The following letter is intended to convey my outrage at the latest act of aggression by Azerbaijan against the peaceful democratic Republic of Armenia. News reports indicate that Azerbaijan has again attacked Armenia. The United States is looking like the hypocrite ofthe world for its refusal to punish Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression. Azerbaijan is Turkey’s stooge in Central Asia.
The United States should cut off all aid unconditionally to Turkey. Turkey is the source for the war crimes and atrocities that Baku has committed against Armenia last year and this year as well. Armenian civilians and prisoners of war have been the victims of war crimes that should be punished under international law. Turkey and its allies like Azerbaijan have been exempt from American retaliation throughout the past century.
It is time to make clear that Turkey and Azerbaijan are not only not American allies, they are threats to international peace, stability, andhuman rights. In addition, the United States must engage Israel as Tel Aviv is a major arms supplier to Azerbaijan. Those who support Azerbaijan are aiding and abetting a country with genocidal ambitions.
Azerbaijan and Turkey should be considered hostile states, violators of human rights, and sponsors of terrorism by Washington.
Sharri Markson is an Australian journalist who has done a remarkable job in her book “What really happened in Wuhan”. I am more than half way through this well researched book and it is infuriating to see the role that the National Institute of Health has played in bringing about Covid. The Institute along with Eco health and others were instrumental in funding gain of function research in China.
Anthony Fauci is not a hero. He is a villain. Fauci comes off as a pathological liar and fanatic. Fauci lied about masks in early 2020. He hid his own involvement with the Wuhan lab from the Trump administration when covid began to spread.
Some facts about the good Doctor,
1) In 2014, the Obama administration banned funding for gain of funding research because it considered it risky. Fauci, the true believer in 2012 had published an article saying a pandemic was worth risking in order to gain the knowledge that gain of function research would provide. This explains why in 2017 Fauci and the NIH resumed funding to the lab in Wuhan WITHOUT CONSULTING THE PRESIDENT OR ANY ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS.
Fauci also did not inform Secretary of Health Alex Azar. Fauci remained silent about his activities when the Trump administration was discussing how to respond to the spread of covid.
2) Fauci opposed stopping travel from China. Fauci has never had the interests of Americans or humanity in his policy formulations.
3) Fauci was outraged when the Trump administration forced Eco Health (another health organization) to stop funding the Wuhan lab.
4) Fauci stated as late as February 2020 that he did not believe the virus would become a pandemic.
This is the man the media and the Democratic Party revere.
There are more outrages involving Fauci’s colleagues and supporters but it would take too long to list them all. What is beyond dispute is that western scientists have been badly compromised by China. To be fair, there are many scientists mentioned in the book who for years were warning against gain of function research and they accurately predicted what would happen. The true believers in the scientific community ignored them.
It should be remembered that for four years Russia has been bashed repeatedly. The Durham report recently proved that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 elections. The media went after the Russians and ignored the China threat. Because Hillary losing the election was a greater tragedy than the pandemic.
The case is made for the Republican Party. The Biden administration resumed funding of the World Health Organization despite the fact that its director general is a Chinese asset. This organization did nothing to stop the spread of covid and its director general praised China repeatedly.
There is debate as to when the leak in Wuhan occurred. Some experts believe October or even August. It did not occur any later than November. The Chinese lied repeatedly and covered up. It was only in late January they admitted that covid could be spread person to person. It was on January 11 that the director general of WHO announced covid could not be spread person to person.
As it is. Five million people worldwide are dead. Covid remains a problem. Every country is divided because people refuse to be vaccinated. The moral failure of those scientists aligned with China is very clear.
There is a political aspect to this. Fauci and others were in effect conducting their own foreign policy by supporting the Wuhan lab. Neither President Trump nor Secretary of State Pompeo were aware of Fauci’s activities. Republicans in Congress might want to consider charging Fauci and others who colluded with China with treason.
Unfortunately, we have a President who is senile so there is no chance justice will be pursued any time soon. The Republicans however have time. They need to make the case against Fauci and the others who assisted the Chinese.
In an ideal world, there would be a Nuremberg style tribunal to put those scientists (Chinese and their western collaborators) on trial for crimes against humanity. We do not live in an ideal world however. Regardless, the Republicans should work to punish Fauci and others.
The Democrats want to defund the Police. The Republicans should demand defunding the NIH and other compromised scientific institutions. The disruption of life needs to be punished any way possible.
Presently reading “What Really Happened in Wuhan” by Australian journalist Sharri Markson. One fourth of the way through so far. Very compelling and infuriating.
The lab leak in Wuhan once rejected as the cause of the pandemic is most likely the reason for the world crisis. The leak may have occurred as early as October 2019 but no later than November 2019. From the very beginning the Chinese government lied and covered it up.
The world learned of the coronavirus in late December 2019 but the Chinese never conceded until late January that the virus could be spread from person to person. The World Health Organization was totally useless under the leadership of Dr. Tawdros, former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ethiopia who has a long time association with China. Dr. Tawdros accepted every claim put forward by the Chinese authorities and could not stop praising Beijing even as the Chinese Communist Party betrayed the entire world.
Anthony Fauci has turned out to be just as destructive. Fauci insisted as late as February 2020 that he did not believe the virus would lead to a pandemic. Fauci fiercely opposed (as did Dr. Tawdros) stopping all flights to and from China.
One of the Trump administrations advisors Peter Navarro (Director of Trade) understood the seriousness of the situation and urged President Trump to shut down travel from China. Unlike Fauci, Navarro provided Trump with good advice. Trump officials pushed the World Health Organization to go to Wuhan to investigate the source of the virus.
Twenty five scientists from different countries travelled to China. But at the last minute, China got Director Tawdros to agree to change plans. Only three scientists (none American) were permitted to visit Wuhan and for only forty eight hours which made it impossible for a real investigation to be conducted. The World Health Organization agreed to China’s demand that scientists should not look into the origins of the virus but should only look for a solution.
It remains a moral outrage that men who are complicit in the pandemic such as Dr. Tawdros and Anthony Fauci (and others) maintain their jobs. The Trump administration having been fully aware that the World Health Organization is an instrument of China’s Communist government stopped the annual American contribution of $400 million.
It makes sense that American taxpayers whose lives were disrupted should not be subsidizing this Communist influenced organization. Joe Biden resumed annual funding for the World Health Organization last January. Biden has also expressed confidence in Anthony Fauci.
Reports from the summer indicate that Fauci approved funding from the National Institute of Health for experiments involving aborted babies. Allegations have been made that the skulls of five month old aborted babies were attached to rats in some sort of experiment. In addition, Fauci is said to have funded experiments carried out in Tunisia on dogs whose heads were put in a cage and were devoured by flies and other insects.
A major problem today is that large numbers of people refuse to get vaccinated. The reality remains that Fauci and his colleagues at the National Institute of Health do not have the trust of many people. The same can be said about the World Health Organization.
The scientific community needs to get its act together. Fauci must go. Everyone associated with his activities must go. The World Health Organization must be purged of its Chinese supporters.
The good news is that Republican Senators such as Rand Paul of Kentucky have been making Fauci miserable. They are investigating the role of Fauci and the National Institute of Health in funding gain of funding research that was done at the notorious lab in Wuhan.
Incidentally, federal prosecutors have proved that the Russian collusion allegations in the 2016 elections were demonstrably false. Michael Sussman who is an ally of Hillary Clinton has been indicted having invented the lie that the Russians stole the elections for Trump.
Forget the Russians, China is the real threat. As is the Democratic Party.
At the present time, it appears the Greek speaking world has abandoned all its interests and is prepared to follow Patriarch Bartholomew to the disaster where he is leading us all. Greece presently faces serious threats from Turkey, as does Cyprus. Which Greek really believes that the most important interest of Hellenism lies with Patriarch Bartholomew and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America?
Since when did Patriarch Bartholomew’s insatiable hunger for power in Orthodoxy become a greater concern than the territorial integrity of both Greece and Cyprus? The situation is that Patriarch Bartholomew needs to retire from the Patriarchate or be deposed. Tragically, the primates of the Greek speaking Churches in Greece and Cyprus support Patriarch Bartholomew’s Ukrainian disaster.
This has put not only those two apostolic Churches in conflict with Russia it has also made relations between them and the rest of the Orthodox Churches very uneasy. The Greek speaking Churches need to dig themselves out of the hole they are in. This necessitates repudiating Patriarch Bartholomew and the Greek Archdiocese of America.
The Church of Greece has a flock of ten million. The Patriarchate’s flock has a few million scattered throughout the world. Most of its flock is in America. It is not right or natural that the Church of Greece should be bullied by either the power hungry Patriarch of Constantinople or the scandal tainted Greek Archdiocese of America.
The Church of Greece is the heart of the Hellenic Orthodox world. It traditionally has maintained communion and warm relations with the Russian and other Orthodox Churches. The Russian Church provided money and aid to Greeks during the economic crisis. It is utterly deplorable that the synod of Athens established communion with the fake clerics of Ukraine in order to curry favor with Patriarch Bartholomew.
The Church of Greece may need to depose Archbishop Ieronymos. He has proven to be weak. The two previous Archbishops of Athens Serapheim and Christodoulos clashed with Patriarch Bartholomew. It is unlikely that under their leadership the Church of Greece would have entered into communion with the fake clerics of Ukraine.
The situation needs to end. The Church of Greece has leverage over the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Most of Constantinople’s flock is long gone. The Church of Greece occasionally sends priests and nuns to watch over the remaining Churches and shrines. Were the theological school of Halki to open, it is from Greece that new priests and bishops would arrive from.The Patriarchate needs the Church of Greece, not the other way around.
If the Church of Greece were to throw its weight around and show the Phanar and the Greek Archdiocese in America which is the real Greek Church, it would be doing Orthodoxy a service. The Church of Greece is the Hellenic Church because it is in the borders of Greece. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is in America and should become a part of the future American Orthodox Church.
There could be a future for the Church of Constantinople only in the event that its synod completely repudiates everything it has done in Ukraine over the past three horrific years. Repentance and apologies to the whole of of Orthodoxy are in order as well and a commitment to stay out of the border of other Churches would help.
Unfortunately, under Patriarch Bartholomew this will not happen. This is why the Bishops of Greece must step up and use their leverage to remove Patriarch Bartholomew. This may sound strange but the fact it that the Church of Greece is not really autocepalous. At best, it is an autonomous part of Constantinople. Ironically, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the canonical Church) under Moscow has more freedom than the so called “autocephalous” Church of Greece has.
Since Constantinople meddles in Greece, the synod of Athens should turn the tables on Constantinople. The bishops of any local Church can depose their primate. Constantinople rules Greece then the Greek bishops have the right to depose Patriarch Bartholomew. The Synod of Athens could also send a message by challenging Constantinople’s omophorion in Crete, the islands, and Mount Athos.
The Synod of Athens has (and had in the past) options to resist Constantinople. Why they have not exercised these options is a mystery. Athens can do the right thing by using its leverage to stop Patriarch Bartholomew’s unending destruction.
The liberation of the Hellenic Church could begin. The Hellenic Orthodox Church is not the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The Hellenic Orthodox Church is is the Church within the borders of Greece. The Orthodox Churches in America are the American Orthodox Church.
The first step toward peace and reconciliation in all Orthodoxy is to depose the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Once again, thoughts and prayers for the health of Patriarch Bartholomew who has entered the hospital for a second time on his American visit. Hoping for the Patriarch’s physical health and his spiritual health as well. Praying that Patriarch Bartholomew will reverse his decisions on Ukraine.
The Patriarch is elderly but there is still time to restore his prestige and the prestige of Constantinople in Orthodoxy.
Patriarch Bartholomew has reportedly stated that he does not care that the Russian Orthodox Church has broken communion with Constantinople. This is a statement that only serves to further demoralize those of us under Constantinople’s omophorion who do care that we are not in communion with the Russian Church. Patriarch Bartholomew has no right to speak for his flock.
He speaks only for himself. As a member of his flock, I am opposed to everything that Patriarch Bartholomew has done in Ukraine. His actions violate canon law and the precepts of Orthodox ecclesiology. He has made the Church of Constantinople complicit in the violence and persecution of Orthodox Ukrainians by the government in Kiev and the fake and artificial “church” established by the Patriarchate.
This madness must end. Patriarch Bartholomew sucked the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Church of Greece into the madness. Sentimental Greeks have closed their eyes and followed Constantinople down the path of ruin. Patriarch Bartholomew has created division among the bishops of Cyprus.
It is apparent that Patriarch Bartholomew does not care about any of this any more than he cares about being out of communion with the Russian Church. It is hard to see how this ends except with Patriarch Bartholomew being deposed. The Orthodox Churches can remain patient for only so long before they convene a council and choose to depose the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Patriarch Bartholomew visited the White House and President Joe Biden. Two elderly men declining in health who should be prayed for. One has damaged his country by his reckless actions because of how he withdrew from Afghanistan while the Patriarch damaged the unity of the Orthodox Church as a result of his uncanonical actions in Ukraine.
Patriarch Bartholomew called the President a “man of faith”. This President began his Presidency by restoring funds for the World Health Organization for use in supporting abortions around the world. This President passed the “equality act” which supports transgender ideology and enables boys at school to use the girls restrooms and play in girls sports. What “man of faith” supports anti Christian policies such as these?
It should be remembered that as Vice President, Biden presided over a marriage between two men. He was also a supporter of the bombing of Serbia and the seizure of Kosovo with its historic Serbian Churches and Monasteries which was followed by the ethnic cleansing of Orthodox Christians. As a Senator, Joe Biden voted in favor of the Iraq war and as Vice President supported the arming of jihadists in Syria. The Christians of Iraq and Syria became victims of genocide as a result of these policies. Man of faith?
Patriarch Bartholomew has tried to cover his ecclesiastical crimes in Ukraine under the Greek flag. Former Vice President Biden’s Syria policies helped to flood the Greek islands with Syrian refugees. Both Patriarch and President are intent on keeping Greece (Church and Country) in a state of permanent tension with Russia.
Patriarch Bartholomew’s referring to Biden as a “man of faith” is indicative of how isolated the Patriarch has really become. Between 1994 and 2013 there were about eight assassination attempts on the life of the Patriarch by jihadists and Turkish nationalists. Patriarch Bartholomew admirably stood his ground and refused to leave Constantinople.
The one thing that the Church of Constantinople had going for it was that it was a martyred Church. It should be remembered that the Russian Church supported Patriarch Bartholomew when Russian bishops participated in liturgies served in the old caves of Cappadocia and the Monastery of Panagia Soumela in Trebizond. Regrettably, Patriarch Bartholomew by his actions in Ukraine and his chosen alliances has damaged Orthodoxy and his own Patriarchate.
Aside from Biden, the Patriarchate has aligned itself with the American foreign policy establishment which is as anti Christian as Biden’s social policies. The Patriarch forgets that the Greek Orthodox faithful of Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos were ethnically cleansed by the Turks during the the 1950’s and 1960’s with the support of Washington.
Washington supported the Turkish invasions of Cyprus long before the destruction of Serbia and the genocide of middle eastern Christians. Patriarch Bartholomew should have aligned the Ecumenical Patriarchate with Russia. Instead, he is working to estrange the Greek Churches from the whole of Orthodoxy.
Patriarch Bartholomew came to the throne of the Church of Constantinople with the honorable aim of protecting the rights of the Church of Constantinople and the small Greek Orthodox minority that remain in Turkey. He should have spent his energies on that noble effort. Tragically, he became a partisan in Church matters and began a quest for grabbing complete and total authority over the Orthodox Church.
Tragic decisions have been made. It is not too late for the Patriarch to repent. Otherwise, he can and will be deposed.
Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in the United States and was soon hospitalized. We wish the Ecumenical Patriarch a speedy recovery. This blog has been critical of the Patriarch over Ukraine and other issues but the Christian way is to pray for even those who happen to be in the wrong.
Joe Biden’s doctor has offered his services to the Patriarch. This was very kind gesture. Politics aside, acts of compassion should always be acknowledged and recognized. Best wishes for the Patriarch’s recovery.
Celebrations are due to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the enthronement of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Tragically, there is nothing for any Orthodox Christian to celebrate. On this anniversary, the Orthodox Church faces a schism that could very well become permanent and irreversible. The tenure of Patriarch Bartholomew that began promisingly will end in the total destruction of Orthodox unity, the destruction of the Greek speaking Churches and Mount Athos, and the destruction of the Church of Constantinople itself.
In March 1992, only a few months after becoming Patriarch, Bartholomew presides over a rare gathering of Orthodox primates in Constantinople. Only the Archbishop of Cyprus and the the Georgian Patriarch were absent. The Churches at the time agreed by consensus to terminate all discussions with the Vatican except on the matter of the Uniates (so called “Eastern Catholics”). This was the period when the Soviet Union collapsed and the opportunity to establish real Orthodox unity was at hand.
The primates that met in Constantinople did so under the Presidency of Patriarch Bartholomew in his capacity as “first among equals”. In 1993, Patriarch Bartholomew visited Russia where he was well received. What could have been?
By 1995, Patriarch Bartholomew alienated the Russian Church by establishing a parallel jurisdiction in Estonia. In 2003, Patriarch Bartholomew provoked a reaction from Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens when he began meddling inside the Church of Greece. These were the warning signs of what would come later in Ukraine.
Patriarch Bartholomew had his moments when he concelebrated the liturgy in the long abandoned monasteries and Churches of Trebizond and Cappadocia. He forgot that Russian Church hierarchs were with him when he celebrated the liturgy in those holy places. The Patriarchal reign of Patriarch Bartholomew is a disastrous failure.
In addition to the Ukrainian mess that the Phanar created, the Patriarchate has presided over the destruction of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Everything is in ruins! Patriarch Bartholomew has also harmed the Monasteries of Athos and the Church of Greece by making them accomplices to the ecclesiastical crimes in Ukraine.
Patriarch Bartholomew has attempted to hide behind the Greek flag. Greek and non Greek Orthodox are all mistaken if they believe the Patriarch cares about Greece. The appearance of Archbishop Elpidophoros at the Turkish center alongside the ethnic cleansers who preside over the occupation of Cyprus demonstrates how much the Patriarchate cares about Greeks.
For the hierarchs serving Constantinople’s uncanonical expansionism, Greece and Cyprus are useful as weapons in their anti Russian campaign. Beyond that, the Ecumenical Patriarch and his exarch in America have no use for Greece or Cyprus. It is a tragedy that so many Greeks support Patriarch Bartholomew uncritically.
It should be remembered that Patriarch Kyril of Moscow and Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev (the real bishop of Ukraine) congratulated Greece on independence day last March. Guess who did not not? The Ecumenical Patriarch did not.
Patriarch Bartholomew’s primary purpose thirty years ago was to open the theological school of Halki. If he had stuck to fighting for the Patriarchate in Turkey, things might be well today in Orthodoxy. But the Patriarch became a partisan figure demanding complete power and authority over the other Churches.
The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque was a disaster. The bigger disaster was the downfall of the Church of Constantinople as a result of Patriarch Bartholomew’s anti canonical actions which have resulted in schism. The present situation was not inevitable.
There is only one way out for the Church of Constantinople. Repentance by withdrawing entirely from Ukraine and humbly asking forgiveness from the bishops of Russia, Ukraine, and the whole of Orthodoxy.
Greece, Cyprus, NATO, in the Context of Afghanistan
Αssociated Press
A Taliban soldier walks on the tarmac at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
9/21/2021
By Theodore G. Karakostas
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All people should be sympathetic to the plight of the refugees in Afghanistan. Orthodox Greeks should feel sympathy as the conquest of Kabul by the Taliban resembles in some ways the horror of the conquest of the liberated Christian city of Smyrna by the Turkish Kemalists in September 1922. The Turkish conquest in Smyrna was accompanied by the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter of Greek and Armenian Christians in the city. The book The Great Fire that was written by historian Lou Ureneck a few years ago did a masterful job in documenting and describing the genocidal campaign by the Turks. In those days also there was widespread panic and fear that preceded the arrival of Kemal’s murderous armies.
With regard to the events that are still playing out in Afghanistan, American and European advocates of internationalism and interventionism are lamenting that perhaps NATO will lose credibility.
For Greeks, NATO does not have credibility for several reasons. It should be recalled that during the anti-Greek pogroms in Constantinople in September 1955, the Greek Orthodox community (along with Armenians and Jews) were terrorized in a campaign of violence and terror. Greek army officers who were serving with NATO in Smyrna were assaulted and beaten by Turkish hoodlums. Neither the NATO alliance collectively nor its individual members condemned the attack on the Greek community or on their Greek colleagues serving as members of NATO.
We are now supposed to be horrified by the prospect that NATO’s ‘credibility’ will diminish. In 1974, NATO member Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus which is not a member of NATO but was a nonaligned country during the Cold War. The Turkish army ethnically cleansed over 200,000 Greek Cypriots and committed war crimes including murders and rapes against Greek civilians. There are over five hundred and fifty Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries that have been destroyed by Turkey which has been actively Islamicizing the occupied territories.
In 1999, under the leadership of the Clinton administration, NATO engaged in an act of aggression against Christian Serbia. The Serbs were forced to withdraw from their ancestral homeland of Kosovo and instantly became the targets of violence, persecution, and pogroms. NATO has never intervened to stop the violence against Serbs and hundreds of Serbian Orthodox Monasteries and Churches were destroyed.
While the news media focuses on the crisis in Afghanistan (and one cannot help but have sympathy for the people who are at risk from the Taliban) it has ignored two other instances of horrific crimes against humanity. The western world has ignored the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Armenians by the aggressor terror states of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Azerbaijani forces have committed horrific war crimes against Armenians and this humanitarian crisis has been completely ignored by the powerful of NATO, Europe, America, and the world’s media.
The Kurds of Syria fought heroically on the American side against the genocidal Islamic State which was supported by Turkey. The Trump administration betrayed the Kurds in an act of appeasement and permitted Turkish forces to occupy Syrian territory.
This was another crisis featuring the fanatical jihadist regime of Turkey which was ignored by the powerful of the world.
There is more. The Germans have denounced the Biden administration. Now, it is certainly true that the Biden administration chose to withdraw from Afghanistan in a terrible way and created a crisis. The Germans however are the best example of the hypocrisy of NATO and the European Union. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has asked Germany to stop arming Turkey. The Germans have refused to do so.
Turkey has threatened war against Greece and claims several of the Greek islands. If Turkey were to invade and occupy any Greek islands, the result would be ethnic cleansing and genocide which are the polices of any and all Turkish conquests. The likelihood that Germany, Europe, or NATO will show any support for Greece or will condemn any Turkish atrocities against Greece are non-existent.
It is quite possible to have empathy as a Christian and as a human being for the suffering people of Afghanistan. It is also possible to simultaneously reject the propagandistic false image that NATO and the West are trying to present to the world.
Both NATO and the European Union have been disastrous for Greece and Cyprus. Even at this late date as Turkey has openly become a jihadist state aligning itself with ISIS and Al Qaeda, Ankara continues to enjoy uninterrupted support from America, NATO, and the European Union.
It is unclear what repercussions the crisis in Afghanistan will have for Greece and Cyprus. More migrants flooding into Greece is possible. The Syrian war which the Obama administration pursued flooded the Greek islands with Muslim refugees. Greece pays the price for the military adventures of the West even though Athens does not participate in them.
Commentators on cable television are warning of the ‘Russian threat’ in the midst of the Afghanistan crisis. This does not bode well for Greece or Cyprus. When the western world finds enemies either in the Middle East or Russia, it will look to Turkey for support. The abolition of NATO and the weakening of Europe may very well be to the best interests of Greece, Cyprus, and Armenia over the long term.
