», «выпуск клубных акций», «мотивационно-развивающий подход», «деловое сотрудничество Канады, России и СНГ»;
- on the second place when inquiring «международное развитие»;
- on the third place when inquiring «ангельское финансирование»;
- on the fifth place when inquiring «фонды венчурного капитала»;
- a leader in search inquiries «венчурное инвестирование», «венчурное финансирование», «прямые инвестиции», «частные инвесторы», «стратегические инвестиции», «стратегический инвестор», «разработка и внедрение Сбалансированной Системы Показателей – ССП (Balanced Scorecard – BSC)», «организация стажировок и обучения», «активное саморазвитие бизнеса», «женщина и бизнес».

In Yandex we are:

- on the first place when inquiring «ангельское финансирование», «организация ангельского и венчурного финансирования», «разработка и внедрение Сбалансированной Системы Показателей – ССП (Balanced Scorecard – BSC)», «мотивационно-развивающий подход» и «деловое сотрудничество Канады, России и СНГ»;
- on the second place when inquiring «ангельское инвестирование», «клубные облигации»;
- on the fourth place when inquiring «VIP-консультирование»;
- on fifth place when inquiring «инвесторы ангелы»;
- on tenth place when inquiring «механизм активного саморазвития бизнеса»;
- a leader in search inquiries «венчурное инвестирование», «венчурное финансирование», «стратегический инвестор», «фонды венчурного капитала», «международное развитие», «женщина и бизнес».

In Rambler we are:

- on the first place when inquiring «ангельское финансирование», «фонды венчурного капитала», «организация ангельского и венчурного финансирования», «мотивационно-развивающий подход», «деловое сотрудничество Канады, России и СНГ»;
- on the second place when inquiring «стратегический инвестор»;
- on the seventh place when inquiring «инвесторы ангелы»;
- on the ninth place when inquiring «бизнес ангелы», «выпуск клубных акций»;
- a leader in search inquiries «private equity», «road-show», «ангельское финансирование», «венчурные фонды», «венчурное финансирование», «стратегический инвестор», «организация вексельных и облигационных займов» .

We are also in leading positions in other search engines.

Excellent!

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com