The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

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

It's a somewhat bizarre article, to tell the truth.

It may be bizarre but the article does nonetheless outline/highlight the real problem in the region - namely the West's desire to rid Europe of the potential of a Russian lead Orthodoxy, long seen as a direct threat to the globalist agenda of the western world and to the peculiarities of Jewish/Zionist sentiments. Russia, with its immense natural wealth, long geopolitical reach and nuclear/conventional arsenal is the greatest threat to the longevity of the financial/political elite of the western world.

[Armenian]

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

Russia Warns of Tensions With Britain

Russia warned Britain on Thursday that reopening two offices of a British cultural organization would inflame already tense relations between the countries. Russia in December ordered offices of the British Council in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to close as of Jan. 1. The offices are closed for Russia's winter holidays, but British officials say they will defy the order and resume operations on Jan. 14.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement that Russia expects the operations to be permanently closed and "any other actions would be provocative and build up bilateral tensions." The order against the British Council comes amid high tensions stemming from the 2006 poisoning of former KGB officer and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London. Russia has refused Britain's request to extradite the man it considers the main suspect; this summer, Britain expelled four Russian diplomats to protest Moscow's stand, and Russia in turn kicked out four British diplomats.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that the British Council closure order was taken as a "countermeasure" to the diplomat expulsion. Kamynin appeared to suggest Russia could also order the council's main office in Moscow to close. "The activity of the British Council in Moscow and Russian regions has no legal foundation," he said. "We have not raised the question of the British Council's office in Moscow thus far, and this is an act of goodwill." The British Council is technically a non-governmental organization, but it acts as the cultural department of the British Embassy. Russia contends it acts as a for-profit organization.

Kathryn Board, head of the British Council's overseas network, said the organization complies with Russian law, a 1994 Britain-Russia agreement and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. "If there is a law we don't comply with, the Russian government has yet to point it out," she said by telephone from London. British Council officials have been in contact with the Russian government, seeking an agreement that would allow the offices to open without incident, Board said. "We still have a week or so to go and we very much hope this will be seen through to a proper conclusion," she said. Russia is also angry at Britain for its refusal to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...HsoHwD8TUK0L80

[Armenian]

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

Russia's Gazprom targets Nigerian gas reserves

Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom <GAZP.MM> is in talks with Nigeria to spend up to $2.5 billion on developing its vast natural gas reserves, a senior Nigerian gas official said on Saturday. The Russian company is on a global hunt for new reserves and has emerged as one of the leading suitors to Africa's top energy producer as it reforms its gas sector. "Gazprom has come twice to visit the federal government. They want to invest in Nigeria in gas exploitation, gathering and processing," a senior Nigerian government official working on gas policy told Reuters. Gazprom has offered to invest between $1 billion and $2.5 billion to begin with, he added. A Gazprom spokesman was not immediately available to comment. Nigeria is the world's eighth-biggest exporter of crude oil but even though it has the seventh-largest proven gas reserves in the world it has not developed its gas industry to anywhere near full potential.

Investors say the lack of a stable fiscal framework and market pricing for gas means that most investment ideas in the sector are uneconomic. The seven-month-old government of President Umaru Yar'Adua has begun a root-and-branch reform of the energy sector. It wants to use its gas reserves to drive industrial development in the impoverished country where most people live without electricity most of the time. The gas official said a new fiscal regime had been sent to the presidency and would be announced within a few weeks. New laws enshrining the regime could take several months to approve.

COMPETITION

UK-based companies BG Group <BG.L> and Centrica <CNA.L> have also proposed multi-billion dollar investments in Nigerian gas, the official added, asking not to be named because he is not allowed to talk publicly on behalf of the government. Nigeria exports about 18 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas every year through Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, jointly owned by the state energy company, Shell <RDSa.L>, Total <TOTF.PA> and Agip <ENI.MI>. Two other huge LNG projects, OK LNG and Brass LNG, are also on the drawing board. They each will cost about $10 billion to build and involve a consortium of western multinationals, but they have been stalled while the government works out its new policy. About 2.5 billion cubic feet of Nigerian gas associated with the extraction of crude oil is burnt off every day because there is no infrastructure to make use of the gas. The government is planning to fine companies that flare gas from the end of this year.

The government hopes to see an explosion in domestic demand for gas for use in power generation, petrochemicals and fertilizer. But the price now paid by the state power monopoly for gas makes investment in stand-alone gas projects uneconomic. The official said the new pricing policy will mean gas producers subsidising domestic supplies for about two or three years before prices reach export parity, which he estimated at $3.50-$4.00 per thousand cubic feet. Nigeria's state power monopoly now pays just 14 cents per thousand cubic feet. Gazprom has faced growing questions about the sustainability of gas supply from central Asia and has begun to extend its search for new reserves outside the region. In 2006, it acquired four offshore exploration licenses in Libya and last month it acquired another three.

Source: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL05310936.html

[Armenian]

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

Russian, Libyan navies resume contacts

The Russian and Libyan navies have resumed contacts after a long hiatus when a Russian Navy vessel made a port call at Tripoli, an aide to the Russian Navy commander said on Saturday. The Ivan Bubnov tanker will stay at the Libyan capital until January 7. It is participating in a two-month patrol mission in the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Russia's first in the past three years, which began on December 5. "The visit by the Russian vessel to Libya could be seen as a revival of contacts with the country's navy in the interest of strengthening mutual understanding and building trust in the Mediterranean region," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said previously that a total of four warships and seven other vessels of Russia's Northern, Black Sea and Baltic Fleets, as well as 47 airplanes and 10 helicopters, would take part in the 12,000-mile cruise. "The mission is aimed at ensuring a naval presence and establishing conditions for secure Russian navigation," Serdyukov told the Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in the Kremlin. Libya's leader Colonel Muammar Qaddafi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on December 24 in Tripoli to discuss bilateral relations and international issues.

After the meeting the foreign minister said that the two countries are preparing Putin's visit to Libya. Lavrov also said Libya's Soviet-era debt to Russia, which stands at around $3.5 billion, including interest, would be a key issue on the visit's agenda. In mid-August, Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights, saying that although the country halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic and political chaos, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080105/95478929.html

[Armenian]

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

The Pacific Arms Race

Just a few weeks ago, Japan successfully intercepted a ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean. Facing a rising China -- which had, before the Japanese test, conducted its unparalleled military buildup as a one-nation arms race -- Japan has now moved decisively to defend itself. But the Japanese move may now accelerate, and engage other neighboring nations in a growing and dangerous Pacific hemisphere arms race. At least 31 nations possess ballistic missiles and to counter that growing threat nations like Japan are scurrying to build anti-missile shields. However, more and better missile shields create a Hobson’s choice for nations that depend on their missile arsenals for strategic deterrence. They must either build larger and more sophisticated -- read expensive -- missile fleets or abandon missiles for other ways to deter would-be adversaries.

On December 17, the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s JS Kongo (DDG-173), a guided missile destroyer, fired a US Standard SM-3 interceptor which quickly destroyed its ballistic missile target about 100 miles above the Hawaiian Islands. The US Missile Defense Agency called the intercept a “major milestone” and Japan’s defense minister called the test “extremely significant.” Japan’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) program started in August 1998 after North Korea fired a missile over Japan. Tokyo’s BMD efforts were accelerated in July 2005 after North Korea once again fired ballistic missiles toward Japan and in October 2006 when Pyongyang tested a plutonium-based atomic device. Japan views these actions as a direct threat to her survival. “The land of the Rising Sun” responded to Pyongyang’s threat by pouring billions of yen into missile defense. The Japanese have purchased US-Aegis radar systems, launched spy satellites, and allowed the US to station an X-band radar on the island. Tokyo has deployed 27 anti-missile US-made Patriot PAC-2 batteries and this year it began deploying the more capable Patriot PAC-3. Much more is in the works.

More daunting for Japan’s neighbors is the fact that Tokyo’s BMD investments are linked to the US missile defense system. In the Pacific the US boasts more than 20 ground-based interceptors, 18 sea-based missiles, hundreds of PAC-3 Patriots and intends to create a multilayered system with hundreds of interceptors to include other programs like the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and the Airborne Laser (ABL). These systems are guided by early warning satellites, radar complexes and more than a dozen Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers. The growing US-Japanese missile shield seriously diminishes North Korea’s fledgling missile threat and the second order effect is to marginalize China’s strategic balance and perhaps even Russia’s.

Pyongyang is believed to have more than 800 ballistic missiles, including a few which could potentially strike the US homeland. Most are old Soviet-era Scuds and the communist state has developed a medium-range missile, the Nodong, and a long-range missile based on Scud technology, the Taepodong. North Korea sells ballistic missiles to nations like Iran, Syria, and Pakistan. It also tests missiles and shakes its nuclear weapons program rattle to create regional tension that is used to leverage blackmail payments of food and fuel oil in exchange for empty disarmament promises. Although soon to be deterred, it is unlikely Japan’s missile shield will persuade Pyongyang to abandon its misguided activities.

China’s reaction to Japan’s test was cautious. “We hope the Japanese side will act in ways that help to safeguard regional peace and stability and that promote mutual trust between its nations in the area,” Qin Gang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. Beijing’s primary “regional peace” concern is Taiwan. The communist regime wants the break-away island nation back under its iron fist and intends to make that happen either by diplomatic coercion or military force. The Peoples Liberation Army has arrayed an impressive armada of short-range ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan. Should China exercise the military option then Japan’s BMD linked with the US’s fleet of Aegis cruisers could make that operation very expensive for the communists.

Beijing’s “stability” concern is that Japan’s BMD impacts the credibility of its small intercontinental ballistic missile fleet. The Red Chinese have 20 nuclear-tipped, silo-based, liquid-fueled CSS-4 ICBMs which puts China at the bottom of the major-power table behind France. China is rebuilding credibility by modernizing its ICMB fleet, however. By 2010, Beijing will add the DF-31 ICBM which is a road-mobile, solid-propellant system and the JL-2, a submarine launched ballistic missile. These strategic weapons will be augmented by new spy satellites, anti-spacecraft lasers and “information warfare units” that can attack western technologies. China has launched its own missile shield project as well. Beijing recently tested an interceptor missile that downed a high-flying reconnaissance plane. Its spokesman claims, “We can intercept not only high-flying reconnaissance planes or missiles but also low-flying targets.”

Russia, both a European and Asian country, is impacted by BMD programs on both flanks. President Vladimir Putin objects to a proposed US BMD system in Poland and the Czech Republic which is intended to defend against Iranian missiles much like Japan’s BMD is designed to counter North Korea. But Putin and his generals claim the anti-Iran BMD is really intended to marginalize Russia’s fleet of nuclear missiles. In October, Japan officially rebuffed Russian calls for Tokyo to abandon its BMD as well. Russia possesses 700 ICBMs and 3,000 nuclear warheads which could quickly overwhelm the combined anti-missile capabilities of the proposed anti-Iranian system, Japan’s emerging shield and the US’ BMD network. Likely, Russia is concerned these shields will eventually be fine-tuned and expanded to deter its vast arsenal. Russia is doing more than complaining about anti-missile shields, however. It is building better missiles, warheads and beefing up its anti-missile shield.

In mid-December, a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea test-fired a new ballistic missile which reportedly can elude anti-missile systems. The Kremlin will be ready in January 2008 to operationally deploy a new multiple-warhead missile system equipped with Topol-M multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles. This mobile missile can reach the US with a variety of weapons packages. In August, Colonel General Alexander Zelin, commander of the Russian air force, announced activation of the first S-400 interceptors as part of Moscow’s improved missile defense. The S-400 reportedly can reach out 250 miles and stop missiles with ranges greater than 2,000 miles.

Japan’s missile shield may not be directly responsible for China’s or Russia’s decision to expand missile arsenals and BMD systems. Whatever the reason, these nations and others are investing in more sophisticated missiles that could ratchet-up global tension and further proliferation of ballistic missiles to other states and non-state actors. Then again the presence of missile shields in places like Japan might convince rogues that the days of ballistic blackmail are over. For larger countries like Russia and China, effective western BMD systems might convince them to see the futility of investing in another bottomless arms race. Let’s hope for the later.

Source: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24285

[Armenian]

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

Putin sends Christmas greetings, Clinton doubts he has soul

President celebrates Christmas in Father Frost's hometown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPC_...ls=org.mozilla

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Orthodox believers and met Santa on the Russian Christmas Day Monday, as United States presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton claimed Putin had no soul. "This festival has for centuries brought the light of faith, hope and love," Putin said in the Christmas message released by the Kremlin on the Orthodox Christmas day, January 7. "It draws us towards primordial spiritual values uniting millions of people, values that play a special role in the history of Russia and nourish our national culture," Putin said. The Russian president also met "Grandfather Frost" in the snow-covered northern town of Veliky Ustyug where the Russian variation of Father Christmas is thought to reside, and visited a theme park.

He left his designated successor Dmitri Medvedev to cultivate his presidential image at a televised Christmas mass in Moscow, presided by Patriarch Alexy II, head of the Russian Orthodox church. Putin has committed himself to the Orthodox faith despite his background in the KGB security service in the Soviet era, when Christianity was suppressed. Dressed entirely in black, the Russian leader joined overnight Christmas ceremonies at a church in Veliky Ustyug, where the temperature was about minus 17 degrees Celsius (one degree Fahrenheit). But as Russians and branches of the Orthodox faith in other countries celebrated Christmas, in the United States presidential candidate and former first lady Clinton made a cutting assessment of Putin's spirituality while campaigning in the state of New Hampshire.

Her remark that Putin had no soul came as she savaged President George W. Bush for his tactic of trying to forge warm personal bonds with foreign leaders. "This is the president that looked into the soul of Putin, I could have told him, he was a KGB agent, by definition he doesn't have a soul, I mean this is a waste of time, right, this is nonsense," Clinton said at a rally. Her comment reflected tense relations between Russia and the United States and came after a series of jibes against Putin by Republican candidate John McCain. Christian belief was formally anathema to the Soviet state in the last century, although the dictator Joseph Stalin came to an accommodation with the Church during the struggle to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...da2sO3x9ASnALA

The Story Of The Russian Orthodox Church And Its New Convert, President Putin

THE CZARS SECURED Russia’s recognition as an independent Patriachate of the Eastern Church in the 16th century. They then went further and "bribed the Patriarch of Constantinople to recognise Moscow as both equal to and independent of Byzantium (Istanbul)". During the reign of Czar Ivan’s son, Theodore, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremiah II, came to Moscow seeking help. The Patriarchate of Constantinople had been under the power of the Turks since 1453. It therefore needed powerful allies. This led it to recognise Bishop Job of Moscow as the first Patriarch of All Russia in 1589.

Uniatism

The Counter Reformation in Roman Catholic Poland was then in full swing. Poland was ruled by Sigismund III, a tool of the all-powerful Jesuits who set out to exploit the weakness of the Orthodox at that time. The Jesuits were responsible for the Cibgregatui ori Ecckesua Iruebtake (Congregation for the Eastern Church). This was a section of the Propaganda fide or Missionary wing of the Vatican, established in 1622. There were many nearby Orthodox Churches in southern Russia around Kiev and the Jesuits proselytised them in a cunning way which has its repercussions to this day.

The Jesuits, as always, achieved their ends by education. Very cleverly, they established the Greek or Uniate College of Saint Athanasios in Rome 1577 to train Orthodox Priests without charge. This was a subterfuge for promoting what is called Uniatism. Uniatism comes from the Latin word unio, meaning union. Uniatism is the union of Orthodox Christian communities with Rome through their acknowledging the Pope’s universal primacy. These Orthodox communities are subject to papal authority, whilst following their own Orthodox rites in worship.

Simply put, the idea of Uniatism implies that only those Orthodox Christians, who are in communion with, and subject to the authority of the Pope of Rome, are truly Orthodox, at least in Rome’s eyes. The rest of the Orthodox are schismatics. This view was clearly set out in the ‘Decree on the Eastern Churches of the Roman Council’ in 1962-65 (i.e. Vatican II), despite the objections of many eminent Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic theologians. The Vatican has until recently held steadfastly to the view that Uniatism is the least painful method of uniting the Orthodox with Roman Catholics.

Sigismund III of Poland gave carte balance to the Society of Jesus to impose Uniatism on the Orthodox slavs, not only in Poland but in Lithuania and the Ukraine, particularly after the despotic Uniate Synod of Brest-Litovsk (1956), during which the Orthodox Archbishop were obliged to sign the union. Those who refused suffered terrible persecution and the Orthodox. Church Archbishops were obliged to sign the union. Those who refused suffered terrible persecution and the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe became violently divided. The Russian Orthodox Church has never forgotten this episode. The humiliation of Brest Litovsk is still a virulent political reality today, and exploited by Russian Orthodoxy to the maximum.

II Papa dell’Est

Following the collapse of Communism, John Paul II took the title II Papa dell ‘Est – The Pope of the east. Every eye was on Rome, expecting her to sweep into Russia despite Orthodox objections. Some readers may have seen the BBC2, The New Holy Roman Empire, which showed how, "The fall of Communism … has given the Pope opportunity to spread the word in eastern Europe … But the Russian Orthodox feel they are being invaded". The programme covered the hostility between Rome and the Russian Orthodox churches as it was then, but the subsequent decade has seen an increase in this hostility.

John Paul II, who can boast of so many firsts in relation to Islam and xxxry and who travelled to Communist Cuba in 1998, has still not visited Russia. Rome watches Mother Russia like a hawk, seeking for cracks in the Orthodox monolith. The present writer was first alerted to Putin’s existence through Rome watching, long before Putin was in the popular news. Rome watched her hopes of a "reformer" who would "drive a wedge between himself and the regime that generated him" gradually fade. The Russian Orthodox Church has taken Putin to its bosom, and the President has been pleased to reciprocate, to their mutual advantage. Yet he can still cultivate Rome when it suits him. Rome is ever on the outlook to seize such opportunities.

Putin cultivates the Church

2002 was a year of triumph for Russian Orthodoxy in regard to Putin. "On 6 January (Christmas in the Orthodox calendar) the President made a pilgrimage to Orthodox holy places. He visited the cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour in Pereslavl-Zalessky … The Rector told … Putin … about the history of the Cathedral, which used to be the burial-vault of the Pereslavl Princes in old times. "In the city of Vladimir the President attended the Christmas Divine service in the Cathedral of the Assumption, one of the oldest churches of Russia decorated with frescos by Andrey Rublyov. Thousands of the city inhabitants prayed together with the Head of State. On the very day of the Nativity of Christ President Putin visited the city of Maloyaroslavets … Archbishop Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk … noted that people have solemnly celebrated the Nativity of Christ from the earliest times and children have had a particular joy. Many tales and folk songs have been dedicated to the Nativity of Christ. All of them tell us about the triumph of good and the disgrace of evil forces." Putin was clearly overleaping the Communist era and appealing to the old traditions of Mother Russia in order to awaken the sleeping giant.

Putin’s sermon

On 23 August 2001 Putin visited several Russian Orthodox monasteries including the 15th-century Solovetski monastery whilst on vacation in the northwest of the country. "Situated on the Solovetski archipelago in the western part of the White Sea, the monastery is a point of pilgrimage for many Orthodox believers. Patriarch Aleksei II, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church (with a vehement dislike for the Pope), greeted Putin and showed him around, later presenting the President with a wooden cross. Speaking to the press during his visit, Putin delivered something approaching a sermon on the importance of religion in public life."

To make it clear which religion he was referring to, Putin, "quoted the words of the 11th-century church leader Metropolitan Illarion, who once said God had saved all nations. If so, Putin said, all nations are equal in the eyes of God. This simple truth, he added, has made it possible to build a strong multiethnic state. The President went on to say that without Christianity, Russia would not have become an accomplished state. He said it is important for Russia to return to this source now, at a time when we are finding ourselves again and seeking moral foundations to life. Putin’s heavily religious tone would have come as no surprise to those accustomed to seeing the Russian president in an Orthodox Church or hearing stories of his deep religious faith."

Putin’s ‘conversion’

Putin is said to have undergone a "conversion" after rescuing his two young daughters from a burning dacha four years ago. Another story says that his spiritual journey began after his mother gave him a cross, which he then blessed at a holy site in Jerusalem. In an interview with CNN last year, Putin himself told a story of how workers found the little cross lying in the ashes of his burned-down dacha. He claims to keep it with him at all times. Reliable Andrea Zolotov who covers religious affairs for the Moscow Times, and English-language newspaper, confirms that "Putin is appealing to the notion of Russian history that goes beyond, and is unbroken by, the Soviet period". And that includes the Brest Litovsk factor. Is Rome outmatched this time? We shall see in the next issue DV.

Source: http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=putin

Putin's Reunited Russian Church

The Russian Orthodox Church was torn in two by revolution and regicide, by the enmity between communism and capitalism, nearly a century of fulmination and hatred. That all formally ended on Thursday in Moscow. Thousands of the Russian Orthodox faithful — including several hundred who flew in from New York — lined up under heavy rain to get into the Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. There, they witnessed the restoration of the "Canonical Communion and Reunification" of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which claims more than 70 million adherents, and the U.S.-based Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR), which is believed to be 1.5 million strong. Many among the clergy and laity wept at the end of the 86 year-old schism brought about by the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, and the ensuing murder of the dethroned Tsar and the forced emigration of hundred thousands Russians defeated in Civil war. While the sumptuous ritual was clearly an emotional and pious event, the reunification has political resonance as well because the Russian Orthodox Church is increasingly a symbol and projection of Russian nationalism.

Indeed, rather than first give thanks to God in his speech, the head of the ROC, Patriarch Alexy, paid homage to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Patriarch emphasized that the reunification could happen only because the ROCOR saw in Putin "a genuine Russian Orthodox human being." Putin responded in his speech that the reunification was a major event for the entire nation. Nationalism, based on the Orthodox faith, has been emerging as the Putin regime's major ideological resource. Thursday's rite sealed the four-year long effort by Putin, beginning in September 2003, to have the Moscow Patriarchate take over its rival American-based cousin and launch a new globalized Church as his state's main ideological arm and a vital foreign policy instrument. In February press conference, Putin equated Russia's "traditional confessions" to its nuclear shield, both, he said, being "components that strengthen Russian statehood and create necessary preconditions for internal and external security of the country." Professor Sergei Filatov, a top authority on Russian religious affairs notes that "traditional confessions" is the state's shorthand for the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Church's assertiveness and presence is growing — with little separation from the State. The Moscow City Court and the Prosecutor General's Office maintain Orthodox chapels on their premises. Only the Orthodox clergy are entitled to give ecclesiastic guidance to the military. Some provinces have included Russian Orthodox Culture classes in school curricula with students doing church chores. When Orthodox fundamentalists vandalized an art exhibition at the Moscow Andrei Sakharov Center as "an insult to the main religion of our country," the Moscow Court found the Center managers guilty of insulting the faith, and fined them $3,500 each. The ROC had an opera, based on a famous fairy tale by the poet Alexander Pushkin, censored to the point of cutting out the priest, who is the tale's main protagonist. "Of course, we have a separation of State and Church," Putin said during a visit to a Russian Orthodox monastery in January 2004. "But in the people's soul they're together." The resurgence of a Church in open disdain of the secular Constitution is only likely to exacerbate divisions in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Russia.

[...]

Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...622544,00.html

[HayotzAmrotz]

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

Some Georgians, from their current government down to ordinary people, are as anti-Armenian as you can get. Sometimes Georgians put even their Azeri brothers to shame when it comes to anti-Armenian hysteria and outright hate.

[Armenian]

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

The Year of Family Started in Russia

Holding of “The Year of Family” is an initiative of the RF President

Holding of the Year of Family is the initiative of the President of the RF and it is held in the framework of the large-scale State program, directed to strengthening of the institute of family in Russia, RIA Novosti reports. The special attention at the State level is planned to be paid to social help not only to children, left without care of adults, but also to support of elderly parents, and also to families in the difficult situation; efforts are directed also to struggle with violence in family. The Year of Family must be commemorated by important changes in life of every Russian family, the first vice-Premier of the RF Dmitriy MEDVEDEV, who supervises the national projects, have announced before. According to him, it is necessary to revive the cult of big family in Russia, "because a happy family is a family, which connects all relatives, and it gives powers for development." Speaking about plans of the Government in connection with the Family Year, MEDVEDEV emphasized that the purpose is "to do so that it will be not only just a list of some beautiful and interesting events, but to make the Year of Family commemorated by important changes in life of every Russian family." The Government prepared a plan of the main events, including new sections, such as "family and society," "family and business."

During the Year it is planned not only to introduce new projects, accept new laws, but also as a whole to bring a body of the family legislation into accordance with requirements of time. Such important moments, as trusteeship, guardianship, alimony obligations, help to large families - "all this must find reflection in our work," MEDVEDEV noted. He reported that at the federal level Land Code and some other laws will be improved, at the regional level also. Active work on solution of problems, laid in the Conception of demographic policy to 2025, is supposed. It will be necessary to create "the full adequate legal basis to make the most important document on the parent capital work efficiently;" it will be paid from 2010. Control over fulfillment of all new laws on support of maternity will be strengthened.

MEDVEDEV reminded that from January 1 new payments for families of those who are at the service for a fixed period will appear. This payment is for pregnant wives of soldiers, which is paid once in the amount of 14 thousand Rubles and a monthly payment for children to 3 years at the rate of six thousand Rubles for each child. The work is held also in the areas of health protection and education. Now transition to single channel system of financing is being prepared, it means transition to a new model of health protection and education in the country, the first vice-Premier noted. The Family Year, according to him, is not an end in itself and not a single action, but a result of the long-term policy, which appeared in the State some time ago, which is directed to improvement of the demographic situation, strengthening of the institute of family in society.

The special Fund for children, which will render support to minors in difficult life situation, will be created. Over 5bln Rubles are reserved for these purposes, but it's only beginning, MEDVEDEV assured. He emphasized that it is necessary to be engaged in this work by the whole world, and it is a purpose of not only federal authorities, but also regions, business." At present time the corresponding statutory acts, including the decree of the President are being prepared. Holding of the Year of Family in Russia means that "new philosophy of relations between families, the State and society of Russia" appeared in the country, MEDVEDEV thinks. On Monday the official opening of the Year of Family is planned, however the events will start during winter holidays.

Source: http://vladivostoktimes.ru/show.php?id=19498&r=12&p=

[Armenian]

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

Armenia-Russia trade grows 65% in 2007 - ministry

Trade between Armenia and Russia grew 65% year on year in 2007, the Armenian foreign ministry said in an annual report on Wednesday. "Russia is one of Armenia's largest trade and economic partners," the ministry said. According to Armenia's national statistics service, Russia accounted for 16.1% of Armenia's foreign trade in January-November 2007, making it the republic's leading trade partner. Bilateral trade expanded 68.2% in January-November 2007 to $632.1 million, with Armenia's exports rising 74% to $183.6 million and Russian exports to the South Caucasus republic growing 65.9% to $448.5 million, the Armenian statistics service said. Russia was also Armenia's largest investor in the reporting period, investing a total of $175.9 million in the South Caucasus republic in January-September 2007, including $101.6 million in direct investment, the Armenian statistics service said,

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080109/95821051.html

[Armenian]

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

Poland signals a shift on U.S. missile shield

BERLIN: Signaling a tougher position in negotiations with the United States on a European anti-ballistic missile shield, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says the new Warsaw government is not prepared to accept U.S. plans to deploy part of the shield in Poland until all costs and risks are considered. "This is an American, not a Polish project," Sikorski said in an interview published in the weekend edition of the daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

The previous Polish government had consented in principle to accept parts of the U.S. shield, but no formal agreement has been signed. Now Sikorski is saying that the terms under which the shield would be deployed were unclear and that the new government wanted the risks to be explained, the financial costs to be set out and clarification on how Poland's interests would be defended if the shield were deployed on its territory. "We feel no threat from Iran," Sikorski said, challenging the U.S view that some of the biggest threats facing the security of Europe and the United States are from "rogue states" in the Middle East, including Iran. Still, Sikorski said, "if an important ally such as the United States has a request of such an important nature, we take it very seriously."

He added: "It is not only the benefits but the risks of the system that have to be discussed fully. It cannot be that we alone carry the costs." There was no official response from the United States. Bogdan Klich, Poland's new defense minister, is expected to make his first official visit to Washington this month to explain his government's position. NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance, said Sunday that the missile defense issue was essentially a bilateral discussion between Poland, the United States and Russia. "NATO is happy to be a forum for discussion, and it is a useful one," said James Appathurai, a spokesman for the alliance. "But it does not substitute for the bilateral track."

Sikorski also said he was worried that the United States could abandon the project after the American presidential election in November. In that case, Poland would nevertheless have to bear political costs, like the deterioration of relations with Russia, if it signed on to the shield prematurely. The deployment of the U.S. missile shield has become such a contentious issue between the United States and Russia - and indeed between Poland and Russia - that President Vladimir Putin of Russia has warned of a new arms race if Washington proceeds with deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic. Having accused Washington of threatening Russia's national security interests, Putin last month suspended his nation's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.

Under that treaty, one of the last major arms pacts concluded between the former Cold War foes, countries stretching from Canada across Europe to the eastern parts of Russia cut their conventional forces and agreed to on- site inspections and an elaborate system of verification and notifications. It was implemented in 1992. The Kremlin did not say how long it would suspend its participation. But Russian diplomats said it depended on not only what kind of concessions the United States was prepared to make concerning changes to the treaty, but also whether Poland and the Czech Republic would deploy part of the U.S. missile shield. The new approach on missile defense taken by Poland's new center-right coalition government, under Prime Minister Donald Tusk, reflects a different negotiating strategy from the previous nationalist-conservative government led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Kaczynski, who was much more pro- American, had in principle agreed to deploy several interceptors on Polish territory without going into detail over the costs, the maintenance and the risks to Poland's security, according to Polish officials. But the former prime minister did little to allay Russia's fears about deploying the missile shield in Poland, or to drum up support in other European Union member states. He left it up to the United States to explain the issue to the Kremlin and to European governments. In contrast, Tusk and Sikorski, while having no illusions about Russia's new self-confidence under Putin, have nevertheless repeatedly said they want to improve relations with Russia. Later this month, Poland and Russia for the first time will hold direct talks in Warsaw over the missile shield. The Russian side will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kisliak.

Sikorski, who was defense minister in the Kaczynski government, had been forced to resign early last year after criticizing, among other things, the government's handling of the missile defense negotiations. He later joined Tusk's Civic Platform party and was appointed foreign minister last month. Sikorski, then and now, has insisted that Poland will need additional security protection from the United States, for example in the form of Patriot missiles, if it accepts the interceptors. NATO could also be called upon. Alliance diplomats said Poland would insist on a guarantee from NATO if the missile defense system became part of the alliance's own anti-ballistic missile system. This means that if Poland were threatened with attack or came under attack, the NATO alliance would be obliged to come to its assistance.

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/...ica/shield.php

Poland's prime minister to make first visit to Russia next month

Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk will make his first visit to Moscow next month, part of a push by his new liberal government to mend relations which suffered over the last two years. "My visit to Moscow will take place February 8," Tusk told journalists in Warsaw on Wednesday. Poland's previous conservative-nationalist prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski remained suspicious of his country's Soviet-era master, accusing Russia of still trying to exert influence in Eastern Europe. During two years of Kaczynski rule, bilateral relations with Moscow deteriorated to their lowest ebb since Poland shed communism in 1989.

In the wake of their October 2007 parliamentary election victory, Tusk's liberals have made a point of mending tattered ties with neighbours Russia and Germany. Talks between Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on December 7 in Brussels kicked off the drive to normalise relations. In a goodwill gesture, Poland later lifted its opposition to Russia beginning membership talks with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Russia consequently removed an import ban on Polish meat exports imposed over alleged hygiene irregularities. A separate Russian embargo on Polish plant products remains in place. Tusk has insisted it should be lifted ahead of his arrival in Moscow. Russia and the EU's executive European Commission are also keen to see Poland lift its veto on the start of talks on a new EU-Russia agreement. Poland's previous Kaczynski government imposed the veto in November 2006 to protest Moscow's ban on Polish meat, a move Warsaw argued violated existing EU-Russia trade agreements.

Both Moscow and Warsaw must also address Russia's objection to a US plan for a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak is expected in Warsaw Thursday to present Moscow's arguments against the missile shield, which it sees as a grave national security threat. Washington wants to deploy 10 anti-ballistic missile bases in Poland and associated radar bases in the Czech Republic by 2012 in an effort to ward off potential attacks by so-called rogue states, notably Iran. Both countries are members of NATO and the European Union.

Source: http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1199887322.18