History of Russia, by Eric Jon Phelps

Russia and the Vatican establish full diplomatic ties

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8394079.stm

Russia and the Vatican have agreed to establish full diplomatic relations, the Kremlin has announced.

Until now, Moscow only had an office of representation at the Vatican. The new status means full-fledged embassies will be established in Moscow and Rome.

The announcement comes after President Dmitry Medvedev met Pope Benedict XVI while on a visit to Italy.

The move follows improvements in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican.

Decades of distrust

"President Medvedev told Pope Benedict at today's meeting that he signed a decree concerning the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the Vatican," presidential spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters.

"He asked the foreign ministry to lead discussions to establish the relations and raise the level of representation to apostolic nuncio and embassy," she added.

Since 1990, the two sides have maintained representation below the rank of ambassador.

The political detente follows decades of distrust between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches.

The Orthodox Church has long accused the Catholic Church of seeking to convert Russians to Catholicism.

The Vatican says its activities in the country cater largely for traditional Catholic minorities like Poles, Germans and Lithuanians, who have faced discrimination and persecution in the past.

Property disputes between the churches have also put them at odds.

Relations have improved since Metropolitan Kirill took over as the leader of the Orthodox Church after the death of Patriarch Alexiy II in December 2008.

December 25, 2007

Britain-Vatican Blamed For Putin Assassination Attempt

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

Reports circulating in the Kremlin today are stating that President Putin’s Federal Guard Service are blaming both the Vatican and British Secret Services over an aborted attempt to assassinate Russia’s leader. The concerns being raised by the Federal Guard Service, according to these reports, began with their capture of the assassins, and as we can read as reported by Russia’s Kommersant News Service: "Three armed Armenians were detained December 23 near Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogarevo, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. Driving Audi and Mercedes, the Armenians neared the president’s country house by around 10:00 p.m., MSK, but only to be immediately arrested by officers of Federal Guard Service. The search showed that the detained had knifes, pistols and even a sabre with them. Their identities are being checked now." Interrogation of the assassins by the FSB, however, revealed that they were, in fact, paid mercenaries of Britain’s MI5 Security Service and had in their possession travel documents linking them to a recent visit to the Vatican where they ‘admitted’ they had been paid in excess of $1 million for their ‘mission’.

Most disturbing of these events are their coinciding with US reports that have ‘predicted’ Putin’s assassination on January 7, 2008, and as we can read as reported by Russia’s Kommersant News Service in their December 13 report:

"A report called “Alternative Futures for Russia” will be issued in Washington today by the authoritative nonprofit Center for Strategic and International Studies. Besides the usual criticism of democracy in Russia, some parts of the report are downright fantastic. One of the alternative futures the report contains is a scenario built around the possible assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 7, 2008, in Moscow. Kommersant Washington correspondent Dmitry Sidorov has read the report.

The authors of the 59-page report are director of the CSIS Russia and Eurasia program Andrew Kuchins, former senior director for Russian affairs at the National Security Council Thomas Graham, Assistant Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University Henry Hale, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics Anders Aslund and others. On the report’s cover are five photographs: Russian President Vladimir Putin with the G8 leaders, Putin with the Chinese President Hu Jintao, the recent arrest of Other Russia leader Garri Kasparov, snow-covered oil wells and children in a computer class."

Tensions between Britain and Russia have continued to worsen over Moscow’s ordering the closing of Britain’s diplomatic offices in retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats from London and Russia’s attempt to acquire control over Britain’s ageing nuclear reactors.

But, the greatest ‘shock’ to Moscow, in their growing state of crisis with the United Kingdom, was this past weeks news that Britain’s former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and who once headed the Church of England, renounced his faith and has converted to Catholicism thus forming an alliance with Rome’s Dark Pope, and which to the Kremlin is a ‘defacto declaration of war’ as Blair is set to become the President of the newly formed European Union, and which was foisted upon the European peoples by the treachery of their leaders in league with Rome.

[It is important to note that Ireland is the only European Nation that has refused to sign the new EU Treaty without putting it first before its citizens to vote upon, a right that was denied to all other European citizens.]

Russian experts have long feared Rome’s reemergence as a World Power due to the experiences of last centuries two brutal World Wars, which claimed the lives of over 200 million Russians and had foisted upon them the 70-year-long brutal reign of the British and American backed communists, and which allowed the Western Powers to grow their military might to heights unseen in all of our World’s history.

To the dismay of the Western Powers, backed by the Dark Pope in Rome, however, Russia remains their last remaining obstacle in gaining total World hegemony in their quest to ignite a Christian-Muslim war which, they believe, will herald in their long sought after New World Government, but which Putin has vowed to defend against.

It is interesting to note, too, that the Western Powers are using virtually the same script to ignite our World in Total War as they did nearly 100 years ago in first collapsing their own economies in the knowing that jobless and starving peoples will not care of their Nations military adventures as long as they are able to work and feed their families.

And today, on the very day the Western World celebrates the birth of their ‘Prince of Peace’, the leaders of the Western Powers are leading their peoples ever closer to the brink of catastrophe.

December 25, 2007 EU and US all rights reserved.

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