An Open Letter To Vlad

Dear Vlad,,

    Am hoping against hope that you will read this article. I don’t know why I am hoping that since very few people actually read this blog. But I wanted to write to you as an American to a Russian and as a  Protestant Christian to a Russian Orthodox Christian.

    And I hope that you don’t mind the informality of addressing you as Vlad. After all, my President, whom I very reluctantly voted for, is called Joe rather than Joseph.

    Of course this letter is about your invasion of Ukraine. So far you have given multiple reasons for the invasion. You claim historic and religious ties justifies the invasion because you claim there is no significant difference between Russians and Ukrainians. Did you ask the Ukrainians that personally? After all, times have certainly changed since you first became a government employee.

    You've given additional reasons for invading Ukraine and have given the impression that you are using a different reason each day. For example, you claim that Ukraine posed a threat to Russia and that you were saving many Russian lives. Thus you conducted a preemptive attack on Ukraine. Did you know that the Nuremberg Trials condemned attacks? Your religious leader said that Ukraine had to be invaded because it had been corrupted by the West and I am guessing that he viewed that as a threat to Russia. In essence, he was saying that Ukraine was potentially able to play the role of a bad apple. In addition, you give the impression that this is somewhat of a religious war, a crusade, if you will against Western decadence. 

    You made claims that Ukraine is too much like Nazi Germany. Therefore, you have to eliminate Nazi influence in a neighboring nation.

    You've used internationally deemed illegal weapons like those containing white phosphorus and you have attacked civilian buildings, even hospitals.  

    You also seemed to have said that you want Russia to be the leader of the world and that this gives you the right to invade Ukraine.

    In all but the first couple of those reasons, you have been conducting yourself like almost any American President in general. And you seem to be channeling the George Bushes in particular in terms of how you are approaching your war on Ukraine. So if you feel that you are being treated unfairly compared to how America has been treated for its interventions, you are correct. You get global sanctions and, at the most, the US gets a slap on the wrist.

    So please understand, you are doing nothing different and saying very little different from what we Americans have seen in our Presidents. Hopefully, that point will shame you into withdrawing.

    But there is another perspective to include here: our shared Christian faith. Here, despite the fact that we belong to two entirely different branches of the Christian Church, I am going to take your religious testimony about yourself seriously.

    See Vlad, there is nothing in the New Testament that condones the kind of invasions that you are currently conducting and that the US has conducted too many times. Nothing. If you wish to claim that you are saving Russia from the decadent West, realize that there is nothing in the New Testament that supports using the weapons that the world uses. If you wish to say that Ukraine poses a danger to your nation, then you have to prove your claims rather than just acting on them. And there is certainly no Biblical support for conducting the horrors of prosecuting a war in order to get rich from the effects on the global economy.

    See, the book of Hebrews is very clear in saying that we have no home here on earth. Our hope is in heaven and our treasures should be  the treasures we receive in the Resurrection. Jesus warns us against saving our treasures on earth. As Christians, we belong to the Church more than we belong to any nation. And the fact that each person is made in the image of God, then we all incur great deal of guilt when we unnecessarily harm others. And there we are all guilty. But those who hurt large numbers of people because their power has given them them the opportunity to are more guilty than others and thus incur a greater deal of God's anger on themselves.

    I am sure that most people reading this article are going to think me a fool for writing this article if they had not already thought of me as a fool. They are going to say that Putin does not have a religious bone in his body. That Putin is a man who is merely addicted to power and wealth. And if that is the case, I partially understand your situation because I've seen people who have addictions. In any event, please stop your war against Ukraine. 

Yes it is unfair that the world doesn't treat all wannabe emperors the same in terms of sanctions. But get over that and do what is right. Withdraw from Ukraine now. Then we can get back to discuss how wrong it is for the US to try to be the leader of the free world while unjustly making you feel threatened by NATO's move eastward.