Posts by kaik

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

kaik

JWdaughter, I told my mom not to donate money to WT. She told me that she donates regularly and sometime on assembly she put $100 or more into the donation box. She seldom skips program in the KH where she has a circle of the same age women like her. However, when she is sick and can't walk after surgery until she is healed, she is not attending programs. Her husband is taking care of her right now. Any case, I can't enforce her not to donate, it is her money and I do not control her finances. What pisses me off that elder showed for donation instead asking if she needs help with anything. I know she does not need any help as she has family living within one hour from each other, and her husband is there for her. But I just do not grasp that he will ask her for money and starts to argue with her, and than goes to talk to my sister and tells her that mom has weak faith to Jah.

She told me that one of her friend donated her savings to KH and willed her house to WT after her death. She is one of the woman, single, never married and available after Armageddon. One of the elder recommended that my mom should sell the house and move into studio (and probably donate the rest). I see WT became much greedy and demands more money for its operations.

68

So ... Russia and Nato at war? Should we be worried?

by Simon in

it seems unbelievable but turkey (a nato member state) shooting down a russian jet fighter on their syrian border seems to be "meh" news and no one is too bothered about it too much.. the world seems a bit upside down right now.

i don't think a lot of countries really know who the hell they are fighting and who is and isn't on their side in it all and really what is going on.. smaller incidents than this have led to major conflicts in the past but hopefully calm heads will prevail.

china shot down a us spy plane years ago and the world survived and forgot about it so things will move on i'm sure.. i'm guessing the price turkey pays for their gas supply from russia will be going up soon though.. man, that republican primary is sucking all the news attention from the room.

kaik

Prologos, but this is not war on Russian territory and mean little to average population, because Syria is distant country. While Russia seek out revenge for terrorist bombing of its airplane in Sinai, it has not much to gain to occupy Syria. USA did not gain much with occupation of Iraq, and it was very costly military adventure. The war in Ukraine is far more strategic risk for Russia and much more close. It is in their backyard in territory which Russia consider a birthplace of its nation.

Recession in Russia is a big deal because it will undermine Putin legacy. One has to look what ideology Eastern European have after the fall of communism. I can tell you the primary ideology there from Czech Republic to Russia is to hoard as much of material possession because entire generations were deprived of consumer goods. This region is not Western Europe where Green party ideology and environmentalist movement brainwashed many under 40 that it is nice to be poor/materially challenged, have bicycle instead of car, and live in closet size apartment as it is necessary for the environment. If Russia for prolonged period of time cannot experience steady consumer growth, the ideology of monetary self-gratification will suffer. Cumulative years of negative economic performance will wear down the society. Furthermore, recession had already undermined modernization of Russian armed forces. During the Great Recession in USA, military spending suffered as well. So waging a war in the middle of economic crisis can only impoverish population further.

26

Something nice, non-jw

by FadeToBlack in

i was out with my 4 dogs last night around 10:30 under a bright moon.

it was frosty (-4 c).

i heard some noise in the field behind my house (my backyard is a national forest).

kaik

I know only black adder is poisonous, but they are rare and and protected. I had seen them only twice in my life at the nature, first time with my dad who loved mountains, and second time at bible study mentioned early. I do not like spiders, I was bitten by one, which brought me into hospital. It was yellow sack spider, which is poisonous and its bites are extremely painful. In near Lower Austria, they have about 200 cases per year of this spider bite alone:

The biggest spider we had outside my grandma house were lycosa. It is considered the largest spider in Europe, but is harmless. Last summer I was visited my sister summer house, which is in riparian forest and this spider is there as well. My nephew wanted it to trap it as a pet. It is a size of small mice:

I can live without them. My brother-in-law was bitten by brown recluse spider and he was sick for long time as the wound got infected.

68

So ... Russia and Nato at war? Should we be worried?

by Simon in

it seems unbelievable but turkey (a nato member state) shooting down a russian jet fighter on their syrian border seems to be "meh" news and no one is too bothered about it too much.. the world seems a bit upside down right now.

i don't think a lot of countries really know who the hell they are fighting and who is and isn't on their side in it all and really what is going on.. smaller incidents than this have led to major conflicts in the past but hopefully calm heads will prevail.

china shot down a us spy plane years ago and the world survived and forgot about it so things will move on i'm sure.. i'm guessing the price turkey pays for their gas supply from russia will be going up soon though.. man, that republican primary is sucking all the news attention from the room.

kaik

Russia will not start war with NATO. Russia is much weaker than was USSR. 30 Years ago USSR was vast empire with alliance from Central Europe to China, and many 3rd world countries sympathetic to communist ideas. However, it does not mean than Russia bear is powerless. Putin will balance between idea of great Russia, respected power, and his own ability to sell the war to the nation. Not everyone in Russia is eager for war in distant Syria. However, Russia since the time of Tsars was great strategist by pitting various power houses and alliances against each other. The Great Game in Central Asia with UK is an excellent example.

During the war in Donbas last year, there were several good observations on Putin strategy:

Divide NATO among each other (Poland and Baltic states vs Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia).
Break USA hold upon NATO by supporting politicians sympathetic to Russia (Schroeder is considered German protege of Putin). Today it is closer cooperation with France. France and Russia had deep relationship and after 1917 Paris became destination for Russian emigres.
Weaken democratic principles in the Western countries by supporting parties that are nationalists, anti-american, and ride on widespread dissatisfaction with establishment. In France it is Le Pen, in the Eastern Europe it is support of transformed communist parties. Russia is also influencing parties in Sweden and Finland which are critical of these two countries to ally with NATO.

One major issue Russia faces at this moment is recession. It is going on for a while and there is a little signs that it will get better. Some estimates put cumulative losses of Russian GDP to be 15% by 2017 which will be one of the deepest recession in Russia since 1992. There are no indication that oil prices will rise, so entire economic performance during Putin reign will be whipped out by crisis and inflation.

When it comes to Syria, I had mentioned that Russian involvement will change very little with bombing campaign without ground deployment. Asad will never recover to control entire Syria. His troops barely hold 20% of the territory. Additionally, Russia, France, USA are fighting ideology, not specific state entity, so any victory is very illusive for anyone.

21

I have noted many threads and posts on political inclinations....

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

which i think is great, since as witnesses we never displayed any political inclinations.. but whilst political alligence means we are taking on new values, we are once again subject to trusting what the leaders say, and subject to propaganda from the media.. personally i see the irony of this situation, and must confess to being very skeptical, about supporting any political party.

in fact i am glad as a witness i abstained from voting, because i believe history has shown the vote that would have shaped my conscience would have been misplaced.. anyway how convinced are you of your new political views?.

the rebel..

kaik

I noticed here that many Americans are hard core GOP supporters, and will relentlessly attack you (it happens to me here all the time) to be ultra-liberal if I disagree with them. I am very much centrist, and I do see political parties as a joke. I am not a member of any party. In USA anyone can find its own party, in totalitarian regime, the party finds you.

68

So ... Russia and Nato at war? Should we be worried?

by Simon in

it seems unbelievable but turkey (a nato member state) shooting down a russian jet fighter on their syrian border seems to be "meh" news and no one is too bothered about it too much.. the world seems a bit upside down right now.

i don't think a lot of countries really know who the hell they are fighting and who is and isn't on their side in it all and really what is going on.. smaller incidents than this have led to major conflicts in the past but hopefully calm heads will prevail.

china shot down a us spy plane years ago and the world survived and forgot about it so things will move on i'm sure.. i'm guessing the price turkey pays for their gas supply from russia will be going up soon though.. man, that republican primary is sucking all the news attention from the room.

kaik

Russia does not have sufficient resources to threaten Turkey due ongoing recession, war in Ukraine, and international isolation. Capital is leaving Russia, and their reserve funds will be depleted by next summer with present rate of deterioration in economic condition. So Russia has to balance its involvement in Syria with uncertain outcome. I still do not think Russia has as much to maneuver, but it does not mean Turkey will not experience its revenge. The biggest gain Russia can achieve from Turkish humiliation is to undermine its ethnic balance by supporting Kurdish separatists. Russians are also top business and tourist partners of Turkey. Additionally, Putin can try put some NATO countries like France against Turkey.

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

kaik

JWDaugher, it is pointless to write anything because elder will deny it, and I was not there to back it up.

Makemeunbeliever, and avatar has do to with my mom how?

Lovesjehovah, so elder come out of the way to see my mom and ask her for donation just on his own initiative? Right!

Stuckinarut2, problem is that she does not want to see TATT. She is too old and it will kill her social life, and I am not sure if she would be denied an access to her grandchildren from my other siblings. I think she knows WT is lie, but in her age (she is 79), it really does not matter to her anymore.

Irish Dame, thanks, Hope all is good with your mom now. Nobody expected that my mom would pick infection in hospital and she allergic to most of antibiotics.

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

kaik

ShirleyW, I am totally out. Problem is that I live in another country and I can do so much over the distance. However, entire my family is in WT cult, my siblings, cousins, my mom's relatives (three-four generations), and now my niece is studying to become JW. So, it is hard to be critical to WT in front of them, and my mom is worried to lose connection with extensive family. One of my cousin shun her -his own aunt- probably because of me.

I know my mom donates a money to WT all the time, somewhere between $5 to $20 per week. Since she is not attending KH due complication after surgery (hip and knee), she is not donating anything. However, she is going through rehab right now to get better. Many people in her KH thinks she is well off because of me. Last summer elderette told her that she is cheap, because she is not donating enough.

I only find out that she was pissed off from my niece, and when I inquired she told me what happened. The elder came for donation (and report card on hours studied) and cared less about her physical well-being. While Czech Republic has universal healthcare, it does not cover everything, and outpatient care and rehab is paid upfront by cash, including shots which cost well several hundreds dollars per course of treatment. So when she told the elder that she does not have money to give him at that moment; he said that she had very weak faith to Jah, which started the argument. He went to complain to my sister who lives about one hour away.

In last email from her, she told met that people at the apex of the WT organization are not much better than medieval bishops and royalty who lived from work of others. Like in medieval times, royalty traveled from castle to castle to feed off from local population; the overseer is living off by visiting one congregation after another. Also she refuses cooking out for his wife. Once they prepared meal for her, my mom is excellent baker and wife complained that women at her KH did not provided tasty meal. The KH paid them meals and dinners in the most expensive restaurants in the city where only business elite go. So from the point onward, she is does not want to do anything with snobby wife.

I will talk to my family over the weekend, so I will post more.

26

Something nice, non-jw

by FadeToBlack in

i was out with my 4 dogs last night around 10:30 under a bright moon.

it was frosty (-4 c).

i heard some noise in the field behind my house (my backyard is a national forest).

kaik

FadeToBlack, was it black adder snake or how we called in Czech zmije? 20+ years ago, I used to conduct a study with this young family, and we became good friends. They invited me to their summer dacha outside Prague, where we talked about Bible and JW life, when this black adder decided to be a part of the study group and rolled out from the near by pile of the woods into the stone patio where we sit. The woman got so scared that she picked an axe and hacked the snake to pieces. I was kinda sad, because it was a beautiful animal. I am glad your snake is doing fine, at least you do not have a rat, mice, or rodent problem.

26

Something nice, non-jw

by FadeToBlack in

i was out with my 4 dogs last night around 10:30 under a bright moon.

it was frosty (-4 c).

i heard some noise in the field behind my house (my backyard is a national forest).

kaik

I live in the city in heavily populated area, so I do not get many big animals around. However, last summer, I heard my cat going ballistic in his favorite room, like being scared of something. I get to the window to see what is outside, peak my head out and there was right under the window a huge male buck with antlers feeding on my plants. So, I am inside the house, with opened window and the buck lift his head and towers over me from outside. We both froze, but my neighbor so him and scares the animal away. I still do not know where it came from, but my kitty was so scared that he hid under the bed for several days.