Orthodox Reflections

This is the text of a speech given by Bernard, member of ROCOR, to the Congress of Russian Americans (CRA) 45th Anniversary Forum “Russian-America” Russian Center of San Francisco in 2018. Bernard was an eyewitness to the U.S.-backed coup in 2014 that brought a neo-Nazi junta to power. Click here for his account. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would first like to thank Natalie Sabelnik, President of the Congress of Russian Americans (CRA), for arranging this vitally important 45th Anniversary Forum “Russian-America”, and for inviting me to speak today and share the stage with such distinguished colleagues.

Congratulations for 45 years of “preserving and promoting Russian culture, language and spiritual heritage; combating Russophobia; improving U.S.- Russia relations; and being the recognized voice of Russian Americans in the U.S.”!

The theme of my remarks today is “U.S.-Russia Relations: Moving from Geopolitical Tension to Détente to Rapprochement”. By “détente”, I mean “the easing of hostility or strained relations”, and by “rapprochement”, I mean “the establishment or resumption of harmonious relations”.

Today, U.S.-Russia relations have deteriorated to their lowest level since the Cold War. Moreover, the entire political and media establishment in Washington D.C., and much of the rest of the country, is infected with the pathology of Russophobia, unlike anything I have ever seen.

If we are to move U.S.-Russia Relations from Geopolitical Tension to Détente to Rapprochement, we must first combat the pathology of Russophobia, and return the U.S. to a rational view of Russia. This requires that we first identify the two primary causes of Russophobia – spiritual illness and misinformation.

Regarding the spiritual illness cause, Archpriest Andrei Tkachev has compared the irrational, at times demonic, hatred of Russia, with the treatment of the Israelites during Old Testament times. Just as the Israelites were hated simply because they were God’s people, the Russians, being the most populous ethnic group of the Orthodox Church, which is the New Israel of God, are similarly targeted. That Russophobia is part spiritual illness is undeniable.

How else to explain the commentator on U.S. cable news who often speaks of a mythical threat from, and I quote, “Russia, Russians, Russian nationals, and ethno-Russians”, completely dropping the veil that Russophobia is anything other than ethno-racism? And how else to explain that more than one Western foreign policy official has stated that “Orthodoxy is the enemy”? And, finally, how else to explain that the U.S. State Department is now trying to cause a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, and to sever relations of both Church and State among Russia and all of its Orthodox Christian allies over the past millennium?

My only personal contribution to addressing the spiritual cause of Russophobia is to offer up the sincere, heartfelt prayers of a sinner.

The misinformation cause of Russophobia is partly based on ignorance, and partly based on a deliberate attempt to deceive, which would be more accurately called “disinformation”.

The collusion that occurs in the U.S. between the government and the media to manipulate the people through disinformation is often referred to as the politico-media complex.

The power of the politico-media complex is strengthened by the ownership of 90% of the media by only six (6) corporations. This is the reason that alternative media is so vital to an informed electorate, and explains the recent escalation of censorship of such alternative sources of information in the U.S.

Let me give you an example of how the U.S. politico-media complex spreads disinformation to the American people, from my personal experience. I served as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kiev during the events of 2014. While there, I either witnessed, or received reliable first hand accounts, of the following events:

– U.S. politicians coming to Kiev to meet with the revolution and coup d’état plotters – the CIA, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, opposition politicians, and ultranationalists;

– Right Sector ultranationalist troops seizing and occupying Regional State Administration (RSA) buildings throughout Western and Central Ukraine;

– personally being greeted by Right Sector ultranationalist shock troops in balaklavas, armed with baseball bats, after attending Saturday evening services at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra;

– snipers massacring about 100 people on the Maidan Square, with the evidence pointing to the shots coming from a hotel controlled by the ultranationalists;

– the “Korsun Massacre”, wherein eight busloads of residents of Crimea, who had come to Kiev to participate in Anti-Maidan demonstrations, were returning home when Right Sector terrorists attacked the convoy, burning the buses, and brutally beating, torturing, and even killing some of the peaceful demonstrators;

– ultranationalist protesters, and their American sponsors, rejecting an EU- moderated agreement between President Viktor Yanukovych and the protestors providing for early elections, and stepping up their campaign of violence;

– President Yanukovych, believing that his life was in danger, fleeing Kiev for Kharkov, then traveling to Crimea, before taking exile in Rostov-on-Don, Russia;

– a referendum on the status of Crimea being held, the result being that 95% of Crimeans voted to reunite with Russia;

– the junta launching a military campaign against the civilian population of the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, and Mariupol, with the participation of English-speaking troops;

– pro-junta ultranationalist terrorists perpetrating the Odessa Union Trade House Massacre, in which hundreds of anti-Maidan activists were burned alive;

– the residents of Lugansk, Donetsk, and Mariupol voting in favor of independence from the Kiev junta in referenda;

– Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, disappearing from radar when flying over the Ukraine, with radar images showing that the missile that hit it was fired from territory controlled by the junta;

– the junta’s campaign of persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Moscow Patriarchate, including raider seizures of its temples by armed ultranationalists;

– the junta’s oppression and execution of peace activists and opposition politicians;

– the U.S.-orchestrated coup d’état and civil war in the Ukraine killing tens of thousands of innocents, and injuring tens of thousands more, and creating millions of refugees, most of whom fled to Russia; and

– Russia taking measures aimed at saving lives in Eastern Ukraine, such as delivering tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid.

However, despite my eyewitness accounts, when I turned on the television or logged onto the Internet, and accessed Western media, I was told fantastic tales of a “Revolution of Dignity” and of “Russian Aggression” – none of which bore any resemblance to the actual situation in the country.

Today, it is hard to move U.S.-Russia relations forward when Washington D.C. uses these events, and false narratives about them, to justify continued anti-Russia provocations. In fact, all of Washington’s hostile anti-Russia sanctions and anti-Russia diplomatic actions are based upon false narratives about mythical Russian actions involving alleged election hacking; the conflicts in the Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Syria; the death of an accountant awaiting trial on corruption charges; the alleged poisoning of Russian-born MI6 agents near a UK biological warfare research centre; and so on. And, in the typical logic of the U.S. Government, the only way for Russia to receive a reprieve from these sanctions is for Russia to cease doing what it was not doing in the first place.

These illegal anti-Russia sanctions have included travel bans; the freezing of assets; transaction bans involving Russian arms and energy companies and banks; embargos, import bans, and export controls; bans of loans from Western banks; the expelling of Russian diplomats and their families over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays; raider seizures of Russian consular premises and private apartments of consular staff in San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C.; and numerous other hostile actions. Regrettably, it appears that, at least for the foreseeable future, Washington’s foreign policy towards Russia will continue to remain outside the realm of facts and international law.

Unfortunately, it seems that every time it appears that there may be a pause in new provocations from Washington D.C. and an opportunity for Presidents Trump and Putin to jointly take steps towards détente, the U.S. Congress passes another round of illegal anti-Russia sanctions. Frustrated that Russia has withstood Western sanctions by replacing Western bank loans with corporate cash flow and loans from state-owned banks, and that Russia’s import substitution initiative has developed technology to replace technology previously supplied by Western companies, the U.S. Congress continues to escalate the severity of its sanctions regime.

Recently, the Orwellian named “Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2018”, nicknamed the “sanctions bill from hell”, was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bill restricts new Russian sovereign debt transactions, limits U.S. participation in energy and oil projects, restricts Russian uranium imports, and sanctions Russian government officials and businessmen.

We all had great hopes for President Donald Trump’s ability to improve U.S.-Russia relations after he had repeatedly said during his campaign, “Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.”

What went wrong?

Shortly after the election, President-elect Trump’s Transition Team sent me a “100-Day Plan of Action Survey”. I voted that it was “Highly important” for his Administration to “Set the standard for an “America First” foreign policy that ends regime-change, nation-building, and instead focuses on a motto of peace through strength.” I said that it was high time that we return to such a foreign policy more in line with that of U.S. President Ronald Reagan than with that of the neoconservatives of the past few administrations.

I further advised President Trump to appoint U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-California) as U.S. Secretary of State, and that Rohrabacher, who is known as “The Architect of the Reagan Doctrine”, could then develop and implement a new “Trump Doctrine” for U.S. foreign policy in the 21st Century based upon Trump’s campaign promises.

I recommended this course of action because I understood that Trump had no clear vision nor core ideology, that the Deep State of the CIA, the NSA, the military-industrial complex, and others would do anything to prevent détente and rapprochement between the U.S. and Russia, and that the only way that Trump could put a non interventionist foreign policy into effect would be if he had a well-defined doctrine and a capable team with strong convictions.

Unfortunately, President Trump ignored my advice, and appointed neoconservatives to top foreign policy positions. Now, he has basically ceded foreign policy to the neoconservatives in hopes that the Congress will pass his domestic agenda, and that the Deep State will drop the Russia collusion investigation targeting Trump, his family, and his inner circle.

One bright spot I see diplomatically is that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Ambassador Anatoly Antonov are all calm, rational, and patient men who know how to deal with non- rational actors without further inflaming the situation. I am reminded of one of King Solomon’s proverbs: “Anger slays even wise men; yet a submissive answer turns away wrath: but a grievous word stirs up anger.”

One potential emerging area for economic cooperation exists as well. Last year about this same time, the Governor of our State of California, Jerry Brown, attended the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, which we like to call “the Russian San Francisco”. I know from personal experience that California played a role in the economic development of the Asia Pacific, and I am confident that California can play a similar role in the economic development of the Russia Pacific. Russia, starting under Tsar Paul I, helped to economically develop the entire Pacific coast of the U.S., including California. It is time for us to return the favor, and help to fulfill the vision of Tsar Nicholas II for the Russia Pacific.

There are even a few solitary voices in the U.S. Congress who support improved U.S.-Russia relations.

For example, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), a member of the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, recently led a Congressional delegation to Moscow where he met with his counterpart Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs. Afterwards, Senator Paul said, “Engagement is vital to our national security and peace around the world. Today, I met with Chairman Kosachev, and we agreed on the importance of continued dialogue. I invited the Russian Federation to send a delegation to the Capitol, and they have agreed to take this important next step.”

In addition, U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) recently wrote in an article, “True leaders understand that dialogue is the quickest pathway to peace. As my colleague Rep. Rohrabacher says, “We need to find areas of cooperation and peace instead of constant belligerence that can only lead to war.” Contrary to what the D.C. elites would have you believe, Russia is not the biggest threat facing the United States today. The Russia scare is a distraction from our real threats, which include our massive national debt, porous borders, and an out-of-control federal government that claims the right to spy on Americans without a warrant.”

Finally, a new poll from Gallup found that 58% of Americans believe that it is more important to improve relations with Russia, while only 36% of Americans believe that it is more important to take strong diplomatic and economic steps against Russia. This demonstrates that the great divide in American politics remains not right versus left, but rather Washington D.C. versus the people.

To those who believe that the U.S. and Russia are destined to live in perpetual enmity, that Russia is facing “100 years (or more) of geopolitical solitude” as one commentator put it, we have a saying in America – “Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”

My hope is based upon knowing that all things are possible with God, and also upon having lived through times when relations between our countries were better, and believing that we can return to friendly relations again if we have an informed electorate voting for candidates favoring improved U.S.- Russia relations.

To envision what is possible for the future of U.S.-Russia relations, we must first look to the past.

In 1984, I cast my first vote in a U.S. Presidential election, voting to re-elect President Ronald Reagan.

During his time in office, President Reagan met with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev several times, and signed The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which eliminated all nuclear and conventional missiles and their launchers with ranges of 500–1,000 kilometers; and negotiated the foundation for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which called for the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms, and which was eventually concluded in 1991 after Reagan had left office.

What I will forever remember, though, is the visit of President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan to the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, Russia in 1988. In his speech there, President Reagan said:

“It’s a very great pleasure to visit this beautiful monastery and to have a chance to meet some of the people who have helped make its return to the Russian Orthodox Church a reality. I am also addressing in spirit the 35 million believers whose personal contributions made this magnificent restoration possible.

 

It’s been said that an icon is a window between heaven and Earth through which the believing eye can peer into the beyond. One cannot look at the magnificent icons created, and recreated here under the direction of Father Zinon, without experiencing the deep faith that lives in the hearts of the people of this land. Like the saints and martyrs depicted in these icons, the faith of your people has been tested and tempered in the crucible of hardship. But in that suffering, it has grown strong, ready now to embrace with new hope the beginnings of a second Christian millennium.

 

There are many ties of faith that bind your country and mine. We have in America many churches, many creeds, that feel a special kinship with their fellow believers here – Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Orthodox, and Islamic. They are united with believers in this country in many ways, especially in prayer.”

It was President Ronald Reagan who taught me, while I was still a young man, to hate communism, but to love the Russian people and the Russian Orthodox Church – a distinction that seems lost on America today.

This would also be a good time to recall and return to U.S. policy toward the Ukraine when Reagan’s Vice President George H.W. Bush succeeded him as President and who, on a visit to Kiev, had this to say:

“In Ukraine, in Russia, in Armenia, and the Baltics, the spirit of liberty thrives. Yet freedom is not the same as independence. Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred. Some Soviet cities, regions, and even Republics have engaged in ruinous trade wars. The Republics of this nation have extensive bonds of trade, which no one can repeal with the stroke of a pen or the passage of a law. The vast majority of trade conducted by Soviet companies – imports and exports – involves, as you know better than I, trade between Republics. The nine-plus-one agreement holds forth the hope that Republics will combine greater autonomy with greater voluntary interaction – political, social, cultural, economic – rather than pursuing the hopeless course of isolation.”

To those who point out that it is not enough to have a U.S. President who favors improved U.S.-Russia relations, because he or she can be easily overruled by the U.S. Congress or the Deep State, as we are witnessing now, I would like to share with you the type of person whom we once sent to represent us in the U.S. Congress, and whom we can send again, if we have an informed electorate.

On January 28, 1899, U.S. Representative Albert M. Todd (D-Michigan), stood on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, and said the following in a speech:

“I wish to recall to your minds the fact that the great nations of Europe are at this moment engaged in preparing a conference looking to a military disarmament. The Tsar of Russia [Nicholas II], seeing how the world is cursed and impoverished by great standing armies, in inviting a conference of nations for this purpose says:”

Congressman Todd then directly quoted Tsar Nicholas II:

“I look out over the world; I study our civilization, and I do not find it very good. I see nations all engaged in seizing, or trying to seize all territory not yet occupied by European powers.

 

For the native races, what does imperial expansion mean? Too often opium, alcohol and all manner of diseases, a great gulf between the governed and those who rule, and crushing taxation upon the natives for the blessing of this civilization.

 

And for the nations who seize, what does it mean? A continual increase of suspicion, jealousy and rivalry; the heaping up of fleets and armies in order to take part in a scramble with the world, with the result that the army and navy are swallowing up more and more millions that should be used for the welfare of the people and the advancement of the world.

 

On top are a very few rich and comfortable. Down below, with an ever- increasing pressure of taxes for armaments, is the great mass of poor people, whose position is not very good. There is an ever-increasing multitude of those below, with their breeding discontent ripening into socialism and developing into all kinds of anarchy.”

Congressman Todd then made one final appeal to his colleagues:

“Surely, our nation should be the first to encourage, rather than oppose, this humane endeavor, which if effected will bring “peace on earth, good will to men.”

Dear Friends, in this, the centenary of the martyrdom of the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia, let us unite – Russians and Americans – to carry out this legacy of Tsar Nicholas II, and help to restore friendly relations between the U.S. and Russia, thereby taking a vital step toward bringing “peace on earth, good will to men.”

Thank you very much!