Seventy years ago, on 27 January 1944, the Red Army completely lifted the Fascist Siege of Leningrad (now St Petersburg). The siege lasted for 872 days.
27 January 2014
RIA-Novosti
http://en.ria.ru/infographics/20140127/186755901/The-Siege-of-Leningrad.html
There was no original Russian text available for this infographic, sorry about that
BMD
Syosset changed its post on the Storheim affair… it’s common for them to do that if embarrassed (so, I made a copy of the present post so that they can’t accuse me of lying in future… that’s the way that they are, kids). One of the Cabinet wrote me:
The lawyer just did his job, but even though he did the best he could with what he had, the judge saw through it. You’ll also note that the judge didn’t say that Storheim DIDN’T abuse the second man, only that there wasn’t enough to convict! Now, the OCA revised their press release to call at least one of the twins a “victim”.
What I said to this Cabineteer was:
Note how Storheim and his lawyer tried to trash them. They still refuse to “man up” and “get down”. The victims have my complete support and sympathy, for what it’s worth. Lebedeff will try to make Storheim into the victim, and Fatso will be worse (aren’t you glad that he’s not wearing the “white hat” now?). What little cred the OCA had went down the toilet with their “statement”. How can they sleep at night (rhetorical question, dear)?
Another Cabinet member said:
They think it’ll go away if they act like it isn’t happening.
Note this on oca.org:
The faithful of the Orthodox Church in America are asked to offer prayers for the victim and family involved in this case …
I made a copy of this… I’ll betcha they’ll change it. There were TWO victims, not one… TWO. They’re “deer caught in the headlights”… they can’t think straight. I believe that the verdict hit them out of the blue. They’ve been lying to themselves (and to us) for so long that they forgot that the outside world has standards. The judge saw through it all… he didn’t say that Storheim was innocent of anything against the second complainant, only that he couldn’t find credible evidence to convict Storheim. Note well that the OCA’s tactics were its usual ones… accuse the victim, accuse them of mental instability, belittle the victim in public fora, attack them using internet claques, and, above all, smarmy denials by the First Families apparat. A friend of mine at the Centre wrote:
You must be fair even if they’re not. Give them a week to deal with Storheim, that is, to remove him from active ministry permanently (he doesn’t need defrocking) and to send him away to a monastery far from children (that’s what the judge wants). That’s happened in similar cases in our country (to priests, not bishops). Above all, the Church should apologise for the action… otherwise, the damage will be worse than that suffered in the late controversies over Paffhausen. As for me, I think that the OCA is going to mishandle this. I don’t know what’ll happen as a result of it, but I know that they’ll try to cover it up. I’ve been to their HQ in Syosset… that’s been their way for years. They won’t change. I keep all of you in America in my prayers.
Frankly, I have to agree with the above. I don’t think that Syosset is going to do anything until it must, and it’s going to continue to trash the victims using their cat’s-paws on the internet (“Oh, we’re not saying that… we’re so sorry”… what a rubbishy load of bollocks on stilts). Does ANYONE give a shit anymore? Do recall that Yuvenaly Poyarkov forbade OCA clergy to concelebrate at Laurus Škurla‘s funeral… I’ve heard some say that “interesting situations” in the OCA disgusted him… this verdict shows that his feelings weren’t based in hearsay…
Pass me the jug…
BMD
Здесь горожане — мужчины, женщины, дети.
Рядом с ними солдаты-красноармейцы.
Всею жизнью своею
Они защищали тебя, Ленинград,
Колыбель революции.
Их имён благородных мы здесь перечислить не сможем,
Так их много под вечной охраной гранита.
Но знай, внимающий этим камням:
Никто не забыт и ничто не забыто.
Here are city dwellers, men, women, and children
Next to them, Red Army soldiers.
They defended you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the Revolution
With all their lives.
We cannot list their noble names here,
There are so many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know this, those who regard these stones:
No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.
On Monday, President Putin honoured the victims of the Siege of Leningrad, including his brother, at a ceremony in St Petersburg. Putin walked with several dozen siege survivors in a procession through the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery as part of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad (the name for Piter at the time). Following the procession, Putin laid flowers and made the sign of the cross at the mass grave where his older brother was interred. Putin’s brother died in childhood during the devastating siege. Putin, born in Leningrad seven years after the end of the war, laid a wreath in the Russian national colours at the Mother-Motherland monument, which stands opposite the eternal flame commemorating those who died during the siege. The Siege of Leningrad during the VOV lasted from September 1941 to January 1944; it was one of the longest and deadliest in history. Estimates state that about 750,000 civilians starved and froze to death, many of them buried in mass graves at the Piskaryovskoye Cemetery. St Petersburg marks two anniversaries of the siege every January… the partial breaking of the siege on 18 January 1943, and the full lifting of the siege on 27 January 1944.
27 January 2014
RIA-Novosti
Editor’s Note:
THIS is why Russia remembers… the human toll exacted to kick out the Fascists and their collaborators was immense. It’s why Russia won’t “rehabilitate” the Vlasovtsy or Krasnovtsy… they fought willingly for the Fascists. It’s why Russia won’t “rehabilitate” the KONR pigs… they stabbed the Motherland in the back. We should watch our backs… some elements in the ROCOR are still led by Vlasovtsy… they say that they’re on our side now, but I, for one, don’t trust them one little bit. Do take a care with all those who were loud supporters of Langley in the Cold War… after all, does a leopard change its spots truly?
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Autonomous Republic of the Crimea Bans Svoboda Neo-Nazi Nutters
Tags: All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda", Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Crimea, Government of Ukraine, Justice Ministry, Kiev, Neo-Nazism, political commentary, politics, Svoboda, Svoboda Party, Ukraine
“The Crimea is For the President!”
______________________________
On Monday, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea banned the activities and symbols of the Svoboda nationalist faction, as its militants riot in Kiev and storm regional government offices in other parts of the Ukraine. It banned Svoboda “as a threat to national reconciliation, public security, and the rule of law”. The Supreme Soviet also demanded that the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice ban all activities of Svoboda throughout the country. The Presidium asked the Republic’s branch of the MVDU to bolster safety measures at railway stations, bus stations, and airports, and to secure the Perekop Isthmus connecting the Crimea to the Ukraine.
27 January 2014
Dmitri Zhmutsky
RIA-Novosti
http://ria.ru/world/20140127/991619095.html