The Russians are coming.

[Haroshij]

As some of you know, Norway has common border with Russia, and we are now seeing an increased number of Russians seeking sanctuary in Norway. Last year (2002) it was about 17000, most of them will not be accepted as real refugees. They are suspected to come here for economical reasons. Norway is on the top of the UN list of countries with high standard of living. You can hardly find any other places in the world where the economical situation is so different between to neighbour countries. This makes a hard pressure on Norway to stop this flood of immigration.

It turns out that many of these poor people are being told in Russia that they will be accepted in Norway, and they pay all their savings to unscrupulous middlemen that is supposed to belong to the Russian Mafia. Norwegian authorities are planning to invite journalists from Leningrad Oblast to report what is really happening here. They did the same last year to stop a similar flood of immigration from Ukraine, and it was a success. This year there are hardly any from Ukraine.

Russian economy is in fact growing faster then in western countries, but for the average man and women there are not so easy to feel that. However, in some years, I'm quite convinced that Russia with all her resources with be a land of opportunities.

Haroshij

[Quasimoto]

... in response to The Russians are coming., posted by Haroshij on Dec 27, 2002

Thanks Haroshij!

It is great to hear from our neighbor to the far north. Save yourselves from this flood of people. Especially keep the Mafia at home in Russia. Now the US and Australia have too many Russian Mafia.

Steve

[Haroshij]

... in response to Re: The Russians are coming., posted by Quasimoto on Dec 28, 2002

It's   true. It's a problem i many countries in western Europe. In fact, we have also seen some incidents here in Norway were we believe Russian mafia is involved.

In the very northern part of Norway, Finnmark, there have been some activity by Russian prostitutes. They go by busses to Finnmark pretending to be tourists. It's said that many of these women are ladies with high education that need to make some extra money and do this only one or two times. However, where there are prostitutes there are mafia.

So it means, nobody can be 100% sure that your Russian girlfriend hasn't  been a part of that business.

Thank you for your good words.

Haroshij

[ChrisNJ]

... in response to The Russians are coming., posted by Haroshij on Dec 27, 2002

nt

[Haroshij]

... in response to Welcome to the U.S./Mexico border! n/t, posted by ChrisNJ on Dec 27, 2002

Have been there and were checked by the police. Didn't need to show our papers because of our light hair and skin. Remember that Norway has only a population of 4.5 million. 17.000 immigrants are much these facts taken into consideration.

One of the problems the USA has connected with illegal immigrants from Mexico, I believe, is the fact that  many people in the USA have economical interest in cheap labour from Mexico. Therefore people in Mexico knows it is possible to work "black" inside the USA.

Haroshij