Posted on 03/08/2022 9:48:03 AM PST by daniel1212
Why is Putin doing this?...The driving forces behind it, that gain most attention in the Western media, are: hankering after restoring the lost empire of the Soviets and the tsars; fear of further eastern expansion of NATO; opposition to the growing influence of the EU and its democratic and law-based principles in Moscow’s backyard (given the authoritarian nature of the Putin regime); desire to crush a democratic state which embodies principles alien to the present regime in Russia; an attempt to rally support for Putin as the coalition of the dissatisfied grows in Russia; the desire of an ageing authoritarian to stamp his mark on Russian history as the restorer of ‘lost lands.’
All these issues help explain Putin’s decision to launch an all-out war on Ukraine, regardless of the cost. However, the factors driving this include others that go even further into the ‘deep story’ of Russian identity... Russification and the suppression of independent Ukrainian culture occurred under the tsars and then later under Stalin. A brief period of Ukrainian independence, after the fall of the tsar in 1917, was ended when the Red Army brought Ukraine under communist rule. This rule included the deaths of millions of Ukrainian peasants during Stalin’s collectivisation of agriculture in the 1930s. In 1991 Ukraine declared independence. For many Russian nationalists this was more than simply the loss of a valuable region; it represented a failure to retain a place that was deeply interwoven into Russian self-identity. And, in the post-Soviet world, this increasingly came to be expressed in a fusion of nationalist and Orthodox language.
Putin (president of the Russian Federation since 2000) has frequently referenced the Orthodox Church as representing an essential feature of Russian identity. In return, the church leadership has framed the Kremlin as the defender of Russian culture and of Russians living outside Russia....However, the nature of authoritarianism in modern Russia is that all institutions are subservient to the agenda of the Kremlin.
In 2015 Putin justified his recent annexation of Crimea, from Ukraine, by asserting that Crimea has “sacred meaning for Russia, like the Temple Mount for Jews and Muslims,”...
the invasion of Ukraine – while primarily driven by Russian nationalist geo-politics in the post-Cold-War world – is also rooted in an apocalyptic-nationalism. Sanctions are unlikely to defuse that. Only regime change in Russia seems capable of that.
And the war for me is not for Ukraine as some holy land, but against Putin as an oppressive dictator and invader of sovereign nations, and belligerent threat to the existence of the West (yet, the Lord's will be done for what is spiritually best for the people), while liberals works to destroy it from within.
Liberals oppose him due to his anti-LGBTQ stance and favoring Trump and being a threat to their dominance, while traditional conservatives - at least non-RO Christians
(banned all sharing of faith apart from his state church, besides any protest of his policies) - overall oppose Putin due to him being the actual threat to our faith and freedoms.
Putin hasn’t launched “all-out” war.
Is there really any basis for that? Are vacation home and oil riches the same as the Temple Mount?
Our own government is a greater threat to our faith and freedoms. This writer is apparently fine with the progressive anti-Christian globalist scum running the west. There is no good side right now.
True. Or "regardless of the cost." Hyperbole at best.
The root of all evil is of course Mammon.
If Crimea is officially ceded to Russia, they get the economic rights to the massive natural gas reserves in the Black Sea just off the Crimean coast. And under the dirt of that barren land...
Otherwise the Ukrainian government can sell the rights to Western oil companies and undercut the Russian natural gas with the already existing pipelines. With ~50% of Russian revenue coming from oil+gas, that’s a big deal. “Existential threat” as they say.
The usual reasons for war.
No, being fine with the progressives if against Putin would be a false either/or dichotomy. Meanwhile at least any evangelism has not been banned here, as under Putin, nor any protests of policies. Yet refusing to be complicit in the celebration of homosexual union is a criminal offense. Thus the nation is worthy of nukes.
“Our own government is a greater threat to our faith and freedoms. This writer is apparently fine with the progressive anti-Christian globalist scum running the west. There is no good side right now.”
Nobody gave a rat’s damn when Stalin starved out Ukraine or the SS murdered whole regions at Babi Yar. Real atrocities. Real genocide.
Nobody cared about the police stomping old ladies in Canada or the hoards still pouring across from Mexico. Those are both on our border. This is deep state nonsense.
A bunch of Christians selectively cherry pick Ezekiel 38-40 as Gog being the head of Russia, but they ignore the entire rest of the book.
Utter bulls—t.
Putin’s motivation is geopolitical. The religious stuff is nothing but a convenient smokescreen. He’s a self-styled champion of Orthodox Christianity, but then he imports Muslims jihadists to kill and terrorize the Ukrainian Christians?
There’s always two sides to every story. I have some Russian friends that escaped Russia in 1992, now American citizens here in Alaska; achieving the American Dream. Russians think completely different than we do. They all connect with Mother Russia and the Orthodox Church. My friend told me Crimea was settled by Russia in 972 AD and even though most Russians hate Putin; they support what is going on in Ukraine.
Yes, as I said in my comment, "This is substantial excerpt on the religious premise used to justify the latest Russian invasion (a long list )."
I have news. No matter who controls Russia it will never give up its interests in the Ukraine and the Black Sea.
Crimea may very well want to be Russian. I don’t know.
But Ukraine has demonstrated by their actions, they don’t want Russia invading.
So while Ukraine might need to let the Russian speaking areas go, if they want to go, this invasion still looks completely unnecessary.
It’s pretty clear that a lot of people acknowledge that Putin has had designs on Ukraine for a long time.
And it looks like he has been formenting rebellion to give him a pretext to take the whole country.
And he’s doing the same thing in Moldavia. And he will continue doing the same thing everywhere unless he is stopped.
Both Stalin and the Tsars did the same thing.
Using the organs of the state religion to create support for the Regime has long been a basic tool of Russian Goverment
Lenin and the commies tried to wage a war on the Russian church but that all went away under Stalin when the Nazis invaded.
Putin’s religion is Communism.
Onward, Christian Soldiers!
I will not align myself with those who despise my existence be it foreign or domestic.
YET
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.