‘I saw a stone cold killer.” That’s former Defense
secretary Robert Gates, on looking into Vladimir Putin’s eyes.
The histories of the Syrian civil war will record
an abundance of bloody red lines. History will recall how Assad retained power
by etching bloody scars on the lungs, stomachs, and bodies of his people. It
will remember how Iran
and its proxy militias, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah — those self-ordained
servants of the oppressed — forged “justice” by painting Sunni blood on Syrian
streets. It will remember how ISIS turned
ancient cities into factories of death, enslaved the innocent, and exported
terror. And history will remember how Russian president Vladimir Putin
skillfully used slaughter as his strategy, while President Obama sat impotent.
Slaughter: At present, that’s Russia’s primary focus in Syria.
Assessing the collapse of U.S. resolve — first on Assad’s use of chemical
weapons, then on supporting the Free Syrian Army, then on demanding that Assad
step down — President Putin sees opportunity in the slaughter of civilians in
western and northern Syria. He sees opportunity for two reasons.
. . .
Source: Tom
Rogan, ‘Putin’s Syria Red-Line Strategy’, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431391/vladimir-putins-syria-strategy-slaughter,
accessed 10 June 2016
This
is the nonsense one has to beware of coming from the propaganda organs of the
American Empire, even those masquerading as conservative journals like National Review. Arjun Walia wrote further:
Dr.
Udo Ulfakatte is a top German journalist and editor and has been for more than
two decades, so you can bet he knows a thing or two about mainstream media and
what really happens behind the scenes. Recently, Dr. Ulfakatte went on public
television stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence
agents under his own name, also adding that noncompliance with these orders
would result in him losing his job. He recently made an appearance on RT news to share these facts:
I’ve been a journalist for about 25 years, and I was educated to
lie, to betray, and not to tell the truth to the public. But seeing right now
within the last months how the German and American media tries to bring war to
the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia — this is a point of no return and
I’m going to stand up and say it is not right what I have done in the
past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against Russia, and it is not
right what my colleagues do and have done in the past because they are bribed
to betray the people, not only in Germany, all over Europe.
It’s
important to keep in mind that Dr. Ulfakatte is not the only person making
these claims; multiple reporters have done the same and this kind of
truthfulness is something the world needs more of. One (out of many) great
examples of a whistleblowing reporter is investigative journalist and former
CBC News reporter Sharyl Attkisson. She delivered a hard-hitting TEDx talk
showing how fake grassroots movements funded by political, corporate, or other
special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.
Another
great example is Amber Lyon, a three-time Emmy award winning journalist at
CC, who said that they are routinely paid by the US government and foreign
governments to selectively report and even distort information on certain
events. She has also indicated that the government has editorial control over
content.
Ever
since Operation Mockingbird, a CIA-based initiative to control
mainstream media, more and more people are expressing their concern that what
we see in the media is nothing short of brainwashing. This is also evident by
blatant lies that continue to spam the TV screen, especially when it comes to
topics such as health, food, war (‘terrorism‘),
poverty, and more.
. . .
Source: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/12/no_author/top-journalist-spills-beans/,
accessed 5 Dec. 2015
So
who is President Putin? A cold-blooded
killer? Or someone entirely different
than the caricature portrayed by the Western press? Here is an account from Dr Matthew Johnson
that will hopefully balance the picture a bit:
Vladimir Putin is fairly mute about his own religious views.
Being a member of the Communist Party is no evidence of atheism. Its evidence
only of conformity. Party membership was essential for having any a career of
any substantial kind, especially in the security services. Military and police
careers were, as in all societies, attractive to patriots and nationalists,
though it had to be a “Soviet” rather than a specifically Russian nationalism.
However, he does say that he was secretly baptized by his mother at 18 months
in Petersburg
at the Cathedral of the Martyrs Alexandria and Antonia of Rome. From this, it
is safe to say that Putin was secretly taught the faith from a young age.
According to his mother, it was the day of St. Michael and
all the Angels, so it had to be November 21st. Putin's views are, in hos own
words, to be internal, and never the subject of a show. The cross that his
mother gave him at the Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem
he wears always. In his house many years ago, a fire broke out from the heating
unit of the sauna malfunctioning. Worried that the cross, which he had left
near his bed, was gone forever, once of the workmen found it perfectly intact
in the midst of all the rubble.
Putin stated on Larry King that he sees this event as a
miracle and a “revelation.” His personal commitment to Orthodoxy never wavered
afterwards. Normally he goes to obscure, rural churches to spend the holidays,
wishing to avoid the cameras and distractions of the major cities. His natural
constituency is the Orthodox population, who, as polls have stated since the mid
1990s, trust the patriarch more than anyone else in Russia, even more than Putin
himself.
Unlike Slobodan Milosevic, Putin is clearly comfortable and
at home in an Orthodox setting, and his ritual movements are smooth and
comfortable, not jerky and artificial as might be expected for a hypocritical
display. Milosevic was noted for his awkwardness in Orthodox churches in the
1990s, suggesting he had no experience in them. The only time he seemed slightly
stiff is when, upon kissing an icon, the background noise was of hundreds of
cameras taking pictures.
. . .
Back in 2001, Izvestia interviewed Putin's spiritual father,
the Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) of the Sretensky Monastery. This was
December of 2001, probably prior to anyone really knowing too much about his
policy agenda. The Archimandrite stated:
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is really an Orthodox Christian
really, and not nominally. He confesses, receives communion and is aware of his
responsibility before God for the ministry entrusted to him from on high and
for his immortal soul. The burden and severity of the problems he is
undertaking to solve and his responsibility for these is truly enormous. Anyone
who really loves Russia and wishes
her well can only pray for Vladimir Vladimirovich whom the Providence of God
sent to deliver Russia.
The Archimandrite was himself sent to prison by the old KGB
and had members of his family perish because of them. Thus, Putin's background
in this organization did not initially endear him to the President. However, he
soon was convinced of Putin's Orthodox mind. In his book, the Archimandrite
writes:
Combining the modern Russian state with past forms, Putin
has undertaken a huge effort to connect it to the heavens. The construction of
churches, the reconstruction of destroyed parishes, monasteries and the revival
of Russian shrines has become an urgent matter for Putin. For the dark,
soulless landscape that was imposed on Russia
after 1991 – one dominated by nihilism, anger, and nonsense mercantile scams – Russia was in a
condition completely unsuitable for any future development. Anything built in
this context, any laboratory or university, immediately plunged into the abyss
of a toxic lifestyle. The restoration of churches and monasteries is truly the
creation of huge sewage treatment plants which are to filter and processing the
fetid waste of the 1990s. It is the construction of spiritual filters through
which passes the poisoned spirit of the Russian people.
In his visit to Valaam, Putin stated that “without
Orthodoxy, there would be no Russia.”
On the website of the Valaam monastery, they speak of the sincerity of the
President's faith. They state that visiting the northern shrines was a “turning
point” for Putin and began a sincere conversion. He ensured that there was a
minimum of meetings and no talk of politics. On August 16th of 2001 Putin first
began his pilgrimage and acted like an “ordinary believer.” He walked the three
kilometers to the main monastery to St. Nicholas' skete. He then decreed that
the island of Anzer be granted officially to the
church and more specifically, the monastery of Solovki.
On the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus under St.
Vladimir, Putin stated:
Today, when people are again looking for moral support, millions
of our fellow citizens see their Russian Orthodox religion as a beacon. Trust
the wise pastoral words of the Russian Orthodox Church. Her selfless,
educational and social service demand respect. Her public authority and
peacekeeping efforts aimed at strengthening the harmony and stability of Russia, as well
as her efforts to restore the historical ties among peoples, and especially
with our compatriots abroad, has been her legacy. It is also important that a
new level of state-church relations has developed. We act as genuine partners
and as co-workers in solving the most pressing domestic and international
challenges in the implementation of joint ventures for the benefit of our
country and people.
On the 90th anniversary of the restoration of the Patriarchate,
Putin stated:
The Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church helped the
people survive the agony of the 20th century. It helped defend the faith, to
unite the flock and to save not just the church, but the ideas of Christianity.
And later, already in a revival of religious life, the Church has helped
continue his tireless service. And today, we appreciate the desire of the
Russian Orthodox Church to return the ideals and values to Russian society that
for centuries were our spiritual landmarks (Putin, 2007).
It is common to condemn Putin for being a “KGB agent.” the
truth is that the security services of any nation attract nationalists. Few
doctrinaire Marxists existed in the USSR. This is the exclusive domain
of capitalist universities. Putin has condemned Marxism and communism. He has
stated that the fall of the USSR
was a great “catastrophe.” Indeed it was: Solzhenitsyn said the same. The
destruction of the Soviet economy in a few years and its liquidation into the
bank accounts of a few Jewish oligarchs is well known. The USSR was preferable to the 1990s in Russia. The
life expectancy of the Russian male went down to under 60 years.
To be a career man of any kind in the USSR, one had
to join the party. Spouting a few slogans that no one believed is a minor price
to pay for the ability to feed one's family. Putin clearly (albeit secretly)
rejected the party's atheism. He was and is a Russian nationalist. My book, Russian
Populist: The Political Thought of Vladimir Putin shows this
at great length. I've translated some speeches and writings that have not seen
the light of day in the west. The revelations of Putin's secret baptism make
sense out of his post-soviet career and ideological development.
Source: ‘Putin’s
Orthodoxy: A Few Ideas about His Religious Views and the New Russia’, http://www.rusjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Putin_ROC.pdf,
accessed 1 June 2016
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