Of Course It’s Crazy! That’s Probably why Biden Will Attack Russia

As usual, Tucker nails it.  (Please go to min 15.30; Tucker mentions the possibility that Orthodoxy may be the reason for American hostility towards Russia):

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CXNBGQVsTTO/

Of course, the fact that we are perilously close to becoming a failed state to the point of civil war, that half of the country thinks that the current resident in the White House is illegitimate, and our debt is going to turn our dollars into toilet paper, doesn’t matter a whit to the American Establishment. 

I guess they think that this will all be a cakewalk; something to take our minds off of our own problems.

I guess we’ve gotta give Tuck some props for being the last man standing at FOX.  I just found out last night that they sacked Lara Logan, a real journalist.  The reason?  She took Fauci to task.  So, maybe we should start a pool, pinpointing a day or a week in which Tuck is sacked as well.  

While we’re at it, we could also start a pool to see which of the Phanar’s minions will testify before Congress about why war with Russia needs to happen.  Because “muh democracy”.  Or Alphabet People.  You know, reasons.  

 

Comments

  1. Foolishness of the first degree. Who can state categorically that if either the US or Russia attacked the other the war would be devastating to the world. Neither Biden nor Putin would do such a thing. Russia invading Ukraine is something else. Look for a “religious” theme there.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Yannaro, what makes you think that Biden is in charge?

    • George Michalopulos says

      Yannaro, I don’t know if I answered you yesterday but my answer to your question was another question: specifically, what make you think that Biden is in charge of American foreign policy.

      The only take-charge” position vis-a-vis foreign policy he took was the debacle that was the pull-out from Kabul. And he did that for his (and other oligarchic families’ pecuniary purposes).

  2. The US gov couldn’t hold on to Afghanistan,. or take on Iran, so it’s certainly not going to go to war with Russia unless it’s goal is to destroy much of Europe and getting nuked. The most the US will do and has been doing is wag it’s finger while trying to destabilize Russia with sanctions and proxy fighters.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Chris, the game plan is not to “conquer” Russia (because we can’t) but to destabilize it so that it breaks up into five different regions.

      Same thing with China’s designs on us: not to conquer us (again, an impossibility) but to so destabilize us that we could not muster a defense of Taiwan or their hegemonic plans for the South China Sea. And of course to continue overturning Trump’s economic nationalism plans so that we continue to run a trade deficit with them for the foreseeable future.

  3. Let ’em sack Tucker. He’ll get another platform and go on. And he’ll take half of Fox’s viewers with him. The other half will only stay for Gutfeld.

  4. If China was on Canada’s border with the US, what would we do? Exactly what Putin is doing Hello, McFly? ✊

  5. We’re entering an election year. You will see little green men paraded forth, plagues, pestilence, famine and wild accusations of senseless, international, political intrigue. The Dems can read the polls.

    Normally, it would not concern me at all. However, Biden is such a wild card in his condition that anything is possible. We would have never predicted the Afghanistan debacle as a considered option.

  6. Jesus is one scary Person.
    There are basically two groups of people in the world.
    Those who are for Jesus and those who are against him and think that they can beat him at his game. Chose today whom you will serve, Joshua said. We each must make that choice daily.

  7. Don’t the Saints say something about a big war with Russia with the Turks and Greeks being involved? (Or something to that effect)

  8. Antiochene Son says

    In recent war game scenarios, CERN reported that the US would “get our asses handed to us” in a two front war against Russia and China. Is it any wonder the Chinese air force is violating Taiwan’s airspace on a daily basis, while Russia has 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border? The only question is who will make the first move, Russia or China?

    We are in a tri-polar world now: Russia, China, and the US. It was inevitable that two would gang up on the third. It could have been US and Russia against China, but the last decade of “muh Russia” intrigue has made a workable partner into a solid adversary.

    However this situation ends, I hope it will at least be the end of Big Gay.

    • George Michalopulos says

      The sad thing is that this didn’t have to be. Russia is a European country which bestrides the Eurasian landmass. We should be in this together. But the neocons/puritans/secularists, have a deep and abiding hatred for Orthodoxy. We saw this twenty-odd years ago in the former Yugoslavia, when the Serbs were turned into Nazis by our Great American Dream Factory.

  9. Is it ever appropriate to point out the elephant in the room? That countless leaders in American foreign policy are secular Jews who despise traditional Russian culture and Orthodox Christianity? That the overwhelming majority of America is now made of secular Americans who passively go along with them because we as an American people no longer have any faith-based moral compass at all. We are guided by our passions, our desires of the day, by whimsical social media and news media, and by our wallets.

    Daily prayer to constantly recenter oneself on Christ is not part of the lives of those who run this country.

    Methinks that this is one of the reasons anti-Russianism runs so deep in the West — an underlying hatred of Orthodox Christianity that many Westerners aren’t even probably consciously aware of. It’s no accident that the leaders of the “let’s go to war with Russia” movement (Nuland, Blinken, etc.) are secular Jews who have captured American foreign policy.

    And please, before it starts, this is NOT an anti-Semitic rant. I am NOT advocating any persecution of Jewish people. Not at all. I have Jewish friends and colleagues whom I like but with whom I disagree on central faith issues (it’s actually OK to have friends with whom you disagree on some things….).

    But when you have secular Jews who don’t like a country that values and honors its Christian history and that values Christ’s Church — well, when you have these folks running American foreign policy, what do you expect?

    Maybe many asleep Americans still think it’s 1950 and that old white WASPs run this country. They don’t. And the WASP “faith” died a long time ago.

    • “Christ is not part of the lives of those who run this country.”
      This is it in a nutshell. How do we live in peace with such people? They control every aspect of our lives and, truly, want us dead.

  10. Μωλον Λαβε says

    Curiouser and curiouser…….said Alice
    Everything is falling nicely into place.
    I hope there is – someone – with enough gravitas in the current administration who can think clearly and rationally – and whose counsel will be seriously considered.
    In the meantime, the various alphabet soup agencies are fighting each other for control of what’s left of the government and knifing each other in the process. No one is in charge – or barely – and it certainly isn’t Slo-Joe, so the question remains. Who is actually calling the shots ? (no pun intended).
    The US is in no condition to go to war against anyone and that was made evident with the disaster of a withdrawal from Afganistan that the US is nothing more than a shadow of itself.
    China and Russia need not take any action against the US considering that the US is going to do to itself much better and harder. If the US tries to do anything militarily (cooler minds know not to bet the farm) Then either China or Russia have a legitimate reason to take action however they want – and win.
    Make sure you have enough oil in your lamps. I believe it’s a matter of time (soon). It’s going to be a s*** sandwich and we’re all going to have to take a bite.
    On the plus side I see the coof mandates, masks, etc. disappear as people fight for the last loaf of bread – just another indication that more suffering is to come and that Our Lord Jesus Chirst is coming soon to place everything back to apple pie order.
    Don’t dispare, Don’t be afraid – Jesus is coming – look busy

  11. I actually answered my own question to my previous post, this is something that was just posted today on the Orthodox Ethos:

    PROPHECY ABOUT OUR DAYS & THE DAYS AHEAD

    — By Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona

    This is now circulating widely in Greek and undoubtedly has been told to many. This was told to me by a spiritual son of the elder a day before the elder’s Funeral Service and Burial. (The spiritual son said that the elder told him this in 2008) Thus, I heard it about 3 months before the difficulties he speaks about began and the coronavirus “crisis” exploded. He also told me that the elder said that there would be an unprecedented world wide economic crisis just after his repose. At the time, when Trump was boasting about the best economy ever, I struggled to see how this unprecedented economic crisis would begin. Who would have thought that a bio-weapon virus would come out of nowhere and provoke it? So, the first part of the prophecy has already been fulfilled…and now we await the rest to come about…May we have the Holy Elder’s blessing and prayers!!

    English Translation:

    “My child, I will not be here when they go to the City (Constantinople) because, my child, I will repose at the beginning of the events. . . . Very difficult days are coming! Take care of your soul, assemble together [or collect or come together] and give yourself over to the struggle [or put up a fight]. During these difficult years only a few priests will remain faithful to Orthodoxy and guard the Faith! The great ones, the officials, will follow the ”other one”! [he means the devil]. People will be divided [into groups]. Who should one follow [they will ask]? . . . This situation will last a short while and then the [great] war will follow! After the war there will be a General Council which will put [ecclesiastical] things in order.“

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Be careful with things like this. Send it to Fr. Paisios at St. Anthonys and ask him if it is true.

      Frankly, it is misleading to say in the headline that this is a prophecy by Elder Ephraim. Just as it was misleading to post “The Mother of Five’s” story which is frankly something I created for our blog.

      If the current story is true, it’s an old one (2008). Putting it in context, Elder Ephraim could have been talking about the recession. St. Anthonys knew it was coming. They were stocking up on staples.

      If Father Peter heard it 3 months before COVID hit, I think St. Anthonys would have verified it for us like they did the vision from the woman Fr. Paisios told us about in Greece.

  12. Ukraine is deep within Russia’s historical sphere of influence, shares with Russia a cultural and linguistic heritage, and was a part of Russia for centuries. The US, on the other hand, have nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union, and don’t care about it beyond using it as a proxy conflict to keep Russia weakened. We see this in their instrumentalization of the Orthodox Church by the State Department, which couldn’t care less about the canons of the Church and just want a particular result at whatever cost.

    I sure hope Biden stays out of it so we don’t have to choose, but I know which side I’m on in any potential US-Russia conflict over Ukraine, and it’s not the side of the people who bought the Ecumenical Patriarchate to push an earthly agenda half a world away from their borders.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Good news! It looks like Biden caved to Putin: https://youtu.be/ZFMfP0VVxOo

      • George,

        Putin is very intelligent. He’s playing chess. If anything, Biden’s people are playing tic-tac-toe. If they had a clue, his approval would not be in the toilet.

        This again goes to whose worldview is going to prevail. That is why I harp about there being three major players because each of these players represents a worldview or mindset. They are mutually exclusive and between them the competition is zero sum.

        The Progressive West sees the system of nation states as sacrosanct and sees each nation state as independent, atomized and a natural candidate for Western style “democracy” (globalist, liberal domination). Other cultures, however, have a much greater respect for history and cultural ties. It is only when you wipe out culture, morality and history in favor of universal progressivism that the liberal idolatry of the state as sacrosanct makes sense.

        The problem in the Ukraine is that a certain ephemeral nationalism which has appeared and diminished somewhat like Brigadoon has been successfully exploited by the West as a platform for progressivism. The centralizing impulse necessary to progressivism seems to be being supplied by Western Ukrainian neo-Nazism.

        In the eastern third of the country, the people speak Russian and though they hold some identity as Ukrainian in the sense of political identification, they are Russians for all other practical purposes. It’s really a mess since throughout the western part of the country you have various shades of Carpatho-Russian culture, Polish, Rusyn, etc., much of it resentful of Russians from the Soviet period and even the tsarist period. That is what is being exploited by the West, much like the grievances real and imagined of blacks in America are exploited by the Demsheviks.

        What is objectively real is that Russia is right there and America is far away. What this means is that it is much easier for Russia to project power into Eastern Ukraine than it is for America. Russia has an inviolable border behind which it can always retreat and re-emerge at will. The Ukrainians have no such luxury.

        Even Biden seems to be able to appreciate this and that may be why he is giving indications of caving.

  13. Μωλον Λαβε says

    I agree with Misha,
    Let’s take the breakup of the former USSR and mirror that to the US.
    Parts of the US are distinct demographically by culture, history and identity, each with its distinct flavor.
    As the former Soviet broke into several states, each with their own distinctions, it is also evident here in the US. We can differentiate between Southern, Northeastern, Northwest, Midwest, Southwest and a place called California. Alaska and Hawai’i are a fait accompli.
    The US is coming apart at the seams (as frail and fragile as they have always been).
    The melting pot experiment has failed. Within cities there are distinct enclaves. Perhaps in time I hope we do not experience the diaspora of the Hindus and Moslems after Indian independence – but such is history – nothing is ever static.
    Although lines of demarcation are fuzzy, they are becoming more defined every day. In time I believe that the US will break apart demographically but not necessarily by state lines as people move to the areas that best represents their beliefs and ideology like in the Redoubt.

    • George Michalopulos says

      My thoughts are in alignment with yours in this regard. I do think that the States (esp the Red States) will be able to maintain their territorial integrity. Even the Blue Cities that exist within the the Red States (e.g. Austin, Nashville, Kansas City, etc.) realize that they have only so much slack to experiment with Wokism.

      On the other hand, Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, are hopeless lost (for at least another half-a-century).

      Exceptions exist: Los Angeles (Blue City) in a a Blue State (California) is being prevented from becoming a hell-scape thanks to the fact that their Police dept is almost 50% Hispanic. Gary, Indiana on the other hand is a Blue City in a Red State but it’s not salvageable at this point.

      • Μωλον Λαβε says

        George,

        I am seeing the elements of a fiction novel (based on a real probability of the future US).
        In my humble opinion, I place even odds of such a scenario playing out in the next twenty – fifty years ?
        I do not care who is in charge as long as we can worship without persecution. My family and Orthodoxy are all I care to defend – by force if necessary.

        • George Michalopulos says

          I for one can easily see the Mountain West becoming Deseret, a Mormon theocracy should things continue to spiral out of control. As for the South, it’s going to be more touch-and-go: first Texas breaks away then other Southern states join (as well as New Mexico).

          The spark for such a scenario? If the next election is rigged and the border goes on being unprotected. Or if the Republicans, take over in 2022 and just sit on their hands, pleasing their Chamber of Commerce overlords. This time with Haitians and Moslem jihadis pouring over the Rio Grande.

      • Gary, Indiana on the other hand is a Blue City in a Red State but it’s not salvageable at this point.”

        As one who once lived in Gary, I would have to agree. The steel mills are still there along Lake Michigan, but little else in the city proper is left. Billions of federal dollars have been poured into the city. Every project that promised to “save the city” and attract business now sits in virtual ruin. The airport, though still active, is like a ghost town. Virtually all that’s left are some industries that support the steel mills, Casinos (Hard Rock just built one on the lower west side), and a new Amazon distribution center (cheap land and labor). Most of the residential areas resemble the aftermath of a war. Few who have cars patronize what’s left of shopping districts which consist of either boarded up stores that once thrived in the 60’s or shops with windows that are barred. The schools are an utter disaster with the possible exception of a local Indiana University extension campus. The one remaining hospital stays afloat only with massive amounts of Federal money. The theatre where the Jackson Five made their debut is a broken down wreck with boarded up windows and doors now painted to look like windows and doors. A number of people do come to the Railcats games (minor league baseball), but almost no one ventures outside the stadium and its gated parking.

        During the last presidential election cycle I had occasion to drive down Broadway. House after house after house stood vacant, and in every single yard of these vacant homes was sign after sign that read “Vote Democrat.” And, of course, they do.

        The sight and location of these signs was a tragic and fitting tribute.

        https://regionnewssource.org/multiple-subjects-arrested-looting-amazon-gary/

    • I recently moved out of Alaska and was very surprised (or maybe not) to hear people talk about Alaskan secession, especially if Biden were to halt any oil/gas production in the state, which was everyones fear. Oil is essentially how Alaska stays alive and many people rely on the yearly PFD checks. It would not at all surprise me to see states like Alaska, Texas, etc., form an alliance, not sure if necessarily an outright secession, though I guess it could happen.

      You already have counties in Oregon voting on joining neighboring Idaho, and I could see the same thing happening for eastern Washington and other areas around the country where the majority of the state is Red geographically but run by a majority Blue major city (Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, New York).

      There is a major realignment going on in America already. I have a friend who does recruiting/HR for Amazon in the Southeast. She talks to 10-20 Californians a week who are fleeing for Tennessee, North Carolina and other places to get away from California. She said the majority of these people are conservative/Republican Californians who can’t stand to be there anymore. My take is that conservatives from these liberal states will go to other conservative states, while liberals will either stay or they’ll leave for other liberal places like Portland, Denver, Seattle.

      Would be really curious if others have noticed this as well.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Interestingly enough, Petros, while California has lost two Electoral districts because of population loss, Florida has gained one and Texas two. But here is where it gets really delicious: Oregon has gained one. My intuition is that liberals from California are fleeing to Oregon while the non-insane are decamping for Texas, Utah, Florida, etc.

        We should encourage the migration of libtards to Oregon as a safety-valve to prevent Red States from becoming Purple (or Blue) as has happened with Colorado.

      • Gail Sheppard says

        Yep.

  14. I can’t remember where I heard it, but apparently Russia and China have a pact that if one makes a move on their respective interest, the other will move simultaneously upon theirs.
    Making a two front war an impossibility for the US and our Western “allies?”
    Also, I heard that China wants to wait until March of 2022 to move on Taiwan, because that is when the ocean current would be more conducive to Naval operations. I don’t know if there is anything to that or not, but with Russia’s military buildup on the Ukrainian border, I find it hard to believe they would leave all those soldiers and equipment their idle for so long, especially in the winter months.
    Who knows what will happen and when… Man’s fallen kingdom is an ever growing nightmare.
    Lord have mercy.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Paisios, re Taiwan, it probably won’t come to that. Just the other day, some Taiwanese billionaire gave away the game regarding Taiwan, stating that he sees nothing wrong with the present “One China/Two govt” policy. Our disastrous departure from Kabul pretty much sealed the deal as far as our Asian allies (e.g. Japan, Australia, Philippines, etc) are concerned.

      I dunno, maybe leaving like some surreptitious lover in the middle of the night and leaving $85 billion dollars worth of military hardware was (to be used by the Taliban and their Chinese patrons) was the game plan all along?

      • Union is inevitable. Even the Kuomintang (the Chinese nationalists that left mainland China after losing to the reds) are pro-PRC and pro-union. The current pro-Western liberal sodomite order will gave way eventually and China will be one again.

        • Antiochene Son says

          Yes. China always plays the long game, while the US is incapable of planning anything beyond the next election/midterm. China’s policy is reunion by 2049, and there is no reason to think that won’t happen, if not much sooner.

  15. As always, some good analyses and a couple of wild ideas.

    I recently heard a very thought-provoking comment by Christoforou and Mercouris. I haven’t been following them for very long, maybe a couple of months. Definitely worth it.

    Mercouris pointed out the timeline by which the European Union came into being, morphing quickly from merely an economic bloc. Russia had essentially lost the first Chechen War at horrendous cost, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and Russia, after assuming responsibility for all the old Soviet debts, was on the verge of bankruptcy. Germany was set to unify, NATO was in the initial planning stages for bombing Serbia. Russia had shown little inclination and even less capacity for coming to Serbia’s aid.

    It was at this juncture the EU was finalized.

    Mercouris points out the largest motivating factor for EU unity was the eventual economic divvying-up of a weak and prostrate Russia. The EU, being an advanced and highly industrialized bloc, hungered for Russian raw materials; in fact, felt like they were “owed” access to the vast Russian hinterland. The future of the EU as a manufacturing powerhouse was the “guarantee” of access to cheap Russian (and to a smaller degree, other eastern European) resources. This was their great dream.

    The selection of the sovereignist Putin, who quickly won the second Chechen War and even better, secured a lasting peace based on prioritized infrastructural expansion there, followed by a revamp of the Russian military and lavish funds for private and public enterprise, surprised and angered the Europeans. After the scorched-earth “crash course” in capitalism of the 1990s, Russia was now only interested in working with Western companies in win-win situations, including transfers in technology (such as in oil and gas extraction).

    The whole period from that time to this has been the Europeans attempting to block and “stare-down” the Russians and force it back into financial and economic hardship. The Russian replacement strategy has been brilliant and entirely unexpected; so too the rapid advancement of cutting-edge weaponry, which actually began in secret back in 2006 when the Russian leadership first began to suspect the Europeans were planning on intimidation more than cooperation.

    In short, the rise of a sovereign and independent Russia spells the end of the European Union, based as it was on the failed notion of access to cheap labor and resources.

    Every independent Russia-watcher I’ve followed (Martyanov, Orlov, Raevski, Doctorow, Engdahl, Armstrong, Robinson, Mercouris, Escobar) have said they seriously doubt Russia will attack Ukraine. They don’t have to attack Ukraine, they will just wait for it to implode from internal contradictions and failed Western support. Gordon Hahn and Natalie Baldwin have been less certain (by the way, see Gordon M Hahn’s excellent expose’ on who really did the shooting on the Maidan before Yanukovich’s departure. It’s the best, and exposes more and more the propaganda we’ve been fed.).

    And both Christoforou, Mercouris and a host of other writers agree the Russian Orthodox Church is also a target of Western subterfuge, mostly because it represents an element of Russian “soft power”. I personally am curious (and a little worried) just how safe ROCOR, the Metropolia, and local Churches that support them in the West and the United States truly are.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Balkan, this is absolutely brilliant! I must agree on every point mentioned, mainly because it’s the only thing that makes sense once you connect all the dots together.

      I will add this point re Ukraine: there is no reason for Russia to invade at this point as they’ve successfully gotten Biden to agree to its “Finlandization”. Otherwise, you’re correct: it’s a failed state for a variety of reasons, one of them being the Ukro-nazis who are concentrated in Galicia. They pretty much rule the street and it doesn’t matter who is president, they call the shots. Clearly, that’s an unstable situation.

      As or Putin, he got what he wanted without any more punitive sanctions in the foreseeable future. (Not that that matters much, they’ve pretty much engineered some work-arounds.)

      • Dr. Steve Turley actually has a really good video of this exact thing:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWFV1s9xZxo

        On an ecclesiastical note, I have to wonder what the recent visit/communining of the Macedonian schismatics in Athens means and if it ties into all of this with Russia, etc:

        https://orthochristian.com/143330.html

        This is coming fast on the heels of Pope Francis’ visit and I have to assume he is an influence on this.

      • Well thanks George. I’m just lucky enough to have been following some really gifted academics and commentators for awhile now, and put what they’ve been saying together as the pieces were revealed.

        Andrey Martyanov is hilarious. He has some of the wittiest takedowns of US and NATO military leaders I’ve ever read. And he gives credit where credit is due. But mostly he’s just as funny as he can be pointing out most of our “military” leaders have no military background whatsoever. He’s mercilessly funny.

        Dimitry Orlov is well-known for his “Five Stages of Collapse”. He’s pretty witty too, and his insights on Western culture are precious. He’s like Gandhi, “Western civilization? What a marvelous idea! I’d like to see that some day!”

        Patrick Armstrong is a Canadian academic, but he’s got too much of a streak of reality to fall for Western propaganda. Armstrong calls it as he sees it when it involves Russia. I like his “Russian Sitreps” when he puts them out.

        Paul Robinson is another Canadian academic. He has his own website and also writes for RT. He’s great on pointing out the hypocritical and ludicrous nature of Western foreign policy re: Russia. Two highly-regarded Canadian commentators from a country that has real prejudice towards Russia (and an unreasonable amount of support for the neoNazis in Ukraine).

        Andrei Raevski is better known as “the Saker”. He’s had an online blog for many years now, and has developed quite a following in numerous languages. He also has quite a few guest columnists I enjoy. You’ll also find many RF press releases and speeches translated on his site. He’s had numerous posts on Orthodox Christianity over the years.

        Gilbert Doctorow is a Belgian academic and frequently travels to Russia and the FSU. One article he wrote recently just floored me, of just how thoroughly the Russian food replacement strategy has been so successful. It’s worth a read, “Russia’s Greens Revolution” written Oct 28, 2021. It shows why Russia is now the number one food exporter in the world today. He also has much to say about the Valdai conferences and other such conferences held in Russia.

        F William Engdahl is a geopolitical generalist and writes on many topics. But when he writes about Russia, I really pay attention. He’s one of the most respected writers out there that I follow. He’s getting quite elderly now, and the articles he puts out now are few and far between. But he still has that same penetrating analysis he’s always had.

        Pepe Escobar is a world-famous Brazilian war correspondent. Always colorful, multilingual, and gets right to the point, he’s especially hilarious in live interviews. He’s always entertaining, poignant, and pulls no punches.

        Alex Christophorou and Alexander Mercouris are with The Duran. Both are of Greek heritage, Christophorou is American and lives in Athens (and is Orthodox), Mercouris lives in London and is British. Mercouris is a former solicitor in the English court system. He’s referred to as “the Oracle of London”.

        George, I noticed back in September you mentioned something about James George Jatras. I used to enjoy following Jatras when he wrote for the Strategic Culture Foundation. Does he still write? Does he have a blog somewhere?

        Anyway, I had to give credit where credit is due.

        The Ukraine is such a mixed bag. Their politics is dominated by oligarchs and neoNazis, but their president and Prime Minister are both Jewish. You’d think there would be hell to pay from Israel, but there’s nary a peep. Very confusing indeed!

        I pray for Ukraine, especially the Church under Met Onuphry. Many people are considering him to be a saintly man, much like Patriarch Amfilohije of Serbia of blessed memory.

        • Balkan Dan,
          Thank you for your insights. They are valuable.

          Yes I’m honor Met. Onuphriy as a saintly main. We thank God that He raised him to lead the Ukrainian Church at this time. May God grant us such leader(s) of the American church when we need it.

          The Ukro-Nazis have big support in Canada since Canada has always been a bastion of Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who by definition are pro-Western and anti-Orthodox and anti-Russian. The Ukrainian Catholic Church of Canada is quite large. Even the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (www.uocc.ca) is quite Western in how it leans and is fairly anti-Russian (on their home page is a huge photo of Patriarch Bartholomew).

          Canada absorbed many Ukrainians during the 20th century, a good number of them anti-Russian. I’m sure you know that Ukrainian churches (both Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox) dot the landscape of Canada’s prairie provinces. The OCA’s Archdiocese of Canada has a number of the ones that are Orthodox.

    • Sounds about right. Nice analysis.

  16. The Man in the High Castle is a show available on Amazon Prime that I highly recommend. Starring Eastern Orthodox actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, it tells the story of an America post WWII after the Nazis won. America is divided into three primary regions. The West is run by the Japanese Empire, the East by the Nazi Empire, and the Midwest is American freedom fighter heartland territory. The show is not for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I do agree that our nation is fractured and could go into civil war within the next 20 years. Lord have mercy.

  17. Michael Bauman says
  18. Bartholomew meets with Bishop of Skopje
    to normalize their relations

    https://www-pronews-gr.translate.goog/thriskeia/1042290_synantisi-vartholomaioy-me-skopiano-episkopo-gia-tin-omalopoiisi-ton-sheseon-toys?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

    ‘ The meeting of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with the Metropolitan of Antania and abbot of the Holy Monastery of Bigorski Parthenios is an important step towards the normalization of the relations between the schismatic church of Skopje and the Orthodox world.

    The church in Skopje is considered schismatic for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the meeting is the first step for the convergence of the two sides since Skopje wants the recognition of the autocephaly.

    The Metropolitan of Skopje, accompanied by monks and nuns of four Holy Monasteries, met in a warm atmosphere with Patriarch Bartholomew at the Patriarchal Church of Agios Georgios.

    The media in Skopje give wide publicity to the meeting of Bartholomew – Parthenius, noting that the title of the archdiocese remains a “thorn” but also the attitude of the Serbian Patriarchate since today’s Skopje was its ecclesiastical territory until 1967.

    The self-proclaimed “Macedonian” Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid is the schismatic Church of Skopje, which arose from the division of the three southern provinces of the Serbian Church, namely the metropolises of Skopje, 195 Zletovas, Stletov-Strov to this day it is not recognized by any other orthodox Church.

    With its founding in 1958, it was in normal unity with the Serbian Patriarchate and its first bishop was ordained by the Serbian Patriarch. In 1967, however, it declared its independence, with the result that the extraordinary Synod of the Hierarchy of the Serbian Church, in September of the same year, declared it schismatic.

    In 2005, following a dialogue that failed to reach an agreement between the Serbian Patriarchate and the schismatic Church, the Serbian Patriarchate re-established the Orthodox Archdiocese of Ohrid in Skopje. … ‘

    • George Michalopulos says

      We should file this one under “How to Win Friends and Influence People –NOT”.

      Seriously, I gotta give it to the EP, he ain’t slowing down. He’s like a one-man bulldozer who is committed to his path.

  19. https://orthodoxtimes.com/archbishop-of-australia-there-can-be-no-orthodox-church-without-the-ecumenical-patriarchate/

    Yet another EP Bishop claiming that Orthodoxy doesn’t exist without the EP…when when the other Churches finally step in?

    • George Michalopulos says

      Eos pote; Thee, eos pote;

      (Until when? O Lord, until when?)

      Seriously, are the phanariotes never going to get it? Or will they continue to degrade themselves until the Lord’s coming?

    • I’m not sure it’s wise to be preoccupied with the Phanar and its minions. To some of us, it is dead already and I assume the rest of the Church will breathe a sigh of relief when they conclude the Unia and leave Orthodoxy formally. They have already lapsed into heresy with the sine paribus teaching and the rest of the Church simply hasn’t mustered the will to anathematize them, though Moscow has excommunicated them already.

      Absent some miracle, the entire apparatus is so corrupt that it constitutes a sort of cancer in Orthodoxy which needs to be excised one way or another. Remission is unlikely given the history.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Misha, that’s probably the best way to deal with it, and it’ll probably be the ultimate denouement of his career but the fact remains that there is not only ecclesiological damage being done (i.e. neo-papalism being foisted upon the Orthodox Churches) but physical damage as well. We’ve seen this in the Ukraine with actual violence breaking out.

        For the moment, most of his plans have failed and as far as the Ukraine is concerned, it looks like Biden did indeed blink so we could say that we dodged a bullet (so to speak). But rather than reflect upon his failures, he continues to plow ahead with his destructive plans,

        I guess time will tell.

        • I’ll be watching with horrified fascination as he continues on this path to see how long it takes the various orthodox Churches to react and follow Moscow’s lead, and how many Churches, lay people, and clergy actually follow him into eastern Papalism or Uniatism.

          The sad part is that we can’t count on HAH’s successor, either. There are so few options and they’re all ideologically deep in the Phanariote camp. The Turks must be laughing at the havoc their “the EP must be a Turkish citizen” policy is wreaking on those horrible non-Muslims who just won’t go away.

      • Misha, I partially agree with you. I do expect the majority of bishops within the EP (and some in the Church of Greece) to follow Patriarch Bartholomew into the Unia, or wherever else he is going. However, I do believe there will be a large contingent of laity and even more monastics within the EP/it’s diaspora and the Church of Greece who will not do so. Sometimes we (myself 100% included) make the mistake that the laity are wholesale on board with what the bishops are doing.
        In America it’s easy for us to switch jurisdictions if a Bishop becomes errant, this is not the case in Greece (and may not be the case in Turkey).
        From what I’ve seen on Instagram and Telegram, there are a lot of Greeks not happy with what some in the Church are doing regarding covidism or what Patriarch Bartholomew has done. There’s still hope for the Greeks yet.

        Should the patriarch chose to recognize the Macedonian schismatics without consultation of the Church of Serbia then I expect a swift backlash from the Serbians…and the Greeks, due to the “Macedonia is ours” deal with the Greeks. Not only that, but then no one will be able to say anything about Russia vs Constantinople since Constantinople will be meddling in the affairs of other Churches. And let’s not forget that the Macedonian schismatics have already communed in a hierarchical liturgy in Athena with Archbishop Ieronimos, that’s essentially recognition already.

        It’s a lot to unpack and it’s not so monolithic as we make it out to be, we have to distinguish between what the bishops are doing, and what the priests and laity are doing. Since the beginning of all this there have been priests in Greece that have been calling out and defending the Faith.

    • Archbishop Makarios of Sydney:
      “We Orthodox have a history of two thousand years. If during these two thousand years, the Orthodox Church did not have an Ecumenical Patriarchate, it should have created it. Because she would not have been able to proceed otherwise.”

      For almost three centuries after Pentecost there was neither a Constantinople nor
      a Patriarch thereof. Yet the Orthodox Church survived well enough without them.

      • George Michalopulos says

        It’s stuff like this that makes Evangelism exceedingly difficult. You can say a lot of things about Protestants, but they know their Bible. And as anybody with only a minimum of knowledge of history knows, there was no Constantinople for at least three hundred years after Pentecost.

        To believe otherwise makes a mockery of the Church.

      • “if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him” – Voltaire.

        I don’t like where this is going.

  20. For an interesting discussion on this, see:

    Of the origin of the Constantinople Patriarchate
    https://spzh.news/en/istorija-i-kulytrua/83047-otkudu-jesty-poshel-konstantinopolyskij-patriarkhat

  21. January 6th may end up becoming the FBI/Democrats’ Watergate.

    • George Michalopulos says

      From your lips to God’s ear!

      • George Michalopulos says

        BTW, did you see where Jake Sullivan (Biden’s NSA) spoke before the Council of Foreign Relations and told the attendees that “we are always open for dialogue with Russia”.

        Now, we can look at this in one of two ways:

        1. It’s just a ploy to make people think that we’re really open to dialogue (and not war), or

        2. It’s what they really mean. In other words, they’ve taken a deep look at the military situation and realize that our armed forces are not in any way capable of fighting the Russians so close to their home turf. (Add to that the present economic situation and it seems that there are some grownups in charge.)

        • George,

          Until the West fundamentally shifts its paradigm vis a vis Russia, I don’t see any real easing of tensions. Both America and Russia have undergone remarkable transformations in the last 30 years. Russia was the dominant republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a socialist state. Atheism was the official policy of the government. At that time, America could portray itself as land of the free, home of the brave, defender of God, capitalism and mom’s apple pie.

          However, communism collapsed. And the funny thing is that America had become quite a bit like its great nemesis during the Cold War. We had become more socialistic and more atheistic, especially the liberals and progressives amongst us. And so now, here and in Cuba (China is a unique case of problematic nationalism), we have the last stand of communism – paradoxically – where Russia has moved on to Christian (capitalist) nationalism. This religious nationalism may be the end state of human political development. It is the full quasi-Hegelian incorporation of what has come to pass politically during the Enlightenment molded into a model reminiscent of the previous conservative, autocratic arrangements. You have branches of government, an executive, legislature and judiciary; yet, they are united in a common purpose or mindset, reinforced by a sympathetic media.

          Alas, we backward Americans are still playing footsie with Marxian and edgy “critical” (Marcuse and the like) characters of the late 20th century. Much of the world has found that passe and that is why you hear about democracy in retreat. A more accurate assessment would be “liberal democracy in retreat”.

          And thank God. Our society has suffered from its liberal/socialist cadre since before I was born. Sane generations of Americans for decades have howled at the sky asking “How long, O Lord!'” that the liberals and left would be allowed to drag us toward perdition. Paradoxically, the great boogeyman of American conservatism became the greatest exponent of Christian nationalism. Neither the liberals nor the conservatives have forgiven the Russians for that. The liberals feel socialism was betrayed. The conservatives can’t trust another alpha conservative country more internally united than America outside of American control. Thus the characterization of Putin as a murderous dictator with nefarious, imperial intentions of rebuilding the USSR. This while America remains Jekyll and Hyde.

          Truth be told, Putin will probably be seen as the greatest thing ever to happen to the US, perhaps next to Trump, if MAGA succeeds. People poo poo Russian international power. They do this not based on a sober reflection upon reality but to assuage insecurities. Russia’s demographic situation is not as dire as the West’s own. Nor is Russia’s reliance on petroleum and natural gas exports problematic as is often assumed. In fact, if you look at NSII, one could consider it a strategic strength, even a weapon.

          Russia is a thoroughly Christian, capitalist, nationalist power with nuclear weapons and incalculable natural resources whose political culture has always been outward looking and expansive. That is why it already spans 11 time zones. It is firmly led by a Christian nationalist president who, by all measure, is popular within his realm.

          This does not really sink in or cause its appropriate effect unless you consider the fact that Russia has always been a great power in Europe and was held back mostly by its failure to industrialize more quickly like Germany, and later by its ideological standing which made it odious to the entire theistic and capitalist world. It is no longer hampered by either of those impediments, only poorly administered sanctions.

          When you consider the fortitude of both the Orthodox Church and the Russian psyche, its size, its nuclear and conventional capability, its history of expansion in all directions, its taming of its own press, its capacity to export useful narratives, etc., you realize that a deft hand at the wheel of the good ship Rossiya could come to dominate the world – moreso than America in the twentieth century.

          What should terrify America at this point is something that seems not to perturb those of either party. That is the prospect of a Russo-Chinese alliance. It is already developing and both parties seem hell bent on driving Russia closer to Beijing. As a French wit once observed, “This is worse than a crime, it is a mistake.”

          • Profoundly well-said, Misha, om all counts.

            And George, I have to say it is up to the US to prove any better intentions over time. Nothing more will convince the Russians otherwise.

          • Kyrill Kraeff says

            Misha – IMHO, by 1936, true Communists were eradicated by Stalin, leaving governance at all levels to thugs. I believe that the USSR would have collapsed earlier if not for the nationalistic shot in the arm that she incurred when the Nazis invaded and later NATO opposed the new empire.

            I am very happy with the renaissance of the Russian Orthodox Church, but I cannot shake the feeling that Patriarch Kirill’s emphasis is too heavy on rebuilding the infrastructure and but so much on evangelizing the people. He should have followed Metropolitan Hilarion’s advice in his article on Russia and Her experience with atheism. Consequently, we have a huge increase in the number of people who claim to be Orthodox and are likely baptized in the Church. However, only a small percentage of them regularly attend and actively participate in the life of the church parishes.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Kyrill, you’re 100% spot-on with your first paragraph. The reason that Stalin retains any popularity among the Russian people is because he was a nationalist thug in the “Orthodox” mold of Basil II Bulgaractonus and Vlad (“Dracula”) Tsepes, i.e. a powerful leader who saved his nation & people from foreign invaders, no matter how cruelly or mercilessly he did it. Russians will always cede power to a powerful Tsar/Voivode who drives out their invader –Aleksandr Nevsky, the Romanovs, etc.)

              As to your second paragraph, you may be on to something but it’s hard to tell what’s in the hearts of ordinary men. Having been to Russia twice, I’ve seen real piety, i.e. people attending liturgy in the middle of the week and/or standing in line for 2-3 hours to venerate a wonder-working icon in the middle of a hot, July day.

              Here in America though, we’ve had Orthodox clergymen and bishops march in tandem with BLM/antifa “protesters”.

              God knows.

            • Kyril,

              True communists are thugs. Do not kid yourself. That Stalin was the worst of the bunch is self evident but they were all monsters starting with Marx himself. Lenin himself conservatively estimated the number of people he ordered executed at over 200,000. Nicholas II maybe ordered the executions of 5,000 during his whole reign, most after the 1905 revolution attempt.

              Leftism, and liberalism for that matter, are monstrous. The further you get away from monarchy and into polyarchy and anarchy, the worse it gets.

              I have no criticism of the Russian people or Church on the account you raise. It will take several generations to raise the level of piety in a culture ravaged by almost mandatory atheism. And the outer work of restoring the things of God, the churches and psychological ownership of Christianity, is a vital prerequisite to it sinking in and taking firm hold. Establishing life rites for the adults and churching the youth is the vital thing.

              • Misha ” It will take several generations to raise the level of piety in a culture ravaged by almost mandatory atheism.”

                My feeling is different. In the West there are plenty of atheists who pretend to be believers. In Russia the reverse is true, there are many fake atheists, who in the the depth of their hearts are believers.

                • I think there are plenty of Western believers;
                  who pretend to be atheists because they are afraid to stand out
                  in support of a Church which seems afraid to proclaim its belief.

  22. Kyrill Kraeff says

    Mr. Michalopulos – For the American powers-that-be to have had a “deep and abiding hatred for Orthodoxy”before the alleged mistreatment of the poor Serbs, they would have had to (a) have a working knowledge of Orthodoxy and (b) the Orthodox powers had to have been truly powerful and inimical to American interests. None of that happened, which leads me to suspect that you are grossly exaggerating history and current affairs, perhaps to stir up the pot?

    • George Michalopulos says

      Not really. Prods in general –and Yankees in particular–have had a long, abiding hatred of traditional Christianity in all its forms. They may not have known about us but to them we’re an extension of Popery, i.e. “funny hat Christians”, worthy of their iconoclastic contempt.

      That’s across the board by the way, from High-Church Prods to Low-Churchers. Especially those who have imbibed Christian Zionism and/or Replacement Theology. (Two sides of the same coin actually.)

      Mind you, exceptions abound: i.e. Billy Graham, but they are the ones who prove the rule.

  23. The United States messaging has been perfectly clear that it is not going to directly intervene militarily to defend Ukraine, and is certainly not going to war with Russia over it. And the US is not saying one thing and doing another: a massive military mobilization and deployment would be needed to counter the Russian buildup. That simply isn’t happening.

    Due to their months long process of military deployment, Russia has a wide variety of plausible options. They could do nothing at all. Or they could literally roll tanks through the streets of Kyiv.

    Things like Shoygu doing his best impersonation of Colin Powell circa 2003, etc. tend to make me agree with the assessment that the most probable scenario is Russia does invade this winter, but doesn’t cross the Dnieper. But we shall see.

    I remain bemused when people claim Biden abandoned a position or blinked from a stance he never took in the first place.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Russia was never going to invade. If they did that, NATO would swoop into Ukraine and they’d lose that nice little buffer between them and the West. It’s a false flag.

      • I don’t think so, Gail.
        If Russia does invade Ukraine, NATO will not swoop;
        any more than it did when Georgia went to war in 2008.
        If it did swoop, it would likely start World War III.
        Not even to Hunter Biden is Ukraine worth that.
        Oh…and Taiwan would be toast.

        Putin and XI have their ducks in a row. Joe does not…

        • Gail Sheppard says

          NATO and our State Department were funding military operations in Ukraine as far back as the 1990s and, of course, in 2017/18 when they incentivized Bartholomew to issue the Tomos on behalf of “religious freedom.”

          The hope was that Porocheko would be re-elected and Rada would put the screws to Russia by forcing them to reregister their parishes and property.

          Poroshenko didn’t win, Rada was forced by the court to back away from the re-registration heist and Russia, for her part, showed enormous restraint.

          The UN is itching for WWIII to destabilize the planet and NATO is itching to gain access to Russia through Ukraine. Russia has no intention of letting them in. They will not allow the buffer of Ukraine to be removed.

          A Little NATO History

          – Dialogue and cooperation started when newly independent Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (1991) and the Partnership for Peace programme (1994).
          – Relations were strengthened with the signing of the 1997 Charter on a Distinctive Partnership, which established the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) to take cooperation forward.
          – The 2009 Declaration to Complement the NATO-Ukraine Charter mandated the NUC, through Ukraine’s Annual National Programme, to underpin Ukraine’s efforts to take forward reforms aimed at implementing Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, in line with the decisions of the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest.
          – Cooperation has deepened over time and is mutually beneficial, with Ukraine actively contributing to NATO-led operations and missions.
          – Priority is given to support for comprehensive reform in the security and defence sector, which is vital for Ukraine’s democratic development and for strengthening its ability to defend itself.
          – In response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO has reinforced its support for capability development and capacity-building in Ukraine. The Allies condemn and will not recognise Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea, and its destabilising and aggressive activities in eastern Ukraine and the Black Sea region. NATO has increased its presence in the Black Sea and stepped up maritime cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia.
          – Since the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July 2016, NATO’s practical support for Ukraine is set out in the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) for Ukraine.
          – In June 2017, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted legislation reinstating membership in NATO as a strategic foreign and security policy objective. In 2019, a corresponding amendment to Ukraine’s Constitution entered into force.
          – In September 2020, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved Ukraine’s new National Security Strategy, which provides for the development of the distinctive partnership with NATO with the aim of membership in NATO.

          https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_37750.htm

      • PS: Putin may also be interested in cementing Russia’s position in Crimea. Not that anyone can do anything about the facts on the ground; however, if Crimea were recognized as Russian then that would firm up Russia’s position in the Black Sea.

    • I’m not sure what Putin has in store.

      The West has made a lot of noise about a possible Russian invasion. Other than redeployment of troops near the border, we have not seen such clamor from Russia. Thus, on the face of it, it appears to be a Biden Regime distraction from both domestic and international failures.

      However, Russia has offered a proposal to settle the “frozen conflict”. It is based on Russia’s strategic interest and so significant elements of the proposal may be rejected or renegotiated by the US. But it does underline the point from the Russian side that they hold the concept of their sphere of influence as an existential necessity. History should educate anyone as to why the Russians would be interested in buffers against invasion. There is no ocean separating them from the Poles, Germans or NATO. It’s all very up close and personal.

      While I do not believe that Putin wants war, my guess is that he is tired of the Western drama and would like a more stable situation in the near abroad rather than a frozen conflict in the Ukraine and the jackals circling in other areas. He will have his sphere. The question is whether he thinks he needs armed conflict to obtain it or maintain it. If he does, then he will act.

      From the Russian perspective, now is the very best time to strike a deal yielding stability in the near abroad – or to impose it. Biden is weak. Case in point, Afghanistan. The window is open and God only knows when it will close since no one knows who comes next after Biden. Will Harris finish out his term? She’s a wild card. Will Biden last until 2025? Then it will be Trump or DeSantis or someone who is not weak. Moreover, the window is not really even that long. When Congress changes hands next year it will be harder to cede ground, though a president still can still give away parts of the store simply through inaction.

      So you have Putin who knows he can be in Kiev in short order if he wants. Yet he has no real interest in taking in a failed state, poor as hell, full of people who dislike him. That’s called an “alligator”. You avoid that kind of real estate deal. At most, I would guess he might be willing to use military force to cement the status of the Donbass, perhaps the entire Novorossia region (which stretches along the south of the country), but I doubt it. Probably the Donbass at most. That’s the area that’s already economically integrated with Russia where they’re handing out passports.

      Now, also, he can and will keep the threat to take out NATO first strike facilities close to his border. That has been open policy in the past. Again, he might rather negotiate this formally with a weak American regime and get it in the form of some treaty which will bind subsequent administrations.

  24. This is an oldie but a goodie, The Flight 93 Election.

    It bears reading from time to time. It was insightful almost to the point of being prophetic given developments since the 2020 election.