The Right's embrace of Putin out of hatred for the Left is mirrored by the alacrity with which the Left became pro-war in order to be emphatically pro-Ukraine, the ultimate point of which was to demonstrate fierce opposition to a notional Trump-Putin Axis. Helping Ukraine defend its sovereignty is a just cause, but the appetite for it on the Left wouldn't have been so strong without the ready association of Putin with Trump.
Speaking as an Orthodox Christian myself, it's true that the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest Church of the communion, but it's also true that much of the Russian Church, like so much of the Evangelical Church in the United States, has lost sight of its Master and so lost its way.
There are still many Orthodox leaders, most prominently the most prestigious one of all, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who courageously stand up for the right against pressure and persecution. The Patriarch of Moscow has even broken communion with Constantinople because of Patriarch Bartholomew's defense of the Ukrainian Church. Putin stands up for some aspects of "traditional Russia", but he doesn't stand up for Orthodoxy: there's much more to Orthodoxy than lighting candles in front of icons.
"They hate American global leadership and power. They hate American foreign policy and national security institutions—hence their eager embrace of Kremlin narratives in which the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, which ousted a pro-Moscow semi-authoritarian regime, was 'a CIA-backed coup.'"
Cathy is right at home at the Bulwark, where opposing the neocon stupidity of the foreign policy blob is always purported to be hatred for America.
I like how she glides right over the fact that the "semi-authoritarian regime" in question was no more authoritarian than every other government Ukraine has ever had, to say nothing of the fact that it was democratically elected. Further, there is strong reason to believe it was in fact a CIA-backed coup, starting with the fact that Victoria Ghouland was caught on tape picking the next leader.
You have captured the problem perfectly. It is paradoxically the same mechanism driving radical jihad. The contemporary Western glorification of the emasculation of men is profoundly dangerous, an attack on the very psyche of humanity. Real Fascism of the 30s was driven by much the same sentiment: it glorified a fictional story virility and honor in battle. It was the driving sentiment in WWII Japanese Bushido culture, masculine courage and loyalty unto death. It is currently driving the suicide death cult of civilian suicide soldiers in Gaza and the woman hatred pervasive in Islam. Freud and Lacan presciently saw the danger of undermining the symbolic order of the Father, it ultimately leads to the destruction of civil society which is ultimately dependent on a balance of the feminine as well as the masculine. Putin, Mussolini, Trump all gain their power by promising glory again to the virile Spartan man. I am one of the 300! What they conveniently forget is in the glory days of Sparta the death rate of women in child birth was about equivalent to the death rate of men in war. Courage is courage.
Mark Twain observed that "History never repeats itself, but it does rhyme." It was not that long ago that many western elites and personalities especially on the right were infatuated with Hitler's and Mussolini's ability to restore order and get things done. We all know how well that worked out for us. Let's all hope and pray that this is not going to be one of those rhyming situations
An old friend of mine was a Russian Orthodox priest who had served in the diplomatic service of the American church. He told me he and others in the service were instructed to always keep their Russian counterparts at arm's length, to treat them as likely agents of the KGB, not as representatives of their church acting in good faith. This was well known to be the situation under the Soviet regime; there's no reason to think it's any different under the former KGB operative, Putin. Putin's ostensible support of the Russian church is identical to Stalin's about face after Hitler's invasion, going abruptly from decades of official atheist policy with religion having no place in the True Motherland of All Workers to support of orthodoxy as part of Mother Russia. The church itself, of course, was converted into an organ of the security services and any surviving vestiges of its tradition eliminated. Putin, like Stalin, knows traditions make for much more effective propaganda than some sterile, synthetic Workers Paradise.
In the U.S. we have more than a century of experience with anti-American movements that look to one foreign regime or another for a model. Usually such movements have been regarded as on the Left and looked to socialist revolutions in Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, North Vietnam, and Nicaragua. The German American Bund did have its time but evaporated after Hitler did FDR a favor by declaring war on the U.S. after Pearl Harbor.
What with the fondness Trump and his devotees have shown for our well documented enemies, Putin and Russia, and their antipathy for the U.S., I wonder where is Joe McCarthy or the John Birch Society when we really could use them.
I’m connected by marriage to these kinds of people, Russian-Americans who are content in their allegiance to a Putin-friendly wing of Orthodox Christianity. Decent people personally and they mostly “fly under the radar” of their neighbors. They forgive Putin his sins because he stands for “traditional Russia” against homosexuality.
I have actually been to Moscow (many times). I went their for adoption (in the 1990s) and much later for business. The subways are rather nice. The supermarkets are sort of a joke. My most vivid memory of Moscow was the smell. The hallways in the apartment building smelled really bad. The apartments were tiny (with no smell at all). There is a story that Russians open their windows in October to balance the heating systems on overdrive. In the 1990s, this was true.
I have never seen bathrooms in such poor physical condition. By contrast, the supply of hot water was massive.
The problem with the "Left-right" reference to the SPM, aside from the SPM, is that it concedes that "right" is the established power and therefore "Left" are the Nihilist conspirators. The Law of Nations, which is expressly recognized in the US Const., is based on two things (a) Natural Law which is applied as if each sovereignty in relation to others is a person and (b) Treaty agreements like covenants between them; and historically, these are bi-lateral arrangements. The way I see it, the SPM is a bully and they have an organized gang that backs up Leader; whereas Russia and China are just people that want to do business and Bully is afraid that this could break up The Gang and Leader will have to try to get along with other people rather than bully them around. And now incorporating the SPM into the formula e.g., The United Nations is why "right" is seen by the SPM as The Power and "Left" in a light most favorable, is a fiction.
The Right's embrace of Putin out of hatred for the Left is mirrored by the alacrity with which the Left became pro-war in order to be emphatically pro-Ukraine, the ultimate point of which was to demonstrate fierce opposition to a notional Trump-Putin Axis. Helping Ukraine defend its sovereignty is a just cause, but the appetite for it on the Left wouldn't have been so strong without the ready association of Putin with Trump.
Speaking as an Orthodox Christian myself, it's true that the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest Church of the communion, but it's also true that much of the Russian Church, like so much of the Evangelical Church in the United States, has lost sight of its Master and so lost its way.
There are still many Orthodox leaders, most prominently the most prestigious one of all, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who courageously stand up for the right against pressure and persecution. The Patriarch of Moscow has even broken communion with Constantinople because of Patriarch Bartholomew's defense of the Ukrainian Church. Putin stands up for some aspects of "traditional Russia", but he doesn't stand up for Orthodoxy: there's much more to Orthodoxy than lighting candles in front of icons.
"They hate American global leadership and power. They hate American foreign policy and national security institutions—hence their eager embrace of Kremlin narratives in which the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, which ousted a pro-Moscow semi-authoritarian regime, was 'a CIA-backed coup.'"
Cathy is right at home at the Bulwark, where opposing the neocon stupidity of the foreign policy blob is always purported to be hatred for America.
I like how she glides right over the fact that the "semi-authoritarian regime" in question was no more authoritarian than every other government Ukraine has ever had, to say nothing of the fact that it was democratically elected. Further, there is strong reason to believe it was in fact a CIA-backed coup, starting with the fact that Victoria Ghouland was caught on tape picking the next leader.
You have captured the problem perfectly. It is paradoxically the same mechanism driving radical jihad. The contemporary Western glorification of the emasculation of men is profoundly dangerous, an attack on the very psyche of humanity. Real Fascism of the 30s was driven by much the same sentiment: it glorified a fictional story virility and honor in battle. It was the driving sentiment in WWII Japanese Bushido culture, masculine courage and loyalty unto death. It is currently driving the suicide death cult of civilian suicide soldiers in Gaza and the woman hatred pervasive in Islam. Freud and Lacan presciently saw the danger of undermining the symbolic order of the Father, it ultimately leads to the destruction of civil society which is ultimately dependent on a balance of the feminine as well as the masculine. Putin, Mussolini, Trump all gain their power by promising glory again to the virile Spartan man. I am one of the 300! What they conveniently forget is in the glory days of Sparta the death rate of women in child birth was about equivalent to the death rate of men in war. Courage is courage.
Mark Twain observed that "History never repeats itself, but it does rhyme." It was not that long ago that many western elites and personalities especially on the right were infatuated with Hitler's and Mussolini's ability to restore order and get things done. We all know how well that worked out for us. Let's all hope and pray that this is not going to be one of those rhyming situations
An old friend of mine was a Russian Orthodox priest who had served in the diplomatic service of the American church. He told me he and others in the service were instructed to always keep their Russian counterparts at arm's length, to treat them as likely agents of the KGB, not as representatives of their church acting in good faith. This was well known to be the situation under the Soviet regime; there's no reason to think it's any different under the former KGB operative, Putin. Putin's ostensible support of the Russian church is identical to Stalin's about face after Hitler's invasion, going abruptly from decades of official atheist policy with religion having no place in the True Motherland of All Workers to support of orthodoxy as part of Mother Russia. The church itself, of course, was converted into an organ of the security services and any surviving vestiges of its tradition eliminated. Putin, like Stalin, knows traditions make for much more effective propaganda than some sterile, synthetic Workers Paradise.
In the U.S. we have more than a century of experience with anti-American movements that look to one foreign regime or another for a model. Usually such movements have been regarded as on the Left and looked to socialist revolutions in Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, North Vietnam, and Nicaragua. The German American Bund did have its time but evaporated after Hitler did FDR a favor by declaring war on the U.S. after Pearl Harbor.
What with the fondness Trump and his devotees have shown for our well documented enemies, Putin and Russia, and their antipathy for the U.S., I wonder where is Joe McCarthy or the John Birch Society when we really could use them.
I’m connected by marriage to these kinds of people, Russian-Americans who are content in their allegiance to a Putin-friendly wing of Orthodox Christianity. Decent people personally and they mostly “fly under the radar” of their neighbors. They forgive Putin his sins because he stands for “traditional Russia” against homosexuality.
I have actually been to Moscow (many times). I went their for adoption (in the 1990s) and much later for business. The subways are rather nice. The supermarkets are sort of a joke. My most vivid memory of Moscow was the smell. The hallways in the apartment building smelled really bad. The apartments were tiny (with no smell at all). There is a story that Russians open their windows in October to balance the heating systems on overdrive. In the 1990s, this was true.
I have never seen bathrooms in such poor physical condition. By contrast, the supply of hot water was massive.
The problem with the "Left-right" reference to the SPM, aside from the SPM, is that it concedes that "right" is the established power and therefore "Left" are the Nihilist conspirators. The Law of Nations, which is expressly recognized in the US Const., is based on two things (a) Natural Law which is applied as if each sovereignty in relation to others is a person and (b) Treaty agreements like covenants between them; and historically, these are bi-lateral arrangements. The way I see it, the SPM is a bully and they have an organized gang that backs up Leader; whereas Russia and China are just people that want to do business and Bully is afraid that this could break up The Gang and Leader will have to try to get along with other people rather than bully them around. And now incorporating the SPM into the formula e.g., The United Nations is why "right" is seen by the SPM as The Power and "Left" in a light most favorable, is a fiction.