The Desire to Live in a Normal Country
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Russian Protestants invited to emigrate to the USA
G w a r d e y s k – Apparently, the „Yarovaya Laws“ of July 2016, which are intended to hinder proselytization, also have positive consequences for the Protestants of Russia. The Protestant advertisement forum „Khristianski Megafon“ (formerly „Maxima-News“) carries the advert of an “American Visa Center” inviting the interested to emigrate to the USA (see for ex. „www.vizausa38.com/politicheskoe-ubezhishe“).
The Russian-language invitation begins as follows: “Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Introduction of the ‚Yarovaya Laws‘ has worsened an already unhappy situation. You should use a search machine with the words 'Yarovaya Law' or 'Yarovaya Package' to learn more about the details.”
“We have in this situation decided to aid all interested Christians in leaving Russia and obtaining political asylum in the USA.” The commercial visa centre notes in this context the quotas of the past two decades for the religiously persecuted. “These quotas are presently no longer in force and one now only has the option of getting in line with everyone else and seeking political asylum.” A contact box for the interested begins with the question: “Do you want to live in a normal country?”
This aid is not offered for free. Their support in obtaining a visa as political refugee will cost you $5.000. A curious fact thereby is that this centre for political refugees is located in Irkutsk on Lake Baikal – not in the West.
My modest commentary: If the issue really is religious liberty for Protestants and not financial considerations, then a nearly free hop across the border into neighbouring Ukraine would also do the job. And one hopefully does not need a search machine to discover whether one is being persecuted.
And why should one describe the current USA as a „normal“ country? Despite the crimes committed by countries describing themselves as communist, none ever chanced upon the idea of flying 580.000 attacks against an impoverished South Asian country and saturating it with cluster bombs. In the 44 years since 1973, Laos has only succeeded in defusing 1% of its unexploded ordnance (see „legaciesofwar.org/resources/cluster-bomb-fact-sheet“). This could take centuries.
On 4 September 2017 the renown „Wall Street Journal“ proposed that North Korea be defeated without war – through starvation. After all, according to their sources, 40% are already suffering from malnutrition (see „www.wsj.com/articles/options-for-removing-kim-jong-un-1504556500“).
William Yoder, Ph.D.
Gvardeysk, 1 October 2017
A journalistic release for which the author is solely responsible. It is informational in character and does not express the official position of any church organisation. This release may be reprinted free-of-charge if the source is cited. Release #17-13, 368 words.
