War is just horrible. One possible reason why Putin has bombed the hell out of some cities (eg Mariupol) and not others (Kyiv) is because of his religious tie to Kyiv. Multiple nations have stated they have very strong evidences Russia is committing war crimes (intentional target of civilians).
Though Shall Not Kill seems like a dealbreaker. But who gets to say whether or not he’s a “real” Christian? The Bible or Pat Robertson? My guess is analogies will be made regarding King David etc. and the Pat Robertsons and co. will embrace murder in Evangelical circles. Seems pretty clear that the Catholic Church will not at the Pope level but there is a huge split in the church here in the US, and when I’ve attended one of the churches here in our area the Homilies are increasingly hyper-partisan. Even naming Biden and Pelosi and claiming they aren’t REAL Catholics. So if it’s the biblical text… no Putin is no follower of Christ and isn’t going to heaven short of a major ask for forgiveness and turning his life around to follow Christ. If it’s the modern American church from a figurehead standpoint it’s clear he’ll still be viewed as a fellow Christian and global leader they’ll support.
You can bet your ass if it were reversed and Ukraine had all the oil instead of Russia the U.S. would have had boots on the ground weeks ago
He's easily not by the non-extremist religious standard. But I think the more relevant question is does he believe he's special and has a higher calling of some sort. Violence based on religion is the most dangerous. An atheist like Vladimir Lenin still operates in the real world. A religious extremist does not and might not be bounded by the pain of this world.
Glenn Greenwald is almost as big of an intellectually dishonest clown as basso. It is little surprise that he has found his way to GG.
I don't care if Putin does or doesn't consider himself a Christian, it doesn't change the fact he is a complete *******. Also, could Putin be killing more people in the Ukraine? Yeah of course he could, but I am not giving him credit for that. He is still invading a non hostile country and murdering his people, the Ukrainians and involving the whole world - he is currently the biggest ******* in the world. This all sounds simplistic, because it is simplistic. Some try to make it more complicated to justify what Putin is doing. It is simple, he wants the Ukraine because he is a greedy *******, and the concern of the people that live there doesn't matter.
It's a great point. Trump was told by the James Dobson types early on his presidency over and over that THEY view him as a David type of figure in modern day Christianity. You can look up quotes all over the place, and the people who were in his ear at that time. He even showed signs that he bought into it by saying something along the lines of "I am the chosen one" etc. etc. Now imagine hear that, believing it, and THEN having the power of the worlds largest nuclear arsenal at your fingertips without the checks and balances that Trump had in his first term (we can argue about a 2nd term). That's where Putin's mindset likely is at IMO where the figures in the Russian Orthadox church likely tell him over and over the same crap that Jerry Followill and Pat Robertson were telling Trump. The character of David in the bible is just very important for Christianity in justifying violence to achieve a religious goal as a head of state. It gives people like Putin a figure that religious leaders can point to as a mold for a messiac figure to follow and give a pass to using violence for sure. So yeah... I think the guy likely believes he is at the very least a David type of figure for the Russian Christian Evangelical church, and I do think he doesn't think twice about the powers he has as divine vs the average every day human being under the laws of Christ. However the bible has something to say about this. What John describes in Revelation is pretty much this being the mold of the antichrist. A figure that appoints himself divine messiac special privilege's, and rules in tyranny in the name of Christ. In the bible it was Nero John was using as an example. As a metaphor John would very well be referring to Putin as an antichrist for sure, and those who would allow Christs name to be taken in vein like this would themselves be in violation of the Ten Commandments, and by definition would be going to hell unless they repent.
So it sounds like the promises of support for Ukraine by the virtue signalling hacks who rule in the west have been a lot more talk than action. Ukraine 'running out of weapons' as other countries 'fail to send promised aid' Ukraine is believed to be running out of weapons as it continues to hold off Russian forces, amid warnings some countries have failed to send promised aid. Western nations have thrown their support behind the war-torn nation following Vladimir Putin's invasion on 24 February. According to The Times, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Boris Johnson that his country was getting through a week's supply of weapons in just 20 hours as the Russian attack and constant shelling comes on multiple fronts. But while many countries have promised weapons to help bolster the Ukrainian arsenal, some have not kept up the supply. Paul Grod, president of the Ukrainian World Congress, told the newspaper that some nations – including Germany and France – had not delivered promised arms.
I think it's time to stop describing @basso favorite Glenn Greenwald as a leftist. The case for him being a leftist: he opposed the Iraq War. So what! Most Republicans now retroactively oppose the Iraq war, including their lord and master Donald Trump who explicitly campaigned on it being a disaster The case for him being a rightist. Pro Trump, just literally spent the last 4 years fighting on the internet with anti Trumpists Pro Tucker - goes without saying. Anti Obama - again spent 8 years denouncing the Obama admin for Afghanistan Anti Hillary - a foaming at the mouth-style Clinton conspiracy theorist Anti Biden - spends large swathes of his life dealing Hunter Biden nonsense The verdict? In the US of A - Glenn Greenwald is a .... right wing troll with a substack. Oh boy, how novel.
I don't think he's really right wing either though. I think he's just a troll in general who has found the best way to monetize his profession.
Who really knew who Glenn Greenwald was before about a year or so ago when he started going nuts in order to get wingnuts to follow him and repost his crap? I sure didn't. There is no better business model in media to jack up your profile overnight then to be someone who says they were liberal or someone of color to attack Democrats non-stop. Tulsi figured this out. Candace Owen figured this out. Bill Maher figured this out. The "Blacks for Trump" guy at Trump's rally's figured it out, Etc. etc. If I wanted a following on Twitter I could have one very easily by just showing that used to be a liberal but NOW I think Biden and the Democrats are evil because X. It's actually kind of surprising that more people are doing what Greenwald is doing.
I thought he was a fairly recognizable name for breaking the Snowden stuff. And also for being a huge dick.
Maybe but at least I didn't know who he was and I'm obviously not completely un-plugged from politics or the media.
Ukraine does have a lot oil and gas that has not been developed it is one of the reasons why Putin is invading Ukraine. Putin sees Ukraine a threat to their gas dominance in Europe.
1st senior Russian official resigned over the invasion EDIT: 30 years of Russian economic reform and modernization down the toilet in weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Chubais Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (Russian: Анатолий Борисович Чубайс; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian business oligarch who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administration in the early 1990s.[1] During this period, he was a key figure in introducing a market economy and the principles of private ownership to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. From 1998 to 2008, he headed the state-owned electrical power monopoly RAO UES. A 2004 survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Financial Times named him the world's 54th most respected business leader.[2] He was the head of the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation (RUSNANO) in 2008–2020.[3][4] He was a member of the Advisory Council for JPMorgan Chase from September 2008 until 2013.[5][6] Since December 2020, he worked as a Special Envoy of the President of Russian Federation for Relations with International Organizations.[7] On 23 March 2022, he stepped down from this position, stating his opposition to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and left Russia.[8][9] https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...e-stalled-besieged-mariupol-burns-2022-03-23/ And in a sign of cracks in Moscow's ranks, a veteran aide to Putin, Anatoly Chubais, resigned over the Ukraine war and has left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said. He was first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion on Feb. 24. .. In Moscow, the Kremlin confirmed that Chubais, the senior official had resigned of his own accord. Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin's economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin's boss in the future president's first Kremlin job. He later ran big state businesses under Putin and held political jobs, lately serving as Kremlin special envoy to international organisations. Chubais hung up the phone when contacted by Reuters. The sources did not say where he was.
