"A gust of change blows through Kennebunkport; A development team has been buying and buffing hotels and restaurants, adding ‘oomph,’ new options, but also concerns" by Jenifer B. McKim | Globe Staff, July 07, 2013
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — It’s been like this for years in Kennebunkport, a town of about 3,900 year-round residents whose sandy beaches, rocky outcroppings, postcard-perfect scenery, and fishing-village charm make it a vacation destination. But look around this season and it’s clear changes are underway in a place that has long traded in the pleasing sameness of things. A group called Kennebunkport Resort Collection, led by two Massachusetts-bred entrepreneurs, has built or renovated nine hotels and seven restaurants — including four this summer alone.
The surge in commercial development has brought upgrades to grand but aging structures, introduced world-class dining options, and attracted more affluent visitors. Many businesses and residents applaud the makeover, but some wonder whether too much glamour is being injected into the seaside region, threatening to overwhelm its old-fashioned feel....
But like the Bush-era presidencies, some of Kennebunkport’s restaurants and hotels have been receding into history, better known for past glory years....
We are still living under the decisions and fallout of W. the decider, and it's gotten only worse under Obama.
If you want to go on a Globe tour of the town be my guest.
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Maybe you want to try a Russian mansion?
"Rising prices imperil Russian mansions; Preservationists fear for city’s historical sites" by Will Englund | Washington Post, July 07, 2013
ST. PETERSBURG — Fears of a broader assault on St. Petersburg’s legacy are brewing. Last month, Russia prepared a draft document for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s world heritage conference that looked like the beginning of an attempt to remove great swaths of protected historic Petersburg property from the organization’s list. Definitions became much more vague, and preservationists were in an uproar.
‘‘It’s a fight for property for investors and developers,’’ said Sergei Gorbatenko, who runs the St. Petersburg branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites. ‘‘A fight for money — that’s the root. And, of course, corruption. Corruption penetrates the whole question.’’
The great czar-era countryside palaces are not threatened, but lesser known historic sites are in real danger....
The foreign ministry, which represents Russia at UNESCO, said in a statement that the document is still only a draft and that no action is imminent. But there was enough of an outcry in St. Petersburg that the city has set up a special working group to thrash out the question....
“UNESCO designation creates a moral background and an ethical background,” he said. Removing properties from the list, even minor ones, sets a bad precedent, he said, because it lets developers get a foot in the door. What, he wondered, will they ask for next time around?
Russia has moved to exclude certain parts of the western Caucasus region from UNESCO designation as it prepares for the 2014 Winter Olympics with a frenzy of construction.
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Related:
"Rebel leader urges fighters to derail Sochi Olympics; Says they must ‘prevent’ Games slated for 2014" by Nataliya Vasilyeva | Associated Press, July 04, 2013
MOSCOW — A leading Chechen rebel on Wednesday called on Islamist militants in Russia’s North Caucasus to disrupt the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, reversing his previous appeal not to target civilians in the region.
Sochi is hosting the Winter Games in February, a pet project for President Vladimir Putin. The overall bill for the Games stands at $51 billion, making them by far the most expensive Olympics in history.
Doku Umarov, a Chechen rebel leader, urged his fighters to ‘‘do their utmost to derail’’ the Games, which he described as ‘‘satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors.’’
Didn't he retire?
‘‘We have the obligation to use all means to prevent this,’’ he said in a video posted on a rebel website Wednesday.
Last year Umarov urged his fighters to avoid hitting civilian targets because Russians in Moscow were taking to the streets to protest against Putin.
Security experts have said the Islamic insurgency raging across the North Caucasus mountains that tower over Sochi is a daunting threat to the Games — although rebels have not attacked Sochi so far.
Dagestan, which lies about 300 miles east of Sochi, has become the center of the insurgency that spread across the North Caucasus region after two separatist wars in the 1990s in neighboring Chechnya. Rebels seeking to create an Islamic state have targeted police and other officials in near-daily shootings and bombings.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder of the two ethnic Chechen brothers who are accused of staging the Boston Marathon bombings, spent six months last year in Dagestan....
Related: THE BOSTON BOMBERS
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said it is working to eliminate threats at all international sporting events in the country.
Press officers for the Interior Ministry in Russia’s southern district declined to comment.
An officer of the Interior Ministry’s special task force in the North Caucasus, who asked not to be identified because he was not allowed to comment publicly, said Umarov’s statement could prompt Russians to step up their efforts to comb the mountainous areas where Umarov could be hiding.
The United States declared Umarov’s group a terrorist organization in 2011 and offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.
Umarov’s group is blamed for bombing a Moscow airport in January 2011, two subway stations in 2010, and a Russian train in 2009.
Related:
Rumblings Around Russia
Russian Roiling
Sunday Globe Special: Moscow's Man in Chechnya
Sorry to be russian through my Boston Globe today, readers, but I have some newspapers I want to throw away.
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Is this what the Marathon false flag and patsy scapegoating was all about.... Syria?
