6 September 2012. The Team Russia Payloader Keeps Diggin’ Up Those Medals at the Paralympics

Konstantin Lisenkov, after winning the men’s 100-metre backstroke

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Denis Tarasov and Konstantin Lisenkov, winners of the silver and gold in swimming

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Darya Stukalova took bronze in women’s swimming

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Svetlana Moshkovich, winner of the bronze in women’s cycling

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The sixth day of the London Paralympics saw Team Russia win seven golds, two silvers, and four bronzes in a variety of disciplines. Swimmers Konstantin Lisenkov and Olga Savchenko, runners Yelena Pautova and Fyodor Trikolich, as well as shot-putter Aleksei Ashpatov grabbed gold medals. Silver medals went to swimmers Denis Tarasov and Alexander Nevolin-Svetov, whilst swimmers Alexander Golintovsky, Darya Stukalova and Olesya Vladykina, as well as archer Stepanida Artakhinova took the bronze. Right now, Russian athletes hold third position in the overall standings.

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British police investigated an incident where someone fired a shot at the bus of the Russian Paralympic volleyball team. According to the police, it wasn’t a gunshot; someone threw a rock at the bus. Russian Paralympic team officials met with the British police. Vladimir Lukin, the President of Russian Paralympic Committee, said, “They offered apologies on behalf of the British authorities and said they’d do their best to effectively ensure the safety of the Russian team until the end of the games”.

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After six days at the Paralympics, Team Russia has 63 medals under its belt, making it the biggest medal winner after China and the UK. In the gold medal count, it is neck-and-neck with the hosting country.

Day Six brought 13 medals… seven gold, two silver, and four bronze. The bronzes were in swimming and archery. Both silvers were in swimming, in the men’s 100-metre backstroke and the men’s 100-metre freestyle race. The winners were Denis Tarasov and Alexander Nevolin-Svetov, respectively. Both say their silver medals are good stimuli to win gold one day. Tarasov already won gold on Day Five. Of the seven gold medals, five were in track, and two in swimming. The swimmers are Konstantin Lisenkov, who bagged the top award in the men’s 100-metre backstroke, and Oksana Savchenko, who took gold in the women’s 100-metre freestyle event.

Oksana Savchenko spoke to VOR, saying, “My Spanish competitors were very strong, as were the girl from Poland and the girl from Azerbaijan. The latter struck me with her absolute serenity ahead of the race. Anyway, their presence was very stimulating”. Oksana’s gold is her third at the current Paralympics.

The track golds were in the men’s 400 metres, the women’s 1,500 metres, the men’s 100 metres, the women’s 4×100-m relay, and the men’s shot put. The shot-putter was Aleksei Ashpatov. His gold medal is his fourth in his Paralympic career, and it marked a new Paralympic shot-put record of 16.20 metres. He said, “This result is my best ever. I put it down to strong support from the terraces and I dedicate it to my girlfriend. We’re going to get married shortly”.

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On Wednesday, Russian athletes won five gold, three silver, and three bronze medals at the Paralympic Games in London. The two “golds” were won by Russian swimmers, Oksana Savchenko, who won the women’s 100-metre backstroke and Aleksandr Nevolinsvetov, who won the analogous race in the men’s competition. Track n’ fielder Gocha Kugaev won in the long jump. Russian athletes also excelled in the 4man x100 meters men’s relay and in archery. “Silver” was won by Russian national team athletes Yegor Sharov and Nikol Rodomakina and swimmer Olesya Vladykina. Bronze medals were won by Vladimir Sviridov in the long jump, Dmitri Kokarev in the 50-metre backstroke, and Svetlana Moshkovich in cycling.

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5/6 September 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_05/Russia-third-in-Paralympic-medal-count/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_05/British-police-Stone-throwing-not-shooting/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_05/Russia-massive-Paralympic-medal-hauler/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_06/11-medals-in-London/

3 September 2012. The Russian Steamroller Keeps Chuggin’ Along at the Paralympics

Honoured Master of Sport Aleksei Ashapatov, winner of the gold in the men’s discus throw (click here for page containing video “Paralympian Aleksei Ashapatov Headed List of Top Ten Athletes in Russia”)

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Nikol Rodomakina, winner of the gold in the women’s long jump (click here for Pervy Kanal video)

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Aleksei Labzin, winner of the gold in the men’s 400-metre sprint (click here for a page containing a Pervy Kanal video)

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Honoured Master of Sport Olesya Vladykina, winner of the gold in women’s swimming (click here for a video)

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Russian Aleksei Chuvashov took Paralympic bronze in the men’s single sculls. The gold went to China’s Huang Cheng, and the silver, to Australia’s Eric Horry.

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Russian Anna Sorokina has won Paralympic silver by throwing the javelin to 38.79 metres. The gold went to Serbia’s Tanja Dragić, whose result was 42.51 metres. Natalie Eder of Austria took the bronze, with a throw of 38.03 metres.

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Russian swimmer Roman Makarov became one of the champs at the Paralympic Games in London by winning the 100-metre butterfly for athletes with visual impairments. Russian Sergei Punko, who won the gold on August 30th in the 400-metre freestyle, won the silver. Makarov’s win brought Team Russia’s total to nine golds at the 2012 Paralympics, four of them in swimming and five in athletics.

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Russian Aleksei Labzin won the gold medal in the 400-metre sprint at the Paralympic Games in London. Labzin finished with a time of 48.59 seconds, setting a record for the Paralympics. Three-tenths of a second behind and coming in second was another Russian, Aleksandr Zverev. The bronze went to Moroccan Mohamed Amgun. Russian athletes rank fifth overall in the Paralympic Games, winning 12 gold, 13 silver, and 9 bronze medals.

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Russian athletes won four gold, three silver, and four bronze medals on the fourth day of the Paralympic Games in London. Golds were won by Yevgeni Svetsov in athletics, Alex Labzin in the 400-metres, Nikol Rodomakina in the long jump, and swimmer Roman Makarov in the 100-metre butterfly. After the first four days of the 2012 Paralympic Games, Team Russia has 34 medals, 12 of which are gold, 13 silver, and 9 bronze. In the overall rankings, they’re in fifth place, behind the Ukrainian Paralympic Team by one “gold”. In the lead is Team China with 35 gold medals, 24 silver, and 28 bronze. On the fifth day of the Games, 50 medals will be in competition.

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After three days at the Paralympics, China leads in the medal race, which has won a whopping 56 medals. Russia is fifth with 22 medals… 8 gold, 9 silver, and 5 bronze. The sporting ability of its athletes is likely to propel it to fourth place before the end. Already, Russia’s Olesya Vladykina set a new world record in the women’s 100-metre breaststroke race. Aleksei Ashapatov set a new world record in the men’s wheelchair discus throw. His result was 60.72 metres. After posting it, he spoke to the media, “I’m happy to have surpassed my best results in training. My record is the result of support from the terraces. Thanks, thanks, thanks. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to beat it”. Tatyana Savostyanova took silver in judo; she came second only to Spain’s María del Carmen Herrera Gómez. Her success won her an immediate congrats on the phone from President Putin.

The current Paralympics are the biggest ever, with some 4,200 competitors taking part. They’ll last until next Sunday. Nearly 200 of the 503 sets of medals have already been decided, but over 300 are still up for grabs. The first Summer Paralympics were in 1960; they had the intent of pumping up support for people who received disabilities during World War II. The modern Paralympics have a much broader agenda. In the words of Vladimir Lukin, the President of the National Paralympic Committee, “Paralympic sport is part of sport as a whole. Importantly, unlike their non-disabled comrades, Paralympians are very single-minded and have nothing but competition on their minds. They deserve praise and respect for this”. Many experts also point out that the Paralympics has nothing to do with politics or drugging, which makes it cleaner than the “regular” Olympics.

2/3 September 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_02/Russia-takes-Paralympic-rowing-bronze/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_02/Russia-s-Sorokina-wins-Paralympic-javelin-silver/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_03/Makarov-the-champion-in-London/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_03/Another-gold-for-Russia-at-Paralympics/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_03/Russian-medal-count-at-34/

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_09_02/Russia-big-Paralympic-medal-winner/

Vandals Take Chainsaws to Orthodox Crosses

A vandalised cross in Arkhangelsk Oblast in Northern Russia

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The Russian Orthodox Church is calling for the punishment of vandals who used chainsaws to topple at least four wooden crosses in two regions over the weekend, prompting widespread outrage that some fear might lead to religious unrest. Unknown vandals cut down three wooden crosses in Chelyabinsk Oblast and one in Arkhangelsk Oblast. The motive was unclear, but the actions occurred two weeks after Ukrainian feminists sawed down a memorial cross in Kiev to denounce the harsh two-year prison sentences handed down to Pussy Riot musicians for singing an anti-Putin song in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

Anna Shevchenko, a member of FEMEN, the Ukrainian feminist group behind the Kiev incident, endorsed the chainsaw attacks in Russia and called for them to continue. However, Shevchenko, speaking during an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio on Sunday, didn’t claim responsibility on behalf of Femen for carrying them out. Fr Vsevolod Chaplin, who oversees Church/state relations in the MP called for the police to find those responsible and punish them, telling Interfax, “These actions speak clearly about the moral values of those who encroach on the church. By these symbolic actions, they’re trying to impose their will over the majority of the people”. Police said that they were looking into the incidents as acts of vandalism. They hadn’t opened any criminal cases as of late Sunday afternoon. Vandalism charges can carry up to three years in prison. The church found an unlikely ally in Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the three jailed members of Pussy Riot. He condemned the vandalism and said the female punk group had nothing to do with it.

The church’s image was tarnished by a series of leadership scandals, including the Pussy Riot trial, which cast the spotlight on the close ties between the church and state; Patriarch Kirill’s ownership of an expensive Swiss Breguet watch and luxury residences; and a recent car crash involving a priest. Nevertheless, some observers see the sawing down of crosses as an attack on ordinary believers. Andrei Zolotov Jr, a RIA-Novosti journalist who closely follows the Orthodox church, wrote on his Facebook page, “There’s something meaningful in the fact that destructive power is turned, not on gold-plated houses or Mercedes cars believed to be driven by priests… but on a simple wooden cross… a very primary, very central, very indubitable Christian symbol. Is it because this symbol is the most defenceless?”

On Sunday, Fr Vasili, the top clergyman in Vnukovo Raion in Moscow’s Western Administrative Okrug, described the cross vandalism as, “Incivility in the worst sense of the word. All of our churchgoers are educated people, and whilst they look at the Pussy Riot action with a bit of humour, they observe these actions against the crosses with a deep sense of sadness”. A priest in Ryazan was more circumspect. Speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprimand from his superiors, he said, “We’re the ones provoking this situation. People dislike the authorities, and, in their eyes, the church is closely connected to the state. Even the muscle that we flex is state muscle”.

Human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin criticised the vandals as “cowards” and demanded that they offer a public explanation of their actions. He said the vandals should borrow a page from Narodnaya Volya, or the People’s Will, a leftist terrorist group in the 19th century that assassinated Tsar Aleksandr II Nikolayevich, saying in an interview with Russian News Service radio, “They often stayed at the crime scene because they saw their outrageous crimes in the context of their ideas and they were ready to take responsibility for them”.

26 August 2012

Aleksandr Bratersky

Moscow Times

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/vandals-take-chainsaws-to-orthodox-crosses/467145.html

Editor’s Note:

I don’t think that these vandalisms are politically-inspired. Only Moscow-based zapadnik pseudo-intellectuals and their Western backers think that. Rather, as they occurred over the weekend, it leads reasonable people to conclude that they’re vodka-fuelled impulsive acts of juvenile hooligans. Reasonable oppositionists wouldn’t do this… not even the FEMEN people. The opposition isn’t all that powerful, nor, even well-organised. Trust me, it wasn’t the work of such organised groups as the KPRF or Left Front. They’d track down the perps and give them “rough justice” with the belt to inspire them to follow the straight-and-narrow in future.

It DOES take all kinds…

BMD

Indian Foreign Minister Alerted Moscow to the Interest in India Shown in the Russian Court Case on the Bhagavad-Gita

The above image is of a legit translation of the Gita… its translator wishes to foster unity and goodwill between all religions and faiths of the world, through the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita, not the cultishness of the Hare Krishnas (who are violent rightwingers, just like the Moonies… interesting thing about mind-control cults, no? If birds of a feather flock together, what does that tell us about the GOP?).

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On Tuesday, in New Delhi, Indian Minister of External Affairs Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna and RF Ambassador to India Aleksandr Kadakin discussed the situation surrounding the current court case in Tomsk on the book Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. S M Krishna expressed his views, saying, “I hope that our Russian friends understand the importance of the verdict of the court for the Indian public”, emphasising that this case “put into question the underlying civilisational spiritual values ​​of India”, according to official sources in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. For his part, Kadakin said that the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) and the Russian government would “take all feasible measures within their authority to resolve the situation”. However, he emphasised that, as in India, they have no right to interfere in the trial. Kadakin pointed up that Vladimir Lukin, the RF Commissioner for Human Rights, would have a great role to play in this situation. However, given the great public interest that this trial caused in India, Kadakin expressed the hope that, whatever the verdict, the Indian authorities wouldn’t allow any extremist statements against Russian missions in the country.

Turning to the background of the dispute, Kadakin said that Russians respect the sacred book of the Hindus, the Bhagavad-Gita. He pointed up that the first time this work appeared in Russia was when Indian merchants came in the early 17th century to Astrakhan, where, subsequently, they were not only able to build a Hindu temple, but Tsar Pyotr Veliki granted them exemption from taxation. In giving her consent to the publication of this work, Tsaritsa Yekaterina Velikaya and the Most Holy Governing Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church called it “inspirational reading”. In the summer of 2011, the Tomsk procurator appealed to the local district court for recognition of an extremist book Bhagavad-Gita As It Is with commentary by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), written in the 1960s. In this regard, Indian MPs called on their government to “immediately intervene to guarantee religious freedom for Hindus in Russia”, and the Indian diaspora in Moscow and Russian Hare Krishnas appealed to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to intervene so that the Russian authorities wouldn’t ban their sacred text. The number-one leading item in the Indian media has become “the persecution of Hinduism in Russia”.

According to an Indian Ministry of External Affairs statement in the Indian Parliament, the court postponed the final hearing in Tomsk from 19 to 28 December 2011. The reason for the postponement was that the Leninsky Raion Court agreed to seek the opinion of RF Commissioner for Human Rights Vladimir Lukin, as well as prominent scholars from Moscow and St Petersburg on the subject of the dispute. Last week, RF MID spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich clarified several points, saying, “This is what our Indian colleagues probably misunderstood”. He emphasised that the court case does NOT involve the Bhagavad-Gita per se, “rather, it concerns a later translation that suffers from distortions of meaning” introduced by the commentary of A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

27 December 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=43587

Editor’s Note:

The Russian government isn’t trying to ban the Gita… there’s a move to ban a defective and cultish translation of the Gita. The Hare Krishnas have the same relationship to mainstream Hinduism as the Moonies have to mainstream Christianity. That is, both are cultish simulations of the real thing. The USA is trying to use this non-starter as a wedge to drive Russia and India apart, but it’s not going to work. On top of that, the official Church has NOTHING to do with this case… there’s been no responsible secular media outlet reporting such, nor have any of the official Church media outlets reported such a linkage. This is bad juju all the way around (Dr M’bogo, wherefore art thou?). It stinks of Langley black propaganda (Operation Mockingbird, any one?).

BMD