Kyiv knows concessions will not bring security: on the contrary, they will provoke a new Russian offensive, says political analyst Maria Zolkina
— Read on www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/25/ukraine-west-russia-kyiv-russian-offensive

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/25/putin-says-west-treating-russian-culture-like-cancelled-jk-rowling

Ukrainian philosopher Oleksiy Panych reflects upon three most important errors the West makes in understanding Russia: (1) their belief in peaceful coexistence with Russia; (2) their delusions about the Russian people, and (3) the prospects they give to “Russian democracy.”
— Read on ukraineworld.org/articles/opinions/important-errors-understanding-russia

FRIDAY 25 MARCH 2022

Vladimir Putin’s Holy War.  Podcast 3/22/22 Dennis Sanders

https://dennissanders.medium.com/vladimir-putins-holy-war-85560601002f

• Putin wants to go back to the days of the Russian Empire.
• He is also looking to “restore the guardians of Russian culture and morals: The Russian Orthodox Church.”
• Putin would, after 2000, work with the Russian Orthodox church to enforce Russian nationalism. 
• “The leadership within the church and President Putin will work together to reshape Russian society in their image and ultimately set Russia down the road to war with Ukraine.”
• Putin’s aim is to restore the Russian Orthodox church (ROC) to the authority it once had during Tsarist Russia, restoring a long-lost ideology.
• The ROC was against homosexuality.
• The ROC supported panslavism, the belief that all Slavic speakers whould live in one country.
• The ROC is tied to the very beginning of Russia.
• Within the ideology of the ROC, Kyiv has the centrality of Jerusalem.
• “In 2019 Patriarch Kirill said the following: “Ukraine is not on the periphery of our church. We call Kiev ‘the mother of all Russian cities.’ For us, Kiev is what Jerusalem is for many. Russian Orthodoxy began there, so under no circumstances can we abandon this historical and spiritual relationship.”
• Vladimir Putin is equated with Prince Vladimir and therefore he was made head of the nation by the will of God.
• “Putin’s nationalist goal wouldn’t get very far if it wasn’t for the Russian Orthodox Church. He is able to use the church as a vehicle to carry his message of reviving the Russian Empire and the church has been a willing participant, especially the current Patriarch of Moscow, Patriarch Kirill.”
• Krill, before he became Patriarch, spoke out against abortion, euthanasia and “extreme feministic views,” and “homosexual attitudes.”  Human rights, he argued, should be subservient to “traditional values.”
• Krill also made the “church a willing supporter of the Russian military.”
• In a sermon on February 27, Krill said: “May the Lord preserve the Russian land… A land which now includes Russia and Ukraine and Belarus and other tribes and peoples.” Kirill then says that those fighting the “historical unity of Ukraine and Russia” were “evil forces.”
• Krill: “…sees the rejection of Ukrainian leadership as a rejection of decadent Western values.”
• “Ukraine is then a country that is following decadent Western values and that offends and endangers Russians in the Donbas. It’s a war not simply of armies, but of values.”
• “The Russkii Mir or Russian World is a mixture of religious fundamentalism with totalitarianism. It was this ideology that allowed Russia to annex Crimea in 2014, start the proxy war in the Donbas and for the full invasion of Ukraine. What it states is simply this: there is a transnational Russia, a Holy Russia or Holy Rus which includes Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Within the Holy Rus there are many things held in common: a common capital in Moscow, a common spiritual center in Kyiv, a common Russian language, a common church meaning the Russian Orthodox Church, and a common patriarch (the Patriarch of Moscow). The Patriarch works in concert with the common national leader to govern the Russian world, as well as upholding a common spirituality, morality, and culture.”
• “The Russkii Mir is an ideology of us and them. In this case, the them means the West (Western Europe, North America and the current government in Ukraine). The West has given itself up to liberalism, globalization, Christianophobia, and homosexual rights. The them also include other Orthodox churches which as considered schismatic and in error. It is only the Moscow Patriarchate, along with Putin that are the true defenders of Orthodox teachings.”
• This means that not only is Ukraine illigitimte, but the church in Ukraine which separated from the ROC in 2018, is illegitimate.  All other leaders in the Russian World are pretenders.
• “What this all means when it comes to Ukraine is that this isn’t a war simply of conquest. Instead it is a war of erasure, erasing a culture and its people.”
• In 2016, the Duma passed a law and Putin signed it which was billed as protecting from terrorism.  But the “Yarovaya Law” also restricted several freedoms including of religion.  It made it illegal to preach or proselytize.  Baptists, for example, are completely banned in the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions.
• “This time it isn’t just the state that is committing a crime, the church decided to join in as well.”
• “The thing about Vladimir Putin’s Holy War is that every weapon used by Russia in this war was blessed by the leadership in the Russian Orthodox Church. Every bullet fired, every missile launched is considered a tool of God”

Ginni Thomas urged Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election by any means necessary—while her husband was ruling on cases attempting to overturn the election.
— Read on www.rawstory.com/ginni-thomas-texts-mark-meadows/

In the Kremlin, faith and force go hand in hand.

— Read on http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2022-03-05/russias-menacing-mix-religion-and-nuclear-weapons

March 5, 2022

A moment of maximum danger could arise if the Kremlin does something that Western leaders may not expect: blend nuclear threats with religious rhetoric.

Since the Soviet Union’s collapse, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russian identity, domestic politics, and national security has grown immensely. Putin has introduced religious conservatism into Russia’s national ideology and used religious analogies to discuss security issues. He has framed this war in historical, almost transcendental terms. And Russia’s state-church nexus is most visible in the military—especially within the nuclear weapons complex.

NUCLEAR HOLY WAR

If Western establishments continue to dismiss Moscow’s nuclear signaling, as they have done with Putin’s recent order, Moscow may not only raise the stakes even higher. It may also add a religious, apocalyptic twist to its activity.

The world has entered the nuclear realm against the backdrop of a three-decades-old nexus between the Russian Orthodox Church, the country’s defense establishment, and its nuclear forces—a phenomenon known as Russian nuclear orthodoxy. The latter is a metaphor for a widely circulating public belief, which Putin himself shares, that in order to preserve its traditional national values and Orthodox character, Russia needs to ensure it is a strong nuclear power (and vice versa).

In 2007, for example, Putin publicly remarked that nuclear weapons and Orthodoxy are the two pillars of Russian statehood: the first the main guarantor of external security, and the second the principal source of the nation’s moral-spiritual wellbeing. Not everyone in Russia’s establishment has fully subscribed to this mystic notion. But Russia’s defense elites have generally bought into a mix of nationalism, militarism, and conservative philosophy. Unsurprisingly, the Russian Orthodox clergy that work within the military have penetrated all levels of command within the nuclear triad and positioned themselves as a guardian of the state’s strategic potential.

Putin’s religious and philosophical views, meanwhile, have become integrated into his geopolitical vision and policy choices. The Kremlin occasionally offered messianic and religious framing for its war goals in Crimea and in Syria, and it literally parachuted clerics along with troops into combat zones.

There is a similar state-church nexus in the current war. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has sought to publicly distance himself from the operation. But the Kremlin frames the invasion as the liberation of Slavic brothers, and several days before the first bombs fell, the patriarch delivered a sermon on “the return of the prodigal son.” On the third day of war, he referred to the conflict in Ukraine and asked God to save the historical Russian lands—Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine—from internal enemies and the external forces of evil (without explicitly mentioning the operation). He also thanked the commander of the Airborne troops, an elite part of the Russian military currently fighting in Ukraine, on his 60th birthday, for contributing to Russian national security. 

Putin sees himself as a historical figure, called upon by providence to protect the Russian civilization.

Putin, and many in his immediate entourage, risk losing everything in the Ukrainian operation. They cannot afford to be defeated. They are therefore unlikely to retreat and might be willing to climb very high on the escalation ladder, up to the nuclear stair.

If the invasion goes awry, for example, they will seek to escalate so they can terminate the war on Russian terms, even if doing so requires unprecedented nuclear coercion. That means their threats might target both the West and Ukraine: the former to deter NATO from reinforcing the Ukrainian military, and the latter to make Kyiv accept a settlement if conventional means do not let Moscow impose its will. This will be in keeping with Russia’s theory of victory—scare enemies from intervening, dissuade them from arming Ukraine, and compel Kyiv to make peace.

Prior to the war, Moscow presumed that in any contest within its periphery, Russia’s adversaries would inherently perceive its nuclear threats as credible and back off because the balance of interests at stake favors Moscow. But now that both Russia and the West are more deeply involved, Russia may believe that conventional threats alone are insufficient. But by cultivating a reputation as a faith-driven actor, Russia could get the West to perceive it as mad, helping in wartime coercive bargaining.

If Putin promotes himself as a messianic strategic actor in the eyes of his competitors, and saturates nuclear threats with apocalyptic rhetoric, his coercion could be especially effective. Religious actors often come across as being undeterrable, enhancing the credibility of their threats. Putin has certainly played into this role. The Russian president made various messianic statements prior to this crisis, and he has framed the war as a clash between the forces of light and the forces of evil. Putin apparently sees himself as a historical figure, almost called upon by providence to protect Russian civilization. As a result, the West, which already questions his rationality, may now see him as unafraid of escalation.

But if Putin merges religious rhetoric and nuclear brandishing, it does not mean that he is insane. Instead, it is a unique combination of his genuine worldview coupled with practical considerations. Putin’s strategic, madman calculations and natural emotions can be mutually reinforcing. When cornered, frustrated, and concerned about his own survival, Russia’s president may become more messianic. At the same time, he may deliberately exploit an apocalyptic image to enhance coercion, especially if the West further escalates and the war in Ukraine does not go as planned. Religious statements that Russia’s military, defense officials, and politicians have used in previous conflicts will help the Kremlin further leverage ambiguity and increase Western confusion.

RELIGIOUS SCHISMS

If the Kremlin tries to exploit the image of itself as a faith-driven actor, it may be destabilizing both externally and internally. No one has ever dealt with messianic nuclear signaling from a state. Analysts struggle to decipher a “regular” Putin; a “religious-nuclear” one will be even more puzzling. This could paralyze NATO and lead it to back off, paving the way for more conventional Russian escalation. It could also prompt NATO toward preemption, which would probably mean launching strikes designed to disarm Russia’s nuclear arsenal. Both options would lead to catastrophes, both for the Ukrainian people and for humankind.

Religious nuclear posturing could prompt internal instability as well. The more uncomfortable Russia’s elites, public, and military become with the losses, war aims, and their country’s own brutality, the higher the chances that Moscow resorts to reckless nuclear coercion to try and quickly win the conflict. But doing so will demand internal justification, and the resulting rhetoric is again likely to be messianic and religious.

This time, however, the rhetoric will be addressed at Russians. The question of military obedience, especially in the nuclear forces, will then become acute. The extraordinary nexus of church and military is deepest within the nuclear corps, but there is no way to determine whether the priests within the corps will enhance or inhibit stable command and control of the system. On the one hand, there are reasons to assume that it would lead to more obedience and commitment if an order—including to conduct a strike—arrives. It is not inconceivable, however, that the clergy would encourage nuclear operators to defy a directive. The civilian Russian ecclesiastical establishment is hierarchical but not monolithic, and the current war might further radicalize competing camps within the church, including its members within the nuclear community. Messianic nuclear signaling could be a double-edged sword. Putin’s nuclear brandishing might also catalyze internal instability should the governing elite and the military seek to remove the reckless president from power—and other groups from within the security establishment push back.

END TIMES

The world is on a risky path. Driven by a messianic self-perception, Putin is looking to correct what he sees as historical mistakes and increase Russian geopolitical power. He is unlikely to back down. Washington, in turn, seeks to contain and mercilessly punish him, sees any compromise as unacceptable appeasement, and is using this war to dissuade Beijing from being similarly assertive in Asia or elsewhere. These attitudes mean that Moscow and Washington are not leaving each other a way out. Instead, they continue to climb the escalation ladder as death, devastation, and tragedy mount in Ukraine.  Adding a religious ingredient will further complicate matters.

 DMITRY (DIMA) ADAMSKY is a Professor at the School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, Reichman University, Israel. He is the author of Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy

Over the last decade, Putin has turned his government into a personalist regime: a system in which he monopolizes meaningful authority.
— Read on www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2022-03-16/worlds-most-dangerous-man

Putin’s extreme secrecy helps account for some of the most puzzling aspects of the war.

On the day the first Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine, Russia’s central bank still had more than half of its assets in overseas accounts where they could be easily frozen—a major strategic oversight that baffled foreign observers..

The nearly 70-year-old Russian leader saw the war as an opportunity to reestablish Russian dominance on the global stage. Now that it has done the opposite, he is likely more desperate than ever for a decisive victory.

Even without a formal invocation of NATO’s Article 5, the United States and its allies may have little choice but to respond to Russian cyberattacks with cyberattacks of their own, especially if by that point they have already exhausted the full menu of viable economic sanctions. It is impossible to know for certain how such a pattern of retaliatory cyber-strikes would unfold, given the largely unprecedented nature of this sort of escalation, but it could very well spill over into the conventional military arena—substantially increasing the risk of a major armed conflict.

These risks underscore the need for extreme caution when considering how to respond to Russian cyberattacks. Before jumping headlong into a potentially dangerous spiral of cyber-escalation, the United States and its allies should first use all of the economic tools at their disposal.

Editor’s note: Don’t miss our comprehensive guide to Russia’s war against Ukraine.   The Ukraine invasion has instigated a soul-searching of
— Read on warontherocks.com/2022/03/understanding-putins-nuclear-decision-making/