By Lena Surzhko Harned, Penn State
A curious new church was dedicated on the outskirts of Moscow in June 2020: The Main Church of the Russian Armed Forces. The massive, khaki-colored cathedral in a military theme park celebrates Russian might. It was originally planned to open on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, in May 2020, but was delayed due to the pandemic.
Conceived by the Russian defense minister after the country’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, the cathedral embodies the powerful ideology espoused by President Vladimir Putin, with strong support from the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Kremlin’s vision of Russia connects the state, military and the Russian Orthodox Church. As a scholar of nationalism, I see this militant religious nationalism as one of the key elements in Putin’s motivation for the invasion of Ukraine, my native country. It also goes a long way in explaining Moscow’s behavior toward the collective “West” and the post-Cold War world order.
Angels and guns
The Church of the Armed Forces’ bell tower is 75 meters tall, symbolizing the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Its dome’s diameter is 19.45 meters, marking the year of the victory: 1945. A smaller dome is 14.18 meters, representing the 1,418 days the war lasted. Trophy weapons are melted into the floor so that each step is a blow to the defeated Nazis.
Frescoes celebrate Russia’s military might though history, from medieval battles to modern-day wars in Georgia and Syria. Archangels lead heavenly and earthly armies, Christ wields a sword, and the Holy Mother, depicted as the Motherland, lends support.
‘Cradles’ of Christianity
The original plans for the frescoes included a celebration of the Crimean occupation, with jubilant people holding a banner that read “Crimea is Ours” and “Forever with Russia.” In the final version, the controversial “Crimea is Ours” was replaced by the more benign “We are together.”
When Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated, calling Crimea the “cradle” of Russian Christianity. This mythology draws on the medieval story of Prince Vladimir, who converted to Christianity in the 10th century and was baptized in Crimea. The prince then imposed the faith on his subjects in Kyiv, and it spread from there.
The Russian Orthodox Church, also called the Moscow Patriarchate, has long claimed this event as its foundational story. The Russian Empire, which linked itself to the church, adopted this foundational story as well.
‘Russian World’
Putin and the head of the Russian church, Patriarch Kirill, have resurrected these ideas about empire for the 21st century in the form of the so-called “Russian World” – giving new meaning to a phrase that dates to medieval times.
In 2007, Putin created a Russian World Foundation, which was charged with promotion of Russian language and culture worldwide, such as a cultural project preserving interpretations of history approved by the Kremlin.
For church and state, the idea of “Russian World” encompasses a mission of making Russia a spiritual, cultural and political center of civilization to counter the liberal, secular ideology of the West. This vision has been used to justify policies at home and abroad.
The Great Patriotic War
Another planned mosaic depicted the celebrations of Soviet forces’ defeat of Nazi Germany – the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is called in Russia. The image included soldiers holding a portrait of Josef Stalin, the dictator who led the USSR during the war, among a crowd of decorated veterans. This mosaic was reportedly removed before the church’s opening.
The Great Patriotic War has a special, even sacred, place in Russians’ views of history. The Soviet Union sustained immense losses – 26 million lives is a conservative estimate. Apart from the sheer devastation, many Russians ultimately see the war as a holy one, in which Soviets defended their motherland and the whole world from the evil of Nazism.
Under Putin, glorification of the war and Stalin’s role in the victory have reached epic proportions. Nazism, for very good reasons, is seen as a manifestation of the ultimate evil.
The rhetoric of this militant religious nationalism has been on display as Russia threatened to and ultimately did invade Ukraine. During a speech on Feb. 24, 2022, Putin bizarrely called for the “de-nazification” of Ukraine. He also spoke of fraternal relationships between Russian and Ukrainian people and denied the existence of the Ukrainian state. In his view, Ukraine’s sovereignty is an example of extreme, chauvinistic nationalism.
Putin’s claim that Ukraine’s government is run by Nazis is absurd. However, the manipulation of this image makes sense in the framework of this ideology. Painting the government in Kyiv as evil helps to paint the war in Ukraine in black and white.
Messianic mission
Tangible geopolitical issues may be driving Putin’s war in Ukraine, but his actions also seem motivated by a desire to secure his own legacy. In his vision of “Great Russia,” restored to its former size and influence, Putin is a defender who must vanquish its enemies.
The Russian president himself appeared in earlier versions of the cathedral’s frescoes, along with Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. However, the mosaic was removed after controversy, with Putin himself reportedly giving orders to take it down, saying it was too early to celebrate the country’s current leadership.
Стены главного храма вооруженных сил России, строительство которого заканчивается в подмосковном парке «Патриот», украсят мозаикой с изображениями Владимира Путина, Сергея Шойгу и Иосифа Сталина. Фото: МБХ медиаhttps://t.co/O5AlRk3Pbl pic.twitter.com/TUxHW8LxXO
— ЧТД (@Chtede) April 23, 2020
Patriarch Kirill, who has called Putin’s rule a “miracle of God,” said the new cathedral “holds the hope that future generations will pick up the spiritual baton from past generations and save the Fatherland from internal and external enemies.”
This volatile religious nationalism manifests itself in the militarism unfolding in Ukraine.
On Feb. 24, 2022, the day the invasion began, Patriarch Kirill called for a swift resolution and protection of civilians in Ukraine, while reminding Orthodox Christians of the fraternal connection between the two nations. But he has not condemned the war itself and has referred to “evil forces” trying to destroy the unity of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Lena Surzhko Harned, Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science, Penn State
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Best argument I’ve seen for the separation of church and state.
My informative commit was moderated…and my complaints about being moderated go unanswered. Should my commit pass muster and appear like some have would some reader tell me which word or words or information warranted moderation? If I wanted to be moderated I’d belong to facebook, twitter and other sites where free spech isn’t respected and complaints are thrown in the trash.
Debbie W., If your complaints go unanswered, then it would be useless for anyone to state certain words, phrases, names etc that is on some list of unacceptable comments. The very answer to your question relative to moderation would be moderated out. Who knows how the moderation works. I, too, have experienced moderation one(1) time for a single paragraph comment that contained no cursing, finger pointing or name calling.
Trannies. When I use this word sometimes I get moderated.
Tran-ease. (Except spelled the other way.). When I use this word sometimes I get moderated.
Can’t TTAG edit WordPress’ naughty words list?
I ran afoul of moderation a while back because I used the name for a male chicken when talking about pulling the hammer back on a pistol.
Big Brother is REAL
. Has anyone noticed since the U Crane Ruskins deal started how many are getting moderated now.
its the elf bee eyes
@ The Rookie, what, you mean using the word ‘cock’ set off the watchers? “This is a test, not a live drill. I repeat; this is a test”. Update: okay, maybe not entirely random as this did indeed go in to get moderated. But who will moderate the moderators? 🤔🤨😶🧐
I believe it’s entirely random. I often have 3 or 4 in one article sent to the Ministry of Moderation, sometimes one right after another, no rhyme nor reason nor even the courtesy of a reach around. I mean, why would Big Brother tip his hand by being predictable? Gotta be sneaky when moderating free speech in the last Free Nation on the planet. And yeah, especially frustrating/ironic/laughable when your immediate complaint about getting Moderated™ is itself immediately “awaiting more moderation”. Again. Still. Perhaps a TTAM article is in order?
Well said.
If only Russia would be brave, stunning and stronk like us with us our state mandated religion of wokeness and our high-heeled military of they/thems and it/thats in maternity flightsuits.
And if you don’t follow the woke religion, you’re a denier or an extremist. The religion-hating bigots on the Left don’t see the parallel because they’re blinded by the propaganda.
“Army Stronk”. Accepting recruits now. Please visit your local recruiting center.
The people who have blatantly lied to us for 2 years in order to enforce tyranny are all behind Ukraine. That does not make me support Russia, but it does make suspicious if Ukraine.
They lied to us about Covid. They lied to us about the injection. They are lying to us now about Ukraine.
Obviously Putin’s Russia can’t be trusted either, but the Western media and governments have lost all credibility.
I get the impression that Putin, Xi, and all the Western leaders are the evil rulers of the earth described in Psalm 2.
Trust God the Father, and believe in God the Son. Put no confidence in wicked earthly leaders. Their days are coming to an end, but He shall reign forever and ever, amen.
to Arty the glazed eyed religious fantastic
quote———–Trust God the Father, and believe in God the Son. Put no confidence in wicked earthly leaders. Their days are coming to an end, but He shall reign forever and ever, amen.———quote
Most of the worlds mass genocide and wars have been fought over religion. Religious people are hypocrites to the extreme as they only follow their religion when it benefits them by giving them more power over other people or more wealth to line their greedy pockets.
To date I have not seen one hypocrite Mega Church offer any money or aid to the Ukrainian people.
I have always opined “To be able to follow the teachings of the worlds bibles you have to be an Atheist”. Dacian 2021
Little D,
Just this morning, my own local church announced a humanitarian fundraising campaign to support our own missionary located in neighboring Romania, as that missionary is personally involved in assisting refugees that have been streaming out of Ukraine.
Our local church’s national organization has a relief organization similar to the Red Cross that has been on the ground there for several days now, plus the dozen or so of our missionaries in the area are helping. Our congregation is small, but we sent them $1,000 this past week, with another grand to go next week. Link below, in case you’d like to help also, Dacian.
https://convoyofhope.org/
dacian the Dunderhead. If you haven’t seen any of the “mega” churches donate to the Ukrainians, you are as blind as a bat. How about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church (Catholic Charities), etc?
Don’t you think it’s time for you to wake up?
Russia invading = good and bad.
Yeah, so uh, I like that Putin invaded and is taking eastern Ukraine. They are NOT Ukrainians. They don’t speak Ukrainian. They speak Russian. They are ethnic russians. And they are victims of the tyranny of the majority. They have no voice in Ukraine, and they want to be part of Russia. So yes. I support Russia going in, and claiming these people.
What I don’t support is Russia trying to topple the Swing Dancing, movie production manager, Volodymyr Zelensky. The people of Ukraine wanted this weirdo fruitcake. He made a series of movies, with a party name, where he was president in the movies. Then his production manager created a party in real life, exactly like the party in the movie, and then the Ukranians literally elected him, thus making his movie, a reality. Now, Ukranians want this insanity, they voted for it, so Putin should leave it be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlJywp7E3Gw
anonymous Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine is a horrendous for the world and Europe. First off, the eastern part of the Ukraine is UKRINAINIAN. The Russians have infiltrated their people there over the years to attempt to change the complexion of the eastern part of the Ukraine.
Second, Mr Zelensky is a better leader than Sleepy Joe or Obuma the Phony and definitely far better than Billery. It seems that the best leaders are NOT political hacks that you seem to worship.
Third, Putin is a thug. He’s an old time KGB Col. Apparently you like thugs?
This ^^^^^^^ exactly!!!
Art’s comment not numb nuts
Arron, keep living and you too will experience the agony of numbnutscitis.
Haven’t heard the term numb nuts in years and I do agree with your analogy.
that’s because the WooFlew has done it sjob to open the door to near total manipulatioin and deceit. The mask has been pulled off their dupicity and lies, so they need something enw with which to distract us.
Once our focus is on Putin, discretely “remodeled” just for us just in these times, the effects of this war will begin to affect us here at home. Energy is already gone more than double in the past year, will likley double again at least once in the next. Supplies will dwidle, shortages, etc, WHY? SO they” can step foreard with “the final solution” and put us all under their thumb. Don’t biuy it. SInce they are not fighting on OUR shores (yet) ignore the whole mess, or at most watch the politicians and wogs as they pontuficate on the nothing they really have to say, as they spew the agreed-upon lies we hear constantly. Among them that “Russia annexed the crimea in 2014”. Dig deeper and find the real answer.
Exactly. And we certainly should be.
My sentiments exactly. I would like to believe that the Ukraine goober mint is Snow White pure, but they have been pounding the heck out of the break-away areas. The whole problem with Eastern Europe is that boundaries have changed so many times in recent history, it really is difficult to determine in border areas which country they should belong to. For example, the area called Crimea. From the breakup of the Ukraine kingdom in the 18th century, Crimea was a part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Russia defended it during the Crimean War. In the early 60s for some unknown reason Krushchev ramrodded turning the area know as Crimea to Ukraine for their administration. Inasmuch as Crimea had been a part of Tsarist Russia for roughly two hundred years there were a lot of Russians living in the area. So we have a mixture of Russians and Ukrainians living in the same neighborhood. Where does the area belong?
According to Putin’s plan to restore the Tsarist Russian Empire, Crimea should be denoted on maps as being Russian.
Can’t say that I blame him. I don’t know whether Krushchev was drunk or demented like somebody we all know, or just what his idea was, but he certainly jumped of the deep end there. He had been the Commisar for Ukraine before he made the leap to Moscow, so that probably influenced his actions.
As for the areas that theoretically are trying to break away from Ukraine to go with Russia, that situation is present right here in our own county with areas in Kallyfornica, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas having populations that are at least 50-50 Anglo and Latino descent. Many folks from Mexico believe that the areas that the U.S. theoretically “bought” after the U.S.—Mexico War were actually stolen due to the low sales price. They believe solidly in the action called “Reconquista” which means taking back that which formerly belonged to Mexico.
Should unrestricted border crossing continue, it is not inconceivable that such a movement would have more gravitas and lead to a situation similar to that which exists along the Ukraine—Russian border.
Notice that the quoted assistant professor’s comment completely omits any mention of Crimea having been “given” to Ukraine only 60 years ago, that before that it had been part of the Tsarist Russian Empire for approximately 200 years. I have yet to see a “news” article that even mentions that historical fact.
‘…the medieval story of Prince Vladimir, who converted to Christianity in the 10th century and was baptized in Crimea. The prince then imposed the faith on his subjects in Kyiv, and it spread from there.’
Sounds like Christianity in Russia got off on the wrong foot from the start. Christianity isn’t to be imposed at the end of a sword but offered as a gift to be accepted or rejected.
Religion can be used as a tool, just like anything else. That doesn’t make the religion bad, just like it doesn’t make other tools (like a gun) inherently bad.
Also, this is a weird post for TTAG. I thought it was interesting, but it isn’t a gun blog post. It also isn’t some neutral article. It was written by a Ukrainian with family in Kyiv.
Well good luck finding a neutral source in this conflict. One larger nation simply decided to invade a smaller nation without provocation and is waging war on civilians. We’ll see if the tide turns and it’s the Ukrainian army shelling apartment buildings in Russia, but for now it’s seems pretty black and white in just about the entire world’s opinion.
As far as TTAG, it’s never been a nothing but gun news and tests site. Anything military in nature is close enough to the site’s platform.
Ukraine may not have provoked this, but the empire of the United States and team Globalist oligarchy did by overthrowing the Ukrainian government back in 2014, and with the last 30 years of profound hostility towards Russia.
You still believe the news media. The last two years of being lied to about covid should have taught you not to.
Reply to Gov. William J Le Petomane;
Please read the following – https://www.lotuseaters.com/why-russia-invaded-ukraine-26-02-21
That’s fairly unbiased. “Russia-bad, Ukraine Good!” Is the line being sold hook line and sinker to the majority of Americans who can’t be bothered to learn anything about history or current events.
De Facto, you should look up ‘Holodomor’. Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians to death and replaced them with Russians. Crimea wasn’t ‘Russian’ until Stalin shipped off all the Tatars to Uzbekistan after WWII (killing a large portion of them in the process) and replaced them with ethnic Russians.
If Putin didn’t want his neighbors seeking protection from NATO he shouldn’t be threatening them. Now he’s got Sweden and Finland looking to possibly join NATO.
It’s just good to understand the personal bias of any author. A Russian professor with family in other parts of the country may offer a different perspective.
I’m very familiar with Holodomor, Petomane. Never assume malice where incompetence will suffice, and you should be aware that there is no consensus on whether that was deliberate (as some suggest) or simply the result of soviet incompetence (the likeliest cause considering starvation was felt throughout the USSR). You should look up the Crimean war of 1854. Much Russian blood has historically been shed for and on the Crimean peninsula. The idea that Russians only began living there under Stalin is fallacious. Face facts; Having a western backed coup topple the existing Ukrainian Government and replace it with a pro-Western Government hostile to Russia was foolish, to say the least (but then, the CIA under Obama was busy overthrowing stable regimes throughout the Middle East, what was one more on the edge of Europe?)
Did we honestly expect Russia to sit idly by and lose their only warm water port (which Ukraine had leased to them since the fall of the Iron Curtain) AND have NATO expand to Russia’s border?
I am not pro-Russian, nor am I a kneejerk jingoist who believes the US is always right. I am not blind to the role our State-department and the CIA have had in engineering this crisis, and I will not support a land war in Europe because the globalists want one. Russia is not the primary threat facing the US. That would be China. Who own many of our politicians, and have made no bones about their desire to rule the world. This is all a giant misdirection to keep the world and the US looking anywhere but at the CCP and their puppet in the White House.
“the role our State-department and the CIA have had in engineering this crisis”
As well as many other crises. And if we aren’t supportive of it, we’re told that we aren’t patriotic. Yet, when we ARE patriotic, and ask for only the best interests of our country to be pursued, they use patriot or nationalist against us as a bad word. It’s amazing how easy some people fall for the propaganda.
Your “keep it simple” explanation of this war is loaded with falsehoods, and they go both ways. Russia did not “simply shoose to invade”. Go and dig in fertile ground (that means no lamestream media) for the history going back two or three nudnred years. Get the whole backstory and you will see that is a gross ovesimplifacatioin. That is the meme our media and gummit want you to believe, but its not true. (is their propaganda EVER fully true?)
{The Soviet Holodomor}
“…there is no consensus on whether that was deliberate (as some suggest) or simply the result of soviet incompetence…”
Really?
Folks who tried to leave were told by the troops enforcing the Holodomor that if they insisted on leaving, they would be shot.
As in, executed.
Yeah, that made it a deliberate act, moron… 🙁
@Geoff “apparently getting too old to think” PR (you started with the insults, not me)
The Soviets would shoot anyone trying to move without papers and authorization. Anything that would upset central planning, or worse, spread news of disaster was not tolerated, and that included refugees. Do not attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. In the case of the USSR, incompetent brutality.
Of course the argument that the Soviets tried to genocide the Ukrainians does play to the emotions of brainless voters who think we should go rushing into war in eastern Europe.
To hell with starting more wars for the Globalist Deep State. Or has everyone forgotten exactly how well it works out for the US when we go off and start fighting interventionist wars in foreign countries.
Honestly knew most of this. Being written by a Ukrainian is blatantly nonobjective. Either way I don’t support either side. As my Ukrainian(now American) doctor said “the Russians are gangster’s”. Ukraine isn’t much better but I support the Ukrainian people not being murdered!
“But I support the Ukrainian people not being murdered”
YEP!
To all the folks pointing fingers at the Ukrainian government and how corrupt it is, just remember our own president and his entire family are corrupt grifters sucking money up from every corrupt government and corporation they can.
Yes. It should go without saying, but obviously I’m for life. Murder is always wrong.
It is a little off for a gun blog and yes, written by a Ukraine. I’d like to have seen a quote supplied demonstrating exactly how Putin refused to recognize Ukraine as an independent, sovereign nation, as the author states.
“I’d like to have seen a quote supplied demonstrating exactly how Putin refused to recognize Ukraine as an independent, sovereign nation, as the author states.“
If Putin had recognized Ukraine as an independent, sovereign nation then he would have no problem with them joining NATO because that would be their decision as an independent, sovereign nation.
But instead of allowing them to be an independent, sovereign nation making their own decisions about their alliances, he has brutally invaded and killed thousands of civilians without provocation.
You should go wash your hands, that blood will be really sticky when it dries.
That is the history of Christianity in most of the world. It has been imposed at the point of a sword throughout the Americas, as well as all of Europe. Have you never joined in a nice rousing song of ‘Onward Christian Soldier’?
Christians seldom practice what they preach.
“Christians seldom practice what they preach.”
I can say the same thing about the atheists. Who also used “the tip of a sword” to spread their atheism. Stalin, Chairman Mao, etc etc. They also never believed in the First Amendment.
And people can debate to the end of time on Earth, why the Christian world has a much better human rights record today. Than the non-Christian world. And why the Christian United States has a Bill of Rights and a First and Second amendment. But other Christian societies do not.
Chris, show us on the doll where the evil atheists and the bad libertarians touched you. I’ll go get a choirboy and he can return the favor. But hey, forgiveness is yours for the asking, right? A few Hail Marys and a suitable donation isn’t such a bad price for eternal salvation. Must be nice… and almost sinfully convenient.
to rider/shooter
I don’t know anything about dolls. G. I. Joe or otherwise. But I do know that the atheists disagreed with the Christians. When the Christians said a father is necessary in the home. The Atheist said no he is not. And the atheists supported replacing the father’s Love and discipline with a welfare check. And the atheists also supported replacing the father’s guns, with the guns of a big city police department.
The atheist’s also supported a massive construction program for government housing projects. Public housing that is designated as a “gun-free zone”. Where a woman can have five kids from 5 different men and not get married to any of them. She being totally enabled by the government’s welfare $$$.
Now the single mothers children getting into trouble and eventually becoming criminals. Because they did not receive the love and discipline from their father. So eventually gun owners will have to put a bullet in the heads of these criminal children.
So yes I do have a problem with atheists because they like having the government in everyone’s bedroom..
“When the Christians said a father is necessary in the home. The Atheist said no he is not. And the atheists supported replacing the father’s Love and discipline with a welfare check“
This is not an atheist position, you apparently know nothing about atheism.
“I do have a problem with atheists because they like having the government in everyone’s bedroom..“
Atheist don’t care what you do in your bedroom, it’s the Christians who want to tell you who you can sleep with and who you can marry.
The Christians even want to tell you exactly how to have sex, that’s why it’s called the missionary position, taught by Christian missionaries is the only form of sex acceptable to Jesus.
I found it amusing that you would think the Lord of the universe gives a shit about where I put my penis.
And just so you know,
I will put the little guy wherever I please.
Except women.
No, Chris T, “atheists” per say did none of those things from a lack of belief in a supreme deity. That is precisely your own cult indoctrinated bigotry bubbling to the surface like the putrid miasma it is, and always will be. Again, show us on the doll, Chris t, use the doll.
You’re a fool if you believe Putin is a Christian. I bet you think John Kerry and Al Gore actually practice what they preach.
Permit me to relieve your mind of misconceptions regarding that song.
https://hymnary.org/text/onward_christian_soldiers_marching_as
Scroll down to the Notes and For Leaders sections.
Paul, nor do they dare preach what they practice. There’s laws against that kinda stuff…
“Christianity isn’t to be imposed at the end of a sword“
Better not tell emperor Charlemagne of the holy Roman empire about that, you might find yourself shortened.
Mangy Charles of what empire? What religion is involved in the atrocity in the Ukraine?
.gov. Which is your faith.
Marxism.
Interesting how the atheists who hated religion, in the end, they ended up creating their own religion. The worship of the state.
Since we are going to set the Way Back Machine to all points in history let’s set it to the point in time when “Russia” was called The Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR for short. Keyword is Socialist like in the Socialist Nazi Party or like in the Socialist democRat Party, etc. In a nutshell…The article is a whole bunch of finger pointing at bad guys throughout time intended to define the word “church” for useful idiots.
Russia defeated the nazis at great costs but unfortunately there wasn’t a dime’s difference between the two agendas. Big difference at the time was the nazis were the invaders like today’s Russia is the invader…The difference in character between the two today remains the one doing the invading.
Heard a talk show host talk about a woman who was from a country in Europe that was occupied, first by Nazi Germany, then by the USSR. When asked what the difference was between the two, she said “the flag.”
And the only reason Miner’s commie pinkos survived is the UK and US lendlease.
“The existence of the ‘Proud Boys’ and various other neo-Nazi militias is not an “absurd” claim… “
Your logic would justify a military invasion of the United States.
“Russia and the actions she takes to protect her security interests“
What dry, personal term you use to describe intentional murder of thousands of civilians.
I think the phrase used before is “the banality of evil”.
Minor MINER49er, I would not suggest you have your Marxist allies try invading the USA. They would get a lot more than they can handle.
I see that TTAG is still pushing the Biden administration approved propaganda. Perhaps you should take notice of the indisputable fact that even after the Berlin wall fell, three US Presidents starting with Clinton then Bush then Obama refused to acknowledge the fact that the Cold War was over, the Warsaw Pact is no more, and Russia is merely a shadow of the Soviet Union. Few acknowledged the fact that when confronted by the ultimate use them or loose them scenario, the Kremlin didn’t launch the hundreds of ICBMs with thousands of nuclear warheads that had been deployed to Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Instead, NATO has been relentlessly expanded first to include the former East Germany, then not only all of the former Warsaw Pact allies but former Republics of the Soviet Union.
Rather than respect the neutrality of Ukraine, former Secretary of State Clinton incited, organized, equipped and orchestrated the 2014 coup in Ukraine to overthrow a democratically elected government that was friendly to Russia. The video of Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland passing out cookies to protestors in the Euromaden was priceless. The audio of the intercepted phone call in which Ms Nuland dictated who would be the new Prime Minister and serve in his cabinet was the proverbial smoking gun.
The penetration of the US Government is so insidious that an immigrant from Ukraine was enabled to incite a coup against a sitting President of the United States for the crime of not serving the interests of his homeland. None were impertinent enough to inquire into the true allegiance of Alexander Vindman even after it was revealed that he aspired to become Ukraine’s Secretary of Defense. Instead, the Pillsbury Doughboy became a hero.
Only a few months into the Biden Senile Sock Puppet Presidency, NATO’s response to Ukrainian Prime Minister Voldomir Zelenski’s blatant, well documented threat to build nuclear weapons if Ukraine isn’t granted membership in NATO is to acquiesce to his demands by offering him membership. Is Vladimir Putin truly paranoid to suspect that Ukraine would not have made such a threat if they were not a few days or weeks away from having nuclear weapons if they didn’t have them already. Consider how, when and where the invasion has progressed. After seizing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant with its dual use reactors that were designed to breed bomb grade Plutonium, Putin seems to go nuts. No one seems to notice that Russia is now prioritizing seizing control of Ukraine’s fifteen operational reactors rather seizing control of Ukraine’s cities. It would have been so much easier for Putin to just drop a bunker buster bomb on each reactor. With the radiological equivalent of a fifty Megaton bomb in each reactor multiplied by the number of years worth of spent fuel rods in storage, the fallout would have eliminated the threat of Ukraine developing nuclear weapons as well as the Ukrainians.
NATO is a tool of neo-liberal imperialism. It’s architects want the whole world subsumed into their agenda of feminism, gay-rights, “free-trade,” global finance, and technocracy. Ukraine was used as a tool in this, but Russia refuses to be subsumed. Our “leaders” have been poking the bear for three decades, and now the Ukrainian people are suffering for it.
We need to quit sticking our noses in everyone else’s business. The same neo-liberal garbage was tried in Afghanistan. The result will be the same in Ukraine. As usual, masses of poor people will suffer the most, in both this country and others, while the fatcats make out like bandits. However, this time it might mean the death of billions.
“Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.” – Thomas Jefferson.
“Ukrainian Prime Minister Voldomir Zelenski’s blatant, well documented threat to build nuclear weapons“
Perhaps you can provide a source or citation for the claim you make about Zelenski regarding nuclear weapons…
I’m a lazy old bastard..
And I have been hittin the cheap stuff, hard.
I did in an earlier thread.
You can Google it.
It’s obviously not on his WEF approved copy/paste list. If he google’s “The Truth” it prob reads “access denied” for him.
Who were the Cossacks?
A hint from a politically incorrect time:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cossack
counter tip: if you’re relying on Star Trek fiction to make your point, you are in serious trouble.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossacks
Counter counter tip: and you would offer wikipedia as an alternative source? Pot, meet kettle.
“wikipedia as an alternative source“
Nobody has quoted Wikipedia as a source, Wikipedia isn’t a source.
Wikipedia entries are merely a Digest of the sources that are linked in every Wikipedia article.
The information isn’t from Wikipedia, it’s from the sources listed in the references.
I’m surprised that so many folks on this list have trouble understanding that, they still attack Wikipedia when they should be addressing the sources.
Of course, they attack Wikipedia, because their position is factually bankrupt and they don’t want to address the sources that refute their claim.
And since all of my claims have been soundly, continually and factually refuted, I completely understand being factually bankrupt.
“Nobody has quoted Wikipedia as a source, Wikipedia isn’t a source.”
So let us use the linked “…Wikipedia article…” as a case in point. It is indeed an article as you noted, not simply a list of references as you contrarily also claimed. Navigate to the article and click on “Printable version” in the left sidebar. This will result in, no surprise, a version of the article that has been reformatted into printable pages. Notice that the article has some 53 pages, comprised of 37.5 pages of discussion, graphics and charts, plus 15.5 pages of listed references, as it is today. Are you seriously claiming that those 37.5 pages are not a discussion of the referenced information, and/or that the intrepid reader should scroll past it to the actual references, investigate them himself, and then formulate his own opinion rather than trust the opinion of the discussion author(s)? If that is your claim, then, well, you have made my point.
BTW, Paul was suggesting that we read the article, as a source of information on Cossacks. That much is clear.
Nero, Wikipedia does not discuss the information from the sources, as I pointed out, Wikipedia is a digest.
I understand you may not be familiar with what a Digest is, perhaps you remember a very popular American magazine known as ‘Readers Digest’.
Here is the definition of a Digest in the situation:
noun
/ˈdīˌjest/
1.
a compilation or summary of material or information.
“a digest of their findings”
Wikipedia adds no opinion or editorial content, it’s merely a summary of the information in the reference sources.
And even more to the point, you attack Wikipedia as a source in your attempt to denigrate the posting.
But you make no comment regarding the actual content.
To refute my point, you really need to address the actual facts rather than a secondhand attempt to denigrate what is essentially nothing but a summary.
Weak.
Star Trek TOS was made in a politically incorrect time when people didn’t trust Wikipedia to tell them the truth about history. The Cossacks were the Tsars’ shock troops that conquered and subjugated not only an empire but ethnic Russians. There was a reason why Ukrainians hated Russians even before Lenin and Stalin, and a good reason why Russians hated Ukrainian s even before they allied themselves with Hitler. You’ve probably forgotten about that.
“There was a reason why Ukrainians hated Russians”
Number one, thanks for acknowledging that Russia and Ukrainian are two separate entities.
Number two, there’s a very good reason Ukrainians hated Russia, Russian dictator Stalin killed millions of the Ukrainians in the ‘30s through his purchase and programs.
The Ukrainians were forced into an alliance with Hitler as the lesser of two evils.
The same is true of Finland, who actually had blue swastikas on their aircraft during their winter war with Russia in 1939.
Despite the fact Stalin and communism “killed millions”
I am still a Marxist.
Well, we will just do it better.
And call it Democratic Marxism or Socialism or something.
Fake Miner49er, you’re nothing but a broken record, making personal attacks through your sad comments, because you were actually jealous of my wit and sparkling intellect.
You state:
“I am still a Marxist.“
Nope, never have been, you could not be further from the truth.
And like many others on this list, you choose the ad hominem attack because you have nothing credible with which to refute my comments.
In fact, your personal attacks are the very stamp of validity on my comments, for if I was wrong it would not be difficult to show with a credible source.
Instead, you go with the childish insult, Showing the shallowness of your intellect.
Like every narcissistic nihilist, I am the actual victim here!
Ya’ll are “actually jealous of my sparkling intellect” and just like AOC said “you just want to date me.”
Point of fact, my comments have been refuted, continually proven to be not only both wrong and false, but straight out lies and “misinformation”.
Yet, I am undeterred by continually being proven a salacious propagandist, a purveyor of deceit and lies, because I am not a serious person…..
…..I AM AN AGITPROPIST…..
1/2
I am a deceitful lying coward, who eagerly spews disinformation, attempting to spin the truth into bald faced lies.
I actively seek out forums like TTAG and others, to inject my chosen brand of cheap insidious poison and vile festering rot.
2/3
The one thing people need to realize is that in similar fashion to what is happening in the USA today people seeking power possess a logic that is hypocritical at best, illogical and have no common sense, ethics or morals. They simply do what they want and rationalize it with illogical statements. How can one Country be denied its sovereignty by another that it claims not only has its own sovereignty but that of the country it wants to assimilate? How do you think the Russians would react if China and the USA decided to do to them what they are doing to the Ukraine? They would fight back, of course.
Whenever elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. There are crooks on all sides of this, and each crook has his own agendum.
So Ukraine is crooked, which gives Russia the right to murder Ukrainians.
Got it.
Ralph, respectfully, nor does anything give the crooked the right to murder fellow Ukrainians, which from what I’ve read, watched and listened to has and is happening. What if the situation up here in the queens northern colonies with the idiot manchild got so bad that in 2025 Trump felt compelled to clean up the sh!tshow right on his/your/our border? I’d cheer him on even though I might be one of the unfortunate casualties. Living one continent removed from the situation with a wholly owned and operated media creates a special kind of bubble. Not saying I know what’s up but we aren’t being delivered the whole truth.
It’s one branch of fascism fighting another branch of fascism.
Sort of like when dacian the nazi argues with rant7.
In other words communist Russia and national socialist Germany. Two societies who murdered their own citizens. And both who also murdered tens of millions of others.
Russia hasn’t been communist for decades now. They, like China, went full fascist when they found it there was more money in it.
Communism was smothered by corporate billionaires. soros, bloomberg, gates and the list is endless. Anybody that still believes communism is a thing needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
Russia builds churches, as the West abandons them and persecutes them.
I live and work in Silicon Valley. I hide my Christianity for fear of persecution.
Zelensky rejects Christ. Putin accepts Christ (at least Publicly).
This war doesn’t concern us. I’m boycotting Remington for sending ammo to fuel and profit from this war.
I don’t care about Ukraine’s borders until ours are secure.
I don’t care about supposed so called Ukrainian corrupt fake democracy until the January 6th protesters are freed.
I don’t care about human rights until children here aren’t pumped full of hormone blockers.
I don’t care about Russia’s supposed so called human rights abuses while we have 70,000,000 dead from abortion in the US.
I don’t care about Russian oligarchs while Zuckerberg and Benioff and Soros and Bloomberg fund gay pride rallies in your town and try to take our guns away.
I don’t care about Russian war crimes while Jeffery Epstein and Harvey Weinstein rape our daughters.
I support self-determination of peoples. Why can’t the Donbass be independent? Why does Ukraine need to join the NATO suicide cult? Why do American weapons need to be in Ukraine?
“Why do American weapons need to be in Ukraine?“
Ukraine is much better full of Russian weapons, right comrade?
I bet you got a commie flag tacked up on the wall inside of your garage.
Because I do!
More than one!!
Why are you so obsessed with Americans putting weapons in Ukraine?
I couldn’t even point to Ukraine on a map until last week. I bet 95% of Americans are like me.
I’m still haunted by the destruction we caused in Iraq. Someone in my unit shot a teenager. What did Iraq ever do to us? Am I going to hell? I don’t know.
I’m already taxed to death. Why do you want to spend my taxpayer dollars to perpetuate war? Who gives a f if Russia controls Ukraine?
Why do you care so much about it, Miner49er? I just want peace.
“I couldn’t even point to Ukraine on a map until last week. I bet 95% of Americans are like me.“
Yep, and that ignorance is why we’re here.
Exactly , marine corps 0311 from 2002 to 2006 I’m sure you know where I was one of the worst battles in the last 40 years anyone pushing for this war never served a day in their life and they should shut the fuck up
Minor MINER49er and Mariscogodofwar, Well, I served 0311 in the USMC in Vietnam and I will tell you that if you are unwilling to fight and maybe even die for freedoms sake, no matter where that threat might be should loose their freedom and deserve to.
so you are aware and awake enough to see through the smokescreen gummit and media are putting out. Good. Those “home issues” you name are the things we OUGHT be concerend about, but the distractions of the covidiocy, “woke” nonsenee, the “energy” and “environment” manufactured crises, buzz words, and tyranny afoot right here on our owh shores.
ne thing, though.. if you fear to let yuor fiathbe pleinly known, none of the rest wil matter. We took a hard look today in meeting into Peter, who wold not take a stand alongside Jesus but denied Him. He did repent of that, and later poured out his life (literally,, Nero had him murdered because Peter was fearlessly speaking the truth and building the church, and Nero did not like that one bit, so “silenced” him. But he did NOT silence him. We still read Peter’s words of challenge and encouragement today. WHo knows anything Nero ever uttered?
“Zelensky rejects Christ.”
The last I heard, he’s Jewish.
Your point is?…
Isn’t it obvious?
He is a religious bigot, who believes Putin‘s claim to be a Christian far outweighs Zelinski, who after all is nothing but a Jew.
Isn’t it strange, and people say President Zelinski is a Nazi…
I think we found the Nazi…
Is it ok to reject Christ if you’re a member of the tribe?
Do you reject Christ?
“Do you reject Christ?“
Number one, my beliefs have no bearing on Russia’s brutal invasion and murder of the Ukrainian people.
Number two, your Christ (or Allah or Zeus or Shiva or Thor… ) has no mention in the constitution or place within our government policy.
And, I reject claims of deities, because no one has presented credible evidence of their existence.
You make the claim of a deity’s existence, the burden of proof is upon you.
Minor MINEf49er We sure have found a Nazi and that Nazi is YOU.
If you are STILL living in California then you, obviously, not some smart or logical (discredited)
I make $800k a year with RSUs. Am I stupid?
That sounds like a sweet deal. I hope they are fully vested and you have cashed out and retired elsewhere before it all goes to pot.
“I hide my Christianity for fear of persecution….
Zelensky rejects Christ.”
As, according to your own admission, do you.
That’s because he says right in the think he’s Ukrainian I bet he never even live there though they are a bunch of corrupt liars, Everyone’s argument is Ukraine can’t be Nazis because the president is Jewish that you don’t matter so I was Soros this whole thing is a bunch of hypocrites
Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog
Damn, possum, you done it again. I can go to sleep on that note.👍🤝
Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic?
He laid awake at night, wondering if there was a dog…
The existence of Azov Batallion (now Azov Regiment due to its much-larger size) and various other neo-Nazi militias is not an “absurd” claim, and the author is immensely disingenuous for attempting to gloss over this fact in his hysterical condemnation of Russia and the actions she takes to protect her security interests.
That’s because he says right in the think he’s Ukrainian I bet he never even live there though they are a bunch of corrupt liars
It’s really amazing that Joe Biden wants Americans to pay for the more expensive Russian oil. But he doesn’t want Americans to have inexpensive Russian ammunition. It’s amazing how the Democrats like to line the pockets of Putin and the Russian oligarchs.
American ammo is now being sent to the Ukraine.
“America currently imports something on the order of 600,000 barrels of Russian oil every day – an amount about 200,000 barrels shy of the number of barrels America would not have to import from Russia, had the Biden Thing not cancelled the Keystone Pipeline, among other things.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/03/eric-peters/about-those-600000-barrels/
I checked out your link, you’ll need a bit more credible source than the one who wrote the article.
The author is quite literally a ‘used car salesman’.
“About Those 600,000 Barrels . . .
By Eric Peters
Eric Peters Autos
March 5, 2022“
“Eric Peters [send him mail] is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities and Road Hogs (2011 ]) and he’s the author of the free ebook, Don’t Get Taken for a Ride!. Visit his website“
This story REALLY brought out the wackos of TTAG
So correct
I DON’T WANT LIVE UNDER PUTINISM .
THAT’S WAY PEOPLE COME TO AMERICA .
GOD BLESS OUR CONSTITUTION.
Wow I really didn’t think this site would be leaning pro Nato and establishment all the crap that’s coming out of the Ukraine is propaganda and all the crap that you’re talking about Russia is propaganda you’re really going after somebody who wants to do everything that Trump said he wanted to do pretty much fight for Christian virtue and you’re gonna call them bad I realize over this whole Ukraine thing Republicans are a bunch of hypocrites it seems like the site is one of them everything in this article you could replace with Trump instead of PutinAnd we would’ve all been cheering seriously make up your mind and stop believing propaganda bullshit
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