The Vatican is Critical of US Plans to Deploy Anti-Ballistic Missile Defence Elements in Eastern Europe

Benedict XVI Ratzinger (1927- ), Pope of Rome and Patriarch of the West, the head of the Roman Catholic church

The Vatican believes that the plans of the USA to place elements of its anti-ballistic missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic threatens “international relations and retards the process of general disarmament”. This is covered in a front-page article in L’Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Holy See, “The Principles of International Relations and Disarmament are Threatened”.  Meanwhile, Benedict XVI, the Pope of Rome, expressed his apprehension in regards to the tension building between the West and Russia in connection with the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia. “With bitterness, we are forced to recognise the danger of further degeneration in the confidence and collaboration that should be normal in the relations between nations”, Pope Benedict said in his Sunday sermon at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. He emphasised that “violence must be rejected” and he called all to negotiations [on the problem]. Previously, the Pope of Rome had called for an expeditious solution to the humanitarian crisis in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone. “I turn to the combatants and call for the urgent establishment of humanitarian corridors between South Ossetia and Georgia so that the dead can receive proper burial, the injured can receive medical aid, and so that people can reunify their families”, Benedict XVI declared.

25 August 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26155

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Bishop Mark of Khabarovsk says that the Deposed Bishop Diomid is not going to Change His Mind

Diomid Dzyuban (1961- ), the deposed Bishop of Anadyr and Chukotka

Archbishop Mark of Khabarovsk and the Amur, the temporary administrator of the Diocese of Anadyr and Chukotka, expressed the opinion that the deposed Bishop Diomid is unlikely to change his mind. “I believe that it is very probable that both the deposed Bishop Diomid and his supporters shall not obey [whatever bishop is assigned to the Diocese of Anadyr in future] as a result of the decision of the Holy Synod”, Vladyki Mark stated in an interview with the TV channel RENTV. “Therefore, Bishop Diomid and his supporters are not merely against the archpastor of the Chukotka diocese, not merely against the Holy Synod, and not merely against the person of Patriarch Aleksei, but, they oppose the full weight of the Church as was expressed by the Archpastoral Council, that is, they oppose the entire Church”, Archbishop Mark went on to say. “This is no longer a mere schism… it is a fight against the very Church”, he emphasised. He also added that “those deficiencies that were uncovered both by the Archpastoral Council and right here, locally, shall not disappear” if Diomid leaves Chukotka. “Any future ruling bishop of the Diocese of Anadyr shall have to solve those very same problems”, Vladyki Mark noted.

25 August 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26162

Ukrainians Prefer the UOC/MP, the Schismatic Philaret Stews Nervously On the Side

Kievo-Pecherskago Lavra in Kiev, the headquarters of the UOC/MP, and residence of Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan (1933- ) of Kiev and all the Ukraine

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The pro-Yushchenko media continually circulates rumours about opinion polls that allegedly show that “there’s a larger number of Ukrainians who prefer the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/Patriarchate of Kiev (UOC/KP) {a renegade schismatic body: editor} over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/Moscow Patriarchate (UOC/MP)”. Fraza decided to verify how closely this claim corresponded to reality, so, we conducted a poll from 29 July to 25 August. It turns out that all the furore concerning the schismatic Philaret and his artificially-created pseudo-church is making a mountain out of a molehill. It’s nothing but a soap bubble that bursts as soon as one touches it. Let’s look at the religious preferences of the visitors to the Fraza website (it reaches 65 percent of the Ukrainian audience and 70 percent of the audience in Kiev).

Body	Raw Score	Percent of total	Percent of religious	Percent of Orthodox
1.    UOC/MP	1,325	45.3	52.9	70.9
2.    UOC/KP	490	16.7	19.5	26.1
3.    Atheist	420	14.3	—	—
4.    Uniate Catholic	220	7.5	8.8	—
5.    Protestant	178	6.0	7.1	—
6.    Roman Catholic	72	2.5	2.9	—
7.    UAOC	55	1.9	2.2	3.0
8.    Muslim	53	1.8	2.1	—
9.    Buddhist	51	1.7	2.0	—
10.    Jewish	51	1.7	2.0	—

Thus, we see that the adherents of the UOC/MP (1,325) outnumber the supporters of the UOC/KP, Uniate and Roman Catholics, UAOC, and Protestants (1,015) combined. Do you have any more questions?

25 August 2008

Vitaly Kustov

Internet-Newsletter Fraza (Phrase) (Kiev)

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26175

Editor’s Note:

The table may not add up to precisely 100.00 percent, as I was using a calculator to figure percentages and rounded the figures. I do know the perils of using Internet polls. However, the fact that the UOC/MP is the largest religious body in the Ukraine is verified by other sources, and the odd figure for Buddhists may simply be Internet fooling (something all of us are familiar with!). Otherwise, this could very well be the relative ranks of the various confessions. It doesn’t bode well for the nationalists! Do note in particular the relative weakness of the Uniates. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” God does, indeed, dispose of all things!

BMD

Re: Media Warfare around the Caucasus Conflict

The brief military conflict in the Caucasus earlier this month highlighted the mores and methods of modern warfare. It appears that black propaganda in the media was an essential tool in that conflict. The New York Times proclaimed last week that “Russia prevailed on the ground, but, not in the media”, at least not at the initial stage of the conflict. “It was not until four days after the conflict began”, the Times said, “an eon in the 24-hour news universe, that a top Kremlin official was sent to CNN to counter Mr Saakashvili. The official, Sergei B. Ivanov, a confidant of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who speaks polished English and has long experience in the West, quickly acknowledged that an unfortunate perception had taken hold”.

In the meantime, Western television footage showed Russian soldiers against the background of demolished and smouldering buildings in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and the “unfortunate perception” was that Russian troops had destroyed the city. This perception was quickly backed up by black propaganda from the Georgian ruler himself, who shamelessly claimed that Russian troops had destroyed the beautiful “Georgian city” of Tskhinvali. Furthermore, such skewed coverage was quite commonplace, particularly in the first few days of the conflict. But, subsequent reports in the Western media proved to be much more balanced and even-handed. Initially, it was hard to turn on a news channel in the West without encountering the spiteful glare of Saakashvili, inveighing against Moscow and doing his best in the news media to turn a military disaster into a media victory. But, there was only so much that he could do on that score. The Western media have apparently become saturated with his frequently-abrasive propaganda outpourings and have turned to face the truth on the ground, getting down to brass tacks. One lingering image that is likely to remain of Saakashvili in the popular perception is the picture of the Georgian President cowering from a Russian helicopter that said it all.

25 August 2008

Yuri Reshetnikov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=31608&cid=87&p=25.08.2008