Section B·Page 11
The University Daily Kansan
Millennium
W.ednesday, December 1, 1999
Russia may not be ready for possible Y2K problems
The Associated Press
MOSCOW - Western experts warn that Russia is among the countries that have done the least to prepare for the Y2K computer bug, but many Russians are decidedly nonchalant about the potential implications: severe failures in vital services.
"We will pass quietly through 2000 just like we have every other year," said Ilya Klebanov, Russia's deputy prime minister in charge of defense. "I think it's best not to scare the little children of Russia."
No one really knows exactly what Y2K glitches — the result of unfixed older computers and embedded circuits mistaking 2000 for 1900 and going haywire — might do in this vast nation of 148 million people spread across 11 time zones.
At their worst, computer failures could plunge Russian cities into icy darkness while in the grip of bone-chilling winter, cutting off heat and power to millions.
The U.S. State Department is worried enough about former Soviet states that it is giving nonessential embassy employees in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus a free trip out during the New Year's holiday if they want. It has also warned Americans to reconsider traveling to those countries.
Foreign analysts are reasonably certain that chances of a nuclear disaster are remote. But they are especially concerned about utilities, including the possible cutoff of natural gas supplies to much of Europe.
"Prolonged disruptions in energy supplies in Russia could put other systems dependent on electrical power at risk," the State Department said. "In practical terms, this could mean disruption of basic human services such as heat, water, telephone and other vital services."
Nadezhda Senna, a member of a private Y2K awareness group, said Russia was not ready to deal with computer problems.
"Our people haven't prepared for this at all," she said. "They need to know what could happen on that day, what's possible — electricity and heat going out, not in one house or region, but a massive outage."
Even so. Senna and others agree the threat probably isn't as bad as some Westerners fear — nor as small as Russia's government says.
Russians are used to living with disaster. In recent years alone, they've watched their society crumble amid unending political and economic crisis. And many take a typically
Russian philosophical attitude toward the Y2K bug.
Still, Russia has worked with the West to make sure no problems occur with its nuclear weapons arsenals and nuclear power plants. Russian officials will camp out at a command center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado to head off any potential confusion.
At the top of Russia's potential Y2K problems are Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, which sells Europe about a third of its gas, and United Energy Systems, Russia's electricity monopoly.
Natural gas suppliers in Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland all of which buy gas from Gazprom say they have received assurances from the company that supplies will not be interrupted. They will keep extra gas reserves just in case.
Gazprom and United Energy have been working on the Y2K problem for far longer than the Russian government, since at least 1996, they say. "Overall readiness of automated systems at Gazprom is 96 percent," said Olga Moreva, a Gazprom spokeswoman.
But there are signs Gazprom and United Energy may not be ready.
Moreva acknowledged that Gazprom has 9,000 "problem" computers among 28,000 that could critically affect its computerized systems. She said 5,500 of those computers would be replaced and the rest modified by year's end.
At United Energy, which said it has spent $8 million on Y2K fixes since 1997, the huge electricity grid will be switched to manual control on Dec. 31, though what "manual control" is, no one exactly knows.
A Y2K expert at the company conceded problems were almost unavoidable.
"Obviously, no matter how much money is allotted, there won't be enough to prevent all kinds of failures in the work of UES," said Viktor Grunenkov.
Many systems connected to United Energy and Gazprom are so shoddy already that electricity and power outages are not uncommon outside Russia's major cities. Poor-quality phone lines are often the norm.
"Iinfrastructure in some areas isn't at all what it is in the United State or western Europe — there's a certain level of expectation of unreliability," said Dale Vecchio, a research director at the U.S. technology consultants Gartner Group, which advises countries on dealing with the Y2K bug.
The Associated Press
Millennium party plans vary from New York to New Zealand
Party beneath the pyramids in ball gowns after crossing the desert on a camel. Plunge into the waves at the 180th meridian for a midnight millennium dive. Plant first-light footprints in the snows of Kilimanlaro.
Or try the millennial mush: a dog sled ride into the wilds of Ontario for a champagne soiree under the Milky Way.
The choices for ringing in this New Year's Day are as endless as the ringing itself. From mountain tops to ocean floors, the world will go a bit mad on Dec 31, 1999, celebrating a madcap nonevent. The real millennium, after all, doesn't arrive until a year later.
But 2000 is the magic number,
and all around the world people
will hike, dive, drink, drum and
mush their way into the new year.
"it's all a lot of psyche and hype," said Robin Banjeriee of Call of the Wild, an Ontario travel company organizing a dog sled extravaganza in the frozen forests of Algonquin Park. "Mostly it's just an excuse to have something to talk about, especially in January." he said. "When everyone else says, I was in a bar on New Year's Eve, you can say, 'Guess what I did?'
Guess indeed, Banerjee promised New Year muschers they would feel like explorers with the Hudson Bay Company during a week-long expedition that will include bonfires on frozen lakes and champagne under the stars.
Those who prefer champagne in the desert are also promised a trip back in time as they dance among the dunes in the shadow of the Sphinx.
From the comfort of their luxury tents, ball-goers will witness an elaborate state-sponsored celebration, including a 12-hour opera that will transform the area around the Great Pyramids into an enormous, laser-lit stage for a cast of 1,000. On the stroke of midnight, a 30-foot golden pyramid will be flown by helicopter and placed atop the missing peak of the Great Pyramid of Cheops,
flooding the area with rays to signal the birth of the first day.
Egypt isn't the only country harking back to centuries past to celebrate.
Peruvians will be busy with purification rituals and offerings to the moon at Sacayhuaman, the Incan stone temple in Cuzco plundered in the early 16th century. Special effects will enhance the backdrop.
New Zealand will light a beacon of hope, the first of a series of such beacons around the world, as Maoris perform their traditional haka war dance.
And in Romania, revelers can soak up the New Year at a medieval ball in Bran Castle, the craggy home of Vlad the Impaler, the 15th century prince who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. The extravaganza, called "Blood Red," costs $3.995.
It's cheaper to waltz at Versailles.
For $2,429 a plate, guests can transport themselves back 300 years for a lavish reproduction supper with the Sun King. Among period costumes and court music of Louis XIV, they will dine on veal, truffles and wild strawberries in one of the world's most opulent settings. The party poses some logistical challenges. The 1,250-room palace has few restrooms, and no kitchens: Dinner is prepared in buildings near the stables and dancing will be in a glass "palace" on the terrace.
But with plans for fireworks reflecting in Versailles' famous fountains—well, c'est magnifique. Across the channel, Britons are calling London the Millennium City.
It is, after all, the home of Greenwich, the spot from which time is measured all around the globe. London has orchestrated a four-day bash that organizers say will be the biggest street party since V-E Day in 1945. There will be shows at the futuristic Millennium Dome, lavish fireworks, and a river of fire — a 195-foot wall of flames that will streak
up the Thames in the first seconds of the new year.
Five hours later, the party will peak in New York's Times Square as a gigantic Waterford Crystal ball is lowered among the throngs. Festivities will include fireworks, lasers and thousands of helium balloons, as well as 4,000 pounds of confetti and an enormous puppet of Father Time drifting through the crowds. Giant video screens will broadcast images around the world.
Across the United States, every major city is promising fireworks and festivities like never before.
In Los Angeles, 2,000 gospel singers will sing, 2,000 folk dancers will twirl and 2,000 band members will march while 2,000 drummers rock San Pedro and 2,000 line dancers step across the San Fernando Valley.
Reno is holding a New Year's Eve Buck 'n' Ball, a cross between a rodeo and ballroom dancing. Chicago is planning a Dance 'til Dawn gala. And Washington is throwing an America's Millennium party on the National Mall.
Not everyone plans to party. For some, the end of the century has spiritual connotations, and prayers, chants and church bellringing will echo around the world.
In the United States, the United Methodist Publishing House is hoping to persuade thousands of teens to spend New Year's Eve reading the book of Revelation in church cellars as part of their catacomb project. The teens will gather at designated churches in faux catacombs to help them understand the persecution of early Christians.
It's a far cry from the climb being promoted by a New York tour company, which has signed up an unnamed Nevada family to spend New Year's Eve scaling Africa's tallest peak. As the sun rises on Jan. 1, family members will plant their footsteps in the snows of Kilimanjaro, and greet the first dawn with the Swahili word Hodi "Iom here."
- "I am here."
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