INTERVIEW OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW I

     

Explosive! The Chinese Triads Wage War on the Illuminati - - Interview with D. Rockefeller

Depardieu’s ‘Rasputin’ reworked in new Russian movie - Interview & Movie Trailer

The French actor Gerard Depardieu, who recently became a Russian citizen, stars in a new version of a movie about one of the Russian Empire’s most mysterious figures. 

Gerard Depardieu again stars as Rasputin in a new version of a previously produced French adaptation of the story of one of the most notorious characters in Russian history. 

Orthodoxy & The Power Of Words - interesting interview with the poet Scott Cairns

Baptist-born poet Scott Cairns says that Orthodox Christianity provides a meeting place for his two loves -- language and Christ. The practice of poetry prepared him for the practice of worship, in a blending of theology and art.

Prayer, worship, language, creation and mystery are bound up together for Scott Cairns in his two vocations: as a poet and as a Christian.

Sir Ridley Scott - The Vatican - New TV Drama

Filming has begun on The Vatican - a new drama from Showtime directed by Sir Ridley Scott and written by Oscar nominated Paul Attanasio (who was a producer on Hugh Laurie's TV show House).

Set in the present day, the new mini-series - a drama centering around the Catholic Church and set inside the Holy city - stars Downfall actor Bruno Ganz as the fictional Pop Sixtus VI.

The show also features Kyle Chandler - as a New York Cardinal - and British actress Anna Friel but first images from the on-location set show another Brit, Matthew Goode, in action with Swedish co-star Rebecca Ferguson.

FULL STORY>>>>

 

Sir Steven Runciman - The Fall of Constantinople (Interview, VIDEO)

1. 23:52

   Off The Page - Steve Runciman

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
3. 2:01

   Audio Book Review: The Fall of Constantinople by Steven Runciman (Author)

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   
4. 0:41

   Steven Runciman on church and state

   
   

INTERVIEW - CIA veteran Kiriakou: CIA was lying about torture even to its own staff

President Obama adopted most of President Bush’s counter-terrorism policies, argues John Kiriakou - the former CIA official who blew the whistle on the agency's torture practices and is now set to go behind bars for it. After 9/11 Kiriakou served as the chief of counter-terrorist operations in Pakistan. Now he is heading to prison, having been sentenced to two-and-a-half years. 

Despite that, he says he is proud to have played a role in outlawing torture. Voting for Obama, Kiriakou believed that it would bring positive change – but it never came, he told RT. “I never believed I would be going to prison under a President Obama. Never.”

RT: You were convicted of revealing the identity of an agent to a freelance reporter who, by the way, never even published it. You said you regretted sharing the name of the agent, of the officer, that you apologized for it. But you also said it was not the reason the government went after you. Why do you think the government went after you?

John Kiriakou: I’ve never believed that my case was about a leak. I’ve always believed my case is about torture. When I went on ABC News in December 2007 and I said that not only was the CIA torturing prisoners, but that the torture policy was an official US Government policy that was approved at the very top, by the President of the United States himself, the CIA filed what’s called “a crimes report” against me the next day with the Justice Department. The Justice Department never stopped investigating me from December of 2007 until I was finally arrested in January 2012. So to say that this case is a result of a name that was found in attorney’s brief at Guantanamo is just simply not true.

RT:So they were looking for something?

JK: They were looking for something to pin on me.

RT: What I find most outrageous about your case is that had you been actually accused of torture, of human right violations, you wouldn’t have gone to jail.

JK: No.

'Most people don’t realize this but President Obama has surrounded himself with the same Intelligence advisors who advised President Bush.'

RT: They would dismiss any accusation because US Government has classified everything related to its torture practices. But yet you go to prison because you talked about it. Why do you think this administration, President Obama, who signed an executive order to stop torture at the very beginning of his first term, why do you think he is protecting folks from the previous administration?

JK: Most people don’t realize this but President Obama has surrounded himself with the same Intelligence advisors who advised President Bush. Through most of the first term, the CIA had the same deputy director that Bush had, the same director of operations that Bush had. John Brennan, who is President Obama’s new designee to be the CIA director and until a week ago or so, was the deputy national security adviser, was under President Bush the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center and up to his eyeballs in torture policy. So even if we changed presidents, there was no real change of Intelligence advisors, at least not on counter-terrorism.

RT: John Brennan. You mentioned John Brennan and I want to ask you about him – the future head of the CIA. What kind of the CIA Chief he is going to be in your opinion?

JK: I think he’s going to be somebody who is extremely aggressive. And who will probably be walking on the edge of the law.

RT: You worked with him.

JK: I did, I worked with John Brennan for many years. I know him pretty well.

RT: Mr. Kiriakou, you yourself supported torture before you were against it. What happened? What changed your position?

CIA veteran Kiriakou

JK: Well, let me correct you on that. There is something that most Americans missed in my regional NBC interview. I was trying to draw distinction between whether torture was right or wrong, or whether it worked. I believed it was wrong and I called it torture and I said that torture was official policy – that’s on the one side. On the other side, the CIA had told us internally at the time that it was working.

RT: When was that?

JK: That was in 2002–2003. They were telling us it was working. We now know from the Inspector General’s report that was released in the spring 2009 that that was a lie. That the CIA was lying even to those of us inside the CIA. And I think it was just to protect themselves and to protect the policy. But it never worked.

RT: Did you have a personal experience related to torture? Were you personally involved in torture?

JK: No, thank God, I was never personally involved in torture. When I returned from Pakistan in the early summer of 2002 where I had been chief of Counter-Terrorism Operations, I was asked by a senior officer in the CIA’s Counter-Terrorist Center if I wanted to be trained in the use of these torture techniques and I said “no”, I had a moral problem with it and I didn’t want to be associated with it. There were 14 of us at the time who were made the offer. Two of us said “no” and then one of us, not me, the other guy, changed his mind. So I was the only one who was made the offer who declined.

RT: Because at that time you already believed that it wouldn’t work?

JK: I didn’t know if it would work. They were telling us it would. But I just believed it was wrong. You know at the CIA, part of the CIA’s culture is to couch all issues in shades of gray. You have to be very comfortable working in morally nebulous situations or legally nebulous situations. But there are some things that really are black and white. And I believed that was a black-and-white issue.

RT: There is something that I think you will find interesting and something I would like you to comment on. Polls by the American Red Cross show that the majority of Americans find torture acceptable. 60 per cent of young people agree. Whereas four years ago torture was largely condemned in the US. How did this become the new norm? What happened in those four years?

JK: I think that many people who told pollsters in the early or middle part of the last decade were reacting to President Bush. Little by little President Obama adopted most of President Bush’s counter-terrorism policies. And just because he happens to be Nobel Peace Prize-winner Barack Obama, most Americans who haven’t paid much attention have just bought in. I think it’s a question of education, here domestically. People need to be informed.

RT: Did Hollywood have a role to play?

JK: I think Hollywood had a role to play. I think that Zero Dark Thirty, for example, did a great disservice to counter-terrorism. Zero Dark Thirty perpetuates this grand lie that torture led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It’s just simply not true.

RT: Myths often become history. One comedian here said, it was about Zero Dark Thirty by the way: “Movies – it’s serious. Movies is where Americans learn their history”.

JK: It’s true.

'The first Al-Qaeda I’ve ever caught was a 19-year-old boy from Tunisia. And the only reason he went to Afghanistan was he had nothing else to do.'

RT: What myths, what other myths do you see being perpetuated now related to the war on terror?

JK: I think one of the great myths, and I chuckle to myself because it always seems so ridiculous to me, was President Bush’s statement that they hate us because we love freedom. I know Al-Qaeda. I’ve captured Al-Qaeda fighters. I’ve had conversations, sitting across the table like I’m with you with Al-Qaeda leaders. And I can tell you from first-hand personal experience that the reason people take up arms against us is because of a lack of education.

RT: Yes, that I understand, but the United States can’t educate the whole world.

JK: No, we can’t. But we can help other countries develop an infrastructure so that they can educate themselves.

RT: Tell me more about those encounters with those. What other impressions did you have?

JK: The first Al-Qaeda I’ve ever caught was a 19-year-old boy from Tunisia. And the only reason he went to Afghanistan was he had nothing else to do. He had no skills and no way of making a living and he wanted to get married. So the local imam said: “if you want to make some money, you know what you should do? You should go to Afghanistan and make Jihad against the Americans. If you do that, I know somebody who will pay your family $500 and you can use that for a dowry. And you can get a wife.” So this kid had nothing against the United States, he had never really thought about the United States.

RT: So from your experience you saw no ideology?

JK: I saw very little. You see ideology in some of the older fighters, some of the leaders – the camp commanders, for example. Sure, there is ideology there. But in my short time in Pakistan I captured 52 Al-Qaeda fighters and I can count on one hand the number of people who were real ideologues, who really were there for jihad, who were really there to kill Americans. Three out of 52.

'We find ourselves murdering people and in many cases children with no evidence whatsoever that they are involved in any criminal or terrorist activity.'

RT: The perception of Guantanamo too has gone a long way since 2008 when it was a burning and highly controversial issue. Most recently, you know, the State Department has shut down the office that was working to shut down the Guantanamo prison. Is that this administration way of saying “forget about Guantanamo, let’s move on?”

JK: I think it is. I think it is. Again, where is the outrage? The American people really don’t care if Guantanamo is open or closed.

RT:This administration, it appears, decided not to bother about interrogations, Guantanamo and prisoners and all that and just to bomb whoever seems suspicious with drones. What do you think about this administration’s “no prisoners” policy?

JK: We find ourselves murdering people and in many cases children with no evidence whatsoever that they are involved in any criminal or terrorist activity. And what this does is that it encourages other people to take up arms against us. 

RT: John Brennan, the architect of the drone program basically, and it was last year, I think, when he claimed that US drone strikes caused no civilian deaths in Pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many accounts. Do you think we are going to see more transparency with regards to drones with John Brennan at the helm of the CIA?

JK: No, I don’t. With John Brennan “secrecy” is the key word. Unless of course, you know, he chooses to leak for the benefit of the administration.

RT: What did you expect when you decided to go public, to come clean on torture at the CIA. I mean your wife worked at the CIA and she was fired because of you. You are a father of five and you are going to prison. What future did you envision for yourself five years ago?

JK: I didn’t envision prison in my future five years ago. I expected there to be a national debate on whether or not we wanted to use torture as an official US policy. Now I’m very happy, proud actually, that I played a role in that debate and now the law of the land is that torture is illegal – I’m very proud of that. I didn’t expect that the government would go after me so relentlessly. I stood in the snow for two hours to vote for President Obama. I really believed that this was positive change. I believed that he deserved that Nobel Peace prize only because I expected things to change so dramatically at the beginning of his first term. So no, I never believed I would be going to prison under a President Obama. Never. That’s been I think my biggest disappointment.

RT: But you haven’t seen a dramatic change?

JK: I haven’t seen any change.

RT: But he stopped torture.

JK: He stopped torture, sure, but in terms of counter-terrorism policy I think the Obama Administration is largely an extension of the Bush Administration.

LEBANON: The Orthodox law is a crime against Lebanon

 

In a TV interview with Marcel Ghanem Thursday evening which was broadcasted live from Paris on LBC’s “Kalam Ennass” program , former Lebanese Prime minister and the leader of the largest parliamentary bloc Saad Hariri rejected the proposed Orthodox electoral law ” because it divides the Christians and Muslims and this is a crime against Lebanon”

Hariri proposed a four-point political initiative aimed at preserving coexistence in Lebanon between The Christians and Muslims.

His proposal calls for:

1- Organizing the elections on time according to an electoral law that is based on smalle electoral districts
2- Establishing a senate that represents all sects as defined by the Taef Accord
3- Adopting administrative decentralization
4- Including the Baabda declaration in the preamble of the Constitution.

Asked why he is against the Orthodox gathering proposal, he said because his dream for Lebanon is for the Christians and Muslims to be together as one:

“I want to be honest and clear. I am “the son” of March 14. I was born politically in 2005 when Rafic Hariri was killed. I saw a nun makingthe sign of the cross and praying at his grave, while others next to her where reciting verses of the Koran. Every person who took to the street on March 14, 2005 was carrying the Lebanese flag. In that historical moment, Gerbran Tueni said that we will remain together,Muslims and Christians, forever. I saw Pierre Gemayel and Samir Kassir, in this square, with all the Lebanese, Muslims and Christians. So how can I give up on all this? My dream for Lebanon is for the Christians and Muslims to be together as one. We cannot forget what our ancestors did since 1920, when the State of Greater Lebanon was established. Shall we, in 2013 burry everything our ancestors did?”

He added: “As politicians, we have responsibilities, and both Christians and Muslims have concerns. The 2000 law was crafted against Rafic Hariri, and he was killed in 2005. In 2009 the elections were held, and we won. What happened after?

Hariri stressed that the concerns should be dealt with rationaly rather than with sectarianism.

Hariri said that he accepts the electoral law proposal put forward by the March 14 MPs , based on the the 50 constituencies for electing the Parliament and the Senate will be elected on the basis of the so called Orthodox Gathering draft electoral law.

Commenting on the possibility that his initiative might not be examined by the Parliament committee, Hariri said: “We want to solve a problem; the first person to oppose the Orthodox law was the President of the republic. Isn’t he a Christian? He is the First Christian. He looks for the Lebanese interest, not mine or that of March 8 or 14.We agree with him on this”.

Hariri stressed : “The orthodox law divides the Lebanese, I cannot accept it for electing the parliament”.

Asked why he rejects the proportional representation, Hariri said that the reason is that there will be competition in some regions, but there cannot be any competition in other regions, because of the presence of weapons in them.

He is referring to the 2009 election in the areas dominated by the Hezbollah. According to the reports that surfaced back then Hezbollah gunmen prevented their rivals from voting and the results of the election showed it. On the other hand in the March 14 dominated areas several Hezbollah backed candidates won the election that was based on winner take all . In a proportional representation system Hezbollah will be able to gain more seats in the March 14 dominated areas but will not lose any seats in its dominated areas as long as it is allowed to keep its arms and use them internally for political gain .

Hariri added that if March 8 had won the last elections, they wouldn’t have wanted to change the law now, noting that “the Orthodox draft law was put on the table for political outbidding. The orthodox law wants to tear the Lebanese apart, but we want to preserve coexistence”.

Hariri stressed the importance of establishing a senate as agreed in the Taef accord, because it will guarantee the rights of all sects.

Asked about Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s efforts Hariri said:” Speaker Berri is working on unifying the efforts to reach an electoral law that could be adopted for the 2013 elections. He is trying his best to bring the views closer. ”

Asked why Hezbollah should accept an electoral law in which their rivals would control the country, while Future Movement will not accept an electoral law that would lead to Hezbollah’s control on the country, Hariri said: “We won a parliamentary majority in 2009 and we extended our hand to form a national unity government, but when they took over they formed their own government. And now you see for yourself what happened to the economic and security situation in the country after they governed .”

He added: ” We are ready to discuss any electoral law that everybody agrees on, and at the same time we are not seeking power, but we want to preserve coexistence and have real democracy and freedom, ” adding:” In the 2009 elections, we could have nominated candidates from the Future movement in all Lebanese regions, but I didn’t do so because I believe that there are other independent voices with new ideas that should be heard .”

Hariri added: “March 14 Forces have national principles. Samir Geagea, Amine Gemayel or the independent figures didn’t change theirpositions regarding these national principles on which we agreed on March 14. Both Geagea and Gemayel said that there is no futurewithout the Future ( Movement) and I say that there is no future without the participation of all March 14 Forces.”
”
Commenting on reports that the Orthodox Gathering draft electoral law is supported by about 70 MPs, Hariri said :
Regardless of this such law will be faced by the veto of President Michel Suleiman, the Future Movement, the independents, and MP Walid Jumblatt and if the Constitutional Council rejected the law, what would we do? Do we remain where we are or do we return to the small constituencies? The Orthodox Gathering draft electoral law is rejected by the President because it divides the Christians and Muslims and this is a crime against Lebanon. ”

Asked what type of government March 14 forces would form if they win the elections, Hariri said: “We will extend our hand, but no one should dream this time of having veto power like before. We will not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

Asked what he would do if he wins the elections, he said: “We will do the opposite of what this government is doing, on the level of electricity, communication, roads, everything. Because Lebanon today is not the Lebanon we know. This government talks a lot but did nothing. They criticize what Rafic Hariri or Fouad Siniora did. Rafic Hariri built an aiport, a sport city, Solidere. He built Lebanon and we want to pursue this path. We accomplished Paris-I and II and III ( donor conferences ). What have they accomplished?”.

Asked about the calls for national dialogue he said :

“The dialogue table has only one issue to be discussed which is the weapons, and this subject should be dealt with in a calm way because it obviously represents a great burden on the Lebanese people and on Lebanon. ”

Asked if he will return to Beirut before the elections, he said that he will ” return for sure to Lebanon before the elections and will decide the exact moment”.

Asked if he wants this February 14th to visit the his father’s grave , which now also includes the remains of former Intelligence chief Wissam el-Hassan who was assassinated last october he said: “Two roses, Wissam and Rafic el-Hariri. I hope to be there, but every day in my life is a February 14th. This date did not plant hatred in my heart but determination, because the dream of Rafic Hariri has to succeed, and it will succeed”.

At the end of the interview, Marcel Ghanem told Hariri that almost one million people voted on the question asked by Kalam ennass (Are you with or against the return of Saad Hariri as Prime Minister?), and that the result was: 73.3 % with. Hariri responded by saying: I thank the people for their trust, I will not disappoint you and I don’t want to stay away from you. There are good things awaiting Lebanon.”

Jumblatt/ Gemayel visit

Asked about the purpose of his meetings with his allies in Paris he said:

“Communication with the allies is very important. President Amine Gemayel came to Paris to meet with French President Francois Hollande, so we met and discussed what is happening in Lebanon. We discussed the electoral law and the concerns of my allies and I gave my point of view on the orthodox law.”

Regarding MP Walid Jumblatt, Hariri described him as “a friend, who will remain a friend, and who stood by us after the assassination of Rafic Hariri”.

Syria

Asked about the situation in Syria , Hariri said :
The Syrian regime is murderous and corrupt, and won’t last very long”, adding” the Syrian people will win in the end”

Hariri went on to explain that what is happening in Syria is a revolution. “There is no doubt that this regime is a killer. It is the same regime that killed the Lebanese and today it is killing and slaughtering its own people. When we demanded to have an international tribunal, we didn’t know that there will be an Arab spring. We insisted on the tribunal because we wanted justice. We see that the Syrian people revolted against the regime because they want freedom, democracy , justice and sovereignty. We are are sure that this regime which oppressed Lebanon too for many years will fall.”

He said that the Syrian regime is involved in the assassination of Martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and this will be revealed in court , expressing his belief that the same killers assassinated both Rafic Hariri and Wissam al-Hassan.

Asked about the attitude of Hezbollah if the Syrian regime falls:

“I don’t know”, but we will call them for dialogue … will be happy if the regime falls, but will not behave the way Syria’s allies behaved towards us when this regime was there. He pointed out that “Syria’s allies, during the last 8 years, preferred that regime over their partners in Lebanon”.
Hariri added: “We should use this as an opportunity to unite all the Lebanese and rebuild Lebanon together “.

Asked if he would meet with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah if someone mediates between them, Hariri said: “ if the purpose of such a meeting is just to talk, it is meaningless, if it can be useful then yes”.

Hariri denied his group is sending fighters to Syria and stressed that what Future Movement MP Okab Sakr is doing is standing by the Syrian people and the leaders of the opposition :He added: “I am also in contact with the Syrian opposition and I have met with their leaders Moaz el-Khatib and Burhan Ghalioun”.

Civil Marriage:

Commenting on the hot civil marriage issue , Hariri blasted the fatwa taken by Lebanon’s top Sunni Muslim cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani:

“The fatwa of the Grand Mufti which considers those who accept civil marriage to be apostates- is unacceptable.” He pointed out that “more than 700 million Muslims in countries like Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia and other countries all conclude civil marriage. Can the Grand mufti call them all apostates? Is Erdogan an apostate?”

He added that the issue of civil marriage is a controversial one in Lebanon and needs a real dialogue.