Posted on 02/13/2023 9:58:48 AM PST by lump in the melting pot
The mood among Russia’s special forces and the FSB began to change dramatically in the fall, when Russian troops abandoned Kherson, suffering the latest of many humiliations for the Russian army.
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We’ve known most of our contacts in Russia’s special forces and the FSB for years, and none was particularly religious before the war. Now a wave of mysticism has descended on them; the apparent trigger being a growing understanding that the war is not going to end anytime soon.
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(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
Can 10 guys with sachel charges overwhelm an Abrams in close quarters?
Russia is learning the hard way that the war which it started unilaterally won’t end until both sides agree to end it. Ukraine at the moment looks like it’s had enough of being bullied by russia for the last 9 years, so this is very far away from being “over”.
I served during the Cold War (1980s through 2005). I remember the tales of missionaries being jailed for smuggling bibles across the iron curtain. Fast forward to 2003, I’m on a START inspection team in Bryansk, Russia for a rail mobile launcher elimination. There were two Russian Orthodox churches outside the team hotel, and we walked over for a look. One of our FSB escorts crossed himself upon entering the sanctuary, and I bought a pretty good quality Russian bible for ten rubles. The change was pretty cool to see.
Thank you for your service. While I have no doubt that the faith of the average russian (like your FSB minder) is genuine, the sad fact is that the russian state has co-opted the ROC as a tool of the state, to get ordinary russians to accept the suffering, deprivation and abuse heaped on them by their government.
You’ll get no argument from me…. I was just taking in the moment, and was astonished the FSB would employ him given my experiences in the Cold War.
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