Why Russia Can't Be America's Ally: What Putin Doesn't Want You To Know

Providence Magazine: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy ^ | May 12, 2017 | George Barros

[GoldenState_Rose]

"Perceptions that Russia is a defender of Christendom in an increasingly secular world are not based in reality. Any discussion concerning the relationship between Christianity and Russia cannot fail to take into consideration the Russian Orthodox Church, which dominates practically all aspects of Christianity in Russia. It is well known among Sovietologists that the ROC historically has been used by the Kremlin and serves as an extension of the Russian state and its intelligence services—it is no coincidence that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is a decorated KGB agent. (This issue warrants a paper on its own, and I will write more on this topic later.)"

"Even within Christendom in Russia, Christians who do not completely recognize the authority of the Kremlin’s Moscow Patriciate are persecuted. There are several public examples of how the Russian State uses its power to defend the Russian Orthodox Church’s (and the Kremlin’s) monopoly on faith.

"Protestant missionaries usually suffer under Russian law and government authorities. Take for example the unfortunate case of Donald Ossewaarde, an American Baptist Missionary in Russia who, for hosting a Bible study in his home in violation of Russia’s Yarovaya Law[1], was arrested, fined 40,000 rubles, intimidated by Russian authorities, and forced to end his ministry."

"Just as Moscow supports “Christian” actors who serve Kremlin interests, Moscow supports Islamic actors who serve Kremlin interests. In fact, Putin stated that the Russian Orthodox Church has “much in common with Islam,” that “Islam is one of the traditional religions of Russia and deserves the support of the [Russian] government,” and that Russia will always be “a reliable ally” to the “Islamic world.” Perhaps Putin’s endorsement of Islam helps explain why the Kremlin has been supportive of a litany of radical Islamic regimes and tyrants."

[JohnyBoy]

>Stupid jerk. I provided you a mountain of evidence as to the true nature of the Russian Orthodox Church, the **LARGEST MEMBER OF THE (COMMUNIST) WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES!**

>Sorry for the “yelling” but you’re obviously dense and apparently need to have people shout at you to get you to see what’s right before your eyes. Anyway, I fully understand why you’re pretending to be so stupid. You have a job to do: help push the Russia/Putin agenda via the internet. Do they at least pay you enough to cover the rent for your basement apartment there in Moscow, or wherever you are?

You’re a typical liberal. Insults and lies instead of debate.

[ETL]

Trump says NATO is obsolete but still ‘very important to me’

Reuters
January 16, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.

“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”

Trump added that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection.

“A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-nato-obsolete-still-very-important-004548554—finance.html?ref=gs

_____________________________________________________

Exclusive: In call with Putin, Trump denounced Obama-era nuclear arms treaty - sources

By Jonathan Landay and David Rohde

February 9, 2017

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.

When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.

Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. ...”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-call-putin-trump-denounced-obama-era-nuclear-171036908.html?ref=gs

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20170209182918/https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-call-putin-trump-denounced-obama-era-nuclear-171036908.html?ref=gs

[caww]

China and Russia are somewhat simaliar in that though their Presidents have strong political control they’re both capitalists.....which has changed dramatically fro the years of Stalin and other Russian Leaders.

There’s just no comparison between Putins Russia and Stalins....Same with Ukrains....the Nazi’s are marching in the street and in their governance.....that doesn’t mean they’re Constitutions and Governmnent or Business.

[caww]

China and Russia are somewhat simaliar in that though their Presidents have strong political control they’re both capitalists.....which has changed dramatically fro the years of Stalin and other Russian Leaders.

There’s just no comparison between Putins Russia and Stalins....Same with Ukrains....the Nazi’s are marching in the street and in their governance.....that doesn’t mean they’re Constitutions and Governmnent or Business.

[ETL]

From a 2007 article titled "Putin's Russia"...

"KGB influence 'soars under Putin,'

" blared the headline of a BBC online article for December 13, 2006. The following day, a similar headline echoed a similarly alarming story at the website of Der Spiegel, one of Germany's largest news magazines: "Putin's Russia: Kremlin Riddled with Former KGB Agents."

In the opening sentences of Der Spiegel's article, readers are informed that: "Four out of five members of Russia's political and business elite have a KGB past, according to a new study by the prestigious [Russian] Academy of Sciences. The influence of ex-Soviet spies has ballooned under President Vladimir Putin."

The study, which looked at 1,061 top Kremlin, regional, and corporate jobs, found that "78 percent of the Russian elite" are what are known in Russia as "siloviki," which is to say, former members of the KGB or its domestic successor, the FSB. The author of the study, Olga Kryshtanovskaya, expressed shock at her own findings. "I was very shocked when I looked at the boards of major companies and realized there were lots of people who had completely unknown names, people who were not public but who were definitely, obvious siloviki," she told Reuters.

Other supposed experts — in Russia and the West — have also expressed surprise and alarm at the apparent resurrection of the dreaded Soviet secret police. After all, for the past decade and a half these same experts have been pointing to the alleged demise of the KGB as the primary evidence supporting their claim that communism is dead.

From the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the Russian security apparatus Cheka (and its later permutations: OGPU, NKVD, MGB, KGB) had been the "sword and shield" of the communist world revolution.

"We stand for organized terror," declared Felix Dzerzhinsky, the first chief of the Cheka for Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin. In 1918, Dzerzhinsky launched the campaign of arrests and executions known as the Red Terror. Krasnaya Gazeta, the Bolshevik newspaper, expressed the Chekist credo when it reported approvingly in 1918 of the terror campaign: "We will make our hearts cruel, hard and immovable, so that no mercy will enter them, and so that they will not quiver at the sight of a sea of enemy blood."

Unflinching cruelty and merciless, bloody terror have been the trademark of the communist secret police, from the Cheka to the KGB. Obviously, the demise of such an organization would be cause for much rejoicing. Hence, when the KGB was ordered dissolved and its chairman, General Vladimir Kryuchkov, was arrested in 1991 after attempting to overthrow "liberal reformer" Mikhail Gorbachev in the failed "August Coup," many people in the West were only too willing to pop the champagne corks and start celebrating our supposed victory over the Evil Empire.

But, as Mikhail Leontiyev, commentator for Russia's state-controlled Channel One television, recently noted, repeating a phrase popular among the siloviki: "Americans got so drunk at the USSR's funeral that they're still hung over." And stumbling around in their post-inebriation haze, many of these Americans have only recently begun noticing that they had prematurely written the KGB's epitaph, even as it was arising vampire-like from the coffin.

However, there is really no excuse for Olga Kryshtanovskaya or any of her American counterparts to be stunned by the current siloviki dominance in Putin's Russia. For nearly a decade, even before he became Russia's "president," THE NEW AMERICAN has been reporting on Putin's KGB pedigree and his steady implementation of a long-range Soviet deception strategy, including the public rehabilitation and refortifying of the KGB-FSB. ..." (continues at link)

http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/8420-putins-russia

[lodi90]

I agree. But you don’t see the same *ideological* allegiance building among conservatives for China the way you do for Putin.

---

The free traitor wing of the GOP loves the Chicoms.

[GoldenState_Rose]

Putin’s economics is a far more grotesque form of oligarchic/kleptocratic capitalism than China’s. China therfore has a stronger thriving middle class.

[GoldenState_Rose]

Look the US has been weak. Its a mess. But now we can be better. Pray for Trump. America First.

[ETL]

You’re a typical liberal. Insults and lies instead of debate.

Liberal? It was the leftwing liberals who provided your boys in Moscow just about everything they needed in order to achieve their mission, which is to basically restore the evil empire. Obama and Hillary were in bed with the Russians, as is now finally being realized by everyone else. I had been shouting it from the rooftops here for months.

And what is there to debate? There is nothing to debate with you in regards to Putin and Russia. I know what they're about, and so do you.

[caww]

The article reads.....”It is well known among Sovietologists that the ROC historically has been used by the Kremlin and serves as an extension of the Russian state.”

Pretty much the same as when Rome and Catholicism merged centuries ago and still being used today.....All nation leaders today know that they must have a rallying point for their citizens. ...and they also know government alone cannot do that... But if they can obtain the favor of the faithful via their church leadership to look favorable on them, and retain a cohesive group of people, then will all do just that.

So there’s no reason really to spite Putin for doing likewise......he knows how that works and is playing it well to assist in keeping his peoples loyalty......though I question Putins own loyalty to any faith... except his government and the plans he has for his nation and it’s peoples.

[GoldenState_Rose]

Catholicism was countered by the Protestant Reformation and Rome never regained the political foothold it had once had.

Orthodoxy was about to reform until Revolution hit Russia in 1917.

[WatchungEagle]

I was browsing this “Providence” site, which just a lame attempt to sell neocon foreign policy to Christians when I came across this statement:

https://providencemag.com/2017/07/confusion-western-values-universalism/

“With these words about “values,” the speech revealed a lack of confidence in truths about how best to protect individual human rights and freedoms. These truths have, indeed, been discovered in the West, but are not the property of the West and do not apply only in the West. But Trump implied that these were simply local, particular, and culturally-specific “values,” and thus inadvertently validated primary tenets of the postmodern relativism and ideological multiculturalism derided by many of his admirers. He failed to explain why political-philosophical principles that emerged in the West have universal applicability, and have in fact been embraced, at least on paper, by the vast majority of the community of nations.”

This is a fundamental philosophical divide that cannot be bridged. Real conservatives reject universalism. Western values and culture are an outgrowth of a particular people in a particular place at a particular time. They are not universal values. They could not have been invented by someone else. They are our vales. The belong to us, not the world.

The last line in that quote is rather humorous. Yes, non-Western cultures can adopt liberal language “at least on paper,” yet the substance of Western society does not emerge. Hmmm.

Trump ran on a platform of rejecting the kind of foreign policy and universalist philosophy promoted by this “Providence” organization. That’s why they had to attack the core message of Trump’s most popular speech. Trump’s speech writers(Stephen Miller among them) were very aware of what they were doing with their choice of words. Trump’s Poland speech was a deliberate rejection of Cold War internationalist liberalism, aka neoconservatism. It was a clear statement for particularism and against universalism. It was especially a rejection of the claim that Poland or “the West” or Europe or of course, America, is defined by ideological liberalism as opposed to its organic roots.

[GoldenState_Rose]

It doesnt change the factualness of this particular article. They might be flawed on lending perspective to other issues however.

[GoldenState_Rose]

I liked Trumps speech. I agree in universal nature of truth...but he was speaking in Poland and targetting Europe specifically with his message.

[ETL]

Donald Trump: 'Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time'

Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY SHOW (NBC)

Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."

The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."

http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
_______________________________________________

Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube...

Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns
___________________________________________________

JULY 2017...

Trump, in Warsaw Speech, Criticizes Russia’s ‘Destabilizing’ Role in Ukraine, Syria

The president also reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s mutual-defense pact

Jul 6, 2017

President Trump called Russia a “destabilizing” influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to “join the community of responsible nations,” in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.

His remarks in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russia’s ambitions.

“To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated—not merely with its words but with its actions—that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment,” Trump said Thursday. “Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.”

Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defense—a position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/07/trump-russia/532761/

[caww]

Part of our problem is we see Russia and Putin through the lens of the old Western mindset .... the youth of his country believe he cares about them and frankly he’s invested quite a bit of the countries wealth on them.......it’s a country in transition from one generation to the other. Just as the US and Europe are going through...... But as we also see few if any of the old guards want to let go and see what might transform ahead.

There is a balance where you go forward but not without understanding the past....but you don’t have to live in the past.

One of the refreshing things heard by foreigners about President Trump is they say.... “He’s an Older man with a young mind”.....Trump understands “the world” economics and how it works......so does Putin. But as with China’s leader...all three respect each other but all three desire the highest power over the others once the trade agreements are signed and sealed.

BTW...Putin doesn’t drink...and his country has programs to try and rid their country of the vast drinking. The youth always asks him about that when he speaks to them.

[caww]

Putins a very astute statesman without a doubt. He’s cut his teeth on making sure of that along the way. Powerful man without a doubt. None the less keep one eye opened.....always. Just as one would with any leader....they’re all shifty but some can hide it very well...Putins one of those.

[caww]

....”Rome never regained the political foothold it had once had.”.....

Roe didn’t fall because of Cathoicism......but you might consider why is it EVERY ‘politician’ world wide tries to see RCC’s POPE?.....It’s because of the power and wealth the RCC still has today. They are indeed like it was in Romes Day.....they just play it differently.

I’m not all that familiar with the Russian Orthodox Faith sufficient to comment further........enough to say that Government knows they need the people of faith to support them and will use whatever means to acquire such a cohesive group...and their revenue sources.

What’s more concerning to me is the POPE/RCC trying to gather all manner of faith under IT’s umbrella as some sort of collective “offering”.

[ETL]

Soros-Funded Groups Undercutting Ukraine, Helping Russia

Drew Johnson
Aug 23, 2017

A pair of George Soros-funded NGOs are engaged in a campaign that could destabilize Ukraine and force the country to rely on its enemy, Russia, for its energy needs.

Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Action Centre are behind political propaganda and social media attacks aimed at Burisma, a private Kiev-based natural gas company that has invested billions of dollars to dramatically increase natural gas production and helped wean Ukraine off of Russian energy imports.

Both organizations received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Soros-funded foundations in recent years.
Burisma’s owner, Nikolay Zlochevskyi, was under suspicion for corruption and tax evasion, but separate investigations in the United Kingdom and Ukraine dropped all charges against Burisma and Zlochevskyi.

Despite Burisma’s resounding victory in both the British and Ukrainian legal systems over the course of the past three years, the Anti-Corruption Action Centre engaged in a series of press releases, statements and social media posts implying Zlochevskyi and the company received favorable treatment in court due to political connections.

Earlier this year, Transparency International plastered Kiev with posters and ads claiming Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office was guilty of abuse of power, and alleged Zlochevskyi’s case should not have been dropped.

Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Buretta, however, believes the outcome of the investigation was reasonable and correct. “The actions of the [British Office of the General Prosecutor] and those of the Ukrainian court are clear evidence of Ukraine’s commitment to the rule of law and due process — twin pillars of democracy,” Buretta stated.

Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Action Centre also claim Burisma failed to pay appropriate taxes, even though the company pays almost $100 million in taxes a year. Burisma’s taxes fund almost 5 percent of Ukraine’s annual government spending.

Supporters of Burisma fear the unsubstantiated attacks by the Soros-funded NGOs may harm the company, undercutting Ukrainian energy independence and opening the door for Russian control in the process — a particular concern in the years since the military conflict between the two nations related to the annexation of Crimea.

“Burisma is leading a private sector that drastically boosted the domestic production in recent years — an increase of more than 30 percent in 2014 alone,” said Roman Opimakh, the executive director of the Association of Gas Producers of Ukraine. “This is the perfect example of promising energy independent behavior by Ukraine that should be supported by NGOs, not criticized.”

Opimakh points out that Ukraine’s increased natural gas production, combined with increased energy imports from European Union allies, has allowed the country to stop buying natural gas from Russia.

Soros has been a leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying threats from ISIS “do not compare with the threat emanating from Russia.” The Russian government responded by banning Soros’ charities, the Open Society Foundations and the Open Society Institute from the country.

The billionaire hedge fund mogul later declared “Putin’s bombing of Aleppo will be viewed as among the modern world’s most egregious war crimes.”

Soros’ donations to Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, however, may be aiding Russia.

“You have to wonder why George Soros, a supporter of an independent Ukraine and one of Putin’s biggest adversaries would funnel his money to groups seeking to undermine that independence by by taking aim at Burisma,” said Jeff Stier, a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research and the head of the think tank’s Risk Analysis Division. “Ukraine’s energy industry is central to allowing the country to stand on its own, as a democracy, rather than deteriorating into a de facto Russian satellite state.”

“Soros is no novice when it comes to deploying his charitable dollars to achieve political objectives. It’s clear that his support for these groups is serving Russian interests at the expense of democracy.

Now that he’s on notice of it, it’ll be telling to see if his foundations cut off all funding for these efforts — before he winds up further weakening Burisma, and by direct extension, Ukrainian independence.” Stier stated.

From 2013 to 2015, Soros’ philanthropies gave more than $1 million to Transparency International, according to the organization’s financial statements. The Anti-Corruption Action Centre received $210,000 from Soros’ International Renaissance Foundation between 2013 and 2016. Soros’ Open Society Foundation also donated to the center, according to the NGO’s own annual reports, but specific funding amounts were not disclosed.

Some Ukrainians doubt Soros knows what the Anti-Corruption Action Centre and Transparency International are doing with the money he provides. “To the best of my knowledge Soros institutions never tell [recipient organizations] what to do and never dictate their content,” said Dmytro Boyarchuk, the executive director of CASE Ukraine, a Soros-funded think tank that provides economic analysis for business and government organizations.

“Ignorance is no excuse,” said David Williams, the president of the Washington, D.C.-based Taxpayers Protection Alliance. “Soros is a sworn enemy of Putin and condemns what Russia’s government stands for. He should take every possible step to guarantee that his money isn’t being used to help Russia and harm Ukraine.”

Much of Soros’ international philanthropic efforts have focused on helping former communist countries to accept democracy. Soros spent his formative years in Nazi-occupied Hungary, then experienced the country’s transition to Soviet control before immigrating to England.

“Soros has seen, firsthand, the horrors associated with nationalist dictators and has spent his life fighting against them,” Williams said. “It’s heartbreaking that he would help to benefit one, whether deliberately or inadvertently.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/23/soros-funded-groups-undercutting-ukraine-helping-russia/

[WatchungEagle]

Let’s look at who is behind it:

https://providencemag.com/about/

“Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard, which he cofounded in 1995.”

Bill Kristol’s underboss on your board is not a good sign.

“Walter Russell Mead... previously served as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy for the Council on Foreign Relations. The author of God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World (2008), Professor Mead is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs.”

Nor is arch globalist, establishment court intellectual Walter Russel Mead.

The rest are an obscure collection of low level swamp creatures and government security complex apparatchiks.