Always Darkest Before the Dawn: Polar Night Ends on Frants Iosif Land (Russia’s Northernmost Archipelago)

Border marker at Severnaya Bay on Alexandra Land in the Frants Iosif Land Archipelago

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On Thursday, the Sun rose over the horizon on Frants Iosif Land, the northernmost Arctic archipelago in Russia and Eurasia, signalling an end to the four-month-long pitch-dark polar night. Aleksei Barakov, a deputy director of the Russian Arctic National Park, told us:

The Sun rose over Alexandra Land Island where the Omega permanent field base is located.

The polar night began on Frants Iosif Land, an archipelago lying only 1,100 kilometres (684 miles) away from the North Pole, on 18 October. Vadim Zakharyin, the chief of the national park’s expedition centre, noted:

The night is very cold, windy, and dark there. The Northern Lights rarely occur on the archipelago because the cloud cover is rather thick and low. The temperatures usually hover at around -30 degrees (-22 Fahrenheit), with high humidity that’s difficult to bear. Besides that, winds reach hurricane-like speeds of 36 metres per second (80.5 miles per hour). You have to be especially careful in that darkness because you can run into polar bears there.

On Thursday, the weather on Alexandra Island was frigid and calm. Two park staff-members are always present at the Omega field base of the Russian Arctic National Park. Only two of the 192 islands making up Frants Iosif Land are habitable during the winter. Alexandra Land, the westernmost island of the archipelago, is home to the Nagurskoye border outpost and a Northern Fleet base, in addition to the national park’s field base. A weather monitoring station, also known as “the observatory”, is on Kheysa Island in the very centre of the archipelago. A source at the Northern Department for Meteorology and Environment Monitoring said:

Currently, there are six workers at the Ernst Krenkel Observatory.

22 February 2018

TASS

http://tass.com/economy/991293

19 March 2017. Today is Submariners’ Day… On Guard for Peace

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Unlike their American analogues, Russian nuclear-powered general-purpose submarines have a defensive orientation, not an offensive one. That is, their job is to secure the two “Fortress Areas” in the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. Rather than to attack seaborne lines-of-communication, their task is to protect the ballistic-missile-armed subs that are Russia’s “Doomsday Option”. Were the Americans to launch a strike on the land-based RVSN, the missile subs would launch a full-force attack on the USA (their missiles can reach the CONUS heartland of the USA from these oceanic bastions). As the Anglos are liars and bullies (especially, “conservatives”, but “liberals” aren’t far behind), this task is real and taken very seriously.

Truly, these men are “on guard for peace”… the history of the world since 1992 has proven what bloodthirsty knaves and criminals the Americans are. Thank God for the Russian submariners… they keep the feral Americans at bay. May God preserve them…

BMD

27 August 2016. A Photo Essay… HH Visited Severomorsk to Bless the Fleet

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The Church, by tradition, blesses Christian warriors and their weapons prior to their going to war. At present, the USA thunders aggression… therefore, HH visits the forces and blesses them for possible conflict. I, for one, wish that no war ensues… however, that’s completely in the hands of the USA, for Russia doesn’t want war. The likes of Clinton, Trump, and Johnson give me no cause for optimism (the support given by clueless rightwing ROCOR sorts to Trump is ignorant self-hatred of the highest order)… Stein is the only peace candidate.

I pray for peace… but the juvenile fecklessness of toddler Anglo America gives me little hope… their greed, vacuity, and hubris knows no bounds…

BMD

Patriarch Kirill: “The Readiness of the Northern Fleet Depends Largely on the Spiritual Strength and Faith of its Sailors”

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On Thursday, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias visited the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the nuclear-powered battlecruiser TARKR 099 Pyotr Veliki, the world’s largest non-aviation warship. On 28 July 2012, a decree of the President of the Russian Federation awarded the Order of Nakhimov to the cruiser “for the courage, dedication, and professionalism shown by the ship company in performing its command assignments”. During his pastoral visit, he told sailors:

The readiness of the Northern Fleet, which keeps the peace in Russia and abroad, depends largely on the spiritual strength and faith of its sailors; spiritual support of our forces is one of the key tasks of the Church. Those who take the military oath especially need spiritual help; we all believe that the sailors of the Northern Fleet will show full combat readiness if they have strong faith and strong spirit.

Addressing the staff of the Northern Fleet after his arrival in Severomorsk, Vladyki Kirill emphasised:

As we’re a nuclear power, spiritual healthiness in our personnel is key to maintaining the peace, both domestically and globally; it guarantees that they can carry out their duties, with all that such brings to the life of the Motherland. Maybe, one day, there may come a time that the outcome of a battle or a successful endeavour will depend precisely on the spiritual state of our soldiers.

In turn, Vice-Admiral N A ‪Yevmenov, Commander of the Northern Fleet, told the patriarch:

For all Orthodox, a word from our pastor and the Word of God mean a lot. Let’s take some examples… Admirals Ushakov and Nakhimov are holy names for every one of the Orthodox warriors under the flag of St Andrew the Apostle. Our grandfathers fought under this flag… under this flag, we go out to sea and carry out our service. The words, “All those who go to sea pray to God”… these aren’t empty words for us.

18 August 2016

Aleksei Mikheyev

RIA Novosti

http://ria.ru/religion/20160818/1474695054.html