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1 USD = 7.9842 UAH as of 1/27/2012
1 GBP = 12.5564 UAH as of 1/27/2012
1 EUR = 10.6031 UAH as of 1/27/2012
data snarfed from exchange-rates.org
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What's the difference between British, Russian and Ukrainian Builders?
// Thu Apr 2 08:25:23 2009
british builders will turn up late, leave early and stop for a cup of tea every half hour.russian builders (if they turn up) will get drunk on vodka and steal anything they can. ukrainian builders aren't bad apparently... and lets not even mention german builders as everyone knows they are the best...
looking out of our window on this amazingly sunny morning (which just seems strange as there was a mahoosively
heavy rain of snow just a few days ago) we noticed some builders digging a rather large hole outside (no idea
why they need such a large hole in such a strange place however) olya mentioned some guy from moscow who recently(ish) got fined for using non-russian workers, and no... they
weren't polish! which seems to crop up anytime people mention british workers these days. they were a combination
of ukrainian and moldovan. a few weeks later he was found to be using the same workers again. when asked why he
simply said that "it's cheaper". it seems that as well as actually getting the job done, they don't get drunk
or steal anything! oh, i spoke to soon... they seem to have stopped working. maybe they've all gone for a drink?
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happy or sad? england beat ukraine at footie
// Thu Apr 2 07:58:25 2009
 england beat ukraine, on track for 2010 world cup
london, england -- john terry's late winner ensured england took another significant step towards next year's world cup finals after a 2-1 win over ukraine here on wednesday.
KievUkraineNewsBlog
there is also of course the fact that i really don't give a damn about footie... but i did go to a bar with some friends a couple of months ago to watch a ukrainian match! but having thought about it, i really wish ukraine had won... :-( d[-_-]b
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My PSP (Perl Server Page) Module so far...
// Thu Apr 2 07:01:44 2009
Zestoi::Plugin::PSP is designed to be (designed?) the most simple ever module implementing Perl Server Pages aka Perl embedded in HTML (or any text file)
print Zestoi::Plugin::PSP::parse("file.psp");
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To embed perl code:
- e.g:
<% for $i (0..10) { %>
- may be be multiline (of course)
To embed the value of a perl expression:
- e.g:
<h1> <%= $heading %> </h1>
- the expression is just
print()ed like print $heading;
- whitespace is optional
To include another pl/psp/html/etc file:
include "file.psp";
include "file.pl";
include "file.html";
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- must be within a
<% %> block
- when used normally,
include is a function run at eval time. when saving the generated perl code (e.g: for debug) the contents of the file is lexically embeded recursively unless it encounters a .pl in which case it is replaced by require.
To add comments:
# a comment
// another comment
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- so you don't have to use
#'s as well as javascript //'s in the same file
Global variables:
$cgi: CGI object
%args: CGI->Vars
and that's it! so... this nasty bit of code is actually valid:
<%
sub sql_query
{
qw(1 foo 2 bar 5 spoon);
}
%>
<html>
<head>
<% sub foo { gmtime }; %>
<script language="Javascript">
function district(name)
{
<%
# this is a perl comment
my @q = sql_query("SELECT id,name FROM districts");
my %id2name = ();
// this is a perl comment js style
while (scalar @q)
{
my ($id,$name) = (shift @q, shift @q);
%> hide("district_<%= $id %>"); <%
$id2name{$id} = $name;
}
%>
// this is a normal js comment
show(name);
}
</script>
<% $today = foo(); %>
</head>
<body>
district id's are <%= join(",", keys %id2name) %><br/>
and the date is <%= $today %>
</body>
</html>
|
...and ends up as the following perl code after (pre)processing... (psp -e foo.psp > foo.pl)
sub sql_query
{
qw(1 foo 2 bar 5 spoon);
}
print qq|
<html>
<head>|; sub foo { gmtime }; print qq|
<script language="Javascript">
function district(name)
{|;
# this is a perl comment
my @q = sql_query("SELECT id,name FROM districts");
my %id2name = ();
## this is a perl comment js style
while (scalar @q)
{
my ($id,$name) = (shift @q, shift @q);
print qq| hide("district_|;print $id ;print qq|");|;
$id2name{$id} = $name;
}
print qq|
// this is a normal js comment
show(name);
}
</script>|; $today = foo(); print qq|
</head>
<body>
district id's are|;print join(",", keys %id2name) ;print qq|<br/>
and the date is|;print $today ;print qq|
</body>
</html>|;
|
...which in turn when run creates the following html... (perl foo.pl > foo.html)
<html>
<head>
<script language="Javascript">
function district(name)
{ hide("district_1"); hide("district_2"); hide("district_5");
// this is a normal js comment
show(name);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
district id's are1,2,5<br/>
and the date isWed Apr 1 19:51:23 2009
</body>
</html>
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some of the white space is missing due to the preprocessor trying to make the output a bit prettier.
output is correct when going straight to html from psp though... (psp foo.psp > foo.html)
<html>
<head>
<script language="Javascript">
function district(name)
{
hide("district_1"); hide("district_2"); hide("district_5");
// this is a normal js comment
show(name);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
district id's are 1,2,5<br/>
and the date is Wed Apr 1 20:07:51 2009
</body>
</html>
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tagged with: programming websites perl php
Embedding Perl in HTML: or using Perl like JSP or PHP == PSP?
// Thu Mar 26 19:25:09 2009
I was starting to wonder whether I should try some PHP, due to the way it allows you to work with a web designer
more easily. I have no great desire to construct wonderful HTML and CSS, much better to let someone else do that
with something like Dreamweaver. After learning just enough PHP to realise I didn't like it too much I thought about ways of using Perl in the same
way. And no, this is not another Perl vs PHP type of article. I agree that PHP has it's place and that
sometimes included programming logic with the HTML seems sensible, but (and it's a rather big but(t),
kind of like the rear end of a mahoosive elephant) I just don't particularly like PHP. Personal preference. Sure
I'll code in PHP for the right money (it's hardly a difficult language) but certainly not for fun or personal amusement...  So... (bear with me, I will get to the point eventually...) after looking at things like HTML::Mason, Template Toolkit,
HTML::Template, HTML::EP and even Text::Templet I just couldn't find quite
what I was looking for. (anyone else hear U2 playing?) Out of all of them HTML::EP came closest, but still not as simple as what I wanted. I just wanted to code in the same
way as PHP but with Perl code embedded in the HTML rather than PHP. In HTML::EP (EmbPerl) what gets displayed in the browser
is kind of the evaluation of the snippet of Perl, i.e: the last line. Returning before the end of the snippet is
a bit messy. Why not just capture stdout into a scalar temporarily, then you can just print() wherever you like? So... PSP is born, Perl Server Page! ok... i just think PSP sounds cool and is similar enough to PHP, JSP and ASP  It's simple enough. psp.cgi just takes the HTML/Perl file and translates it into a pure Perl script by turning HTML
code into Perl print() statements and leaving the embedded Perl alone. Example... HTML/PSP source file:
<h1>Heading</h1>
<ul>
<%
foreach $i (0..10)
{
// a simple loop
%>
<li>$i = <%= $i %> </li>
<% } %>
</ul>
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Generated Perl code (with added newlines for clarity):
print qq|<h1>Heading</h1>
<ul>|;
foreach $i (0..10)
{
print qq|<li>\$i = |;
print $i;
print qq|</li>|;
}
print qq|</ul>|;
|
As you can see it also allows ''//'' for comment lines since otherwise it will look sily using hashes for the perl comments while ''//''s for the javascript; but that is optional. The code is eval()'d in a ''Safe'' compartment. So far so good. I've also written a tiny function called include() which is available to the eval()'d Perl since otherwise you couldn't include
another file containing embedded Perl in the same way. I may well decided that this is all a very silly idea, but there again maybe not... One last thing... It's all implemented using 170 lines of Perl. About 30 are comments (ok, not quite enough), 40 just deal with displaying errors
and about 30 are pure whitespace to make the code look pretty. So while I'm sure it has bugs, they should be easy to find...  EDIT: I managed to completely miss Apache::PSP and Text::PSP (why didn't i just do a CPAN search for PSP?) so someone has already done this, but the modules haven't been updated since 2005... Also it's my intension to integrate my code into my Zestoi framework, so I will continue down this path... for now at least...
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and then there was two
// Sun Feb 1 13:35:56 2009
 for a time there was pete, olya, borlik and lolya but now there is only pete and olya... ok, ok, borlik and lolya are hamsters but it was fun looking after them! we had to look after them for a couple of weeks while yulya went away. first of all the continual sound of little lolya scurrying in her wheel 23 hours out of 24 every single day was rather annoying, but quickly seemed normal and now i miss it! 
it's been a week or so since they were taken back to yulya's and it's difficult to sleep these days, it jsust seems too quiet when we try to sleep. personally i'm looking forward to saying privet! to some new cute and fluffy bay borlik and lolya's that may be on there way soon. some of them will live here if i can convince my olya!
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the price of gas?
// Tue Jan 20 03:19:13 2009
it looks like ukraine will be paying $360 per 1,000 cubic meters in Q1 2009, but then it should fall significantly. does that mean that tymoshenko
has been extremely cunning, knowing that perhaps ukraine won't need to purchase much gas this winter? that is of course if ukraine really does
have the gas reserves that have been claimed... yushchenkos energy adviser: average 2009 price for gas will be 240usd, up from current 179.50usd
00:41
before dawn sunday, tymoshenko and putin negotiated a preliminary deal for ukraine to get gas with a 20 percent discount from this year's average european price, which russia says is $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. that would double the price ukraine paid in 2008. however, natural gas prices for europe are expected to fall sharply later this year, due to the reduction in oil prices. by midsummer, ukraine could be paying as little as $150 for 1,000 cubic meters, said ronald smith, a strategist at moscow's alfa bank. russia, meanwhile, will not have to pay ukraine higher transit prices to use its pipelines this year. putin said in 2010, ukraine will have to pay full price for russian gas, and russia will pay market prices for transit. tymoshenko said the deal would save ukraine billions of dollars. but there was no celebration in the camp of her political rival, president viktor yushchenko. citing monday's deal, yushchenko's energy adviser bohdan sokolovsky said ukraine will pay $360 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of this year, and then a lower price. he said the average price for 2009 should be $235-$240 -- still a significant increase from the $179.50 it paid last year.
KyivPost::33753
presidents representative: gas will cost 360usd per 1000 cubic meters in first quarter
23:10
the price of russian gas to be shipped to ukraine in the first quarter of 2009 is $360 per 1,000 cubic meters, ukrainian presidential energy security commissioner bohdan sokolovsky said. "so far, what we know for a fact, the price for the first quarter is $360 per 1,000 cubic meters," sokolovsky told interfax.
KyivPost::33752
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and then there was light... (and gas)
// Mon Jan 19 21:23:08 2009
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I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse
// Mon Jan 19 21:17:11 2009
 well it seems that they have made a deal on gas, a 10 year one in fact! anyone want to place bets on which side will
go back on the deal first? i just tried googling for 'ukraine contracts' and found this on the first page!
Enforcing Contracts in the Ukraine
Invalid object name 'dbo.Content_Section'.
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well... i guess we'll just have to wait and see! ukraine, russia sign gas transit contract for 2009-2019
17:52
the naftohaz ukrainy national oil and gas company and russia's gazprom gas monopoly have signed a long-term contract on transit of natural gas through ukraine's gas transportation system for 2009-2019. russian prime minister vladimir putin announced this at a press conference. he said the rate of the natural gas transit will be calculated under a formula. the price of natural gas and the price of natural gas transit won't be pegged. as ukrainian news earlier reported, the price of natural gas for ukraine was usd 179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2008. the rate on the transit of natural gas through russia from turkmenistan, uzbekistan, and kazakhstan and the rate on the transit of natural gas through ukraine's gas transportation system was in 2008 usd 1.7 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 kilometers. on the night of january 17-18, prime minister yulia tymoshenko and russian prime minister vladimir putin agreed the natural gas price for ukraine be 80% of the price for europe, if the natural gas transit rate of 2008 remains the same for 2009. naftohaz ukrainy and gazprom were instructed to finalize required agreements for signing by monday. prime minister yulia tymoshenko and prime minister vladimir putin were intending to sign contracts on natural gas transit and natural gas supplies to ukraine on january 19.
UkrainianNews::174734
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finally an end to the gas crisis perhaps?
// Mon Jan 19 06:58:39 2009
 ukraine, russia aim to sign gas deal on monday
08:23
russia and ukraine aim to sign an agreement on monday to restart gas flows to europe through ukraine after finally agreeing a price for 2009 supplies.the two former soviet neighbours, whose pricing dispute left parts of southeast europe without gas in the middle of winter, said on sunday they had agreed an outline deal that would quickly restore supplies. putin said moscow had agreed to give ukraine a 20-percent discount from the price european consumers pay, on condition kiev froze 2009 tariffs for russian gas transit to europe across ukraine at last year's level. prices and transit tariffs next year would be "in line with european levels", without any discount, he added. however, it was not clear which european market prices would be applied. ukraine and russia agreed not to use intermediaries in their gas trade, a russian government source said. previous deals have been complicated by the use of the swiss-based intermediary rosukrenergo, an opaque 50/50 joint venture between gazprom and two ukrainian businessmen. some analysts believed that, behind closed doors, ukraine was probably going to pay less for its gas this year than the public statements suggested. "i doubt that it is realistic to expect ukraine to pay a price higher than $250 per tcm," said jonathan stern of the oxford institute for energy supplies.
KyivPost::33655
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an idea for a temporary solution to the gas fiasco
// Fri Jan 16 00:52:13 2009
here's a very sensible idea from professor jonathan stern, director of gas research, natural gas research programme, oxford institute for energy studies: 
solving the gas dispute
14:48
naftogaz ukraine has said that it requires gas to re-pressure the pipeline network, plus the fuel (technical) gas to run the compressor stations; gazprom is unwilling to provide this gas without immediate payment and assurances that deliveries will not be used by ukrainian consumers. the dispute is deadlocked and no resolution appears imminent.on humanitarian grounds, gazprom and naftogaz ukraine with the support of their governments should restart deliveries to the affected countries through at least one pipeline. the european union should provide payments to gazprom for the supply of however much gas is required to re-pressure the minimum necessary part of the network, plus fuel gas, in order for gas to begin flowing as soon as possible. the european union should provide payments to ukraine for the transit of gas. under this arrangement, the european union should continue to provide funds to gazprom for fuel gas, and payments to naftogaz for transit, for as long as is necessary. the european union would subsequently recoup all of these costs either from relevant receiving gas companies, or as part of the legal process which will follow the resolution of this dispute. if necessary, eurogas and the energy charter secretariat could be called upon to advise on appropriate interim prices and transit tariffs.
KyivPost::33374
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gas will start flowing again to europe!
// Tue Jan 13 04:31:43 2009
 russia to restart gas pumps tuesday
brussels, belgium (ap) the european union presidency says russia will restart gas supplies to europe on tuesday morning. a spokesman for the czech government, which holds the rotating eu leadership, said russia had announced it would start pumping gas at 0700 gmt (2 a.m. est) tuesday. "we greatly welcome this announcement," said radek honzak. much of russia's gas travels over ukrainian pipelines, and ukrainian officials have said it could take three days or more for gas to reach europe after russia turns the taps back on.
KyivPost::33082
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naftogaz: negotiations with gazprom failed
// Sun Jan 11 11:22:25 2009
yesterday_21:52
naftogaz ukrainy chief oleh dubyna said negotiations with gazprom on the price of gas for ukraine have failed. the three-day negotiations have unfortunately ended with nothing, said dubyna in boryspil airport, after his return from russia. he said gazprom offered to sell ukraine natural gas at $ 450 per 1,000 cubic meters. "practically nowhere in europe will you find such a price, he said. he added that further negotiations will continue at a higher level.
KyivPost::33009
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some more ukrainian food photos
// Fri Jan 9 15:47:17 2009
in a rare break from the doom and gloom of the current gas fiasco (or debacle. calling it a 'crisis' is just starting to get boring) i thought
i would post a few photos of some food we have had at home (made by an olya) recently. kotlecky with gretchka 
kotlecky are basically large meat balls and really really good. i've also had some at a puzata hata which were also actually rather
good, but of course nothing like as good as olya's! the gretchka is a kind of wheat-thing (also called buck wheat?) and fortunately
tastes much much better than it looks! new year snacks 
quite a few snacks in fact, considering that it was only for me and olya while we drank vodka! the cold sausage is just like some polish sausage
i used to buy when back in the uk. there is another type of pigtail-cheese in the photo. it's not as salty or as dry (in fact not dry at all)
as the previous one i posted, but i don't think it looks as cool! i prefer this one though... as cheap as chips 
cheese this is. processed cheese in fact. i love this stuff! it always seems to come in packets of 100g for about 20p. so by my reckoning it must
contain the worst quality cheese ever. the only kind of processed cheese i used to be able to find in the uk was either the slices for burgers or
smoked processed cheese from austria or there abouts. some of this stuff actually tastes prety bad, so i always buy the brand/flavour in the photo! something sweet 
no, i'm not talking about olya, just some candies (if you're american) and pastries. the sweets are called chocolapky and are now offically my most
favourite all time sweet! in fact we bought two bags last night and there is only a few left from the second pack. the patries are really nice but
not really any different from the uk, even similar in price, 40p each?
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gazprom acting childish and wont accept eu protocol on gas transit monitoring
// Fri Jan 9 10:20:27 2009
so we seem to have two protocols for the monitoring of gas flow through ukraine. the first was proposed by gazprom and has been signed by gazprom and russia. the second
proposed by the european commission and ukraine. strangely enough they were both published on the same day, the 8th january. surely gazprom can trust representatives of the european commission to monitor the gas without
the need to be there themselves? especially when (apparently) gazprom actually want the eu representatives to be present? why doesn't gazprom just sign this protocol and try and and this debacle. oh... because it wasn't written by russia... gazprom against monitoring gas transit via ukraine without its participation
10:28
the russian gazprom considers it unacceptable to monitor natural gas transit via the territory of ukraine without gazprom experts, aleksandr medvedev, gazproms deputy chief executive, told in the interview with the russian radio station ekho moskvy. «such a monitoring system without gazprom and the russian ministry of energy participation is unacceptable. this is our gas. we have to know how it flows into the ukrainian transit system, is distributed and delivered to european consumers,» he noted. the gazproms press service published on january 8 a protocol on gas monitoring proposed by the russian side. the protocol envisages participation of ukrainian, russian and eu experts and representatives of eu gas companies in gas transit monitoring. only gazprom executives and officials of the russian ministry of energy and industry signed the protocol. as ukrainian news reported, the european commission and ukraine made on january 8 a protocol on participating european observers in the ukrainian gas facilities supplying gas via the ukrainian territory.
UkrainianNews::172804
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gazprom in financial trouble
// Thu Jan 8 15:44:57 2009
i only just found this article on the financial bailout that gazprom was searching for at the end of december.
so maybe gazprom really needs the $450/unit from ukraine? 
russian oil giant gazprom searches for bailout money
30/12/2008
the russian natural gas monopoly has seen its market cap shrink by a remarkable 76% since the start of 2008, dropping it to 35th place in overall market cap. now that the company has hit such hard times, it is looking towards moscow for a little help, asking for a reported $5.5 billion. instead of taking the profits from the past five years of record prices for natural gas and investing them in new exploration and drilling, they were used by, at the time russian president, vladimir putin to regain public control over the oil fields, and other forms of private industry. the result ... a company that now finds itself in debt to the tune of $49.5 billion.
BloggingStocks
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naftogaz and gazprom still in talks, naftogaz ready to resume transit to europe
// Thu Jan 8 15:28:05 2009
 naftohaz ukrainy delivers 74 million cubic meters of own gas to europe
on january 1-6, 2009, the national joint-stock company naftohaz ukrainy delivers 74 million cubic meters of natural gas from its own reserves to european countries, company press service has informed ukrainian news. besides, the company used 52 million cubic meters of gas for technological needs of the ukrainian gas transportation system. herewith naftohaz ukrainy reiterates, pumping facilities that carry russian natural gas through ukraine need 21 million cubic meters of gas per day to keep working, or 126 million cubic meters for six days. "so, we can state that ukraine gave 74 million cubic meters of gas to european consumers from own reserves during six days of january 2009," the statement says. on the whole 1,435.9 million cubic meters of russian gas were transited to europe during this period. "this was done in spite of absence of contract with gazprom for transit of natural gas through the territory ukraine for 2009 and severe economical and psychological pressure exerted by the russian side," the statement reads.
UkrainianNews::172630
naftogaz ready to restart delivery of russian gas to europe
15:27
"what we discussed in moscow was at the ukrainian side's request and did not involve the terms for restarting russian gas flows to europe. ukraine pledges to put though all gas entering ukraine and to deliver it fully to the western border," dubyna told an emergency meeting of the european parliament's foreign affairs committee in brussels on thursday. dubyna also said that, if the gas transportation system is to be maintained and remain capable of transporting gas to the european union, a certain volume of gas is required to be used by the compressor stations and of the equipment as a whole. "as russian gas is being transited to europe, a definite amount of technical gas must be used to ensure the transit," he said. dubyna announced that ukraine's position in the talks remains unchanged, ukraine intends to switch to market prices for gas and for gas transit within three years. "therefore, i do not see any political misunderstanding between naftogaz and gazprom, only an economic one," he said.
KyivPost::32870
dubyna, gazprom board chairman miller discuss co-operation
15:32
board chairman of the naftohaz ukrainy national joint-stock company oleh dubyna and board chairman of the russian gas monopoly gazprom aleksey miller held a meeting on gas cooperation in brussels, belgium, press secretary of the ukraines mission in the european union iryna skliar told this to the ukrainian news agency. «the meeting was held but the results are unclear yet,» she said.
UkrainianNews::172731
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what does russia want to get out of this gas crisis?
// Wed Jan 7 17:05:43 2009
maybe this is some masterplan by russia where they want to achieve a number of things? and maybe it's all about to backfire? analysis: what is russias end-game in gas dispute
14:37
kremlin pushing new pipeline projects russia has been struggling to win european approval for the nord stream pipeline, which will ship gas under the baltic sea to germany, bypassing potential troublesome transit states. moscow is also pushing the south stream pipeline, which will ship russian gas under the black sea and direct to the eu. russia is seeking to sign up more european states to the project. asked if the dispute would bolster the nordstream and south stream projects, julian lee of the centre for global energy studies said: "that's certainly what gazprom is hoping for." driving up the oil price the fall in world oil prices, from a high of $147 in july, to about $48 now, has been painful for moscow. the world's second biggest exporter of crude after saudi arabia, russia receives about half of its budget revenues from oil exports. russia's budget needs oil to be at least $70 to keep out of deficit, so the fall in price threatens the lavish spending on public sector wages and pensions that have helped putin underpin his grip on power for nearly a decade. political games russia is using its energy muscle to send a message to ukraine's pro-western leaders to stop seeking membership of nato. moscow believes the alliance's expansion eastwards is creating a new iron curtain. "they (the russians) are keen, perhaps, to demonstrate that it's in ukraine's own interests to be on friendly grounds with russia, while at the same time wanting a switch to market prices" said a second european diplomat. personal animosity russia's uncompromising action in the gas row is driven by personal animosity between kremlin leaders and their counterparts in kiev. ukraine's president viktor yushchenko angered moscow by giving public support for georgia in its war with russia last year. russian officials have singled him out for criticism over the gas row too, accusing him of sabotaging attempts by his officials to reach a deal over gas prices. another theory is that putin is nursing a personal grudge against ukrainian prime minister yulia tymoshenko.
KyivPost::32805
i think this quote is quite telling though... schroeder: nord stream will be commissioned in october 2011
16:08
the nord stream gas pipeline will be commissioned in october 2011, head of the pipeline shareholders' committee gerhard schroeder said at a meeting with russian prime minister vladimir putin by now all european union countries have given their consent to the nord stream project and should support it, he said.
KyivPost::32818
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the upside is that at least russia cannot reduce the supply of gas any further now
// Wed Jan 7 08:59:45 2009
 row halts european gas supplies
08:17GMT
exports of russian gas to europe via ukraine appear to have completely stopped amid a dispute over gas supplies between the two countries. ukraine's naftogaz said russia's gazprom halted supplies at 0744 local time (0544 gmt). gazprom said ukraine had closed the last remaining pipeline. the list of countries reporting a total halt of russian supplies via ukraine now includes romania, the czech republic, slovakia, bosnia-hercegovina, bulgaria, croatia, greece, hungary, macedonia and serbia. talks between naftogaz and gazprom aimed at resolving the crisis are due to resume in moscow on thursday - after the christmas public holiday on wednesday in russia and ukraine. the european commission has demanded that gas supplies to the eu are immediately restored.
BBCNews
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down, down and down
// Tue Jan 6 18:08:37 2009
did i forget to say... down? 
gazprom cuts gas supplies through ukraine by another 15 million cubic meters, to 58 million cubic meters daily
19:07
gazprom as of 1600 kyiv time cut gas supplies to european countries by another 15 million cubic meters (m cm), to 58 m cm, oleh dubyna, the naftogaz ukrainy chairman, has said. gazprom cuts gas supplies to europe via ukraine by another 15 m cm per day, to 58 m cm of gas. "we hope that we convinced our partners that ukraine fulfills its obligations on gas transit in full," he told the press on tuesday after a meeting with japanese, u.s., german, british, polish and romanian ambassadors.
KyivPost::32747
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gas supply to ukraine keeps decreasing with no sign of a resolution on the horizon
// Tue Jan 6 13:56:47 2009
russian gas supplies via ukraine halted to bulgaria, turkey, greece and macedonia
10:41
''supplies to bulgaria as well as the transit to turkey, greece and macedonia have been suspended.'' pipeline operator bulgargaz ceo dimitar gogov says the reason for the suspension to the balkans is not clear and he does not know how long it will last. he says bulgarian gas reserves are sufficient to cover the industry's needs ''for a few days.''
KyivPost::32711
russian gas supplies to romania cut 75 percent
10:46
KyivPost::32712
eurasia group: ukraine one of worlds top risks in 2009
10:51
direct military conflict with russia is unlikely, but battles between prime minister yulia tymoshenko and president viktor yuschenko will continue to divide the government and complicate attempts to deal with the country's economic crisis, a consulting firm has said. growing unemployment, falling wages, and anger at politicians will increase the risk of social unrest in major cities, the group's experts said. ukraine was put eighth on the list of top risks, which identify the year's key geopolitical areas to watch for global investors and market participants.
KyivPost::32713
gazprom sees no grounds to review gas transit contract for 2009
11:10
UkrainianNews::172549
dubyna not ruling out possibility of gazprom discontinuing transit of gas through ukraine to europe
13:06
the naftohaz ukrainy national joint-stock companys board chairman oleh dubyna is not ruling out the possibility of the gazprom gas company (russia) discontinuing the transit of russian natural gas through ukrainian territory to other european countries. dubyna announced this at a news briefing. dubyna said that the volumes of transit of natural gas through ukrainian territory were 262 million cubic meters per day as of january 5 and 92 million cubic meters per day as of 06:00 on january 6. «the export was 72 million cubic meters of gas per day as of the final hour of our conversation with representatives of the european union. there was no warning about this from the russian side. as of today, i can say that they have most likely decided to completely discontinue delivery of natural gas to europe through ukraine,» dubyna said. according to him, ukraine presently uses 270 million cubic meters of natural gas per day and this volume of gas comes from underground storage and gas extracted in ukraine. «this is sufficient to meet ukraines gas requirements as of today,» dubyna said.
UkrainianNews::172561
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gas supplies to ukraine reduced even further
// Mon Jan 5 21:55:15 2009
 naftogaz warns europe that it faces undersupply of gas because of gazprom
22:04
the ukrainian national energy trader, naftogaz ukrainy, has received a gazprom fax warning it of the reduction of the amount of gas to be supplied to european consumers by 65.3 million cubic meters to 221.8 million cubic meters a day, naftogaz said in a statement on monday. "this means that gazprom has in fact cut the volume of gas to be transited to european consumers. thus, the russian company has put gas supplies to european countries at risk," naftogaz said.
KyivPost::32699
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gazprom toughens its position in ukraine gas dispute
// Sun Jan 4 19:11:55 2009
19:25
gazprom ceo alexei miller said that the state-controlled company wanted $450 per 1,000 cubic meters, up from its last offer of $418. ukraine's state gas company accused gazprom of being unwilling to seek a compromise and said any price increase should be accompanied by a similar hike in the fee ukraine gets from russia to move gas through its pipelines on to european customers. "we are open for negotiations if there are reasonable proposals that correspond to european market conditions," naftogaz spokesman valentyn zemlyansky told the associated press. "if the price for gas is $450, then the transit fee will rise accordingly." european countries now pay about $500 per 1,000 cubic meters, including transit costs, but the price is expected to decline significantly as the gas market begins to reflect the fall in world oil prices.
KyivPost::32657
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ukrainians with cars should be ok during the gas crisis
// Sat Jan 3 21:16:30 2009
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lawsuits and accusations of theft while poland is waiting for cheaper gas
// Sat Jan 3 20:17:23 2009
rosukrenergo takes naftogaz ukraine to arbitration
16:01
"to ensure the interests of european gas consumers and force naftogaz ukrainy to fulfill its contractual obligations, rosukrenergo ag filed lawsuits with the arbitration institute of the stockholm chamber of commerce for the recovery of $614 million from naftogaz for supplied gas and also a lawsuit demanding to force naftogaz to ensure gas transit for export supplies under the existing contracts," the spokesman said.
KyivPost::32634
poland expects big drop in oil price soon
16:08
poland is not negotiating the price of russian natural gas, since the price is determined automatically using the earlier agreed oil-linked formulas, and if the price of oil stays at usd 40 per barrel, the gas price for poland may drop to usd 200 for 1,000 cubic meters, said polish deputy prime minister waldemar pawlak, who holds the economy portfolio in the polish government "if the oil price in the first three quarters of this year remains at usd 40 per barrel, the gas price will drop under usd 200 per 1,000 cbm."
KyivPost::32635
ukrainian diplomat: gazprom's accusations of gas theft untrue
16:10
gazprom's claims that ukraine is siphoning off russian gas intended for european consumers are not true: 21 million cubic meters of gas are needed just for burning in a compressor station to keep its pipeline system operating, advisor for energy issues of ukraine's mission to the eu viacheslav kniazhytsky has said. "mister kupriyanov (gazprom spokesman sergei kupriaynov) has said that ukraine is siphoning off, actually stealing, 21 million cubic meters. this is lie. the thing is that 300 million cubic meters, which are daily sent by gazprom to the eu, cannot be transported through ukraine without compressor stations working. and how can a compressor station be working without gas?" the advisor said in an interview with interfax-ukraine in brussels.
KyivPost::32636
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threatening talk by russian gas company gazprom
// Sat Jan 3 13:40:26 2009
 ukraine wants to resume talks but russia doesn't. what kind of relevant response is russia waiting for more than the willingness to restart discussions? i thought that naftogaz had admitted stealing gas in a previous post, but i guess (and hope) that i was wrong. i guess time will tell whether ukraine is indeed stealing he gas or whether russia has decreased the flow of gas by so much to ukraine that naftogaz
is having to use reserves. and what exactly does russia mean by "and will use all measures to make Ukraine"?
naftogaz urges return to talks on saturday accuses moscow of energy blackmail
12:57
"naftogaz demands the speedy cessation of the information hysteria ... and the return of gazprom to constructive dialogue at the negotiating table," it said. naftogaz again denied a gazprom claim that it had been stealing gas destined for europe. it said it had increased gas supplies to romania by 100,000 cubic metres a day and to hungary by 1.8 million cubic metres a day to make up for a shortfall of russian transit gas. "despite the significant cut of russian transit gas and setting price limits, ukraine has used its own volumes to support the stability of gas supplies to the eu," it said.
KyivPost::32626
no resumption of talks now
13:03
prague, jan 3 (reuters) - negotiations over disputed gas contracts are unable to resume because there has been no relevant response from the ukraine side, russian group gazprom's export head alexander medvedev said in prague on saturday. he said the russia gas group was ready to fulfil its commitments to the european union, and will use all measures to make ukraine fulfil its commitments as a transit country.
KyivPost::32627
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ukraine is stealing gas? what a shock!?
// Fri Jan 2 20:37:24 2009
no... really... did absolutely anyone think that this wouldn't happen? or even that it shouldn't happen?
russia just wants to have their cake and eat it. they didn't like ukraine wanting to charge more to house the russian
northern fleet. they don't want to pay more for the transit of their gas. they wanted the payment for gas
delivered and they got it from ukraine (even if at the very last second).
and now they want the fines for late payment paid yesterday (actually quite literally yesterday!). just what is russia going to demand next? ukrainian blood one would imagine... ukraine has openly acknowledged it is stealing gas
16:25
moscow, january 2 (interfax) - naftogaz ukrainy, the ukrainian state-owned energy provider, has declared officially and publicly that it uses daily 21 million cubic meters of gas intended for western european customers for providing the transit of the rest of the gas flowing through its territory westwards, gazprom spokesman sergei kupriyanov said "thus, ukraine has openly acknowledged that it is stealing gas and is not ashamed of this. we also possess documentary evidence proving that 21 million cubic meters of gas are siphoned off in the transit routes for technological needs," kupriyanov said.
KyivPost::32609
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ukraine will be charged market price of $418 per 1,000 cubic meters
// Thu Jan 1 19:53:33 2009
20:23
moscow, jan 1 (interfax) - ukraine will be getting natural gas at a european market price as it rejected favorable conditions. "as ukraine rejected deliveries on favorable terms at the price of $250 for 1,000 cubic meters as of january gazprom will be delivering gas to ukraine at the european market price of $418," gazprom board chairman alexei miller said in an interview with vesti-24 channel.
KyivPost::32590
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gas supply is cut to ukraine
// Thu Jan 1 18:18:42 2009
well, i suppose it was inevitable given the reports from yesterday. gas was shut off today at 7am gmt. i know that my opinion
is going to be biased in ukraines favour (well i do live there!) but it does seem to me that ukraine is really trying to
end this crisis. a crisis not created by ukraine. somehow the debt was cleared (even if by the illegal use of imf funds)
but not happy with that, russia also requires the fines be paid and wants an increase in cost for 2009... in summary (apart from the outstanding debt from fines that are being demanded):
- russia wants to increase the price of gas from $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas to $250. this is an increase of 39%!
- ukraine is willing to increase the price to $201, which is a much more sensible 12%.
we also have to consider the fact that while the rest of europe pays much more for their gas, this price is due to fall shortly.
- ukraine also wants to increase the transit charge (per 1,000 cubic meters for 100km) from $1.70 to (at least) $2, an increase of less than 18%.
- russia wants the transit charge to remain at the current level
update: ukraine has made a new offer
- they are now willing to pay $235 for gas/unit instead of $201 (from current level of $179.50)
- they now would only require $1.8 for transit/unit instead of $2 (from current level of $1.7)
how much will this really affect ukraine?
- ukraine has 17 billion cubic metres of gas in storage which is 22% of annual requirement
- industry is down by 25% so less gas required
- much of the industry uses coal instead of gas anyway
- higher gas prices (if agreed) would filter through to home owners, at a time when unemployment may be as high as 7%
so what will russia do to prevent ukraine from siphoning gas? invade ukraine!?!? russia cuts gas to ukraine, but not to rest of europe
11:26
russia cut off the gas to its neighbour ukraine on thursday after a contract dispute but increased supplies to other european states to try to reassure customers worried about possible disruptionsmoscow and kiev say they will honour their contracts to supply gas to european customers, who analysts say have enough reserves to manage without russian supplies for days, not weeks "we have fully cut off supplies to ukraine as of 10:00 a.m. (0700 gmt) today," an official at russia's gazprom told reporters at company headquarters in moscow. ukraine's naftogaz said it had seen a reduction of pressure in its pipelines, and was pumping gas from its reserves. ukraine's pro-western leaders, who have clashed repeatedly with the kremlin over their ambition to join nato, say they have enough gas stocks to last for months. although the cut-off does not apply to shipments to much of europe, there could be a knock-on effect if it causes a drop in pressure in the transit pipelines or if kiev halts flows to europe to use them as a bargaining chip. kiev is also proposing raising the transit tariffs that russia pays to transport gas to europe to no lower than $2 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas for 100 kilometres.
KyivPost::32576
naftohaz blocks rosukrenergo operation, gazprom claims
17:01
russia's gazprom natural gas monopoly says ukraine's national joint stock company naftohaz ukrainy is blocking the activity of rosukrenergo, which is a monopoly supplier of natural gas to ukraine, sergey kupriyanov, an official representative of gazprom, said in russia's echo of moscow radio interview. "naftohaz is blocking the activity of rosukrenergo while not allowing them to take up from underground storages the gas that must be used for export operations... neither the old, nor the new patterns are effective... the ukrainian party is preventing," he stated.
UkrainianNews::172403
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just when you thought it was safe to turn on your (gas) cooker (in ukraine)
// Wed Dec 31 19:53:28 2008
today i had not been following updates to the gas saga at all, naively assuming that the immediate problem had been averted.
but of course russia could never let it be that simple could they!? i'm sure things would be very very different if ukraine
didn't want to join nato et al and just wanted to be best buddies again with their local schoolground bully. there are no
surprises in the quotes below (apart from the immediate one for me, which was that there was even going to be any more
quotes like these) so they are probably here for my own historical reference. hopefully sometime in the (near) future we can
look back on this situation and smile, remembering what a total ass russia had been... without contract, gazprom says it has no legal grounds to deliver gas to ukraine starting jan. 1
14:19
moscow, december 31 (interfax) - gazprom will have no legal grounds to deliver gas to ukraine if a contract for 2009 is not signed, the russian gas giant's executive board deputy chairman alexander medvedev told a briefing in moscow on wednesday"if a contract on shipments is not signed, we will have no legal or any other grounds to deliver gas to ukraine," he said.
KyivPost::32551
gazprom: threat of naftogaz to seize russian gas increases chances of crisis
14:41
moscow, december 31 (interfax) - the letter of naftogaz ukrainy ceo oleh dubyna threatening to start confiscating russian natural gas is increasing the probability of a crisis, said sergei kupriyanov, a spokesman for gazprom."if earlier the chances that the sides would not sign a contract for gas deliveries to ukraine by new year and the russian side would have to suspend deliveries were 50/50, now the letter increases the chances of a critical scenario to 70/30," kupriyanov told to journalists.
KyivPost::32552
belarus pays much less for russian gas than ukraine
14:44
mogilyev, december 31 (interfax) - the average price belarus will have to pay for natural gas in 2009 will hopefully not differ dramatically from this year's price, belarusian president alexander lukashenko said.belarus paid $119.53 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas in the first quarter of 2008, and $127.9 per 1,000 cubic meters in the second quarter. in contract, ukraine paid $179 per 1,000 cubic meters, prompting critics to complain that the kremlin has one price for its loyal political allies -- such as lukashenko -- and another, much higher price for western-leaning ukraine.
KyivPost::32553
gazprom confirms readiness to exclude rosukrenergo from supply of natural gas to ukraine
14:53
the gazprom gas company (russia) has confirmed its readiness to exclude the rosukrenergo company from the mechanism for supplying natural gas to ukraine. the gazprom export company's director-general aleksandr medvedev announced this at a press conference. "we are confirming [our readiness to exclude rosukrenergo from gas supplies to ukraine]. the drafts [of contracts for direct gas supplies] are available," medvedev said.
UkrainianNews::172331
rosukrenergo claims usd 600 million in financial liabilities naftohaz ukrainy owes to it
15:37
"the debt was usd 2.1 billion, usd 1.5 billion were settled, so over usd 600 million more remain to repay," knutov said.gazprom refuses to sign a contract with naftohaz ukrainy for direct gas supplies unless the mentioned debt is repaid, and many times threatened to stop delivering gas.
UkrainianNews::172345
russia says chances slim of reaching gas deal, avoiding shutoff
17:15
"if there is no agreement by 00:00 (2100 gmt) then by 10:00 a.m. on jan. 1 russia will have no legal obligation to deliver gas beyond the ... border with ukraine."russia denies any political motive behind the row, saying it is purely a business dispute and that it will do everything it can to maintain smooth supplies to europe. however, relations between russia and ukraine have been fraught since pro-western leaders came to power in kiev in 2004 and started to push for membership of the nato alliance. this year ukraine says it has sufficient gas reserves to meet domestic demand, but it has warned that the fall in pressure in the pipeline system caused by a gazprom cut-off could have a knock-on effect on deliveries to europe.
KyivPost::32554
gazprom asks naftohaz ukrainy to buy gas at usd 250 per 1,000 cubic meters from 2009
18:21
the gazprom gas company (russia) has proposed that ukraine's naftohaz ukrainy national joint-stock company buy natural gas at the price of usd 250 per 1,000 cubic meters from 2009.as ukrainian news earlier reported, ukraine presently buys natural gas from russia at the price of usd 179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters.
UkrainianNews::172368
ukraine to accept gas price of 250usd if transit charge raised
20:06
kyiv, december 31 (interfax) - the natural gas price of $250 per 1,000 cubic meters that gazprom is offering to charge ukraine is unacceptable to the country if the charge for the transit of russian gas to europe though ukraine stays at the current level, the ukrainian president's energy security commissioner said on wednesday evening.ukraine charges russia $1.7 for transporting each 1,000 cubic meters of gas through each stretch of 100 kilometers.
KyivPost::32557
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ok... don't hold your breath. the gas saga is not quite over yet
// Tue Dec 30 22:55:49 2008
rosukrenergo denies statement by presidential press service that naftohaz ukrainy paid off gas debt
"we are saying the money for redemption of the debt has not come to the settlement account," he said.
UkrainianNews::172230
and as for the dept between the city of kyiv and the energy distributor... kyiv city administration hopes kyivenergo won't shut off heat despite city's hr 1 billion in debts to energy distribution company
kyiv municipal state administration hopes for uninterruptible heating supplies to the city by the energy distribution company kyivenerho during the new year and christmas holidays, first deputy head of kyiv municipal administration anatolii holubchenko has announced in an exclusive interview with ukrainian news.
KyivPost::32531
so we may still be in for a cold one yet! brrrrrr!
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naftohaz ukrainy pays in full to rosukrenergo for gas imports in november and december
// Tue Dec 30 21:02:40 2008
the naftohaz ukrainy national oil and gas company has paid in full to the rosukrenergo company for natural gas imported to ukraine in november and december. ukrainian news learned this from a statement by the ukrainian presidential press service. "payments have been made not only for november [imports], but also advance payment has been made for december 2008," the statement reads. the presidential press service notes that the naftohaz ukrainy national oil and gas company has removed all obstacles on the way to an agreement with russia's gazprom on gas supplies to ukraine in 2009. the statement by the presidential press service also reads that the debt is redeemed thanks to efforts and coordinated actions of president viktor yuschenko, the cabinet of ministers, the naftohaz ukrainy national oil and gas company, and the national bank of ukraine.
UkrainianNews::172219
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hurrah for the end of the gas crisis!
// Tue Dec 30 19:18:06 2008
 debts to russia for natural gas will be repaid within hours
ukrainian state energy company naftogaz said on tuesday it had started paying off outstanding debts for russian gas supplies and hoped all arrears would be settled within hours. "we have started the procedure of paying off debts for november-december and hope to complete it within a few hours," a spokesman for the company told reuters by telephone. a government order made public earlier said it had authorised naftogaz to borrow up to $2 billion from state banks to settle outstanding debts as talks on 2009 gas supplies and prices proceeded in moscow.
KyivPost::32527
ok... this last piccie has nothing to do with gas, but they are hot and it is christmas afterall! 
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deadline looms ever closer for gas supply to ukraine
// Tue Dec 30 08:54:08 2008
i can't help concentrating on this issue right now, so i thought i would post some snippets from some blogs that i am reading... ukraine, russia still at odds in gas standoff: putin
"we have not agreed so far," putin said monday, after what he said was an hour-long telephone conversation with ukrainian president viktor yushchenko.asked why the two sides had still failed to reach an agreement, putin replied succinctly: "because they (ukraine) do not want to pay."
KievUkraineNewsBlog
ukrainian government holds emergency meeting to discuss gas deadlock with russia
the ukrainian government held an emergency session on monday evening to discuss the issue of gas payments, a ukrainian cabinet source told interfax.the session had not been announced and took place behind closed doors. no more details have been immediately available.
KyivPost::32494
clock ticks down to new russia-ukraine gas conflict
instead of awaiting the traditional champagne toasts for new year, russian and ukrainian gas executives have cancelled their holiday plans as the sides try to strike a deal over kiev's two billion dollars of unpaid gas debts."i think it's 50-50," gazprom spokesman sergei kupriyanov said in an radio interview saturday when asked if russia would cut gas deliveries or if the two sides would clinch a last minute deal. ukraine, which has tense relations with moscow, is expected by analysts to plunge into recession next year as a result of the economic crisis and suffers from political turmoil amid a feud between its president and prime minister.
KievUkraineNewsBlog
gazprom head: ukraine's price for gas should more than double, if market price charged
moscow, dec 29 (reuters) - russia's gazprom said on monday that market gas price for ukraine should amount to $418 per 1,000 cubic metres -- more than double the current price paid -- from jan. 1 if the two countries switch to market terms in gas trade.
KyivPost::32490
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ukraine needs too much gas
// Mon Dec 29 02:50:13 2008
energy efficiency of the ukrainian economy is 5-7 times lower than energy efficiency of economy of western countries. vice director of the institute of global economy and international relations of the academy of sciences of ukraine valeriy novytskyi told at the press-conference. according to him, neither objective gas price nor energy careers price exists due to subjective factor. "energy efficiency of the economy of ukraine is more important than gas price", novytskyi noted. he noted that the gazprom is a monopolist on the european market. "if ukraine was a monopolist, it would behave just like russia", the expert added.
forUm::164319
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8 below and still warm in kyiv!
// Sun Dec 28 00:49:20 2008
i just had to pop to the shop for milk and toilet paper (lol!) and it really didn't feel all that cold
outside. either i am getting used to the weather here or i'm just too fat to notice the cold! seriously though...
it is starting to get colder now and looks like it might get much colder over the next couple of weeks.
i can't wait! so i was rather surprised to see so many girls still wearing short skirts outside! so, on
that note, here's why foreign troops are so afraid of fighting ukraine. the other soldiers might just forget
how to use their weapon (no pun intended). 
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some funny real advertisments!
// Sat Dec 27 15:28:38 2008
''braille dictionary for sale. must see to appreciate.'' ''for sale by owner: complete set of encyclopedia britannica. 45 volumes. excellent condition. $1,000.00 or best offer. no longer needed. got married last weekend. wife knows everything.'' ''help wanted, singer for rock band. must be female or male. '' ''our sofa seats the whole mob and its made of 100% italian leather.'' ''full sized mattress. 20 year warranty. like new. slight urine smell.'' ''found: dirty white dog. looks like a rat... been out while. better be reward.'' ''cows, calves never bred. also 1 gay bull for sale.'' ''nice parachute never opened. used once.''
forUm::150022
well... they made me laugh anyway!
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plucked, washed, trimmed and ready for christmas
// Thu Dec 25 02:10:50 2008
of course i'm referring to myself and not any chicken or turkey we may be having for dinner today.
sorry for my paltry joke! (ok... poultry even... i'm sure my mum once told a joke like that! ) as this is ukraine, we don't really celebrate it today and not even too much on our real christmas
day which is january 7th. easter is the big christian holiday here, which kind of makes more sense to
me actually! but of course as i am english we will be drinking some wine and celebrating today anyway! oh... as for the plucking and trimming, that was me, because olya wanted to (and did) pluck my eyebrows a bit and trim
my finger nails! h a p p y c h r i s t m a s e v e r y o n e ! ! !
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depressingly bleak
// Tue Dec 23 23:53:42 2008
ok... not really, but things aren't too great right now in ukraine either. so i thought i'd take a
photo from our balcony that looks as bleak and depressing as people seem to think it is (in black
and white of course) 
i just really hope that it doesn't actually get as bleak as this photo looks!
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interbank hryvnia rate up by 30 kopecks to 8.00 hr/usd
// Tue Dec 23 16:44:03 2008
the hryvnia rate rose by 30 kopecks to 8.00 hr/$ on the interbank currency market on tuesday after remaining unchanged on monday. according to currency dealers for commercial banks, the hryvnia's exchange rate fluctuated within 7.95-8.30 hr/$ at the start of the trading, then narrowed to 8.05-8.20 hr/$, and fell to 8.00-8.10 by the end of the trading. the national bank announced intervention in dollar sale at 8.00 hr/$ and purchase at 7.8788 hr/$.
according to the market participants, the majority of deals were made at the rate close to 8.00 hr/$.
the hryvnia rate has fallen by 58.4% from 5.05 hr/$ on the interbank currency market since the start of this year. as ukrainian news earlier reported, the hryvnia fell by 0.099% from 5.0450 to 5.0500 hr/$ on the interbank market in 2007 after rising by 0.099% from 5.0500 to 5.0450 hr/$ in 2006.''
KyivPost::32319
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ukrainians protest financial crisis
// Tue Dec 23 04:44:35 2008
thousands of car drivers in the ukrainian capital angrily blew their horns for several minutes monday, protesting what they call incompetent and corrupt government policies that led to a devastating financial crisis. the ukrainian currency has lost some 40 percent of its value since september as a fall in the export of steel, the heart of the economy, led to a shortage of foreign currency. that was coupled with a loss of confidence in the hryvna and the banking system.
KyivPost::32265
can't say i blame them really...
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we have a christmas tree!
// Tue Dec 23 04:35:12 2008
or a ''new years tree'' if you ask olya. it's really a christmas tree, just don't tell her that! we started buying decorations for it over a week ago, but had a few problems actually buying the thing!
our first attempt at purchasing said tree from the supermarket merely resulted in lots of useless responses
from shop assistants who had no idea who actually knew anything about the trees. trees were on display, but
there none to actually buy. we went there again yesterday and while the shop assistant was more helpful,
there was no price on the tree so we were out of luck again. today (well yesterday i suppose) we were finally
able to buy the tree on display, as it had a price on it and it must have been the last one. this time there
was at least a pile of trees in boxes, just not the one we actually wanted. 
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tagged with: holidays photos
happy birthday to me!
// Tue Dec 23 04:26:51 2008
well... 37 and still here then! my birthday was a few days ago, i just haven't got round
to posting anything yet! first i was sad at being 37 and then a bit more happy when i realised
that my gf will be (notionally) 14 years younger than me for the next few months! with help from her friend yulya, and almost no help from me at all, she made the most amazing
salads. we all ate far far too much and also had too much vodka (too much?) 
very nice to not think about the economy for an evening (though of course we did discuss the
usd exchange rate at some point). also managed to get an exchange rate of 14hrv to 1gbp at an
atm, which was nice!
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tagged with: food
wonderful ukrainian food
// Thu Dec 18 18:42:10 2008
ok, time for a quick item about fantastic ukrainian food. firstly because it really is that good and
secondly, as olya was quick to point out, it seemed a tad unfair that my very first ever blog entry was
about the one and only (afaik) mistake she has made while cooking. namely the ''rather too much rice incident''.
the remainder of which (by the way) is sitting in a pan in the kitchen and is already not quite of this world. anyway, one slight problem is that i haven't really got many photos of food here yet, as i tend to eat it before
i think of taking a photo. i do have photos of two of my favourite food stuffs at the moment though. namely ''pigtail cheese''
and a kind of chicken ravioli, where the pasta isn't quite pasta and is far more tasty. 
this ''pigtail cheese'' is amazing and you get to play with it while you eat it! you're really also meant to drink
vodka while you eat it, which is just another rather good excuse for drinking vodka! loads of flavour (most other
cheeses here aren't so good) and very salted (as most food is, even salads). the only real problem i have with it
is not being able to stop eating it once i've started. 
i know that in this photo it just kind of looks like something rather slimey, but it does look much better really! i
don't think the flash on my camera did it any favours... this is our favourite which contains chicken, but you can
also get it with stuff like potato, cabbage or sweet cream cheese in. it looks really slimey due to the melted butter
on top! savory ones are called varenyky and sweet ones are called syrnyky, though the savoury ones are normally smaller
than these. well... that is all until i remember to take a photo of food before i eat it!
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protest in kyiv against economic meltdown
// Thu Dec 18 17:28:28 2008
oh great, things just keep getting better and better! i just read from the
kyiv post that there was a protest today against
the current economic situation we are facing in ukraine. 
and i thought i was already depressed enough after reading about the possibility
of the gas being turned off to ukraine on january 1st next year!
adding to the tensions, russia's state natural gas monopoly, gazprom, warned on thursday it will cut gas supplies to ukraine on jan. 1 if it fails to pay off a $2 billion gas debt.
KyivPost::32186
the article also mentions pensioners surviving (barely) on only 700 or 800 hryvna a
month, which isn't even 100 ukp in todays money. and there was me being upset that
i had maybe lost more than that at the atm this morning??? at least it wouldn't be the
only money i will have to survive for a whole month. my next blog entry had better be more cheerfull! maybe it's time i posted some piccies of
wonderful ukrainian food!
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tagged with: ukraine money
fun with bankomats
// Thu Dec 18 14:25:24 2008
well not so much fun, more a complete total nightmare! went to a bankomat last night/this morning
(gone 4am, and hadn't slept yet) and needed to get some cash out. just needed about 1200uah, which
is just like 100quid in today's money, and nothing happened. apart from me getting my card back.
well, it turns out that it '''thought''' it had given me the money, but none of that useful paperee
stuff that is so useful in shops (or bars) actually came out. damn! got my brother to phone the
bank for me and the money might be back on my account tomorrow, which as it happens is my birthday,
so i guess i'll be very happy tomorrow or very sober!
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tagged with: money
scary trend in ukraine hryvia exchange rates
// Tue Dec 16 00:20:27 2008
i just saw that 1 USD is today worth 8.14 UAH compared with only around 4.8 in the summer.
the UKP is doing something similar, now worth 12.2 UAH compared with around 9 a few months ago. on the one hand it is good for me, as i currently get paid in GBP, but bad for other
people here who depend on making their living here in ukraine. 
those two graphs were grabbed from exchange-rates. even from the thumbnails you can
see the general trend! these next two links go to their website and show you live graphs from
the last 30 days for USD and
GBP against UAH. some things here have gone up in price recently. the metro has gone from 0.05 UAH to 0.20 and
travelling on a bus has gone up from 0.5 or 1.75 (depending on which kind of bus you used) to
2.00, it might not sound a lot but it adds up if you depend on the buses and metro each day to
get to work. cigarettes have gone up a bit too. a pack of ciggies that cost 2.50 might cost you
3 now. still not earth shattering when you remember that 1 UAH is worth less than 10p (UK)!
things like food might have gone up a but in price but i
haven't noticed. so there you go... not earth shatteringly bad for now, but still a bit scary!
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i think i need to spend some time in the stupid corner
// Sun Dec 14 08:15:42 2008
i had this blogging software all finished and had added an rss feed and then... i managed to delete most of the scripts that make up my website including that one...  next time i haven't slept in over 30 hours i'll be a bit more careful when deleting files and maybe even make a backup first! oh well... i always seem to learn the hard way i suppose... all new code running this blog now, but i haven't got tags working yet and you can't add comments to my posts (which is probably a good thing) and rss is still to come... 
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ukrainian cigarettes
// Sat Dec 13 02:17:00 2008
yes... i smoke and no... i don't want to quit (though maybe i will one day?). i do intend on cutting down but that's about it for now. it really does amaze me just how many brands of ciggies you can buy here in ukraine and just how cheap they all are! maybe because just about everyone here smokes... so there you go - the real reason for me smoking is to fit in with all the other ukrainians!
so in my effort to really fit in here i thought i should sample as many different cigarettes as i can! so here is my review of ukrainian cigarettes!
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i think olya managed to cook a bit too much rice
// Thu Dec 11 19:25:52 2008
well... this is my first blog post. seems like an interesting idea to keep some kind of diary now that i'm here in ukraine. as for why the hell i've called my blog software DzhopHav i'll explain later... (only 278 lines of perl btw!)
anyway... olya said that she had maybe cooked a bit too much rice for dinner. ok i thought, i always seem to anyway. but... i couldn't quite believe how much rice was in the pan with the chicken and i had to stop muself from laughing, and then she took the lid off another pan! oh boy... we're going to be eating rice for a month! it's a good job she makes fantastic tasting food!
<photo_of_bag_of_rice.jpg deleted!>
you see the pack of rice? well we bought it last night!
and... i've also put some piccies online of the snow outside our flat
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Running (some) PHP code from within Perl aka PHP2Perl
// Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970
my $php = read_file('test1.php');
my $psp = Zestoi::Plugin::PHP::pspify($php);
my $perl = Zestoi::Plugin::PSP::perlify($psp);
my $html = Zestoi::Plugin::PSP::eval($perl);
print $html;
|
test1.php
<h1>PHP from Perl?</h1>
<?php
/* a comment block
*/
$spoon = 1971;
function myloop ($l)
{
?><ul><?
foreach ($l as $v) {
?><li><?= $v ?></li><?
}
?></ul><?
}
function knife() {
$a = func_get_arg(0);
echo "arg passed was: $a\n";
}
// a comment
function cup($size, $colour)
{
return "a $size cup in the colour $colour...";
}
?>
the value of spoon is <?=$spoon?> :-)
here's the output from knife("fork");
<code><? knife("fork"); ?></code>
<?= cup("large", "purple") ?>
a quick loop:<br/>
<? myloop(array(10, 20, 30)); ?>
and one with named list elements:<br/>
<? myloop(array('a'=>'fish', 'b'=>'pork')) ?>
<?php
// let's check we can set and get list elts by name
$arr = array("something" => 'default');
$arr['name'] = "fred";
$arr["tel"] = 123456;
?>
the name is <?= $arr['name'] ?> and something is <?= $arr['something'] ?>
|
test1.psp
<%use Zestoi::Plugin::PHP;%><h1>PHP from Perl?</h1>
<%
$spoon = 1971;
sub myloop { ($l) = @_;
%><ul><%
foreach my $v(map{$l->{$_}}sort{$a<=>$b}keys %$l){
%><li><%= $v %></li><%
}
%></ul><%
}
sub knife { () = @_;
$a = func_get_arg((0),@_);
echo "arg passed was: $a\n";
}
# a comment
sub cup { ($size, $colour) = @_;
return "a $size cup in the colour $colour...";
}
%>
the value of spoon is <%=$spoon%> :-)
here's the output from knife("fork");
<code><% knife("fork"); %></code>
<%= cup("large", "purple") %>
a quick loop:<br/>
<% myloop(array([10, 20, 30])); %>
and one with named list elements:<br/>
<% myloop(array({'a'=>'fish', 'b'=>'pork'})) %>
<%
# let's check we can set and get list elts by name
$arr = array({"something" => 'default'});$arr->{'name'}= "fred";$arr->{"tel"}= 123456;
%>
the name is <%=$arr->{'name'}%> and something is <%=$arr->{'something'}%>
|
test1.pl
use Zestoi::Plugin::PHP;;print qq|<h1>PHP from Perl?</h1>
|;
$spoon = 1971;
sub myloop { ($l) = @_;
;print qq|<ul>|;
foreach my $v(map{$l->{$_}}sort{$a<=>$b}keys %$l){
;print qq|<li>|;print $v ;print qq|</li>|;
}
;print qq|</ul>|;
}
sub knife { () = @_;
$a = func_get_arg((0),@_);
echo "arg passed was: $a\n";
}
# a comment
sub cup { ($size, $colour) = @_;
return "a $size cup in the colour $colour...";
}
;print qq|
the value of spoon is |;print $spoon;print qq| :-)
here's the output from knife("fork");
<code>|; knife("fork"); ;print qq|</code>
|;print cup("large", "purple") ;print qq|
a quick loop:<br/>
|; myloop(array([10, 20, 30])); ;print qq|
and one with named list elements:<br/>
|; myloop(array({'a'=>'fish', 'b'=>'pork'})) ;print qq|
|;
# let's check we can set and get list elts by name
$arr = array({"something" => 'default'});$arr->{'name'}= "fred";$arr->{"tel"}= 123456;
;print qq|
the name is |;print $arr->{'name'};print qq| and something is |;print $arr->{'something'};print qq|
|;
|
test1.html
<h1>PHP from Perl?</h1>
the value of spoon is 1971 :-)
here's the output from knife("fork");
<code>arg passed was: fork
</code>
a large cup in the colour purple...
a quick loop:<br/>
<ul><li>10</li><li>20</li><li>30</li></ul>
and one with named list elements:<br/>
<ul><li>fish</li><li>pork</li></ul>
the name is fred and something is default
|
rendered by php
<h1>PHP from Perl?</h1>
the value of spoon is 1971 :-)
here's the output from knife("fork");
<code>arg passed was: fork
</code>
a large cup in the colour purple...
a quick loop:<br/>
<ul><li>10</li><li>20</li><li>30</li></ul>
and one with named list elements:<br/>
<ul><li>fish</li><li>pork</li></ul>
the name is fred and something is default
|
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