Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Peter Nimmo (peternimmo@mastodon.scot)'s status on Thursday, 21-Dec-2023 23:25:32 JST Peter Nimmo

   Head of the #RussianOrthodoxChurch is being rabidly racist: #PatriarchKirill "blamed migrants for increasingly threatening interreligious and interethnic peace in #Russia by refusing to integrate into Russian society and forming criminal and extremist organizations". He's sounding more xenophobic than Putin wants! The leadership of the #ROC makes a mockery of #Christ
   https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-december-20-2023

   • Embed this notice
     kravietz 🦇 (kravietz@agora.echelon.pl)'s status on Thursday, 21-Dec-2023 23:25:31 JST kravietz 🦇

     in reply to

     @Peternimmo

     I just wrote about it - I don’t think it has anything to do with what Putin wants or not, it’s just the old good cop vs bad cop game, with Putin presented as the ultimate arbiter.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     kravietz 🦇 (kravietz@agora.echelon.pl)'s status on Thursday, 21-Dec-2023 23:25:51 JST kravietz 🦇

     in reply to

     @Peternimmo

     Literally everything Putin does is quite the opposite of Christian ethics. So their use of religion is 100% instrumental, that’s obvious.

     But then my thinking goes it’s the country where people are being literally jailed for 7 years for merely saying things like “Russia invaded Ukraine” and that’s enforced with full severity. And then you’ve got a celebrity priest (Kirill) or celebrity journalist (Solovyoev) ranting publicly about migrants or anyone else… and nothing happens.

     My logic is therefore that this must be intended. Their ranting is a performance that serves a specific purpose. This could be just offloading popular sentiments, but when so closely correlated with Putin’s “multiethnic” talk I believe this is too close to be a coincidence and these two messages are intended to play together.

     Practical verification of my hypothesis: when I’m talking to people I know in Russia, especially in Caucasus (multiethnic region) I hear the argument “if not Putin we will start killing each other” so frequently it almost became a cliche.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Peter Nimmo (peternimmo@mastodon.scot)'s status on Thursday, 21-Dec-2023 23:25:52 JST Peter Nimmo

     in reply to

     • kravietz 🦇

     @kravietz that's really interesting. I'm not a Kremlinology expert, but I am interested in the theological games. Like Trump, Putin uses religion for his own ends, and, as in the US, he's got willing helpers to push a "Christian" extreme nationalism devoid of Christianity

     clacke repeated this.