re: #332 Dr Lizardo

Living as I do in the Czech Republic, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my almost 13 years here is that the Russians are almost universally despised by the Czechs. For them, the Russians are “gangsters” “thieves” “tyrants” “occupiers” “dogs” and other assorted epithets.

The Czechs certainly don’t buy Putin’s “religiosity”, seeing it for what it is; a cynical attempt to project a positive image of himself, while using the Russian Orthodox Church - itself an authoritarian institution - as a lever of social control.

There is no love lost on the Russians here, and when I hear Americans saying how “dreamy” Putin is, I laugh mockingly at their stupefying ignorance.

Not knowing a lot about eastern Europe, the recent upheaval in Ukraine prompted me to continue Wikiwalking & googling last night/this morning and I ran across this blog by an (American?) expat that’s been living in Tbilisi for 10 years. There’s some really interesting stuff in there about nationalism and the links between some of the clergy and Putin.

For example (emphasis mine):

According to polls, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan bishop of Abkhazia and Bichvinta, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, is the most trusted individual in Georgia, with a 94% approval rating. […]

In the past year, Illia has been raising eyebrows by getting chummy with Russian president Vladimir Putin, calling homosexuality a disease like drug addiction and doing very little to use his influence to prevent his country’s people from attacking fellow citizens. In fact, he seems to be encouraging it. In last Sunday’s sermon at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, Illia said, “Often the majority is more oppressed than the minority and that happens frequently to us…” […]

meetmeherelounge.wordpress.com

I don’t have the knowledge necessary to know if what this blogger is saying is completely accurate, but several of the posts were definite eye-openers.