Laigle’s Forum

Don Hank

I recently read an opinion indicating the Russia is up to its old tricks of dividing the Western world and trying to destabilize the Middle East. The author cites the fact that Russia is refusing to go along with Western intervention in the Middle East. I was surprised to read this opinion because if anyone can be blamed for destabilizing that region it is the Western powers and their military adventures there.

The commentary also stated that Russia is a much bigger threat than the New World Order.

I disagree.

From what I see, the New World Order is actually an extension of the Soviet Union, but not of Russia, which is no longer a totalitarian communist state—or at least no more totalitarian than, say, the EU, whose commissioners are not elected democratically and who wield all the important power.

I think some US conservatives subconsciously conflate today’s Russian Federation with the Soviet Union. Even Reagan seemed to have a problem with seeing a Russian person in a positive light, including the Russian dissidents we should have reached out to, notably Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was treated with suspicion. Details here:

http://laiglesforum.com/aleksander-solzhenitsyn-tragically-misunderstood-by-conservatives/298.htm

During the cold war, I believe there were millions of confused people believing that it was the Russian nation and people we were supposed to oppose, not communism. Or rather, many felt that communism came with being Russian, just as freedom comes with being American.

Americans who tenaciously stick to this suspicious attitude toward all things Russian either no longer recognize communism when they see it or they aren’t afraid of living in a totalitarian state as long as it is orderly and they have enough to eat and as long as their keepers have Anglo-Saxon names and call themselves Christians on the campaign trail.

The truth is, what has happened in recent decades is an almost complete role reversal in terms of communist totalitarianism.

At the risk of oversimplifying, I think that essentially, Russia is becoming America and the West is becoming the Soviet Union.

Here are just a few of the blatant symptoms of communism that you and I have been seeing throughout the West:

Economic communism:

1-Wealth redistribution between the rich nations, esp Germany, and the poor nations of the EU, to the extent that the euro and the European economy are being wrecked to maintain this ideology-driven scheme. Many blame this on the greed of the bankers, but there is something else going on here, not far beneath the surface, and that is the steadfast belief, even among business people and bankers, that the wealth (all but their own, that is) must be redistributed to achieve “social justice.” The CRA, which forced certain banks to lend to “underserved communities” (minorities and the poor), is a perfect example. The knee-jerk reaction when this is pointed out is to quickly assert that the CRA had little effect because only some banks were enforced upon. Nonsense. By forcing some to comply, the US government was tacitly agreeing to prop up the loans of any bank to these underserved communities, and as a result, most banks went along, driving up housing prices and causing a bubble that ultimately led to the crash. The banks that made the most reckless loans under this socialist scheme were rewarded with your money in the form of bailouts. They made out like the bandits they were.

The scheme was shoved down our throats because, despite his socialist policies, Bush was seen as “conservative.” It was perfect camouflage for a people who see politicians with white faces talking about their faith in Jesus as beyond reproach.

2-In the US, a record and vast number of people on food stamps. The “rich” (i.e., workers) are supporting America.

3-Obamacare

4-The obliteration of borders. In world socialism, which was first promoted by the Soviet Union, there were eventually to be no borders. In keeping with this idea, Obama refuses to deport illegal aliens and provides only a modicum of border protection. He and many others consider Mexico and the US to be a common territory. Particularly under G.W. Bush and Barack Obama, the 2 nations have come to be a de facto economic and political union (North American Union).

The old Soviet regime was anti-Christian.

5-Obamacare forces Catholic hospitals to pay for abortions

6-For decades, the ACLU has been winning battles all over our country to take Christian symbols out of public life

7-We are importing Muslims wholesale, who refuse to integrate and recently, have literally “stoned” Christians in Dearborn (those who are on my daily alerts list got a video link to that yesterday) while the police turned a blind eye.

8-The EU and its puppet “national” governments in Europe import millions of Muslims who do not integrate, cause trouble, have doubled and tripled the rates of crimes like rape, etc, and have created no-go zones where police, fire personnel and ambulances dare not enter. Police in Europe respond to Muslim rioters the same way as US police: they don’t. Laws and enforcement favor the Muslims and disadvantage Christians (proselytizing to Muslims, for example, is now considered a crime or misdemeanor in much of Europe).

9-The EU and the US have totally wrecked the Middle East. Except in Syria, which the West is itching to attack, there are almost no indigenous Christians left. They have been murdered or exiled, their churches burnt to the ground. 

10-The West has started making it difficult or illegal to discuss homosexual behavior from a biblical standpoint. Pastors don’t dare mention it. Canada and parts of Europe fine people for speaking against it. 11 Christians were arrested in Philadelphia in 2006 for expressing a scriptural viewpoint regarding homosexuality at a homosexual “OutFest.” They were charged with a “hate” crime that carries a sentence of 47 years in prison and a $90,000 fine for each one:

http://laiglesforum.com/federal-judge-refuses-to-release-homosexual-group-from-philadelphia-eleven-lawsuit/30.htm

Contrast this with Russia, which does not acknowledge same sex marriage and, in some jurisdictions, does not allow homosexual demonstrations.

Now let’s look at Russia:

Do you see the Russians importing Muslims? Whom are the Russians supporting in the Middle East? Do they have satellite states and do the richer ones have to send money to the poor ones? Are they obliterating the Russian border?

And here is the key: Do they interfere in the political affairs of sovereign nations to overthrow existing governments?

Here is a video of a speech by Putin on what can be called the New World Order (he didn’t mention the term explicitly). Whether or not you consider this to be propaganda, which side comes off as being right here?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr5GxN3C8uw&feature=related

If you are interested in joining my daily alerts list, just send an email to zoilandon@msn.com and type “Daily alerts list” in the subject line.

Russia, the West and persecuted Christians

by Don Hank

There is evidence that Russia is, for whatever motive, interested in protecting Christians. One article in Interfax bears the title “Putin vows Russia will defend persecuted Christians abroad.”

So how sincere are the Russians? There has been a plethora of commentaries on the subject here in the US, mostly attacking Russia for defending her own interests under the pretext of Christian concerns. Who knows?

But here are some things to contemplate:

1–Even in the atheistic Soviet Union, churches that had been bombed out in the war were lovingly and painstakingly restored, at enormous cost to the nation, as were other places of cultural value. The Russian government may have publicly criticized Christianity, but the Russian people would not have stood for the physical destruction of Russian Orthodox churches. Now, I did visit one such church in Leningrad (name now reverted to Petersburg), which was, sadly, converted to the so-called Museum of Religion and Atheism, a deplorable example of desecration and unveiled blasphemy. But the entire building and its furnishings, including the icons, were in mint condition. Unlike in Mao’s China, traditional things and antiques were not destroyed, quite the opposite.

2–The Russian opposition to Western intervention in Kosovo was also culturally/religiously rooted. The Slavic population there is and was mostly Russian Orthodox, with church services generally being held in Old Church Slavonic, an archaic Slavic dialect universally understood by the clerics. Let us recall the themes of Christian repentance in the novel Crime and Punishment, and the pro-Christian message of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Both books were printed and published in the Soviet Union and were available to the public at low prices throughout much of Soviet history (I know because I bought my copies directly from the Soviet Union, and for a pittance). The name Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the former novel, comes from “raskolniki,” a persecuted Christian sect of 17^th Century Russia which stoically suffered excruciating torture for their faith. The Russian soul empathizes with persecuted Christians, particularly those of its own brand, but by extension, with all confessions of Christianity.

4–In both Moscow and Petersburg, mayors have opposed “gay” parades, refusing to issue permits and even arresting those who defied the law to hold the parades. This is as much cultural, related as it is to the Slavic variety of “machismo,” as it is religious. It is difficult to separate the Paulian doctrine on homosexuality (which has never died among the people) from a purely cultural phenomenon, but in denying permits for homosexual events, the local governments were without a doubt appealing to the Russian people’s respect and love of traditional family. Contrast that to Western schools that sell filth and perversion as if they were something divine and cherished.

5–Russia opposed Western intervention in Egypt, Libya and now Syria, specifically voicing concerns over the fate of the Christian population there.

Now you can argue that Russia is only concerned with its own Realpolitik, fearful of its own restless Muslim population and how they will respond to the Syrian outcome, or with economic issues or the like. There might be some truth to that.

But one thing is certain. While Russian officials have had the courage to publicly deplore the plight of Middle East Christians, officials of our own “Christian” nation have said nothing about it during the last 2 decades of Western military intervention and the resulting persecution, banishment and murder of Christians abroad.

For whatever reason or motive, the first is now last and the last is first.

Further reading:

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=dujour&div=157

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9070

Missing from the jubilant “world opinion” over the brutal murder and torture of the moderate Libyan leader is an analysis of Libyan street opinion. I think I know why no one is talking to them.

Don Hank

It was supposed to be all about the Libyan people. Remember? Yet missing in all the news on the subject of Libya are

1–the reaction of the LIBYAN PEOPLE to the rising specter of Sharia law. (Wasn’t it they whom we so bravely bombed residential areas to “save”?). They have had 40 years of a moderate Western-style judiciary. But they were lured by Western propaganda to seek “democracy” by overthrowing their moderate leader. The narrative was that they would be free, with a strong suggestion that Western style democracy was on the way. Now some are certainly already seeing that their new unelected Sharia law-advocating “leader,” the favorite of the Western Colonial Empire, is far from the freedom they expected.

2–an analysis (poll) of Libyan street opinion on the murder of Ghadaffi. All of a sudden, journalists supportive of “democracy” are oblivious to public opinion. But we’re used to that now, what with bailouts being decided far above our heads and reporters giving our objections short shrift. It’s only our money, after all.

The incontrovertible fact is that enough people in various cities supported Ghadaffi with their lives to prolong the war beyond expectations. Yet the press wants you to believe hatred for Ghadaffi and support for the new radical Islamist government are virtually universal.

Reported are only reactions of world leaders and the new government, i.e., influential elites who have no interest in how the people are treated but everything to gain financially and politically by playing along with the Western Ruling Class – aloof imperial strong men who hypocritically and absurdly supported the illegal torture and murder of prisoner of war Ghadaffi on “humane” grounds — but pretended to care about human rights long enough to take out this moderate leader and replace him with a radical who staunchly defends the lopping off of body parts and stoning as punishment for crimes and even sexual indiscretions. Welcome to democracy, Libya!

Virtually every Western “leader” supported the brutal torture and murder with gleeful words, even laughter or complicit silence.

It is reminiscent of how the US unilaterally instigated a coup in Iran to oust the “tyrannical” Shah only to see him replaced by a tyrant 10 times more heinous and cruel. Or for that matter, how they instigated a coup in Egypt to topple the “tyrant” Mubarek, who in fact was the most Western-friendly stabilizing factor in the region, only to replace him with an unelected military government that raided a Coptic Christian monastery the day they assumed power, wasting no time in stripping off their masks.

How deceitful our elites. How utterly gullible their subjects!

Will we ever learn?

Actually, we always do. After it is too late, like right now!

Read: http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=8

Officials seek to terminate Johansson family’s parental rights 

Please Write

Both the ADF and HSLDA are asking for letters to be written in an attempt to renew attention to the Johanssons’ case. You can download a sample letter using either format below.

Download the sample letter in Microsoft Word >>

Download the sample letter as a PDF >>
(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

HSLDA has learned that Swedish officials on the Island of Gotland may be seeking to terminate the parental rights of Annie and Christer Johansson. Seven-year old Domenic Johansson was snatched by a fully armed Swedish police unit in June 2009 while on board an airplane bound for Annie’s homeland of India. Among the primary reasons given for the seizure was the fact that Domenic was homeschooled. His entire family has been denied any contact with their son for nearly a year. HSLDA and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a joint application on behalf of the Johansson family at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in June 2010 and have been working to support the family since shortly after Domenic’s seizure.

Both the ADF and HSLDA are asking for letters to be written in an attempt to renew attention to the family’s case and to encourage Swedish officials to release Domenic back to his family. The United States Supreme Court has called the termination of parental rights the family court equivalent of the death penalty. Annie and Christer have done nothing worthy of such a horrific outcome. Will you join us as fellow advocates and take a moment to write to the Swedish Social Services Committee in charge of Domenic’s custody situation? The Johansson family is grateful for your efforts on their behalf. ADF has prepared a sample letter or you may write your own letter to the committee. You can download a copy of the sample letter in Microsoft Word or as a PDF file.

Please mail letters to:

Swedish Social Services Committee
Socialnämnden
Gotlands Kommun
621 81 Visby
SWEDEN

A stamp for a standard weight letter to Sweden will cost $0.98 through the U.S. Postal Service.

Please also continue to keep the Johansson family in your prayers as they somehow endure this unbearable situation.

Our thanks to the HSLDA for this alert: http://hslda.org/hs/international/Sweden/default.asp

Email addresses of Swedish officials in charge of this case (they read English):

sofi.rosenqvist@gotland.se;

caroline.palmqvist@gotland.se;

lena.celion@gotland.se;

marika.gardell@gotland.se;

by Don Hank

Did you see the GOP candidates’ debate the other night?

While Fox News moderators and commentators pretended that Perry and Romney were the stars of the debate and that Mitt had “won,” the fact is, neither of them were close to winning if you look at the debate from a constitutional conservative standpoint.

Bachmann said, near the end, that we should not dismiss those candidates who are “constitutional conservatives” in favor of candidates who look like they are better equipped to beat Obama. She pointed out – rightly in my opinion – that Obama is by now an extremely weak candidate and that this is a good opportunity for a true conservative to win.

In saying this, she defined not only herself – as a constitutional conservative – but also every one of the others, NONE of whom used that term.

Not only that, she was the only one who said she would build a fence on every mile and every foot of our southern border.

Frankly, folks, she sounded for all the world like Ronald Reagan and no one else came anywhere near that. She is THE conservative candidate, if you really want a conservative president. And if you are willing to do your own thinking and not let Fox steer you to the left.

Ron Paul is very smart and, as he mentioned, he really does understand the economic and financial issues well. His problem is that he has decided not to be a conservative. He clearly wants to be a libertarian and has defined himself as such without mentioning that word. If I recall correctly, Gary Johnson, the de facto libertarian former governor of New Mexico, said he wanted Paul as his running mate. Gary and Paul have indicated in the past that they are not for closing our southern border and that we need more, not less, immigrants – read, illegal aliens. You know better than that.

A friend emailed me that they are setting up Romney or Perry to win. However, judging by the tough comments by the moderators themselves, it looks like they favor spoiled rich kid Mitt Romney.

I haven’t given up on Bachmann yet.

Chavez learns a Bible lesson:

Did you know that, in June of last year, Hugo Chavez literally cursed Israel, in defiance of God’s warning in Genesis? I have seen this at YouTube. You can google it.

Well, that is not the interesting part:

THIS June, a crestfallen and humbled Chavez returned from Cuba, where he had gone to get treatment for cancer. In a press conference he admitted: My cancer is not gone.

Shortly thereafter, he released political prisoners from prison.

Chavez learned the hard way that God meant it when He said this:

Genesis 12

 ¹Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

 ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

 ³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Listen and watch as Chavez says: “Maldito sea el estado de Israel”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7EYL0_5J_o