Phony Pretext

The whole situation in Ukraine does have its moments of amusement. John “you just don’t invade a country under a phony pretext” Kerry being one of them. It is not clear if the US was lying about its thoughts on supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The US might just have been criminally stupid. John "I voted for the war in Iraq before I voted against it" Kerry is an example of hubris. To say that one cannot invade a country on a phony pretext, what was he thinking? The US spent 5 billion to destabilize Ukraine, as was admitted by a US diplomat, and then expects Russia to do nothing. Russia will not allow Crimea to be within NATO.

Does this mean all is well in the Russian Federation? While I thought that Putin in the below embedded press conference made a lot sense, there is a roaring elephant that was not mentioned in the press conference. If the principle is to be self-determination, then what about Chechnya and the other small Islamic areas in the Caucasus mountains? When will their elections take place?

I am sure Chechnya occurred to at least one of these court reporters. But of course it cannot be mentioned. They know who ultimately pays for their vodka. Peter Arnett was CNN's premier reporter. Yet he was immediately fired when he opposed the Iraq war. Phil Donahue was fired as well. Wonder why you cannot trust the media? As the old saying goes, "He who pays the piper calls the tune." Six corporations control 90% of US media. Unfortunately what you get outside the mainstream is Alex "what about Building Seven" Jones. If you are a regular reader you know I will immediately throw out another cliché. Let's see ... ah, if you leave the mainstream for Jones you are, "jumping out of the frying pan and leaping into the fire."

I do have concerns about the conflict. I doubt the crisis will cascade out of control, but this is always possible. More likely is that the crisis might be the tipping point for the larger economic crisis I have been writing about. I still think this will be avoided for some time, but as Yogi Berra said, "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." On a personal level I worry about my family's planned trip to Russia. There is talk about closing Russian embassies. That would make visas difficult.

My main point is not about the details of the conflict. It is instead to avoid being played by "the powers that be" to arrive at the opinion they want from us sheep. Sure I want to be a sheep when the shepherd is the Good Shepherd, but Obama or Putin, not so much. The ultimate solution is to read widely and think for yourself.

Since this Putin press conference was not well publicized, I put it here.

Imagine

No, this is not a tribute to that famous John Lennon song. 

Everything Is Not AwesomeImagine that you are a businessman with a long history of sales to one customer. Because of long-standing ties you even give the customer a 30% discount. But the customer is not paying your bill promptly, often not paying it at all. The amount owed keeps growing and growing. What do you do? At some point you place the customer on a cash only basis. You have no choice. Why should you continue to offer discounts to that customer? I have been in this situation a number of times, in fact I am in this situation right now. Everything is not awesome. (Cheesy reference to the Lego Movie.) 

While the parallel is not exact, this is the situation that the Russian Federation is in right now with Ukraine. Why should Russia continue to sell gas to Ukraine if they are not being paid? Why should they offer discounts under what they can get for the gas in the rest of Europe? Would you? 

Imagine further that this customer was also a wholesaler that took your product and resold it and kept that money. That was the situation the last time the darling of the West, Yulia Tymoshenko, the once and future Prime Minister of Ukraine, was in charge. Ukraine is a "choke point" for natural gas sales to Europe. The Ukraine government used this fact to steal gas from the pipelines as most Russian gas sales to Europe flows through the pipelines in Ukraine. While Gazprom is frantically building new pipelines, they will not be completed before 2016. 

So in that situation what would you as a businessman do? 

Keep these facts of the situation in Ukraine in mind as whatever unfolds over the next few days. I doubt any nation-state would act any differently than what the Russian federation will do, and soon. So, while Russia is not rainbow unicorns, sweetness and light, and puppies, it will act in what it perceives as its own vested interests. All nation-states do the same. 

The Horror Of Border Change!

This Is God's Country

A man can be a Christian or a patriot, but he can't legally be a Christian and a patriot -- except in the usual way: one of the two with the mouth, the other with the heart. - Mark Twain's Notebook

The history of the US is a history of war and of lies and deceit. For an interesting walk through US history from the Prophecy Podcast blog click here. It is not pretty. Even "the good war" was based on deceit. The main argument I often hear is that the other countries are worse. Maybe. 

As Paul said in Galatians 6:

4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

We are each responsible for our own lives. This is true in a national sense as well. Unfortunately we as members of a nation state will suffer along with everyone else. Saying we are better than others, even if "true," keeps us individually and nationally from doing better. We can do better. We must do better. 

There is a certain irony in the modern Christian Nationalism. For if it is correct in the implicit comparisons to ancient Israel, and I often make such comparisons myself, then we are headed for a judgment. 

7-8 Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

Or as the more poetic KJV says, "God is not mocked. What a man sows, that he also reaps." This is also true for nations. 

What does the Gardener do with weeds? 

War Looming?

While I doubt that we are heading toward a international crisis in the Ukraine, it is not impossible. Paul Craig Roberts has written an interesting article on this. He points out that the Ukrainian protestors are funded by the West to destabilize the Ukraine:

In an eight minute, 46 second speech at the National Press Club sponsored by the US-Ukraine Foundation, Chevron, and Ukraine-in-Washington Lobby Group, Nuland boasted that Washington has spent $5 billion to foment agitation to bring Ukraine into the EU. Once captured by the EU, Ukraine will be “helped” by the West acting through the IMF. Nuland, of course, presented the IMF as Ukraine’s rescuer, not as the iron hand of the West that will squeeze all life out of Ukraine’s struggling economy.

The article is well worth a look.