QUESTION OF ENFORCEMENT CASTS CLOUD ON SYRIA PLAN

BEIRUT (AP) — A Russian plan for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to avert Western missile strikes bogged down Tuesday when Moscow rejected U.S. and French demands for a binding U.N. resolution with “very severe consequences” for non-compliance.

The surprise Russian proposal, which Syria and the United States both accepted, would put President Bashar Assad’s regime’s chemical stockpile under international control before its eventual dismantling. The initiative — also cautiously endorsed by Britain and France — appeared to offer a way out of a crisis that raised the prospect of U.S.-led military action against Syria in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack last month.

But the plan ran aground as the world powers haggled over the crucial element of how to enforce it. Wary of falling into what the French foreign minister called “a trap,” Paris and Washington are pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution to verify Syria’s disarmament. Russia, a close Assad ally and the regime’s chief patron on the international stage, dismissed France’s proposal as unacceptable.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/france-seeks-un-action-syria-after-russia-move

Russia May Send Lawmakers To US To Discuss Syria

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin hopes to send a delegation of Russian lawmakers to the United States to discuss the situation in Syria with members of Congress, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.

Russian legislators Valentina Matvienko and Sergei Naryshkin proposed that to Putin, saying polls have shown little support among Americans for armed intervention in Syria to punish its regime for an alleged chemical weapons attack.

The lawmakers said maybe U.S. legislators can be persuaded to take a “balanced stance” on the issue. Putin supported the initiative, which would require formal approval by the Foreign Ministry.

Russia has sent legislators to the U.S. before to try to persuade Congress about pending legislation.  But sending a delegation to Washington to discuss Syria’s civil war could be seen as a publicity stunt, given the strong positions Moscow already has taken as a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad‘s regime.  The U.S. has accused Russia of providing military support to Assad that has allowed Assad to cling to power during Syria’s civil war.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_SYRIA?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

US May Go It Alone On Syria

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday prepared for the possibility of launching unilateral American military action against Syria within days as Britain opted out in a stunning vote by Parliament.  Facing skepticism at home, too, the administration shared intelligence with lawmakers aimed at convincing them the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people and must be punished.

Despite roadblocks in forming an international coalition, Obama appeared undeterred and advisers said he would be willing to retaliate against Syria on his own.

“The president of the United States is elected with the duty to protect the national security interests in the United States of America,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Even before the vote in London, the U.S. was preparing to act without formal authorization from the United Nations, where Russia has blocked efforts to seek a resolution authorizing the use of force, or from Capitol Hill.  But the U.S. had expected Britain, a major ally, to join in the effort.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/news/793287/US-may-go-it-alone-on-Syria

Snowden Leaves Airport After Russia Grants Asylum

MOSCOW – National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden left the transit zone of a Moscow airport and entered Russia after authorities granted him asylum for one year, his lawyer said today.

Anatoly Kucherena said that Snowden’s whereabouts will be kept secret for security reasons.  The former NSA systems analyst was stuck at Moscow‘s Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23.

“He now is one of the most sought after men in the world,” Kucherena told reporters at the airport. “The issue of security is very important for him.”

The U.S. has demanded that Russia send Snowden home to face prosecution for espionage, but President Vladimir Putin dismissed the request.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=498448

Official: Snowden Wants Asylum In Russia

Edward Snowden plans to seek asylum in Russia, a Parliament member who was among those meeting with the NSA leaker said Friday.

Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov told reporters of Snowden’s intentions after he and a dozen other prominent officials and activists met with Snowden in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where Snowden has been marooned since June 23.

Snowden is believed to have been stuck in the airport’s transit zone since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23, as he negotiates for asylum in another country.

The activists included Sergei Nikitin, head of Amnesty International’s Russia office, and Tatiana Lokshina, deputy head of the Russian office of Human Rights Watch.  Also taken into the meeting room were Russia’s presidential human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, prominent attorney Genri Reznik, and Nikonov.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/official-snowden-wants-asylum-in-russia-695202/#ixzz2YqiN6xd4

Edward Snowden In Moscow Airport Transit Zone; Putin Says Russia Won’t Extradite Him

NAANTALI, Finland (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says thatNational Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and will not be extradited to the United States.

Putin said that Snowden hasn’t crossed the Russian border and is free to go anywhere.

Speaking on a visit to Finland Tuesday, he added that Russian security agencies “didn’t work and aren’t working” with Snowden.  He gave no more details.

Read more:  http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/06/edward_snowden_arrives_in_mosc.html#incart_river_default

Plane For Cuba Leaves Russia, But Snowden Is Not On Board

MOSCOW — Intrigue deepened on Monday over the whereabouts of Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive former National Security Agency contractor accused of espionage, when he did not leave Moscow on a planned flight to Havana, one day after Hong Kong frustrated his American pursuers by allowing him to fly out of the territory.

Mr. Snowden’s vacant seat on the Havana flight raised the possibility that the Russian government had detained him, either to consider the demands by the Obama administration to intercept him and return him to the United States or perhaps to question him for Russia’s own purposes.

The authorities in Hong Kong said Mr. Snowden boarded an Aeroflot flight to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport that arrived on Sunday afternoon.  But he was never photographed in Hong Kong and has not been seen publicly or photographed since his reported arrival in Moscow.  Arriving passengers on that flight, interviewed at the airport, said they could not confirm that he had been aboard.

The situation remained infuriating for American officials, who have charged Mr. Snowden with illegally disclosing classified documents about American surveillance programs.

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/edward-snowden-nsa-surveillance-leak.html?hp&_r=0

The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking

THIRTEEN years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.

What they have found so far has shocked even scholars steeped in the history of the Holocaust.

The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler’s reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.

The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/sunday-review/the-holocaust-just-got-more-shocking.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp

Russian Region Begins Recovery From Meteor Fall

CHELYABINSK, Russia – A small army of workers set to work Saturday to replace the estimated 200,000 square meters (50 acres) of windows shattered by the shock wave from a meteor that exploded over Russia’s Chelyabinsk region.

The astonishing Friday morning event blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings in the region, mostly in the capital city of the same name and injured some 1,200 people, largely with cuts from the flying glass.

Forty of the injured remained hospitalized on Saturday, two of them in serious condition, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the regional health ministry.

Regional governor Mikhail Yurevich on Saturday said that damage from the high-altitude explosion, estimated to have been as powerful as 20 Hiroshima bombs — is estimated at 1 billion rubles ($33 million).  He promised to have all the broken windows replaced within a week.

Read more:  http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130216_ap_russianregionbeginsrecoveryfrommeteorfall.html

500 Injured By Blasts As Meteor Falls In Russia

MOSCOW — A meteor that scientists estimate weighed 10 tons (11 tons) streaked at supersonic speed over Russia’s Ural Mountains today, setting off blasts that injured some 500 people and frightened countless more.

The Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement that the meteor over the Chelyabinsk region entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above ground.

The fall caused explosions that broke glass over a wide area. The Emergency Ministry says more than 500 people sought treatment after the blasts and that 34 of them were hospitalized.

“There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people’s houses to check if they were OK,” said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=453069

PIANO MASTERPIECES: Elena Ulyanova – Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 4:00pm

MUSIC AT EMMANUEL

Presents the opening event of our 2011-12 season:

ELENA ULYANOVA

FREE ADMISSION

MEET MS. ULYANOVA AT A POST-CONCERT RECEPTION

Emmanuel Lutheran Church

150 N. Hanover Street     Pottstown, PA   29464

Facebook.com/music.at.emmanuel

Andrew Meade – Minister of Music

www.emmanuelpottstown.org

610-323-4312

Hailed by the Moscow Conservatory as one of its most gifted musicians, Ukrainian pianist Elena Ulyanova is described as possessing “great virtuosity, brilliant artistic temperament, unique interpretive expression and a rich sound pallet.”   Roy Gillinson of the Beethoven Society of America said that Ms. Ulyanova is, “a phenomenal, gifted performer”, her style running the gamut of power, strength, and technique to a delicate, floating elegant finesse. From her early piano studies with her mother, she has gone on to be a prize winner in numerous national and international piano competitions.  Ms. Ulyanova has performed throughout Europe, Asia and North America and has released two critically acclaimed CDs, the second of which features Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #2 with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. Her recital will feature works by Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Debussy, and Chopin.  www.elena-ulyanova.com

ELENA ULYANOVA

At the age of 5, Elena Ulyanova began to study piano with her mother, Larisa Ulyanova, in Saki, Crimea. After winning several first prizes in Ukrainian and Russian competitions, she was awarded full scholarships for study in Moscow at Gnessin College of Music, Gnessin Academy of Music, and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. While at Gnessin Academy, she won the Momontov competition, which also resulted in tours of Russia, Bulgaria, and Romania. She was also awarded a tour of Austria, along with the best students representing Gnessin Academy. Shortly after entering the Moscow Conservatory, she became a prizewinner in the second Rachmaninov International Piano Competition. After receiving the Master of Music degree from Moscow Conservatory, she pursued postgraduate study with Victor Merzhanov, while performing many concerts for the Moscow Philharmonic Concert Association (Mosconcert). Elena has also taken master classes with Emanual Krasovsky, Victor Derevianko, John O’Connor, Howard Shelley, and Leslie Howard.

Elena recorded her first solo CD in 2004, with music of Franz Liszt, and it is available from Classical Records.  Shortly afterwards, she immigrated to Washington, DC.  In 2005, she studied with Howard Shelley, who has recorded all of Rachmaninoff’s works, to prepare for recording of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The Rhapsody and Piano Concerto no. 2 are featured on her CD with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and released in July, 2006 by Bel Air Music. Elena’s music has been heard on radio stations WFMT in Chicago, CKWR in Ontario, and WQED in Pittsburgh.

Elena has performed orchestra, chamber, and solo concerts throughout Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Ukraine, Austria, Korea, Netherlands, China, Poland, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, and Romania. Her performances with orchestras include the Vienna Musikverein Orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Crimea State Symphony Orchestra in Yalta, State Russian Orchestra “Boyan”, and the Omsk Philharmonic. With the Rachmaninoff White Lilacs Festival orchestra in 2001, Elena masterfully performed the Rachmaninoff second concerto on only four hours notice! Among her appearances since immigrating to the United States, she has performed with the Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra in Arizona, American Balalaika Symphony, the Dame Myra Hess Series, the Fazioli Salon Series in Chicago, the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s Connoisseur Series, concerts in Washington DC, Orlando Florida, and New York – Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Yamaha Pianos Concert Series, and Bargemusic.

Micaele Sparacino – ConcertoNet.com – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Landon Symphonette, February 2009

“Ms. Ulyanova’s performance of the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini was nothing short of dazzling. She is a Lioness at the Keyboard, playing with more strength and technique than most men. In fact, her playing, marked by power and poetry, recalled to mind the legendary Gina Bachauer. It was breathtaking to watch her fingers flying over the keys, and the sound she drew from the piano was amazing.” “…a truly exciting performance distinguished by verve and panache. She is an artist not to be missed!”

Terry McNeill – Classical Sonoma – Concerts Grand Series Recital, November, 2008

“Any uncertainty about Ulyanova’s command of Rachmaninoff’s bravura was swept away with an orchestral performance of the great Sonata [no. 2], in the Horowitz edition. The finale brought out all of the pianist’s heavy artillery – massive broken octaves, endurance, wide skips and brilliant passage work. The individual parts of the sonata often seem greater than the whole, but Ulyanova brought opulent passion that conquered all.”

Fred Kirshnit- New York Sun – Bargemusic Recital, May, 2008

“…Ms. Ulyanova’s delicate performance of Claude Debussy’s “Ondine.” She wove a diaphanous web for her aquatic sprite, suggestion rather than declamation fingered lovingly. As the little concert hall rocked back and forth, Ms. Ulyanova crept into the complex harmonic world of “Brouillards (Mists)” and kept her listeners afloat and a bit enchantingly lost in the fog. This was very lovely music making.”

Piano Wereld Magazine – Amsterdam, August, 2005

“You cannot deny the panache of the Russian piano player Elena Ulyanova. She intensifies showpieces such as the Mefisto Waltz and the Tarantella from a Liszt produced in Russia, with all the restlessness of a wild breathing and rumbling volcano, which rarely slows down.”

Professor Victor Merzhanov, Moscow Conservatory – March, 2000

“Elena Ulyanova is one of the most gifted musicians of the Moscow Conservatory. She has great virtuosity, brilliant and artistic temperament, unique interpretive expression, and a rich sound palette.”

Roy Gillinson, Beethoven Society of America – November, 2006

“A phenomenal gifted performer!! Her performance for the Beethoven Society was a rare treat!

The 2011-2012 MUSIC AT EMMANUEL season is full of variety, excitement, youth, passion and above all – musical excellence.  We are thrilled to present artists that range from our finest regional talent to a pianist from the other side of the world!  Our season will include an organist who studied and teaches at the world famous Julliard School in New York City, an exciting young singer, one of America’s oldest musical ensembles, a choir from the renowned Westminster Choir College, and a Ukrainian pianist who was a stand-out at the Moscow Conservatory.  MUSIC AT EMMANUEL is dedicated to bringing the live music of the highest calibre to the Pottstown community.  We are also dedicated to supporting young artists from our region as they develop their performing careers.  All concerts on our 2011-12 season are offered free of charge to the public, and are funded by the generous support of individuals in our church and community who believe that great music has an essential place in our culture and community.    For additional information about the concert series please follow the music link on the church’s website: www.emmanuelpottstown.org or find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/music.at.emmanuel.