Connecting Some Critical Dots - Ukraine Connection

Ukraine is burning. I wonder if the kindling is now being laid at the feet of the American Republic. Is the match already lit? Allow me to elucidate some of the thoughts which lead me to these questions.

First, Ukraine is in the middle of a full-blown revolution. To me it makes the various "Arab spring" incidents look like marshmallow fights. Most likely you have read of or heard something about this. It certainly should trump news about the Winter Olympics (except perhaps the news that some Ukrainian athletes have dropped out of the Sochi Olympics in solidarity with their countrymen). The basics of the situation are these:

• President Viktor F. Yanukovych is a pro-Putin despot. While the people of Ukraine long to throw off the memory of their Soviet-era enslavement, Yanukovich wants stronger ties to Russia. Vladimir Putin, a former KGB leader, is striving to rejuvenate the "glories" of the Soviet empire. The fact that Ukraine is leaning westward and has aspirations to membership in the European Union, means that Russia could lose access to oil and natural gas deposits as well as the pipelines connecting Russian oil with the west.
• Barricades are up and governments troops have been battling protesters in the streets of the capitol, Kiev. Hundreds are dead (it's difficult to keep up with the mortality count). According to FoxNews,"... fresh clashes between both sides have left at least 33 dead, bringing this week’s death toll in Kiev to 59. Dr. Oleh Musiy, the coordinator for the protesters' medical team, claims that Thursday’s [20 February] death toll alone is at least 70, but there is no way to independently confirm his statement."
• A truce was allegedly agreed to on Wednesday, but didn't last 24 hours.

This is a deadly situation, Kiev is literally on fire and under fire. For another view on the situation, read here.

Thought number two has to do with the media in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission has announced plans to put "monitors" in newsrooms across the country. This includes radio, TV, and newspapers. According to the ACLJ,

Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs," or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run. A field test in Columbia, S.C., is scheduled to begin this spring.The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about "the process by which stories are selected" and how often stations cover "critical information needs," along with "perceived station bias" and "perceived responsiveness to underserved populations."

Who will decide what the stations should be reporting? Why should these "monitors" be allowed access in the first place. This, friends, is a totalitarian tactic. I studied modern revolutions as a graduate student in history. One of the first objectives of a revolutionary force is to seize control of the communications media. (See Lenin's "Manual to Seize Control of a Society"). In days gone by this has been done by military troops. In the US today, it is being done by means of FCC "monitors." Perhaps the First Amendment to the US Constitution has no meaning in the current regime.

What ties this all together? Maybe nothing. Obviously, however (at least I think it's obvious), I don't think that "nothing" is the correct answer. The United States is on a great swing to the left. It seems to this humble observer that the current leadership in the United States is every bit as "pro-Putin" as the President of Ukraine. While US government officials have made some noises about "the situation" in Ukraine, nothing has actually happened. Government forces in Kiev continue to kill citizens who dare to stand up and call the regime to account. At least the European Union is discussing "sanctions," as lame as that may be. It reminds this student of history of the Hungarian uprising of 1956. Hungarians were dying in the streets of Budapest in front of Soviet tanks. They were sending pleading radio messages to the west. Nobody, most notably the US - which had in a sense encouraged the revolution - lifted a finger. Many died. The Soviet Union prevailed.

I think that all freedom-loving individuals should have an interest in these stories. For me it's a matter of freedom, dignity, human rights, and just plain fair play. I have worked as a journalist. I wish the US could return to the days when journalists were journalists. I once worked as a managing editor of several newspapers. I had a (protected) reporter working for me whose sole job, in his estimation, was to publish the press releases he received. He was ahead of his time. That seems to be the main source of alleged news today. The press releases are all coming from the same, government-controlled, sources.

I now live in a nation with a Soviet past. The Czech Republic was once a part of the evil empire (to coin a phrase). The first directly-elected president of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, is pro-Russia and pro-Putin. Communists have gained a new foothold in the nation in recent elections. Is it possible that beautiful Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí) could go up in flames? I'm not predicting this. I don't expect it. We all must protect against such situations in whatever way we can, however.

Barack Obama is being quiet, but he is not silent in these several situations. The worst thing that could happen to him, however, is to be successful in his agenda. After all he, like the rest of us, cannot serve two masters. I'm not questioning his claim to be a Christian. That's God's province. However, to be in the service of a Pro-Soviet style Russia and Pan-Muslimism is not a tenable position. While many pundits claim that Islam is the new Communism, the resemblance is merely skin deep. At it's root, Communism is against all religions. Modern Russia's several wars have been almost exclusively against Islamic nations (Afghanistan and Chechnya are the leading examples). Islam cannot countenance Communist doctrine. Here is just one viewpoint on this basic animosity.

Just a few thoughts on several burning issues. Pray for the people of Ukraine, my praying friends. Pray also for the people of the United States and the Czech Republic. There is no greater power than prayer; there is no greater mediator than God Almighty.

Playing Fair

Last month it was “March Madness” time in the USA. For non-American readers, this is the time for the national university basketball championship tournament. (Which this year, actually ends in a few days from now - 8 April). It’s a very big deal. I have had the opportunity to watch some of the games thanks to modern technology. There were some big upsets in the early rounds. It was all very exciting.

Sport is not the only source of competition at the university level, however. There are musical contests and various forensics and academic titles to be sought and won. Competition is no less fierce than on the court or the ice or the field. One such competition is called the National Academic Quiz Tournament (NAQT)   

On the same day I read of a small university from Florida overcoming basketball giant Georgetown University, I also read of a scandal at the NAQT.  Harvard University, that current bastion of (American-style) liberalism, was stripped of four academic tournament titles because it cheated.

J.K. Trotter of the Atlantic Wire writes,

Quiz bowls aren't really known for attracting cheaters — the 2006 British hit Starter for 10 excluded — but, as recent history suggests, if there's a way to cheat, a Harvard student will find it. According to a "security update" posted earlier this week by the National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC (which holds and judges quiz bowl tournaments), Harvard's quiz bowl team will be stripped of four quiz bowl championship titles after the company caught four students on Harvard's team illicitly accessing official quiz questions before the tournaments were held.

Harvard University is the oldest university in the United States, having been founded in 1636. It was founded by ministers, to fill a need for trained ministers of religion. How the high have been brought low.

It’s in this small space now, that I should attempt to answer the question, “why do people cheat?”. Forget it. That’s a much-too-complex question for this blog (or this mind). But, I will say this, it’s a basic sin-issue. Yes, man is sinful. He has desires, which he (she) often allows free reign.

James, the brother of Jesus, has much to say on this topic in his epistle. In the first chapter he writes:

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (ESV)

verses 14 and 15 are pretty straightforward. You want stuff, including athletic trophies and academic titles, so you will be willing to sin to get them.

James goes on to set the matter even straighter in chapter four, where he states What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. (vv. 1-3, ESV).

You are willing to go to any lengths to get what you want. You will even murder.

Cheating is rife in academic institutions the world around. Even the military academies regularly catch cadets and midshipmen being dishonest in their academic pursuits. Cheating is commonplace in relationships. The most broken promise ever made is the wedding vow.

So, does James offer any solutions to this problem of sin and cheating, passion and murder? He does, but it’s not exactly a magic potion. Sin will continue to exist until the end of time (a subject we will NOT be looking into here). James writes:  "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, (AD)that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (Chapter 5, verse 16).

Prayer is the answer. Sounds simplistic, perhaps, but it is the answer. Prayer and repentance will turn around the most vile of sinners. Will it clean up the world as we know it? Maybe to some extent, but we will still live in a sinful world. The Apostle Paul completed the though, in a sense, when he wrote to Titus.

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14, ESV.

The answer is Jesus. We don’t need to cheat to get this answer. It’s plain for all to see and comprehend.