RAGA Newsletter Antidote 31: Merry Christmas, Donald Trump, Open letter to Obama, Obama's response, and Krasnov's rebuttal, Happy Holidays, William Brumfield's photographs

Dear friends of the Russia & America Good Will Association (www.raga.org) and antiwar colleagues!

Since RAGA's last Newsletter Antidote 30 (of October 11), the USA got a new President. While re-affirming RAGA's essentially non-political stance, we congratulate Donald Trump on his unexpected victory and wish him success in implementing new peace initiatives he promised in regard to Russia.

We also wish to congratulate American citizens on their ability to resist the anti-Russian slant of the Big Media's and political establishment's neo-con influenced pundits. We hope that our readers see RAGA's contribution to helping move the country into a more realistic, benevolent and sound mood, more conducive to dealing with Russia as a sovereign and proud nation. I take this opportunity to thank many American and non-American authors whose articles I cited in RAGA's newsletters (now available on the internet).

One of them is Sharon Tennison, a long-time antiwar activist (CCISF.org). October 3, 2016 she issued an alert that I quoted in RAGA's previous newsletter: <<We need to flood President Obama with demands to back off of this insane policy to pursue a war with Russia. Call and email daily!>>
Call the White House: 202-456-1111 (9 thru 5 EST)
Email the President: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

I responded immediately and pasted my email letter to Obama inside the newsletter.

Meanwhile a Russian woman from the Crimean translators association liked my letter so much that she translated it to Russian
http://www.raga.org/1053105410421054105710581048/4142875

On October 14, Veterans Today ran my Open letter to Obama with an introduction "From Russia with Love" by its staff writer Jonas Alexis. He wrote that <<(Krasnov's) honest letter deserves a fair hearing precisely because New World Order agents have already been beating the war drum against Russia. >>
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/10/14/from-russia-with-love/

On October 21, 2016, I was surprised to find Obama's reply in my email box. Russia Insider posted it as "Obama'sThreatening Russophobic Letter Full of Lies, Hubris and Aggression"
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/read-barack-obamas-threatening-russophobic-letter-full-lies-hubris-and-aggression

Now I felt challenged to write a long rebuttal to Obama. Finishing it on November 7 (before the election), I mailed to the White Houseas Priority Mail on Nov. 12. After translating my response to Russian, I asked RAGA's site manager to post both the original and Russian translation. On Nov. 18 it was done, however, without footnotes or hyperlinks
http://www.raga.org/news/to-mr-barack-obama-potus
http://www.raga.org/1053105410421054105710581048/8609870

Both Obama's letter and my rebuttal are also published, with hyperlinks and footnotes,
on Veterans Today site:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/11/23/president-obama-responds-to-vt-writers/

Also, my Open letter and Obama's official reply were picked up by
https://www.sott.net/article/332196-An-open-letter-from-Vladislav-Krasnov-Ph-D-and-Obamas-official-reply
Signs of the Times (SOTT) added this nice blurb:
W. George Krasnow (also published as Vladislav Krasnov), Ph.D., runs the Russia and America Goodwill Association, a non-profit organization of Americans for friendship with Russia. Formerly, he was a professor and director of Russian Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. Under the name of Vladislav Krasnov he published three books: Solzhenitsyn and Dostoevsky: A Study in the Polyphonic Novel, Russia Beyond Communism: A Chronicle of National Rebirth, Soviet Defectors: The KGB wanted List. His op-ed columns have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, San Francisco Examiner, San Diego Union, and Dallas Morning News.

In Russian, both of my letters are available on the site of perevodiкa
Переводика - Открытое письмо Владислава Краснова (RAGA.org ...
perevodika.ru/articles/1178834.html
Переводика - Второе открытое письмо Владислава Краснова ...
where it got close to 2000 readers.

At the end of my rebuttal to Obama I offered a ten-points agenda that is just as relevant for the incoming president. In particular, I wish somebody could comment on Chas Freeman's approach the Middle East (lest Trump now stirs greater turmoil by giving Jerusalem and West Bank to Israel as he promised in his campaign); on the need to restrict the power of the corporate media (over the three traditional branches of government) and the need for Obama to pardon Ed Snowden (lest our email exchange is tampered with next time we write under the new POTUS). And remember, it is still not too late to demand dialogue with Russia and demand Presidential Pardon for Ed Snowden!

If any of you wish to post "Krasnov-Obama Letter Exchange" as a single unit, you are encouraged to use this indexation for each letter:
1. An Open Letter from Vladislav Krasnov (raga.org) to Obama.
2. Obama replies to Krasnov (W GeorgeKrasnow, RAGA.org).
3. Vladislav Krasnov (raga.org) sends a rebuttal to Obama's letter
Or ask me to send it to you as a word document.

While in the States, besides performing my civic duty, I also connected a couple of journalists from Denmark and Russia with two retired peace-loving US war veterans both of whom encouraged me to write the letter to Obama. Of course, I enjoyed the sites of both Washington and San Francisco.

As always, I am grateful to Professor William Brumfield of Tulane University for helping Americans appreciate the uniqueness of Russian civilization in a series of photographs of remote Russian historical sites. It needs to be repeated that since 1991--25 years ago!--Russia has been rediscovering its ancient spiritual roots, including those embodied in its church architecture, -- and William's photographs celebrate this Russian rebirth!

Малоярославец -- Роковое сражение
Текст и фотографии Уильяма Брумфилда для сайта RBTH (зарубежный проект "Российской Газеты").
163-я статья в серии

My current article for Russia beyond the Headlines focuses on the town of Maloya spirituALroslavets, which played a major role in Napoleon's retreat from Moscow: http://rbth.com/special_projects/discovering_russia_1/2016/12/02/maloyaroslavets-where-napoleons-fate-was-sealed_653127 To see the slide show full screen, click the 4-arrow icon at lower right of photo window.

This is the 163 rd of my articles and photo essays on Russia's architectural and cultural heritage for the foreign-language service of the Russian national newspaper Rossiiskaia Gazeta. A unified link to the series can be found at: http://rbth.ru/ discovering_russia Through this link a total of 4,627 photographs from my documentary work in Russia are now accessible.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Sincerely,

W George Krasnow (Vladislav Krasnov)
President, RAGA
www.raga.org
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Malice to None. Good Will to All.
Peace and Justice to the World.

миру мир и благоволение в сердцах

From RAGA site:

"We are an association of Americans who believe it is in the U.S. national interests to foster friendship with Russia on the basis of mutual Good Will and non-interference in each other's

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Vladislav,

It’s too bad that Obama did not receive your letter in the manner it was intended. It seems to me that he used his response to your letter as an opportunity to scold Russia and list his grievances. Obama only wants to dictate unconditional terms to Russia for everything from Syria to Ukraine. He is incapable of entertaining the thought that he might at times be wrong and be better off listening to alternative viewpoints. He has no interest in understanding our relationship with Russia. His puppet-masters will not allow it. I am so glad we will soon have a POTUS who realizes that we can work with Russia and who will act on it.

On the Ukraine in particular, Obama has some valid points. Ukraine, who was the 3rd largest nuclear power and had 1/3 of the former Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal, gave up their nuclear weapons in exchange for promises to protect its territorial integrity (Budapest Memorandum). I am sure that Ukraine would like to have their nuclear weapons back, considering how their decision to trade nuclear weapons for empty promises of security castrated them as a military power. Russia, Great Britain, and the US all signed this pledge. Russia’s annexation of the Crimea is in clear violation of this. I realize that you can make arguments that the amount of ethnic Russians in Crimea justifies Russia’s claim on Crimea. A similar claim was made by Germany in 1938 regarding the Sudetenland. You can also argue that Nikita Khrushchev had no right to give the Crimea to Ukraine. Any claims like this ignore the idea that Russia promised to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and they did not.

The Obama administration's unwillingness to have dialogue with Russia is indefensible. Russia and the US can and should make efforts to work with each other despite our differences. The entire world could benefit greatly from this.

..Michael