Posted on 01/09/2012 10:58:41 AM PST by Ravnagora
A new set of issues for Christians in Southeastern Europe has arisen, largely as a result of misdirected policies of the Clinton/Albright and successive Washington administrations.
Believe it or not, Christmas Carols in the Washington Embassy of Romania which, once-upon-a-time, was the instrument of a strident Stalinist-style government that was overthrown in 1990! I say once-upon-a-time because, though not so long ago, it seemed to me like a fairy-tale.
There we were, about seventy invited guests, in the upstairs reception Hall of the Embassy, where a 4-man Brass Quartette from a Romanian Baptist church in Virginia presented a concert of about fifteen traditional western Christmas carols, introduced by their pastor with, as well, greetings from two pastors from Virginia Baptist churches. December 19, 2011 was a memorable evening.
The lone Romanian carol, in which about half of the audience who were native Romanian speakers joined, was deeply moving, especially the two-sentence typical Balkan liturgical refrain.
Though harshly persecuted under the Communist regime, Baptists became the largest Protestant body in Romania, with some of their 1800 churches having membership in excess of 1,000. They number more than 100,000 communicants and are the third largest Baptist body in Europe. In addition there are at least 10,000 Hungarian Baptists in their own nearly 300 Hungarian speaking churches. Other rapidly growing evangelical bodies include Pentecostals, Reformed churches, Adventists, plus various independent groups.
While Christian faith is being secularized and marginalized in much of Western Europe and the United Kingdom, evangelical growth and the revitalization of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism in countries where persecution under Communism was severe is striking, especially among younger members of those populations who are turning away from the cynicism and despair of their elders.
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
Ping!
ping
This paid off for the Croats when the Serbs tried to hold on to big chunks of territory. Eventually the US and the Germans retrained the Croat military with an eye towards defeating a Warszaw Pact style force, and they kicked the Serbs' butts. Serbia is still a lot like Russia, saying the right things but there's still too many politicians who miss the days of empire. The Croats and Slovenes are solidly in our camp.
Potential allies would be most anyone who is NOT a muslim.
When it comes to Allies we will have none if push comes to shove. An’ dats a fact!
One of America’s most colossal blunders
January 8, 2012
Thank you for publishing “Who are America’s allies in the Balkans?,” January 4. History will show us that one of America’s most colossal blunders was made when US “leaders” betrayed Serbia, one of our WWI and WWII staunchest allies by supporting the whole-scale persecution, ethnic cleansing, and slaughter of Serbian Orthodox Christians and theft of their ancestral lands that they have inhabited for over 1300 years at the hands of Muslim and other fascist extremists.
Many American leaders say publicly that they support freedom and “tolerance” for all but in fact support the persecution of Christians (e.g. in Kosovo) which not only supports a more unstable and dangerous world in places such as the Middle East and the Balkans but has caused significant “blowback” from which we are still suffering here in the West.
What is even more shocking is that US leaders have aligned themselves with precisely the same fascist forces that Americans and Canadians fought so brutally a mere 70 years ago during WWII.
Sincerely,
Michael Pravica, Ph.D
Henderson, NV
_____________
Many Romanians would argue that Romania is not a Balkan country.
BTTT!
There are no allies, only interests.
Croatians don’t even consider themselves as Slavs.
Not quite, after Tito died everyone knew it was going to breakup, it was just a matter of who got what at what point. Serbia wanted Kosovo back in its fold after Tito disallowed the ethnically cleansed Serbs of WWII to return and since Albanian violence against Serbs was going on unimpeded, there were loud calls for Belgrade to intervene in order to prevent the whole sale murder of the Serbian populace.
Not only did Tito relocate Serbian businesses to other parts of Yugoslavia but also intentionally separated large swaths of Serbian populated areas in order to weaken Serbia politically.
To call Croatia “firmly” in our camp is tenuous, Croatia looks out for Croatian interests.
"Mohammed is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless
to the unbelievers but merciful to one another" - Quran 48:29
Infidels: freepmail me if you want on or off this list.
"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets,
the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers."
“Serbia is still a lot like Russia, saying the right things but there’s still too many politicians who miss the days of empire.”
You mean the empire the Allies awarded them after WWI for fighting on their side, then forced them to give up in the early 1990s.
Yes, you are correct in that regard.
By the way, there are many in England who would argue that England is not a part of Europe..."Europe is across the channel" as some would say.
Who was in control of the JNA in December of 1990?...Do you know?
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