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    VLADIMIR PUTIN, THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS MAN

    VLADIMIR PUTIN, THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS MAN

    POLITICS, WORLD
    BY THE OBJECTIVE OPINIANIST
    APRIL 2, 2018



    Vladimir Putin is quite possibly the world’s most dangerous man. He’s leading one of the world’s superpowers as a dictator with unchecked power. International organizations hold him responsible for several assassinations worldwide. Meanwhile he plays a dangerous game with the rest of the world in Eastern Europe.
    So, who is Vladimir Putin, and what are the reasons he’s so dangerous?

    Ex-KGB

    After Putin graduated, his very first occupation was as a member of the infamous KGB. This organisation was part of the Soviet Union and focused on gathering intelligence and performing counter-intelligence for the state. Even so, Putin’s early career was fairly uninteresting, as he spent most of his time doing paperwork. He sorted through the vast amounts of intelligence the KGB gathered, the majority of which was useless information.Later, in 1985, he adopted the persona of a translator in East-Germany, where he took on a role more in line with what most people expect from a KGB agent. He was there to compromise foreign dignitaries, gather information about the local political opposition to the Soviet Union and to travel under cover to West-Germany to spy on western forces. In 1991, as the Soviet Union crumbled, Putin resigned, stating “he knew which side he wanted to be on.”

    Early Political Career

    Following his exit from the KGB Putin instead dove into politics. He took office as the head of the Committee for External Relations of the Mayor’s Office of Leningrad. Here investigators subsequently charged with fraud one year later. He made a deal to allow the export of about 93 million dollars worth of metals in exchange for food aid that mysteriously never arrived, but was allowed to continue serving anyway.Putin gradually worked his way up the ranks of the Our Home – Russia party, gradually drawing more power to himself. In 1999 he was appointing acting Prime Minister of Russia by President Yeltsin. President Yeltsin openly supported Putin as his successor, to which Putin pledged to run during the next election. While he had many rivals, Putin’s growing popularity during this time allowed him to gain the upper hand, solidifying his position as Yeltsin’s successor.

    Vladimir Putin in Power

    Prime Minister

    Several months before the next presidential election, President Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned, which made Putin Russia’s acting President. This is where his reign began, and one of his first acts was pardoning President Yeltsin and his entire family from any corruption cases against them. Corruption was rife in Russia both during the Soviet Union and afterwards, and there was at least one ongoing lawsuit against relatives of Yeltsin. This set the tone for how Putin would run his country.After he won the elections in 2000, he made a deal with Russia’s oligarchs, who up till then had considerable power in the country. He allowed them to keep their power, as long as they stood behind Putin and his administration. A great many of these oligarchs would retain close ties with Putin and help him run his regime.

    President

    Putin kept hold of power in Russia since then. However, he couldn’t run for office again in 2008 after his second term. The constitution forbade it. However, he put a puppet in power in 2008 which openly admitted the plan was to hand power back to Putin all along.Putin has since then experienced unrivaled popularity in Russia, despite numerous human rights violations. This is because Putin has created a persona around himself as the proverbial savior of Russia. Whereas the Russian economy had all but collapsed under his predecessors, Putin’s policies revitalized it. His strong stance against western powers has played into the anti-west sentiments that remained in Russia after the Cold War. His recent annexation of the Crimea has played well with Russian nationalists, who consider the area a part of Russia’s heritage.As a result, Putin’s approval rating among his own people is a record breaking 88%. Of course, the rest of the world views him very differently.

    Putin’s Crimes

    If Putin is notorious for one thing, it’s that he cares nothing for international law. Here follows a short list of his most notorious offenses.

    Assassinations

    Though Putin enjoys overwhelming popularity in Russia, there are still those who would criticize him. Unfortunately, standing up to the regime is dangerous. There’s been a great deal of evidence that Putin had many Russian citizens that openly criticized him or his policies murdered. Such individuals run the risk of being poisoned, stabbed by a random passerby or beaten to death by an angry mob. Russian officials will deny responsibility and often claim the murdered was a random psychopath.

    Fraud in Russia’s Democracy

    International organizations stated that Russia is not considered a Democracy anymore. This is mainly because of how the current regime operates. Whenever there’s a serious challenger to Putin’s seat, the regime charges that opponent with a crime. To the regime the nature of the crime is irrelevant, since convicted felons aren’t allowed to run for office. Thus, Putin can pick and chose his own opponents, and he never chooses a winner.



    The regime also suppresses and persecutes opposition parties. Members of opposing political parties are often arrested and thrown behind bars for decades. The state runs propaganda to support the current regime, and has been involved in the creation of paramilitary groups that support the regime. This creates a hostile environment for any organization seeking to challenge the status quo, thus keeping the country under the regime’s control. There are some “opposition” parties the state does not persecute, but these are usually just puppets that are ultimately loyal to the regime. They exist only to give the country the appearance of a functional democracy.
    Lastly, there’s also fraud in the election itself. There’s good reason to believe the system has been corrupted entirely. There’s been reports that a great deal of the votes cast during the last election were in fact cast by “phantom” voters. As usual, the Russians themselves deny these allegations, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that in Russia there can only ever be one winner, and that’s Putin.

    Annexation of the Crimea

    As the Ukraine went through what was effectively a civil war, Russian forces stepped into the Crimean Peninsula and annexed it. According referendum held by Russia, a majority of the Crimeans wished to join with Russia, which became their justification for annexation. While historically Russia has some claim on Crimea, the annexation was clearly unlawful. Most other nations in the UN continue to recognize Crimea as a part of the Ukraine.



    Even so, taking the Crimea was a bold move on Putin’s part. Had the UN intervened (which strictly speaking, it should have) it could’ve sparked a full blown war. Even so, the event has laid the foundations for the fear that another cold war is approaching, or potentially another world war.

    Support of the Assad Regime

    Russia’s current regime is a direct military ally of Assad. In fact, Russia has made possible the bloodiest war in the 21st century thus far, the war in Syria. Russia has provided Assad with the weapons he needed to fight this war and even joined in strikes against rebel factions. International observers have accused this joined force of targeting civilians, in which case the Russian regime is equally responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths the war has already resulted in.

    Conclusion

    Vladimir Putin truly is one of the most dangerous men alive. There’s few people in the world he can’t have assassinated if he so desired. He’s helped to destabilize large regions of the world, including the Ukraine and Syria. He is directly responsible for numerous human rights violations in his own country. He could single-handedly bring about World War III, or even nuclear Armageddon, and there’d be no one in his administration with the power to stop him.



    If anyone has the power to change the future of our planet, it’s Vladimir Putin. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s unlikely his influence on that future will be a positive one.


    http://www.allobjectiveopinions.com/...dangerous-man/

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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    Why Russia Cannot Become Our Friend: Memo to President Trump

    Paul Roderick Gregory
    Jan 9, 2017, 11:50am 39,443 views


    Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting in the Moscow's Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

    I attended a small meeting at Stanford as the primaries went into full swing. The get-together included several former senior members of the Obama and Bush administrations. They agreed that the new President, irrespective of party, will try a new reset with Putin. Yes, Trump has made clear his intent to explore “good relations” with Russia and fulfill “a central [campaign] promise…to forge a working partnership with Russia, turning an old adversary into an ally in combating terrorist networks overseas and other global threats that bedeviled President Barack Obama.” Were Hillary Clinton President-elect, she would sooner or later be making the same announcement.

    Regrettably, the prospects for a successful negotiation with Putin over the “unsatisfactory condition of Russian-American relations” are near zero for the following reasons: The Putin regime requires confrontation with the US for its very survival, while Trump must deliver “beautiful deals” that “make American great again.” If Trump were to sign a deal which does not yield real enforceable concessions by Putin on Crimea, east Ukraine, or the Middle East, Trump’s deal-making image would be shattered along with his presidency.

    As Trump prepares to go head-to-head with Putin, he must understand what Germany’s Angela Merkel describes as Putin’s “parallel world.” In any negotiation, Putin will be fighting for the survival of his regime and himself. Putin has remarkably turned Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” on its head. According to the Kremlin narrative, it is the United States and its puppet NATO that are intent on dismembering Russia. The US has become the “evil empire” bent on imposing its corrupt political (after WikiLeaks) and civilizational values on Russia, the last great bastion of Christianity, patriotism, morality, and good will.

    Putin justifies his repression of his own people, his sacrifice of economic welfare, his isolation of Russia, and his risky military adventurism as the necessary defense of a “besieged fortress.” Any deal with Trump that establishes a “satisfactory condition” of Russian-American relations removes the justification for Putin’s kleptocracy, Russia’s costly military buildup, and for Putin himself.

    Sweden’s tri-annual Russian Military Capability in a Ten-Year Perspective offers a sobering picture of the Kremlin military doctrine that Russia is under constant threat from the West by so-called color revolutions (orchestrated by the CIA) that seek to overthrow the “legitimate” government of Russia. To protect itself, Russia has struck back by annexing Crimea, attacking Georgia and eastern Ukraine, pressuring Belarus and Moldova, intervening in Syria, and increasing repressive controls at home.

    Opinion polls show that non-stop state propaganda has convinced the Russian people that Russia is indeed a besieged fortress, the armed forces are to be trusted, more resources must be devoted to defense (at the expense of living standards), and that young Russians should not avoid military service. The percentage of respondents with “bad/very bad” opinions of the US rose from 34 percent to 60 percent between 2012 to present. The EU fared even worse with negative opinion rising from 21 to 60 percent. All pretense of democratic elections was dispelled with the managed parliamentary elections of 2016.

    Putin’s Stalinesque claim that all social and political unrest is instigated from abroad renders virtually every truckers’ strike, miners’ protest, or critical Facebook posting a CIA, US State Department, or Germany BND operation. External aggression and internal repression blur the distinction between the armed services and national guards and militias which are tasked with domestic security. Putin’s National Guard, commanded by a loyalist, numbers close to 400,000 plus tanks, helicopters, and tanks to “fight terrorism.” A “terrorist” in Putin’s vocabulary is anyone who poses a threat to “the Russian state’” namely to Putin himself.

    Official Russian military doctrine asserts that the US wishes a restoration of a hegemonic world in which it is the sole superpower. Russia’s resurgence has spoiled that ambition. The US covetsRussia’s natural resources, especially those in Siberia. If Russian state’s ambitious Hitler-Jugend-like youth programs succeed, the West will have problems even after Putin’s departure.

    The Russian narrative claims its struggle is for the future of civilization itself. Russia must therefore be prepared to deploy its nuclear weapons “as a primary tool for foreign policy coercion.” Russia has explicitly singled out former Soviet bloc countries that have entered or are entering the Western orbit as a clear and present danger. If this threat escalates, Russia must be prepared to intervene. If Russian forces are outgunned, there is always the nuclear option.

    The Swedish report on Russian military doctrine concludes on this pessimistic note: “The authoritarian direction of Russian politics coupled with the strong use of enemy images to legitimize policies will be most difficult to reverse for the Russian political leadership without undermining its position of power….Opportunities to change the policy to a more Western-friendly approach have diminished.” In other words, Trump will face in Putin a negotiating partner with limited room to move.

    This will be the situation Donald Trump faces as he sits down across the table from Vladimir Putin.
    Trump may believe that he has strong cards and Putin has a weak hand. After all, the Russian economy is in the dumps, sanctions limit Russia’s ability to borrow, a US energy surge is keeping energy prices low, and Trump is rebuilding the American armed forces. Currently, the US spends six times more on defense than Russia.

    Putin’s cards are, however, stronger than they appear. Internal dissent has been smashed. He has centralized power in his own hands, while Trump must work with allies, who are being pulled apart by national interests and by Russian meddling. Putin’s propaganda machine has kept the Russian people on board despite a defense buildup (to 5.4 percent of GDP) at the sacrifice of living standards (down 15 percent) and public health. Putin can rattle the nuclear saber to offset the US’s stronger military. Unlike the US presidential cycle that requires quick results, Putin can play a long hand with the presumption that time is on his side.

    In his few public statements on the subject, Trump has declared that the US and Russia’s shared interest in fighting ISIS will provide the foundation for improved relations. Despite frenetic efforts of the outgoing Secretary of State to find this common ground, the outgoing US Secretary of Defense declared in frustration that the Russians “haven’t done anything to fight ISIS.” In fact, Russia does not perceive itself, despite its own 20 million ethnic Muslims, at risk from Islamic terrorism. Russia has suffered only eight Islamic terrorist attacks, killing 708, mostly in remote regions. Putin has used terrorist incidents for political advantage. In Chechnya, Putin has a private army led by a loyalist ready to kill not only terrorists but their families. Putin is confident his police state can infiltrate Islamic groups. So far, Russia’s Syrian air war has targeted regime opponents, not ISIS. Events do not support the notion that Russia is a natural ally against Islamic extremism.

    The Middle East offers few prospects for agreement. Iran and Russia are allies, have strong commercial ties, and Iran is the world’s largest supporter of international terrorism, which destabilizes the Western world, to Russia’s delight. Russia has demonstrated that it will use all its military power to keep client Assad in power. Nor does Russia want to help Europe with its refugee crisis because the influx of Middle Easterners is destabilizing the European Union, whose disintegration is one of Putin’s major goals.

    Turning to Ukraine: Trump can be sure that Putin will not give up Crimea. His approval rating could not survive the loss of his signal achievement. Nor will he accept a peace settlement that makes possible an independent Western-oriented Ukraine. Instead, Putin will try to bamboozle Trump with talk of “federalization,” and declare those corrupt Neo-Nazis who run Ukraine are not worth saving. Putin will insist that his Donbas puppets have veto power over Ukraine’s economic and foreign policy, while withdrawing his equipment and troops to the Russian border where they stand ready as a constant threat. The removal of sanctions will be Putin’s price for his “concessions,” but he can resume (or never stop) hybrid warfare at will.

    Trump cannot afford such a deal that leaves him looking like a fool and subject to Democratic claims that he has been Russia’s Manchurian candidate all along.

    Trump does have one decisive card: The bipartisan approval to supply lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine must keep Putin awake at night. Ukraine has demonstrated that it is prepared to use its blood and treasure to defend its independence. Ukraine, which is expected to resume strong economic growth this year, meets Trump’s criteria of a nation willing and able to defend itself. Unlike President Obama, Trump should have no problem approving the lethal weapons. Whereas Russia has an armed service of one million, Ukraine’s force of more than 200,000, armed with modern weapons and fighting from a defensive posture, could impose heavy casualties on Russian forces. Putin can perhaps bear the financial costs of a Ukrainian campaign, but the loss of lives of young Russian men will bury him.

    A successful Ukraine poses the greatest threat to Putin. If Trump is indeed the Master of the Deal, he has a slight chance to use his one ace of spades to get from Putin what he and the American people want. The more likely outcome is an unsuccessful negotiation. No, Russia will not become America’s friend. Vladimir Putin’s regime is based on the US being enemy number one, while Donald Trump cannot enter into any deal that makes him look weak, or worse, like Putin’s puppet.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulrod.../#903a2e7cdacd

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Trump and Putin are going to bust through all that bluster and get down to business. Trump wants Russia to keep Iran out of Syria and finish off ISIS. Russia along with others are already working on the safe zones. Russia knows how to restore order there and they will. We walk away. Trump hasn't talked about this publicly, but high on the agenda will be Russia's help finishing the deal with North Korea. China is the negative influence and I think that's because when dismantlement of the nuclear systems occurs, it will be revealed that China supplied North Korea with the materials to build their nuclear armaments. North Korea will need help from Russia to countervail this pressure from China to delay and go slow to hide this fact.

    Crimea is Russian and now will remain so. Crimea was never part of Ukraine, Ukrainians aren't Russian, they never were, but Crimea was always Russian. Khruschev gave Crimea to Ukraine as a gift in the 50's. The Crimean people never wanted to be part of Ukraine. Crimea is where it should be and wants to be with Russia, and Ukraine will just have to get over it. Putin will never betray these Russians of Crimea. The Ukrainians starting killing Crimeans because they're Russian and thus Pro-Russia. That's why Russia came to their rescue. I don't think Trump is going to exploit these Crimeans and do anything that would force them back into Ukraine against their will. At least I would be very surprised and disappointed if he did. The Crimeans voted twice to be annexed as part of Russia, so this isn't our fight, this isn't even any of our business.

    Then there's nuclear arms reduction, trade and sanctions, which I think they'll discuss in this Summit, probably without any resolutions, complex issues, and Congress is involved in those, so there is much to do with Russia, but I think this Summit, the highlights will be Syria, North Korea and Crimea. We gain their help with Syria and North Korea and they gain our agreement to stay out of what isn't our business to begin with in Crimea.
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    The Americans who think Vladimir Putin isn’t so bad


    By Adam TaylorJuly 28, 2016Email the author

    Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin pool via AP)

    For many Americans, Vladimir Putin is perceived as some kind of international boogeyman, with alleged links to nefarious plots all over the world. This perception helps explain why many Americans find Donald Trump's seemingly admiring comments about the Russian president so unnerving.

    Yet Trump seems unmoved by critics of this rhetoric. On Wednesday, after widespread speculation that Russian-backed hackers had helped release a series of embarrassing emails from the Democratic National Committee, the Republican presidential nominee appeared to push further than ever before, appearing to appeal for Russian leadership to hack Hillary Clinton's email. (On Thursday morning, Trump told Fox News that he was being sarcasticwhen he made the statement.)

    Trump's comments may seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, alienating potential American voters by linking himself with the alleged misdoings of a feared foreign leader.

    But perhaps not all Americans are so fearful of Putin. It seems that a minority may even revel in the idea that, actually, Putin is good.

    Fiona Hill, an expert on Russia who co-authored a biography of Putin, says that on a recent U.S. book tour she was struck by how positive people were about Putin. "There's a lot of admiration for Putin," Hill said Thursday. "It's grudging, but people see him as one of those larger-than-life characters."

    In early 2015, the Pew Research Center conducted a poll that looked at Americans' views of the conflict in Ukraine. Respondents were asked whether they had favorable or unfavorable views of Putin. Overall, the results were clearly not in Putin's favor: A total of 70 percent had unfavorable views of the Russian leader, while just 12 percent had favorable views and a further 18 percent had either not heard of Putin or could not rate him for some reason.

    A closer look at the demographics of the result shows some interesting findings. Republicans had the most unfavorable views of Putin, at 76 percent, and only 10 percent were favorable. Among Democrats 69 percent had unfavorable views, and 12 percent of them had favorable views. But 68 percent of independents had unfavorable views, and 14 percent of them had more positive views.

    The poll found that higher levels of education seemed to correspond with more negative views of Putin. The most positive views came from those with a high school education or less — 15 percent said they had a positive view of Putin, while 61 percent said it was negative and a further 24 percent would not answer the question or did not know. Younger people also seemed more positive about Putin. While just 8 percent of those older than 65 had positive views of Putin, 20 percent of people ages 18 to 29 were found to, while 57 percent said they had negative views and 23 percent said they were not sure.

    It is worth noting that this poll came at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Russia. The poll found that of the 19 percent who knew "nothing at all" about the conflict in Ukraine, only 39 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Putin. Forty-one percent had no opinion, and a further 19 percent had a positive view.

    The takeaway here is interesting: Less educated, younger Americans who were not as up to date with current events may not view Putin as quite so bad.

    There is not a huge amount of other data on what Americans think of Putin, but what there is points in a similar direction. A different Pew poll conducted about the same time found that 21 percent of Americans were confident that Putin would "do the right thing regarding world affairs," though it did not offer a more detailed breakdown. A more recent poll has even suggested that Putin has lower negative ratings than Trump or Clinton.

    Even if plenty of people do not like Putin, it's possible that not that many view him as a major threat. In a Gallup poll from February, just 39 percent of Americans were found to view Russia's military power as a critical threat. This was far behind the top-ranked fear, international terrorism, which 79 percent of Americans listed as a critical threat. (Also, 73 percent ranked cyberterrorism — "the use of computers to cause disruption or fear in society" — as a critical threat.)

    Anecdotally, for years, there have been signs that a small yet vocal segment of U.S. society viewed Putin in a positive light — or, at the least, thought his negative reputation was overblown or somehow hypocritical. Stephen F. Cohen, a writer for the Nation magazine, is one example of a left-leaning journalist who has pushed back against criticism of Putin — often drawing his own critics in the process.

    What has been more obviously apparent is the view of Putin from some corners of the right wing. At times, the tone has appeared to be sardonic,such as when right-wing blogging star Matt Drudge labeled him "the leader of the free world" in 2013, or more genuinely contemplative, such as when conservative writer Pat Buchanan wrote a column asking whether Putin was "one of us?"

    Despite major rifts with Russia over Ukraine and Syria, Trump's support seems to be evidence that such attitudes have become more mainstream. Many see Trump's leadership style as having similarities with Putin's — one study found that Trump supporters seemed to favor an authoritarian leader, a style that can certainly be attributed to the Russian president.

    Hill says another factor in Putin's favor may be his macho, wisecracking public image, which may appeal to younger Americans. "Putin is a celebrity president. He's playing the same game that Trump is," Hill said. What's different, however, is that Putin's image has been crafted by years of focus groups and highly paid <acronym title="Google Page Ranking"><acronym title="Google Page Ranking">PR</acronym></acronym> consultants. "Putin didn't start off as a celebrity president. Trump is trying to turn being a celebrity into a president," she said.

    Whatever you make of the alleged links between Trump and Putin or Russian involvement in the DNC hack, it seems clear that Putin favors Trump over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, a leader with whom he seems to have a personal animosity. And at least one poll has suggested that Trump is the top pick for ordinary Russians, too.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.abda8d1f3d8f

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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    A Pew poll from 2015 isn't of much value today. I hope you're not being influenced by it.

    Trump will plow through all this crap and get down to business. It may take a few meetings and some time, but Trump is going to fix this charade with Russia and end these hoaxes about one of the most important nations on the planet. What's been going on between the US and Russia isn't right and I think Trump knows that, so he's going to try to fix it, and I hope for all our sakes, he succeeds.
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    Why Russia Can’t Be America’s Ally: What Putin Doesn’t Want You to Know About Moscow’s Persecution of Christians and Covert Support for Radical Islamists

    George Barros | May 12, 2017 FOLLOW


    Recently within the American conservative and Christian zeitgeists I have noticed a growing positive view of Vladimir Putin and desire for a U.S.-Russia Christian military alliance against Islamic terrorism. As both a conservative Christian American and a policy specialist on Russia and Eastern Europe, this is a perilous line of thinking. The growing trend among conservatives to support Putin’s Russia is problematic because Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) engage in activities that run directly contrary to U.S. national security objectives, values of Western civilization writ large, and teaching of Christian scripture.

    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.) Because of this, Christians in Russia who refuse to be de facto subjugated to the Kremlin vis-à-vis communion with the ROC suffer government persecution.

    There is little to no religious liberty in Putin’s Russia, and I’m not referring to interfaith pluralism; Russia is rife with examples of non-Christian religious groups suffering from state persecution. 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. Also citing the Yarovaya Law, a Russian court ordered the destruction of 40 Bibles distributed by the Salvation Army that were not properly registered with the state. Moscow’s suppression is not strictly confined to Russia, either, as we have photographic evidencedepicting the injuries inflicted upon Ukrainian evangelical pastor Aleksandr Khomchenko when Kremlin operatives in eastern Ukraine tortured him to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.

    Even within Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Christians who don’t adhere specifically to the ROC are persecuted. A Russian court ordered for the only Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Russia to be demolished at the expense of the Ukrainian diocese, and ROC clergy condone the Kremlin’s war in eastern Ukraine as a type of “orthodox jihad” against Ukrainian Orthodox apostates who do not recognize the one true and “rightful” Eastern Orthodox patriarchate—the Moscow Patriarchate.

    Despite being guilty of persecuting Christians, the Kremlin and ROC present themselves internationally as defenders of persecuted Christians in a two-faced manner. The behavior of Russia’s government and state church to persecute and commit violence against Christians should be intolerable and eye-opening. As keepers of our brothers and sisters in Christ, American Christians owe it to be vigilant observers and not fall for Moscow’s honeycomb narratives manufactured with decades of Soviet disinformation experience specifically designed to resonate with foreign audiences.

    In addition to persecuting Christians, Russia projects power abroad to subvert Western audiences and support anti-Western and Islamic forces to the detriment of Western values and U.S. national security objectives. 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.

    Moscow does not deserve a free pass for its support of Islamic regimes and terrorists. Since the early 1990s, the Russian government has nurtured Iran’s nuclear program through the provision of Russian nuclear experts and technical information to Tehran. More recently Putin has supported Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and the Russian military, along with Iran, openly and violently supports Islamic dictator Bashar al-Assad’s bloody regime in Syria. To boot, there is growing evidence of Russia’s covert support and recruitment for ISIS and the Taliban. Another inconvenient fact for the spurious Kremlin narrative that “Putin is taking the fight to ISIS” is that many ISIS leaders are Saddam’s former regime elements who were trained by the KGB, which, again, is far from coincidental. Western observers also should know that Putin enjoys a friendly relationship with Islamic strongman Razman Kadyrov, whom Putin has granted the liberty to run Chechnya as a lawless Islamic fiefdom. Horrifyingly, Kadyrov recently opened a concentration camp for homosexuals for “the final solution of gay issue.” Putin, unsurprisingly, turns a blind eye to Kadryov’s barbarism per their arrangement.

    In light of this information, it is clear that Kremlin narratives that Russia is a commonsense ally against Islamic extremism and terrorism are not based in any objective reality. If anything this highlights Moscow’s willingness to collude with anybody who helps the Kremlin achieve its foreign policy objectives of reasserting Russia as a global superpower, sowing discord among Western nations, breaking NATO and the European Union, and undermining the international post-WWII world order.

    Contrary to what the Kremlin would like American Christians to believe, Russia is not waging war against ISIS, is no defender of Christianity, and is not a commonsense ally against Islamic terrorism. In reality, Russia supports Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Hezbollah, the Assad regime, ISIS, and a long list of unsavory Islamic forces that are sworn adversaries of the United States and her values. Furthermore, Putin’s Russia persecutes Christians who do not observe the Russian Orthodox Church’s perverted faith, which has been coopted by Russian intelligence services. Needless to say, it is impossible to form a counterterrorism military alliance, let alone a Christian alliance, with Russia when Russia directly supports Islamic terrorists and oppresses Christians.

    Until Moscow cleans up its act and its agenda is not defined by anti-Western motives, Moscow does not deserve America’s favorable consideration for any type of broad military alliance. If there is to be any United States cooperation with Russia, it should be done carefully and be manifest in short-term partnerships under limited circumstances to support mutual objectives, such as cooperation in science in the ISS and arctic. Should the U.S. and Russia find more common ground for reasonable cooperation, then the U.S. should take full advantage. Until then, current U.S.-Russia relations make cooperation on bigger issues such as nuclear non-proliferation and antiterrorism untenable.

    For those who argue the merits of cooperating with Russia to support the Assad regime, because Assad protects Christians in Syria, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Doran had an astute rebuttal during a Providence and Hudson co-hosted event:

    The Assad regime is not a benign element in the Middle East… I see estimates that say 500,000 people [have been] killed in the war—most of those people killed are killed by the Assad Regime, the Russians, and the Iranians…so it’s hard for me to look at the Russian-Iranian-Assad complex as good for humanity in any way… The fact that there’s a handful of Jews in Tehran that are not being murdered doesn’t make me feel good about what the Iranians are doing in the wider Middle East…to say that some Christians, out of no other choice…but to bend to the will of the Assad Regime, means that somehow we should look with favor upon it is very narrow-minded [and] very short-sighted.


    To further illustrate his point, Doran noted how the Kremlin-Assad-Tehran alliance is responsible for the Syrian Civil War, which is the source of hundreds of thousands of refugees that are at the root cause of Europe’s refugee crisis.

    Unfortunately, Russia’s use of disinformation has resulted with Moscow winning undeserved favorability with conservatives, Christians, and other target demographics in the West. If you truly care about Western civilization and Christendom you must heed this warning: Do not fall for Russian disinformation. President Putin and Patriarch Kirill, both career KGB agents, have professionally been in the business of covertly influencing foreigners for Kremlin strategic interests for decades. Despite Moscow’s attempts to market itself abroad as an enemy of radical Islam and a protector of Christianity, Moscow is guilty of doing the exact opposite, expecting Americans to be too foolish to notice. These are irreconcilable differences that make American cooperation with Moscow a fool’s errand. Moscow’s duplicitous calls for cooperation are but masked attempts to get the United States to allow Russia to pursue its anti-Western agenda with impunity under the pretense of “flexibility” for strategic cooperation.

    This Kremlin narrative is smoke and mirrors. Do not allow yourself to be fooled into supporting a regime who supports our enemies and whose values are not the same as ours. Russia talks strongly about terrorism and protecting Christianity, but its actions affirm the exact opposite. When one’s actions disingenuously mismatch one’s words, one is guilty of deception. I would not expect any less from President Putin and Patriarch Kirill, who have continued the USSR’s legacy of anti-Western subversion, anti-Christian oppression, and political violence into the 21stcentury. Such always have been the ways of Moscow.

    https://providencemag.com/2017/05/wh...cal-islamists/


    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    That just isn't true.
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    NO AMNESTY

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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    What are their names? At the press conference, there were no names of those indicted.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    A Pew poll from 2015 isn't of much value today. I hope you're not being influenced by it.
    Apparently Judy wants us to give everybody a clean slate after a few days. And your unswerving confidence in President Trump is like a campaign spokesperson who will spin everything into a positive for President Trump.

    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    That just isn't true.
    Denial?

    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    What are their names? At the press conference, there were no names of those indicted.
    The indictment provides no names, or they were blacked out. We're getting a lot of that these days.

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