Word: russian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...there have been some tricky ones before, such as his 1995 visit to the Sudan, where there has been considerable persecution of Christians as that country's rulers try to spread Islam. The Ukraine trip is complicated because the pope is going very much against the will of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is trying to maintain its hold over the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church there faces challenges not only from the country's Eastern-rite Catholics, but also from within the Ukraine's Orthodox Church. So it's a three-way battle, if not more...
...Biema: In terms of healing the rift, the ultimate goal has to be rapprochement between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. And you have to ask whether this trip, against the wishes of the Russian Orthodox patriarch, is ultimately going to make it easier or more difficult to heal the rift with the Russian church. Is it going to make the Russian church more open, following the experience of the pope's visits to Greece and Rumania and now Ukraine, to Rome, or more hostile? That remains to be seen...
...second difference is that while the Orthodox Church in Greece is united, in the Ukraine it's divided into factions, the largest of which is connected to the Russian Church and disinclined to get too comfortable with the pope. So while there's something remarkable in this man's faith in what can be achieved by his personal presence and desire for fellowship, personal diplomacy has a better chance in a situation of lesser complexity...
...team is new and inexperienced and much less confident than they would like the world to think. Their foreign policy so far has been characterized by lots of world travel and very little in the way of a plan. Certain features are clear, however. Perceived U.S. arrogance irritates Russians--ordinary citizens as well as officialdom. So does NATO, not to mention the Europeans who criticize limitations on the press or abuses in Chechnya. Moreover, the Kremlin's world view is informed by deep suspicion. Russian academics who work with foreign groups are potential spies. Despite this, the Putin administration...
...virtue of missile defense. And it took extensive lobbying by the Clinton Administration to get the Senate (then under Republican control) to welcome Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO. Persuading a Democratic Senate to extend an invitation to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the face of Russian opposition won't be easy...