Zelensky or Putin?
“It is easy and dangerous for Christians to get sucked into these types of political debates. Biblical wisdom and ethics do not fit into the binary formula of today’s political landscape.” - Kevin Schaal
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I have an undergrad in Political Science, took 2 classes on communism, focusing on Eastern Europe, China, and the (then) Soviet Union. In one class we used gaming/role playing. I was Enver Hoxha, dictator of Albania. Strangely, I enjoyed playing the dictator. The deception and double-crossing between leaders and countries was astounding to see. And we were just playing parts (after much research and study for our roles in order to make the gaming realistic).
Although both Ukraine and Russia are using propaganda and other tools to give their countries the best “spin”, Putin is the aggressor and Ukraine (even though not innocent) the victim. Knowing who to support should not be hard to do. Christians in Russia are in a difficult situation as well, although certainly not to the same degree as Christians in Ukraine. China, of course, is watching carefully.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
A good summary this morning: Let’s not get morally confused about Russia and Ukraine
(Brown’s thinking is often “almost but not quite” on the issues of the day, but he’s not confused on this one.)
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
[WallyMorris] I enjoyed playing the dictator.
Don’t give in to the “darkside”
No foreign policy expertise is required
I like the fact that the article made many of the same points I made previously. It is unfortunate that the article included arguments that virtually no one is making.
My point, from which the above quote was taken, was that multiple things can be true at the same time. And those who spent the last few years telling us that about US politics should not run from it now.
[Craig Toliver]Don’t give in to the “darkside”
There is something in ourselves, of course related to sin nature, that is attracted to the power of the dictator. Whether government, business, family, or church, the attraction to the dictator mentality can be strong. Putin, and others like him, are living out a sin nature where normal restraints do not exist.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
Joe, we’ve got two stories here. The left tends to concentrate on Trump’s positive statements towards Putin, the right remembers that Trump worked relentlessly (ANWR, pipelines, regulation, etc..) to increase petroleum supply and reduce their revenues, and under his leadership, the U.S. pounded the snot out of a Russian force in Syria, killing hundreds . My take is that the positive statements were flattery intended to keep Putin off balance.
And that’s what you want, given that Russia has nukes. Leave yourself latitude for action, be ready to use it.
Really, if I wanted to point at someone who’s pro-Putin, I’d point at the guy who shut down drilling in ANWR, illegally refused to issue oil leases on public lands (and has been ordered to do so by a court), shut down Keystone XL, and is making it tougher to drill by reversing Trump’s streamlining of regulations. The net result is that Russia’s ten million barrels of oil per day have tripled in value, and about half that amount is exported.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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