OrphanCrow

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Posts by OrphanCrow

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  51

  NEWSWEEK: After Ban, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Harassed by Police During Religious Services

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.newsweek.com/jehovahs-witnesses-russia-ban-police-589791.

  after ban, jehovah’s witnesses in russia harassed by police during religious services.

  by jason le miere on 4/25/17 at 4:48 pm .

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  OrphanCrow

  wonder: Instead of being honest and law-abiding they fight the law and rouse the internal community against the anti-terror law and instead of being an example of obidience in quick obidience and so helping all the other evangelizing churches they attract attention to evil methods and many complicated marginal dogmas like the theocratic ministry and denial of obidience to the state by propaganda

  Yes, this is what the WTS had the Russian JWs do in 2010:

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/189518/russian-tract-campaign-could-happen-again-question-citizens-russia

  The WTS launched that tract campaign in Russia immediately following the Tanarog court decision that declared the congregations in that area to be 'extremist'.

  By judgment of 11 September 2009, the Rostov Regional Court granted the prosecutor’s claim, ordering the liquidation of the Taganrog LRO as an extremist organisation and the banning of its activities.

  On December 8, 2009, the Tanarog congregation lost its appeal.

  The WTS printed the tract in 2009. It was their response to the unfavorable ruling in Tanarog. They actively distributed their propaganda, that contradicted everything that the Tanarog ruling addressed, in response to not wanting to obey the law. They disagreed with the Russian court so they openly and aggressively used a recruiting tool to attack the court's decision.

  To read what happened in Tanarog - this gives the Statement of Facts and the court's rulings in Tanarog - you won't find that anywhere on the WTS tract but they had to submit it as part of their submission to the ECHR in 2014:

  Application no. 32401/10. TAGANROG

  That tract campaign happened in 2010. That was followed up with other religious/political activism projects like a letter writing campaign in 2014(5?). Each time the WTS has had the JWs mount one of their "religious" campaigns in response to not being happy with Russian laws and having court rulings go against them, the Russian authorities have responded with making the laws stricter. Coincidentally, the laws have tightened in exactly the areas that the JWs insist on making their religious/political message the most annoying that they can.

  Spread religious propaganda around Russia that tries to recruit members at the same time as speaking out against the State? Response: no more evangelizing allowed. For everybody.

  Flood Putin's office with emails and letters? Response: anti-spam attacks laws.

  The WTS deliberately provokes and uses their "army" of "pacifist soldiers" to stir up dissension as retaliation for being told that they are lawbreakers. And the JWs have been trained to go from shiny faced smiling people to being masters of harassment on a moment's notice from headquarters.

  The JWs are lawbreakers. That is their job. That is what they are trained to do.

  
  
  
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  11

  Drug could reduce bleeding deaths of JW moms. WT Pay Attention

  by Lee Elder in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  a new study in lancet shows a drug, tranexamic acid, could save the life of a preganant jw woman who is experiencing heaving bleeding following childbirth.

  hopefully, watchtower h.i.s.

  is paying attention, and gets this information out asap.

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  OrphanCrow

  Lee: It appears to have the potential to reduce mortality by 20%-30% in the general population who have access to the safety net of red cell transfusion. The benefit to JW mothers will be less, but now there is strong evidence to support its early use at the first sign of bleeding.

  There is no doubt that this is a good thing for the general population.

  Yes, this drug can now be confidently used to reduce bleeding in maternal patients.

  It has been used on JW women for years - they will not see any added benefit whatsoever other than the satisfaction of knowing that other women, who do have the option of replacing lost blood, can now be treated more effectively and for less cost.

  The only thing that would benefit JW women is being able to access shared blood like the rest of the population can. This "breakthrough" with tranexamic acid is meaningless to the JW women - what would be a breakthrough is if the WTS/HLC quit using pregnant women and their babies to promote these "breakthroughs".
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  11

  Drug could reduce bleeding deaths of JW moms. WT Pay Attention

  by Lee Elder in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  a new study in lancet shows a drug, tranexamic acid, could save the life of a preganant jw woman who is experiencing heaving bleeding following childbirth.

  hopefully, watchtower h.i.s.

  is paying attention, and gets this information out asap.

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  OrphanCrow

  Lee: Hopefully, Watchtower H.I.S. is paying attention, and gets this information out asap.

  Tranexamic acid has been used fairly often to reduce bleeding in JW maternal patients - they were the first it was used on. The HLC has been promoting it for many years - the 2001 "Helping Hands" manual contains studies that date in the 90s that include tranexamic acid as one of the techniques used to reduce blood loss.

  Page 429 of Part 5 of Helping Hands of Blood Conservation Techniques, May 2001 lists tranexamic as a hemostatic agent.

  Google Scholar lists numerous papers that have been published with JW patients and the course of treatment includes tranexamic acid.

  Here is one that was published in 2010:

  Postpartum Hemorrhage in a Jehovah’s WitnessPatient Controlled With Tisseel, Tranexamic Acid,and Recombinant Factor VIIa

  Tarek Samir Arab, MBChB, Ahmad Bakr Al-Wazzan, MBChB, Ken Maslow, MD FRCSC Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB

  
  

  Tranexamic has been around for many years (it was discovered in 1962) and the Jehovah's Witness population has been one of the first that it was used on.

  By 2008, the administration of tranexamic was routinely being used for postpartum bleeding in Jehovah's Witness women. It was the HLC who promoted the use of tranexamic acid in JW women as a treatment to help with postpartum bleeding.

  However, it was still unclear if tranexamic acid was effective in treating postpartum hemorrhage in the general population. So, in 2010, a world wide trial was launched:

  WORLD MATERNAL ANTIFIBRINOLYTIC TRIAL

  It will be the results of the WOMAN trial that will have prompted this latest news release. This is yet another feather in the WTS' cap when it comes to boasting how the Jehovah's Witnesses have improved medicine.

  But we will never know how many Jehovah's Witness women died (and still die) from postpartum hemorrhage when the tranexamic acid wasn't (isn't) as effective as the best treatment for bleeding - blood itself. In the WOMAN trial, the participants still had the option to have blood when needed - the study was designed to measure blood loss reduction - it was not designed for tranexamic acid being used because blood cannot be.

  Tranexamic acid helps to reduce blood loss - it doesn't replace blood.

  *to add - from the article in the OP:

  It has taken a long time to show that the drug does work in the context it was designed for. Professor Ian Roberts from the London School, who co-led the study, said: “The researchers who invented tranexamic acid more than 50 years ago hoped it would reduce deaths from postpartum haemorrhage, but they couldn’t persuade obstetricians at the time to conduct a trial. Now we finally have these results that we hope can help save women’s lives around the world.”

  The researchers couldn't persuade obstetricians at the time to conduct a trial. No...they needed the help of the HLC to promote it first. Just think of all the JW women who helped bring that trial to realization - years and years of JW women being denied life saving blood transfusions just so this drug could be used for the general population.
  

  This is not a boon for JW women - it is just another way that they have been used as guinea pigs for medical advancement.
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  26

  Russian Tract campaign: "Could It Happen Again? A Question for the Citizens of Russia"

  by TJ - iAmCleared2Land in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.jw-media.org/rus/20100226.htm.

  for immediate release.

  february 25, 2010. jehovahs witnesses address their fellow citizensrussiaon february 26-28, 2010, throughout russia, from the chukchi peninsula in the east to kaliningrad in the west, a special campaign is taking place.

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  OrphanCrow

  And now here it is...7 years later.

  Banned.

  We shouldn't be surprised

  *to add - does anyone have a copy of this tract?

  This tract campaign was likely mounted in response to the Tanarog decision of 2009 that declared the JWs there 'extremist'.

  ** found it:

  http://www.radio-nachgefragt.de/html/pdf/russia.pdf
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  51

  NEWSWEEK: After Ban, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Harassed by Police During Religious Services

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.newsweek.com/jehovahs-witnesses-russia-ban-police-589791.

  after ban, jehovah’s witnesses in russia harassed by police during religious services.

  by jason le miere on 4/25/17 at 4:48 pm .

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  OrphanCrow

  zeb: I wish the Russian Govt takes a good look at the ARC...

  There is no reason to think or presume that the Russian authorities are not fully aware of what is happening in Australia with the ARC or anywhere else in the world, for that matter.

  What might be worth taking a good look at are some of the documents that have been accumulated in the Russian courts concerning the Jehovah's Witnesses over the past few decades. There has been no shortage of scrutinizing the religion and the organization:

  http://roman142.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page_07.html

  I cannot imagine the Russian government conducting anything near what the ARC is doing in Australia...it would not be worth their effort or even be feasible for many different reasons. Like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Russia is not Australia - not by law, not by culture, not by politics.

  For one thing, Australia is dealing with the JWs as only one of several institutions. And for another, the JWs in Russia are a very small group in comparison to their size in Australia.

  Russia is dealing with the JWs using entirely different laws that are not at the disposal of the Australian government.

  Apples to oranges. Oil and water.

  The only commonality that Russia has with Australia is that they have both placed the Jehovah's Witnesses under ban in the past.

  Surely the Russian security apparatus has better things to do.

  Of course they do.

  That is why they are shutting down the WTS' operations there. They are getting them out of the way so they can do their job.

  Having to monitor unsuspecting dumb JWs who don't know enough to spot someone taking advantage of their networked organization, for purposes that has nothing at all to do with their religion, has been taking up a lot of the authorities' time.

  If the JWs in Russia would quit taking up the authorities time and just obey the law, the Russian security apparatus wouldn't have to waste so much time dealing with the JWs' unlawful behavior.

  
  
  
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  51

  NEWSWEEK: After Ban, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Harassed by Police During Religious Services

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.newsweek.com/jehovahs-witnesses-russia-ban-police-589791.

  after ban, jehovah’s witnesses in russia harassed by police during religious services.

  by jason le miere on 4/25/17 at 4:48 pm .

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  OrphanCrow

  Hecce: Most likely the State will have neighborhood watchers checking any JW suspicious activity.

  Absolutely that will happen. Without question.

  Four days after the Russian JWs were banned, for being an 'extremist' organization, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Murmansk region held the finals for a role-playing game competition for young people in Russia. The games were called "Anti-Terror 2017" and were held on April 24.

  From the Russian website https://51.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai/news/item/10091895/ :

  "Goal of the game - with the help of simulated situations to teach young people how to act in cases of threat of terrorist attack and to identify extremist propaganda facts."

  This is what the anti-terror games consisted of:

  "Games organizers have offered the teams take five simulated situations under the code name. For example, during the "Underground" Students got into the hall, the walls of which the image of an extremist nature were placed, that it was necessary to select from dozens of other images and to inform the supervisor. On stage, "the student audience," the students were looking for "explosive device" and properly operated when it is detected, during the "Library" - looking of the seven proposed texts, the "forgotten" by someone in the student library, extremist statements and texts. Step "House" made of students carefully study the content on the pages of friends in social networks in order to find the banned information. The most difficult for all the teams proved to stage "Railway Station", where the waiting room was a "suicide bomber" among the passengers. Only members of the "Razumovsky name squad" command from the mage correctly identified conventional terrorists and in accordance with safety regulations act when it is detected. Rest of the game confused look and feel normal "passengers", including their nationality.

  The highlight of "AntiTerror-2017" were performances of employees of the department of special purpose Russian Federal Penitentiary Service of the Murmansk region "Iceberg". Special forces soldiers "liberated" the hostages, whose role is performed by the police, and successfully stopped the riots to "a football match." Students carefully observe the actions of the police and special forces. According to the organizers of the game, performances should teach children to act correctly in the event of these situations in real life.
  

  And THAT is what is happening in the rest of Russia - they are training their young people to be vigilant in spotting potential terrorists (which places the JWs' behavior, regardless of their motives, into a category that defines a potential security problem).

  And it is for this reason that the JWs in Russia are best listening to the authorities rather than the WTS when it comes to changing their behavior - what the org tells them to do is what makes them behave like an extremist organization. Russia is a country that is training their citizens how to deal with potential terrorist threats. And they are really serious about it.
  

  I have mentioned before that, in some aspects, the ban on the JWs in Russia can actually act to protect them. They should be underground right now - it is the safest place for them to be. Out on the streets and being publicly visible is not safe for people who behave like they do. It is their behavior that lands them in hot water. The JWs are organized and they behave like an extremist group whether they are one or not.

  As much as we are shocked that this action goes against what we think of human rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech, etc., the acknowledgement that Russia's politics, geographical positioning, history and all of that, has bearing on the situation is, I think, critical. The best we can do right now is try to understand what is happening and why.

  Personally, I think that the WTS is being incredibly naive and irresponsible with their reaction to this ban. They know very well that the way the JWs operate place them into a category of suspicious behavior. It isn't just that the WTS literature is suspect - it the way that the WTS operates that is suspect.

  Terrorism on domestic soil in Russia is a very real threat - all the time, every day.

  Anyone here remember the Beslan school siege? It was awful - it happened in 2004 and it was Chechen rebels who held over 1200 adults and children hostage. It was horrible - the whole thing unfolded terribly.

  One of my Russian cousins wrote to me about it. From her email:

  "The siege in Beslan is a great tragedy. Some of my relatives and friends
  >were there and told terrible things. Nobody expected that so many children
  >with their relatives would be dead. The 1. of September is a great holiday
  >for children and their parents in Russia. It is the first schoolday.We all
  >were shocked when we heard about the capture of hostages in Beslan. It is
  >situated 200 km far from our region."

  The Beslan School tragedy is just one of many events that have gone into the establishment of anti terror laws in Russia. Those laws have become very broad and are being implemented in severe ways against any organization that falls into what Russia has defined as 'extreme' and both violent and non-violent forms of extremism fall under Russia's new laws

  So, yes, the JWs are going to be targeted in Russia. That is a given. And the WTS knows that. They have always known that. It is inevitable.
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  15

  What the heck is CLAM?

  by undercover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i guess it's a good thing that i've been 'out' of this crazy religion so long that i'm not hip to newer buzzwords.... ...like, clam i'm guessing it's not a fun time at the beach, looking for shells or whatnot.. so, what is clam?.

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  OrphanCrow

  acronym

  :)

  
  
  
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  11

  8,000 Filipino Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia?

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pinoy jehovah’s witnesses in russia face deportation.

  philippine daily inquirer / 05:40 am february 24, 2017. baguio city—jehovah’s witnesses (jw) in the philippines have asked the department of foreign affairs (dfa) to intercede on behalf of filipinos who face arrest or deportation in russia for belonging to their faith.. the watchtower bible and tract society of the philippines, the legal and corporate arm of jw, made the appeal when it met dfa officials this week on behalf of more than 8,000 filipino jehovah’s witnesses in russia.. read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/152841/pinoy-jehovahs-witnesses-russia-face-deportation#ixzz4f8s5kznb .

  there are 8000 filipino jehovah's witnesses in russia?

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  OrphanCrow

  Thx, darkspliver.

  I missed that thread when it was first posted.

  Obviously bad editing/reporting.
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  31

  Russian news article re: financial misdeeds of the WT in Russia

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the way that the wt conducts business in russia, hiding ownership of property and moving money overseas, was a large factor in the jws falling afoul of the russian authorities.

  it wasn't just 'extremist' views that came into play, it was also their handling of money that was illegal.. this article is from a russian news source - i had to use google translate to read it, so i have copied and pasted the whole article (i usually don't...apologies to the author of the article).

  if someone has russian language skills, please feel welcome to offer a better translation.. .

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  OrphanCrow

  It appears as though Russian JWs are loyal to instructions from the org. As per the letter that wifi had linked to earlier in this thread...the Kingdom Hall in Novoshahtinsk was re-registered on March 31, 2017 to an individual.

  The WTS has hidden the ownership of the Kingdom Hall property. And a certain JW in Novoshahtinsk now 'owns' the property. Just as instructed by the WTS.

  Whew....got that one in right under the wire...March 31. Just in time!

  http://www.go61.ru/news/1630855

  * to add -

  The person named on the property ownership will now likely be the one to have problems with authorities. This is such a set-up. The JW who is taking responsibility for owning 'extremist' property will have to take the heat and the org will get mileage from going around claiming persecution! persecution! look at what 'they' are doing to our brothers in Russia! Yeah...well those JW brothers aren't standing up for their faith - they are being asked to protect the WTS property. "Standing up for your faith" in WT speak means protecting the WTS assets.

  The brother assigned to be the User of property, must possess the necessary spiritual qualities, and humbly support the decisions of councils of elders and are willing to cooperate with them. If necessary, a brother has to be ready to give documentation of paramount importance. The brother assigned by the User of property should be prepared, if necessary, bravely to defend the legitimate interests of the congregation, and not be afraid of meeting with government officials (police, prosecutors, regulatory authorities).
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  16

  The Guardian: In Russia, the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses begins all over again

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/mar/09/in-russia-the-persecution-of-jehovahs-witnesses-begins-all-over-again.

  in russia, the persecution of jehovah’s witnesses begins all over again.

  giles fraser.

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  OrphanCrow

  Anony Mous: ...the Russians, given it's history with religion sides on the side of banning (they have anti-religious laws due to the Czar, like the Germans have anti-Nazi laws due to Hitler).

  Actually, no.

  The Tsar did not pass anti-religious laws. In fact, it was Tsar Nicholas II who passed Russia's first freedom of religion laws back in 1905. He passed an Edict of Toleration on April 30, 1905, giving legal status to religions not of the Russian Orthodox faith. Which allowed other orthodox faiths (like the Old Believers, who had been persecuted for over 200 years in Russia), and other religions, the right to own property.

  Who was responsible for the anti-religious laws in Russia were the Soviets.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Soviet_Union