Tag Archives: Ukraine

An Overview of Syncretism in Russia: Orthodoxy and Sovietism

Posted on by
1

socialist-clipart-K9cR4BbTeBy: Padraig McGrath

The Synthetic Public Ideology of Putin’s Russia

The reconstruction of the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky is a microcosm of a broad social reality

00-yalta-crimea-russia-cathedral-of-st-aleksandr-nevsky-16-05-15

 

OLDENGLIituated adjacent to the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol, the newly rebuilt Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky is a magnificent structure. Gilded onion-domes, Greco-Roman columns and pediments – it looks every bit as classy as a well financed Orthodox cathedral should be. On entering, a question occurs to me, however – why are the icons not completely flat? The depictions of the various saints seem almost crypto-Catholic, more three-dimensional than you’d expect, not like Byzantine iconography. Novgorod it ain’t.

My friend Nikita explains that the local bishop is a western Ukrainian, so this style of iconography just seems more natural to him. Locals refer to it as “Disney-style.” I smile at this answer – is there a residual attempt toward “Ukrainianization” at work? Nikita doesn’t think so – any Orthodox bishop in present-day Crimea pushing an agenda of “Ukrainianization” on any level whatsoever would very quickly find himself without an office – sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Continue reading →

Beyond Left and Right, Beyond Red and White: Framing the Liberation War in Donbass

Posted on by
8

248227777_679812a8ac_m  By: Nina Kouprianova

 

Beyond Left and Right, Beyond Red and White: Framing the Liberation War in Donbass

( originally published here )

“There are no separate Russia or Ukraine, but one Holy Rus” – Elder Iona of Odessa

8ad2564e67ee31b90023b74a17b222ff

 

 

old-english-calligraphy-alphabet-the year 2014 saw an unprecedented surge of patriotism in contemporary Russia, which resulted in popularizing the notion of the Russian World. One reason for increased patriotic sentiment was Crimea’s return to the home port after the overwhelmingly positive vote by its majority-Russian residents in a referendum one year ago. The onset of the liberation war in Donbass from the West-backed Kiev regime was the other. This war truly delineated the stakes for the existence of the Russian World. The latter is not an ethnic, but a civilizational concept that encompasses shared culture, history, and language in the Eurasian space within a traditionalist framework. To a certain extent and despite the obvious ideological differences, the Russian Empire and the USSR embodied the same geopolitical entity.  Continue reading →

The Crimean Tatars are ready to help Turkey to lay the way to Russia and Eurasia

Posted on by
1

mili firka By: Tesha Teshanovic

The Crimean Tatars are ready to help Turkey to lay the way to Russia and Eurasia

9p_vasvi600 (1)

From the begining of crisis in Ukraine and referendum on joining of Crimea to Russian federation, many of the western media have speculated what kind of efect will the crisis have on Tartar national minority that exists in Crimea. Many of them where supraised to find out that amoung the muslim population on Crimea there are a lot of pro Russian activists that didnt have a postive view on Kiev Junta goverment. In interview for serbian academic magasine, Vasvi Ambduraimov, leader of organization of crimean tartars “Mili Firka” talks about the history of his people and situation on Crimea.

1. Can you tell us something about yourself and your organization and its history, roots and influences?

– Milliy Firqa’s public organization (in translation from Crimean Tatar is the People’s party) was created in Crimea in 2006 when as a result of the aggressive nationalistic policy in Ukraine concerning “indigenous dwellers” the ethnic question of the Crimean Tatars was forced into a dead lock. And the policy of the accelerated assimilation of the Crimean Tatars by dissolution of the nation across the all territory of Ukraine was pursued by the authorities of Ukraine through the structure Kurultay Mejlis which was created by them. The base of the ideology of Milliy Firqa is the doctrine of the great educator of the East Ismail Gasprinski about Slavyano-Turkic unity on the open spaces of Eurasia as a necessary condition of the preservation and development of the Russian and Turkic worlds and their people within the united sociocultural matrix. Now the Crimean Republican Public Organization of Sociocultural Development of Milliy Firqa (such is the full legal name of our organization) is registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation with the status of the legal entity. I have honor to head the Board of Milliy Firqa and to represent the organization at all levels.

Continue reading →

The Beautiful Truth about Minsk II & The Debaltsevo Debacle

Posted on by
5

Small Logo  By: Joaquin Flores

The Beautiful Truth about Minsk II & The Debaltsevo Debacle

 

printable-letter-holyunion-on February 12th, on the day Minsk II was signed by the contact group as agreed to by the Normandy 4, we wrote:

“These are the relevant factors which produce the strong sense that these Normandy 4 meetings involve some very serious things and some complex levels that are beyond the scope of what is reported. Russia conducts itself in these meetings from a position of strength.”

Critical events since the February 12th ceasefire tell us what the real underlying factors beyond the scope of what was reported indeed were. With the Ukrainian Army having been encircled in the Debaltsevo region and without provisions, mass surrenders are already underway.  There are already reports of thousands of UAF dead.  Close fighting in the town itself have resulted in the UAF being pushed out, with the town now under Novorossiyan control. The UAF had nowhere to go, and were out of ammo.

Attempts to push out anywhere resulted in more needless deaths for the disheartened and broken Ukrainian force whose numbers range between five and eight thousand.  Putin has publicly urged Poroshenko to allow the UAF soldiers to surrender.  Unsurprisingly, Poroshenko has declared victory.

donetsk-1_2884919b

Continue reading →

The Battle of Wills between the West and Russia: Which Side Will Win?

Posted on by
11

Flag_of_Donetsk_Federative_Republic By: Joshua Tartakovsky

The Battle of Wills between the West and Russia: 

Which Side Will Win?

 

From the very beginning or emergence of the Ukraine crisis, as details of the coup emerged and Crimea was, in the eyes of the west – annexed by Russia – it became clear that we are heading to a prolonged battle.  This is one that is not just a physical war which entails much destruction but a war of wills in a conflict over the question of which side has the moral upper hand. From the very beginning, the West and Russia were speaking in opposite languages and had opposing mindsets. While the West, led by the US, accused Russia of aggression in Ukraine and pointed a finger at it for violating international law, Russia was speaking about fascists in Kiev and about an illegal coup. It became clear from the very beginning that the issue was not merely one of disagreement or division, but of a cultural war with the West attempting to prove its superiority, vis-à-vis Russia. Continue reading →