Posted on 03/27/2014 7:54:59 PM PDT by goldstategop
One of the strategically interesting things about Vladimir Putin is that he has been careful not to set himself against religious belief but attempted to align himself with it. He has taken domestic actions that he believes reflect the assumptions of religious conservatives. He has positioned himself so that he can make a claim on a part of the Russian soul, as they used to say, that his forbears could not: He is not anti-God, he is pro-God, pro the old church of the older, great Russia. ...
At the top, religious references. Crimea is "where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization and human values that unite the people of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
No doubt I’m an a’hole for challenging the great leader. Probably I’m a closet Obama supporter. Putin has opposed change in Venezuela and is an opportunist in Nicaragua, Cuba, etc. You want to support those governments “of the people”. Putin is a Fascist, pure and simple. Just because we have a duffus for a leader doesn’t make me cheer on a Nazi.
btt
politicians often use issues and themes that they do not believe in
for example:
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/26/6271916/fbi-california-sen-leland-yee.html
you don’t sound like a closet obama supporter — more like a closet mccain groupie.
A man sincere about God in the past would not assassinate rivals and reporters with polonium poisoning.
A man sincere about God in the present would publicly admit their sin and atone for it - as did King David - including accepting whatever judicial punishment is warranted.
Excellent. I was starting to think I was the only one around here who gets it...
Putin is the best ruler Russia has ever had since Tsar Peter and Bork Obunga is the worst ruler any advanced state has ever had since Nero and in fact it’s worse than that. Bork isn’t bright enough to play a fiddle, we’re going to get to listen to rap while America burns.
You are delusional. There is NOTHING to indicate Putin is a ‘believer’ in ANY sense of the word. He is , was, and always will be KGB. He is no more Christian than O is.
That fact that he will lie to you to get his own way tells you everything you need to know. He is brutal and dictatorial. Do not be deceived. He is a COMMUNIST through and through.
I didn’t even realize she was still around.... but then after reading the intro paragraph I am not so sure that I was wrong
The anti-Christ will speak of God convincingly too...
Obama spent 20 years in Reverend Wright's church to feign a sincere connection with the black community and to firm up his image a Christian. As soon as he's president, he governs like a pagan.
Putin, like Milosevic, stopped being a communist and became a Christian Nationalist when he needed an ideology to connect him to the Russian people. So he quotes sentimental Christian statements and poses as pro-Christian autocrat. Yet he's not stopped abortion, something he could do by ukase. He's somehow gotten fantastically rich with a reported $75 billion dollars. Obviously, he's not taken a vow of poverty. He's a fraud and a thug, and it's weird that a few FReepers admire him.
Putin is helping Iran get a nuclear weapon. What do you think about that?
Putin grew up in the Soviet Union and left the KGB as a Lieutenant Colonel, having served 16 years. He didn't last 16 years in the KGB and espouse Christianity, else wise, he would have spent a long time in Siberia, not East Germany, liasing with the Stasi! Putin is a nationalist first and foremost. The question is, is the nation Russia or a reconstituted USSR! Only Vlad knows for sure. He continues to support the Russian Orthodox church, as his power base. The moment they disagree with him in public, he'll dump them like 0.00 dumped 'Reverend' Wright!
The KGB ran the Moscow Patriarchate. Patriarch Alexius II operated as an agent of the KGB/FSB, code named 'Drozdov' and the CURRENT Patriarch, Kirill I was and most likely still is an agent of the KGB/FSB, code named 'Mikhailov'. Who was it that recruited US Army Colonel George Trofimoff into the KGB? None other than Bishop Iriney of the Russian Orthodox church (ROc)! His name before entering the church was Igor Susemihl, Trofimoff's foster brother, an agent of the KGB. The KGB/FSB and the ROc is inseparable.
I hate to burst your bubble but the world is not just black and white. It is not '0.00 Bad' and 'Putin Good', there are shades of gray and the difference between 0.00 and Putin is minimal, like the difference between bull manure and chicken manure. Both are manure and we know which end of the animal they come from. I'll let you decide who the bull is and who the chicken is!
One last question, if Allen West were President, would you still consider Putin a 'good guy'?
RE: “Other than fossil fuels and weapons, their only exports are prostitutes and mobsters.”
And smoker’s cough.
While Russia is the master of classical romance, it’s important not to romanticize its leadership.
Too bad Noonan snapped her rudder. She’s a talented writer.
>> I was starting to think I was the only one around here who gets it.
That’s a loaded comment. To avoid “guessing” what you mean, would you mind expanding on that?
Putin has all kinds of reasons to publicly espouse religion - as a means of combating the alcoholism rampant in Russian society, of gaining allies, of establishing a sense of national identity, of getting Russians to reproduce again. Putin could easily be trying to use God for his own ends, and there is far more reason to think that he is than that he isn’t.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.