Sunday, February 17, 2013

The same Walls, The same gods... "Исаев назвал призывы Белковского экстремистскими" | Religious Diversity And Democratic Institutional Pluralism | Religion in Russia

Last Update: 2.19.13:

Политолог Станислав Белковский вызван на допрос в СК

Mike Nova commented:

The two ideological monopolies: ruling United Russia Party and ROC (MP) formed a reactionary "unholy" alliance, in order to maintain and strengthen their respective monopolies and their hold on political and religious powers. Presently they merged together like Siamese twins. A good surgeon is needed. A proper separation will be healthy for both parties.

Mnogo religiy, raznikh i "nuzhnikh",
A ne slepo kholopskih i rabski poslushnikh!

RUSSIA and THE WEST 
 

ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

 

16 февраля 2013, 17:46
 

Исаев назвал призывы Белковского экстремистскими

 

В «Московском комсомольце» опубликована статья с призывом ликвидировать Русскую православную церковь
Призыв Белковского является экстремистским и направлен на разжигание религиозной розни. Такое заявление сделал в субботу, 16 февраля, заместитель секретаря Генерального совета «Единой России», депутат Госдумы Андрей Исаев, комментируя ER.RU опубликованную 15 февраля в газете «Московский комсомолец» статью Станислава Белковского.
«Вчера в «Московском комсомольце» была опубликована статья господина Белковского, в которой он предлагает реорганизацию Русской православной церкви. Во-первых, непонятно, какое отношение имеет господин Белковский к Русской православной церкви. Во-вторых, первый пункт предложений содержит призыв ликвидировать РПЦ», - сказал замсекретаря Генсовета «Единой России».
«Это возмутительный призыв, тем более что он опубликован в одной из самых многотиражных газет России. К тому же РПЦ – это крупнейшее религиозное объединение нашей страны, подавляющее большинство граждан России связаны с Русской православной церковью», - констатировал депутат.
«Считаю данный призыв господина Белковского экстремистским, направленным на разжигание религиозной розни, и как депутат Государственной Думы обращаюсь к правоохранительным органам незамедлительно провести расследование по данному факту и принять все необходимые меры воздействия», - заключил Исаев.

Ключевые слова: Белковский, Исаев, разжигание религиозной розни, статья, экстремизм
 

Gleb Pavlovsky
Ого, Исаев косит под православного! "Непонятно, какое отношение имеет господин Белковский к Русской православной церкви.." Забавно   See Translation
Единая Россия официальный сайт партии / Новости / Исаев назвал призывы Белковского экстре
er.ru
В «Московском комсомольце» опубликована статья с призывом ликвидировать Московский
 
 
Станислав Белковский - GS 
 
 
http://www.vz.ru/news/2013/2/17/620742.html

В «Единой России» назвали призыв к ликвидации РПЦ экстремистским

17 февраля 2013, 13::39
Призыв Станислава Белковского к ликвидации Русской православной церкви является экстремистским и направлен на разжигание религиозной розни, заявил заместитель секретаря Генерального совета «Единой России», депутат Госдумы Андрей Исаев.
«Вчера в «Московском комсомольце» была опубликована статья господина Белковского, в которой он предлагает реорганизацию Русской православной церкви. Во-первых, непонятно, какое отношение имеет господин Белковский к Русской православной церкви. Во-вторых, первый пункт предложений содержит призыв ликвидировать РПЦ», - приводит слова Исаева сайт «Единой России».«Это возмутительный призыв, тем более что он опубликован в одной из самых многотиражных газет России. К тому же РПЦ – это крупнейшее религиозное объединение нашей страны, подавляющее большинство граждан России связаны с Русской православной церковью», - констатировал депутат.«Считаю данный призыв господина Белковского экстремистским, направленным на разжигание религиозной розни, и как депутат Государственной Думы обращаюсь к правоохранительным органам незамедлительно провести расследование по данному факту и принять все необходимые меры воздействия», - заключил Исаев.

Папа указал путь патриарху

Программа реформации Русской церкви: вкратце и по существу

Патриарх Кирилл
 
Невиданное за последние 600 лет отречение Папы Римского от Святого Престола вызвало волну бурных эмоций, и не только по эту сторону обитаемого мира. В понедельник, 11 февраля 2013 года, когда пришло известие об отречении, в Риме разразилась страшная гроза, и молния ударила в купол собора Святого Петра.
Впрочем, для всех, кто следил за устными и письменными выступлениями папы за последние 8 лет — с тех пор, как кардинал, глава ватиканской Конгрегации по вопросам веры (бывш. Святая Инквизиция) Йозеф Алоиз Ратцингер стал Бенедиктом XVI, — отречение не стало полной сенсацией. Уходящий Папа Римский неизменно обозначал главную проблему вверенной его попечению Церкви: явный кризис католичества в Старой Европе.
«Храмы пустеют», как говорил по другому, но очень схожему поводу покойный Патриарх Московский и всея Руси Алексий II. Европа, былое средоточие католичества, становится совсем секулярной, а исповедание христианской религии — чистой формальностью. Европейские политические лидеры, которые сегодня превозносят Бенедикта XVI за его «мужественный поступок», на деле проводят политику, с которой Церковь согласиться не может ни при каких обстоятельствах. Повсеместно легализуются однополые браки, усыновление детей гомосексуальными парами, на очереди — легализация эвтаназии. Огромный удар по авторитету Римской католической церкви нанесли и скандалы вокруг священников-педофилов, разразившиеся как раз при Бенедикте XVI. Открылось то, что скрывалось десятилетиями, но ответственность за случившееся, по негласным канонам истории, пришлось взять на себя старику Ратцингеру.
«Я поздно встал и на дороге застигнут ночью Рима был» ((с) Ф.И.Тютчев). Папа Ратцингер признал, что он не в силах остановить процессы, нивелирующие влияние католичества в Европе. Это можно сделать, только пойдя на кардинальные реформы в самой Церкви. Но, очевидно, Бенедикт XVI посчитал, что его 86 лет — не лучший возраст для начала таких реформ. Да и сил, физических и душевных, для попытки изменить заданный логикой Просвещения ход европейской истории уже не осталось. Отсюда и отречение. Ратцингер поступил абсолютно честно и уже благодаря этому не будет забыт историками Церкви.
Уход Папы Римского важен для нас еще и потому, что напоминает о проклятых вопросах, касающихся судьбы нашей Церкви — Русской православной церкви Московского Патриархата (РПЦ МП). Ведь она тоже нуждается в кардинальных (прошу прощения за неудачный каламбур) реформах. Именно 2012 год высветил потребность в таких реформах ярко, как ничто и никогда.
Некоторые ошибочно полагают, что РПЦ МП есть историческая правопреемница Русской ортодоксальной церкви. Это, мягко говоря, не совсем так. РПЦ МП фактически основана в сентябре 1943 года Генералиссимусом Иосифом Сталиным. Тогда великий учитель и вождь народов принял в Кремле местоблюстителя патриаршего престола Сергия Страгородского, митрополитов Алексея Симанского (будущего патриарха Алексия I) и Николая Ярушевича. И поручил Церкви быть верным и надежным отрядом советской власти, ее агентом среди тех, кто не отрицает существования Бога, а заодно помнит словосочетание «Святая Русь». Апокриф гласит, что Сергий Страгородский явился на встречу с вождем в светском платье, а не в епископском облачении. На что лукавый слушатель семинарии со своим фирменным акцентом спросил местоблюстителя: «Меня — боишься, Его (Господа Бога. — С.Б.) — не боишься?»
Подлинность этой сталинской реплики экспериментально не установлена. Но слова вождя вполне могли стать девизом РПЦ МП — перетяжку с таким текстом стоило бы вывесить у ворот официальной резиденции патриарха в столичном Чистом переулке. Потому что основная задача нашей титульной Церкви с 1943 года — обслуживание интересов власти. А Господь Бог — подождет. У него ведь все равно в запасе вечность, как сказал бы Владимир Владимирович (Маяковский).
Собственно, поэтому РПЦ МП всегда четко соответствует той государственности, которая существует в данный момент исторического времени, — подобно тому, как жидкость принимает форму объявшего ее сосуда. При советской власти патриархия выгораживала безбожный коммунизм. Духовный наставник и политический отец нынешнего патриарха Кирилла Гундяева, ключевая фигура РПЦ 1960—1970-х годов митрополит Никодим Ротов даже призывал различать виды атеизма: дескать, есть плохой атеизм, а есть хороший — коммунистический, ибо он, по версии, владыки Никодима, по сути своей есть почти христианство.
При горбачевской перестройке и в годы правления Бориса Ельцина казалось, что воздух свободы может сыграть с профессором Плейшнером, т.е. РПЦ МП, хорошую шутку. Что Церковь сможет избавиться от тотальной кремлезависимости и действительно стать духовным водителем русского народа. Но то был обман приблизительного зрения. Просто РПЦ МП опять приняла форму сосуда — хаос свободы породил брожение и в ней. Но как только обрушилась на нас путинская стабильность, официальная Православная церковь снова подстроилась под ситуацию, покорившись всем основным направлениям государственной работы.
Но если при патриархе Алексии II (Ридигере) РПЦ еще сохраняла некоторое чувство собственного достоинства, самосознание особости и инаковости своей природы, то при Кирилле Гундяеве она рухнула в пучину обслуживания казенных интересов безвозвратно. Похоже, в гипотезе о существовании Бога эта церковь уже не нуждается. Ее бог живет в резиденции «Ново-Огарево», апостолы же подвизаются в профилированных кремлевских корпусах.
В РПЦ МП нынче последовательно вытаптывается и уничтожается все живое и мудрое. Например, в январе этого года был запрещен в служении известный и популярный молодой священник отец Димитрий Свердлов. Формальный повод: он якобы отлучился от своего прихода без согласования с церковным начальством. На самом же деле он лишь на несколько дней съездил в Крымск, чтобы помочь там жертвам страшного наводнения. Истинная причина гонений на отца Димитрия в том, что он открыто высказывался о нечестности и несправедливости думских выборов-2011 и симпатизировал протестному движению. Таких примеров можно привести еще немало, жаль, что колонка в «МК» в отличие от столицы нашей Родины города Москвы не резиновая.
Мне часто задают вопрос: какая программа должна быть у легальной оппозиции в современной России? Я часто отвечаю на него развернуто, хотя не все слышат и слушают. Так вот. Один из ключевых пунктов — это назревшая (и уже даже перезревшая) реформация Русской церкви. Пока РПЦ МП остается — и все более становится — придатком исполнительной власти, реальные политические перемены в нашей стране невозможны, в этом я убежден.
Итак, основные положения доктрины церковной реформации, на мой взгляд, должны быть следующими.
1. РПЦ МП как общественная организация, единое бюрократическое целое должна быть ликвидирована.
2. Русская церковь — желательно, чтобы она вернула досталинское название и стала Российской православной церковью — должна трансформироваться в конфедерацию независимых приходов.
3. Прихожане будут избирать себе пастырей, пастыри — епископов, епископы — патриарха. Неизменную со сталинских времен модель вертикального управления Церковью следует упразднить.
4. Необходимо возродить процедуру оглашения (катехизации) — всякий член Церкви должен понимать, почему он становится православным и что есть Бог, который главнее всех земных начальств.
5. Следуя (только в данном случае) католическому примеру, надо ввести институт конфирмации: любой взрослый человек, даже если он крещен в детстве, должен подтвердить, что принадлежит к православной Церкви.
Это если вкратце.
Реформация необходима для того, чтобы Церковь стала институтом раскрепощения русского человека, перестав быть агентом авторитаризма и служанкой светской власти. Это, на мой взгляд, хорошо понимают все. И верующие миряне, и священники, и даже архиереи, многие из которых не возлагают на нынешнее руководство РПЦ МП уже никаких надежд. Ибо оно (руководство) отделило себя от верующих русских людей стеной повыше кремлевской.
Да, мне, конечно, скажут, что эта программа слишком радикальна. Сразу согласен. Но, как наглядно показывает богатая отечественная история, в России удаются только быстрые и радикальные реформы. Наверное, это из-за нашего климата: при такой погоде планировать что-то надолго и постепенно нельзя. Любые реформы в России — петровские ли, ленинско-сталинские, ельцинские — были жесткими и стремительными. Остальные же либо буксовали, либо откровенно проваливались.
Правда, церковная реформа займет не меньше пяти-семи лет. Ибо сам организм РПЦ МП крайнен инертен и неповоротлив. И мы должны отдавать себе в этом отчет.
Но что такое 5—7 лет по сравнению с русской вечностью, которая нависает над нами гигантским светлым облаком?
И, конечно, для православной реформации есть необходимая предпосылка. Отречение патриарха Кирилла Гундяева. Который, подобно Бенедикту XVI, должен закончить свою карьеру в женском монастыре.
Там ему самое правильное место.
материал: Станислав Белковский
газетная рубрика: СВОБОДНАЯ ТЕМА

 19 февраля 2013, 14:43

Политолог Станислав Белковский вызван на допрос в СК

 
Следственный комитет России вызвал на допрос политолога и публициста Станислава Белковского. Согласно повестке, он должен явиться в СК в пятницу.
Сам Белковский рассказал «Полит.ру», что на допрос пойдет и даже готов к тому, что там его могут арестовать. «Ни один человек в России не может быть спокоен за свою судьбу, если идет на допрос», - пояснил политолог.
Вызов на допрос связан с требованием Госдумы возбудить против него уголовное дело. Депутатов возмутила статья публициста о Русской православной церкви, написанная для газеты «Московский комсомолец». В материале Белковский, в частности, предложил ликвидировать РПЦ как институт.
«Я с этой трибуны обращаюсь в Следственный комитет и прошу дать ответы на вопрос, является ли написанное Белковским клеветой, а также носят ли его высказывания в статье экстремистский характер, разжигающий религиозную и гражданскую рознь», - заявил на очередном заседании Думы первый заместитель председателя комитета Госдумы по делам общественных объединений и религиозных организаций Михаил Маркелов, сообщает РБК.
К словам Маркелова позже присоединились депутаты от фракции «Единая Россия» Сергей Попов и Андрей Исаев.
Чуть позже на призыв Маркелова ответил сам Белковский. По его словам, предложенная им в статье концепция дальнейшего развития РПЦ «адекватна ситуации и отвечает интересам огромного числа верующих».
«Думаю, что, поскольку главой церкви, как мы все знаем, является господь наш Иисус Христос, он примет все необходимые решения и отправит депутатов Маркелова, Попова, Исаева и некоторых других в исторический утиль, где им самое место», - резюмировал политолог.
 
___________________________________________________
 

Религиозный шпионаж США и России

 
("Leral.net", Сенегал)
Жан-Поль Пугала (Jean-Paul Pougala )
Контекст


Читать далее: http://www.inosmi.ru/world/20130214/205785090.html#ixzz2LAHUi3CR
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Невульгарная светскость

from Gazeta.ru - Комментарии by Борис Фаликов
Декларируя свое партнерство, церковь и власть собираются использовать его для борьбы с нарождающимся гражданским обществом.
 
 Рассматривая формирование гражданского общества как угрозу собственному существованию, власть и церковь изо всех сил сражаются с ним (принятие закона, регламентирующего волонтерство, не за горами). Поэтому даже какие-то правильные идеи вроде организации социальной работы используются как оружие в этой борьбе. Результаты нетрудно предсказать. Я, например, хорошо представляю себе возникновение «православного департамента благотворительности», который будет централизованно раздавать гуманитарную помощь населению, чтобы удержать его от требований перемен.

 
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Saturday, February 16, 2013

NYT: Sunday Dialogue: U.S. Policy Toward Russia

Letters

Sunday Dialogue: U.S. Policy Toward Russia

Evgenia Barinova
Published: February 16, 2013
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Readers react to Gary Hart’s urging of patient diplomacy.
To the Editor:
It is dismaying to read that the Obama administration is “quietly adopting a new approach to its old cold war rival, the cold shoulder” (“Another Reset of Relations With Russia in Obama’s Second Term,” news article, Feb. 2). Once again, this suggests a triumph for the anti-Russian brigades that seem to occupy American foreign policy circles.
Unquestionably, there are instances in which Russia does not live up to our standards of democracy and refuses to behave as we instruct it to. But no more so than another major power, the People’s Republic of China, with which we maintain much better relations over all.
Any fair-minded analysis demonstrates that persistent and patient diplomacy with Russia will yield many more rewards than disappointments, including in venues such as Syria, where its help can be decisive.
GARY HART
Kittredge, Colo., Feb. 11, 2013
The writer, a former Democratic senator from Colorado, is an author, lecturer and consultant on international law and business.

Readers React
In arguing that the situation in Russia is no worse than that in China, Mr. Hart notes “instances in which Russia does not live up to our standards of democracy and refuses to behave as we instruct it to.”
Instances? A recent Freedom House report documents a series of initiatives by President Vladimir V. Putin designed to eliminate any and all potential threats to his grip on power, including increasing criminal penalties for “unsanctioned” protests, censoring and controlling the Internet, drastically expanding the definition of treason, and recriminalizing libel and slander. Arrests, arbitrary detentions and home raids targeting opposition figures are occurring on a level not seen since Soviet times.
Mr. Hart argues that Russia is not living up to “our” standards. The Russian government is not living up to its own standards under its constitution, nor is it complying with universal human rights commitments it has made.
Under the reset policy of the first term, the Obama administration looked the other way during the worst deterioration in Russia’s democracy and human rights situation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. A new approach toward Russia is desperately needed, one that places much more emphasis on contending with the problems that Mr. Putin poses to his own people and to others.
Viewing Mr. Putin as a threat to human rights and American interests should not be misrepresented as being anti-Russian. The Russian government has moved, step by step, to restrict political pluralism, hamstring the opposition and distance itself from the United States. I don’t see Mr. Hart decrying that.
DAVID J. KRAMER
President, Freedom House
Washington, Feb. 13, 2013
Russia’s engagement with our international partners, particularly the United States, is a very important element of our foreign and economic policy and needs to be further encouraged to maintain global stability. Aside from the number of international security issues that require our cooperation and a resolution in a multilateral fashion, it is very clear that the United States and Russia have the same goal: stimulating economic growth while maintaining security and stability around the globe.
However, our relationship with the United States has to be one of balance and mutual respect. As with any relationship, both sides need to accept that there are areas where closer cooperation is mutually beneficial, and others where we have different approaches. Having a constructive, long-term relationship means that we will acknowledge our disagreements honestly and stand committed to work toward solutions together.
DMITRY PESKOV
Moscow, Feb. 14, 2013
The writer is press secretary to President Vladimir V. Putin.
As a naturalized American citizen from the former Soviet Union, I’d welcome improved relations between the United States and Russia, leading to more fruitful cooperation in world affairs. But I disagree with Mr. Hart, who blames “the anti-Russian brigades that seem to occupy American foreign policy circles” for the latest worsening of American-Russian relations.
The worsening is clearly by Vladimir V. Putin’s deliberate and cynical choice — unless we are prepared to completely ignore Russia’s internal affairs no matter how anti-democratic they become.
Mr. Putin experienced a rude awakening, discovering that he hasn’t been universally loved in Russia. He did not win the March 2012 election as easily as he had expected. And anti-Americanism has always been among the most potent weapons to mobilize the base.
So unless Mr. Hart and like-minded advocates of improving American-Russian relations are prepared to say, “yes, we do have to ignore what Mr. Putin does inside Russia as long as he cooperates with us elsewhere,” there is not much the United States can do.
VALENTIN LYUBARSKY
Brooklyn, Feb. 13, 2013
Mr. Hart is right. The United States cannot realistically hope to have Russia as a partner where it matters to us while otherwise treating it as an adversary.
Russia is not a democracy, and its corruption is pervasive. But Russia is not more authoritarian than Saudi Arabia, where no political parties are allowed, and women have no right to vote or even to drive. The Putin rule is not crueler than the Karzai government in Afghanistan, where nearly half of detainees interviewed claim that they were tortured, and the drug trade is protected by government officials.
This is neither to praise how Russia is ruled, nor to suggest that we end America’s long friendship with Saudi Arabia and abandon Afghanistan. Rather, we need to ask ourselves whether the United States has important interests where Russian cooperation could make a difference, such as no nuclear weapons for Iran and terrorism. If so, we should not single out Moscow for harsher treatment than we give to others from whom we want and expect less. Such actions ultimately come at the expense of American national security.
DIMITRI K. SIMES
Washington, Feb. 14, 2013
The writer is president and chief executive of the Center for the National Interest.
America’s antipathy to Russia dates from the exposure of czarism’s system of exiling dissidents. American sympathy for China originates from Secretary of State John Hay’s engineering of the “open door policy,” promoting equal trading opportunities with China.From the 1890s to today, with only a few exceptions, our policy makers determined to give Russia the “cold shoulder” while embracing China. It should come as no surprise that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “reset” button is getting replaced with President Obama’s “stop” button.
Almost every time Russia rebuffs us with intransigence, we renew our antipathy. Yet America excuses Chinese intransigence, however egregious.
By now it should be obvious that, as Mr. Hart suggests, “persistent and patient” diplomacy with Russia could yield rewards with our Syrian diplomacy and beyond. Likewise, a firmer hand with China might be in order.
When will America’s Russia-China relations grow up?
DONALD E. DAVIS
EUGENE P. TRANI
Normal, Ill., Feb. 13, 2013
The writers are, respectively, professor emeritus of history at Illinois State University and president emeritus of Virginia Commonwealth University.
The United States and Russia are more similar than they, unfortunately, are publicly willing to admit. Countries are composed of people. American and Russian people equally value family, education and personal success, and they proudly believe that their heritage, culture and history have made significant contributions worldwide.
Bilateral dialogues that start with demands for change are destined to fail. Bilateral dialogues that seek cooperation based on common grounds will not only succeed, but will also inspire both countries to organically evolve and benefit from mutual interests.
To this day the wisest advice I’ve heard relating to Russian-American relations was offered by Nicholas Burns, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and former diplomat, who wrote, “There are times when we have to deal with the world as it is to eventually get the world we want.” Until both countries accept each other’s differences and concentrate on the way mutual cooperation can benefit each other, no long-term progress will be achieved. President Obama’s and President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s willingness to do that in Mr. Obama’s first term has led to substantial, yet little known, progress and cooperation in education, sciences, arts, health, environment, commerce, security and beyond. If that doesn’t continue, the losers will be on both sides.
RINA KIRSHNER
New York, Feb. 13, 2013
The writer is vice president of the Russian American Foundation.
It would be nice to think that our relations with China are based on some altruistic intention to take the geopolitical high road, which would give us hope of eventually adopting the same policy with Russia. It would be nice, but it would be naïve.
Our relationship with China is based purely on economic and strategic self-preservation. The current American economy is inextricably linked with, and dependent on, that of China. China also poses the only serious global military threat that we currently face, filling the cold-war vacuum created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Russia has neither the economic nor military leverage of its Asian neighbor. It is for these reasons, and not some political idealism, that the United States treads lightly with China, while trampling any Russian diplomatic opportunities.
DENNIS B. APPLETON
Madison, Wis., Feb. 13, 2013
Eleven years ago I held a Fulbright to teach American history at Moscow State University. Spending a semester living in Moscow, I fell in love with the city and began a process of deep engagement with Russian history and culture. I’ve come to appreciate the extent to which the fear of invasion is part of the Russian DNA, a fear based on centuries of fighting off Tatar, French and German attacks. Any leader of Russia who evokes that fear can enhance his own authoritarianism. Therefore, it is counterproductive for another country to play into that narrative.
This does not mean unilateral disarmament, but it does mean cooling rhetorical excess. Our unreconstructed cold warriors reinforce arguments made by Kremlin hard-liners, and vice versa. This is not a helpful situation.
In the intervening years since living in Moscow, I’ve been deeply distressed to read about the deaths of journalists, the stifling of dissent and the increasingly anti-American rhetoric of Vladimir V. Putin. But I think that our long-term interests are best served by finding a way to negotiate the tricky terrain between being a doormat and invariably playing the role of opponent.
GLENNA MATTHEWS
Laguna Beach, Calif., Feb. 13, 2013

The Writer Responds
Diplomacy is a search for common interests, not a reward for good behavior. Our common interests with Russia outweigh our many differences, and they include: chemical weapons in Syria, nuclear capabilities in North Korea and Iran, terrorism and energy security, among others. Mr. Peskov’s letter makes the same argument in less specific terms, combining these “international security issues” with shared interests in stability provided by economic growth.
Organizations such as Freedom House have the duty to focus our attention on human rights abuses. The State Department has the duty to focus on those common interests and promote them.
If men were angels, we would need no government. If nations met our standards, we would need little diplomacy. Even as we promote democracy in Russia, as we should, we must continue to perfect democracy in America, where just last fall there was widespread voter suppression and where large-scale racial and gender discrimination occurred during my lifetime.
Mr. Kramer does not mention my juxtaposition of China against Russia on the human rights scale, though Professors Davis and Trani properly do. If Russia were heavily invested in United States Treasury bonds, would our policy be somewhat more understanding?
Ms. Matthews appropriately notes the role of “unreconstructed cold warriors” in the Russian context, an antipathy that does, as she notes, provide grist for the Kremlin mill and become self-fulfilling. We may not like it, but President Vladimir V. Putin was elected by a 64 percent majority, beyond the margin of manipulation.
Despite what Mr. Lyubarsky suggests, I do not advocate ignoring Mr. Putin’s anti-democratic behavior. I do advocate holding Russia to the same standards we do other, even less democratic nations such as China.
Ms. Kirshner makes my argument much better than I did.
GARY HART
Kittredge, Colo., Feb. 15, 2013
A version of this letter appeared in print on February 17, 2013, on page SR2 of the National edition with the headline: Sunday Dialogue: U.S. Policy Toward Russia.
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2.16.13 - Nearly 1,000 injured by meteor explosion in Russia

via Deutsche Welle: DW-WORLD.DE - Top Stories on 2/16/13
Thousands of cleanup workers have been deployed to Russia's central Urals region following Friday's meteorite strike. More than 1,200 people were injured when shockwaves from the 10-tonne meteorite hit the area.

 
 
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via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 2/15/13
In this frame grab made from a video done with a dashboard camera, on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan, to Chelyabinsk region, Russia, provided by Nasha Gazeta newspaper, on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 a meteorite contrail is seen. A meteor streaked across the sky of Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring around 100 people, including many hurt by broken glass. (AP Photo/Nasha gazeta, www.ng.kz)MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian health official says nearly 1,000 people have sought help for injuries caused by a meteor that exploded in the sky, blasting out countless windows.

via - Europe RSS Feed on 2/15/13
Over 700 people have been injured after a meteor blasted across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains this morning, causing explosions and smashing windows.

via Russia - Google News on 2/15/13

ABC News (blog)
Surprise attack: Meteor explodes over Russia hours before giant asteroid flyby ...
Washington Post (blog)
In this frame grab made from a video done with a dashboard camera, on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan, to Chelyabinsk region, Russia, provided by Nasha Gazeta newspaper, on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 a meteorite contrail is seen. (AP - AP). Today's big ...
Meteor shower in Russia unrelated to large asteroid predicted to make a close ...Boston.com (blog)
Live Blog: Meteor Hit in Russia; Asteroid 2012 DA14 ApproachesABC News (blog)
Meteor over Russia! (pictures)CNET
NBCNews.com (blog) -Space.com -CNN
all 513 news articles »

via World news: Russia | guardian.co.uk by Roz Kaveney on 2/15/13
Despite advances in scientific knowledge, many of us still want random events and misfortunes to have a deeper significance
There was a time when people only watched the skies to see the calm or stormy movement of clouds, or the revolutions of the celestial spheres, or the clockwork solar system that eventually replaced them. At the end of the Age of Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson may not have been as sceptical about meteors – "easier to believe that two Yankee professors could lie than to admit that stones could fall from heaven" – as legend tells us, but he certainly found the whole idea unlikely. Even as late as 1943, Michael Innes could write a deliberately absurd detective story, The Weight of the Evidence, in which the murder weapon was a meteorite, dropped on an elderly academic from a tower.
But now we are aware that our planet sits in far from empty space, with heavenly billiard balls perpetually about to carom off it. Luis Alvarez determined, from layers of dust and a big hole in Mexico, that one of the things that finished off the dinosaurs was something dropping from the sky. It has been almost more consoling for some people to think of the 1908 Tunguska event, when something smashed a hole in Siberia felling millions of trees, as a failed alien visit than the random collision it was – in a cheesier interpretation the aliens smashed their craft into the falling object to save us. And now, within the next 24 hours, a major meteor event blowing things up in Russia coincides with a near pass from a loose asteroid. Like the prospect of being hanged, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.
Like all random events and misfortunes, we want these things to mean something. The Russian fringe politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, rushed to the microphones to claim that the shower of stones that broke windows with their sonic boom, injuring 400 people, was a dastardly test of a new American weapon. Advocates of a renewed space programme have instantly told us that the asteroid pass proves that we need to be in space so that anything that comes closer can be, somehow, shoved out of Earth's way. More generally, all over Twitter, people are calling on passing rocks to land on, for example, the Sun offices (over publication of photographs of the late Reeva Steenkamp) as once they would have called for the thunderbolts of Zeus, the wrath of Jehovah or Betjeman's friendly bombs.
The trouble with wanting random events to acquire significance by afflicting unpleasant, otherwise untouchable powerful figures is that everyone does it. The religious right, Christian and Islamic, are fond of regarding tsunamis and hurricanes as instruments of wrath – Pat Robertson came up with a particularly unpleasant version of this when he attributed Haiti's problems to divine punishment for an alleged satanic pact made by that country's successful slave revolution. Nor is this confined to the religious right; rightwing sci-fi writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, in their 1977 novel of a comet's impending collision with Earth, have a character who survives the impact say that the good thing about the calamity was that women's lib was over. Heavenly vengeance is really an idea that has no place on the left.
Perhaps it's better to use asteroids and meteors as a way of thinking about the fragility of existence. If the world were to end tonight, would David Cameron really want to have spent his last day being a politician who throws the disabled out of their flats rather than punish crooked bankers? Not because of the prospect of hellfire, but because it's a naff way to spend precious hours that could have been spent with chocolate and string quartets. Perhaps though, the point about bad people is that they really enjoy being bad. As Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd says: "The lives of the wicked should be made brief. For the rest of us, death would be a relief." On a sunny day, the prospect of universal annihilation adds zest to a brisk walk in the park.

guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

via World news: Russia | guardian.co.uk by Stuart Clark on 2/15/13
Friday's Russian meteorite strike highlights the need for a global strategy to deal with dangerous asteroids
In terms of human casualties, Friday's meteorite strike is the worst ever reported. Almost 1,000 are reported to have sought treatment after the fall. At least 34 of them were hospitalised, with two reported to be in intensive care.
Before this there were only stories of a dog being killed in Egypt by a meteorite in 1911 and a boy being hit, but not seriously injured, by one in Uganda in 1992.
The Russian Academy of Sciences estimate the fireball that streaked over the Ural mountains on Friday morning weighed about 10 tons. The speed of entry was at least 54,000 kilometres per hour (33,000 mph) and it shattered about 30-50 kilometres (18-32 miles) above ground, showering meteorites that caused damage over a wide area.
The shockwave from the fireball's supersonic passage through the atmosphere broke windows and set off car alarms. The collision took place as the world waited for Friday evening's close pass of asteroid 2012 DA14. According to the European Space Agency, no link between the two events is thought possible.
Until Friday morning, astronomers had thought the asteroid most likely to hit Earth was one called 2007 VK184. It is about 130 metres across and has a slim 1 in 2,000 chance of hitting Earth some time between 2048 and 2057. A danger that is thought will disappear with better tracking of its orbit.
Friday's unexpected strike highlights the need for better searches for dangerous asteroids, and a global strategy to deal with any that are seen.
Astronomers feel confident that they know the whereabouts of every asteroid larger than 30 kilometres. Such space rocks have been the priority because they have the potential to cause global catastrophe and mass extinction events should they hit us. None are known to pose a threat.
Go down to objects sized one kilometre and astronomers think they know about 90-95% of them. However, at 50 metres, the size of 2012 DA14, the uncertainties really begin. Astronomers estimate that they know only 2 percent of these.
There could be hundreds of thousands of these smaller asteroids waiting to be discovered. Were something of this size to strike the Earth, it would devastate an area the size of larger than London.
On 30 June 1908, something roughly this size hit Earth. It exploded in the air above the Tunguska region of Siberia and flattened forests across an area of hundreds of square kilometres. The area is so remote that no one is thought to have been killed by that event.
The object that struck above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Friday morning was smaller still, probably just 10 metres across. Yet, it has injured many hundreds, underlining the danger of space rocks hitting populated areas,
The European Space Agency is involved in a £6m project to build a special survey telescope to find small asteroids. Known as a Fly-Eye telescope, it works in the same way as an insect's compound eye.
The telescope will use multiple cameras to build up a full picture of the sky. The first idea to build such a telescope was published way back in 1897 but it proved too difficult with the technology of the 19th century. Now, a prototype is under construction in Italy. The final telescope could be located on Mt Teide, Tenerife.
In Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS project uses the world's largest digital camera, containing 1,400 Megapixels, to scan the sky for asteroids larger than 300 metres in size. That's about six times larger than 2012 DA14, and 30 times larger than Friday's Russian meteor. Such asteroids would be capable of devastating whole regions of a country were they to hit Earth.
Deciding what to do if a dangerous asteroid is spotted falls first to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. They are setting up a Space Mission Planning Advisory Group. This will be composed of scientists from NASA, ESA and the world's other space agencies. They will meet annually to assess new ideas of how to deflect dangerous asteroids.
Should an asteroid be found on a collision course, the group will immediately meet to advise on the best strategy for deflecting it. They will also advise on who has the expertise to build the different parts of the spacecraft, and who should pay for it. Then, the decision passes into the hands of the politicians.
But as Friday's sudden strike shows, asteroids that approach from "out of the Sun" are virtually impossible to see. They are hidden from our sight by the glare until they smash into our atmosphere.
From space, thankfully, it is a different story. Space telescopes can see much closer to the Sun because they do not have the Earth's atmosphere scattering the sunlight and blurring their vision. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, which launches later this year, could help us see into this asteroid blind spot.
Stuart Clark is the author of The Day Without Yesterday (Polygon).

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via NYT > Europe by on 2/15/13
The Times’s Ellen Barry and Richard P. Binzel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, discuss the explosive event over western Siberia on Friday.

via NYT > Europe by By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on 2/15/13
The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy over its embattled bank after acknowledging that the institution’s new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships for Germany.

via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 2/15/13
In this frame grab made from a video done with a dashboard camera, on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan, to Chelyabinsk region, Russia, provided by Nasha Gazeta newspaper, on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 a meteorite contrail is seen. A meteor streaked across the sky of Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring around 100 people, including many hurt by broken glass. (AP Photo/Nasha gazeta, www.ng.kz)MOSCOW (AP) — A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb Friday, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring nearly 1,000 people.

via The Moscow Times Top Stories by The Moscow Times <moscowtimes@themoscowtimes.com> on 2/14/13
The Moscow Exchange began trading of its own shares Friday in a successful conclusion to the largest initial public offering carried out solely in Russia.

 
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Friday, February 15, 2013

Gays In Belarus Face Reprisals For Activism

February 15, 2013

gay-voices



Gays In Belarus Face Reprisals For Activism

By YURAS KARMANAU 02/15/13 04:24 AM ET EST AP
MINSK, Belarus -- Police in Belarus are going after gays, raiding their clubs and locking up clubbers overnight, and summoning gay activists for questioning. One activist accuses police of beating him during questioning, while others say they were interrogated about their sex lives. The leader of a gay rights organization was stripped of his passport just ahead of a planned trip to the United States.
That is the government's response to a decision by gay activists across the country to try in January to legally register their rights organization, GayBelarus. It marked a more resolute attempt to emerge from the shadows after being slapped down repeatedly by the authorities.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who once said "it's better to be a dictator than a gay," has long denigrated homosexuals in the former Soviet republic. As he counters discontent from Belarusians who want to see democratic reforms and a more European-oriented society, Lukashenko has portrayed gays as agents of a decadent West. Gay rights activists are part of the broader opposition to Lukashenko, who has ruled the nation's 10 million people with an iron hand for the past 18 years, earning the nickname of "Europe's last dictator" in the West.
A similar dynamic is at work in Russia, where gay rights activists have joined the protest marches against President Vladimir Putin. Such public promotions of gay rights will be illegal if legislation now working its way through Russia's parliament becomes law.
Homosexuality was formally decriminalized in Russia and Belarus with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but anti-gay sentiments still run high in both Slavic countries.
"In the 21st century in the middle of Europe we are forced to prove to the government that homosexuality is not an illness and not a crime," said Nasta Senyuhovich, a gay activist in Belarus.
She and about 70 other GayBelarus members signed the documents necessary to formally establish the organization and submitted them to the Justice Ministry in January. They did not have to wait long for a response.
Three days later, police burst into a gay night club in the city of Vitebsk and ordered everyone to stand against the wall. With a video camera rolling, the club patrons had to state their name, place of work and sexual orientation, according to Siarhey Androsenka, the 24-year-old leader of GayBelarus, who was in the club at the time.
"This was more like a special operation against criminals," Androsenka said. "Of course, this action was intended to frighten and intimidate those who dared to proclaim their homosexuality publicly in Belarus."
Three similar raids have been conducted in gay clubs in Minsk, the capital. The most recent raid took place last Saturday when seven club patrons were taken to a police station and held overnight, Androsenka said. He said police have told him that the raids are connected to the activities of GayBelarus.
Separately, more than 60 founders of GayBelarus have been summoned by the police for questioning in Minsk and seven other cities.
"During the police interrogation the majority of the questions were about my private life: how I became gay, how many partners I have, what role I prefer for sex, where I met my partners," said Artem Ivanou, a 21-year-old welder from Brest. He said police threatened to inform his employers.
One activist said police dragged him out of a hospital where he was undergoing treatment and took him to a police station, where he was beaten. "They hit me in the stomach with their knees, and when I fell they began to hit me on the head," said Ihar Tsikchanyuk, who lives in the city of Grodno. He said they called him derogatory names and went through the information stored on his cell phone.
Police have refused to comment on the questioning of the gay activists, as has the Justice Ministry.
The repression has caused panic among gays in Belarus. Many are cleaning out their accounts on social networking sites, deleting photographs and any references to gay culture.
"We are tired of being afraid and are thinking more about emigrating as a last resort," said 23-year-old designer Iryna Zhebrak, holding the hand of her partner, 24-year-old Karyna Trus.
The women, who have been together for 1 1/2 years, said they planned to go to Europe to get married, but they hoped to be able to build a life together in Belarus.
"We want social change, integration with Europe," Trus said. "In today's Belarus we have no future. The state stirs up hatred of people who have an untraditional sexual orientation, which only strengthens the already high level of intolerance in society."
Lukashenko has openly insulted gays, who he has said should be sent off to collective farms to perform public works.
After a meeting in 2011 with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who is gay, Lukashenko made his now famous statement that "it's better to be a dictator than a gay."
Lukashenko, an admirer of the Soviet Union, has relentlessly stifled dissent and extended his rule through elections that Western observers have criticized as undemocratic. The United States and the European Union have imposed economic and travel sanctions on the Belarusian government over its crackdown on opposition groups and independent news media.
Any attempt to stage a gay rights demonstration in Belarus is usually quickly dispersed by police. But last year, activists managed to evade police by renting a streetcar and driving it through Minsk decorated with rainbow flags and signs.
Members of GayBelarus hold underground educational seminars and meetings in small towns, where gays have even a more difficult time. In Grodno, where Tsikchanyuk claims he was beaten, several seminars are planned for February.
"Gays for the first time got some hope that they could change their marginal existence, they came to believe that they could fight for their rights even in Belarus," said Androsenka, who has led the gay rights group for three years. The rented apartment where he lives with his partner is the group's headquarters, strewn with books, brochures and rainbow flags.
Androsenka was supposed to leave Feb. 2 for the United States to participate in a program for civil society leaders sponsored by the State Department.
But Belarusian border guards seized his passport under what appears to be an absurd pretext. Androsenka said they told him his passport was listed as lost, and that he himself had reported it missing.
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Russian Meteor Shower Reports: Videos

Russian Meteor Shower Reports: Videos



 
The Wall Street Journal
A meteorite has plunged to earth in Russia, exploding into flames and leaving around 1,000 people injured by debris. Read our story and view a slideshow here: http://trib.al/y9CmPNn

Credit: Reuters
A meteorite has plunged to earth in Russia, exploding into flames and leaving around 1,000 people injured by debris. Read our story and view a slideshow here: http://trib.al/y9CmPNn Credit: Reuters
 
 

via Uploads by itnnews by itnnews on 2/15/13
A collection of dashboard camera footage captured, as the fireball skimmed across the skyline in front of motorists. Report by Ashley Fudge. Subscribe to ITN News! www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com Visit our homepage: itn.co.uk See our The Power of Nature playlist for more amazing natural phenomena www.youtube.com More incredible stories: Meteor explodes in Russia: bit.ly Terrifying Russian meteor shower: bit.ly Meteorite crashes towards earth in Peru: bit.ly Lightning strikes St Peter's Basilica in Rome after the Pope's resignation: bit.ly Foam fills Australian town: bit.ly Sinkhole swallows Chinese building complex: bit.ly Chicago warehouse swallowed by ice: bit.ly Boiling water freezes instantly in Siberia: bit.ly Look behind you! Huge wave lands on reporter: bit.ly Joggers ambushed by wall of water: bit.ly Spectacular images of the Northern lights: bit.ly See our Top 20 Most Watched Videos: www.youtube.com See 2012's Most Watched Videos: www.youtube.com
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via Uploads by itnnews by itnnews on 2/15/13
Amateur video in Magnitogorsk shows a meteor exploding in a flash of light over the Russian Urals prompting a meteorite shower. Report by Ashley Fudge. Subscribe to ITN News! www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com Visit our homepage: itn.co.uk See our The Power of Nature playlist for more amazing natural phenomena www.youtube.com More incredible stories: Terrifying Russian meteor shower: bit.ly Meteorite crashes towards earth in Peru: bit.ly Lightning strikes St Peter's Basilica in Rome after the Pope's resignation: bit.ly Foam fills Australian town: bit.ly Sinkhole swallows Chinese building complex: bit.ly Chicago warehouse swallowed by ice: bit.ly Boiling water freezes instantly in Siberia: bit.ly Look behind you! Huge wave lands on reporter: bit.ly Joggers ambushed by wall of water: bit.ly Spectacular images of the Northern lights: bit.ly See our Top 20 Most Watched Videos: www.youtube.com See 2012's Most Watched Videos: www.youtube.com
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via Uploads by itnnews by itnnews on 2/15/13
A meteor shower has been reported in the Urals region of Russia with this video showing trails of smoke in the sky. Report by Ashley Fudge. Subscribe to ITN News! www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com Visit our homepage: itn.co.uk See our The Power of Nature playlist for more amazing natural phenomena www.youtube.com More incredible stories: Meteor explodes in Russia: bit.ly Meteorite crashes towards earth in Peru: bit.ly Lightning strikes St Peter's Basilica in Rome after the Pope's resignation: bit.ly Foam fills Australian town: bit.ly Sinkhole swallows Chinese building complex: bit.ly Chicago warehouse swallowed by ice: bit.ly Boiling water freezes instantly in Siberia: bit.ly Look behind you! Huge wave lands on reporter: bit.ly Joggers ambushed by wall of water: bit.ly Spectacular images of the Northern lights: bit.ly See our Top 20 Most Watched Videos: www.youtube.com See 2012's Most Watched Videos: www.youtube.com
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