Minister of Foreign Affairs S V Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi in 2012
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The Saudis can’t even defeat the poorly-equipped Houthis in Yemen… good luck fighting a well-trained well-armed Moscow-backed military. We know it’s a badly abused cliché, but we really did laugh out loud after reading that Washington is “working to create a military alliance of Sunni Arab nations” to “counter” Iran. Close your eyes and imagine NATO. Are you seeing visions of an incompetent useless dinosaur that can’t tell the difference between a wedding party and a terrorist pow-wow? Now, clear your mind and imagine a NATO-like coalition with Egypt, Jordan, the KSA, and the UAE as members. Imagine that this coalition of medieval failures had one mission and one mission only… to provoke a war with Iran.
Typical. Washington finally realised that Americans have zero interest in starting a war with Iran, despite years of tireless propaganda portraying Tehran as an existential threat to humanity… or Israel, but what’s the difference, right? They’ve tried everything… even lobbing accusations that one can easily debunk with a simple Google search. Hey, wait a minute… maybe, our medieval Sunni allies would fight Iran for us? That’d be swell. Isn’t that what friends are for? This is true desperation seeping out of Washington’s adult diapers.
Iran isn’t Syria. It doesn’t have to worry about appeasing 1,000 different ethnic and religious groups. It’s a proud country with a long history of fighting off foreign parasites. A Sunni war against Iran would’ve likely been a disaster even ten years ago. Today? It’d be suicidal. Russia is Tehran’s dependable political and military ally, and the idea that Washington would somehow drive a wedge between Moscow and Tehran is ludicrous. Russia would do everything it could to help Iran fight off Sunni fanatics, for the same reason it intervened in Syria… if Washington’s “moderates” were to overrun the Middle East, Russia would be next.
Forget the fact that Iran already deploys Russian-made S-300 SAMs, or that Russia and Iran coördinated a miraculous military campaign to turn the tables in Syria in less than a year… an experience that’d be invaluable if there were a Sunni-led war against Iran. Just for a moment, consider that Russia has gone so far as to ask Washington to acknowledge Hizbullah as a crucial part of anti-ISIS efforts in Syria. Hizbullah! The very name sends shivers up the crooked spines of every Israel First blowhard with an American passport.
People worry that Moscow would abandon Tehran? For Russia, Iran is a holy grail of business opportunities and security coöperation. There’s one takeaway from Syria… Washington loves to stir up trouble in countries that can’t defend themselves. However, when a formidable force such as Russia steps into the ring, the Americans run for the hills (crying foul, of course). Even with full support from Washington and Israel (Israel would stay in the shadows, to keep up appearances), the KSA, Qatar, and the UAE would get a Russian-backed Persian beating that they’d never forget. The icing on the cake would be that this “anti-Iran” bloc includes some of the most autocratic states on earth… anti-women, anti-democratic, anti-everything… it’d be a true joy to watch Washington claim that the KSA and Qatar were fighting Iran to protect democracy in the Middle East.
Of course, we’re probably getting ahead of ourselves. Following NATO’s model, this coalition of medieval head-choppers would first surround Iran with defensive military bases. Then, the provocations and (more) sanctions would begin. It won’t work. Iran isn’t Iraq. It isn’t Libya. It isn’t Syria. It already has the full backing of Russia. If Washington were smart, it’d take note.
18 February 2017
Rudy Panko
Russian Insider
http://russia-insider.com/en/washington-wants-coalition-sunni-regimes-fight-iran-tehran-would-completely-crush-them/ri18978
Voices from Russia 
Statement on the Martyrdom of Christians on Hosanna Sunday in Egypt
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With palms in their hands, hymns on their lips, and peace in their hearts, New Martyrs were ushered from their churches in Alexandria and Tanta into the Paradise of Joy on Hosanna Sunday, the day and feast of the Lord.
All Christians… know that you are a light in the world, a source of good, and a means for peace. The whole world is under siege by an ideology of hatred… a cancer of the conscience. The same hands that skilfully designed weapons of harm could’ve discovered tools for a cure. This violent act against Christians is because evil can’t coexist with good, darkness can’t overcome light, and hatred can’t befriend peace, but death can’t separate us from God.
All our churches and noble citizens throughout the world are praying for the peace and safety of all persecuted Christians, Confessors, and Martyrs. Holy Week is a time devoted to the Lord’s Passion. At all times, the Lord loved. Even when afflicted and crucified, He loved. This is a time for prayer for the entire world. We remain in prayer for the safety of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, all the Confessors of the Christian faith, the families of the Martyrs, and all the injured victims. On behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, I offer our deepest condolences to everyone afflicted by this sad day in Egyptian history.
+Bishop Youssef
Ruling Hierarch
Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
10 April 2017
Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
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