Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Anastasia Korosteleva
[REGNUM] On July 28, the country celebrates the Day of the Baptism of Rus'—1,038 years ago, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich made a choice that defined the spiritual and cultural code of Russian civilization.
The holiday coincides with the feast day of Saint Prince Vladimir and has long been celebrated by the Church on July 15th according to the old calendar, or July 28th according to the new calendar. The commemorative date received state status relatively recently: in 2008, the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church proposed this initiative. In 2010, President Vladimir Putin signed a law establishing July 28th as the Day of the Baptism of Rus'.
With the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', solemn services with a special prayer service are held annually on July 28 in all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church. At precisely noon, festive bells ring out across the country. In Moscow, a traditional religious procession was held to the monument to Prince Vladimir on Borovitsky Hill.
This past holiday, this date found expression in the contemporary cultural space: museum projects, diocesan initiatives, and regional agencies harmoniously combined historical narrative with living education.
The main formats of the celebrations were focused on working with generational memory, interregional dialogue, and the adaptation of historical material for a youth audience.
As expected, Moscow became the focal point of the celebrations. The day's program traditionally centered around the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
The Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Assumption Cathedral, after which the faithful walked in a procession to the monument to Saint Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, on Borovitsky Hill. A festive prayer service was held at the monument, after which His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia addressed the congregation.
"On the feast day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince Vladimir, on the Day of the Baptism of Rus', we remember the wondrous transformation of our people and Fatherland. It was then, in the shared baptismal font of the peoples of historical Rus', that the main vector of our millennia-long journey was set," the Primate of the Russian Church emphasized.
He recalled that Rus' was spiritually born in the Dnieper font. "In our difficult times, we especially pray for the unity of Holy Rus', that the plans of those who seek to undermine this unity through internal strife and external threats may be dispelled. The words of this prayer evoke hatred in the enemies of our Fatherland, but we believe that the power of love is stronger than hatred," said His Holiness the Patriarch.
In his address, the head of the Church congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Day of the Baptism of Rus' and the name day of the head of state, whose patron is Saint Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles.
"Your heavenly patron... many centuries ago made a fateful choice—he embraced Christianity. Demonstrating wisdom and courage, political sensitivity and will, he defined a unique model for the development of Rus' for centuries: the Orthodox faith became the defining factor in the moral development of the people, the foundation of our national culture and traditions," His Holiness the Patriarch emphasized.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed gratitude to the country's leader for his attention to the Church's activities, particularly emphasizing the creative importance of the symphony—the joint work of church and state institutions.
Festive services were held on this day in the vast majority of churches and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, both in Russia and abroad.
The culmination of liturgical unity was the festive ringing of bells, which at exactly noon local time resounded throughout the country.
This date has acquired special significance in the place where the history of Holy Rus' began. In Sevastopol, on the grounds of the Tauric Chersonesos Museum-Reserve and the adjacent New Chersonesos Museum and Temple Complex, July 28th traditionally becomes the day of major celebrations: visitors are offered themed tours about the baptism of Prince Vladimir, master classes, craft stalls, and concerts of folk and sacred music held right among the ancient ruins.
This year, the program was expanded with the exhibition "The Godfather," a confessional account of Prince Vladimir's journey to faith. The exhibition opened in the Museum of Christianity (the central part of the museum and church complex) exactly one year ago, on the Day of the Baptism of Rus'.
In St. Petersburg, the festive liturgy, as per tradition, took place beneath the vaults of Prince Vladimir Cathedral on the Petrograd Side—a stone church consecrated in honor of the baptizer of Rus' back in 1789. That evening, the State Museum of the History of Religion hosted a thematic tour, "Now I Have Seen the True God," a special route through the halls of the "History of Russian Orthodoxy" exhibition, conceptually timed to coincide with the holiday.
A less public, yet deeply symbolic parallel was observed in the Nizhny Novgorod region. It was during these days that multi-day religious processions from Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas, Pavlovo, and Gorodets converged on Diveyevo, a monastery revered as the fourth earthly portion of the Mother of God.
Columns of pilgrims, which had set out in mid-July, passed through dozens of villages to arrive at the monastery on the eve of the August celebrations of St. Seraphim of Sarov. This place is inextricably linked with the name of Schema-Nun Alexandra (Melgunova), a noblewoman who radically renounced her former life to found the monastery. Thus, during these July days, two spiritual lines symbolically converged in a single space: the memory of the baptism of an entire people and personal spiritual achievement.
The celebration echoed beyond Russia's borders. In Belarus, the bell rang at noon in all Orthodox churches and monasteries, and in the Novogrudok Diocese, believers continued an ancient tradition by celebrating the Divine Liturgy of Baptism right on the waters of the Neman River.
The modern format of the Day of the Baptism of Rus' naturally extends beyond the confines of the Church. While during the imperial period this day was primarily celebrated through religious processions and charitable initiatives, and during the Soviet era, paradoxically, survived through the protection of architectural monuments and folklore archives, today its meaning is becoming much more multidimensional. It is shaped by the integration of Orthodox aesthetics into contemporary art, broad public initiatives, and a profound rethinking of historical narratives.
[AE] Student loan defaults have surged to 9.2 million borrowers, representing roughly one in every five people with student debt. What is astonishing is the speed of the deterioration. There were approximately 6 million borrowers in default last August. That figure jumped to 7.7 million by December. By April it had reached 9.2 million. Another 3 million borrowers are reportedly at least 90 days delinquent and appear headed in the same direction.
The government suspended reality for years through payment pauses, forbearance programs, and emergency measures that temporarily masked the problem. Now collections have resumed. Wage garnishment is returning and borrowers are once again being confronted with debts that never disappeared. Politicians celebrated the pause as though the crisis had been solved. All they really did was postpone the reckoning.
What nobody wants to admit is that the student loan system became fundamentally broken the moment the federal government guaranteed virtually unlimited lending. Once colleges realized that students could borrow almost any amount with government backing, tuition exploded. Universities had no incentive to control costs. They built lavish facilities, expanded administrations, hired armies of bureaucrats, and continuously raised tuition....
The roots of this disaster go back decades to the Clinton Administration. In 1998, Congress made federally guaranteed student loans virtually impossible to discharge in bankruptcy, and in 2005 that protection was extended to most private student loans as well except under the nearly impossible "undue hardship" standard. At the same time, Washington dismantled the old restraints that once separated commercial banking from investment banking by repealing Glass-Steagall through the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, signed by Bill Clinton in 1999. Wall Street suddenly had access to an endless stream of federally protected student debt that could be packaged, securitized, and sold to investors while taxpayers ultimately carried much of the risk. This was no longer simply about helping students attend college. Education had become another financial product.
Professional education always has been. The mistakes those taking other degrees make is badly overestimating the payout for their investment
Banks could lend aggressively because the debt was uniquely protected, universities could raise tuition knowing the money would always be available, and students were left holding obligations they could rarely escape even through bankruptcy. Washington socialized the risk while privatizing the profits, creating precisely the type of moral hazard that has repeatedly produced financial crises throughout history....
This is why I continue to stress that confidence is the real issue. The student loan crisis is not merely about missed payments. It reflects a growing realization that many of the promises made to younger generations were never realistic. They were told education guaranteed prosperity. They were told debt was an investment. They were told the economy would provide opportunities sufficient to justify the cost. Millions are now discovering otherwise. That loss of confidence has consequences far beyond student loans. It affects housing, family formation, consumer spending, and ultimately the broader economy itself.
Some will go on to invest in training as master plumbers and electricians, or get a job in one of the new factories, then quickly pay off all their loans. The others will vote DSA and take on a side hustle as an Antifa protester. The sorting will go quickly.
#1
End academic indenturing of students. Terminate the student loan program. Fascinating the Marxist running these institutions have no problem exploiting the proletariat.
#4
They are defaulting b/c they have to make payments now.
And they're not making ends meet with those 20th Century European Art History, Philosophy and Gender Studies degrees.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/29/2026 17:50 Comments ||
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#5
Back in the early 80's, as part of my Civil Engineering degree, I was required to take an Arts semester elective. I chose Medieval/Renaissance Art. It was interesting. I nailed the Associate Prof TA a couple times, consensually. Seemed like payback
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/29/2026 19:27 Comments ||
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[IsraelAlma] Why Is There No Place for the Continued Activity of a Foreign Force in Southern Lebanon?
No more UNIFIL is a wonderful idea. All it has ever done is get in the way of Israel punishing Hezbollah.
On 23 July, a Lebanese parliamentary delegation delivered a letter to the Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Lebanon, signed by 86 Members of Parliament, demanding that the continued operation of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon be ensured.
On 24 July, Lebanese President Aoun met with European Union Ambassador Sandra De Waele together with ambassadors and representatives of European and Western countries. During the meeting, Aoun stated that the continuation of UNIFIL’s activity is the preferred option. He added that if the mandate cannot be extended, an alternative force should be established to assist the Lebanese Army in clearing mines and ammunition, clearing the area, and accompanying the implementation of the agreement.
Nearly fifty years after the establishment of UNIFIL, and approximately twenty years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the time has come to recognize reality: the model of a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has failed. Extending UNIFIL’s mandate (as Lebanon seeks) or granting a mandate to a foreign force (as proposed in various European initiatives, foremost among them a French initiative) operating in a framework similar to UNIFIL—even under a different name, with a different composition, or with minor adjustments—is not expected to improve security stability. On the contrary, it is liable to preserve the very failures that enabled Hezbollah to transform southern Lebanon into the most heavily fortified military area constructed within the framework of the Shiite Axis outside Iran.
The problem lies not only in UNIFIL’s performance or in the quality of the forces that have participated in it over the years. The failure is structural. UNIFIL was designed as a peacekeeping force, whereas in southern Lebanon there has never been peace to keep. In the existing reality, in which one of the principal actors is an armed military terrorist organization enjoying Iranian support, possessing independent military power, and operating from within a civilian population contrary to the interests of the Lebanese state, a force such as UNIFIL, which is based on consent, neutrality, and the avoidance of friction, is incapable of achieving its objectives.
Resolution 1701 itself also reflects this gap. The resolution tasks UNIFIL with assisting the Lebanese Army in creating an area free of illegal weapons between the Blue Line and the Litani River, yet it does not grant the force genuine enforcement authorities (such as, first and foremost, acting against Hezbollah under clear rules of engagement, the authority to conduct searches, enter private property, and confiscate weapons).
[YouTube] For over 75 years, the United Nations has deployed Blue Helmets into the world’s most dangerous places — Congo, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, and more — in the name of peace. But time and again, UN peacekeeping forces have found themselves outgunned, under-resourced, and paralyzed by bureaucracy, unable to stop the very violence they were meant to prevent.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[AE] Student loan defaults have surged to 9.2 million borrowers, representing roughly one in every five people with student debt. What is astonishing is the speed of the deterioration. There were approximately 6 million borrowers in default last August. That figure jumped to 7.7 million by December. By April it had reached 9.2 million. Another 3 million borrowers are reportedly at least 90 days delinquent and appear headed in the same direction.
