Free Republic

  Holy New Martyrs of Optina 2 years ago John Valadez ArticlesHoly FathersLives 2 From Issue 19 In 1917, the Russian Revolution and the rise of communism resulted in the deaths of millions of believers and destroyed countless churches and monasteries. Optina monastery, once the center of true spirituality for the entire region, was initially spared… but not for long. In 1938 the last Abbot was executed by the communists and the Monastery was shut down. It’s lands were taken by peasant farmers and it’s beautiful cathedral turned into a state museum. It stood silently decaying, awaiting it’s own resurrection....

TURKISH warplanes have shot down a Russian jet which they claim flew into the country's airspace. The aircraft was shot down after it was warned 10 times in five minutes to leave Turkish airspace, a Turkish military official has said. It was just over the Syrian border in Turkey when it was downed by F16 Fighting Falcon jets belonging to Turkey, the official added. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane was 4km into Syria and had not violated Turkey's airspace as it flew at an altitude of 6,000 metres - and claimed it was shot down from the...

Russian tanks armored against anti-tank missiles and ground forces began to enter northern Syria via a military airfield in Aleppo, Lebanese newspaper "As-Safir" affiliated with Hezbollah reported . The newspaper estimated that the airport will be the third in which Russian Air Force aircraft will be deployed.

Turkish warplanes have reportedly shot down a Russian military aircraft on the border with Syria. Russia's Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying that a Su-24 had crashed in northern Syria, and that its two pilots had ejected.

(Satire) - President Obama on Thursday cited the latest revelation from ISIS that the downing of a Russian plane over Egypt last month was the result of an explosive device planted inside a can of Schweppes Gold soft drink as proof positive that his counter-terrorism strategy, consisting of an all out war against soft drink consumption, is working and keeping Americans safe from ISIS attacks. Mr. Obama added that the downing of the Russian airliner could have been averted had the Russian government adopted his soft drink strategy. "My administration has taken a leading role in reducing soft drink consumption...

Serving or former Russian soldiers have been geolocated in Syria, bloggers have said today, suggesting the Kremlin's operation stretches well beyond it's air campaign. The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of Russian investigative bloggers, used social media to locate serving or ex-soldiers in the country. CIT's investigation seems to provide further proof of a Russian ground presence after images from social media accounts appearing to show military personnel in locations across Syria were revealed in September.

The British government has suspended all flights to the UK from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after declaring it believes the Russian plane that crashed over Sinai may have been brought down by an explosive device. It is the first statement by any country that it believes a bomb or other device could have downed the flight, as Russian and Egyptian authorities investigate.

'It's a whole other world': religious pilgrims venture deep into Alaska forest Pilgrims from as far as Russia descend up the small town of Kodiak to honor a Russian Orthodox saint who lived and died in the archipelago centuries ago Celeste Englehardt has traveled all over the world to pray. A Russian Orthodox Christian from Washington, DC’s Virginia suburbs, Englehardt’s faith has taken her to Jerusalem, Ukraine, Moldova – even to the ruins of ancient Orthodox monasteries in Ireland. And now an island in Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago is among the holy sites she has visited. “Sometimes you can’t describe things,”...

From where else- Russia While the Russians are quickly running out of money -and still can't make a decent toaster- the sky's the limit for the Kremlin when it comes to military stuff. Somehow tho there never seems to be much budget left for styling- instead, they appear to have let their video-game obsessed kids design the thing (while the dog helped). Yet the ZIL (maker of trucks and Soviet limos) KAT is itself a microcosm of Putin's Russia... overbearing/hyper-macho, in-your-face, brutish, unpolished... not a lot of it makes sense to outsiders, yet they absolutely do not care what you think...

Interesting how they're now saying 'US satellite detects heat flash suggesting a bomb' -if you look at the video you can see the flash at 00:14 with your own eyes... sure looks like it to me, seems to be blowing-out the top of the fuselage: [video] All 224 on-board were soon dead, scattered over 7 sq miles of desert less than 30 minutes after takeoff from Sharm-el-Shiekh. Most had been sucked-out of their seats at 31K feet. Odd sounds were heard in the cockpit, but no distress signal was ever sent. Internal technical problems and pilot error have been ruled out...

Russian airliner carrying more than 200 passengers missing on flight over Egypt's Sinai peninsula.....

MOSCOW (AFP) - Six Russian women on Wednesday clambered into a mock spaceship to begin a unique experiment testing how an all-female crew would interact on a trip to the Moon and back. For eight days, the female volunteers will live inside a wood-panelled suite of rooms at Moscow's Institute of Biomedical Problems, renowned for its wacky research into the psychological and physical effects of space travel. The institute in 2010 locked six male international volunteers in an isolation experiment lasting 520 days, to simulate a flight to Mars and back. "Such a crew is taking part for the first...

Iran will be invited to participate in talks in Vienna on Friday to discuss ending the conflict in Syria, a dialogue aimed at finding a framework for political transition in Damascus, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. An official in the region, however, told Reuters that Iran had already been invited by the United States and Russia, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian would attend the talks, while the presence of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was still under discussion. Zarif and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call earlier on Tuesday to discuss ways...

Russian Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack planes perform during the Aviadarts military aviation competition at the Dubrovichi range near Ryazan, Russia, August 2, 2015. As the Syrian military begins its push to take back opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria, Russia has provided backing through an intensifying aerial campaign. Among the planes Moscow has used to back the Syrian military's attempted advance is a Russian combat aircraft that some have compared to the US's venerated A-10 Warthog. The Russian Su-25 Frogfoot is a low-flying tank-like plane that specializes in providing aerial cover and attacking ground targets. The Frogfoot is a sturdy plane,...

The chances of escalation from a proxy war to outright war just went to 11 on the Spinal Tap amplifier of sabre-rattling. A day after British and NATO pilots were reportedly given the green light to take drastic action against Russian fighter jets if they come under threat during missions over Iraq, Interfax reports that the Russian Defense Ministry has demanded clarification. Senior defence sources say it is just a matter of time before our fighters are involved in a deadly confrontation with Russian jets. The Chinese, it appears, are wholeheartedly behind Putin's efforts, judging by the following puff-piece from...

Turkish forces are said to have shot down a Russian jet after it flew into the country's airspace, according to unconfirmed reports on social media. It has been claimed by eyewitnesses that there was a large explosion in Huraytan, northern Syria, while three fighter planes were seen overhead. Rumours of a jet being shot out of the sky come amid heightening tensions between Russian president Vladimir Putin and the West.

When Osama bin Laden was banished from Sudan in 1996, he left the country in a rented Soviet jet — an aged and antique Tupolev flown by a Russian pilot he did not trust. With him were a few bodyguards, his military commander, Saif al-Adel, and two sons named Sa’ad and Omar — both young men in their late teens. Although it was the corrupt Islamic government of Sudan that had robbed Osama bin Laden of much of his vast personal wealth, he blamed America for his misfortunes, according to Pulitzer Prize-winner Lawrence Wright. “He held America responsible for the...

Russian warplanes have begun bombarding Syrian opposition targets in the war torn nation's north, working on behalf of dictator Bashar al Assad, according to a senior military official. The official said airstrikes targeted fighters in the vicinity of Homs, located roughly 60 miles east of a Russian naval facility in Tartus, and were carried out by a "couple" of Russian bombers. It was not clear if the strikes targeted ISIS, Al Qaeda or other forces opposed to Assad, who Moscow is aiding. According to a Twitter handle belonging to the Syrian government, the Russian strikes were initiated at the request...

Watch this video. A European woman who speaks Arabic translates what the Muslim migrants were saying when they thought she didn’t understand their language. (thanks to Armaros) And this is the translated speech of the Hungarian Prime Minister addressing all the issues from NO Go Zones to terrorists, to EU incompetence and corruption - See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2015/09/watch-arabic-speaking-ukrainian-woman-tells-what-the-migrants-are-really-saying-about-infidels.html/#sthash.4MSfmBNe.dpuf

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan has lodged a protest with Russia after scrambling four jet fighters to intercept a foreign aircraft -- believed to be Russian -- which briefly violated its airspace, officials said Wednesday. The foreign ministry made the protest shortly after the plane entered Japanese airspace off the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, near a disputed island chain, on Tuesday afternoon.