Rosstat: Pensions Increased 150% Compared to June 2009

The average Russian pension increased 150 percent in June 2010 in comparison with June 2009. “In June 2010, the average pension, according to preliminary data, amounted to 7,584 roubles (250 USD 192 Euros 160 UK Pounds) [per month], an increase of 150 percent compared to June 2009”, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) stated. In June 2010, the average size of a pension amounted to 35.1 percent of the average gross wage in Russia, and in the first half of 2010, 36.6 percent. In May 2009, the figure was 26.8 percent, and in the first half of 2009, 27.2 percent, RIA-Novosti reported.

30 July 2010

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/07/30/13918144.html

Editor’s Note:

Russia is not squeezing it’s retirees the way the teabaggers propose that we squeeze American retirees… Russian pensions are increasing (the Russian COL is much lower than in the USA, so the figures are misleading). The teabaggers are bought and paid for by well-heeled interest groups (the HMOs are simply the most obvious), their only object is to keep taxes low for the rich, and ensure that all the risks and blowbacks of our economy fall upon the working class… with no consequence for teabagger rentiers. “Outsourcing” and “downsizing” are unknown in Russia… the government sees to that, at least. Let’s see… the teabaggers defend outsourcing, downsizing, deregulation, shredding the social safety net, and keeping the country in a permanent state of war (shades of Orwell’s 1984!). If you earn a salary, you are a fool if you support them.

BMD

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British media: Cameron Throws up His Hands… says the War in Afghanistan is Lost

They’re coming home from an unwinnable war… what about the American boys? The money wasted is bad enough… but the lives are irreplaceable…

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British Prime Minister David Cameron believes that the current war in Afghanistan is unwinnable, the influential British weekly The Spectator wrote. In an article entitled, How We Lost the War, the magazine noted, “Cameron has already given up on Afghanistan”. The publication emphasised that the PM came to that conclusion before the publication of 90,000 secret documents on Afghanistan on the Internet. Mr Cameron has given up on winning the war, and he is looking for the best way to get out of it, according to the article. The PM has already stated that the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan will begin next year and be completed in 2014. “Mr Cameron doesn’t believe that one of the consequences of this defeat would be a perception that it was a humiliating surrender [for the West], affecting the international position of Britain as a major power or the overall defensive position of the West”, according to ITAR-TASS quoting the article in The Spectator.

30 July 2010

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/07/30/13920183.html

Russian Official Viewpoint: The ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Problem Doesn’t Justify the Creation of a New State

When you support the teabaggers, you support THIS. They SUPPORT the Kosovar UCK gangster junta unreservedly… so, this logically follows, no? All Orthodox who have been fooled by these phonies… get your mind right…

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On Thursday, Anvar Azimov, the permanent Russian representative to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), speaking at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the OSCE, said, “The opinion of the court in The Hague doesn’t justify the establishment of a ‘state’ in Kosovo and the question of the international status of the province still remains unanswered”, explaining that the ICJ didn’t give UN approval for the secession of Kosovo from the Serbian state. “We would like to dampen the joyous fervour of supporters of the so-called ‘state’ of Kosovo… there is no reason for rejoicing. After all, the court did not express its approval of the separation of the province from Serbia… it gave an assessment of the actual Declaration itself (on the independence of Kosovo), it specifically stipulated that it was not considering it in a broader context, that is, whether the Serbian province of Kosovo had the right to unilaterally secede from [Serbia]”, Mr Azimov said. He went on to say that the Russian position remained unchanged; Russia doesn’t recognise Kosovo’s independence. “We fully support a commitment to a comprehensive political settlement of the Kosovo problem, with the view of developing a legally correct and equitable solution to it”, RIA-Novosti quoted Mr Azimov as saying.

30 July 2010

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/07/30/13972719.html

Those Wishing to See Benedict XVI during His Visit to Britain will have to Pay Up

“Wanna see the bishop? Pay up! Ya won’t pay… we won’t let you in!”

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During the forthcoming visit of Benedict XVI to Britain in September, the faithful who wish to see him will have to pay 25 UK Pounds (1,184 Roubles 39 USD 30 Euros). Admission will be charged for the evening service that the Pope of Rome will serve on 18 September in Hyde Park in London, as well as for the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, scheduled on 19 September in Birmingham. At present, 130,000 tickets were sold for the Hyde Park service, and 70,000 more for the beatification, the British newspaper Independent wrote. Government sources blamed the British Commission on Health and Safety for mandating increased precautions, entailing high costs that did not exist during the visit in 1982 of John Paul II to the UK.

30 July 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=36743

Editor’s Note:

I’m not gonna slam the papists for this one… they’ve got enough of their own who are gonna see to it that this gets the opprobrium it deserves. I do wonder, though… 200,000 tickets were sold at 25 quid per head, that’s 5 million pound (237.403 million Roubles 7.827 million USD 6.003 million Euros)… that’s a hefty chunk of change. How much of that is “profit?” Shouldn’t it go to the victims of paedophile predator priests?

You see, we’re not innocent either, so, we shouldn’t point fingers (but watch Dreher the Fool do so… doesn’t he realise that everyone knows that he’s a puppet of Fester and Bobby K?) … not after Raymond Velencia and Feodosy Lazor, we certainly can’t! In any case, I know of two cases that illustrate that most Orthodox have surrendered to the zeitgeist and charge admission to see their bishops. In both cases, the presiding bishop came (or is coming) to the parish to serve liturgy. In one case, if you wished to see the bishop after services, you had to pay 35 bucks a head for a ticket. In the other, forthcoming instance, I heard that they’re stinging people 50 bucks… whether that’s per person or per family, I don’t know. You hear such un-Christian rot from such people as, “Build the money-maker first”, and, “We’re only trying to recoup our expenses”. Reflect well on the fact that the lower form of clergy (which includes a certain set of monastics, by the way, sadly enough) SUPPORTS these sorts and blesses their endeavours to raise filthy lucre at every possible opportunity.

What should we do? We should follow the good example of the wonderful folks on Russian Hill in Mayfield PA. When Bishop George Schaefer came to serve liturgy on the patronal feastday of St John the Baptist Cathedral on 7 July, the dinner afterwards was free to all comers. The techka was passed, no doubt… and people were generous, if they had the means. However, no admissions charge was assessed to restrict access to the bishop to the “right people”. That’s the REAL reason for such fees amongst us (I can’t speak about the RCs… it’s outside of my experience). Ponder the fact that squiffy people such as Freddie Matthewes-Green charge such admission as a matter of course (one wonders how much of it sticks in her purse)… we have to keep out the riff-raff, after all.

THIS is the abyss in contemporary American Orthodoxy. There are those who worship Mammon, and who show it by charging “admission” to all parish events (and by charging a fee to be considered “in good standing”… what utter rot). Then, there are those who see this as simony. I agree with the latter, what about you?

BMD