19 October 2010. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words… “The Idolaters”… The TRUE Face of the Tea Party

Here’s an old caricature from the 80s from the old-time Sov satirical rag, Krokodil. THIS is the Tea Party. Don’t believe their blather about “patriotism” and “Jay-zuss”… they bow before Almighty Mammon and All His Works. That’s what it’s all about… they want to suck you dry so that they can live in their gated little suburban community. They’ll see no one sick, unemployed, or down-and-out… everything will be SO pleasant… and evil to the core.

BMD

Bishop Grigorije Durić: Serbian Church Could Split

Bishop Grigorije Durić of Zahumlje-Hercegovina, at a religious procession in Nikšić in Montenegro

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A schism in the Serbian Orthodox Church is “not impossible”, according to Bosnia-based Bishop Grigorije Durić…

Bishop Grigorije Durić of Zahumlje-Hercegovina told the Belgrade newspaper Politika that he previously warned about of such a schism in a letter to the top SPC hierarchs, sent two years ago. Discussing possible new organisational arrangements of the dioceses of the SPC, he said, “If they split the Diocese of Raška-Prizren, it won’t follow the administrative boundary of Kosovo”. He also noted that he didn’t know if the next session of the SPC Holy Synod would make such a decision. The Diocese of Raška-Prizren has been under temporary administration since the dismissal of Bishop Artemije Radosavljević, and Vladyki Grigorije said he didn’t know whether he would take over this position.

Here’s another view of the procession, it has more people in it than some Orthodox archdioceses in the USA!

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As for the Church’s relations with other religious communities, Bishop Grigorije deemed them good, but said the leader of one of Serbia’s rival Islamic communities, Muamer Zukorlić, was viewed as “an exception, an isolated case”, adding that it seemed to him the Islamic community viewed the mufti in the same manner. Commenting on the recent Belgrade gay parade violence, the bishop said that both those who’re “inside the Church and those who aren’t” should feel ashamed [concerning the events]. “The policemen that were stoned are our brothers. Those who protested against the parade are our children and our brothers. Moreover, believe it or not, those who marched in that parade, they were our brothers and sisters also, regardless of (their) sin. We can and must reject sin, but not the sinner, since it is our task to view a person as they can and should be”, Vladyki Grigorije concluded.

19 October 2010

B92 News

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=10&dd=19&nav_id=70380

“Reboot” and ABM Defence

The “reboot” of Russian-American relations is showing some promise…

One of the first steps in this process was when President Obama renounced a favourite plan of his predecessor, George Bush, to deploy American missiles in close proximity to the Russian frontier in Poland and Czechia. That cleared the way for settling other important problems in our bilateral relations. Preparations for signing a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty got off the ground at last, and, after difficult negotiations, eventually resulted in an agreement signed by Presidents Dmitri Medvedev and Barack Obama in Prague in May 2010. However, as it became clear shortly afterward, in Washington politics at least, the issue is not so simple and straightforward. At the end of September, Bucharest announced that it was getting ready to sign an agreement on the deployment of American missile bases in Romania, and a similar base was planned for Bulgaria. As it happens, instead of Poland, Romania will be the site of the missile bases, and Bulgaria will host the radar sites, instead of Czechia. Nevertheless, a change of location makes no difference as far as the result is concerned. Given the situation, the American moves cause as much concern as before.

Commenting on the situation, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, “We discussed our stance on the topic of the missile defence of Europe at length, and, apparently, had an agreement that there would be no ABM missile bases in Poland or Czechia. That was great! Then, all of a sudden, we learned that the US declared that it was moving its missiles to other European countries. So, where is the ‘reboot’?” This is a reasonable question. Amongst other questions, one of the things that was brought up in connection with the missile defence programme is how long is the United States is going to drag its feet over ratifying the new START Treaty. Signed in May, the US Senate was supposed to ratify the treaty by the middle of September. Now, as we come to the end of the first ten days of October, the opponents of the treaty are preventing ratification from going ahead by linking it to missile defence. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) said a few days ago that the Senate should add an amendment to the treaty with a special resolution stating that it imposes no restrictions on American plans to develop a missile defence system.

Powerful lobbies in the USA have doggedly pursued a missile defence programme ever since President Ronald Reagan launched it 25 years ago. Moreover, the intensity of their commitment to such a project continues unabated, despite substantial and fundamental failures and losses. One of the latest failures, which cost the USA 120 million dollars (3.69 billion Roubles 87.156 million Euros 76.368 million UK Pounds), occurred recently at an air force base in California, when an interceptor missile failed to hit a hypothetical target and exploded in mid-air. Professor Richard Garwin, whom many consider as one of the fathers of the American thermonuclear bomb programme, gave an authoritative opinion on it when he spoke in the US Senate recently; he said, “The American missile defence system in its current incarnation is simply useless, we have to rethink it”.

Auditors from the GAO came to an equally frustrated and disappointing conclusion. They admitted that the so-called missile defence experts failed to achieve the desired results despite the huge price tag, and that the system they did build was a total bungle. The sums allocated for the ABM defence programme were astronomical. Experts estimate that the government spent over one trillion dollars (30.746 trillion Roubles 726 billion Euros 636 billion UK Pounds) during the years of the existence of the project, and it will require hundreds of billions more if continued. This explains why the masterminds of American ABM defence have persevered so mulishly in its pursuit, regardless of common sense. They didn’t invest the hundreds of billions of dollars earmarked for missile defence into space research as promised, but it migrated into the bank accounts of those who turned it into a gold mine. These people have much power and influence in present-day Washington. Whether American policymakers will remain hostage to these mighty groups remains to be seen.

5 October 2010

Valentin Zorin

A View from Moscow

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/10/05/24255403.html

Editor’s Note:

The Tea Party has NO positive programme… they are mere obstructionists. For instance, the Republicans refused to ratify the START Treaty… they expect Russia to stay quiescent in the face of American (neocon) provocations. Let me assure you, any US ABM missile or radar sites would be the targets of Russian MRBMs in case of a crisis (the range involved is short enough that no ABM could be launched against them, they’re only effective against long-range ICBMs). That’s why, eventually, no European country will take such forces onto their territory.

Reflect on this… the Tea Party has no real existence, it’s a stalking horse used by rightwing Republican nutters (truly, it’s the last stand of the Bull Connors), and they use it to advance the same GOP nostrums that landed us in the economic depression we are in at present. That is, the Tea Party supports:

• A pointless and unending war in Afghanistan
• Spending billions on an ABM system that doesn’t and can never work
• The maintenance of secret CIA torture facilities in compliant client states (Lithuania and the Ukraine kicked ‘em out, but that leaves Latvia, Estonia, Croatia, Albania, and Bosnia as willing running-dog lackey suckers)
• The “export” of American jobs via “outsourcing”
• The turnover of the entire US healthcare system to HMOs and insurance companies, with no restrictions on their operations
• The dismantling of all regulations on banks and investment houses (thus, clearing the way for suffering that would put the Great Depression in the shade)
• The pointless and endless “War on Drugs” and “War on Terror” (and they wish to add a third and fourth, a “War on Abortion” and a “War on Homosexuals”)
• The abolition of inheritance taxes to favour the richest amongst us
• The destruction of the governmental social safety net
• The ending of all government regulations on labour, business, the environment, and transportation

Any questions? I didn’t think so…

BMD

A Poem from Boris Pasternak: “To Love Another is a Heavy Cross”

I don’t like people who’ve never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn’t of much value. Life hasn’t revealed its beauty to them.

They don’t ask much of you. They only want you to hate the things you love and to love the things you despise.

Even so, one step from my grave, I believe that cruelty, spite, and the powers of darkness will in time be crushed by the spirit of light.

Boris Pasternak

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To Love Another is a Heavy Cross

To love another is a heavy cross;

you are beautiful, without guile,

to discern your secret

solves the riddle of life together.

Spring hears the sounds of dreams

and the rustling of truth and its message.

Your family gave you firm foundations.

Your essence is as unselfish as the wind.

It’s easy to wake and start to see,

and shake off the rubbish from one’s heart,

and, then, live, clearly, without confusion,

All of this… it’s not so hard.

1931

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Любить иных – тяжелый крест

Любить иных – тяжелый крест,

А ты прекрасна без извилин,

И прелести твоей секрет

Разгадке жизни равносилен.

Весною слышен шорох снов

И шелест новостей и истин.

Ты из семьи таких основ.

Твой смысл, как воздух, бескорыстен.

Легко проснуться и прозреть,

Словесный сор из сердца вытрясть

И жить, не засоряясь впредь,

Все это – не большая хитрость.

1931

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This is “dedicated to the one I love”… My Nicky had his sixtieth birthday on Saturday. I love you, dear… and may God keep you. I hope that all the rest of you have similar love in your lives… it’s the most precious of God’s gifts.

BMD

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)

1958 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature