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© SputnikFestivities at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
There are three organizations in Ukraine that call themselves Orthodox churches, but only one of them is recognized as canonical by other Orthodox churches of the world - the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. As the name implies, it's a largely autonomous church, which nevertheless answers to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople intends to unilaterally declare recognition of a separate canonical church in Ukraine, although details of such an action are yet to be clarified. The conclave of its Synod took some decisions furthering such a policy. The Church in Moscow considers them destructive and says they could potentially cause violence in Ukraine.
Comment: Sputnik also reports:
Russian Orthodox Church Forced to End Eucharistic Ties With ConstantinopleFor more on the matter, see:
Previously, a representative of the Constantinople Patriarchate announced that the synod of the church had decided to lift the anathema of two leaders of schismatic churches in Ukraine and return the metropolia under Constantinople's jurisdiction.
According to Russian Orthodox Church Synod representative Vladimir Legoyda, the Constantinople Patriarchate's move is deeply anticanonical.
"Constantinople, in fact, has declared it entered into canonical communion with the schismatics and with an excommunicated person. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church will give a proper assessment of these actions during its next meeting, which will be held on October 15 in Minsk," he said.
In the meantime, Priest Alexander Volkov, spokesman for the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, said that the decision was "catastrophic," adding that the Patriarchate of Constantinople "has already crossed the red line."
"In fact, it is possible to describe what was adopted today at the Synod of the Church of Constantinople as the legalization of schism... Unfortunately, the calls from all corners of the world Orthodoxy were not heard in Istanbul. And today the Constantinople Patriarchate made catastrophic decisions - first of all, for itself, and in general for the whole world Orthodoxy," Volkov said in an interview with Russia's Spas religious television channel.
Earlier in the day, the Constantinople Synod has confirmed in a statement, it reversed the 1686 decision which transferred the Kiev Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate.
"To revoke the legal binding of the Synodal Letter of the year 1686, issued for the circumstances of that time, which granted the right through oikonomia [abatement of canonic rules] to the Patriarch of Moscow to ordain the Metropolitan of Kyiv," the patriarchate said in a statement.
In response, the head of the press office for the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church said that the decision to grant Kiev's request for an independent church was against all laws and it was up to the Ukrainian synod to decide on the next steps, adding that the church didn't rule out excommunicating Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko previously supported a movement for establishing a single local autocephalous church in the country based on the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox churches, which were headed by anti-Russian clerics.
In mid-September, two exarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople started working in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP), which came as part of Constantinople's preparations to grant autocephaly to the UOC-KP.
The initiative has been strongly criticized by the Russian Orthodox Church, which moved on to the actual "breaking of diplomatic relations" with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, suspending service with its hierarchs.
- Faith, power, money: How Western meddling is corrupting Ukraine's Orthodox Church
- Georgian Church refutes false information coming from Ukrainian Parliamentary Chairman
Glenn Simpson, founder of Fusion GPS
In a scathing letter, unusually strong-worded for legal communication, lawyers for Simpson argued that the House Judiciary Committee is not seeking the truth but is aiming to "discredit and otherwise damage witnesses to Russia's interference in the 2016 election."
The subpoena, issued to Simpson by the committee, is thus only a smokescreen that will be used by the panel to further tarnish Simpson's reputation with "selective" leaks from a closed-door deposition, the letter claims.
© CC BY 2.0 / Jennifer Moo
Facebook said the pages were "working to mislead others about who they are, and what they are doing," but the co-founder of one of the pages, The Free Thought Project, tells Sputnik News Facebook's claim couldn't be further from the truth.
Most of the pages that were banned and viewed by Sputnik News were independent media outlets and pages that advocated for marijuana legalization or shined a light on police brutality.
In total, Facebook removed 559 pages and 251 personal accounts "that have consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior," the social media giant said. "Given the activity we've seen - and its timing ahead of the US midterm elections - we wanted to give some details about the types of behavior that led to this action," Facebook said, going on to accuse the accounts of manipulating the platform to make their content appear more popular, hawking fake products or functioning as ad farms that tricked "people into thinking that they were forums for legitimate political debate."
Comment: It was only a matter of time before we saw what happened to Alex Jones happen to other independent sites, even those considered left leaning. See also:
- Facebook purges over 800 accounts with millions of followers; prominent conservatives vanish
- Facebook, Twitter Purge More Dissident Media Pages In Latest Escalation
- Zuckerberg op-ed leaves no doubt Facebook is little more than a vehicle to spread US propaganda
- Google playing 'good censor' for civility's sake, leaked briefing confirms
- In defense of free speech: Censorship never ends well
© Flickr
The lunacy didn't stop there. Not content with insulting the EU's 27 countries, the government in London decided to whip up even more patriotic fervour by again trying to portray Russia as a threat to the United Kingdom.
In June 2018 the UK's Sun newspaper carried the headline "Britain will send RAF Typhoon fighter jets to Iceland in bid to tackle Russian aggression" and since then Mr Williamson hasn't altered his contention that "the Kremlin continues to challenge us in every domain." (Williamson is the man who declared in March 2018 that "Frankly Russia should go away - it should shut up," which was one of the most juvenile public utterances of recent years.)
Comment: NATO's days are numbered, but it won't be going away quietly:
- Coordinated NATO Propaganda Blitz Against Russia & China Takes Hypocrisy Into Twilight Zone
- Russia versus NATO's Gladio 2.0: Turkish jihad from China to Syria
- Hypocritical NATO 'concerned' by Russia's military build-up close to "our borders"
- 'We don't want war with Russia': NATO exit is gaining force among citizens of Slovakia
- NATO wants Europe's civilian infrastructure ready for war
- Russia takes the lead in Arctic exploration
© Gali Tibbon / Reuters
Notwithstanding Israel's remarkable military, economic, and technological achievements and the dramatic expansion of its trade and diplomatic relations since its creation in 1948, Israel failed to live up to its promise. Under Netanyahu's watch, Israel's democracy is tearing apart at the seams, the unity of purpose between Israeli and diaspora Jewry is crumbling, the social and political divide among Israelis is dangerously widening, and the prospect of living in peace and security is becoming increasingly untenable.
During the same period, the Palestinians' situation has become ominously worse. They remain dependent on handouts, millions of refugees still languish in camps, and they are socially and politically disintegrating, insecure, and despairing. The hopelessness of young Palestinians and the self-resignation of old, with diminishing prospects of escaping the harsh reality of the occupation, further intensified their hatred and resentment toward Israel. And the Palestinians' distant dream of establishing their own state is rapidly fading away.
Comment: Psychopathic Bibi is not only destroying Israel and Palestine, but the US too. See also:
- Benjamin Netanyahu is no friend to America - Wants Washington to get embroiled in war with Iran
- War of words: Netanyahu promises 'crushing blow' if Hezbollah uses its 'precision rockets'
- Iran's PM blasts Netanyahu at UN: Israel is the only regime in Middle East with secret, nuclear weapons program
Facebook has unpublished our page
After 5 years of building fans Facebook has officially unpublished our page (3.1 million fans) so we can't post on it anymore. This is truly an outrage and we are devastated. We will do everything we can to recover our page and fight back. pic.twitter.com/H3AmHTT8Qo
- Free Thought Project (@TFTPROJECT) October 11, 2018
Comment: It's hard not to see this recent wave of bannings, starting with Alex Jones back in August, as being entirely motivated by partisan politics. With the mid-term elections fast approaching, it seems social media is working overtime to try to silence any voices that may interfere with the 'blue wave' they're trying to bring into existence.
See also:
- Facebook, Google & Microsoft team up with the ADL as self-appointed internet censors to 'curb hate speech and abuse'
- Silencing conservative voices: James Woods' Twitter account suspended over satirical meme
- Meanwhile on Twitter: Libertarian accounts suspended, including Ron Paul Institute Director
- The great purge: Twitter suspended 58 million accounts in last quarter of 2017, 70 million in May and June
- Careful what you wish for: Facebook 'fact-checkers' censor left-wing site ThinkProgress
- Social media execs meet to plan "strategy" for 2018 election
The proposal, known as rules for Title IX -- the civil rights law that prohibits gender discrimination in a person's education -- is widely expected to limit the scope of inquiries by colleges and universities and make it easier for students accused of misconduct to push back.
Drafted by the Department of Education and under review by President Donald Trump's budget office, the proposal is likely to spark heated debate. It follows the bruising confirmation fight for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault at a house party when he was in high school three decades ago. Two other women made similar accusations. Kavanaugh vehemently denied all of them.
Comment: Title IX proceedings have mirrored that of the Soviet era shadow courts. This unruly law played no small part in setting the stage for the promotion of allegation and subjective interpretation over evidence and due process. For some background see:
- How #MeToo became weaponized at NYU due to Title IX
- Mutually nonconsensual: Title IX case shows the absurdity of university sex crime
- Injustice under the specter of Title IX
On October 3, the United States threatened, for the first time since the Cold War, to directly attack the Russian homeland. UN Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison accused the country of violating the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty by developing a nuclear cruise missile and said that Washington was preparing to "take out" the weapon with a US strike.
This statement came just three days after a Chinese warship set a collision course with a US destroyer carrying out a so-called "freedom of navigation" operation in the South China Sea, forcing the American ship to maneuver to avoid a collision and the potentially deadliest military clash in the Pacific in decades.
Behind such hair-raising incidents, the United States is undertaking serious, long-term preparations to restructure the American economy to fight a major war with a "peer" adversary, entailing radical changes to American economic, social and political life.
Comment: If you were under the impression that the clown-show that is US politics couldn't get any more ludicrous, Trump making Kanye the next ambassador to the UN would certainly disabuse you of that notion. While some of the things West is saying might be fairly astute, it's highly unlikely he's qualified for such a role. At the same time, he'd be replacing Nikki Haley, so it may actually be a step up.
See also: