Putin Proposes Visa-Free Entry for International Athletes

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This summer, Russia will host the World University Games, in 2014, the Winter Olympics, and in 2018, the FIFA World Cup. In the coming five years, it’ll also play host to a number of world championships in individual sports. To make Russia more welcoming, President Putin proposed to grant visa-free entry to foreign athletes participating in these competitions. Mr Nikolai Dolgopolov, President of the Russian Federation of Sports Journalists, said, “The news makes me happy. All this paperwork and biometrics are so time-consuming and tedious! As a great sports fan, President Putin appreciates the importance of easy entry for international athletes. Russia’s getting a better image, and its consular officials, an easier workload”.

Remember, in 2008, Russia granted visa-free entry to some 60,000 Chelsea FC supporters who came to Moscow to watch the final match of the Champions League played between their team and Manchester United FC. Will the EU respond to such Russian measures by bringing forward visa-free travel between EU countries and Russia? We asked Dr Sergei Utkin of the Europe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences about this, and he said, “Such expectations are unrealistic. True, we have a dialogue. At the same time, the EU countries would have difficulties in finding a common response to the latest easy-visas initiative by the Russian President. Coming to an agreement within the EU is a protracted and difficult matter”. In some of its recent pronouncements, the European Commission said it isn’t in a hurry to bring about visa-free travel between EU countries and Russia.

20 March 2013

Aleksei Lyakhov

Svetlana Kalmykova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_20/Putin-proposes-visa-free-entry-for-international-athletes/

Editor’s Note:

One reason why the EU is dragging its feet is American pressure. In particular, the US Republican Party supports repressive police state measures that restricts the travel of American citizens abroad. For instance, the Bush fascists destroyed the most peaceful border in the world when it demanded that all Americans travelling to Canada must have passports. I travelled to Canada many times without a passport… that’s no longer possible due to the Department of Homeland Security Gestapo created by the Republican Party. There’s no threat of “terrorism” from Canada. Reflect on this… the Republicans claim that they want “smaller” government… well, they don’t want to dismantle such GOP-founded “American KGB” agencies as the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA (I had contact with the latter… they’re a Kafkaesque and Queen of Hearts madhouse). I think that makes them liars, no? Read and heed…

BMD 

6 March 2013. What the ROCOR Bishop of Caracas Really Thought about Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías… Aren’t You Ashamed to Have Listened to Rightwing Blowhards Such as Potapov, Paffhausen, or Whiteford?

THIS is what the REAL Church did… any questions?

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The Russian émigrés who established our Church fled not socialism but godlessness, militant atheism, and persecution. The people who run Venezuela today aren’t the Soviet state. President Chávez may be a socialist, yes, but he isn’t an atheist. Moreover, he openly calls himself a believer, he doesn’t persecute the Church, and he doesn’t propagandise atheism. Today, Venezuela finds itself in a profound social crisis, so, something must be done, so I lean towards sympathising with him. It isn’t the Church’s lot to involve itself in politics or to decide which is better, socialism or capitalism. The Saviour commanded us to tend to our neighbour, to help the poor and orphaned. Christianity isn’t alien to the concept of social justice… unless it’s harnessed to godlessness. At the same time, many of our parishioners have a justifiable mistrust of socialists, which is characteristic for the ROCOR. Orthodox Christians in Latin America are very politicised, and that’s the way it always was. For instance, during Allende’s time, they fled Chile en masse.

Bishop John Berzins of Caracas and all South America (ROCOR)

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/47525.htm

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The REAL Church doesn’t condemn socialism… only American phonies teach such. HH thinks, “Socialism is Good” (as the old Chinese song put it). He SUPPORTS state-provided single-payer universal healthcare (and a complete palette of state-provided social services)… and Potapov, Paffhausen, and Whiteford are against it (they support the wicked and grasping Anti-Life greedster agenda of the Republican Party). Oh, yes, HH BLESSED Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías and his Bolivarian Revolution (and he hasn’t changed his mind). You can support HH and the REAL Church… or you can support the Unholy Drooling Republican Trinity with their bootless “marches”, alliances with the heterodox rightwing, and witch-hunts of the “unclean”… that’s the only choice on offer in the real world. I support HH and Christ’s REAL Church… what about you?

BMD

 

Unemployment Breaks Records in Greece

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On Thursday, the national statistical service Elstat reported that unemployment in Greece beat the previous record by growing to 27 percent in November 2012. Young people were the hardest hit. Unemployment was at 61.7 percent amongst young people under 24 not studying in university. Greece is carrying out an austerity policy in exchange for loans from the EU and the IMF. Cutting budget expenditures resulted in a dramatic fall in the domestic GDP. Greece has been in the grip of recession for nearly six years.

14 February 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_14/Unemployment-beats-records-in-Greece/

Editor’s Note:

THIS is what the Republican Party wants in the USA. They want assured dividends and profits for their fatcat supporters, with all the pain to go to the working class. That’s objectively evil… do mistrust all who march under the Republican banner, especially those who call themselves “Pro-Lifers”… they’re nothing of the sort. They’re all for shredding the social safety net and they support vile rightwing pigs such as Darrell Issa.

This cries out to heaven for vengeance…

BMD 

13 January 2013. RIA-Novosti Infographics. Our Children’s Rights

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The most important rights that our children possess based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

13 January 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20130113/178693232/Childrens_rights.html

Editor’s Note:

The US Republican Party has stalled American ratification of this document… it’s the only major holdout in the entire world (all other states worldwide save for Niue, the Cook Islands, Somalia, and the South Sudan have ratified this document since 1989). What does that tell you about GOP troglodytes and their deluded ideology? Draw the proper conclusions from that, kids. They’re full of vincible ignorance… don’t waste your time arguing with such zipperheads.

BMD