Here is an excellent analysis by Thomas Ertl, The Ukraine Crisis: Facts Versus Lies. I agree with it mostly. Ertle is one of the few voices decrying the lies parroted by both liberal and conservative media voices. I’ve posted a few choice excerpts below. I encourage you to check out the entire article at the link above. ~ Jay Rogers

by Thomas Ertl

Let’s look at the media lies and propaganda and contrast it with facts. I write from the worldview of an American Protestant who places his Christian religion above his nationalism.

Since the Soviet empire fell and the various satellite nations of the Eastern Bloc gained their independence, the present Russian Federation, created in 1991, has done nothing to threaten the United States or to compromise its borders. They have not planted military bases near the United States, nor have they posed any threat to our domestic economy. Yes, Russia is competing with the US to provide natural gas to Europe, but they are doing so—ahem—in a capitalist free-market manner. Their product is quicker and cheaper. Remember, it was Germany who asked Russia to build Nord Stream II.

If the question is formulated, “Was the Soviet Union an enemy of the US?” then the answer would be yes. But there is no more Soviet Union, which Reagan accurately labeled “the Evil Empire” with its expansionist military aggression.

Russian president Putin has come under tremendous criticism in his own country for being conciliatory to the US in his public addresses, referencing the US as “colleagues and partners.”

Putin, along with his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, has always resorted to dialogue and cooperation rather than coercive military action, “foreign aid” bribes, or meddling in the internal affairs of other nations. When dealing with NATO, the foreign policy of Russia toward Ukraine has been strictly defensive. Their time is running out. Just as the United States in the early ‘60s did not want Russian nukes in Cuba, so too Russia does not want NATO military bases and missiles in the Ukraine.

When one examines “just the facts,” what we see is Russia’s unbelievable forbearance in the face of ceaseless aggression and the non-stop agitation of the Western propaganda machine.

Putin is a European Russian. Out of a population of 144 million people, fully 111 million live west of the Ural Mountains in the continent of Europe. In religion and culture, Putin is much more European than Asian. Yet he is demonized by the West and assailed with constant lies.

In Putin’s last four presidential elections from 2000–2018, he had vote margins over his closest competitor of 23.9%, 58.1%, 46.2%, and 64.9%. What Western politician could ever have this level of admiration and respect from his people as Putin does?

Putin was secretly baptized as an infant in 1952 by his mother at an underground Orthodox Church ceremony. He identifies himself as a Russian Orthodox Christian and often attends Sunday services in Moscow. Is Putin’s faith genuine? That’s between him and God. What matters most to Russia’s people is Putin’s unwavering support of the church. He is very close to and supportive of the Russian Orthodox Church and has been instrumental in renewing Russia’s historic “symphonia” relationship between church and state. In America, the government attacks the church. In Russia, church and state work together to advance a Christian culture. The Russians know without Trinitarian Orthodoxy there is no Russia. Their 1000-year Christian faith is their foundation. In reality, Putin will go down in Russian history as one of its greatest princes if not the greatest.

NATO was created as a military alliance of Western European countries, including Canada and the US, to counter FDR, Churchill, and Truman’s assistance to Stalin’s invasion of seven Eastern European countries by 1948.

The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, and the Russian Federation formed with president, Boris Yeltsin, installed. At the time, George H. W. Bush, James Baker, and American diplomats assured President Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward. None of these agreements were put in writing (Gorbachev’s mistake) and the US went back on their commitment. NATO, which started with 12 members as an answer to the former Warsaw Pact nations, now stands at 30 members and is constantly working to surround Russia with additional NATO states. The Warsaw Pact was dissolved on July 1, 1991, after communism fell.

The issue over Ukraine membership in NATO, is Russian security and Article 5 of the NATO member states’ agreement. Article 5 is based on military alliance commitments that when one member state is attacked, all other NATO members must come to its defense. This absurd article is a sure path to war. This is similar to the “entangling alliances” over Serbia that compelled Europe to the disaster of WWI.

A simple application of the Golden Rule brings this all in perspective. How would we respond if Russia built and fortified military bases in Cuba, Mexico, and Canada, and stocked it with nuclear missiles? We all know how that went over in 1961. Why should anyone expect Russia not to respond similarly when NATO seeks to expand into the Ukraine and place massive amounts of military equipment and even nukes on its border? Why can’t we be honest about this? Why do our conservative commentators never bring this up for discussion?

NATO is moving toward Russia’s front porch, just miles from Moscow and yet Russia is the aggressor? Putin currently has stated that Russia has nowhere else to retreat.

In the days of the Soviet Union, and even after the collapse of communism in 1991, the Ukraine was an agricultural and industrial center. Since 1991, and the Empire’s regime change in 2014, Ukraine has become Europe’s poorest country and has lost 14.7 million people.

If the Russian military enters Ukrainian territory, it will be for purposes of liberation of the Ukrainian people in the Donbas region marked by Russian humanitarian aid, with some help to rebuild the Ukrainian infrastructure and economy. Russia is committed to defend Russian people in the Donbas of Ukraine but has no desire to incorporate Ukraine into the Russian Federation.

History demonstrates that when a major shift in power moves from an old order to a new one, that the transition period is never smooth. For despite being vassal states of the old order, the smaller states are often militarily and economically dependent on the empire. When an empire fades from power, old disputes immediately emerge and smaller economies go into freefall.

American conservatives and Christians need to start putting their Christianity above their nationalism and take an objective view of the foreign policy of our country. We will not be able to correct our disastrous international policies unless we take an honest look at what we have done.

Questions are starting to be asked. Why does the United States military have over 750 bases in over 150 countries? Who gave the United States Department of State the right to rule the world? What is the real American interest in these foreign countries?

To the West, leave Russia alone. Its recovery out of atheistic Bolshevism is the modern miracle of our time. Who could have seen a Christian Russia emerge from the rubble of communism, and all in just three decades?

America, let Russia finish its recovery. Let her new destiny run its course. A destiny that will once again bring her to a place as one of the great Christian nations of the world.

As for post-Christian Europe and America, all that remains is judgment. I believe it to be irreversible. The West has squandered its Christian heritage and blessings. Its 100 years of unending wars, state-sponsored terror, and institutionalized decadence has reaped the whirlwind. The collapse is not coming; it is already upon us.

Like Russia, the West also has its coming destiny which must run its course. After its collapse, Europe and America must rebuild again. Maybe in God’s gracious providence a Christian Russia could be our model and aid us in the renewal of a new Western Christian civilization.