Thursday, April 24, 2008

Putin Putin

Putin has endorsed the Russian Orthodox Church as the official religion of Russia.
Is there something inherently suppressive about Russian culture that insists on a unified religious front? You really have to wonder how they went from the Marxist approach of allowing no religions to practice to creating a constitution that touts religious freedom, to persecuting Protestants. I understand that Evangelical Protestantism (an American creation) poses a cultural threat to many groups, especially in Brazil and the Caribbean, and I see how this move, in some ways, preserves Russian identity. However, this is a scary move for the large Slavic land and I believe it will only foster anti-American sentiment worldwide.
Read more about it in the NY Times.

1 comment:

Sphincterman said...

Kudos to Dylan on the new logo. Reminds me of Scarface, who once quoth in a drunken rage, "I'll bury all you cockaroshes!" (Or is it a Palmetto Bug?)

I remember New Year's Eve, 2000, when an obviously pre-rehab Boris Yeltzin appointed a dweeby ex-KGB officer to be the next President of Russia. Putin even looked like a puppet: short, wooden, and weasel-faced. Who would have guessed that he'd be such a paranoid, power-hungry douchenozzle?
Putin is the overbearing, abusive stepfather of the poor Russian peeps. He's popular for temporarily boosting morale, but ultimately he has to let the Russians do their own thing. "National identity" in the 21st century means plurality and diversity of thought within territorial borders. Putin's tactics are old school for a reason: unifying the most massive nation on earth under one church in 2008 is basically like eating Jell-o with a knife. That shit ain't happening.

Y'all Russians gotta say "Vladdy ain't my daddy."