I’ve just finished an email exchange with a woman who took issue with my positive view of Vladimir Putin in my recent column. I think my readers will find it edifying, so I’ve edited it for length and relevance for your consideration:
She said: “So, you admire a man who kills or nullifies those who have run against him? Really Mr. Lively!”
I replied: Do you have actual proof of that, or are you just parroting the talking points of the war-propagandists? If you’re reading WND, you’re likely a fairly well reasoned conservative. If so, my question back to you is, “Do you believe these same sources about all the other lies they spin, or do you spend half your time debunking them like I do?” Never trust narratives based on only one side of an issue, especially where counter-evidence/counter arguments are deemed meritless without investigation and are actively suppressed.
She replied: “It has been in the news. As well as those who were attacked with plutonium. Their hospitalization is well-documented.”
I responded: That’s all it takes for a conviction in your eyes? J6 has been in the news too. Do you believe the media in those cases?
She responded: “Of course not. Nor do I believe they were insurrectionists. I tend to ignore the TV news media; they are progressive, liberal nuts. Let’s see, to continue, how about those that marched in opposition to Mr. Putin’s war? He had them arrested. Do you know what happened to them? Does anyone? Nothing was said. Let’s face it, he is a dictator and a no-goodnik. … I still maintain Putin is no one to be admired. After all he wants to resurrect the Soviet Union. He hates that he lost all that territory including all the ‘stans.’ The only reason he wants the west and south part of Ukraine is that it protects his access to the Black Sea via the Dnepr River. He already has the right to use the the Dardenells and Bosporus thanks to the dictator of Turkey.
“I knew that the time was up when Syria gave him a port and airport in Syria. He has also spoken to Erdogan, Lybia and the Sudan. Looks like the allies of the Ezekiel Gog and Magog war are lined up. What think you?”
I replied: Well, admittedly Russia is a more autocratic society than ours, but that’s the way they like it. I’ve done three mission trips there and studied that firsthand. That mindset has almost certainly saved them from the “regime change” our side so hypocritically specializes in orchestrating in the non-submissive nations of the world. Putin wisely expelled all the Soros-connected organizations from Russia several years ago, but apparently “our side” left enough assets behind to keep trying anyhow. I strongly suspect that’s who tried to launch the anti-war effort the Russian government quickly suppressed.
Putin may or may not have had a hand in that, but I suspect only a minor one at most because much of the rest of the Russian government is considerably more hardline than he is and would have needed no prompting from above. Indeed, the most common criticism of Putin inside Russia is that he’s too soft and too pro-Western in his views and actions. God help us if Putin leaves the presidency before the current season of world crisis is resolved.
However, if you’re going to take the Amnesty International line of reasoning on the internal dissent topic, you first have to admit that J6 proves that our system is more broken than theirs since we now have more political prisoners incarcerated than Russia does, and we’re supposedly the “gold standard” for human rights.
The reason the Soviet Union was evil and deserved dismantling was its godless communist ideology. Putin’s Russia is now overwhelmingly anti-Marxist Orthodox Christian. During my 50-city speaking tour of the former Soviet Union in 2006-2007, I saw that amazing transformation still in progress everywhere. Much of the rusting ruins of the ugly utilitarian infrastructure was still there –what the people deridingly called “Sov-Dep” (Soviet depredation) alongside new and modern communities and commercial centers to rival anything in the West – adorned by countless gorgeous new and reclaimed Orthodox churches and cathedrals. Even then they had become fully capitalist and largely re-Christianized.
The Reagan/NATO deal with Russia that made Glasnost possible was the firm promise of no further eastward expansion. “Not one inch” was the operative phrase, which was violated almost immediately after the dismantling began. Meanwhile, the “democratic” value system the Russians abandoned their international partnership for steadily morphed into the LGBT freak show America, the U.K. and EU are now using all of our collective international power to impose on the world, backed by an autocratic punishment of dissent increasingly getting as harsh as anything the KGB ever did.
Understandably, Russia wants a restoration of its superpower status as a counterbalance to the U.S., and that explains both the BRICS alliance and the proxy war in Syria. The broader geopolitics of that is too multi-faceted and complex to tackle in the remaining space I have, but suffice it to say that de facto one-party power in the U.S. has done nothing but increase corruption, and the same seems to be true on a global scale under U.S. hegemony. A little competition, especially by a power firmly grounded in traditional family values, will almost certainly move the world in a healthier direction, so long as it doesn’t trigger nuclear war.
As to the Ezekiel 38 Gog/Magog war, I’m a little less convinced that’s what we’re seeing than many other prophecy-watchers are, and I tend to think Muslim Turkey is the “King of the North” in that war, not Christian Russia. Time-wise, it’s possible, but the scripture context suggests that war follows the Millennial Kingdom, not proceeds it. Ezekiel 37 more closely describes where we are right now – as the Israeli war and rising Jew hatred around the world is showing the Jews of the House of Judah that their only true friends are the Christians of the House of Israel – paving the way for the prophesied “two sticks” reconciliation (Ezekiel 37:15-22) at the cusp of the transition from the “Age of the Gentiles” to the Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Ezekiel 37:23-28).
Then again, Ezekiel 38 could be parenthetical and not chronologically sequential. Looks like we’ll get that answer fairly soon, as Ezekiel 38 could actually be what compels the reconciliation described in 37.
Anyhow, thank you for an intelligent and thought-provoking exchange. All of God’s best to you!
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
