Posted on 09/02/2013 3:53:20 PM PDT by Libloather
President Obama will meet with several LGBT groups during his trip later this week to St. Petersburg, a move likely to ruffle Russian President Vladimir Putin after the recent passage of a series of anti-gay laws.
The president will meet with human rights activists Lev Ponomarev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, legal aid NGO director Pavel Chikov, and Coming Out, a St. Petersburg-based LGBT organization, according to a report in BuzzFeed.
The decision to meet with the activists in not unprecedented — Obama also met with human rights leaders in 2009 — but comes amid a period of heightened tension with the Kremlin.
During his address on Syria from the Rose Garden on Saturday, Obama blasted the United Nations Security Council as "completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold [Syrian president Bashar] Assad accountable" — a clear swipe at Russia, which has threatened to block any resolution condemning the alleged sarin attack in the Damascus suburbs.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Secretary of State John Kerry's presentation on the attack "absolutely unconvincing" in a press conference on Monday, according to the Associated Press. He said the U.S. intelligence report included "nothing specific there, no geographic coordinates, no names, no proof that the tests were carried out by the professionals."
And Putin indicated he may send a delegation of Russian lawmakers to lobby the U.S. Congress against any military action in Syria, the Interfax news agency reported.
The skirmish over Syria comes after a summer dominated by a tussle with Putin over Edward Snowden, the former defense contractor responsible for leaking details of top-secret National Security Agency surveillance programs. After more than a month in the Moscow airport, the Kremlin offered Snowden temporary asylum despite protests from the White House.
Russia has also contended with a growing movement to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi over the new anti-gay laws, which threaten fines and imprisonment for those who stage gay pride rallies or events.
Earlier this summer, Obama said he did not "think it's appropriate to boycott the Olympics" — but said he hoped gay American athletes would win medals and change minds.
"One of the things I'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing there," he said.
Hehehe...maybe Putin will use Obama as a lure, and then have a big sting operation in the which Obama gets caught up in the net.
Pink decoder rings?
What would happen if Putin came here and met with a conservative, pro-life, pro-marriage group?
Obama will meet each one alone in his hotel room, hoping that Putin is not spying on him.
or what they are shaking
I think there are going to be a lot of gay activists rounded up and sent to Siberia before that meeting takes place.
Putin may shoot a couple.
Obama is obsessed with this issue, probably because he’s a homo.
I’d love to see Putin come here and visit Dubya at his ranch, go hunting - then leaves!
I actually think it would be better to have some committed Russian Orthodox preach the Bible to Obama and yes, I would pay actual $$$ to see that. And I am very much impressed by the Orthodox revival among Russians as others have noted on this thread and feel that it may be that at least for now G-d is looking out for Russia more than he is for the US.
But that said, I do wonder what the natural response is for Freepers who have more libertarian tendencies, and I have gathered that you are one of them from your profile and from your posting history, when they come across issues like this and they are dealing with the gay rights movement in the US vs other nations. I can easily understand why Russia is getting a lot of sympathy and support here, but Obama has also been on conflict with numerous other nations, including despotic and totalitarian regimes, over the issue of homosexual rights.
And I have always wondered what the viewpoint for Freepers who are libertarians - who can perhaps be termed Freepertarians - and Freepers who are in agreement with libertarians on most things, reconcile their libertarianism with the type of Christian conservatism that FR is known for.
I also thought it would be interesting to hear from other prominent Freepers who are either libertarian or have expressed sympathy for the majority of small l libertarian platforms. Despite my new history with this account, I have been lurking and posting under other accounts for about 5 years now so I have an idea of who some of the more prominent libertarians are around here.
If you were pinged, you can feel free to give any insight you have or disregard what I am asking about, I will understand either way. I was merely interested in your views on this.
I mean, both the Freerepublic and small l libertarian schools of thought are very much opposed to the homosexual agenda and for many of the same reasons; the attack on religious freedom being one of them. Small l libertarians with actual knowledge on this issue often have to strain themselves, both here and anywhere else people political discussions on internet forums, explaining about how true libertarians are not pro gay agenda and why true libertarians would never ever support gov;t backed gay marriage.
But then, it seems from a libertarian perspective, there is issues with attacking people from a collectivist perspective, which might conceivably be part of the reason why some authorities in Russia are cracking down on this. During the collectivist Soviet era, homosexuals were treated in a purely collectivist, totalitarian fashion and some of these authorities might simply be harking back to their Soviet and roots, or even Stalinist for some of them.
And so from a libertarian perspective, it seems that collectivist gov’t action against any group of people for any purported reason is a serious issue. And so from a libertarian viewpoint, something like this is not necessarily too be wholly applauded. Small l libertarianism is, again, very much against the gay agenda and against gay marriage and against gov’t enforced endorsement of homosexualism and against having gay activism on our tv screens at any turn. But small l libertarianism also teaches that homosexuals are too be looked at as being normal, regular people like anyone else and that simply being homosexual should not lead to people being viewed or treated any differently than, say, being left handed. Small l libertarianism followers also typically believe that even as they oppose the gay agenda they have to acknowledge at the very least the possibility that there is such a thing as homosexuals who were born that way and cannot be cured through prayer and therapy, and small l libertarianism teaches that we should be able to acknowledge this while still being very much against the gay agenda.
Even though Christian, social conservatism and small l llibertarianism are both against gay marriage and against the gay agenda, I often imagine that reconciling them can still be incredibly difficult in light of what many conservative Social conservatives and small l libertarians believe about homosexuals as people. I was wonder how you are able to do it if it is possible and how you can reconcile Christian conservatism with small l libertarian thought.
Putin is way to much of a macho type guy and likes to project that image to let *our fruit* slide by with meeting other fruits in Russia.
Putin will do something or say something to embarrass Barky.......Again.
Maybe Obama learned how to recognize them from his Chicago days.
Just pondering. Ever seen him throw a baseball?
The good Lord doesn’t care a hoot about denominations. It’s personal salvation, as always, He is after, and He is always craftier than the devil’s attempts to block it (not to mention the devil is on a chain anyhow — if we had the eyes to see, we would realize the fight between God and the devil is very unfair, to the devil... it’s only his smoke screen of lies that give any other impression). The Rooskies got laid low when communism finally fizzled, which was a perfect set-up for finding God.
The US might not get back on its gospel feet until a similar humbling, though I never say never. I think the Holy Spirit is getting aggressive here again. He has caught ME up and I am definitely a spiritually soggy, hard to light kind of guy.
Obama might well be or have been. It’s difficult to say. We can’t see that. We CAN see him cheering these self destructive folks on.
I think our asshat would be in violation of their recently passed laws on propaganda about fagging. So, I agree with you, I'd ban him and tell him if he comes anyway and has a meeting, I'd toss him in the pokey. This would be the equal of having some diplomat from some narco government come to the US and meet with members of a drug cartel, we would not allow it and in fact toss him out.
I don't know what crap for brain's end game is here, why is he poking Putin in the eye? I don't see anything to be garnered from that except a return to the cold war era which is not good for anyone, especially the world's biggest debtor nation.
Putin, China and Brazil are looking to wrest the medium of international trade, the dollar, away and replace it, so jerko does all he can to annoy one of the proponents?? Someone better tell him that he is not an agitator anymore, that only works in a framework where someone is afraid to tell you to stick your ideas where the sun don't shine.
He's childish. No need to grow up, because he's always checked the box.
Hey zer0. Here’s a little gay practice exercise you can practice. GFY.
Well, zer0 has evolved. He once went from the politically strong position of defense of marriage. To his true feelings about sodomy now that he is a lame duck faggot.
If I were Putin, I’d visit a crisis pregnancy center on his next visit to the U.S.
“Obama is going over the line interfering in the affairs of a sovereign nation.”
Internationalists know no boundaries. (It’s that cute little red star that connects all these people.)
IMHO
Well... an American “pResident” goes to stir up trouble in Russia by applying his community agitator “skills” among his fellow sodomites.
Who’s the Evil Empire now????
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