Free Republic

Christian Baptism Since the Protestant Reformation, the issue of baptism has been a source of much controversy. While arguments about doctrine have become less prevalent in recent years as such topics have become less in vogue, there continues to be disagreement over this subject – though it seems as though it ought to be a relatively straightforward and simple topic. This piece is not a comprehensive study of all the various issues associated with baptism with a lengthy series of ‘proof texts’ – there are plenty of articles like that which have been written over the years. Instead, I am...

Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has never made any secret of his loathing for President Vladimir Putin, but in an interview in his London exile the controversial tycoon went one step further with a vow to mount a coup. "President Putin violates the constitution and any violent action on the opposition's part is justified today, and that includes taking power by force, which is exactly what I am working at," the oligarch, looking vibrant despite five years in self-imposed exile, told AFP at his Piccadilly office. For the past 18 months, "we have been preparing to take power by force in...

Tributes to Sasha Litvinenko, the sob story spy, are on all the tearstained pages of the UK tabloids today. Probably the Daily Mail drivels it best. ‘He was honest, courageous, loving husband . . . etc.’ Blimey. You would never know he was a devious little toe-nail puller from the KGB. Or that his patron, Boris Berezovsky - not mentioned by the Daily Mail - is a gangland legend, veteran of countless contract hits. Or that his closest associate is an even scarier Chechen terrorist, Ahmed Zakayev. Probably the nicest thing you can say about Alexander Litvinenko is that he...

If I simply stood anywhere near Boris Berezovsky, I’m sure my hair would fall out and my skin would turn yellow. Alexander Litvinenko is simply the last in a long line of stiffs associated with Boris, a line of corpses that stretches back to the mid-nineties. One died from a mysterious nerve toxin applied to the rim of his coffee cup. If you want to know about Boris Berezovsky, ask former Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov. Except you can’t, because he was blown away in 2004, shortly after writing up Berezovsky’s bullet-ridden bio, ‘Godfather Of Crime’. The Litvinenko case is notable...

LONDON, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - British police said Tuesday they had found traces of a radioactive isotope believed to have killed a Russian ex-spy, in an office building of his associate, fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian intelligence defector, died Thursday in a London hospital with symptoms of radioactive poisoning. British health officials said Friday a large dose of Po-210, a toxic uranium by-product, had been found in his body. Berezovsky, a billionaire with British citizenship wanted in Russia for fraud, whose office is located at 7 Down Street, Mayfair, declined to comment on the radiation...

JAKARTA, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport on Saturday again dismissed as false the media reports that it had begun delivering Tor M1 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Russia undertook to supply 29 Tor M1 missiles to Iran under a $700 million contract signed at the end of last year. The United States protested the deal, which it feared could bolster the military capabilities of the Islamic Republic, classified by Washington as a "rogue state" and part of "the axis of evil." Russia has been maintaining that the contract for the supply of Tor M1 missiles to...

The death bed statement by Alexander Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poison he believes took his life. But will we ever know with certainty who was responsible? While the Health Protection Agency says Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium-210, the question of who was responsible persists. The former spy's two meetings in central London on 1 November, in Piccadilly and Mayfair, may hold the key to the identity of his killer. The former KGB agent made enemies Friends of the 43-year-old have blamed the Russian security service (FSB), as Mr Litvinenko accused it of...

Doctors treating former Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko said Tuesday that thallium poisoning was an "unlikely cause" for his serious condition while conceding that the mystery surrounding the case may never be solved. The statement appeared to contradict an earlier assertion by a leading independent toxicologist that the 43-year-old was poisoned by a dose of radioactive thallium, a substance used as rat poison. Dr Amit Nathwani, who is treating Litvinenko at London's University College Hospital, said late Tuesday: "Based on results we have received thallium poisoning is an unlikely cause of his current condition." "He has been poisoned, so we...

A GENERAL has affirmed the death sentence for a US Army sergeant convicted of murdering two fellow soldiers in a grenade attack in Kuwait at the outset of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the army said today. Sergeant Hasan Akbar, 35, is the first US soldier to face the death penalty for killing another soldier since the end of the Vietnam War.

The former head of security for assassinated Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was shot dead Saturday on Leninsky Prospekt during a police operation to arrest him for purported involvement in abductions and killings in Chechnya. Movladi Baisarov, who fell out of favor with Kadyrov's son, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, was shot by a Chechen special forces officer after pulling a grenade on arresting officers, City Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said Sunday. Baisarov was pulled over by a group of officers from the city police and the Chechen Interior Ministry at around 6 p.m. near 30 Leninsky Prospekt in southern...

Vyacheslav Zhuravlyov, a militiaman from Nizhnevartovsk, suspected by the State Office of Public Prosecutor of implication in killing journalist Anna Politkovskaya, has stated in his interview to the "Komsomolskaya Pravda" newspaper that he had nothing to do with the murder, and moreover, in no case could have been its executor. Mr. Zhuravlyov told in his interview that he did not leave Nizhnevartovsk on October 7, when the murder was committed, and has numerous witnesses of the fact. Vyacheslav Zhuravlyov appeared in Politkovskaya's publications as the investigator who interrogated Chechen Zelimkhan Murdalov, suspected of storing drugs and arrested by Nizhnevartovsk militiamen,...

By Andrei P. Tsygankov Program Chair, International Studies Association 2006-07 Associate Professor, International Relations / Political Science San Francisco State University Russia’s decision to impose tough sanctions against Georgia after the “spy scandal” was met with almost a universal condemnation in the West. Western policy makers used a more cautious language, than most of the media, and even warned Tbilisi against offensive actions and rhetoric. Yet they insisted on immediate cessation of the sanctions, and the special representative of the NATO Secretary-General Robert Simmons extended his support for Tbilisi during his demonstrative trip to Georgia in the midst of the...

140th in the world - just ahead of the Democratic Republic of Congo? The France-based non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders recently released their Worldwide Press Freedom index, which ranks Russia as 140th on a list of 168 countries in terms of protecting journalists and media expression. Russia’s 140th ranking is exactly one spot ahead of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the site of the bloodiest conflict in the world, and just a few spots ahead of Iraq, where 85 journalists have died violently since 2003. Russia even allegedly lags nine spots behind Kazakhstan, where President-for-Life Nursultan Nazarbayev erected a...

Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #10438 Geography Surveyed: Missouri Data Collected: 10/21/2006 - 10/23/2006 Release Date: 10/24/2006 11:45 AM ET Sponsors: KCTV-TV Kansas City, KSDK-TV St. Louis MO Senate Seat Tips Back To Republican Incumbent Talent: In an election for United States Senator from Missouri today, 10/24/06, 2 weeks to Election Day, incumbent Republican Jim Talent rebounds to inch ahead of Democrat challenger Claire McCaskill, 48% to 45%, according to a poll of 630 Likely Voters conducted exclusively for KSDK-TV St. Louis and KCTV-TV Kansas City. This is a dramatic reversal when compared to an identical SurveyUSA...

Moscow, October 20, Interfax – Orthodox believers will be a majority in Russia for a long time, believes Roman Silantyev, a Russian expert in Islam and holder of the degree of Candidate of History. ‘Today the proportion of Muslims in Russia must be at least 9%. However, sociological polls have shown a much smaller number, namely, from 4% to 6%, that is, from 6 to 9 million Russians, for the last decade. This paradox can be accounted for only by the fact that a considerable part of ethnic Muslims do not profess Islam’, Silantyev said in an interview to the...

Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez rejoiced during his long road home last night, gratified by the response of Sen. John Cornyn to pleas opposing a physical barrier to illegal immigration. Valdez, Assistant City Manager Billy Guerra and about forty other mayors, city officials and county judges along the U.S.-Mexico border, all members of the Texas Border Coalition (TBC), met with Cornyn in McAllen, Texas, during a two-hour meeting, Wednesday (Oct. 18). Val Verde County Mike L. Fernandez did not attend. The TBC representatives were hosted by McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez, and the meeting at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce was...

The daughter of Anna Politkovskaya, the murdered "Novaya Cazeta's" journalist, is under constant guard. On the day when her mother was shot dead, Vera was sitting in a car parked near the house and could probably see the killer. The available videos have his unclear images, therefore, the only investigation's hope is on Vera, the "Komsomolskaya Pravda" asserts. Anna Politkovskaya's murder investigation is considering three main versions: a vengeance of the militiamen who found themselves, after her publications, in prison or search; a conspiracy of the opponents of Vladimir Putin and Chechen Premier Kadyrov; and also a vengeance of former...

The call came in on Lidia Yusupova's cell phone at 9 a.m., Thursday morning. "The number was blocked, and the man was speaking Chechen," Yusupova said. "He said I might not be alive long enough to collect the award." Yusupova, a Grozny lawyer who has spent the past several years gathering evidence of human rights abuses in Chechnya and fighting for victims, was nominated earlier this month for the Nobel Peace Prize. On Friday, the Nobel Committee will announce the winner in Oslo. She declined to speculate on who placed the anonymous call, but she takes death threats in stride....

Novaya Gazeta newspaper reporter Anna Politkovskaya was shot from an Izh gun and not from Makarov pistol; Kommersant informs. Murder used the Izh with silencer; that is why; Politkovskaya’s neighbors did not hear reports. The murder fired point-blank three times: two times deadly on her heart and the third time on her shoulder. The fourth shot, made at head of the already dead woman, was a control one. The murder threw his pistol, whose serial number was filed down, near the victim’s body. As RG newspaper stresses, version, according to which the journalist was killed from another weapon and the...

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