A most interesting article by Pepe Escobar. He is a very active voice just now, all of it well thought out, though I can’t dedicate my whole space to that, but this is worthy and relevant to much that is happening in our times.
I cannot vouch for every claim he makes here because my own knowledge of the religion-based causal factors in European and West Asian development is not that extensive, and you all know my views on religion generally. And yet it is, and I guess as long as there is religion, always will be a factor in what drives human endeavour which eventually forms human history. But none of what he says contradicts that which I have laid down in my own world view, so, as they say, ‘it gels with me’.
‘Clash of Christianities: Why Europe cannot understand Russia‘ – Pepe Escobar on The Cradle
Europe and West Asia have historically been a hotbed of religious dogma leading inevitably to religious hostility. And those various religious dogmas have traversed the world as particularly European influence spread in recent centuries, displacing many more natural theologies and philosophies – often most bloodily. I long for the day when mankind can learn to exist meaningfully without such ‘moral’ support. Indeed that may be the only way that we can successfully co-exist. It would perhaps lead us to be more circumspect in our decision making if we had no-one, no higher power, other than ourselves to blame for the results, and the ’causes’, of the things we do. But that is just my view.
In the meantime we had better just learn to get along while being different. It is called ‘respect’. Russia at least seems to have learned that, among its many diverse peoples, working together, yet ethnically scattered across a landscape that covers almost half the circumference of the globe. That gives Russia a strength the monopolised and largely homogenized west may never learn, or grasp.
Not Something Else 
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