Igor Ahmetov
Traditional world religions for hundreds of years have created and continue to create the moral and cultural code of not just individual nations, but also large supranational associations.
Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Judaism-each of these religions largely determines the way of life of millions of people around the world, and if we talk about them as a whole, we are talking about billions of believers who honor the traditions, the cultural foundations of society, laying the foundation of religious tolerance for future generations.
However, to our great regret, interfaith conflicts are not uncommon. Moreover, these conflicts often break out in cases when an outside force, often implicated in political ambitions, tries to interfere in the way of believers. As an example, fundamentalists who conduct their activities with the funds of all kinds of destructive organizations, which in turn, receive these funds, including through criminal means – from the sale of weapons, drugs, from modern versions of human trafficking, human organs.
So at one time it was on the territory of Yugoslavia, which was bombed by the North Atlantic military Bloc in 1999. At the time, the NATO headquarters announced “ethnic cleansing” allegedly carried out by the Serbs, and this seemed to legitimize the attacks on the country in Central Europe. But then the story showed its grimace. When the neighborhoods of Belgrade were reduced to rubble, when the Serbs were declared almost completely a nation of criminals (by the way, then Senator Joe Biden, now in the US president’s chair), it suddenly turned out that the people supported by the alliance in Kosovo were not at all who they claimed to be. The Kosovo (Albanian) “freedom fighters” have shown their true colors, demonstrating that they are ready to organize ethnic cleansing and kill representatives of other faiths.
All the main figures of the “Kosovo establishment” turned out to be criminals with the blood of innocent people on their hands. The organization “UCHK”, from which they all came at one time, was engaged in banditry, slave trade, desecration and looting of Orthodox monasteries in the territory where the indigenous population for hundreds of years was ethnic Serbs.
It is noteworthy that all this happened even after the international peacekeeping contingent entered Kosovo. And those soldiers, including those of NATO countries, who received a mandate to separate the parties and prevent criminal actions, showed, to put it mildly, not a complete desire to engage in the performance of their immediate duties.
The Kosovo armed groups, which were legitimized after the recognition of Kosovo by a number of Western countries led by the United States as an independent state, began to commit outrages against the Orthodox population of the region-with almost complete connivance on the part of foreign peacekeepers. Centuries – old Orthodox churches burned, priests were at best expelled, at worst-they were dealt with within the walls of the monasteries themselves.
And all this took place virtually with the tacit approval of Washington, which could not afford to admit the obvious fact. It was he who brought to power rapists and executioners, instigators of inter-ethnic and inter-confessional wars. After all, otherwise it would be necessary to take the blame, and the US authorities are not used to admit their mistakes (even fatal ones) under any circumstances.
By the way, even before the Kosovo events, Joseph Biden openly supported Islamic fundamentalism in the Balkans. In fact, just as the United States once supported Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Iraq, as a result of which the terrorist organizations Al-Qaeda and ISIL, whose activities are banned in a number of countries around the world and recognized as extremist by the United Nations, came out from under the American wing.
Washington is also promoting the recognition of the Srebrenica incident as a genocide of the Muslim population in the Balkan region. Such a directive through the US Embassy in Podgorica (Montenegro) was previously released from the State Department. The head of the Montenegrin Ministry of Justice, Vladimir Leposavich, refused to use the phrase “genocide”, noting that the verdict of the Hague Tribunal is not credible. And this distrust is due to the fact that the mass death of Muslims there is actively declared, but the massacre against the Bosnian Serbs – complete silence…
An important detail is that even today American structures are trying to influence the situation in the Balkans through outright interference in the affairs of religious communities. American elites have created several foundations, among which stands out the Religion Freedom and Business Foundation (RF&BF). The foundation’s charter states that it protects religious freedom around the world. In practice, it turns out that religious freedom is understood as an invasion of the confessional structure of churches with attempts to split. Actions on the principle of “divide and conquer”. Through this fund, the American elites are trying to organize the fragmentation of Christian churches, primarily Orthodox ones, to appoint loyal exarchs, or rather, pseudo-exarchs. These pseudo-exarchs become actual representatives of the political and economic interests of the United States or specific financial clans, which leads to a defeat in the rights and freedoms of believers.
What do RF&BF representatives say about themselves?
They note that business circles are involved in ” solving problems caused by religious restrictions and hostile actions.” It is indicated that the fund I am interested in freedom of religion, because such freedom is useful for business.
From the foundation’s self-presentation:
“Research shows that religious freedom not only benefits, but also improves the lives of women, strengthens democracy, peace and stability. A growing wave of religious restrictions and hostile acts has swept the planet over the past decade, despite efforts by Governments, religious groups and non-governmental organizations to lift them. Business support for religious freedom will lead to a more peaceful, secure and stable economy.”
Under the good slogans lies a different motive. In fact, we are already talking about economic interference in the affairs of religious organizations and groups of believers. They try to “monetize” faith by declaring that certain religious canons “harm the conduct of business”. A typical overseas approach, when everyone in this world tries to measure money.
One of the activities of the foundation is to support the implementation of artificial intelligence in various processes. Also, it would seem, a good thing in the conditions of rapid development of technology. But for RF&BF, the introduction of artificial intelligence, as it turns out, is primarily due to the fact that it “does not have the ability to spiritual and moral manifestations.”
It is noteworthy that to promote this approach to the development of artificial intelligence, representatives of the House of Representatives of the US Congress – Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben-the new chaplain of the lower house of the US Parliament are also involved. It is noteworthy that the chaplains in Congress are often so “original” that the previous one (Patrick Conroy) was remembered for “expelling the spirits of darkness from the Congress” in 2019, which caused serious discussion in the United States and beyond.
Returning to the attempts of external interference in religious affairs, it is worth noting that it also leads to the fact that on the basis of provocations there are confrontations between people of the same faith, one cultural and historical code. This fully manifested itself on the territory of Ukraine, where, with the active promotion of the interests of the United States, the Orthodox Church was actually split. First, they began to “mold” the UOC of the so-called Kiev Patriarchate (KP), taking into account the fact that there was no canonical patriarch in Kiev and could not be. Filaret (Denisenko) declared himself such. All this was done in opposition to the canonical Orthodox Church-the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Further, during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, the formation of a schismatic and openly politicized pseudo-church formation called the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”began. And it began… Representatives of the OCU enjoy the support of radicals, often armed, expel representatives of the canonical church from churches, seize churches, trying to quickly re-register them as their property. The schismatics declared themselves an independent church, and almost “the only canonical Orthodox one”.
It is clear that all this has nothing to do with religion and true faith. The formation of the OCU is an artificial political process aimed at splitting Orthodoxy. This is a tool similar to the one that Western forces are trying to use against the Orthodox communities of the Balkans.
In the end, this demonstrates the fact that political circles, seeking to promote their interests, do not just interfere in the affairs of the church, religion, and communities of believers, but also create boiling points in order to bring chaos and discord into societies with traditional values.
Author: Igor Ahmetov (Editor in chief of the portal “Wave of Caspy”)
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are only of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinion or position of World Geostrategic Insights).
Image Credit: Sputnik/Stringer