The quote of the year (2014): William Faulkner's famous line from "Requiem for a Nun": "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
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William Faulkner's famous line from "Requiem for a Nun":
Losing records
It's normal for a president's party to lose seats in Congress over the course of his term. But Democrats' losses during President Obama's time in office have been especially large. Among presidents elected to two terms in the past 50 years, no other saw as much erosion of his party in the House through his second midterm election, and only one, Bill Clinton, suffered as many setbacks in the Senate.
Barack Obama
George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Ronald Reagan
Richard Nixon
Sources: Office of the Historian, House of Representatives; Senate Historical Office
The Bush comparison matters enormously. Remember that Obama was elected in large part on his promise to restore basic competence to governing in the wake of Bush's missteps on issues from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina. (This was the president who made "Heckuva job, Brownie" a slogan for federal ineptitude.)
Every early move Obama made — from his campaign promise of "change" to the "team of rivals" idea for his Cabinet — was driven by the notion that this president, unlike the man he replaced, was all about turning the government into a pure meritocracy that would run things right.
But that idea began to unravel with a rapid-fire series of scandals: the revelation that the IRS was targeting tea party groups for special scrutiny, the Edward Snowden leaks about NSA surveillance and the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, to name three that happened in 2013.
That unraveling sped up over the past 12 months — fueled, interestingly enough, by foreign policy stumbles by the president and his team.
Obama's longtime pledge to "reset" relations with Russia was exposed as frighteningly naive when President Vladimir Putin moved into eastern Ukraine with impunity. Obama's response to Putin's aggression — sanctions — was derided as using a spray bottle to put out a five-alarm fire.
Then there was Iraq, the "dumb war" that Obama was elected in no small measure to end. He seemed to do that once, removing the last combat troops from the country in 2011. But then came the rise of the Islamic State, the militant group that now controls much of Iraq and Syria, made particularly infamous by its heinous tactic of beheading captives.
By June, Obama had approved the deployment of almost 300 new U.S. troops to Iraq. In early September, after the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Obama approved sending more troops to the region. In November, he authorized the deployment of 1,500 additional troops, bringing the total to roughly 3,000. The cost for this redeployment in Iraq? About $5.6 billion.
As if that weren't enough past-haunting-the-present for Obama, two memoirs released this year by former Cabinet officials cast him as something short of a decisive commander in chief.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton struck first, not only deriding Obama's "don't do stupid s---" foreign policy vision as less than visionary, but also blasting her onetime boss for not intervening earlier in the Syrian civil war and thereby potentially reducing the Islamic State threat. Yet even that critique was nothing compared with what former CIA chief and defense secretary Leon Panetta leveled at Obama in his memoir "Worthy Fights." Panetta said the president had "lost his way" in matters ranging from the fight against the Islamic State to the budgetary process. He condemned Obama's "frustrating reticence to engage his opponents and rally support for his cause" and said the president too often "relies on the logic of a law professor rather than the passion of a leader." (Former defense secretary Robert Gates's memoir was also tough — but it went after Vice President Biden more than Obama.)
Then there was the matter of the midterm elections. Republicans badly wanted to nationalize the campaign around the unpopular Obama, even as Democrats, trying desperately to hold their Senate majority, were doing everything they could to make voters forget about the guy sitting in the White House.
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Американские СМИ: Обама не подходит на должность президента
Российская Газета Шестой год во главе Белого дома был самым худшим для президента Барака Обамы. На него одновременно навалились все проблемы второго срока пребывания у власти. У общества возникает ощущение, что он не подходит для этой должности. К такому мнению пришли аналитики ... Газета Washington Post признала 2014 год худшим в работе ОбамыРусская Служба Новостей Американские журналисты второй раз подряд присуждают Обаме «премию» за худший годНТВ.ru Washington Post признала 2014 год худшим годом работы Барака ОбамыАргументы и факты piter-piter -РИА -Life News Все похожие статьи: 31 » |
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Russia reaches out to Europe's far-right parties
Yahoo News National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen told The Associated Press this month that France andRussia "have a communality of interest." Daughter Marine Le Pen, party president and a strong contender for the French presidency in 2017, envisions a Europe ... Why Russia is courting Europe's far-right partiesChristian Science Monitor all 29 news articles » |
Paul Goble
Staunton, December 13 – Russians have been long accustomed to thinking that the North Caucasus is the main source of a terrorist threat to their country, but the situation has changed, Yevgeny Satanovsky says, and today, Russia faces a far great terrorist threat from Central Asian migrants who have been penetrated and organized by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and Turkey.
In an article in “Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer,” the president of the Moscow Institute of the Near East argues that an Islamist explosion can happen “at any time in many Russian cities” because of the presence of gastarbeiters from Central Asia who are just waiting for a signal to attack (vpk-news.ru/articles/23047).
Russians and Russian officials, he says, have failed to understand the ways in which radical Salafi Muslims appeal to the class interests of the Muslim masses and set them against both the existing Islamic establishments and the governments which stand behind them. And they have failed to understand how quickly the masses can be won over by the radicals.
Salafis from abroad have already achieved a beachhead in the mosques of Daghestan and the Middle Volga, and from there, they are in a position to mobilize the millions of Central Asian gastarbeiters in Russia. “The consequences of ignoring this,” he says, can be disastrous especially since the Salafis and their backers have broader political interests than most think.
They are quite prepared to exploit “massive collective street prayers” like those which have involved up to 140,000 Muslims in Moscow alone and redirect such prayers into a political channel against the Russian government, Satanovsky says. The traditional Muslim hierarchy on which Moscow thinks it can rely has no ability to stop this.
Instead, the Russian authorities must begin to work with that part of the Salafis who are prepared to live within the law. But that is a problem because such people may quickly change from one side of this line to the other. Consequently, to defend itself, Russia needs to think about how to deal with the immigrants within its borders.
Today, many Russian officials comfort themselves with the idea that members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Movement for the Liberation of Eastern Turkestan, Hizb ut-Tahrir and other radical Central Asian groups and Islamist movements who have come to Russia and live on its territory will not undertake any actions against the country because it is for them a place of work and rest.”
That notion, “which has become de facto an axiom,” is no longer true if it ever was. That is because the Salafis who lead these groups are directed from abroad by governments who see such movements inside Russia as a useful means of putting pressure on Moscow in the short term and projecting their own power in the middle and longer ones.
Given the growth of tensions “on the Afghan-Turkmen, Afghan-Uzbek and Afghan-Tajik border not to speak about Kyrgyzstan which is in a state of constant internal instability and the presence in Russia of millions of people from Central Asia … the possibility of forming on their base of a broad intelligence and diversionary network is more than real.”
One should not forget, Satanovsky says, that “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia participated in the mujahid war against the USSR in Afghanistan, in the overthrow of the Najibullah government and in the coming to power of the Taliban.” They clearly are prepared to use the same tactics more broadly inside Russia.
“In the contemporary world,” he continues, four governments of the Near and Middle East or more precisely their special services support close ‘working contacts’ with Islamist radicals who represent a danger for Russia.” In addition to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, they include Qatar and Turkey.
Only the last “is interested in maintaining constructive cooperation” with Russia, and Moscow’s ability to influence the others is “practically nil.” Thus, the Russian authorities must focus on dealing with the threat the Central Asian gastarbeiters present, something Russian business is not interested in but that those concerned with Russian security must be.
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Window on Eurasia: Kremlin Worried about Nationality Problems Boosts Training of Ethnic Specialistsby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, November 13 – The Kremlin has announced plans to make “ethno-politics” a course of study in three leading Russian universities and to quadruple the number of stipends for students in this field, an indication of Kremlin nervousness about nationality problems and of its interest in forming a new orthodoxy on how to address them.
At a meeting this week to discuss the Strategy of the State Nationality Policy of the Russian Federation, Magomedsalam Magomedov, the former president of Daghestan who now serves as the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, said that training a new generation of experts in this field was critical (nazaccent.ru/content/14194-v-vuzah-mogut-poyavitsya-kafedry-etnopolitologii.html).
Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov said that the government was increasing budgetary support for those in the fields of ethnology and anthropology from 79 slots this year to 144 in 2015 and 320 in 2016. Moreover, he said, he has ordered the inclusion of ethnic conflict studies in all humanities disciplines as well.
Moscow plans to create chairs in ethno-politics “for the training and retraining of cadres” in the government at Moscow State University and Siberian State University, and Labor Minister Maksim Topilin said that a scientific-educational center for nationality policy has been set up in the Russian Academy of Economics and State Service and that that this center will work with the branches of the academy throughout the country.
Given the cutbacks in much of Russia’s educational system, the expansion of efforts in the area of nationality policy and conflict underlines Moscow’s nervousness about problems there. And the creation of a new field – ethno-politics – suggests that the regime wants to do an end run around some of the existing academic specialists.
That in turn suggests something else: the leadership in the Kremlin wants a new orthodoxy on the nationality question, one that it will define rather than any group of scholars. That almost certainly sets the stage for new conflicts in the field as one newly-favored generation replaces another.
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Egyptian Reporter Aids in Police Crackdown on Gaysby webdesk@voanews.com (Cecily Hilleary)
For a while after the Arab Spring, it looked like gay Egyptians were finally feeling safe enough to step out of the closet. But now, they’re being forced back underground as a result of an escalating police crackdown – one that activists say is being encouraged by pro-government media. Cairo police stormed a bath house this week after receiving a tip from an investigative journalist. They arrested at least two dozen men for “debauchery.” Journalist Mona Iraqi and her film crew accompanied police on the raid as part of an upcoming television exposé on “perversion” and the “spread of HIV/AIDS.” On her Facebook page, she promised that her show, El Mestakhabi [“The Hidden”], would reveal Cairo’s “biggest gay orgy den” and include recorded “confessions” about the “group sex trade.” She also posted still photographs of the men being loaded into police vans, wearing only bath towels and handcuffs. She later removed the photographs, but not before they managed to circulate across social media. “Allah,” she also posted, “success is sweet.” That post has also been removed. It didn't take long for the news of the police operation to get out. “We heard about it Sunday night around midnight,” said gay rights activist Scott Long, who lives in Cairo and blogged about the incident the following morning. "What was most striking to me was that she [Iraqi] was absolutely unashamed about her collusion with security forces in brutalizing these men. For her, it was a point of pride.” ‘Like being an outlaw’ These were just the latest arrests in what activists say is a heightening crackdown on lesbian, gay and transgender people that began a year ago. In September, police arrested eight men who had appeared in a gay wedding video posted on YouTube (below). They were sentenced to three years in prison each. Last April, four men were sentenced to eight years in prison for hosting “deviant” sex parties. In recent years, activists say, social and religious stigma against homosexuality appeared to be lifting, and this encouraged then-20-year-old Ramy Youseff to come out of the closet on Twitter. But, things began turning backward after the army led by general Abdel Fattah el-Sissi ousted Egypt's first freely elected civilian president Mohamed Morsi of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood last year. “Today, it’s dangerous being gay in Egypt,” said Youseff, who is today a prominent LGBT activist. “It’s like being an outlaw.” Since Sissi came to power, activists say as many as 148 homosexuals have been arrested. Many are subjected to humiliating “medical tests” to prove their sexual orientation. Same-sex relations aren’t against the law in Egypt, but police have routinely invoked anti-prostitution laws to target the gay community. Courts have also charged gay Egyptians with “scorning religion” and “sexual practices contrary to Islam.” “Debauchery” carries a sentence of from one to three years in prison. “They sometimes tack on additional charges,” Youseff said. “They may add ‘sex worker’ to the charges. Or if [the person being arrested] owns a flat or is renting an apartment, they might also add ‘running a house of prostitution’ to the charges. And if he is arrested in the street, they might charge him with trying to get other people on the street to commit ‘debauchery’ as well.” All this means that the final prison sentence could really add up. Boost to police image “One of the things I think is happening is after the military coup, the el-Sissi regime felt it needed to show its moral credentials because it had overthrown an Islamist government,” said Long. Targeting the gay community is an easy way for the government to do so, he said. “Moreover, it’s a very easy way for the government to reestablish the credibility of the police, because the police were widely hated after the revolution for their complicity in human rights abuses,” Long said. He also blames media for feeding anti-gay hysteria. In a recent post on his “A Paper Bird” blog, Long cites a sensational web story that included a “map of the most popular places for perverts to go in Egypt.” "Media in Egypt these days is totally under the control of the Junta," said journalist and political activist Wael Abbas in an emailed statement. "It welcomes stories like these to enhance its image as a keeper of morality in the society." In addition, says Abbas, stories like these help the Sissi government divert attention from the economic challenges facing Egypt's citizens. Graeme Reid, director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, recently blogged that police vice squads alert the media ahead of “dramatic raids.” But critics say in the case of the bath house raid, it was the show host who alerted police. In her own defense Iraqi believes that she is being judged unfairly, especially considering that critics haven’t seen the entire story. “The second part is the most important part,” she said. “That shows all the evidence that this [bath house] is a place for the public sex trade.” She says the first segment of Iraqi’s report aired this week. The second and third parts will air December 17 and December 24, respectively. “For sure, I will prove that I didn’t hurt anyone,” she said. She said she is certain that after the public has seen the final episode, they will understand that she is “on the right side.” “I am confident one thousand percent that they [critics] will apologize to me,” she said. The cast and crew of the El Mestakhabi issued a statement earlier this week defending their work on the series, saying they have “worked towards achieving the highest degree of accuracy and professionalism in observing international professional, humane and scientific rules.” Iraqi said they are currently working on translating and/or dubbing the episodes into English for the benefit of international audiences. The U.S. has not commented on the bath house arrests, but has in the past called on countries to respect the rights of all people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, to “lead productive and dignified lives, free from fear, discrimination and violence.” Following the arrests, a State Department spokesperson told Think Progress it will continue to stress the importance of those rights to the Egyptian government.
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There are increasing reports of people being detained in the separatist-held parts of southeastern Ukraine solely on the strength of denunciations from their neighbors. The practice mirrors the Stalin-era phenomenon that is credited with inflaming and intensifying his reign of terror.
Taliban Kills Afghan Supreme Court Officialby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Afghan police say gunmen have shot and killed a senior official of Afghanistan's Supreme Court. Gunmen killed Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the secretariat of the Afghan Supreme Court, on Saturday near his home in a suburb of Kabul, the capital city. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message, but did not say why he was killed. Taliban militants have concentrated attacks on Kabul in recent weeks ahead of the foreign troop withdrawal at the end of this month.
 Свободная пресса |
Засадный полк
Свободная пресса Михаил Ходорковский выступил 5 декабря с большим интервью в швейцарской газете Neue Zurcher Zeitung, заявив, что «существует вероятность в 50 процентов, что нынешний режим (в России. – Авт.) перестанет существовать в ближайшие 10 лет». При этом, отметил экс-владелец ... и другие » |
Russia Warns US on Bill Authorizing Military Hardware to Ukraine by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Russia says there will be repercussions if Washington imposes new sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Deputy Foreign Secretary Sergei Ryabkov on Saturday blamed "anti-Russian moods" in Washington for the new bill authorizing lethal military aid to Kyiv and deeper sanctions against Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday the legislation, known as the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, had an "openly confrontational nature" and amounted to "blackmail." The ministry said the bill will cause "deep regret" and destroy chances for any joint efforts to end the Ukraine crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to discuss the matter with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry when they meet Monday in Rome. The bill, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate, authorizes $350 million in military hardware and munitions to Ukraine, and new sanctions against high-profile Russian exporters. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives. Kyiv and Western governments accuse Moscow of supplying direct aid to pro-Russian rebels seeking autonomy in Ukraine's east. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the charges and says that Russian soldiers seen fighting alongside rebels are doing so as volunteers. As the latest political drama played out in Washington and Moscow, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said a fragile cease-fire between government forces and Russia-backed rebels appeared to be holding. Poroshenko, speaking early Friday, said 24 hours had passed without any deaths or injuries in Ukraine's war-torn east. The Ukrainian leader pleaded with Russia Friday to close its border with Ukraine, saying there would be "peace and stability" in his country within weeks if Moscow did so. In another development Friday, Voice of America's Ukrainian Service celebrated its 65th anniversary. Diplomats, human rights experts, representatives of the Ukrainian-American community, as well as past and present members of the Ukrainian Service joined VOA Director David Ensor in the celebrations.
Президент Чечни Рамзан Кадыров возмущен высказываниями украинских парламентариев о событиях в Грозном. В Киеве считают, что это возмущение связано с заинтересованностью Кадырова в происходящем в Крыму и на Донбасе. В программе Виталия Портникова "Дороги к свободе" - народный депутат Украины, бывший заместитель главы СБУ Андрей Левус.
Download audio: http://realaudio.rferl.org/RU/2014/12/13/20141213-130000-RU-program.mp3
Download audio: http://realaudio.rferl.org/RU/2014/12/13/20141213-130000-RU-program.mp3
Jailed Azerbaijani Journalist Khadija Ismayilova's 'Letter Of Hope' For 2015 by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)
Award-winning Azerbaijani investigative journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, who hosts a daily program for RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, has been held in pretrial detention in Baku since December 5 after being accused of encouraging a man to commit suicide -- charges that have been broadly condemned as a flagrant attempt to silence her critical voice.
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Петербург Свободы - 13 декабря, 2014by Анатолий Стреляный, Виктор Резунков
НКО в уходящем году. Не согнуть, не сломать... Почему почетно получить звание "иностранного агента"? Анна Шароградская и Иван Павлов подводят итоги уходящего года.
Download audio: http://realaudio.rferl.org/RU/2014/12/13/20141213-133100-RU-program.mp3
Download audio: http://realaudio.rferl.org/RU/2014/12/13/20141213-133100-RU-program.mp3
 NPR (blog) |
Oil Prices Go Down, Russia's Gold Buying Goes Up
NPR (blog) It's been a rough ride for the Russian economy and it keeps getting worse. Low oil prices helped push the ruble to another record low on Friday. This spate of bad economic news is probably just accelerating an existing trend: Russia's purchase of gold ... and more » |
US Congress Approves $585 Billion Defense Billby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The U.S. Congress has approved a gigantic defense policy bill. The $585 billion National Defense Authorization Act was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Friday, a week after passing in the House of Representatives. It now awaits President Barack Obama's signature. The measure authorizes federal military spending for fiscal year 2015, which began on October 1. It includes emergency funding requested by the president for military operations against Islamic jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The measure also authorizes funds for training moderate Syrian rebels and Iraqi Kurdish forces for two years. The bill includes money for basic U.S. military operations, ranging from a one percent pay raise for the troops to the purchase of ships, aircraft and other war-fighting equipment. The NDAA also mandates the retention of the fleet of A-10 close-air support aircraft. The U.S. Air Force had proposed retiring more than 100 A-10s, but the NDAA prohibits that action in 2015. Despite opposition from Mr. Obama, the bill extends restrictions on closing the US. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, renewing a ban on transferring detainees from Guantanamo to the United States.
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 НТВ.ru |
ДНР хочет забрать у Киева более 800 пленных при обмене «всех на всех»
НТВ.ru Руководство ДНР надеется получить более 800 пленных при обмене с Киевом в формате «всех на всех». Об этом заявил вице-спикер парламента ДНР Денис Пушилин. 67. Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное. Twitter · Facebook · Вконтакте · Google+. Прямая ссылка:. Война в Донбассе: победителей не будет!Комсомольская Правда в Украине В ДНР надеются на освобождение более 800 человек при обмене по формуле "всех на всех"ИТАР-ТАСС СМИ: вопрос по пленным стал причиной переноса встречи в МинскеРИА Новости Взгляд -Новости Украины | Новостное агентство ХАРЬКОВ -Vlasti.NET Все похожие статьи: 434 » |
Церковь и политика в России by Радио Свобода
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Какая Церковь нужна российской политике, какая политика нужна российской Церкви? Об этом в программе «С...
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From: Радио Свобода
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Window on Eurasia: Russia’s Cities Becoming Less Moscow- and Russia-Centric, New Studies Findby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, December 13 – Two studies about how residents of Russia’s cities feel about where they live and identify themselves suggest that the residents of Russian cities away from the core of the country are ever less focused on Moscow as the center of their lives and identify instead either with their own cities and region or with larger spaces such as Europe.
The first, conducted by Yekaterina Dyba, Yegor Kotov, Anton Gorodnichev and Arina Miksyuk of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, explored popular attitudes and identities in more than 60 capitals of republics, krays, and oblasts as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg (opec.ru/1772945.html).
The researchers found that “in Russia there are many cities in which people live just as a full a life as in the two capitals” and some in which the human potential index is as higher or higher as in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But one striking characteristic of those cities which are doing well is that they are far from the capitals.
(The human potential index the authors employed involved per capita incomes, demography and health, educational opportunities and attainment, and cost of living relative to income.)
Those nearby often find their lives sucked out of them by the two biggest cities, whereas those from the Middle Volga to the east and from the Black Earth region to the south are more likely to have the urban infrastructure, quality of services, business opportunities, and social capital that make them attractive centers for their populations.
A second study, by Igor Okunyev and Aleksey Domanov of the same institution focused on the extent to which residents of St. Petersburg now identify as Europeans or as Petersburgers rather than as Russians in the first instance and compared their responses with residents in nearby Kronshtadt and Vyborg (opec.ru/1773274.html).
They interviewed 185 people in all. Only about four percent of the respondents in each of the cities chose to identify themselves as Europeans in response to an open-ended question, but 64.5 percent did so when asked directly, “do you consider yourself a European?”
In order to get a better idea about what that identity means, the two researchers also asked about the foreign travel preferences of the residents. Only 31 percent of people in Kronshtadt said they would like to visit Europe, while the corresponding figure was 50 percent in Vyborg and 61.3 percent in St. Petersburg itself, a pattern reflecting history, geography and economics.
Of those in the three cities who said they considered themselves to be Europeans, 61.3 percent purchased Russian products while 87.5 percent bought European ones. But at the same time, the researchers found that those who identified in the first instance as residents of their cities also had a preference for European products relative to Russian ones.
“It is possible,” Domanov, one of the authors of the study, said, “that the more life connects people with Europe abroad, the more they feel themselves separated from Russia and therefore their main identity becomes if not European then local.” But two other correlations are certain.
On the one hand, those with more education are more likely to identify as Europeans. And on the other, those who knew when their city had been absorbed by Russia were also more likely to identify as Europeans than were those who did not know that detail from the past, a pattern that raises intriguing questions about what greater attention to history might lead to.
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Lavrov, Kerry To Meet In Rome Amid Ukraine Tensionsby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
Officials in Washington and Moscow say U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plan to meet in Rome on December 14 amid ongoing tensions over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
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Police in Portland have arrested a suspect in the shooting that injured three people outside an alternative high school.
Authorities said they stopped a vehicle around 1:30 a.m. Saturday at North Interstate Avenue and Going Street and arrested a 22-year-old man. A handgun was found in the vehicle.
Police were searching an apartment about half an hour later as part of the investigation. The apartment is about five blocks east of the shooting near Rosemary Anderson High School.
Detectives are investigating and will release the suspect's name and charges after he is booked into the Multnomah County Jail.
Witnesses told police there may have been a dispute outside the high school on Friday, just before the shooting occurred at a street corner.
The assailant and two other people fled, and the wounded students went to the school for help, a police spokesman said. A 16-year-old girl was critically wounded while two males were hospitalized in fair condition. Another girl was grazed by a bullet.
"Based on the investigation thus far, the shooting appears to be gang-related," Sgt. Pete Simpson said Friday night in a statement.
Police gang investigators "feel comfortable saying this is a gang-related shooting based on some of the people involved," Simpson added in an interview. Police said they believe the shooter has gang ties. Simpson declined to say which victims might be linked to gangs.
The spokesman said police were still gathering details on the reported dispute.
"There was some kind of dispute between the shooter and some people," Simpson said. "We don't know if it was (with) all the victims or one of the victims."
The victims are students at the high school or in affiliated job training programs, police said.
Police identified the hospitalized victims as Taylor Michelle Zimmers, 16, who was in critical condition; David Jackson-Liday, 20; and Labraye Franklin, 17.
Olyvia Batson, also 17, was treated at the scene after a bullet grazed her foot.
Sierra Smith, a 17-year-old student, told The Oregonian she saw one of the male victims being helped by a teacher inside the school.
"He was laying on the ground. He had blood coming out of his stomach," she said. "It was scary."
Another student, Oliviann Danley, 16, told the newspaper she saw a boy run into the school and yell, "Oh my God, did I just get shot?"
Rosemary Anderson High School serves at-risk students who were expelled or dropped out, or who are homeless or single parents. According to the school's website, 190 students annually are enrolled at the north Portland location. The school also has a second location in Gresham.
Gang violence in Portland isn't a new phenomenon. Some of the violence occurs between rival gangs, but bystanders have also been hurt.
"We've made a lot of progress in addressing the gang problem, but we haven't eradicated it," Mayor Charlie Hales said. "Today's really a sad reminder that it's still with us."
Portland police have said they saw a spike in gang crime over the summer and have complained they don't have adequate resources to address the problem. Recent violence includes a man killed in a drive-by-shooting in June and another man killed in a separate shooting. A 5-year-old boy also was shot in the leg while playing at an apartment complex.
A Multnomah County report on gang activity released in June said crime in the county that includes Portland actually decreased from 2005 to 2012. As inner-city Portland gentrifies, the report said, criminal activity is shifting from northern neighborhoods to areas farther east, including the city of Gresham.
The north Portland neighborhood where the shooting occurred exemplifies the trend. Before Friday, the place once known for gangs had not had a shooting with injuries in nearly four years.
"It brings up a lot of old wounds," Simpson said.
Dani Gonzales, 64, has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and said it's generally safe but there has always been some gang activity.
"Kids just get silly and get crazy ideas. I don't know what goes on in their heads," Gonzales said.
There was another school shooting in the Portland area in June, but it was not gang-related. A freshman killed another boy in a locker room, and a bullet grazed a teacher before the shooter went into a bathroom and died from a self-inflicted gunshot, police said.
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By Ralph Ellis and Tony Marco, CNN
updated 7:22 PM EST, Fri December 12, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Portland police say gang task force is investigating
- The shooting happened near a school campus in north Portland
- Wounded victims ran into a building at the school, police said
- Police say the shooter fled the scene accompanied by two other males
(CNN) -- Police searched Friday for a man suspected of shooting four young people near a high school in Portland, Oregon, authorities said.
A 16-year-old girl was in a local hospital in critical condition, a 17-year-old boy was in serious condition and a 20-year-old man was in serious condition, said Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson. A 19-year-old woman suffered a grazing wound in the shooting and was treated on the scene, he said.
The shooting happened about a quarter past noon (3:15 p.m. ET) not far from the Rosemary Anderson High School campus in north Portland, Simpson told CNN.
After being shot, at least three victims ran inside a school building, reported CNN affiliate KOIN.
"I saw him stumble into the school holding his stomach, he said my brother's name and then he fell on the ground," one student told CNN affiliate KATU.
The suspect may be affiliated with a gang but it's not known if the shooting was gang-related or "a personal beef," Simpson said. The suspect was described as a male in his late teens or early 20s and he was accompanied by two other males in the same age range.
Shooting near Oregon high school
Cop: Shooter may be gang-affiliated
Witness describes Oregon shooting scene
They left the area quickly on foot, Simpson said.
He said the police department's gang task force was investigating. Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also arrived to assist, he said.
The school system website says Rosemary Anderson High enrolls about 200 at-risk students who "have either been expelled or dropped out of public high school and many are homeless."
All the shooting victims were students at the school or had taken job training or been enrolled in other programs there, Simpson said. The victims were breathing, conscious and talking as they were transported to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Simpson said.
The campus was locked down for a while but classes later resumed, Simpson said.
Nearby Jefferson High School and Portland Community College were locked down as police sought the shooter, authorities said, but the lockdown was lifted after a few hours.
A man who said he's the pastor of one of the shooting victims told KOIN that the shooting was "heartbreaking."
"The young man I know attends our church frequently who is, according to my understanding, not involved in any criminal activity, he is a bright young man," said Jason Nelson of Cornerstone Community Church of God in Christ. "You hear about shootings every day and when it comes close to your school it's heartbreaking."
Another school shooting occurred about six months ago in the Portland area. One person was killed June 10 at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, about 12 miles east of Portland. One person was killed.
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Portland Police responded to a shooting Friday afternoon near Rosemary Anderson High School in North Portland. At least three people were taken to Legacy Emanuel Health Center.
Police are searching for suspects in the shooting.
The school is at 717 N. Killingsworth Court.
5:06 p.m.: Gov. John Kitzhaber tweets: I am saddened by the shooting today in Portland. My heart goes out to those involved, their families, and their communities.
3:52 p.m.: Sgt. Pete Simpson said at a 3:30 p.m. briefing that a dispute led up to Friday's shooting, but it is unknown whether it specifically involved the shooter and the victims is unknown. Simpson said that the shooters may have gang affiliations, but it's unknown whether that had anything to do with the dispute or the shooting, and it doesn't follow that the victims had anything to do with gangs. "They are victims," Simpson said.
Police say they believe there was one shooter accompanied by two others. The suspects fled on foot, Simpson said, heading north on Borthwick and east on Killingsworth. They left the scene quickly and it's unknown whether they had a car nearby. All are at large.
Simpson said he did not know how many shots were fired. The ATF and FBI have offered their assistance.
3:41 p.m.: From the Portland Police news conference: Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson says there are four victims:
- A 16-year-old female, who is in critical condition.
- A 17-year-old male, who is in serious condition.
- A 20-year-old male, who is in serious condition.
- A 19-year-old female, who was grazed by a bullet and treated at the shooting scene.
3:37 p.m.: Another victim was identified as Taylor Zimmers, a 16-year-old junior at Rosemary Anderson High School. Ryan Zimmers, Taylor's father, said his daughter was in surgery.
Taylor's aunt, Shawn Zimmers, 40, said she heard about the shooting in a phone call from the girl's father and went to Legacy Emanuel Health Center.
"I'm just confused. All of these kids getting shot and killed. It doesn't make any sense," Shawn Zimmers said. "It's not like it was when we were kids."
Rosemary Anderson High School student heard shots A Rosemary Anderson High School student talks about hearing shooting sounds and then seeing a victim stumble into the school after three teens were shot outside of the North Portland high school.
Ashley Zimmers, 17, and Octavia Heaton, 15, two of Taylor Zimmers's cousins, also waited outside the hospital. The girls who do not attend Rosemary Anderson, said they were not allowed to enter the hospital to see their cousin.
The girls said they had heard that Taylor had been shot in the chest and the side.
"This is crazy, but not surprising" given the recent string of shootings nationally, Ashley Zimmers said. "This hits too close to home."
3:20 p.m.: All of Portland Public School Connect boys basketball games tonight will have extra security, a spokesman said. It's "just a precaution." Rosemary Anderson is a nonprofit school that PPS Connect contracts with. Of 290 Rosemary system students, 216 come from PPS Connect. Students in the program can earn GED or modified diplomas. "These are students who have not found success in our traditional high schools," says PPS Connect spokesman Jon Isaacs.
3 p.m.: Students from Rosemary Anderson High School form a large prayer circle at Legacy Emanuel.
Oliviann Danley, 16, said she saw a boy run into the school, holding coat open and yell: 'Oh my god, did I just get shot?'
Labraye Franklin, center, testified for continued support of the Black Male Initiative. He was joined by his mentor, Val Polk, right, and Kevin Bacon, principal of Boise-Eliot School.Portland Office of Equity and Human Rights
2:51 p.m.: Tanisha Franklin identified one of the shooting victims as Labraye Franklin. She said the 17-year-old boy is her nephew and a student at Rosemary Anderson High School.
Tanisha Franklin and Karin Williams, another of Labraye's aunts, both identified the teenager as among the shooting victims. They both had been waiting outside Legacy Emmanuel Medical Center on Friday afternoon for word on his condition.
Amid all the confusion, they both had heard that Labraye suffered wounds in different parts of his body.
"When I first got the phone call," Tanisha Franklin said, "I just started praying, 'Please let him be all right.'"
"This is just crazy," she said. "I work at a school and with all these shootings, I get more and more scared every day."
2:26 p.m.: Jacal Hill, a 17-year-old senior, said she was among a mass of students lined up waiting for the school doors to unlock for lunch. Once outside, she had just turned the street corner when she said she heard shots behind her. Scared, she hid behind a car. Now safe, she said, her thoughts are of her friends. "I just gotta say, 'Stop the violence.'"
At Legacy Emanuel, a spokeswoman says the three victims are being treated, but there are no condition updates.
2:19 p.m.: Parents are waiting as students trickle out of Rosemary Anderson. One boy is telling his dad that he heard a "pow ... pow... pow... pow."
Mayor Charlie Hales on the scene at Rosemary Anderson High School: "It's a bad day when kids get hurt, so it hurts..Our Police Bureau is in pursuit of the suspects Maxine Bernstein/The Oregonian
2:11 p.m.: The shooting near Rosemary Anderson High School is the latest in Portland that police believe have ties to gangs.
2:10 p.m.: Ralena Gaska, 14, would have attended Reynolds High School this year, but her mom opted against it after the school shooting there in June. Ralena said she was in the cafeteria when she realized something was wrong. At first she thought it was fight, but teachers quickly ushered students into classrooms. "Everyone was scared, she said.
DeNida Gaska, Ralena's mother, said it is troubling that shootings happen in and around schools. "What happened last year at the end of the school year, I said, 'No.' ... And it happened again."
2:09 p.m.: Derrick Foxworth, former Portland police chief and head of security at Portland Community College, said the school was locked down from 12:24 to 1:29 p.m. and classes continued. The lockdown was done as a precaution and, he said, "we're back to normal operation."
2:06 p.m.: Sierra Smith, 17, said she was in a government history class when the shooting occurred. Later, Smith said she saw one of the victims inside the school being helped by a teacher.
"There was young boy," Smith said. "He was laying on the ground. He had blood coming out of his stomach."
"It was scary," she said
2:03 p.m.: A woman who says she's the aunt of one of the shooting victims says her 17-year-old nephew was shot in the back and his girlfriend was shot in the ankle, reported Everton Bailey Jr. "I'm frustrated. I'm sad. The world today is just out of control," said Karin Williams. She said she and other family members have not been allowed into Legacy Emanuel.
The Portland Community College lockdown alarm has stopped and students are walking around the campus again.
1:54 p.m.: Tracy Mendoza in a nearby business said, "We heard the gunshots. We dove under the desks." She said she heard five gunshots. She went on to say this of the kids who were shot outside Rosemary Anderson High School, "They were just standing on the corner at lunchtime."
1:36 p.m.: Lunch at Rosemary Anderson starts at 12:10 p.m., students said. The first police calls came in at 12:14 p.m. Students who were outside on a warm, sunny day ran into the school. Police Chief Mike Reese is on his way to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Police are investigating the shooting as gang-related.
1:32: p.m.: Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson said "Obviously were thankful we don't have any loss of life." The three shooting victims ran into school conscious, breathing. Also, Portland Fire Lt. Rich Tyler said firefighters from the nearby Station 24 were able to provide medical care to the victims inside the school.
At North Kerby and Killingsworth Court, parents are being reunited with their students.
1:18 p.m.: Gresham police said they received a call after the North Portland school shooting of a threat of a shooting at Rosemary Anderson High School East in Gresham, but so far, have not found the threat credible. An investigation is still ongoing.
Portland Police Chief Mike Reese and Mayor Charlie Hales stand on peace mural on North Killingsworth Court and North Borthwick as police investigate shooting outside Rosemary Anderson High School. Maxine Bernstein/The Oregonian
1:15 p.m.: In July, Maxine Bernstein wrote about a street mural students were painting to promote nonviolence. It is at the corner of Borthwick and Killingsworth Court, the scene of the shooting.
Here is some background on Rosemary Anderson High School, a community-based alternative school, has two campuses that serve at-risk students who've been unsuccessful in traditional high schools. The campus on North Killingsworth Court enrolls up to 190 students each year and has been in operation almost 31 years.
The school serves multiple districts, and typically students attending it have had disciplinary and educational problems at more than one traditional high school, Portland Public Schools spokesperson Jon Isaacs said. The school is not seen overseen by Portland Public Schools.
Anita Irakoze,17, right, was outside buying snacks. She said, "I heard the gunshots and started running for my life." She said she heard four shots. On the left, Quennie Hillman said her cousin was one of the boys who were shot. She was inside school and heard four shots.Maxine Bernstein/The Oregonian
In 2009, Anna Griffin, then a columnist for The Oregonian, wrote about Rosemary Anderson High School and the challenges its students face.
1:11 p.m.: Lockdown lifted and Jefferson High School and Portland Community College. Portland Police says the victims are teenagers, working to confirm that they are students.
Also at this time, police don't know how the shooter left the scene. Officers have cleared the school and the area is now safe and secure.
Here's what is being said on Twitter:
1:05 p.m.: The FBI has put agents at the scene of the shooting as part of its regular task force work, as needed by Portland police, spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said. The federal agency referred all news information to the police bureau.
1:03 p.m.: Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson says investigators believe the shooter is affiliated with a Portland gang.
12:58 p.m.: Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson confirmed that the shooting was outside the school at North Borthwick Avenue and Killingsworth Court. He also said:
- The victims were two males and one female. They all ran inside the school outside Rosemary Anderson High School immediately after the shooting.
- There is currently not an active shooter at the scene.
- Police swept through the school to make sure there were no additional victims.
- The shooter left the scene.
12:52 p.m.: Tamara King, who lives near the school with her husband and 4-year-old child, was standing on the corner of North Killingsworth Court when she heard five shots in rapid progression. After hearing the shots, she saw at least four children scatter, diving under a car on North Albina Avenue to avoid gunfire. She called 911 at 12:13 p.m., she said. A short time later she saw two kids being loaded into the back of an ambulance.
12:51 p.m.:
12:44 p.m.: Portland police say parents of Rosemary Anderson High School students should respond to North Killingsworth Court and Kerby Avenue.
12:36 p.m.: Rosemary Anderson High School serves at-risk students who have been expelled or dropped out of public high school. Rosemary Anderson is an alternative high school with a student body of approximately 130 students, most of whom have struggled to succeed at other Portland high schools. The school is renown for its commitment to attend to these students until they reach the age of 25. "We pretty much force the kids to go to college," said Joe McFerrin, the school's president.
12:30 p.m.: Both Portland Community College's Cascade campus and Jefferson High School are on lockdown.
-- The Oregonian
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Moscow severely criticised Friday the adoption of a bill in the US Congress aimed at providing lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine and imposing additional sanctions against Russia.
The Ukraine Freedom Support Act approved Thursday by both houses of the US Congress causes nothing but deep regret due to its "openly confrontational nature", Xinhua quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich as saying in a statement.
"The US lawmakers, following the steps of the Barack Obama administration, are doing their utmost to destroy the carcass of cooperation (between the two countries)," Lukashevich said.
"It's about time the US congressmen abandon illusions about the effectiveness of their sanctions campaign against Russia. We will not give in to blackmail, we will not forsake our national interests, and we will not allow any interference in our internal affairs," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lukashevich as saying.
According to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, a legislation was passed unanimously Thursday by the Senate, granting lethal military and non-military assistance and expanding sanctions against Russia.
The Act would also provide Ukraine with energy, defence sector, and civil society assistance, and expand broadcasting programmes to counter Russian propaganda in countries of the former Soviet Union, according to an online announcement posted by the committee.
Also on Friday, Russian foreign ministry disproved the accusations of Russia violating Washington's the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
US Under Secretary of State for arms control and international security Rose Gottemoeller said Thursday the US was considering taking economic measures against Moscow in response to Russia's alleged violation of the treaty.
Relationship between Russia and the US has worsened to an ice point due to the over nine-month armed conflict in Ukraine between Kiev government and the independence-seeking insurgents in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
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Someone opened fire on a group of young people outside an alternative high school Friday, sending three people to the hospital in what is believed to be a gang-related attack, Portland police said.
The victims are students at Rosemary Anderson High School or in related job training programs, police Sgt. Pete Simpson said. A 16-year-old girl was in critical condition, and two males ? ages 17 and 20 ? were in serious condition, police said. A fourth person ? a 19-year-old woman ? was grazed by a bullet but not hospitalized.
The shooting was reported after noon and happened at a street corner outside the school, Simpson said.
Witnesses told police there may have been a dispute outside the school, but police said they didn't know who was involved.
"We don't know what led up to the shooting," Simpson said. "There was some kind of dispute."
The assailant and two other people fled, and the wounded students went to the school for help, he said.
A nearby high school and community college were put on lockdown.
Preliminary information suggests the shooter has gang ties, Simpson said. The Police Bureau's gang unit was deployed in the investigation.
Sierra Smith, a 17-year-old student, told The Oregonian she saw one of the male victims being helped by a teacher inside the school.
"He was laying on the ground. He had blood coming out of his stomach," she said. "It was scary."
Another student, Oliviann Danley, 16, told the newspaper she saw a boy run into the school and yell, "Oh my god, did I just get shot?"
Rosemary Anderson High School serves at-risk students who were expelled or dropped out, or who are homeless or single parents. According to the school's website, 190 students annually are enrolled at the north Portland location. The school also has a second location in Gresham.
Gang violence in Portland isn't a new phenomenon. Some of the violence occurs between rival gangs, but bystanders have also been hurt.
"We've made a lot of progress in addressing the gang problem, but we haven't eradicated it," Mayor Charlie Hales said after shooting Friday. "Today's really a sad reminder that it's still with us."
Portland police have said they saw a spike in gang crime this summer and have complained they don't have adequate resources to address the problem. Recent violence includes a man killed in a drive-by-shooting in June and another man killed in a separate shooting. A 5-year-old boy also was shot in the leg while playing at an apartment complex.
A Multnomah County report on gang activity released in June said crime in the county that includes Portland actually decreased from 2005 to 2012. As inner-city Portland gentrifies, the report said, criminal activity is shifting from northern neighborhoods to areas farther east, including the city of Gresham.
The report identified at least 133 active gangs in the county.
Dani Gonzales, 64, has lived in the neighborhood of Friday's shooting for 25 years and said it's generally safe but there has always been some gang activity.
"Kids just get silly and get crazy ideas. I don't know what goes on in their heads," Gonzales said.
There was another school shooting in the Portland area in June, but it was not gang-related. A freshman killed another boy in a locker room and a bullet grazed a teacher before the shooter went into a bathroom and died from a self-inflicted gunshot, police said.
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Associated Press writers Terrence Petty, Gosia Wozniacka and Tim Fought contributed to this report.
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Moscow, Russia:
For years he played the part of the frosty pragmatist, doggedly set on restoring pride and power to a once-great superpower. Then, on February 27, 2014, President Vladimir Putin went rogue.
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