13 November 2012. Break out the Bubbly! Love BT turns 80 Tomorrow!

Love BT as a boy with his late father

_____________________________

Tomorrow, 14 November, is Love BT’s 80th birthday (he was born 14 November 1932). By the way, some of the so-called “Friends of Bishop Tikhon” in the Los Angeles parish have stepped up and are paying his rent and utilities for him. The word has it that, as per usual, he’s contributing nothing. He’s certainly got quite a sense of entitlement, eh? It puts his nasty remarks about Bishop Mel in a different light, doesn’t it?

By the way, did anyone else notice that Love BT and James Silver spread the same dirt about Bishop Mel as they did about the late Job Osacky of Happy Memory? “Job’s a drunk! He’s still hitting the bottle! He’s emotionally unstable and unfit to be a bishop!” I’ll say the same thing that I said about Bishop Mel as I said about Vladyki Job… “Better an honest drunk than a sober thief”… I still stand by that.

This means that the OCA has rejected the “best man” two times running. I doubt that they’ll get a third chance…

BMD

Heard in the Agora about Mollard:

The most damning thing that I’ve heard about Mollard is that he couldn’t be bothered to respond to at least some of the priests in his diocese who asked for advice on sensitive pastoral issues. That’s ignoring one of the most basic parts of being a hierarch. He’s the shepherd that ignored the sheep.

NOTHING good has come in on Mollard yet. In one sense, I pity him… no one really wants him… there’s no way that he can’t feel that…

BMD

A Question from an MP source:

How long before they sack him?

Good question. What’ll happen if he crosses Vinnie, Bobby, and Lyonyo (Jillions is only Lyonyo’s Mini-Me)? That’s why I believe that the OCA is in for a long slow die-off, one parish by one parish. It’ll be the “death of a thousand cuts“.

BMD

Advertisement

13 November 2012. Hilarion Kapral Starts Idiotic Action Against V I Lenin… He’s Capitulated to the Vlasovtsy… God Help Us

How the Calf and the Colt Got the Apples

Nikolai Radlov

1937

From Stories in Pictures

******

This is the “extremism” of the Soviet period… isn’t Hilarion Kapral a bit out of line? There was much good in the USSR… mixed in with evil… that’s true of all ideologies. You don’t see him labelling the US Republican Party “extremists”… which is why the American people rejected them this year (the Republicans wanted to smash the elderly and snatch healthcare away from people to benefit the rich… nice, ain’t it?)! Get your mind right, Vladyki. Don’t let the advocates of “rugged individualism” (that’s a cover for greed and covetousness) blind you to the NEED for Christian COMMUNAL action (as the above little story so well illustrates). Don’t be suckered into supporting the oligarchs and their ecclesiastical lickspittles like the Blunder.

______________________________

Read this. This is crackbrained from stem to stern. V I Lenin was many things… but this present action isn’t only quixotic, it’s doomed to utter failure (thank God). Lenin is NOT going to be found an “extremist”…  not now, not ever. This is DUMB… especially, as Russia is starting to move back towards Soviet models. However, its proof to all that Hilarion Kapral has allowed the Vlasovtsy to have undue influence. They were traitors to the rodina in the VOV… they’re traitors to the Orthosphere now (most are supporters of Far Right ideologies that have NO congruence with Christianity). He has an obligation to attack the Godless Right, if he’s going to attack the Left. After all, HH holds many leftist viewpoints, doesn’t he? This is sad… one would think that Vladyki Hilarion would show more good sense than this. God willing, this will go nowhere and Hilarion will learn from it.

BMD

13 November 2012. First Reactions from the Cabinet on Lyonyo’s Coronation of Mollard

______________________________

Here’s some reactions from the grapevine:

Yup, another “former” Episcopalian… now “Orthodox“. Today, “OCA” means “Eastern Rite Episcopalians”.

Tikhon’s a decent guy, but a BISHOP? and, now, Metropolitan? It’s finished.

My reply to the second grape was:

It’s like the scene in the movie Patton, where you hear, “Das ende, das ende, er ist das ende” as the German staff officers burn their papers as the Red Army approaches. You’re right… it’s over… but it’ll be slow and messy.

I’ve heard no joy from real Orthodox over Mollard’s “election”. He’s only got support from Lyonyo, Peterson, Jillions, and Bobby; he’ll have to be their puppet or else. He’ll dance to their tune… he likes his Cadillac Escalade too much… all they’ll have to do is to threaten to cut off his gravy train. As I said, Mollard’s a “nice guy”… and all too many will forget that “good” and “nice” are NOT synonyms.

BMD

 

Will the Magnitsky Law Take the Place of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment?

______________________________

The House of Representatives Rules Committee of the US Congress decided that voting on the bill that stipulates simultaneous abolishment of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment aimed against Russia and the adoption of the so-called Magnitsky Act shall take place on 13 November. Chances are, the replacement of one discriminatory document with another would become an obstacle in the dialogue between Moscow and Washington.

Two bills that cause heated discussions in Russian and American political and business circles are combined in one document. If the Committee approves it on 13 November, it’ll go to a vote of the whole House. The main problem with the US lawmakers’ initiative is that they’ve connected the Jackson-Vanik Amendment and the Magnitsky Act; they have absolutely nothing in common, either technically or in their contents. The so-called Magnitsky Act stipulates freezing assets and banning entry to the USA for Russian citizens allegedly associated with the death of the Hermitage Capital Management employee Sergei Magnitsky in an investigative isolation ward in Moscow in 2009. The Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which is a vestige of the Cold War, was adopted in 1974. It stipulated restrictions upon trade with the USSR, because the US Congress believed that it had undue restrictions upon Jewish emigration.

Expert Vilen Ivanov told us, “Replacing one law with another is unlikely to add optimism in Moscow. The Magnitsky Law is even worse than the Jackson-Vanik Amendment is. The aim of the latter was trade discrimination against Russia, whilst the new law lets off the leash all those in the USA who dislike Russia; it gives them a free hand in announcing Russian citizens personae non grata and introducing individual sanctions against them. This law couldn’t promote better relations between our two countries and it makes our partnership more problematic in general”.

It’s worth remembering that the Magnitsky Law contains a paragraph that gives the US Secretary of State the right to introduce alterations to the list of sanctions, based on the country’s interests. This is an obviously superfluous measure, as 18 months ago the US Department of State already made a blacklist of persons allegedly associated with Magnitsky’s death to prevent them from getting US visas. In addition, the US Secretary of the Treasury would have the right to freeze Russian citizens’ bank accounts. In essence, this boils down to the fact that the American authorities can smear Russian citizens for one reason or another. As is known, this is a very effective method of political pressure.

Sergei Mikheyev, the Director of the Centre of Political Situations, said, “The latest developments demonstrate Washington’s current attitude to Moscow. Unfortunately, the general mood in the USA is in the vein of the Cold War. Americans believe that they should always have some ‘lever’ to be able to put pressure on Russia. I don’t think that we could radically change this situation at present, so, we should make the best of what we’ve got”.

Repeatedly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that Magnitsky’s death is a Russian internal problem, which is being dealt with at the highest level. As for the attempt to replace the Jackson-Vanik Amendment with a new anti-Russian law, this doesn’t suit Moscow at all. Incidentally, not only Russian politicians but also American businessmen are amongst the opponents of the Magnitsky Law. Bill Reinsh, President of the influential National Foreign Trade Council, recently announced that the adoption of that law would seriously damage trade and political relations with Russia, including cooperation on the Iranian and Syrian problems. He thought that Russia would prefer other partners within the WTO and that it could take retaliatory measures against the USA. Interestingly, some people in the Obama Administration hold the same view. However, Republicans in the US Congress wouldn’t listen to these arguments; they stubbornly insist on their position.

13 November 2012

Ilya Khartamov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_13/Will-Magnitsky-Law-replace-Jackson-Vanik-Amendment/