Sen. John McCain Defends Gays And Pussy Riot In Pravda Op-Ed Column

"I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.

"They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule. [snip] President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness?" - Sen John McCain, responding to Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times.

RELATED: According to Politico, McCain wrote for the wrong Pravda.

The Arizona Republican published his anti-Putin piece on Pravda.ru on Thursday, an English and Russian news website that was founded in 1999. But McCain said he was hoping to publish in the Communist newspaper Pravda, meaning “truth” in Russian, which was founded in 1912. That publication, after being banned when the Soviet Union collapsed, was rekindled and is still circulated by today’s Russian Communist Party. Pravda.ru and the paper are unrelated media outlets, except for the name.

The "wrong" Pravda defends themselves:

We did not want to disclose in advance our agreements with McCain's spokesperson about the publication of his column. In light of recent events, I want to remind everyone that the Soviet Pravda has two successors now: Pravda.Ru and Pravda of the Communist Party. We proved at court that we were the same successor to newspaper Pravda, established in 1912, as the current, low-circulation press body of the Communist Party.

McCain To Pen Op-Ed For Pravda

In response to Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times, Sen. John McCain semi-joked that he'd like to write for Russia's state-owned newspaper, Pravda. Perhaps surprisingly, they said yes.

"If John McCain wants to write something for us, he is welcome," Dmitry Sudakov, the English editor of Pravda tells The Cable. "Mr. McCain has been an active anti-Russian politician for many years already. We have been critical of his stance on Russia and international politics in our materials, but we would be only pleased to publish a story penned by such a prominent politician as John McCain." When The Cable reached the senator's office with the offer, McCain's communications director Brian Rogers responded within minutes. "On the record: Senator McCain would be glad to write something for Pravda, so we'll be reaching out to Dmitry with a submission."

When asked what McCain would write about, McCain's spokesman called Russia a "target-rich environment" and suggested that McCain would write about Russia's history of human rights abuses. Don't hold your breath for any mention of LGBT rights, of course.

Head Of Russian Orthodox Church: Gay Marriage Is A Symbol Of The Apocalypse

Posted to Pravda's official YouTube channel.

(Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

Pravda Denounces Gay Adoption

"I commend Russia for banning all foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children. In the West the legalization of homosexuality has already lead to the destruction of the family unit. Children who have no knowledge of sex are being brainwashed in schools to accept the perversion of homosexual acts as being normal and praiseworthy. To chose someone of the same sex for one's sexual activity is to annul the rich symbolism and meaning, not to mention the goals, of the Creator's sexual design.  Homosexual activity is not a complementary union, able to transmit life; and so it thwarts the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the Gospel says is the essence of Christian living." - Paul Kokoski, writing for Pravda.

RELATED: Kokoski is a Canadian Catholic and writes regularly for anti-gay outfits such as the Washington Times and Alan Keyes' Renew America. In the above-linked article, Kokoski goes on to repeat the lie that gay men die 20 years early as well as many other ugly claims commonly seen on Western religious sites. That Pradva provides a forum to such virulently nasty sentiments is a grim marker of the state of things for LGBT people in Russia.