Vladimir Putin takes part in the plenary session of the XXI annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club.
The main points:
– chaos and systemic crisis are growing in the Western countries themselves;
– greed and the desire for a monopoly on Western power is the real source of all the recent conflicts;
– Western “liberalism” has degenerated into an extreme intolerance of any sovereign and independent thought, for which it is ready to justify even mass genocide;
– Russia has repeatedly stopped those who were eager for world domination, and it will continue to do so.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75521

TRUE LOVE
by
Hafez e Shirazi

True love has vanished from every heart;
What has befallen all lovers fair?
When did the bonds of friendship part?-
What has befallen the friends that were?
Ah, why are the feet of Khizr lingering?-
The waters of life are no longer clear,
The purple rose has turned pale with fear,
And what has befallen the wind of Spring?
None now sayeth: ‘A love was mine,
Loyal and wise, to dispel my care.’
None remembers love’s right divine;
What has befallen all lovers fair?
In the midst of the field, to the players’ feet,
The ball of God’s favour and mercy came,
But none has leapt forth to renew the game-
What has befallen the horsemen fleet?
Roses have bloomed, yet no bird rejoiced,
No vibrating throat has rung with the tale;
What can have silenced the hundred-voiced?
What has befallen the nightingale?
Heaven’s music is hushed, and the planets roll
In silence; has Zohra broken her lute?
There is none to press out the vine’s ripe fruit,
And what has befallen the foaming bowl?

A city where kings are but lovers crowned,
A land from the dust of which friendship springs-
Who has laid waste that enchanted ground?
What has befallen the city of kings?
Years have passed since a ruby was won
From the mine of manhood; they labour in vain,
The fleet-footed wind and the quickening rain,
And what has befallen the light of the sun?
Hafiz, the secret of God’s dread task
No man knoweth, in youth or prime
Or in wisest age; of whom would’st thou ask:
What has befallen the wheels of Time?

finally arrived
at home
on the beaten track

Kahlil Gibran on Joy & Sorrow
from “The Prophet”

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well
from which your laughter rises
was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow
carves into your being,
the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine
the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit,
the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous,
look deep into your heart
and you shall find it is only that
which has given you sorrow
that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful
look again in your heart,
and you shall see that in truth
you are weeping for that
which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater thar sorrow,”
and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits,
alone with you at your board,
remember that the other
is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales
between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty
are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you
to weigh his gold and his silver,
needs must your joy or
your sorrow rise or fall.

Thank you, dear Dimitar, for the lovely poem.