More Right-Wing Rehabilitation, Revision, and Anachronism Concerning the Crusades

https://issuesetc.org/2022/07/29/2101-christian-crusaders-raymond-ibrahim-7-29-22/

This was but another ridiculous interview I found on Issues Etc., yet another case at the attempted rehabilitation of The Crusades. Ibrahim inadvertently all but confesses that his work is not just revisionism but hagiography focusing on the 'heroes' of The Crusades.

Europe's Ghosts, Essential Questions and the Ever-Problematic Balkans

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/europe-risks-losing-strategic-clout-in-western-balkans/

In some respects I was surprised by the candid language in this editorial. I was not surprised by the message but by its directness.

While democracy is evoked and prosperity mentioned, the key term is security. The EU project needs to consolidate all of Europe in order to meet its goals. To create a bloc, a fortress Europe it cannot have dissenting or even rebel provinces rooted in its underbelly.

At a time when everyone is reflecting on the thirty year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the event which effectively shifted gears and set the European project in full motion... the anniversary is marked by angst and frustration. The project of consolidation under the auspices of the EU and NATO has experienced great success but its failures are glaring and represent existential dangers.

Romania and the Prospect of Moldovan Reunification: NATO's Ostsiedlung Programme

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/romanias-parliament-open-to-moldova-reunification-idea/

https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/more-than-10000-rally-to-unify-romania-and-moldova/

https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/romania-squandering-eu-funding-moldova-deserves-more-says-eu-regional-boss/

Americans struggle with geography and history. Largely ignorant of their own, they soon all but drown when delving into regions such as Central and Eastern Europe. Our education system and media do not help and to some degree I think this ignorance is deliberate. And yet if you want to understand what's happening geopolitically and what it means for the world at large and for the Christians living in these places, it's good to investigate these matters.

Perhaps you've watched some media pieces on Transnistria or the NATO missile bases being placed in Romania. Why are these things happening and why are some people upset about it? For the American audience everything is viewed through a post 9/11 and pro-America lens and yet for the people outside the United States this is not the case.

Neo-Byzantinism: Russia and the New/Old Paradigm Wars

Russia’s actions have to be understood in light of history. Americans have often made the mistake of assuming that the world really and truly changed after 1945 and that the events of 1991 set the changes in stone. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Greeks, Turks, and Two Kingdoms

 

Last night as we watched Greek dancers perform some of the circle dances from Macedonia, Crete, and the Peloponnese, I thought about the sad history of the Greek people and the lessons we as Christians can learn from it. They still haven't recovered from the loss of Constantinople in 1453. This anger has only been exacerbated by four hundred years of Ottoman domination until the Greek Revolt in the early 19th century.