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Why are the American media, both liberal and conservative, so unanimously anti-Russian?
cdi.org ^ | Wed, 19 Jan 2005 05:47:59 EST | Ira Straus

Posted on 01/28/2005 8:43:55 PM PST by Destro

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To: BlackElk
How could he practice the Faith while heading KGB operations in East Germany? This is not by way of fighting you but I will bet that I am not the only one here with that question. I am trying to steer this important discussion in a more constructive direction that it deserves. Is there any indication of spiritual progress in Putin's heart since then? Absence of evidence is not proof of absence of Faith. Few public leaders anywhere wear their religious creeds boldly on their sleeves.

Putin apparently underwent a moving conversion experience after a house fire, in which he was able to save his daughters against serious odds and later found his baptismal cross in the ashes. He had apparently worn the cross but never attached meaning to it or followed the faith. It was his feeling that the cross should have burned and its survival was a message for him (ie, as in related to burning and crosses. lol)

Since this conversion, which Putin has discussed in interviews you can find on the web, he has made many serious moves to indicate he is now truly following the Orthodox Christian faith.

One is his public address several years ago on Christmas, in which he made a statement about why Christ had come into the world.

Another was his highly visible monastic visitation schedule, particularly on one occasion.

Link

link

Additionally we in the church have seen several instances of teachings from the church in Putin's addresses to the Russian people. One was his statement after the theatre hostage ended, in which he said "Forgive us, we could not rescue them all"
Another was his recent public address about the history of the treatment of Jews in Russia.

"The German chancellor recently said that he was ashamed of the past, but it is the past, and we must be ashamed of the present. Even in Russia that contributed the most in the victory over the Nazi and in the liberation of Jews, we can often see the manifestation of this plague," the president said. "We are ashamed of it," the president confessed. These words were hailed with a storm of applause."
This is a lovely result of Putin's studies in the church on humility.

Thanks for your comments.

201 posted on 01/29/2005 1:04:21 PM PST by MarMema
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To: MarMema
Forgive us thread
202 posted on 01/29/2005 1:08:01 PM PST by MarMema
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To: libs_kma; MarMema

Short of restoring the Romanov dynasty-and naming me czar-there ain't no way my butt is moving to Russia anytime in the near future.


203 posted on 01/29/2005 1:32:15 PM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham ("Hope so, because in this country, no news is always bad news"-Bahman Farmanara)
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To: x

As applied to the vast majority of the American public, I agree. However, it is quite clear from this thread that a fair contingent on the right are anti-Russian, and it is quite clear that a great deal of the left has a strong commitment against Orthodox Christianity (perhaps outstripping even their generic anti-Christian sentiment).


204 posted on 01/29/2005 1:33:22 PM PST by The_Reader_David
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To: Destro

That was never your theme originally dude, you cannot keep on track as I said previous you are pitiful and off course trying to change horses mid stream!


205 posted on 01/29/2005 1:49:35 PM PST by winker
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To: winker
The Mountains of Israel is their final destiny as they seek to conquer new warmer territory. Jehovah God has a feast he is preparing for the Birds and the Beasts of the fields very shortly and guess who is the main course?

Here we have another premillenialist who doesn't know his Bible. The Christians fled to Pella in the mountains from Jerusalem prior to 70 A.D. to escape the advancing armies to the Roman Titus.
206 posted on 01/29/2005 2:27:41 PM PST by GarySpFc (Sneakypete, De Oppresso Liber)
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To: BlackElk
Most encouraging. How could he practice the Faith while heading KGB operations in East Germany? This is not by way of fighting you but I will bet that I am not the only one here with that question. I am trying to steer this important discussion in a more constructive direction that it deserves.
Is there any indication of spiritual progress in Putin's heart since then? Absence of evidence is not proof of absence of Faith. Few public leaders anywhere wear their religious creeds boldly on their sleeves.


My wife was the director of a large school in the Volgograd Region. She helped develop a Christian curriculum for the schools which Putin signed into law. Give Putin credit for what the ACLU blocks in America.
207 posted on 01/29/2005 2:45:55 PM PST by GarySpFc (Sneakypete, De Oppresso Liber)
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To: GarySpFc

Very Good! you are correct my good man I am a premillenialist as you say and AD70 is irrelevant in your post reply, we are considering a future event on the mountains of Israel the Northern Confederacy has a date with!


208 posted on 01/29/2005 3:05:52 PM PST by winker
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To: libs_kma

I don't speak the lingo - and I am not making enough to feel I am being confoscated by the Socialist Feds yet.


209 posted on 01/29/2005 4:27:17 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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To: winker

The Northern Confederacy - you mean NATO?


210 posted on 01/29/2005 4:28:43 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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To: The_Reader_David
However, it is quite clear from this thread that a fair contingent on the right are anti-Russian

I call them the anti-Christian right aka the social-Darwinist right aka Trotskyite neocons and John Birchers.

Also mixed in are end time cult members whose false doctrine was born during the Cold War as well as the British Isrealite heretics, spread by false prophets like the late Herbert W. Armstrong, Hal Lindsey and Kack Van Impe who proclaim that the Soviets were to invade the Holy Land - they make a fortune off the cupidity of the masses.

211 posted on 01/29/2005 4:43:45 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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To: winker
Very Good! you are correct my good man I am a premillenialist as you say and AD70 is irrelevant in your post reply, we are considering a future event on the mountains of Israel the Northern Confederacy has a date with!

I haven't met over 2 premilleinalists who have read Josephus, which explains why they do not grasp the prophecies regarding Christ's return.
212 posted on 01/29/2005 5:00:47 PM PST by GarySpFc (Sneakypete, De Oppresso Liber)
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To: x; Tailgunner Joe

Here's some more background info.

http://www.worldthreats.com/russia_former_ussr/Terrorists%20In%20Muslim%20Diguise.htm
Terrorists in Muslim Disguise
Inside Story: World Report

August 1994

Now that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is beginning to defeat Israel, it is pulling out one of its most powerful terrorist weapons to finish the surrender process. That weapon is commonly known as "Islamic fundamentalism."

On Monday, July 18 [1994], a powerful car bomb exploded in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. The target, a seven-story Jewish community center, was completely destroyed, leaving nearly 100 dead and another 100 wounded.1

Eight days later, another car bomb was detonated—this time at the Israeli embassy in London, England. The embassy and other adjoining buildings suffered damage, and 14 people were injured.2

Authorities in Israel and elsewhere immediately blamed Muslim "extremists" for the terrorist attacks, and specifically named the group Hezballah (meaning "Party of G-d"). For the PLO, this was a convenient dodge allowing it to disclaim responsibility.

But more importantly, the PLO is now using these attacks as an excuse to accelerate the surrender of Israel. The logic is chillingly simple: according to news accounts of the second bombing, British authorities "presumed it to be an attempt to disrupt the peace process," and "Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel... said Islamic extremists were seeking to disrupt the Arab-Israeli reconciliation process."3 Thus peace on any terms must be made quickly with the PLO, lest the "extremists" succeed in stopping the "peace process." The PLO provides the carrot, while "Muslim fundamentalists" provide the stick.

A myth has been engineered in the last several years regarding "Islamic fundamentalism." According to this idea, the PLO and its main factions have become moderate, willing to recognize Israel and negotiate a compromise solution. However, radical Muslims, including Hezballah, Islamic Jihad, the Amal Militia, and Hamas, are said to oppose such compromises violently. Every time these extremists carry out another terrorist attack, Israel is pressured to make more concessions to the PLO.

In reality, this is a classic example of dialectical strategy at work. Writing in Commentary magazine, Jerusalem Post editor David Bar-Illan exposed the clever strategy: "[Israeli] government spokesmen prefer to pretend that the killers are not operatives of the 'moderate' Arafat, supporter of the peace talks, but 'enemies of the peace process,' such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and PLO radicals... The not unreasonable assumption behind this charade is that the public might resent continued talks with proxies of the 'mainstream' PLO in Washington while its gunmen are killing Israelis back home."4

Just as the PLO does not represent palestinian or Arab interests, the "Islamic fundamentalists" are not religious in nature. Rather, all these organizations have been created, supported, and directed by the Communists, operating on orders emanating from Moscow.

The terrorist group Hezballah, and its official sponsor, the government of Iran, provide a case in point.

Because of media distortion, the Ayatollah Khomeini was seen in the west as a fanatic religious leader. But the Iraqi family of the Grand Ayatollah Muhsen Hakim-Tabataba'i, which in the 1960s and 1970s exercised leadership over the Shi'ite movement of Islam, opposed Khomeini so thoroughly that they worked closely with the Shah of Iran. Saddam Hussein, the Soviet-backed dictator of Iraq, murdered the family at his first opportunity, thereby eliminating Shi'ite opposition to Khomeini.5

Khomeini's revolutionary movement was known as "Islamic Marxism," a movement begun from within the Russian Bolshevik Party in 1916.6 During the 1970s, the Soviet Union mobilized its resources to organize a revolution in Iran, with Khomeini as its official leader. Khomeini's brother was serving time in prison as a member of the Tudeh Party—the Communist Party of Iran; Khomeini's intimate advisor, Sadegh Ghothzadeh, was an affiliate of the French and Italian Communist Parties. Soon the Soviets were broadcasting pro-Khomeini propaganda into Iran, while they began publishing a well-funded revolutionary magazine entitled Navid, meaning "Good News." KGB agents working among the 4,000 Soviet personnel in Iran coordinated the protests and riots, and the Tudeh Party, acting on Soviet orders, openly backed the "Islamic" revolution and created a broad coalition of the Left to support Khomeini.7

Moscow also mobilized the PLO to back Khomeini. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, led by self-proclaimed Marxist Leninist George Habash, supplied training and weapons to the Feda'iyin-e Khalq, the Iranian Islamic-Marxist terrorist group that began the revolution to overthrow the Shah. Meanwhile, Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization trained and armed the Mujahedin-e Khalq, another main pillar of Khomeini's revolution, and it trained future members of the Revolutionary Guards of Iran, including the Minister of the Guards later appointed by Khomeini.8

Once Khomeini seized power in Iran, Arafat brought a large delegation of PLO officials into the country, where "he was formally given the Israeli consulate building and, raising the Palestinian flag over it, opened the first PLO office, also appointing a PLO 'ambassador' to Iran."9 The Soviet Union and Communist China have since continued to arm Iran with weapons.

Khomeini immediately created Hezballah as an international terrorist wing of the PLO-trained Revolutionary Guards. Inside Iran, Hezbellah worked closely with Iranian Communist organizations in consolidating the regime's power. The terrorist training camps in Iran have been supervised by Mostafa Chamran Savehi, a follower of Trotskyite Communism who, as a student in Berkeley, California during the 1960s, founded such Islamic-Marxist groups as Red Shi'ism and the Muslim Students' Association of America. The instructors at the Iranian terrorist camps have been Communist experts from North Korea and Syria, as well as Iranians trained by the PLO and the Communist government of Iraq.10

The organizer of Hezballah in Pakistan and Lebanon, Abbas Zamani, was also trained by the PLO and has been identified as a probable agent of the KGB.11 In Lebanon, Hezballah's terrorist mastermind has been Immad Mugniyeh. For years Mugniyeh was a leading member of Yasser Arafat's Force 17, an arm of Fatah. When the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 forced the PLO to leave, Arafat had Mugniyeh and other members of Force 17 switch over to Hezballah, allowing these terrorists to remain in Lebanon. Mugniyeh quickly became the effective head of Hezballah, and has coordinated Hezballah-PLO terrorism to this day. On Arafat's orders, the PLO transfers weapons, money, and terrorist units to Hezballah, while Hezballah has provided intelligence and other logistical support to the PLO—including helping PLO units infiltrate into Lebanon.12

In short, the "Islamic fundamentalists" are not religious at all, but are Communist fronts adopting a Muslim mask.

The "schism" between the PLO and "Islamic fundamentalists" has been staged as a clever ploy to force Israel into surrender. Now that Israel is indeed yielding to its implacable Communist enemies, it is only natural that terrorist attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets are being accelerated worldwide. By blaming the attacks on "extremists" who allegedly oppose the "peace process," the PLO can disavow the terror acts in which it participates, and can maintain an image of moderation for the West. In the face of this intensified pressure, Israel is likely to make concessions even faster than before. Watch for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to begin placing the remainder of the strategic West Bank, and even Jerusalem itself, on the bargaining table.

On the other hand, the financing and political pressure for the PLO takeover is coming almost entirely from the United States, and President Clinton is now accelerating the process. If Congress chose to stop the President, Israel could take back the West Bank and Gaza, and could soon destroy the PLO and its allies.

1 Parks, M., Los Angeles Times, "Rabin links Hezbollah to Argentine blast," SF Chronicle, 7-20-94, p. A10. 2 "Israeli embassy in London bombed," SF Chronicle, 7-27-94, pp. A1, A13. 3 Ibid. 4 Bar-Illan, D., "Israel's New Pollyannas," Commentary, Sept. 1993, p. 30. 5 Taheri, A., Holy Terror, Adler & Adler, Bethesda, MD, 1987, p. 163. 6 Ibid., p. 217. 7 Rees, J., "How Jimmy Carter betrayed the Shah," The Review of the News, 2-21-79, pp. 31-48. 8 Alexander, Y. and Sinai, J., Terrorism: The PLO Connection, Crane Russak, New York, 1989, pp. 72-73. 9 Ibid., p. 73. 10 Taheri, Op cit., pp. 77-79, 88-105. 11 Ibid., p. 177; Laffin, J., Holy War: Islam Fights, Grafton Books, London, 1988, p. 79. 12 Livingstone, N.C. and Halevy, D., Inside the PLO, William Morrow & Co., New York, 1990, pp. 267-275


213 posted on 01/29/2005 5:56:07 PM PST by familyop ("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Heh. Have a look at the latest in one of the terrorist groups supported by most of Old Europe. ...makes the old "Dodge City"
look boring.

Hamas Victory Rally Erupts Into Shootout
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1331502/posts


214 posted on 01/29/2005 6:20:43 PM PST by familyop ("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
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To: Destro
So are Russia's dealings with Iran a matter of pure cash as you earlier suggested or a "strategic investment" against Sunni terrorism? I grant you that the "strategic investment" explanation transcends mere black and white, but it quickly passes complicated and nuanced to arrive at implausible.

Iran, the font of Shia terrorism, is not credible as an antidote to Sunni terrorism anymore than one may oppose automobiles by buying a Mercedes instead of a Toyota. And Russia's terrorist problem mostly arises out its botched approach to Chechnya and heavy handed Central Asian machinations, compromised security services, and political profiteering and provocations by Putin and his Chekist comrades.

Iran with A-bombs aided by Russian nuclear technology and reactor building does nothing to allay those follies or combat terrorism and raises up a host of new problems. With nuclear weapons, Iran will aim at expanding its influence through a toxic combination of terrorism and traditional power politics. That will harm the US, but with A bombs, Iran will be far more able to menace vulnerable, nearby Russia than the powerful, remote United States.

I am sure that there are Russian strategists who have considered this and looked to potential American responses against a nuclear armed Iran. Covert action and pressures designed to topple the regime are one option, but so also is a deal is which the Iranians give up terrorism and become a regional ally of the US, implicitly at the expense of Russian interests.

The best explanation for current Russian nuclear dealings with Iran is that the current government inherited them as a legacy from the Soviet era and persisted in them despited the changed national interest due to weak reasoning and bribery from the mullahs. That combination of Soviet legacy, bad national choices, and bribery is behind much of what Russia does today.
215 posted on 01/29/2005 6:45:21 PM PST by Rockingham
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To: Rockingham

Russia's dealings with Iran is matter of pure cash and of "strategic investment" against Sunni terrorism and against Pakistan. Russia has pushed for an Iranian - Indian - Russia alliance during the Clinton 90s to counter act Saudi and Paki influence in the 'Stans and Chechnya where in such places some say Islamic revolution movements in the 90s were aided by elements of CIA (or some such agency).


216 posted on 01/29/2005 6:49:08 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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To: Destro

The ancient Sythians and other groups who settled North of Israel comprise an amalgamated group of invaders of the land that Genesis 15:18 identifys as the Promised Land that belongs exclusively to the Jewish Nation. Russia-Iran-Syria-Ethiopia-Germany-Turkey All form what is known as a Northern Confederacy; certainly not NATO as it stands now!Ezekiel 38&39 is the "FEAST" time on the Mountains of Israel!


217 posted on 01/29/2005 7:18:54 PM PST by winker
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To: winker
Russia-Iran-Syria-Ethiopia-Germany-Turkey All form what is known as a Northern Confederacy

You false prophet (who ever came up with your retarded sect) needs a compass. Ethiopia is Southern - Persia is Eastern - and most of the Russian did not exist until the Middle Ages and Turkey IS IN NATO!

NATO sounds more like this Northern Alliance than your fevered imagination of nations does.

218 posted on 01/29/2005 9:12:53 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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To: winker
Title: NATO SUCCEEDS IN DEFEATING -- DESTROYING -- THE FIRST SOVEREIGN NATION IN ITS 50-YEAR HISTORY! We are a whole lot closer to the Kingdom of Antichrist as a direct result of this war against Serbia. This is the bottom line significance of this war.
219 posted on 01/29/2005 9:18:16 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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To: winker
Russia-Iran-Syria-Ethiopia-Germany-Turkey All form what is known as a Northern Confederacy

(This part should read) Your false prophet (who ever came up with your retarded sect) needs a compass. Ethiopia is Southern - Persia is Eastern - and most of all Russia did not exist until the Middle Ages.

NATO sounds more like the Northern Alliance than your fevered imagination of nations.

220 posted on 01/29/2005 9:24:32 PM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting johnathangaltfilms.com and jihadwatch.org)
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