RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/russia-is-screwed/#slide-1

Even aside from the war in Ukraine, a demographic crisis and climate change threaten Russia’s future.
 I n the short to medium term, Russia is fairly screwed. But in the long term, Russia is really screwed.

We all know that the Russian economy is in dire straits as it faces unprecedented sanctions from the West, and that countries pulling out of the Russian market now are unlikely to return for a long, long time. The ruble is now almost worthless outside the country, interest rates jumped to 20 percent, and inflation in Russia could rise to a jaw-dropping 20 to 30 percent. Even the longer-term outlook for Russian oil production is darkening.

The Russian military is performing badly, has lost its fearsome reputation, and will need a major expenditure to replace all its lost tanks and transport trucks in addition to its expended precision-guided missiles, artillery, and other weapons.

But the Russian invasion is exposing other weaknesses that Moscow would rather the world didn’t notice.

Douglas London, a former CIA operations officer, writes in the Wall Street Journal that the outlook for recruiting Russians spies has rarely looked better: “Some of the CIA’s best agents have been volunteers who finally are pushed over the edge by a life-altering event and offer their services to an intelligence service. Tolkachev, Polyakov and Kuklinski were volunteers. Thanks to Mr. Putin’s deplorable behavior, I expect an increase in Russian volunteers who have toyed with the idea of doing something to better Russia’s future and might now be receptive to an encouraging nudge.” The FBI is sending Russian-language recruitment ads to cellphones in and around the Russian embassy that read: “If you have information that could help the FBI, please contact us.”

But it is in the long term — say, a generation from now — that Russia is screwed . . . really, really screwed.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18360/persecution-of-christians-february

Authorities called on ten other Muslim converts to Christianity, who were earlier cleared of all charges, to take “re-education” classes led by Islamic clerics… Earlier, the prosecutor in the case against these Christians had said that “apostasy” from Islam was punishable under Islamic law, or sharia, “and in the hereafter,” even though it was “not criminalised in the laws of Iran.” . – articleeighteen.com, February1, 2022, Iran

“It’s not clear why or how he [a Christian] came to be arrested. Other charges, relating to violations of Egypt’s cyber-crime law and using religion to promote extremist thought, were added later without offering Gerges or his defence team an opportunity to respond…. A law banning ‘insulting the heavenly religions’, criminalising blasphemy, has been repeatedly used to silence Egypt’s religious minorities….” — worldwatchmonitor.org, February 9, 2022, Egypt

“He accused me of being an infidel by converting to Christianity, and that Allah will reward them in Jannah [garden paradise] if they kill me. He said to me that it is now the right time for me to receive punishment from Allah, whereby I was going to be burned alive and the birds of the air will enjoy me as their meat….They started beating me up as others gathered firewood, while another was sent to go for petrol because they wanted to use it to burn me alive…. They found me behind the house about 100 meters away, tied and with firewood around me.” – Morningstarnews.org, February 16, 2022, Uganda

“Jihadists came by motorbike….The invaders told the Christians that “they don’t want to see crosses.” – catholicnewsagency.com, February 11, 2022, Burkina Faso

“The man, Mohammed Derrab, remains in detention for anti-conversion charges brought against him.” — –International Christian Concern, persecution.org, February 28, 2022, Algeria

“The threats come as a result of failure to comply with the 2006 ordnance that requires non-Muslim worship to operate only in licensed buildings. However, the licensing commission has yet to issue a single permit.” –International Christian Concern, persecution.org, February 28, 2022, Algeria

The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of February, 2022:

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18359/mariupol-guernica

To justify his invasion, Putin has cited irredentist demands coupled with kith-and-kin claims and national security interests. If adopted as acceptable behavior, Putin’s scenario would be applicable to numerous other cases across the globe.

The most obvious example is that of China, where the Communist regime can threaten Taiwan on the basis of Putin’s arguments. But the same arguments could also be used against Russia by China and Japan. Russia occupies large chunks of Chinese territory along with the Japanese Kuril Islands archipelago.

And what about Mexico trying to “liberate” California and Texas from the Yankee Imperialists?

If we adopt the Putin Doctrine, we end up with a lawless world in which Hitler’s slogan “Force is Right” operates. We would take a giant leap back into an age in which war was the principal arbiter of relations along nations.

It would be absolute folly to ignore the message of Mariupol and not to try and stop the spiral to global hell created by a senseless war.

Whatever the outcome of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the crisis it triggered may have one lasting effect: the return of war as a routine instrument of politics on a global scale.