My Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck By Lightning

Что русскому здорово, то немцу смерть.

telephonecigarettes:

Going through some really basic Russian translations to keep up on vocab and such and came across this, which I found amusing: Что русскому здорово, то немцу смерть.

The website translated it as “One man’s meat is another man’s poison,” but it actually says “what is health to a Russian is death to a German,” which is much more…. memorable.

Opposition still demanding Syrian Christians leave

orthodoxbrit:

Syrian Christians are being given ultimatums by military commanders of the nation’s opposition movement to leave their homes, prompting what observers say is a form of ethnic cleansing, reports have said.

The demands come from the Sunni opposition, whose leaders are seeking the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is Alawite, an offshoot of the Shiites, G2Bulletin has learned.

The Assad regime generally has protected the Christians, and some serve as senior officials in the government. While many Christians regard the Assad regime as repressive and want an open, democratic, inclusive and religiously tolerant society, they realize that there will be no such developments with a change of regime.

Instead, they believe Assad is the only guarantor of secularism in Syria, under which Christians and Muslims both have rights.

With the demonstrations and increasing violence, however, Christians and other minorities in the country face threats by the predominant Sunni population, which is more radical and seeks the exit of non-Sunnis.

As a result, the Christians, who make up some 10 percent of the 22 million Syrian population, have shown support for the existing Syrian government, much to the consternation of the opposition, which increasingly is being infiltrated by al-Qaida and other Islamic fundamentalist groups.

Among those is the Muslim Brotherhood, which considers the Christians to be infidels. As a result of the ultimatums, Christians are being forced from their home towns and the surrounding countryside, where they are strong and are taking refuge with friends and family in Damascus.

In turn, sources say the opposition has confiscated their goods and property, burned down churches, committed executions and launched what now amounts to a sectarian war.

This kind of targeting of Christians is reminiscent of the brutal treatment they received in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of Christians fled Islamist militants following the ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Saddam, like Assad, protected the Christian minority. Indeed, his foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, identified as a Christian and had appealed to the Vatican to protect his life following Saddam’s ouster.

Aziz is serving a life sentence in Iraq.

The United States, which saw similar action in Iraq toward the Christians, has been largely silent about such practices against Syrian Christians by the opposition, which it supports.

(via orthodoxbrit-deactivated2012070)

Shocking images have surfaced, revealing the alleged desecration of Christian churches in Syria by Western-backed rebels. The pictures, taken by local Christians outraged at the violence.

orthodoxbrit:

Shocking images have surfaced, revealing the alleged desecration of Christian churches in Syria by Western-backed rebels. The pictures, taken by local Christians outraged at the violence.

In one of the photos a man who is said to be a member of the Free Syrian Army poses in a stolen priest’s robe while brandishing a looted cross in one hand and a machine gun in the other.

The photos were taken by a Christian woman in Homs, one of the cities most devastated by continued violent clashes between rebels and government forces.

“Everyone knows simply removing these garments from the church is a sin. The priest is the only one who wears them. They even pray before putting them on,” the woman told PrisonPlanet.com.

She added that after the rebels tore the church apart, they went inside to document their violence.

Images show church pews broken apart, with pieces strewn all over the nave. The floor is covered with rubble, and even the altar looks like it has been desecrated.

Christian minorities are facing a growing threat and thousands are being forced to flee their homes as they face harassment and discrimination from opposition radical Islamist factions. At least 9,000 Christians from the western Syrian city of Qusayr were forced to seek refuge after an ultimatum from a local military chief from the armed opposition, the Vatican’s Fides news agency said.

Meanwhile, US intelligence operatives and diplomats continue to step up their contacts with Syrian rebels to help organize their growing military operations against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

According to senior US officials, the CIA and the State Department are helping the Free Syrian Army develop logistical routes for moving supplies into Syria and providing training in communications.

Reportedly, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been paying salaries to the Syrian rebels for several months now. Meanwhile, Turkey, which hosts some units of the Free Syrian Army, ensures material and technical support, according to sources.

And many believe that as long as the US and its allies continue to blindly support the radical rebels, stability in Syria will remain unattainable.

(via orthodoxbrit-deactivated2012070)