In before I'm called a bot or shill!

Matt Bracken posted this today on Gab and, after reading it, I thought it was important for arfcom to get another take on a very touchy subject.

TLDR: GTFO. It's a pretty damn important topic and folks need to understand much of what brought us to where we are today.

The Conflict Between Russia and The West is a Religious One

by Emmet Sweeney for the Saker blog

The war currently underway in Ukraine, which pits Ukraine as a proxy for the collective West against Russia, is primarily an ideological or religious one, with Russia representing what is left of Christian Europe, and “the West” representing a totalitarian ideology that abhors religion in general and Christianity in particular. This statement may sound strange, given the fact that some Westerners – though fewer every day – still see “the West,” (basically Europe and North America) as Christian, and Russia as Communist, or crypto-Communist. But this is no longer the case, and has not been for some considerable time. In fact, the thirty years that have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, has seen a complete reversal of roles; the collective West is now a totalitarian and aggressively anti-religious power-block that seeks to export its anti-Christian and anti-human ideology onto the rest of the world. And Russia is loathed by the West’s ruling elite precisely because it has resisted this process and moreover has gone in the opposite direction: having once been an active proponent of “scientific materialism” and atheism, Russia has reverted to its Orthodox Christian roots and has rolled back the more pernicious policies and attitudes of the Soviet era.

In order to demonstrate the truth of this, we need to look at the history of Russia and its interaction with the West since the early 1990s.

By 1991, when the Soviet Union was officially abolished, it was clear that the West had won the Cold War. Russia itself, under its new president Boris Yeltsin, openly proclaimed the end of all hostilities. Russia’s satellites in Eastern Europe were permitted to go their own way, and autonomous republics within the Soviet Union were allowed to declare themselves independent countries. The old Soviet system of state ownership was officially abolished, and almost everything was privatized. The press and media in general were freed of all censorship and could now say whatever they wanted. Russia under Yeltsin reached out the hand of friendship to the West – a gesture that was not reciprocated and ultimately snubbed by the West...

Continues at link

I guess he's not totally wrong.  Unless more wake up, we and the American way of life as we know it are in deep doo-doo.

We (America & the West) are being rapidly taken over by commie globalists.  Where I diverge is that Russia isn't much better, only that they haven't abandoned God.

Matt Bracken

Ideological differences as a pretext for conflict?  Absolutely.  "Gib me dat", "no" has been a point of conflict between toddlers forever, and nation states are no different.

Primarily a religious war?  

That's enough to know where it's going

I disagree. It is a power struggle between totalitarian ideologies.

Putin masks his gangsterism behind religion.

The west is hiding their ever expanding corruption and power behind the illusion of democracy.

This.

oh bullshit.

highly Christian to invade your neighbor and slaughter their women and children with indiscriminate artillery fire on civilian areas.

Not that the west has much religious moral high ground to stand on but the corrupt Russian orthodox church is nothing more than a means of controlling the masses. Though most organized religion is just that...


The russians aren't fighting globohomo this was a straight up land grab aggression with a side of genocide. The Christian thing would be to love thy fellow sinner and hope to bring light to their sinful ways not blow them up cause they fags.

Uhhhh

a religious war?

Matt hasn't read much about that area and Christianity has he?

This is fucking retarded holy shit

I came to this thread to say he was full of shit that Russia is Christian.  Then I read it and realized that is his point.  He is correct.  America has become a: LOOK AT ME!   I am Atheist/Agnostic/Pagan because it is cool!  Christianity has killed more people than any other cause.  The founding fathers were not Christian they were Wiccan.  And other bullshit memes.  While American churches stopped preaching the Bible an instead preach what the crowd wants to hear.

First paragraph was all I needed to read to know this guy is an idiot.

Where is he incorrect:

Tagged. There's a lot I could say here but it'd take more time than I have right now to put it together.

Suffice to say, Russia's version of Christianity has major problems (it's a legalistic perversion of true faith in Christ that gives people like Putin something to grab onto and use for political purposes in the name of traditional values/morality), but in *some* ways is superior to the insanity of the west, and I agree with part of the OP.

Yeah, this war is not about Religion.  It's about power.

Probably a war over who owns the land a new pipeline is going through.

Not sure how the indiscriminate killing of civilians plays into Russia’s “Holy War”.

What did I miss? I thought everybody here liked Matt Bracken.

Those things sort of overlap in the region in question.

We disagree about much, but this is 100% correct as it pertains to Russia.

Russia is not representing anything even remotely religion. They are quite literally a fascist dictatorship that is waging a war of conquest on their neighbor. They're sending young men into a meat grinder for no other reason than Putin's ego and wanting to re-establish the Russian empire. That link is fucking retarded and full of aids.

The fact you can sit here and call your own country totalitarian and authoritarian says he's wrong. You are still free to practice whatever religion you want.

Totalitarian regimes arrest people for speaking out against them. Like this.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/08/24/russian-opposition-figure-roizman-detained-for-criticism-of-ukraine-invasion-a78642


Yevgeny Roizman, a former opposition mayor of one of Russia’s largest cities, was detained Wednesday on criminal charges related to his public criticism of the invasion of Ukraine, media outlets reported.

Ex-Yekaterinburg mayor Roizman said he was being charged under legislation that forbids the "discreditation" of the Russian Armed Forces. If found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/08/25/exile-fines-or-jail-censorship-laws-take-heavy-toll-on-anti-war-russians-a78594

ETA- yes, America and the West have issues. No, Russia is not representing Christianity in any way. I just read the first paragraph to my wife. My Russian wife. And she's laughing at how gullible Americans are.

I agree with OP though that it's an important topic. It's unconscionable that otherwise intelligent and educated Americans would buy off on something that is quite obviously bullshit.

Holy shit.

The head of the Russian Orthodox church is a former KGB agent.  Maybe not so former all things considered...

He's just another codependent pawn/oligarch in Putin's scheme.

This right here.

The only way you can believe this nonsense is if you go in wanting to believe it.

MOST higher ups in the church are ex-KGB/FSB.

What a joke.

I don't know if you re Trolling or the product of a Kumbaya church.  Either way, I recommend you actually read the Bible.  You might start with the book of Joshua.

And the fact that Western Ukraine has been shelling the Donbas for 12 years is okay?

Tell that to Canadian truckers who had the fortunes seized/banks accounts locked (to this day).

Yeah. Free speech is alive and well, yo.

Bravo Sierra.

I can't find it now, but someone above said the "Christianity has killed more people than any other cause".

I don't believe it. Let's see some proof of that.

On the other hand, Communism killed around 200,000,000 people in the 20th Century alone.

That's a mighty big number.

You lost me at "Russia representing what is left of Christian Europe"

You mean fighting invading Russians? Show me obliterated cities prior to the Russian invasion. I'll wait. Meanwhile I can show you Russian speaking Ukrainians that were JUST FINE there until Russia destroyed their entire city. I know them personally.

You're spouting LITERAL Russian propaganda.

https://bitterwinter.org/donbass-did-ukraine-kill-14000-pro-russians/
14,000 is the number of the total victims of the war in Donbass, killed by both parties between 2014 and 2021. 10,900 of them were soldiers.

In conclusion, there was no “genocide” of the Donbass population by the Ukrainian army. There was a war, provoked by Russia in violation not only of the territorial integrity of a sovereign state but also of the treaty it signed in Budapest in 1994. Like all wars, there were casualties on both sides. Sadly, civilians also died. They were killed, again, by both sides. To claim that all the 14,000 victims of the war in Donbass were “killed by the Ukrainians” is just primitive propaganda. Unfortunately, some in the West uncritically believe and propagate it.

https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2031%20December%202021%20%28rev%2027%20January%202022%29%20corr%20EN_0.pdf

That's it? That's your response?

LOL

I thought it was about genocide? Because Putin doesn't like their skin color or something.

People often forget, ignore or are totally ignorant of history, History.com quoting a NY Times article:


Even after World War II, the anti-religious campaign stormed on for decades, with Bibles forbidden and little to no religious education. Still, by 1987, the New York Times reported, “Soviet officials have begun to admit that they may be losing the battle against religion.”

The Soviet Union’s/Russia’s history of the persecution, torture and murder of the clergy and religious in general do not fit with the current narrative Russia and friends are trying to weave.

Read!!!!!!!!!!

The West is controlled by Satanist like globalists Gaytes, Klown Schwab, Phauxi, the central banks and their controllers.  "You will own nothing and you'll be happy" and "Maintain humanity below 500,000 and in perpetual harmony with nature" type sh*t.  Hence their anti-Christian outlooks (kill humanity off) and destruction of western society (climate engineering, ban on means of food production including nitrogen and farm critters) and importation of Turd World People to replace those of us with western values.  

That's where #45 the Naughty Sunkist Person was bad to them.  He was a nationalist, not a globalist.  Similarly, Vlad is also a nationalist who openly serves Russia's interest; which is not saying he is either good or bad but just a nationalist.  Churches are open in Russia and in this country there has been a flight from Christianity and the embracing of satanic values (pedophilia, child sacrifice and ritual murder or even "Do as thou wilst" instead of service in futherance of that of the Creator/Gawd/Hay-Suess).  

If you can't beat it, co-opt it.  

Yep, and the church serves the state; just like the early Catholic Church served the Roman Empire.  Control the religion, control the masses.

He doesn't like their culture and is trying to wipe it out. You know....genocide.

https://ria.ru/20220403/ukraina-1781469605.html

I don’t care if Russia ends up overrunning Ukrainia or Ukrainia boots the Ruskies all the way back to Moscow.

Not my people, not my problem.

This isn’t a religious war, though people on both sides would like to convince others it is…and the anti-religious NWO types would probably relish a weaker Russia.

So excited for Satanic Panic, Round Two.

Yes. Whenever I hear the unverified argument cited above about religion and wars, I also cite atheistic Communism as well.

I don’t really agree. I think the west has slid closer to Russia and China in terms of corrupt amoral authoritarianism. I don’t think Russia has climbed anywhere near the individualistic Christian virtues of our founders. Not even close.

I do see this as two morally compromised governments regardless of which is more-so going for power and influence.

He's not wrong in his assessment of the modern West, but where he's dead wrong is in assuming that Russia is somehow better. It simply isn't. It's eventually going to become a majority Muslim society, Putin just unleashed large quantities of Muslim soldiers on a neighboring state, Russia has very high rates of abortion and children raised by single parents, etc.

Divorce is even easier to come by there than here as well.

Ask some locals what they think about immigrants there. Russia is in dire straights....they were well before the war. They are in serious trouble now, in many ways.

Bracken doesn’t get it.

The sad thing is, it's mostly people on our side of the aisle that are pushing the narrative.  People ask me why I believe the stories about Russian soldiers indiscriminately massacring civilians and raping everything in sight.  Because it fits the profile of how Russians act in the past.  None of this is new or unbelievable.   But because leftists in American don't like Putin, apparently conservatives are supposed to root for him?  Strange logic here.  Not everything is some globalist conspiracy.  Sometimes Russians are going to do what Russians do.  Especially when there's no counterbalance.