https://in.reuters.com/article/germany-georgia-chechnya-idINKBN1Y81J3
Zelimkhan
Khangoshvili was
murdered on the streets of Berlin in August 2019 and for a time the story was
'big news'. The trial of the killer has dragged on and still appears
occasionally in the media. The verdict was due in July 2021 and yet the trial
has once more been extended. The verdict should come through before the end of
the year and it's going to be a big story in the West – part of the ongoing
anti-Russia campaign.
Sudan faces more turmoil with the October 2021 military coup.
Western media tends to report on the nation's 'progress' which is measured in
terms of how much the nation is under the thumb of Western investment and
political policy. For the Sudanese the metrics are often quite different.
The ousting of Omar al-Bashir in 2019 marked a major victory
for US-led Western interests. Washington had sponsored the creation of South
Sudan in 2011 which left the north in a potential crisis as the southern region
contained the nation's oil resources. The creation of South Sudan represented a
defeat for China which had close ties with Khartoum and was invested in the
infrastructure of their oil industry. Civil war was the result in the South, and
a decade later the situation remains fragile.
Is Moscow using natural gas as a weapon, as a means of putting
diplomatic pressure on Moldova? Is this punishment for Moldova electing Maia
Sandu a pro-European president?
Probably. The articles keep focusing on the significant back
payment that Moldova owes to Gazprom, the St. Petersburg based energy company that's
majority-owned by the Russian state. And yet I think the salient issue is the
contract deadline in December.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qUnnSu1Dno
I had heard of this woman (Lauren Boebert) awhile ago, but I
never imagined she professed to be a Christian. She's best known for her open
carry lifestyle – she's almost always armed (this talk being a rare exception) and
has made a big deal about her gun-friendly restaurant in Colorado. Riding the
wave of fame, she then used her 'charms' to get herself elected to congress.
https://www.politico.eu/article/alexei-navalny-sakharov-prize-freedom-thought-eu-russia/
The campaign to promote Alexei Navalny continues. He is but a
component of the expansive Western campaign against the regime of Vladimir
Putin in Moscow. You literally cannot interact with Western news media anymore
without some kind of daily (and at times hourly) attack on Russia even if it's
just a quick thirty second 'dig' – It must be remembered that in most American
news venues a proper 'Two-Minute Hate' would exceed the attention span of their
audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDq3wTYb4QU
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/09/lindell-jesus-christ-trump
Lindell who is closely connected to Trump and was involved in
the post-election coup plotting (that culminated in the failed January 6 putsch)
has been a rising star in Christian Right circles. At the same time he has
alienated sponsors and been forced out of some media circles. It's been
remarkable (if disconcerting) to watch how the Evangelical community has
rallied around him.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58647485
Conscientious Objection is an ancient practice in the Church.
With few exceptions the testimony of the Early Church is near universal –
Christians were opposed to warfare and participation in the military and other
forms of government violence.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/fox-news-hosts-launches-series-to-show-proof-of-heaven.html
This is not really a noteworthy story but it provides an
occasion to reflect upon a few things. Because like it or not this is what
people are buying into and as long as we're attending mainstream institutional
'conservative' churches, we're going to encounter the folks who are influenced
by these people – and even look up to them.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/6/the-situation-is-dangerous
https://news.yahoo.com/retired-diplomat-hill-bidens-choice-205145262.html
Is Serbia likely to launch an invasion of Kosovo, or attack
one of its other former Yugoslav neighbours? This is unlikely but the recent
military buildup does indicate that the Serbian Establishment is reading the
European situation in a manner similar to figures like Orban of Hungary,
elements within the Polish PiS Establishment, and other Right-wing forces
throughout central and southern Europe. Serbia is not part of the EU but is an
island within it and its currents affect its politics and standing.
It didn't take long for the Right-wing spin machine to kick in. A man in Norway attempted a massacre by means of bow and arrow. This is clear evidence that guns don't kill people – people do.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Moscow-uses-gas-to-blackmail-Europe-54243.html
This qualifies as sensationalism but given the source it's
not terribly surprising. This Catholic-affiliated website has a long record of
promoting the narratives of the Western Establishment when it comes to foreign
policy and investment.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Beijing's-failed-'trade-war'-against-Canberra-54240.html
There's another way to frame Beijing's turn with regard to
Australia and issues of trade. It can be viewed as a failed boycott and in a
sense it was. On the other hand, Beijing is watching Canberra cozy up to the
United States as exemplified by the recent AUKUS agreement. It's easier for
Australia to enter into an anti-Beijing alliance when China is not deeply
entangled with its markets. And China's demand for Australian coal is no light
thing.
The Dispensationalist teacher Jimmy DeYoung died in August of Covid-19. I had listened to him on and off for years. His programme appeared on the local Evangelical radio station and it seemed like many times we were in the car when it aired. I took great exception to his teachings. Misunderstanding the Bible on a massive scale, the outworkings of his aberrant theology took a particularly bad turn when it came to political Zionism and support for the often violent Settler movement in the West Bank, and Likud policy in general.
Whether the US is playing a role in this rift or not – it
fits a script that could have been written in Washington. And as the Cold War
demonstrated, the US and other governments are actually very interested in such
religious questions. And among these sacral bodies and especially among
so-called ethnic Christian communities, politics and religion are closely
united.
