Posted on 02/19/2014 9:47:57 AM PST by wideawake
Another day of deadly clashes between Ukraine dissidents and police drove the death toll up to 26 Wednesday, as pressure mounted on the government -- from the United States and the European Union -- to pull back security forces and start discussions with the opposition to quell the violence.
Ukranian riot police clashed with protesters occupying a square in central Kiev Wednesday morning, spraying water cannons at crowds who hurled back Molotov cocktails in response, according to Reuters.
The White House, hoping to reduce the escalating tensions, said it would like to see Russia become more involved and support efforts to find a truce between the two sides, Reuters reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Got it.
>>Berlin and Vienna carved up the original Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Commonwealth<<
I don’t remember ‘Ukrainian’ in original name.
That's an amazing statement.
"His past" was serving as the link between the KGB and the East German Stasi. He was not a go-along-to-get-along fellow traveler.
He was a high-ranking member of a brutal secret police organization.
The essence of the Soviet order was power and control, and he is a Soviet to the nth degree.
He’s a Tsar without the crown
As was Stalin, whose personality cult Putin now cultivates for himself.
a new Constantine.
Constantine? Constantine sought to build up the Universal Church, to heal schisms and internal conflicts. Putin uses the Russian Orthodox Church as a tool of domestic policy and encourages the continued schism. He is the opposite of Constantine.
He’s not a nice man, but he’s a patriot
Anyone can call himself a patriot. Here's the problem: he believes he is Russia, or that Russia is Putin. Autolatry is not patriotism.
who appreciates and respects the role of Christianity in Russia
Not Christianity - but specifically and only Russian Orthodox Christianity. And its role, as far as he is concerned, is to lend legitimacy and support to his rule.
and is active in promoting it.
Again, not in promoting Christianity, but in promoting a politicized brand of Russian Orthodoxy. And his promotion goes only so far - it certainly doesn't extend to setting a good personal example.
His motives aren’t pure, but God frequently works through such men.
God can always bring good out of evil. But it doesn't mean we should valorize evil men who use His Name as a means to a political end.
As for America, our motives aren’t pure either,
No country's are.
and our means are far nastier.
And now we descend into the abyss.
Americans do not deliberately target women and children, as in Putin's Chechen adventure.
But let's pretend your groundless equivalence is actually true.
What it means is that you admire and respect the evil that a foreign country and its autocrat do, but condemn your own country for similar activities.
Why would you not admire both or condemn both? Why prefer the foreign country's leader to your own countrymen?
Perhaps you're not the best authority on who or who is not a patriot.
What are the distinguishing marks, besides your personal feelings?
The only difference between Putin and these "patriots" is that he is much more intelligent and efficient in his means that the bunglers cited.
It didn't have an official name - that state was known by various names throughout its existence.
Its inhabitants simply called it "The Republic" (Rzeczpospolita).
The three largest groups living in it were the Poles, Lithuanians and Ukrainians. There were also Belarussians and Ruthenians and others.
Of course, foreigners and historians couldn't just call it "the Republic" - they needed to come up with a name for it.
Calling it "The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" makes sense, because it was neither a pure monarchy or a pure republic (so "commonwealth" is vague enough to cover it) and "Polish-Lithuanian" because its core lands were the ones created by the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which was inhabited by Lithuanians, Poles and Belarussians) and the Elective Kingdom of Poland (which was inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians and Ruthenians).
But the people who lived there commonly just called it "The Republic."
He was a high-ranking member of a brutal secret police organization.
So he was. Not entirely unlike GHB Bush.
As was Stalin, whose personality cult Putin now cultivates for himself.
As Americans, we know how historical memory can be sanitized and shaped as political needs evolve. Russia's recent past is very unpleasant indeed. It should be easy to understand why Russians prefer not to dwell on the worst aspects, just as Americans gloss over or sublimate elements not touched by the better angels of our nature: in your wallet right now you might have the portrait of an ethnic cleanser.
Constantine was a believer who promoted the orthodox faith out of conviction that the Christian God was the powerful sponsor of his imperium, but not till the end of his life and after no inconsiderable bloodshed did he make his personal submission. The comparison with Putin's entirely apt because Putin acts as one expects of a believer, if not a saint. You can't call him a hypocrite without saying the same of Theodosius and Justinian.
Americans do not deliberately target women and children
Free contraceptives, the systematic destruction of the family, and every conceivable assault on the embryo from abortion to stem cell "research" are already here. With the prospect of human/animal chimeras, three-parent life in vitro, and advanced "gender" theories, we're on the threshold of targeting the very possibility of being human. That would be MY idea of "descending into the abyss".
It is a zone of intolerance for Catholics, especially Catholics who want to share their faith with others.
As a Catholic, I could hope for more
That's for sure.
So he was. Not entirely unlike GHB Bush.
Actually completely unlike GHW Bush (whom I presume you meant). The elder Bush was an director of spies.
Putin was a director of a secret police force.
I know that you understand the difference.
The comparison with Putin's entirely apt
Again, it is not.
Constantine was a promoter of Christian unity - his main contributions to the Church were regularizing its legal status and healing schism.
The Orthodox Church's legal status was fully regularized before Putin arrived on the scene. Since he has arrived, he has encouraged ethnic nationalism and schismatic disunity in the Church.
You can't call him a hypocrite without saying the same of Theodosius and Justinian.
The issue is not his hypocrisy - the issue is the outlandish claim that a tinpot autocrat who has spent his entire life safe in an office is comparable with a giant like Constantine.
Free contraceptives . . .
You really think the culture of death is illegal in Russia? That it is not in evidence throughout that country?
Putin's feeble and inconsistent efforts to ape traditional Orthodox understanding are motivated by his dying country's demographic winter, not a consistent ethic of life.
Did you notice the prominent way baby carriages figured in the Sochi opening ceremonies? I thought it quite a nice touch. Demographically they are in bad trouble, but Putin is using his government to encourage Russian reproduction. The USA would be in demographic winter also if not for massive immigration that’s bound to alter our national character in destabilizing ways, but our government’s fully committed to an anti-life program.
Not because of any commitment to the culture of life, but because he needs cannon fodder.
our government’s fully committed to an anti-life program
Correct. And although we have the means to change it, we don't. Shame on us.
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