The Two Most Egregious Arguments of Putin and His Isolationist Allies
On the day of the Russian bombing of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital.
“Usually I have to go to the front to see this kind of horror. The destruction of Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital was walking distance from my home in Kyiv. Okhmatdyt is an abbreviation that is short for ‘protection of motherhood and childhood.’ July 8 is Family Day in Ukraine. The other hospital hit today in Kyiv was Ukraine's largest fertility clinic. If anyone had doubts about the Russian intent for genocide, they should have them cleared up today.”
July 8, 2024, Steven Moore, Ukrainian Freedom Project, Kyiv
For two and a half year Russia has waged a war on children. It was a war described to me in Bucha and Irpine by survivors of Russian atrocities who detailed the raping of boys and girls, and the execution of entire families by Russian solders. It was explained to me by war orphans who watched the execution of their parents and neighbors by Russians down by the river in their community. This war on children is documented and undeniable. Only the willfully ignorant resist the truth at this point. The armies of Vladimir Putin have turned tens of thousands of children into cripples, and robbed hundreds of thousands of their parents. They have made Ukraine a nation of war orphans, and then enslaved and kidnapped tens of thousands of the same boys and girls.
But for today, July 8, 2024, Putin took this war on children to the next level by targeting the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, named for the protection of mothers and children. The streets are still burning as I write, and the Russian disinformation machine is already attempting to blame the assault on an American missile, a ruse annihilated by photographic proof of the actual Russian weapon.
For two years the world has been subjected to oceans of specious arguments designed to minimize the enormity of the Russian crime like the ones committed today. These arguments pander to a divided America reeling from partisan rancor. But on this day of horror, its especially important to understand the heart of the most egregious arguments used to divide Americans and give aid and comfort to the efforts of Vladimir Putin to subjugate Ukraine through a war of terror on its civilian population.
Two Arguments
In the hands of pundits like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Tulsi Gabbard, Marjorie Taylor Green, Alex Jones, Oliver Stone and others who hungrily devour Kremlin talking points, the debate over the Russian invasion of Ukraine has devolved into flurry of mockery, ad hominem, active measures disinformation, conspiracy, hatred and rhetorical legerdemain. But in the pantheon of cruel and disingenuous arguments presented by this crowd to foment hatred towards Ukraine and urge that the West abandon its friends in Kyiv, two stand out as uniquely diabolical.
The first argument boils down to this: "In a world of moral depravity and religious intolerance, Putin's Russia represents Christian values and virtue. Zelenskyy's Ukraine represents corruption, moral depravity, and persecution of Christianity. Helping Ukraine defend against Russia is an assault on Christianity.”
The second argument can be summarized: "America's decision to support Ukraine is uniquely to blame for the death of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. We are paying for a war which cannot be won. Supporting Ukraine is prolonging the inevitable. Had we allowed Russia to win, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians would be alive today. Supporting the defense of Ukraine makes America criminally responsible for sending Ukrainians to their death."
That both arguments are based on galactic untruths is manifestly self evident to any reasonable person.
But more is going on. We need to pay attention.
The first argument implicates God in a holy war for righteousness against Ukraine. The second is a fundamental rejection of the historic American understanding of the defense of liberty.
Worshipping the God of Moscow
In the Jewish and Christian faith, the first argument is blasphemy, a violation of the Third Commandment which states that God's name must not be taken in vain. It is not to be dishonored or misused. It is sacred. To use the name of God to justify mass torture, mass rape, mass kidnapping, and mass targeting and killing of Ukrainian civilians is the essence of a crime against the Deity.
Similarly, it is an abuse of the name of God to “Christianize” Moscow’s abuse of religion. In the Christian and Jewish understanding, God is the ultimate voice of authority. Under both the Soviet Union and the Soviet-revival autocracy of Vladimir Putin, the state is the supreme voice of authority. Since its restoration with Stalin, the purpose of the KGB/FSB-run Russian patriarchate was and is to serve the Russian state. Consequently, the Russian orthodox church patriarch Kiril has declared holy war war against Ukraine, blessed the war, the instruments of war and the participants in war crimes, even offering absolution for sins to those engaged in the criminal acts. He has empowered Russian soldiers to torture and kill Christians not under the Moscow patriarchate and to destroy churches. It was wrong when Hitler used Christianity to justify the "cleansing" of Germany. It is wrong when Putin, Carlson and Taylor Greene use similar arguments today.
Preaching Surrender as Virtue
The second argument implicates every person who believes in the right of self defense, who embraces the American struggle for liberty against seemingly insurmountable odds, and who is willing to put time and resources to help millions of ordinary Ukrainians defend their families and homeland against a rapacious terrorist regime. It is based on the assumption that when faced with challenging odds, surrender is virtue. It’s not a new argument. It was the claim of Charles Lindbergh and his isolationist friends in WWII and the very argument raised by General Pétain in France in favor of a pro-Nazi Vichy regime. The French resistance were the evil doers. The collaborationists were the heroes. Better to capitulate to a powerful adversary than to fight. The guilty people are those who resist tyranny and risk defeat and death.
At its core, the argument is a rejection and denial of the American birthright enshrined in the very document which we remembered on the recent July 4th Independence Day celebration - Our Declaration of Independence - which made the following case: God, not the state, is the ultimate authority. He has created all men equal and endowed them with inalienable rights including the right to life. When usurpatious tyrants rise up to harass families, steal property and murder civilians, they must be opposed. Great men are willing to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in defense of their nation, their families, and their liberties against tyrants. Cowards flee conflict for the ruse of temporary security.
“The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.”
There is a great line at the end of the film Gladiator, when a wounded Maximus stares into the face of his opponent and emperor. Having endured every treachery and lie imaginable at the hands of his jealous foe, Maximus says: “The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.”
Which returns me to today - the infamous day when Vladimir Putin brought destruction on the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine. More death. More children robbed of their futures. Many other innocent men an women killed.
The July 8, 2024 act of terrorism against children will be justified. We already know how the game is played. Putin and hs apologists in the United States will ignore today’s act of mass terrorism. They will justify it. They will deny it. They will switch the blame. They will bow in submission to Kremlin disinformation, no matter how absurd. Ultimately, they will imply that the Creator Himself is on the side of Putin.
And this is why they will lose.
Because in the end, God will not be mocked. Perhaps the war will be won on the battlefield. Perhaps it will be won with the downfall of Putin. Perhaps some unforeseen event bring an end to Russian tyranny. Of one thing I am confidant, the time for Putin and his allies to honor themselves will soon be at an end.
