by Ghassan and Intibah Kadi for the Saker Blog
A tug-of-war game in Europe has been a strong feature of dramatic events in the region and further afield ever since the Roman Empire plus the Church split up. Which was the cause and which was the effect is subject to debate, but the split was much deeper than one that was political; the spiritual aspect of it is not to be overlooked.
The authors are not experts on this aspect of history and will therefore not dwell too much, but it suffices to say that Catholic Easter can come before Passover, even though Jesus celebrated Passover before His Crucifixion. But this anomaly does not happen in the Julian Calendar that the Orthodox Church adheres to till today; and the Orthodox community doesn’t shy away from presenting this contradiction in the Georgian Calendar that Catholicism follows.
But this article is not about the over millennium-and-a-half-old disagreement between the Western and Eastern Churches. It is about the current rift between Russia and Western Europe.
But to what extent does much of the current rift find its roots in religion? No region in the world has in recent times experienced the repercussions of this ancient divide as much as the Balkans when the former federation of Yugoslavia split, on Catholic/Orthodox religious lines, that ironically bear a huge resemblance to the borders between those of the Roman and the Byzantine Empires. The exploitation of potential cracks in the two main spheres of Islam by the Western power-block, along with its useful non-Western allies, is not to be discounted. It is easy to apply a simplistic view of the divide of the East and West upon such criteria alone, but religious difference always plays an important role, albeit psychologically. In Europe, historical factors also include that of the influence of the Ottoman Empire, the conversion of many East Europeans to Islam, divisions within the Western Church resulting in drastic conflicts and, fast forward to the much later phenomenon of the Soviet era and the lasting implications of its legacy in neighbouring countries, then the picture becomes more complex.
No matter what is said by those countries that Russia had influence over in the post-World War II period, there is no excuse for their denial of the fact that that it was Russia, albeit under the banner of the Red Army, that liberated all of Eastern Europe, including former East Germany and all of Berlin from the Nazis. Among the allies in WWII, Russia made the biggest sacrifices, more sacrifices than all of those of the allies combined, losing tens of millions of its people, with estimates reaching up to forty million. No other nation came close to this calamitous human loss; not even Germany itself.
Yet, Russia is denied all of the accolade in winning the fight against Nazi Germany. Was it its communist USSR status that turned it into the underdog in Western written history or, was it its Orthodox heritage juxtaposed to that of a powerful-global reaching Vatican and also a ‘Christian West’, intent on subduing and dominating, all with the trappings of grabbing resources and spoils?
Clearly, Western Europe, no matter what facts on the ground exist, seems intent on expressing, in public at least, an incurable sense of apprehension, mythology and propagation of fiction when it comes to Russia. Add to this a European obedience to the dictates of America and its power-brokers in attempts to cripple Russia with sanctions, an obedience mostly gained through threats of negative consequences and blackmail if not adhered to. Not only is this broad-spectrum demonization, at least publicly, expressed by European politicians and its so-called ‘elites’, but also among most of the population of Western Europe.
One of the authors often uses popular songs of the West and their lyrics to express specific mental mindsets in certain blocks of time and space. In 1980, British musician, Sting, wrote a song titled Russians. It was meant to be a message of peace in which Sting wondered, with obvious sympathetic sarcasm, about the state of anti-Russia propaganda, and whether some people in the West regarded Russians as robotic communist mindless machines and questioned if they loved their children like all other humans. The lyrics exemplify the popular perceptions in the West of the people and nation of Russia, even to the extent that they would ask such a bizarre question about the love of children.
And, despite the changes in Russia since the dismantling of the Soviet Union which is what the West planned for, and the emergence during the Yeltsin period of ‘bandit capitalism’ – as if that doesn’t exist elsewhere- the negative perceptions persisted, and to add to that, a palpable sense of glee at the chaos and collapse occurring in Russia. Some say, Yeltsin was wracked with guilt later on and ensured a leader who could pull the country out of this disaster; Vladimir Putin, tripping up the West’s plan with many future surprises in store. To this day, the eyes of the Western public are re-directed from any ills that their own powers may be involved in and sharply turned towards this convenient ‘bogey-man’. There was no Hollywood spin to show a ‘rehabilitated’ Russia as Putin quickly turned things around after the Yeltsin period, restoring the nation and the Federation to one of healthy self-esteem, pride, strength and a resolve to regain its place in the world, gradually rendering what the West had seen as a great ‘coup’ over Russia, to a victory that backfired.
Those in the West are at a loss to accurately elaborate on the actual cause of the current escalation with Russia and, that is because the facts don’t stack up in their favour in the honesty box when it comes to manufacturing conflict. Their exploitation of any religious divide has to an extent been successful, but more so about ensuring the encircling of Russia with hostile nations or turning around some governments of traditional Orthodox allies. There is no racial based explanation to the escalation and history of it other than Russian culture being generally one of inclusiveness and diversity, something the West has failed in and in fact abused. Russia, an old culture with at least one thousand years of existence in a paradigm of interdependence with diverse cultures and ethnicities, spanning a massive section of the largest continent that reaches the Black, Caspian, Baltic, Bering Seas, those to the north and east, and all the way to the North Pacific Ocean; how can modern day Europe and the West compare to that?
For the old West, Europe, now mostly gathered into the entity known as the EU, their animosity cannot be explained by unresolved issues with the old Soviet Union. Nor can it be based on beliefs of clear and present dangers and threats posed by the existence of Russia. EU leaders are surely cognisant of the fact that it was NATO that broke the agreement between Gorbachev and the West and that NATO incrementally has been intimidating and threatening Russia’s security by positioning missiles in former Warsaw Pact nations, encircling Russia, and long before Russia made any attempts to counteract such measures. EU leaders, for various reasons, put aside reality and rationality and the known fact that peace and stability in Europe can only exist or have any potentiality if it is based on a mutual European understanding that Russia must be included. EU leaders clearly know, but never state it, that it is the USA that is coercing them to make a stand against their own regional and economic interests and to take actions against Russia; not the other way around as stipulated by their national interests as they claim.
When it comes to the crunch, it is the manipulation by America, a power that aimed and succeeded for some decades in creating itself as a unipolar, all-reaching, global power, one which called the shots on anything and everything and had under its control the vanquished nations that lost out in WWII. When Europe organized itself into a union, it became far easier for America to have almost the entire sub-continent under its boot. It could not have achieved this without the demonization of Russia and re-writing of history for the consumption of the West and all under its tutelage. Just like we have witnessed over time with the ‘Empire Wars’, the strategy of co-opting into a hybrid war format Hollywood and all media has played a crucial role in building a world-wide narrative of America as the ‘world policeman’, ‘saviour’ and ‘leader of the free-world’, when in reality it played the role of raider, pirate and predator, sharing spoils with some of its more powerful ‘allies’ who in effect were nations with little sovereignty or ability to make any crucial decisions of their own.
Last but not least, from the unpragmatic military position, EU leaders know, but under duress ignore the fact that Russia has recently developed state-of-the-art hypersonic weapons that their NATO status and alliance with the USA cannot protect them against. They know that should an escalation materialize between NATO and Russia; such weapons can be used and the outcome possibly devastating for the EU itself. EU nations and, NATO as a whole, know for a fact that a war on European soil with Russia is totally and utterly unwinnable by them. Even without deploying any of the many weapons President Putin announced to the world during his famous speech of March the 1st 2018, a conventional war between the two sides gives Russia the benefit of depth of field and number of troops. Such is the hold on these nations that they act as if in denial of the obvious. What do they stand to gain? Or, is it about harm minimization under the yoke of America? And, what does Europe in particular, expect to gain from provoking or partaking in the provoking of war over Ukraine?
Again, in the usual twisting of facts, the Western media busy themselves in the post-Trump era in portraying Russia as the culprit that is escalating the crisis in Ukraine. If Russia is left with no alternative to act, deciding it must engage militarily, it is not going to be either influenced or intimidated by Western ‘fake news’. It will act based on the facts on the ground, and whatever Russia decides to do or not do, the Western media and leading figures will portray Russia as the transgressor and aggressor, and as we have recently witnessed from Biden himself, ramp up the rhetoric such as calling the President of a world power, President Putin, ‘a killer’.
Without the benefit of a crystal ball, either the situation will escalate to a level that leaves Russia with no other alternative than taking measures similar to those it took in Chechnya and Georgia, or that Ukraine will back off. The former scenario seems more likely unless the superior style of Russian diplomacy that specializes in win-win deals can find a solution. However, the current threat regarding Ukraine surely is for Russia where the line in the sand is to be drawn. Should matters descend to the irreconcilable, even though Russia is certain to score military victory, it will most definitely be subjected to more Western sanctions than the ones it is already under. No doubt, in such an event of ever more imaginative and diabolic sanctions imposed, it will draw Russia ever closer to allies the West does not approve of and new systems which the West has monopolized, will be overridden and rendered ineffective in bringing Russia to its knees.
As for the ever creeping ‘naughty puppy’ syndrome of NATO pushing its presence in Eastern Europe one inch at a time after the breakup of the USSR, all the way from feigning reasons for missiles stationed in Eastern Europe as safeguarding the EU from Iranian missiles, to inciting and coercing former Warsaw Pact nation members to join NATO, deploying more troops in the EU, blatant support for the Ukrainian Nazis, Russia has reciprocated in measured ways. Yes, it did retake Crimea from Ukraine, but this was done within a referendum-based democratic process. Russia may have to bite the dangerous bullet and offer the persecuted regions of Ukraine the same option. Afterall, Russia’s stand in Syria in 2015 at the request of the Syrian government, has clearly signaled that the unipolar 1990’s style ‘New World Order’ is over and that there cannot be any turning back.
Russia’s patience, perseverance and confidence in superior, win-win diplomacy in time will be widely regarded with respect by the rest of the world, even quietly by the EU leaders. It is the EU leaders who will not come to the party because they are hostage to many traps and hence, it is extremely unlikely, if not impossible, given the bind they find themselves in, that they will respond to reason, diplomacy or act in their best interests. Unlike the decades America in particular has had to install or hijack institutions and conjure up scams to place ‘rules’ on the world, Russia is not yet in a strong enough financial position to implement some of its own ‘rules’ to protect her interests. No nations should be able to do this in a manner that adversely affects other nations, whether through ‘rules’, sanctions, scams or monopoly and other tools that kill without a bullet being fired or bombed dropped. These and other strategies and tactics have come predominately from a nation in a general decline; one that boasts a huge fleet of ten aircraft carriers, countless world-wide bases and almost a trillion-dollar annual war budget; the American war machine nonetheless is a technological dinosaur in comparison to the slick and advanced Russian counter-part.
On the big geo-political level; (1) what keeps America in a position of power today is its power of the petro-dollar based global economy and all that comes with it, including control of the SWIFT-based monetary international transactions without which goods cannot be bought, sold and paid for on the international market; (2) in realistic economic sense however, it is China that is approaching the global lead if it hasn’t already at least in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, and (3) in terms of military hardware superiority, it is Russia that leads the world in this.
In regards to the current ‘crisis’ and a possible showdown over Ukraine, Russia surely cannot have concerns over its military capacity to deal with any action. However, unless Russia has been able to safe-guard its economy, quarantining it as much as possible from being affected by further Western sanctions, then any escalation should not leave Russia subject to any intimidatory Western repercussions. The further the West pushes, the closer Russia will co-operate with China, whether that is driven on a voluntary basis or has arisen out of necessity, and, in such a rapidly changing global environment, that decision of Russia is understandable and pragmatic, providing China stays solidly by the side of Russia.
Two existential threats are what Russia (Putin and the Military) focus on.
The threat to the citizens of Donbass, 600,000+ who hold Russian passports.
The threat to Russian national security by Ukraine+NATO (US).
Nothing else, not NS-2, not SWIFT, not sanctions to persons or corporations, matters.
The gun to the head of people and the gun to the head of Russia as a sovereign state are all that matters.
And, thus, if necessary, at some point, the Russians will use whatever means necessary, and by surprise, to nullify both threats.
Ukraine as a permanent nazi threat will be destroyed.
NATO as a permanent threat will be grossly diminished.
It doesn’t matter why the West hates Russia.
Russia could care less. They care about their national security and the safety of their people.
Russia doesn’t even care if it is deliberate or a misjudgment that starts a war.
They will win it and the result will be:
Ukraine as a permanent nazi threat will be destroyed.
NATO as a permanent threat will be grossly diminished.
should events transpire as you surmise from a usa internal perspective the results will be by 2022
1. secular trend of rapidly rising inflation in to 2024-5…supply chain destruction all the way down the line
2. precious metals moving higher lead by silver, collectibles, land, non urban real estate (these trends already underway for over a year)
3. increasing urgency to get out of all government debt…a precursor to how currency dies in a non commodity based money environment
4. creeping totalitarian moves by the federal government as its competency and legitimacy begin to implode from greater public doubt (i refer to the great larger public not those attuned to the fairy tales for years now)
5. the potential for a selloff in the larger markets or even a rise as money leaves public assets for private ones in a flood
6. the msm will have an increasingly inverse effect on promoting the official story…. the price for crying wolf over and over then proven to be bullshit
Inflation, jobs nr etc everything is rigged in the US since more or less 2001. They said in a Senate hearing that they ”lost” the trace of a few trillions. Imagine another normal country ‘loosing” trillions.
They probably are in the quadrillion of debts, but who cares? Zombie Biden is printing like crazy. One thing China and Russia should absolutely do is to stop buying US Treasuries once and for all. China sell the trillion of T Bonds they hold, that will calm down Uncle Sam quickly.
I have wondered myself about all this that you are saying, and in my mind, I am wondering what your thoughts are on the following idea: What if: Russian does militarily as it says it will: destroys Ukraine and safeguards its Russian speaking people in the two breakaway republics, and if importantly, at the very beginning of its operations says quite clearly that it is done with this pipeline?
Will this be any worse than taking it on the chin from those who are running Biden?
After all, Lavrov has said clearly that Russia is done with the EU. What does this actually mean? Putin has made careful statements to Merkel and Macron — particularly Merkel — about their legal responsibility to move forward on the Minsk Agreement, which they obviously are not doing, and so I wonder if Russia should just simply relieve itself of the responsibility of Nordstream, and do so right at the beginning of its military operations.
If, as Pepe suggests, and which makes sense to me, and which you reiterate quite clearly here, the idea is to pin the responsibility on Russia, it seems to me this would clearly place the loss of this pipeline squarely in the EU’s (Merkel’s) backyard — and no matter how many lies the US tells, the facts are obvious for all to see. And these facts can be made very apparent if all the conversations, verbatim, and etc. are put out there at the time military operations are begun.
Russia has always stated clearly that she will take care of her interests first — and that this was her reason for going into Syria, etc., and I believe it is completely right that she should do so, particularly now. IMO, now is not the time for Russia to ‘save the world’, but in fact she may actually do so by saving herself!
The US is being destroyed — today we have Biden going after the guns — as he uses the Hegalian dialect to begin to take them — create a problem and then provide the solution. An innocent doctor, his wife and a couple grandchildren (I think) had to lose their lives in order that the problem is very clear to US citizens — and I think they are being ‘had’, once again.
They have no idea what real leadership is with a government that provides little more that ’emotional’ zingers in debates — two minutes response in a debate permits nothing more to occur, and the press jumps on these statements with great joy! C’mon!!! Well, I think now is not the time for me to unload my thoughts.
[Could it be that Gaetz is being targeted (it’s always sexually) because he’s becoming a powerful individual? And look at Florida, is it Ted Cruz who says no masks..passport/? required, and suddenly a hazardous lake in Florida becomes extremely dangerous? They will stop at nothing!]
Anyway, your thoughts on this, please.
joanie, pardon my replying. it appears the world is at a moment in time where clarity emerges from all the obfuscation that is generally associated with foreign policy and public statements from high officials
normally in my lifetime of 72 years all i have ever seen from government was half truths and lies which 99% of the time works well enough and no one cares or expects anything different.
every once in a while a moment arrives in this case because the west has backed russia into a corner from which they are allowed only a single response……..100% brutal unvarnished honesty.
i doubt the west even grasps they have placed russia into a place where ONLY being forthright and let the chips fall where they may is the only outcome…. but that is my read of events today
the shock imo will be with the west who live by and for dissembling.
for putin now…. direct honesty is his only choice and the shock to those who lie for a living will be epic!
Xi’s very recent conversation with Merkel – the verbatim conversation from the Chinese official news agency.
Link – http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-04/07/c_139864970.htm
Mod.
Xi’s Historic Call to Merkel: Free Yourself From Washington, Help Us Build A New World
Merkel is in the middle — and has some tough decisions to make. Either way, I think she is done.
I recall last fall and article which I thought was spot on: Those running the US feel they are so deeply imbedded everywhere on the planet, that they can’t be stopped — even if everything ‘crashes’. This concept of their power is how I think they have entrapped so many.
You may not agree with me — very likely not, but I think Russia under Putin has always been honest. Putin does not lie, and people don’t know what to do with that fact. They are so used to people lying – Listen to the lengthy two-part video about Putin. The first is his childhood, no silver platter that, and the second is about his Presidency. I realize many people do not find it easy to read the translation underneath, but since I was in Europe in the late 50s and went to the theater/kino where I saw the Nuremberg trials I began to learn to do this . . . and yes, I am quite a bit older than you are :) I will post a link . . . then watch Crimea the Way home. . . This is more difficult to watch, but it states the truth — the horror, clearly, in enactments of what Crimea went through to free itself from Ukraine. Look Putin in the eye, forget what you have been told, and tell me he is a liar! If you watch nothing more than the story of Putin’s life, you will likely be able to understand the depth of his personhood.
I was surprised to read brilliant Michael Hudson’s statement seemingly accepting the church’s — seemingly — innocent statement that those people with the money would simply go underground — not a naive/innocent statement at all, I think.
Yes, we are at the end of an Age, and things are clearly coming to a head.
Removed. Joanie, please post your comment in the Cafe where it can be read and video’s watched by other commenters. The cafe is for all off-topic comments – it will be welcome there. Please stay on topic under this post. Thx. Mod.
“[Could it be that Gaetz is being targeted (it’s always sexually) because he’s becoming a powerful individual? And look at Florida, is it Ted Cruz who says no masks..passport/? required, and suddenly a hazardous lake in Florida becomes extremely dangerous? They will stop at nothing!]”
No particular fan of Gaetz, but my thoughts exactly. In a related note, look at what the NFL is doing to disgruntled QB Deshaun Watson, who seems to be a relatively stand up guy in all respects by most public accounts previously. Comes out and flat out refuses to play for a team (Houston Texans) that he’s under mega-contract to, indirectly alleging multiple racial improprieties, and VOILA! At last count at least a dozen sexual assault civil charges and now one criminal charge added in too. Needless to say, his trade or free agent value has completely dried up and sponsors are dropping him left and right. I don’t normally sympathize with these overpaid prima donnas, but its pretty obvious that he’s pissed off the wrong people and he’s being #MeToo’d as retribution.
This is off-topic. Please take to the cafe. Any further will go to trash. Mod.
I believe that the religious aspect of the matter can be summarized as follows:
Russia didn’t prosper at the expense of the rest of the planet. Messianic fanaticism and the urge to genocide are hence not ingrained into Russian ”spiritual values”. Western Christianity, by contrast, was institutionalized greed, which was inevitably bound to give rise to imperialist evil ideology and practices, as the bloody horrors of the Crusades showed convincingly. The rest is history.
I, for one, honestly think it’s very good that the West keeps up its anti-Russian psychosis. What I always used to fear was that some sweet-talking Zionazis could succeed in catching Russia unawares, but at the rate things are going the Zionazi West has evidently and irretrievably lost any ability to produce anything but confessed swine, scum, and imbeciles. Putin’s March 1st speech showed irrefutably that things are going in the right direction.
As regards the Ukronazis and their Greek Catholic ”church”, they stand out as the most worthless Western bootlickers on the planet. Will soon go extinct as ”Ukraine” depopulates both due to mass migration and due to abysmal birth stats. The brave Ukros deeply yearned for ”European values” and, boy, did they get ”European values”!
“And, what does Europe in particular, expect to gain from provoking or partaking in the provoking of war over Ukraine” ? Answer: Nothing.
What is the EU ? It is a banker created entity, whose task is to curtail the sovereign status of European countries. Both the EU and US are banker controlled. The bankers will force the EU to back a potential Ukrainian attack against the Donbass. How will the EU respond ? By fully obeying, by partially obeying or by rejecting such demands ? We shall see. It will depend on the reactions of individual European countries. In such a situation the chief factor is Germany. In 2014 Merkel accepted anti-Russian sanctions, while at the same time 500 German businessmen went to Russia, openly negotiating trade agreements and opening subsidiaries, which currently employ more than 140.000 Russians. Then, of course, we have NS2, which every German businessman wants to see completed.
A for the US, it ” … boasts a huge fleet of ten aircraft carriers, countless world-wide bases and almost a trillion-dollar annual war budget; the American war machine nonetheless is a technological dinosaur in comparison to the slick and advanced Russian counter-part”.
Yes, the US war machine is a dinosaur. The US has approximately 800 combat bases and 300 supply bases. How much do they cost to maintain ? According to analysts, the US Military Budget is, in reality, between 1.1 and 1.5 trillion dollars a year. Where does the bulk of that money go ? Into whose pockets ? As for aircraft carriers, I believe the official number is 11, not 10. However, what is the aircraft carrier today ? It is becoming a white elephant, assuming the same status battleships acquired in the Second World War, namely being out of date. They are becoming easy targets for the latest Russian high tech, which is constantly improving. In 2015 when Russia intervened in Syria, firing it’s Kalibr cruise missiles, the shocked US Navy pulled its operational aircraft carrier from the Eastern Mediterranean. The shocked face of the US Navy’s Press Officer was a joy to behold. As for the petro-dollar, it’s days are coming to an end, compliments of Russia and China, which have begun to trade in domestic currencies. Both have also been accumulating gold for years, waiting for the appropriate moment to introduce gold backed currencies.
The US, no doubt, is watching this, and this explains the animosity Washington has for both Russia and China. It also explains the current situation in the Donbass, the US pushing Ukraine into war against Russia, so that Russia could be accused of aggression, while at the same time hoping for domestic reactions in the country, especially during the September Parliamentary elections. Washington would like to see Guaido type liberals take the Russian Parliament, which is laughable wishful thinking. What the Wall Street bankers did in 1917, financing the Bolshevik “revolution”, can never again be replicated, no matter what kind of names and excuses are used.
And finally, ” … The further the West pushes, the closer Russia will co-operate with China”. Yes, that is true. The US tried the old divide and conquer tactic with both countries. The tactic failed. Both countries have become great pals, attracting others. The more Washington tramples, the weaker it becomes, turning countries away from its self.
The economic aftermath of a conflict can be really harsh for Russia. Gref, the Sberbank chairman, found that setting up an alternative to Swift was “too costly”. This is the kind of head that would hopefully get the chop should a state of emergency have to be declared. There is still a very powerful pro-Western “liberal” faction in government and other positions of influence (including influence being secured through bribery). So a crisis could provide an opportunity to effectively drain the swamp.
Jean-Marie L.
First time I have read that a Russian alternative to Swift was “too costly”. I believe that this Russian alternative has already been prepared, waiting to be installed should the US introduce additional sanctions.
A lot of things that seemed too costly to contemplate no longer feel that way after the profligate COVID spending.
UBI? Maybe. Set up an independent alternative to SWIFT? Why not?
….”(1) what keeps America in a position of power today is its power of the petro-dollar based global economy and all that comes with it, including control of the SWIFT-based monetary international transactions without which goods cannot be bought, sold and paid for on the international market;”
And this is exactly why the nations of the world MUST develop their very own “go it alone”, completely independent economies. In other words, all the things that the citizenry of a nation wants or needs should be produced WITHIN that nation’s borders, BY that nation’s citizenry, not by imported slaves.
After that lofty, “go it alone” goal is accomplished, nations can very carefully negotiate so-called trade agreements with each other which would entail, essentially, the bartering of product-for-product (for example, a certain amount of oil for a certain amount of oats; bananas for tvs, etc.) without the use of any nation’s “money”, not even gold (unless nations decide to go back to an exchange/transfer of physical gold to “settle” accounts, which IMO would still be inferior to the system of barter).
In our era of instantaneous long-distance communication, including audio-with-live-video communication, it would be very easy for each party in a trade of goods to verify that the amount and quality of contracted goods is in fact what the two parties originally stipulated. Minor disputes can likely be easily settled during the same contact. If the disputes cannot be resolved to the mutal satisfaction of the parties, the trade of goods can be canceled and the goods returned to their respective origins.
“Money” or “currency” should be for domestic use only, by the nation that creates it, not for international trade. I think history, especially the recent history of the USD and the Fed that prints it out of thin air, has more than amply demonstrated why such a new arrangement must come into being. In short, if this isn’t done, humanity itself is done.
In the face of any major conflict potential it never harms to take a step back and look at the converging threads that feed into the situation, beginning with a spiritual, religious basis was interesting. A method anyhow that can only help to diffuse tensions and bring the possibility of clarity.
If guns fire, wait till the mainstream media starts reporting and the propaganda ramps up, then the pace will heat up.
Great article, thanks to the authors. The final sentence is pivotal, more thoughts on this would be welcome.
It is the mindset of EU and Eastern European citizens that make US so powerful. In their minds, shaped by TV, films, etc. America is a superior realm. Look at Serbia, they have been bombed by US, and they still dream about American way of life.
Marko
Correction: Serbs do not dream of the “American way of life”, but would rather see some aspects of the West European way of life. The chief cultural influence in Serbia came from Austria, France and Britain. And yes, Serbs like to watch US movies. However, they are not infantile enough to accept every aspect of what they see in those movies.
The chief cultural influence in Serbia has never been neither Austrian nor British.
For 500 years we were part of the Rum Millet of the Ottoman empire under the religious authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. As the EP was run by Greeks, our religion is/was Orthodox and our culture is/was Hellenic.
Re western influence, there was a brief rapprochement with the French after WWI, which is now completely gone.
Serbian girl
That is correct. Yes, Serbian culture was always Hellenic. However, my mistake that I did not express myself correctly. When I stated Austrian, French and British influence, I meant influence from the West, taking for granted that the Hellenic influence was the chief influence. The Austrian and French influence was predominant in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.The British influence was minor as compared to the Austrian and French, to be found in the 20th century overall. Today the Austrian and French influences have disappeared. The Anglo-Saxon influence can be found, but it is not as great as some people think.
“But to what extent does much of the current rift find its roots in religion?”
Can the ongoing, totally irrational, (self-) destructive confrontation, by deluded messianic leaders, be described as anything else but a religious war?
The enemy tries hard to disguise their true nature. They define themselves in secular terms eg. NATO/ EU/ “The West”. Their dogmatic hatred is presented as a moral quest for “Rule of law” and “human rights” ..
Regarding Passover
“Annas and Caiaphas took advantage of Herod’s displeasure at Jesus’ silence to renew their charges. Among others they brought forth the following: Jesus had called Herod a fox, and for a long time He had been labouring to overthrow his whole family; He wanted to establish a new religion, and He had already eaten the Passover yesterday. This last accusation had been lodged with Caiaphas at the time of Judas’ treason, but some of Jesus’ friends had brought forth writings to show that that was allowed under certain circumstances”
From ‘The Complete Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich’
From the same:
“Nicodemus and Joseph were then called to explain how it happened that they had allowed Jesus to eat the Pasch in a supper room belonging to the last named. Having taken their places before Caiaphas, they proved from written documents that the Galileans, according
to an ancient custom were permitted to eat the Pasch one day earlier than the other Jews.”
Poroshenko was a very rich man. Ze is not.
Money is a great motivator. And the ﹰAmericans use it as its been their tool of coercion for decades to get what they want. Ze has been bribed to up the ante by corrupt ﹰBiden who has had corrupt dealings in ﹰUkraine himself when he was vp.
The ﹰAmericans tried unsuccessfully to bribe tanker captains to redirect oiltankers carrying Iranian oil to alternate ports where they could be seized.
It now seems in a past life that millions of on the left were marching in protest in the lead up to the US invasion of Iraq. How is it now these same people seem oblivious to or mostly enthusiastically in support of a US led confrontational military posture toward Russia and China. Nor a sign of moral objection to the brutal sanctions against so many already crippled nation’s and people.
My fellow Americans have succumbed to a continuous stream of mass media propaganda on a level that is truly Orwellian. The result is, the American left hates and fears Putin. They are fine with the persecution of Assange. They see Assad, Maduro, and Ortega as demonic tyrants that take pleasure in killing civilians. They fall asleep at the mention of Libya, Cuba, Yemen or Palestine, and believe that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They see Xi Jinping as a soulless leader of a tech world conquering robotic army straight out of James Bond.
I don’t know what it will take to get the American people to finally realize what a menacing role the US plays on the world stage. My guess it won’t come easy.
Sadly what you say is true. I think one of the reasons is old age and fatalism. Firstly the leaders of the antiwar movements were motivated by the threat of nuclear was in the 50s-70s but these leaders are now dead of very old.
Younger people saw the total failure of the Iraq protests and perhaps care no more.
Other contributors are of course the media, much longer working hours, two income families and insecure work, general feeling of insecurity, internal tensions eg racial, and probably deliberate infiltration of left leaning and antiwar groups by distractors who make them chase down rabbit holes rather than real issues.
in the last two weeks, 244 soldiers of ukrainian armed forces have left their units, six of whom left with their weapons..
the largest number was in the OTG “Vostok” units 183 soldiers, in the 36th marine brigade, which occupies positions in the direction of Mariupol, 44 marines left there their units..
however, the first place in terms of the number of fugitives is occupied by the 10th brigade, in which a part of 52 soldiers left without permission..
some of the fugitives have been arrested, in their explanations, the detainees give various reasons that pushed them to leave, family problems, blurring and a low level of security..
To the ukrop army and power, some advise:
You still have little chance of ending this silly, unnecessary civil war. If you still, having lost your common sense, decide to go to the Donbass and the Crimea to war, then I want to tell you that you will end up very bad..
“And some who are very lucky will be sentenced to life in prison with confiscation of property”..
“Fifth, the troops involved in the Donbass conflict will be destroyed. The losses of the armed forces in such events will be disproportionately large. Coffins and disabled wounded will return to their homes, where they left for the war”..
“Sixth, the military scrap metal you bring to Donbass will be completely destroyed and sent for smelting to the Donbass metallurgical plants”..
“Seventh, in 2014 Ukraine you lost Crimea and Donbass !! In the event of an attack, Ukraine will lose at least Xarkov, Poltava, Kiev, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Mariupol, Melitopol, Zaporozhye, Cherkasy, Kirovograd and other areas, as far as western Ukraine”..
“Eighth, the complete loss of sovereignty of the remnants of Ukraine, within the borders after the expected military defeat”..
“Ninth, as a result of a failed military adventure, millions of distressed human destinies, devastated families, refugees from the territory of a non-existent country are also expected”..
“In recent history, an example of this is Syria and its long-standing peoples, who are also protected by russian peacekeepers”..
“Now, those who lost their memory, I remind you, more than 15 thousand were killed as a result of the 2014 coup in Ukraine. More than 35 thousand patients with post-war injury and disability syndrome, a psychological disorder”..
“More than three and a half thousand, and possibly more, suicides in the ranks of the armed forces of Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine is hiding official statistics. The Malaysian Boeing MH-17 crashed in Ukraine in the summer of 2014, killing 298 innocent people, incl children”
“You can list the so-called “victories” of Petro Poroshenko and his fascist group. Note that all these are the most basic “achievements” of the post-Maidan government of Ukraine”..
“Therefore, while it is not too late, think, cool down and do not make a terrible mistake. Otherwise, it will be impossible to go back in time, especially in human lives. So read and ponder my every word”..
It has been seven years since americans, europeans & their political elites, promised to Ukraine european “happiness”, “prosperity” and a happy life. But, unfortunately, there is no prosperity. There is no “European happiness” !!
Yours sincerely
Alexey Zhuravko..