mistybeth

Why China has clenched its fist in Xinjiang...

An article explaining some of what the situation is in E.China...

Deadly riots in western China worst in decades...

State media saying death toll at more than 140 in some of the "deadliest rioting in decades" between the Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese. Go here for full article.

have you noticed??

I finally figured out how to embed videos... This is a brief report on Obama's visit to Russia in a few days. Putin is as witty as ever as he denies "keeping one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the future" and says "we cannot be doing the splits..." tee hee hee.

ha ha a funny video a friend sent me...

Riot at Urumqi, China

Three people killed, 20 injured.

Read the full BBC news report here.

Chinese floods kill 15, displace 550,000

Torrential rains and floods in southern China have left at least 15 people dead and five missing.

About 550,000 people have been relocated as downpours have destroyed houses, inundated crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow.

In central-southern Hunan Province, eight people died and 140,000 were forced from their homes, according to the provincial flood control office.

In southeastern Fujian Province, five people died and two are missing.

In eastern Jiangxi Province, two people were killed and three others are missing. About 100,000 people had to flee their homes.

In the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 285,800 people were relocated.

Lost in Translation: Putin vs Michael Dell

A humorous post written by a girl named Anna whose blog I've just found through Neeka's Backlog written by a fabulous, passionate, witty, loveable writer (Neeka) that I've been following for some years now (off and on). Neeka also writes for Global Voices.

Anna explains a discourse between Putin and Michael Dell...what was said and what was heard:

Here's an excerpt, but go to Anna's post for more details:

Dell asks the very obviously annoyed Putin: “How can we as an IT sector help you broaden the economy as you move out of the crisis and take advantage of that broad scientific talent you have?”

The simultaneous translation has Putin say this: “We don’t need help. We are not invalids… We don’t have a limited mental capacity.”

He actually said this: “You know, the trick is that you don’t need to help us. We are not disabled. Those who really need help are the poor, one needs to help people who help limited capabilities, one needs to help the retired, one needs to help the developing countries…”

Tee hee hee hee... how many things did I misunderstand when I was there if this is the way that Anna had to translate for the world. Lots and lots of things pierced my soul when the intended meaning may have been completely different.

Or maybe not. We'll never know. To watch the full video go here.

"Afterquake" - Sichuan earthquake music project

More than a year later, we remember the earthquake that killed nearly 90,000 people and displaced millions. Read here to learn more about this project to raise funds and awareness of this tragedy and how its effects are still a dark reality for many. Youth who were relocated far from home are featured, using local music styles and mixing ethnic music with modern sounds. Many have been moved far from their homes to start a new life...

I don't know how to embed videos just yet, so go here to watch a beautiful clip of the story behind the project.There are subtitles in English and I found it very moving.

New Pics of my Molly...

My parents put up a fence behind our house for the dogs...Don't know how much Molly likes it.

The second one is my new desktop background. She looks seeeeepy...poor baby.

"Welcome to Moscow"

"Paranoid, mischievous and heading in the wrong direction, Russia is an awkward prospect for Barack Obama..."

THE last time Barack Obama was in Russia, he and Senator Dick Lugar were detained by border guards for several hours at an airport in the Urals, where they were looking at how American funds were helping to get rid of stocks of dangerous Soviet-era weapons. America’s president has every reason to hope things will go better this time, but that is not setting a very high hurdle for success. Of all the great power relationships Mr Obama inherited from George Bush, Russia is the most awkward—awkward not only because it has been getting ever harder to deal with but also because it cannot be ignored.

Over the past ten years, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, Russia has become more nationalistic, corrupt and corporatist. Its economy, although much bigger than a decade ago, is even more dependent on oil and gas, an industry now controlled by a small group of kleptocratic courtiers and former spies. The decision by Ikea, a well-known Swedish furniture supplier once bullish about Russia, to suspend investment because of graft is an indictment of the dire commercial climate. Its non-energy exports are smaller than Sweden’s. (Read on in the Economist's article here... and another separate article here further exploring the relationship between the US and Russia...)

David, who ducked spears, trusted God, and showed mercy...

A friend of the mission’s, Bruce, came in the other day to speak to us before we started our workday. It was one of those messages that I thought could have just been he and me sitting down instead of to large group of people. It felt like he knew way too much about the way I think and live my life. 

First he showed a BBC clip of a very funny British man who retells Bible stories on this old vhs set of video programs. He set the scene up to the point where David had been running in fear from Saul, who was set out to kill him because he knew that David would be taking over his throne. And Saul was hearing the chants all over Israel “Saul kills by the thousand, David by the ten thousand” (I Sam. 18:9) and growing more and more tormented as the days went by. Then the guy in the clip summarized the scenes between David and Saul that’ve always been sort of humorous to me. One day when Saul’s mood was dark (because God had sent it to him as an affliction), David was playing the harp for Saul. While he was playing, Saul threw a spear at him two times, missing him both times as David ducked out of the way (I Sam. 18:10-11). This happened on another occasion while David was playing the harp again for Saul. This time only one throw and it stuck in the wall, while David got away (I Sam. 19:9-10). 

Saul and the Witch of Endor...

Lately I’ve been thinking some about Saul. A friend came in to our mission office on Friday and shared with us some thoughts from I Samuel 30.

But before I go into those thoughts, I want to share about what I have just been reading a bit before this passage to better understand the context. In I Samuel 28, Saul had gone to the Witch at Endor to seek counsel because he was hearing nothing from God. When he approached her, she thought it was a trap because she knew he had previously banished all mediums from the country (28:9) but then agreed to call on Samuel, who was already dead. When Samuel appeared he asked Saul why he’d disturbed him, and Saul said that he was in deep trouble and asking for advice. Samuel then told him why God has turned away from him and soon would even be giving up the Israelite army to the Philistines.

Saul’s shock in this next moment really hit me. His life was quite a roller coaster (as is mine, I can relate to him!). He was a fighter and so filled with pride and paranoia that it destroyed him. He was back and forth between all extremes of trust and disbelief, of the world and of God. He realized in that moment that Samuel was right. Maybe he even remembered something Samuel had said in their last confrontation some time before: “Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production. Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult. Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors. Because you said No to God’s command, he says No to your kingship.” (I Sam 15:22-23 The Message).

the good samaritan's splagchnos...

This morning at the church where I've been going, a man named Sam Rowan was filling in. He preached on justice and righteousness, drawing from texts both in Micah 6 (v1-8) and Luke 10 (v25-37). Read the passages here: (Micah 6 and Luke 10.) 

what does the LORD require of you

         But to do justice, to love kindness,

        And to walk humbly with your God? (micah 6:8)

Sam talked about the words justice and righteousness and how they're at times interchangeable. In the OT and NT, they were used in the same ways. Righteousness is more often used in modern language to express each person's holy or moral measure. 

Paul Marshall, (whose book "God and the Constitution" is available for read on Google books) talks

why i stopped fighting to make it work...

I think my first burst of posting for this new phase of my life got a little out of hand. Especially the never-ending one about Tiananmen that really could've just been copied off of some informational page found in a google search. It was more for my benefit, I think.  

So I've been thinking about this lately, a little bit. Before I can move forward too far into the future with regards to the possibility of going to Asia, I have to look back some more. What happened, Misty? Why did you stop fighting to make it work out in Russia? That's how I still imagine it. There was never this blatant decision that I'm going to leave Russia. I'm done. I've had it. I just ran out of juice and the other options of trying to stay in the country seemed impossible to me. From that point on it was all survival mode just do what needs to be done next. Then it was time to buy a plane ticket and move on. So that's what I did. Leaving part of my heart in Yaroslavl and moving on to Bulgaria...