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Letter #8, 2014: Ukraine, continued #4[2014-03-14][Engleză]March 13, 2014, Thursday Other Voices"Put your sword back in its place, for those who live by the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:52; the words are those of Jesus, who is about to be arrested by the soldiers of the Sanhedrin; he is saying that if one uses violence, or other harsh means, against others, one can expect to have those same means used against oneself "Last month... Vladimir Putin ordered that the Black Madonna of Kazan, the holiest icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, be flown over the Black Sea... Over the centuries, the Black Virgin has been taken to battlefields to bless Russian armies fighting Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Persian, French and German invaders. Stalin sent it to Stalingrad in 1943 to ensure victory over the German invaders under Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus... With Putins troops in control of Crimea and threatening to move further into Ukraine, we now know that the icon was brought in to bless a military operation this time as well." Amir Taheri, an Iranian writer, in the London-based paper Asharq Al-Awsat, March 7, 2014 (The icon of Kazan that was flown over the Black Sea a month ago on the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The icon was in the papal apartment of Pope John Paul II for a decade, from 1993 to 2004. It now resides in Kazan, a city 600 miles east of Moscow. It is considered a "miracle-working" icon, and over the centuries has come to be called "the Protection of Russia") (A detail from another copy of a similar holy Russian icon, showing a close-up of the Madonna and Child. A reflection casts rays of light on Mary's face and the forehead of Jesus) ===================== A Reflection on Truth and Lies We all know the first casualty of war is truth. But we must not allow this casualty, this "wounded sentinel," to be taken to a field hospital, and set aside... Truth is much too precious for that. In fact, truth is a characteristic, a constituent element, of Christ himself (he said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life"). So we must keep the truth close, even when wounded... especially when wounded... The truth about Ukraine, and Russia, and the implications of what is happening, is being smothered in a massive avalanche of rhetoric, one-sided presentations of facts, and real disinformation, to the point where we hardly know what's true and what's a lie. And because one "incident" could touch off a conflagration here, this tense situation is ripe for manipulation, that is, for a "false flag" attack (think, the Reichstag fire) -- an "incident" perpetrated by hidden actors and blamed on someone else. Any such "false flag" could "light the match" of war, to the sorrow of all of us. The complete "truth" about the situation in Ukraine is impossible for humans to know. We cannot know to what extent all, or some, or none of what happened was planned, what occurred by chance and what was organized. We do not know to what extent the entire scenario was "scripted" in advance or to what extent all that happened has been the product of the spontaneous desires of Ukrainians for a better life. The truth is likely some combination of these two. If there is a director for such events, the director is like a director of jazz music; "Your turn, you do your solo now," he says, and the musicians play freely, so the direction and the spontaneity intertwine. We are reduced in these circumstances to seeking partial truths, and being vigilant against lies. Ukraine has always suffered from the classic geopolitical problem of being sandwiched between far more powerful states (Russia, Poland, Germany) and, since most states -- by their very nature -- are opportunist and prey on their weaker neighbors, Ukraine has long suffered economically, socially and culturally as a result. Ordinary Ukrainians therefore have a right to something better than the corruption of the Yanukovych regime -- as Vladimir Putni himself acknowledges in the interview below (text #3). Still, despite these high hopes, the country now stands on the verge of civil war, a war which would have global consequences. In analyzing this crisis, there are many open areas of uncertainty. Here are three: 1) The shootings. Who gave the order for snipers to shoot protesters in Maidan Square? Who were the actual snipers? Have they been identified? Has there been an official investigation? Will they ever be identified and brought to justice? 2) The goals and fears of Russia. Does Russia seek to annex Crimea, eastern Ukraine, all of Ukraine, and even other territories, to recreate the Soviet Union, even a new "Russian Empire"? Many seem to think so. But is Russia's true goal? To expand? In the digital age, the age of global travel and global communication, isn't physical occupation of land "so 20th-century," that is, irrelevant? So is Russia's goal then actually financial, to plunder resources? To have access to Ukraine's wealth, to control the large oil and gas deposits off the Crimean coast, then the oil and gas of eastern Ukraine? Or is Russia's goal -- as Putin continually claims -- more benign, more justifiable: to protect Russian-speaking ethnic Russians inside Ukraine? Or is Russia's goal military-strategic? To keep a "non-NATO aligned" Ukraine so that NATO missiles cannot be placed on Russia's border? What is Russia's true goal? What does Russia truly fear? 3) The goals and fears of the West. Does the West wish to support an indigenous democracy movement in Ukraine, to help create a modern, stable Ukraine, with respect for all its citizens (something evidently very much needed, as the corruption of the old regime seems universally acknowledged, even by Putin (see the interview below)? Or does the West wish to surround Russia? Is the West's eventual goal actually a "Maidan Square" in Moscow, leading to the overthrow of the current Russian government and the division of Russia, so that Russia becomes a "non-factor" in the developing "new world order"? Or, does the West actually fear that Putin will move on from Crimea to southern Ukraine, to Moldava, then even to Poland, and even to Germany, if he is not forced to retreat from Crimea? Does the West really fear a resurgent, expansionist Russia? Clearly, what is taking place concerns much more than just Ukraine. It concerns the order of the entire world, about who will establish that order, administer it, control it. In this confrontation, the financial, cultural, political "architecture" of the post-World War II world is being shaken, re-examined, tested. In this context, the overarching impression one receives from the media, in this context, is that there are two opposing "sides," one good, one bad, one "Western/American" and the other "Russian," and that these two "sides," "positions," "world views," are totally antagonistic to each other. That one must triumph, and the other fail. But this is not true. There are more than these two positions. Both inside America, and inside Russia, and everywhere in between. Some inside Russia actually oppose expansionism (see text #4 below from Prof. Andrei Zubov), and, to the extent that what Putin is doing is expansionist, oppose Putin. Some inside America, and in Western Europe, oppose the Obama administration, and the European Union central administration, and their secularizing agenda. Do we forget that all of us, whether Russian, Ukrainian, German, British, or American, all human beings share a common hope -- to leave a world for our children which is healthy for them, safe for them, at peace? Do not all of us pray for these things, if we pray? In this context, the demonization of the Russians is false, wrong, and evil. Russia was once called "the House of Mary" because so many churches in Russia were dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Russia's people have suffered enormously, under attack from the West -- from Napoleon, from Hitler -- and they have mourned their dead. The people of Ukraine have also suffered enormously, especially in the 1932-33 famine. In a small effort to show that there is a diversity, a plurality, a multiplicity of views in Russia, in an effort to see Russia more clearly, I am copying below four texts which present very different perspectives on this crisis: (1) an article about the icon of Kazan being flown on Putin's order over the Black Sea a month ago; (2) a comment published today in the Moscow Times, by a Russian strategist close to the Putin goverment, setting forth his fears, his hopes, his reasons and his explanations, all from his perspective, included here in order to show how the Russians are explaining what they are doing to themselves; (3) the complete text of a very long interview, more than an hour, given a week ago by Russian President Vladimir Putin to a group of journalists; most will not read it all, I suspect, because it is so long, but it is here, if you should wish to read what Putin said, without gloss or interpretation; and (4) an essay by a Russian Orthodox professor from Moscow who loves his country, but who protests against the policy Putin has chosen, showing that there are different viewpoints in Russia today, as there are in America, as there are in Ukraine. I hope this may be a small contribution to better understanding of this crisis, in the hope of a just peace. ========================== Four voices (1) Opinion: The Black Madonna and the Russian Problem by Amir Taheri Published in Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic newspaper based in London Friday, March 7, 2014 Link: http://www.aawsat.net/2014/03/article55329733 (Mr. Taheri is an Iranian columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic newspaper based in London, which bills itself as "the leading Arabic international paper" and "the worlds premier pan-Arab daily newspaper." The web site says: "Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world." Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for many publications, has published 11 books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987. Mr. Taheri has won several prizes for his journalism, and in 2012 was named International Journalist of the Year by the British Society of Editors and the Foreign Press Association in the annual British Media Awards.) Last month, when Vladimir Putin ordered that the Black Madonna of Kazan, the holiest icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, be flown over the Black Sea, many believed he wished to secure blessings for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. It was the first time the icon, or rather a copy of it, since the original was stolen and possibly destroyed in 1904, was deployed to bless a peaceful enterprise. Over the centuries, the Black Virgin has been taken to battlefields to bless Russian armies fighting Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Persian, French and German invaders. Stalin sent it to Stalingrad in 1943 to ensure victory over the German invaders under Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. With Putins troops in control of Crimea and threatening to move further into Ukraine, we now know that the icon was brought in to bless a military operation this time as well. Putin appears strong because US President Barack Obama, accidentally cast as the leader of Western democracies, is weak. Putin is over-using the power Russia really doesnt have because Obama under-uses the power the US does have. As long as Obama prevents the US from playing the leadership role it has had since the end of World War II, Putin will see no reason why he should not pursue his dream of reviving the Soviet Empire wherever possible. In doing so he is acting within a tradition established since the 18th century, when Russia emerged as a power with a pathological fear of encirclement. That fear has always made Russia aggressive. Throughout the 19th century, Russia used the protection of Christian minorities as an excuse for invading its Muslim neighbors, especially the Ottoman Empire and Iran, annexing vast chunks of territory. The whole of Northern Caucasus, plus Georgia and Armenia, were annexed with that excuse, as was Crimea. In the 18th century, Empress Catherine II used the pretext of protecting Christians to wrest away Dagestan and Georgia from Iran. Russia also used the excuse to seize territories that belonged to European neighbors, including Germany, Poland and Finland. For almost 100 years, Russia expanded at the average rate of 62 square miles (100 square kilometers) a day, creating historys largest empire in terms of territory. Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com Contor Accesări: 896, Ultimul acces: 2026-08-02 19:07:22
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