Ambition and Reality

Today, the leadership of the US Republican Party, despite its recent seeming victory in November’s national elections, is in disarray. The reputation of the GOP has suffered grievous blows…

Scandal tainted the most prominent members of the party leadership. Top Republicans are desperately trying to save face amidst the outrage surrounding Sarah Palin’s alleged involvement in the 8 January shooting spree in Arizona, which left six people dead and over a dozen wounded, including Democratic US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Ms Palin didn’t deliver a gun to the killer, but she openly called for the elimination of Ms Giffords, all but calling for her assassination, labelling her obnoxious {do remember the “crosshairs”: editor}. At the same time, a court sentenced another leading Republican, Thomas DeLay, the former leader of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, to three years in prison on conspiracy and money laundering charges. At the top of the list of the Republican heavyweight lawbreakers was one of the most powerful of the party’s gurus, former Vice-President Richard Cheney. Adding fuel to the fire were the results of an official probe into last year’s massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which investigators specifically blamed on energy services giant Halliburton, owned by Cheney. The report of the special government commission investigating the disaster stated that the tragedy was due to fatally flawed actions by the owners of the drilling platform, amongst which, together with BP, was Halliburton, Cheney’s company.

In the light of these scandals involving the leaders of the Republican Party, its attacks that claim that the actions of President Obama’s administration are injurious to the country lose their legitimacy, not least in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile, the old guard Republicans still assailed President Obama’s policies in very important areas. Until the last possible moment, they resisted the ratification of START-3. When they no longer had the power to obstruct ratification, they accompanied the ratification with a special resolution linking their agreement with a deal involving the favourite child of the American military-industrial complex… the so-called anti-ballistic missile defence programme. Contrary to the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, the defeated Republicans proposed “nuclear modernisation”, calling for the immediate production of 80 new nuclear warheads at “nuclear forges” in Tennessee, Kansas City, and Los Alamos, the birthplace of the first atomic bomb. Professor Hans Kristensen, the head of the Federation of American Scientists, with undisguised anxiety, said that if the US implements this programme, it “will launch a new nuclear era”. Moscow warned against such an approach, slamming the so-called nuclear modernisation programme that the Republicans are now pushing for. Not satisfied, top Republican figures lashed out at President Obama’s new version of the US National Security Strategy, as it recognised that the USA was unable to exercise sole leadership in the modern world. As the document points up, “The burdens of the 21st century can no longer be borne solely by US soldiers and citizens”.

The unfolding scandal at the top of the Republican Party (such as the brouhaha surrounding Sarah Palin) is an obstacle in its attempts to thwart the policies of the Obama Administration. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The very “success” of the recent rightwing election “victory” hindered their reaching their objective, no matter what they think, at present. There’s an array of reasons to explain why the Republican Party leaders lost their political clout. Firstly, their ambitions and the ambitions of those whose interests they represent don’t correspond to the reality of the modern world, nor does America have the capability to carry them out. The recent announcements concerning the massive federal deficit are another confirmation of this. In the end, policymakers will have to reckon with reality, no matter who has the majority in Congress, or who is in power in Washington and the White House.

2 February 2011

Valentin Zorin

A View from Moscow

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2011/02/02/42475980.html

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/05/42682922.html

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev met with So-called “Religious Leaders” in the USA

Here’s the image posted in all of its original low-res glory… note well that the Centre hasn’t given the Blunder’s junket a high-res photoalbum…

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Editor’s Foreword:

In meeting with these neoliberal “conservatives”, the Blunder pissed on Russia, the Church itself (all of these rightwing creepozoids support proselytisation by Proddie punks in Russia and support American aggression against Russia and its allies), and on the TRUE social teachings of the Church. The Church has nothing in common with the godless filth spewed by the Republican Party, its relentlessly nihilistic consumerist/oligarchic platform, or its Sectarian nutter supporters. His Holiness considers the Free Market a fraud, supports the lifting of the Cuban embargo (he warmly met Presidents Chávez and Lula, too… oh, the humanity!), and blesses the Russian state in its social initiatives (especially in the strengthening of the Russian single-payer state healthcare system).

This is reprehensible and beneath all contempt. “Your Holiness… take this unrepentant little turncoat to the woodshed after his return. He’s shamed the Church by his open and contumacious stroking of the Church’s enemies, both political and religious. I bow low before all comers and ask your forgiveness for the misimpression left by the Blunder’s lies and actions. They were his own… they weren’t in harmony with the Church. We aren’t “going Catholic” (certainly, we’ve not changed our view of Galician Uniate thugs), and we don’t support the Republican Party (nor do we subscribe to its “Christian Atheist” (God bless the Russian bishop who came up with that one) neoliberal credo). I’m sorry that the Blunder gave the opposite impression.

Hold your nose and read this swill from the Blunder’s dezinformatsiya mill (it didn’t come from the main patriarchal news service)… you need to be informed.

BMD

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On 10 February 2010, in Washington DC, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, the head of the MP Department for External Church Relations, met with leaders (sic) of several American Evangelical (sic) Protestant and organisations. The meeting was attended by Galen Carey, Director of Government Relations of the National Association of Evangelicals, Richard Sizikov, Director of Social Programmes and Development of the Trinity Forum and Executive Director of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, Michael Cromartie, Vice-President of the Center for Ethics and Public Policy, Janet Kraus, Director of the Concerned Women of America, Douglas Holladay, CEO Bakestone Enterprises, Larry Jacobs, Vice President of the World Congress of Families, Richard Land, President of the Commission on the Ethics and Religious Liberty of the Southern Baptist Convention, , Luis Lugo, of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life; Paul Marshall, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow, Bradley Daniel Schmidt, Vice President of Program Fund, Timothy Shah, of the Centre for Religion, Peace, and International Relations, Berkeley, CA and President of Evangelicals for Social Action, Professor Ronald Sider, of Eastern University and Palmer Seminary, James Skillen, Honorary Executive Director of the Center for Public Justice, Mark Tooley, President of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, John Bernbaum, President of the Russian-American Christian Institute, Richard Dean, from the law firm Baker & McKenzie, and others attended the meeting. Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, MP DECR secretary for Inter-Orthodox Relations and Representative of the World Russian People’s Council (VRNS) at the UN, Fr Igor Yakimchuk, Assistant Chairman of the DECR, and Hierodeacon Ivan Kopeikin, represented the MP, along with Orthodox lay people accompanying Metropolitan Hilarion on his tour of the USA.

Responding to numerous questions from his interlocutors, Rev Alfeyev spoke in detail about the current situation of the Russian Orthodox Church, the development of church life in recent decades in Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and in other places that are within the canonical territory of the MP, and the status of church and state relations and interfaith dialogue in these countries. American religious leaders representing Protestant conservative (sic) groups were especially interested in how the Orthodox Church works with young people in schools and the army, and how it interacts with the media in the defence of traditional moral values. The meeting participants noted that both sides have identical or similar views on many important topics, such as the place of religion in public life, the preservation of traditional ideas about the institution of the family, demographic issues, opposition to abortion, and attitudes toward euthanasia {this is a whopper… these Republican slugs have NOTHING in common with us at all… they want to rip up the social safety net… the Church wants to EXTEND it. Any questions?: editor}. The parties agreed that the similarity of their positions on these issues opens up prospects for cooperation in the protection and promotion of these values. In conclusion, Metropolitan Hilarion gave the members of his audience icons of the Saviour.

12 February 2011

Patriarchia.ru

Official MP website

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1407903.html

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Editor’s Afterword:

This isn’t an endorsement from the Centre of the Wonder’s actions and statements. There’s a hint to it at the bottom of the post. You’ll see the following by-line:

Служба коммуникации ОВЦС/Патриархия.ru

DECR Communications Service/Patriarchia.ru

That means that the Blunder’s Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment cooked up the post involved, it didn’t come from Vlad Romanovich’s official patriarchal press service. Also note that they delayed posting this for two days… it’s an old journalistic dodge. If you post something on a weekend (or on a Friday), it tends to be buried. That is, the Blunder himself knew that this was a questionable affair from the start.

In addition, none of the figures at this meeting was of any stature… they were all dweebs… not a major figure amongst ‘em. The Wonder is certainly batting 1.000! He’s striking out at every opportunity. He’s no Mighty Casey, and Mudville should go looking for a new batter! If he were meeting with Franklin Graham… THAT would be newsworthy. These are nothing but lowlife Beltway flotsam, you could collect a similar assemblage at a moment’s notice in the District… it’s full of such overinflated and full-of-themselves Grand Fenwickian sorts. Betcha any money that these are all pals of Dreher, Matthewes-Green, and Mattingly (who were probably present, looking for a photo op, but they were SKUNKED).

We have NOTHING in common with Sectarian poseurs. NOTHING. They aren’t Christians; their near-universal belief in predestination tells one that from the top. Dontcha know, the more prosperous one is, the more one is certain that the person involved is one of the “elect” (isn’t that term redolent of Satan and Anti-Christ?). These people are aggressive and pushy… we should keep them well at arm’s length. Where was El Gordo? This is the sort of pointless blather that he, Jensen, Peterson, and Fester LOVE. Is he too radioactive even for the Blunder? Perspirin’ minds wanna know!

BMD

13 February 2011. The Egyptian Protesters Won! Mubarak is OUT. The Coverage from Russia…

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Portrait of 18-year old protester Maata Sayed Mohammed Kamel, killed by the police on 28 January 2011… They all had faces… They all had names… No one is forgotten… Nothing is forgotten.

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13 February 2011. Only in Russia… Calling Dr Obama!

This is not Barack Obama playing a doctor; this is Zaur Akhmedov, a paediatrician from Samara. However, people often call him Dr Obama. No wonder, he looks like a ringer for the American president. Some people, who see him casually walking without bodyguards are taken aback, but his little patients are used to him and are always ready to show their tongues. He’s always in good mood, smiling and talkative. Children like him, as do their parents, they often say, “We’re going to see our dear Obama”, “Now, Mr President will examine you”, and when he is asked for his autograph, he writes, “Akhmedov (Obama)”.

In his native city, Zaur is a local attraction. When he smiles, he really resembles Barack Obama. Nevertheless, the doctor himself doesn’t see such a striking likeness. When he looks in a mirror, he tells himself he looks different, but when he sees the real Obama on TV, it seems to him that he’s near the White House talking before the cameras. In his blood, Obama has genes of Scot, English, Indian, and Kenyan ancestors … Zaur’s family is rather more simple… his mom is Russian, his dad is Azerbaijani. However, they both have something in common… they’re both left-handed and Barack Obama’s father is rumoured to have been a healer in some tribe. Zaur’s dream is to meet his American twin, but he’s a busy man and doesn’t think that this dream will ever come true. He still hasn’t found his “Michelle”, his work takes up too much time… he often sees over 30 patients a day.

12 February 2011

English Russia

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2011/02/12/russian-obama/#more-36160