Ukraine War Day #280: Pope Says Racist Sh*t

Dear Readers:

Yesterday we were discussing the propaganda war against Russia, and various Western-funded organizations such as Tsipso, which carry out this war. But in reality, this Informational War against Russia has been going on for literally centuries. Be it medieval Russia, Soviet Russia, modern Russia, whatever. And guess who has been always at the vanguard of this attack?

England! Er, yes, that too, but that was not the answer I was looking for, so we’ll make this a multiple choice question. With the other correct answer being the Catholic Church!

Teutonic Knight tosses Russian kid into fire.

So, last week, Pope Francis gave this rather remarkable interview to an American Jesuit publication. In which, among things, he uttered some utterly racist sh*t about two ethnic groups who belong to the Russian Federation. Here is the main soundbite that has got things stirring:

When I speak about Ukraine, I speak of a people who are martyred. If you have a martyred people, you have someone who martyrs them. When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in. Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on. Certainly, the one who invades is the Russian state. This is very clear. Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to offend and rather condemn in general, although it is well known whom I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put a name and surname.

A lot of people reading this went, Holy Shit! Did the Pope just say something racist about Chechens and Buryats? Why, yes he did. To put in context: The exact equivalent would be something like this: The Archbishop of Constantinople declares that American soldiers are so cruel, because their ranks are filled with Negroes and other non-white people. If they were all just white, they would act nicer towards the civilians of the various countries they invade.

One should not act like an always-offended Snowflake Princess; and in a way it’s kind of amusing, except that this sort of rhetoric, this sort of racist dehumanization of Russians, has been going on for many centuries. At least back to the time of the Crusades; with the Catholic Church standing at the dark heart of it all. Hence, this is not quite at the same level of, say, somebody taking offense at a Polish joke, or making fun of an Italian accent.

Buryat wrestler: “Bring it on, baby! Have you seen my pecs?”

Catholic Crusader: “Please excuse my horns, but I am here to kill Buryats.”

To help us break down the Pope’s stupid words, I have this piece, penned by a whole team of intrepid reporters: Darya Volkova, Alyona Zadorozhnaya, and Evgeny Pozdnakov. But first, I just want to say, from my own experience, living in the U.S., it’s all true! The racism, I mean. If I only had a nickel for every time I heard some ignorant American opine on the reason why Russians are such brutal beasts, so inferior to pristine Europeans: It usually involves the unpleasant Russian habit of “inter-mixing” with violent Asiatic races like Mongols. Granted, Americans never heard of Buryats, that’s a more recent meme. In the past it was Mongols this, and Mongols that. Mongols being the epitome of the primitive, ignorant, violent, inferior race. Sometimes, just to troll them, I’d go, “Hey, some of my best friends are Mongols, and they are really nice people, once you get to know them!” Which is not actually true, I mean it’s true that they are nice people; not true that I have any Mongol friends. But it would sure shut people up; maybe even make them feel slightly ashamed of what they just uttered, words going directly from gut to tongue, without passing through the brain first.

Buryats, by the way, for those who still don’t know, are Mongolians too, sort of. They live way out there in Siberia, near Lake Baikal, speak their own Buryat language, and mostly practice a brand of the Buddhist religion. I never heard anybody say anything bad about them, until the Ukrainians started this anti-Buryat meme.

Okay, with that introductory material under our belts, let’s delve into the piece I just linked, and see what these analysts have to say about all of this nonsense.

We Are Not Amused By Your Infallible Racism

The Pope’s words triggered a very sharp response in Russia. Russia’s Ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeev issued an official protest. Avdeev declared: “The unity of the multi-ethnic Russian people is unshakable; and nobody shall be allowed to put this under question.”

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, also gave vent to her sharp tongue. She reminded the Pope that during the 90’s it was the Chechens who were the angels, because certain Chechens, back then, were fighting against Russia. Back then, Westies claimed that Russian Slavs were tormenting the glorious peoples of the Caucasus. But now the worm has turned, and it’s the Caucasians who are the bad guys. The rule is a very simple one: If you are against Russia, then you are an angel; but if you are with Russia, then you are a demon.

Oleg Tsarev is a well-known Ukrainian politician now living in exile in Russia. When asked to comment about the Pope’s gaffe, he had this to say: “It started in 2015, with these Ukrainian fakes about the so-called Buryats. The Ukrainians were trying to prove that Russian troops were secretly there, fighting in the Donbass. And since [Slavic] Russians and Ukrainians are visually indistinguishable from one another, Ukrainian propagandists had to make up these stories about [Asiatic-looking] fighters, so they came up with the Buryat meme. And similarly with the Chechens, who also look different.”

Alexei Tsydenov

The Hambo Lama

The head of the Buryat Republic is a man named Alexei Sambuevich Tsydenov. Born in 1976, Alexei is the product of grotesque racial miscegenation, spawn of a Buryat father and a Russian mother. All of his ancestors and members of his family worked on the railroad [like the losers that they were], and Alexei himself has university degrees in Railroad Engineering and Economics. He is the eldest of three sons. Tsydenov commented on the Pope’s gaffe, not without a sense of humor: “To hear this kind of talk from the Head of the Catholic Church, regarding the cruelty of specific ethnic groups — more precisely Buryats and Chechens — especially when these groups are working so hard to defend the civilian populations — is rather strange, to say the least. On the other hand, if our Buryat warriors have been noticed on the battlefield, then that means they are doing a good job.”

A man with the funny name Damba Badmaevich Ayusheev is the Head of the Russian [Traditionalist] Buddhist community, called the Sangha. He holds the even funnier title of Hambo Lama. [To me, sounds like “Hambone”.] Ayusheev was born in 1962 and graduated from a Pedagogical Institute. Then also from Buddhist University. He is also a specialist in Tibetan Medicine, whatever that is. In 1991 he was appointed as regent to the resurrected Lama, and then in 1995 was elected to the position of Hambo Lama himself. He has been involved in various religious debates, and is said to be critical of some of the more Shamanistic factions. This is what he had to say about the Pope’s gaffe:

“The people living in Siberia and the Far East are not cruel at all. These people are strong and enduring, they have been forced on multiple occasions to defend their Motherland against fascism. It is a pity that these facts are not understood by the Latinized Europeans.”

Next we hear the objections from the Chechen side of the aisle. Akhmed Dudaev is Chechen Minister of National Politics, External Ties, Press and Information. In rebutting the Pope’s words, he unfortunately could not restrain himself from making this whole thing all about gays and lesbians: “The Roman Pope and the other European leaders are not fond of the very firm and principled position of the Head of the Chechen Republic [Ramzan Kadyrov] against this worldwide LGBT-lobby.” Well, maybe there is some logic there, since most people, when criticizing the Catholic Church, always bring up that rather awkward paedophilia topic.

Next: We get the reactions of the Russian Orthodox Church. And then onto the issue of Ukrainian atrocities routinely blamed on Russia; and why the Pontiff might just be misinformed.

[to be continued]