The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Angessa]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

“Russia declares war on South Park, America strikes back"

http://www.southparkstudios.com/fans/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35059

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080904/116551837.html

This is very amusing how very stupid these American are and how much russophobic propaganda they learn in there media(there comments). It's not Russian government who's trying to close that channel. Our president Medvedev even stands for the absolute freedom in the Internet. Covertly Kremlin even supported the 2x2 channel in that process. In fact the complaining author was one of the protestant organizations which is being financed from the West. They just gonna seize that channel to provide their religious propaganda instead of cartoons that go against such pseudo-religious organizations. Don't Americans know Russia is an orthodox nation? (less than 1% of western protestants). S

[yerazhishda]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

As in any traditional nation, the creeping of "western protestantism" is not only spreading false doctrines, but moreso is detrimental to national unity. Consider American protestantism: it's divided into literally tens of thousands of factions that can't agree with each other and a protestant church with 30,000 members is considered "large" . The Orthodox Churches are not only the True church that professes true doctrines, but also aids in national unity.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

As in any traditional nation, the creeping of "western protestantism" is not only spreading false doctrines, but moreso is detrimental to national unity. Consider American protestantism: it's divided into literally tens of thousands of factions that can't agree with each other and a protestant church with 30,000 members is considered "large" . The Orthodox Churches are not only the True church that professes true doctrines, but also aids in national unity.

Dude, this commentary by you was simply magnificent - I would even say Holy Spirit inspired You even provided me with an additional perspective on Protestantism I had not yet fully realized. In three little sentences you stated more than many experts have been able to do with countless essays. Bravo. Your baptize has indeed worked miracles...

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Nightmare on Wall Street as U.S. debt hits record high

America - the end of an era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM_SRhZcNFE

Do you remember sometime back I asked a question about how/why the United States government can just continue to spend endlessly. Why can't I spend as much as I want endlessly?

Now if it turns out the United States government cannot spend indefinitely, then how were these morons not able to see it coming? Spend in Iraq, spend in Afgnistan, insist on a xxxx measuring contest with Russia on Russia's doorstep, give away billions to the Arab puppets and Israel for nothing. How was this not foreseen?

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Do you remember sometime back I asked a question about how/why the United States government can just continue to spend endlessly. Why can't I spend as much as I want endlessly? Now if it turns out the United States government cannot spend indefinitely, then how were these morons not able to see it coming? Spend in Iraq, spend in Afgnistan, insist on a xxxx measuring contest with Russia on Russia's doorstep, give away billions to the Arab puppets and Israel for nothing. How was this not foreseen?

And I may have told you back then that it's because they simply continue - printing - money... Why can the US mainly print money as it wants and no one else? As long as major powers on earth continued trading in US dollars, the piece of paper in question would have worth. As long as the US has a powerful military presence in all strategic locations on earth, major power will recognize the supremacy of the US dollar and will continue trading in US dollars. So, the US had to be the most dominant power on earth to keep up the illusion of the mighty dollar, the hype of the dollar. The US had to make sure that all major powers on earth continue recognizing the supremacy of the US dollar. In my opinion, the US government replaced the old world's gold system in finance with a military system. If in the past a nation's gold reserves gave money its worth, in the US led global financial system of the post Second World War era US/western military might alone gave money its worth. For this financial system/illusion to survive and thrive, the US had to have a strong political, cultural, military and economic presence in all major nations on earth. It managed to do so for a long time, especially after the Soviet collapse. Recently, no one in the West was expected the huge tectonic shifts in geopolitics, namely the return of Russia (along with several lesser powers like Venezuela and Iran) onto the world stage as an independent entity reasserting itself. All the financial experts knew (or must have known) that a collaspe of the global financial system would eventually occur. No one, however, could predict when this would happen. The financial/political elite worked hard on maintaining the illusion, the hype. It's somewhat like Californians expecting a major earthquake, they know it will eventually happen, they just don't know when and how bad; and they all hope that it does not happen in their life times. So, Californians continue living it up in California... Similarly, the financial/political elite in the US/West knew that the flawed global financial system would eventual fall apart, but they did not know when it would happen and they did not know how bad it would be. So they continued their spending spree and hoped that Americ's military might would maintain the status quo. Now, with the US military stretched and strained, with major nations like Russia, China, India, Brazil, competing against the US and making economic waves, with global natural resources fast running out, with Americans spending themselves into oblivion, the financial system in question is beginning to show serious cracks. Anyway, it's late and your asking a difficult question. I hope I made sense.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia's Stock Market long known to be the playground for the nation's oligarchs have suffered immensely as a result of the global financial meltdown started in the US. However, the overall economy of the Russian Federation, jump started several years ago by petrodollars, continues to perform well.

Armenian

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Putin: US image damaged forever over economy woes

The financial crisis has irreparably damaged the image of the U.S. as the leader of the free world and the global economy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Putin's remarks during a Communist Party meeting were the latest Russian attack singling out the U.S. as the chief culprit in the global financial turmoil. "Trust in the United States as the leader of the free world and the free economy, and confidence in Wall Street as the center of that trust, has been damaged, I believe, forever," Putin said. "There will be no return to the previous situation." Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev have repeatedly accused the U.S. of responsibility for the crisis and called for changes in the world financial system. Finance ministers of the G-7 — the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — meet beginning Friday in Washington. When Russia joins the group for political discussions, it becomes the G-8.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h...SeI4AD93N6OBG1

Russian Economy Has Very Strong Foundation - Pwc

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) believes the current situation in the Russian economy differs from what is taking place in the West, Peter Gerendasi, PwC general director and managing partner in Russia, told journalists in Kazan on Thursday. PwC feels the economic foundation in Russia is very strong and the only problem that needs to be resolved quickly is an increase in liquidity in the banking system, he said. The current share prices on the Russian market are very low - speculatively low - and do not reflect the actual value of the companies, he said. Gerendasi said PwC supports the steps the Russian government is taking to bolster liquidity and hopes they will produce a positive effect. All the actions and changes the government plans to make need to be done quickly to receive the most positive effect possible, he said. It is difficult to predict how the situation will unfold further, he said. Gerendasi said he thinks the turbulence will continue on the market for a while longer, but said he is hoping to see some positive changes within a year. Gerendasi and Tatarstan Prime Minister Rustam Minnikhanov signed an agreement on cooperation between PwC and the republic in Kazan on Thursday.

Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article...d_2695543.html

Budget Surplus Tops 2 Trillion Rubles

The surplus in the Russian federal budget from January to September exceeded 2.5 trillion rubles (8.1 percent of the GDP), RIA Novosti reports, citing Finance Ministry data. A year ago at the same time, the surplus was slightly over 1.6 trillion rubles. Income to the Russian budget was 7.2 trillion rubles in that period this year, which is almost 80 percent of the plan for the entire year. Expenditure reached 4.6 trillion rubles, or 61.1 percent of plan.
The consolidated budget, that is the combined federal and regional budgets, topped 2.5 trillion rubles in surplus at the beginning of September. It was also notable that the biggest expense in the first half of the year was defense. Russia receives is main income from the Federal Tax Service, which put 3.2 trillion rubles in state coffers, and the Federal Customs Service, which contributed 3.5 trillion rubles.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-13385/fe...udget_surplus/

Russian firms to get up to $50 bln to refinance foreign debt

Russia's government is to allocate up to $50 billion for companies to refinance their foreign debt, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday. "Up to $50 billion is being earmarked to refinance borrowings made by Russian companies abroad," Putin told a cabinet meeting. He said the state-run VEB bank would broker the transactions. Putin also said the government had decided to place up to 175 billion rubles ($6.7 billion) in Russian securities in 2008 and the same sum in 2009, with VEB being the operator. The Russian premier said the government was drafting a bill to provide subordinated loans of up to 950 billion rubles ($36 billion) to banks for 10 years. "These funds will be used to increase banks' capitalization and to solve liquidity problems," Putin said at a cabinet session. On October 7, President Dmitry Medvedev said at an economic conference that the government would issue banks a $36 billion subordinated loan for at least five years. Russia's financial system has been affected by a global credit crunch which started in the U.S. and quickly spread to Asia and Europe leading to record losses on Russia's financial markets, rising interest rates and a liquidity shortage.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/business/20081010/117663950.html

In related news:

Iceland turns to Russia for bailout

Russia has agreed to bail out Iceland by granting this small island state a huge stabilization loan at an unbelievably low interest rate. Is it an act of wanton generosity, or a far-sighted geopolitical step? And in general, four billion euros, is it a lot or a little? The fate of Iceland has until recently not concerned Russia one bit. Now only a lazy person is not discussing the incredible sum the "island of stability" is going to inject into the economy of a sinking island of geysers. Europe has meanwhile been discussing Iceland for a long time. Hedge-fund country, an example of liberal economic regulation and a model of a rapidly developing economy, Iceland was the first in the world to feel the impact of a full-bodied economic crisis. This happened at the end of 2007. Since this year began, Iceland's currency - the krona - has lost one-third of its value against the euro. Iceland's leading banks - Kaupthing, Glitnir and Landsbanki - have been marauded by international financial sharks. At the end of September, the country's authorities bought out (read, nationalized) Glitnir bank, and on October 7 Landsbanki, while on the same day Kaupthing bank received a 500 million euro loan from Iceland's National Bank. By the autumn of 2008 it had become clear Iceland might become the world's first country to suffer a default.

Why is the bubble of Iceland's economy bursting so loudly? It ballooned too rapidly, the IMF believes. In 2003-2007, the country's GDP had risen by 25%, with this robust growth fed mainly by outside borrowing. To attract foreign investments, the authorities strengthened the currency and ratcheted up interest rates (by the beginning of 2008, they were the highest in Europe - 15.5% per annum). The result was a monstrous misbalance: a modest GDP, on the one hand, and immense financial assets and tremendous liabilities, on the other. According to 2007 figures, Iceland's GDP was $16 billion, while its financial assets stood at 1,000% of GDP and an external debt of 550% of GDP. With Iceland teetering on the brink of default, Russia's stabilization loan of four billion euros is a lifebelt, and a very sizeable one (on the evening of October 7, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin acknowledged Russia's readiness to pay, although previously he had denied such claims by Iceland's National Bank). Judge for yourself: when, in May 2008, Iceland was drowning, the central banks of three Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Denmark and Norway - set up a special $2.3 billion rescue fund for Iceland. Now Russia alone is ready to fork over two and a half times as much for the same purpose. In other words, four billion euros by Iceland's standards is substantial.

In Russian eyes, it is a vast sum, too. And one pledged at a very fair rate. To judge from a release issued by Iceland's National Bank, Russia promised it at LIBOR+(0.3-0.5)%. This compares with LIBOR+1% at which the Russian Central Bank wants to offer loans to Russia's Vnesheconombank. At a time when Russian authorities hold crisis emergency meetings almost daily, this looks strange, to say the least. The man in the street would say this is no time for liberal loans when one's own existence is at stake. This man's response would not be quite right, in my opinion. There are several reasons why Russia should agree to issue the loan to Iceland. The first and overwhelming one is geo-economic. Leaders in many countries are gradually beginning to understand that a world caught in the maelstrom of a financial crisis could be saved only by cooperative efforts. This was a theme running through a three-day world policy conference in Evian; it will certainly be taken up at an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

WB chief Robert Zoellick only recently proposed that the G8 also include BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. World leaders more and more often speak of the need to shelve personal ambitions, put away political squabbles and do something. To come to the aid of Iceland at such a time has been for Russia a decision prompted by stark necessity. Russia has a rich war chest of windfall oil money. By the end of September, its Central Bank had $566 billion in international reserves, and $32-plus billion in the National Welfare Fund and the Reserve Fund. Of course, Russia could sit it out on its "island of stability" and fight the crisis within its four walls. But in this case Russia risks suddenly discovering that the global financial storm whipped up even further by Iceland's hurricane has wiped out all its stockpiled reserves. Most of Iceland's lenders are European banks. Should Iceland declare a default, the whole of Europe would go into a spin, and would drag Russia after it, which now has a chance to scrape its way out of the crisis the cheap way. It emerges that by saving Iceland, Russia is saving itself first. Other considerations are less global and more pragmatic. Crises come and go, but allies (sometimes) remain.

Iceland, a rapidly developing economy and a happy hunting ground for businessmen from many European countries, is certain to remember this gesture and take more kindly to Russian investments in the future. So far, Russia-Iceland trade has been $100 million per year. And it was only shortly before the crisis that Russian business (represented by Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska) began exploring the country's investment possibilities. Now the price for entering Iceland's economy could prove very low. Besides, it makes a good staging post for flights to Latin America.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20081010/117659587.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian Military Bases Remain in Armenia - Defense Minister

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian has praised military cooperation with Russia at the Sunday opening of a series of meetings of young people with Armenian politicians initiated by the Alliance youth organization. "Armenian-Russian relations were also discussed. I think very highly of them because Russia is our strategic partner and the defense aspect of our relations, the military-technical cooperation are at a very high level and they are advancing," he said. After the meeting Ohanian told Interfax that he was satisfied with the dialogue and attached great importance to the patriotic upbringing of the generation on which Armenia's future is going to depend. He said he did not share the opinion that the need for Russian military bases is going to disappear with the improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations. "We have not thought in that direction because Russian-Turkish relations are also advancing. I think Russian military bases will remain here as long as it is necessary," he said adding that all security understandings reached in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) had been implemented.

Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article...d_2700054.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The Greek Orthodox church is at it again, and this time against Russian interests. It's obvious why Moscow would want to have direct authority over Orthodox churches with Slavic constituencies in former Soviet States. Thus, seeing the geopolitical urgency/sensitivity of this situation, especially in light of the world's current political climate, one would think that the hierarchy in the Greek church would have enough sense to step out of the xxxxing way and stop being a problem. The mind sets of these medieval xxxxxxxs in "Constantinople" still dwell in the chaos of the middle ages. Long after they forever ruined the nature and character of Asia Minor, as well as Armenia, they still think they are in power....

Armenian

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Russian Church Walks Out on Europe

The Russian Orthodox Church has withdrawn from the Conference of European Churches after the Estonian Orthodox Church, which is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate was not given membership in the organization. The incident was the culmination of a conflict between the Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates over influence in the CIS, in which Moscow’s position had steadily weakened. A Russian church delegation announced the decision at a conference of the CEC in Protaros, Cyprus, on Saturday. There are two Orthodox Christian bishoprics competing in Estonia. The other is the Estonian Apostolic Church, which is supported by the Constantinople Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church calls that church “illegal.” The CEC was founded in 1959. Its membership consists of 126 Orthodox, Protestant and Old Catholic churches in Europe. It has headquarters in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg. Its goals are unity and mutual understanding. The organization approved the membership application of the Estonian Apostolic Church, but said that the Moscow Patriarchate’s application for the Estonian Orthodox Church was received later and did not meet the organizations requirements. The Russian church is accusing the CEC of prejudice. “With deep regret, it has to be stated that the CEC is losing its role as a peacemaking and unifying force and increasingly ignoring the voice of churches in countries that are outside the European Union,” a Russian Orthodox Church spokesman said. The Russian Orthodox Church announced to Orthodox leaders planning to gather in Istanbul over the weekend that the Russian church would not participate in the meeting if a delegation from the Estonian Apostolic Church was present. That ultimatum was ignored, but Patriarch Alexiy II attended the meeting any way, along with the Estonians. Ukraine is also the site of a showdown between the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchates. The Russian church has supported the Georgian Patriarchate, which refuses to recognize the Abkhazian and Ossetian Orthodox Churches that sought to leave it and joint the Russian Orthodox Church.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p1040123/e...thodox_Church/

[ArmSurvival]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Still acting like their Byzantine forefathers? Unfortunate.

[Armanen]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I so glad our Church is not involved/communion with either the Eastern Orthodox or Catholic churches.