Putin is a cold-blooded killer

By KAREN PARKER

County Line Publisher Emerita

Ah, at last we know what inspired that lunatic, Vladimir Putin, to invade its peaceful neighbor and send the whole world reeling toward a world war.

Yes, Pat Robertson crawled out from under his rock. I thought the old fool was dead, but, no, he is just 91. I recall Pat Robertson from 45 years ago, when the only thing on Channel 8 at 6 a.m. was “The 700 Club.” For some reason, my 8-month-old thought we all ought to be up that hour to warm ourselves to Jim and Tammy Bakker, the prodigious fundraisers of the PTL Club whose talents propelled the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) into a prosperous national network. Robertson was so taken with his own charm that he decided to run for president, but by then, the Baker sex and money scandal had broken open, and Robertson suddenly could barely recall being acquainted with them.

Evidently old age has brought no wisdom to Robertson, whose numerous past predictions of the end of the world have not come true. Even his claim that his prayer forced Hurricane Gloria to change direction have a few doubters. But Robertson presses forward despite looking like a moron. 

On Monday he said, “People say that Putin’s out of his mind. Yes, maybe so. But at the same time, he’s being compelled by God. He went into Ukraine but that wasn’t his goal. His goal was to move against Israel, ultimately.”

God is part of a conspiracy to fulfill Ezekiel’s Biblical prophecy? Really?

Nearly 50 years ago, I thought this brand of Christianity was off the rails. But guess what? Now it seems to dominate our culture. 

If God is busy manipulating history behind the scenes, as Robertson claims, then surely that makes him as cold-blooded and cruel as Vladimir Putin. It seems more likely our troubles with Putin can be attributed to missteps in foreign policy by every administration from Clinton to Trump. 

I was thinking about that last week as I did some weekly shopping. Born in the wrong place, I might very well be dodging bullets and diving into bomb shelters on my way to find groceries to feed my family. And having survived that, I might find the shelves empty. 

How long before things became so bad that I would abandon my home and head for the nearest border, leaving everything I owned behind, hoping that the neighboring country would welcome me with food and shelter?

Instead of gazing out my window at the mob of deer on the hill, I might see tanks rumbling my way. Just for fun, they might shell my house. At the very least, they will grab everything in sight. Russians are not kind to Ukranians. In 1932–33, Stalin starved three million to death. Not because of weather, but because he wanted to eliminate small-scale farmers and replace them with state-run collective farms. State policy was to execute anyone caught eating, including children.

We have become a nation of smug, spoiled, self-satisfied, ungrateful fools. I thought about that as I passed through Oil City and noted the “Don’t Tread on Me” sign.

Tread on me? Really? In Russia, the police would do a lot more than tread on you for expressing opposition to the government. Prison? Torture? Death? Probably all of the above. 

And those snowflake truck drivers in a caravan headed to Washington to protest? They were greeted by the Monroe County Sheriff. If they were headed to Moscow, they would have been met with tanks, helicopters, and missiles. If Putin doesn’t mind targeting civilians, children’s hospitals, and apartment buildings, you can bet he would not mind blowing to kingdom come a bunch of truckers protesting vaccinations.

And those folks with their Trump signs and bumper stickers? This week, Trump called Putin a “genius” and “very savvy,” and then suggested the United States might want to take a page from Putin and invade Mexico. 

Putin is a cold-blooded killer, and as I write this, women and children are cowering in fear in basements and bomb shelters. If Mr. Trump thinks Putin is so great, there a few of us who would buy him a plane ticket to Moscow. Or better yet, Kviv.

But perhaps it should come as no surprise. Henry Ford was an admirer of Hitler, as was Charles Lindberg and other famous Americans. In 1939, about 20,000 Americans gathered in Madison Square Garden. They raised Nazi salutes, and the stage was flanked by swastikas. Banners at the rally had messages like “Stop Jewish Domination of Christian Americans” and “Wake Up, America. Smash Jewish Communism.”

Clearly, they were on the wrong side of history. It looks to me that the Ukranians are about to show many Americans that they are again. 

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