Thaçi, Mladic, and Memories of Yugoslavia

Recent news has rekindled memories of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990's. First, Ratko Mladic died on 27 August. Mladic, Slobodan Milosevic, and Radovan Karadžic are the the most famous Serbian figures associated with the Bosnian War. The Republika Srpska was a Serbian autonomous region within Bosnia - which in turn was a component of the larger Yugoslavia which had already started to break up in 1991 with the departure of both Slovenia and Croatia. In 1992, Bosnian independence led to a conflict with its Serbian population over territorial claims. The Republika Srpska was backed by Belgrade and its Serb-led government.  

Western Evangelicals Provide Putin Justification for Persecution in Russia

https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-leaders-join-kyiv-prayer-breakfast-call-on-world-not-to-grow-weary-of-ukraine-s-war

Putin is afraid of a fifth column at work within his country. He knows the West has been scheming to remove him from power. He also is attempting to forge a Russian unity or monolith - or what I would call a sacral state. But even this is nuanced as Russia has no issues with its Tatar population or those of Central Asian heritage who are Muslim. They may live as something akin to second-class citizens (in some cases) but they are not persecuted on the basis of religion. There are even indigenous Buddhists in Russia - such as the Kalmyks who have their own autonomous republic. This too is not a problem for the Kremlin.

Ukraine, Iran, and the State of the World

The instability of the world order is starting to snowball. It's overwhelming and frankly it's hard to keep up. I cannot remember a time like this where a combination of factors are coming together to create a situation in which the world seems precarious, and precedent provides little guidance.