Infographics from RIA-Novosti: When You’ve Only Got a Moment to Spare…

I’ve always liked the “infographics” that RIA-Novosti posted on its “Russian” side. So, I looked to see if they had translated some of them, and they had. If you look at the “English” sides of ITAR-TASS, Voice of Russia, or RIA-Novosti, the translations are much better than the sorry abortions on Interfax-Religion (or the HOOMie mistranslations on Pravoslavie.ru). I’ve caught them in an error or two… since I make them too, that’s no biggie. Sometimes, material is left out… that’s why I always consider the Russian version the definitive version. That being said, the “Big Three” are reliable… and trustworthy (as are the Russian sides of Interfax-Religion and Pravoslavie.ru).

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Did your parish celebrate “Rowdy Thursday”… if not, shame on you! Remember… “Even monks imbibe”.

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This sort of thing is common in Russian secular news agencies these days… quite unlike the banning of the crèche in the West, no? The revival in Russia is only in its initial stages, but its far better than in the USA, where teachers are fired for reading the Bible on school property (and do notice which Orthodox sidle up to the secularists… both institutions and individuals).

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There are two equal and opposite fallacies to fall into. The first is, “The Holocaust is a hoax”… this is demonstrably false, so people such as David Irving and Bishop Williamson are chock fulla beans. The second is, “The Holocaust was uniquely evil, so the world owes Jews reparations for the rest of time over it”. This too is false, and the “Holocaust Industry”, and its main shill, Elie Wiesel, are as fulla beans as Williamson and Irving.

The mass murder of the Jews and other “undesirables” by the Nazis during their rule was evil and vile… but it wasn’t unique. Look at Tamerlane! Mankind has seen all too many mass murders… and there are more to come before the blowing of the last trump, I am sure. May the victims all rest in peace…

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The Commander of the ISS Believes in God, Even Though He has Not Seen Him in Space

Aleksandr Skvortsov (1966- ), Russian cosmonaut, commander of the ISS… note well that it’s the Russians who are the believers, and the Americans who are the sceptics… how the worm turns!

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Aleksandr Skvortsov, the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), believes in God, even though he has never seen His image or likeness in orbit, speaking in response to questions from RIA-Novosti. The cosmonauts received the questions via the Mailbox ISS with the help of the press services of Russian Space Agency and the Memorial Museum of Space at VVTs. “You can’t see God. I believe in God, but without fanaticism. I believe that God must live within each person. However, space flight changes one, and the changes are not limited to religion. When you see the Earth from orbit, it changes your views on many things, you understand that man is small and insignificant compared with the universe”, the Russian cosmonaut said. Previously, Skvortsov had reported that all the Russian crewmembers celebrated Easter in orbit. “We are all believers. Easter is a great holiday and we are proud of that. We’ll start on Holy Friday, and have a get-together for Easter. If God lives in a man’s soul, he remembers Him”, Skvortsov added.

Currently, the Russian crewmembers on the ISS have four crosses and icons of the Lord, and modern cosmonauts, unlike their Communist predecessors who were mostly convinced atheists, wear crosses. “I have a reliquary cross in my cabin that my father-confessor gave me at Baikonur before my departure. He told me that inside is a piece of the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. My cross was blessed at the St Sergius-Holy Trinity Lavra in Sergiev Posad. It was with me the whole flight, and I will take it back with me back to Earth”, Russian cosmonaut Maksim Suraev wrote in his blog in orbit. He went on to tell us that in the Russian portion of the ISS are four icons, a Gospel, and a Cross, which the late Patriarch Aleksei gave to Anatoly Perminov, the head of Roskosmos, and it was brought to the ISS by the crew of Soyuz TMA-8 in 2006. In 2010, Patriarch Kirill sent Christmas and Easter greetings to the ISS crew.

14 July 2010

Aleksandr Kovalyov

RIA-Novosti

http://rian.ru/religion/20100714/254624921.html

15 July 2010. A Tale of Two Economies… Who’s on Top, Mr Friedman?

The US Federal Reserve System significantly reduced the outlook for economic growth in 2010 to 3-3.5 percent of GDP against a background of concerns about the possible negative impact of the debt crisis of Euro zone countries on the US economy and the labour market. In April 2010, the Fed predicted growth in the national economy at the level of 3.2-3.7 percent. Federal Reserve analysts have revised this estimate in a negative direction and now project that the unemployment rate will remain at 9.5 percent this year; in the best case, it will be 9.2 percent, slightly higher than the figure of 9.1 percent projected in April. On Wednesday, the American Commerce Department reported that retail sales in June in the USA declined, according to preliminary estimates, by 0.5 percent compared to May, down by 360.2 billion dollars (11.03 trillion Roubles 282.973 billion Euros 235.787 billion UK Pounds). This reduction was greater than expected; analysts had predicted a decline by 0.2 percent. Such data added to investors’ concerns about the pace of economic recovery from the crisis, RIA-Novosti reported.

In August, the Ministry of Economic Development intends to revise upwards the annual GDP growth forecast for Russia, which is expected to be around 4 percent, said Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina. “We haven’t revised the figures yet, but it’s quite possible”, Ms Nabiullina said in Yekaterinburg. She clarified the statement by saying that the Ministry will revise its forecast by the end of August. “Then, we’ll release a new version of the forecast. We hope that it’ll show progress, because the economy is, in principle, developing not so badly”, Interfax quoted Ms Nabiullina as saying. In June 2010, the World Bank adjusted downward the GDP growth forecast for Russia in 2010, up 4.5 percent compared with the March estimate of growth at the level of 5-5.5 percent. At the same time, the (IMF) raised its estimate for Russian GDP growth in 2010 to 4.25 percent from 4 percent.

15 July 2010

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/07/15/12368735.html

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/07/15/12374406.html

Editor’s Note:

There was a boobish little piece by Thomas Friedman in his column on Wednesday… America is free, therefore, its economy is stronger; Russia is not, therefore, its economy is a mess. Freedom has NOTHING to do with it, Mr Friedman. Russia had to rebuild its Western regions from the bottom up after the Nazi occupation, and that wasn’t necessary in the USA. Indeed, “freedom” had NOTHING to do with American economic growth… rather, the geostrategic isolation of the Americas from the conflict zones in Europe and the Near East fostered that. Considering the fact that Russia had to rebuild after Napoleon’s invasion in the First Great Patriotic War, and after the damage caused by World War I and the ensuing Civil War, I’d say that Russia’s performance was BETTER than that of the USA. Russia had to maintain large and costly armed forces due to the presence of powerful enemies on its land borders… the USA was spared that. In fact, the USA was the aggressor on this continent… do ask the Mexicans and Indians about that (and ask the Argentineans about American interference in favour of the Brits in the Malvinas whilst you’re at it).

In short, Mr Friedman is chock fulla beans, and the above economic information confirms it. He’s got a “name”, though, and as a friend of mine sagely pointed up, “that’s all you need, in most cases”. Caveat lector…

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