tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post5767136810745504295..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Political discipleship todayJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-67886401653193515982016-05-15T01:35:02.468-07:002016-05-15T01:35:02.468-07:00Hello, Letters. I don't think I can take credi...Hello, Letters. I don't think I can take credit for <i>being</i> a cooler head. It takes work! Anyway, thank you.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-33895388428180099082016-05-14T22:01:34.424-07:002016-05-14T22:01:34.424-07:00"For myself, I'm determined to exercise a..."For myself, I'm determined to exercise a sort of calm vigilance." For cooler heads to prevail, first we have to have cooler heads. Thanks for being one of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-59137009457161291322016-05-14T11:58:39.609-07:002016-05-14T11:58:39.609-07:00Not a dumb question at all (not that you thought i...Not a dumb question at all (not that you thought it was!) ... I live in Moscow Oblast', by the way. My source was a note on Facebook that reprinted the relevant news from RIA Novosti: <br /><br />"Информация о том, что Воробьевский был принудительно и без решения суда помещен в психиатрическую лечебницу, появилась 7 мая в местных СМИ. Сообщение об этом случае накануне было опубликовано на сайте Amnesty International.<br /><br />"У нас было сообщение. По данному сообщению прокуратурой направлена информация для проверки в следственный комитет… Вопрос, связанный с похищением, — следственный комитет будет разбираться", — сказал РИА Новости представитель прокуратуры".<br /><br />РИА Новости<br /><br />Maybe this apparent commitment by investigators to figure out what happened in Voronezh has now been made moot by Vorobyovsky's release. I trust that AI in Russia will stay on the case.<br /><br />In general, I don't find it helpful to paint all officials and bureaucrats with one brush, as I briefly explained in one of the notes <a href="http://johanpdx.blogspot.com/2016/04/true-shorts.html" rel="nofollow">in this post</a>. However hard it is to resist, cynicism is spiritual poison. (Not that willful stupidity has much to recommend it!)Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-70101278928825977672016-05-14T11:29:39.379-07:002016-05-14T11:29:39.379-07:00Can I ask a dumb question? Where did you (who live...Can I ask a dumb question? Where did you (who live in Portland, I gather) get your "late word" that "authorities in Moscow" might "intervene on Vorobyovsky's behalf"? Vorobyovsky was released from the mental hospital in Voronezh because a) he had a terrific lawyer, Olga Gnezdilova, and b) Amnesty International and other human rights organizations publicized his case hard and earlier, and launched a campaign of bombarding the prosecutor's office and mental health clinic in Voronezh with phone calls asking why a perfectly sane, peaceable man was being held against his will in a mental hospital? That is why the court ruled that the hospital had no grounds to seize him in the first place. Don't give the authorities in Russia, of all people, any credit for anything, unless you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they actually deserve it. The authorities are ruthless, corrupt scum. After all, it was one or more of these selfsame authorities who tried to pull this little trick with Vorobyovsky in the first place, because the hospital was surely not acting on its own.avvakumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04958267192281933449noreply@blogger.com