Tag "Russia and Islam"
Russia and Islam, connecting the dots and discerning the future
This article was written for the Unz Review Russia has often been in the news over the past years, mostly as the demonized “Empire of Mordor” responsible for all the bad things on the planet, especially Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton, the Russian intervention in Syria and, of course, the “imminent” Russian invasion of the Baltics, Poland or even all of Western Europe. I won’t even dignify all this puerile
The future of Islam in Western Europe
This article was written for the Unz Review. With the upcoming French Presidential election in France the topic of Islam in Europe has again become central to the political discourse. This is nothing new: we also saw that in the UK, in Holland, in Austria and even in Switzerland, where the Muslim communities were banned – by popular referendum – from building minarets (even though only four minarets existed in
Russia and Islam Working Together, a Basic “How-To” (REPOST)
Dear friends, Considering the reactions to my recent post “Russia’s civilizational choice” and, especially, some of the negative ones which, sadly, completely misunderstood my views, I am reposting an article originally written in 2013. This ‘repost’ was first re-posted on the Unz Review where I have also taken the accompanying image. I hope that this post will help clarify my position on the issue (even if I am under no
The fighting imam of Donbass (MUST SEE!)
Dear friends, This is an exceptionally interesting video which I have asked my brother in arms Tatzhit Mihailovich to subtitle it for you: a Crimean Tatar imam is interviewed by a Russian Orthodox TV channel about his role in the anti-Nazi resistance of the Donbass and about his views on Islam and Russia. Great stuff! Enjoy and a big THANK YOU to Tatzhit! The Saker (please make sure to press
Russia’s “Civilizational Choice”
(Note: this column was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/russias-civilizational-choice/) This week, Vladimir Putin and a large number of national and foreign dignitaries and guests have inaugurated the biggest mosque in Europe: the new Moscow Cathedral Mosque. This was a big event, much awaited by the many tens of thousands of Russian Muslims who live in the Russian capital and who, in the past, have had to pray in the streets
Moscow inaugurates the biggest mosque in Europe
Russia and Islam, part eight: working together, a basic “how-to”
Today I am going to look into the topic of Orthodox and Muslim cooperation, suggest one possible approach to this issue and give a practical example were this could be done immediately and with great benefit for all the parties involved. I consider this post today as the eighth installment of my “Russia and Islam” series and I suggest that those who have not read it take a look at
Russia and the Arab and Islamic world – let us set the record straight, ok? (-: Saker venting warning :-)
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. H. L. Mencken Yesterday, Masoud posted a comment which I think deserves a separate post as an answer. Here is the comment in full: The answer to the mystery of why the resolution seems so lopsided is simple: Russia is simply doing what it always does. I don’t believe Russia is interested in the primacy of
Russia and Islam, part seven: the weatherman’s cop out
In the bad old days when I used to do analysis for a living, I had a boss which always insisted that I offer him several possible outcomes. He wanted me to tell him, “either X or Y could happen, but if not, then Z is a definite possibility”. In his mind, by covering all the possible outcomes our department’s “analysis” would never be wrong, and he would ways been
Russia and Islam, part six: the Kremlin
This is a topic which I have been most hesitant to cover for many reasons, including the fact that my views on this topic have come to change, and that they did so not as a result of the discovery of indisputable facts, but under the combined action of much “in between the lines” readings of events, many indirect events pointing in the same direction, combined with a very strong,
Russia and Islam, part five: “Islam” as an ally
Yusuf al-Qaradawi “Russia has become the first enemy of Islam and Muslims because it has stood against the Syrian people; more than 30,000 Syrians have been killed by the weapons supplied by Russia” Yusuf al-Qaradawi Reading the words of al-Qaradawi, who is arguably one of the most influential Muslim clerics on the planet whose TV show is followed by 60 million Muslims, one might wonder how anybody could ever think
Russia and Islam, part four: “Islam” as a threat
The first thing to which I would like to draw your attention to is that in the title Russia and Islam, part four: “Islam” as a threat I put the word “Islam” in quotation marks. This is very important, as most of the issues I will be discussing today are not directly linked to Islam at all. However, in the minds of many Russians, these issues are linked to Islam
Russia and Islam, part three: internal Russian politics
In the first two installments of this series on Russia and Islam we have seen that the reasons why neither the modern European civilizational model nor the traditional Orthodox faith can, at this point in time, provide a viable and positive source of ideological or spiritual inspiration for post-Soviet Russia. While in the past three hundred years the ideologically dominant philosophical and political paradigm has been the “Westernizing” one, the
Russia and Islam, part two: Russian Orthodoxy
Most people assume that Russia is a Christian Orthodox country and that the Russian Orthodox Church is the spiritual leader of the Russian people. This is a very superficial view and, I would even say, a fundamentally mistaken one. To explain what I mean by this, I will have to explain something absolutely crucial and yet something most fundamentally misunderstood by the vast majority of people, including many Russians. The
Russia and Islam, part one: introduction and definitions
Today, I am beginning a series of articles on the very complex topic of Russia and Islam, a topic which is mostly overlooked in the West or, when it is mentioned at all, is often completely misunderstood. I have been researching this fascinating topic for many months already and there is so much to say about it that I have decided to write a series of installments, each one covering
