Mediaboss Marketing

A foundation of the folklore of the American right is the story of how National Reviews William F. Buckley, in the early- to mid-1960s, cast the John Birch Societyand by extension the entire kooky, conspiracist wing of the rightout of the conservative movement.

This was part of a larger struggle for the soul of the right. Older conservative publications such as the American Mercury, which had once been the home of such luminaries as H.L. Mencken and Henry Hazlitt, had turned into a forum for antisemitic conspiracy theoriesbefore eventually being taken over outright by neo-Nazis. The response was an effort by Buckley and other conservative thinkers, with the help of political frontmen Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, to create a conservative movement with more ideological and philosophical substanceone based not on conspiracy theories or mere reactionary emotions but on ideas. (Too bad he also tried to get rid of Ayn Rand.)

Looking at American politics today, it sure looks like this seminal conservative achievement is unraveling. The Birchers are back. And theyre winning.

Podcast April 13 2022

Like Hitler and Mussolini before him, Putins acting with hubris and arrogance because hes been

The John Birch Society, to refresh your memory, was started in 1958 by a conservative businessman who thought President Eisenhower was secretly a Soviet agent. It had a certain kind of cracked appeal as an easy explanation for various setbacks in the early years of the Cold War. The Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the Communist takeover of China, the Soviet development of nuclear weaponsthese werent the results of Western mistakes, or large and difficult-to-control social forces, or just the fortunes of war. No, it was all a secret plot, and THEY were lying to you.

This worldview was tremendously popular, more popular than todays conservatives would probably like to admit. In 1962, Barry Goldwater complained, Every other person in Phoenix is a member of the John Birch Society. Im not talking about commie-haunted apple pickers or cactus drunks. Im talking about the highest cast of men of affairs.

The Birchers had such a big following on the right that Buckley, Goldwater, and Reagan hemmed and hawed for years before breaking with them. Even then, it took repeated denunciations, combined with the Birchers increasing notoriety as a national laughingstock, to eventually reduce their appeal and relegate them to the crazy fringes.

Consider the elements of this history:

We have a conspiracy theory that explains everything conservatives think has gone wrong in the world by positing the machinations of a secret cabal that controls everything from the intelligence agencies to the schools.

We have the rapid spread of these crackpot theories to otherwise normal and respectable people in the rank and file of the movement.

We have an attempt to make the conspiracists into the ultimate representatives of opposition to totalitarian communism, and a corresponding attempt to dismiss any conservative critics of the conspiracists as weak-kneed appeasers handing over the country to its enemies.

We have the uneasy balancing act of conservatives in the media and in politics who dont want to denounce the crackpots for fear of angering their partys base.

Isnt this also precisely the state of conservatism today?

We tend to think that our culture war is something new, rising out of the unique challenges of our own era. But youd be surprised how much of it is just the same old culture war being endlessly rehashed.

Todays equivalent of the John Birch Society is the QAnon conspiracy theory, an online grift that got out of hand and became a worldview. It posits its own spectacularly implausible conspiracy theory: That there is a global network of pedophiles who secretly run the world and control our politics so that they can abuse children. This conspiracy theory has in turn spawned other conspiracy theories which claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. It is currently being mainstreamed in attacks on Disney as a corporation bent on grooming children to prepare them for exploitation by pedophiles.

And where are todays conservative leaders, the intellectuals and politicians, the Buckleys and Reagans, who have the authority to shut this down?

Well, Ben Sasse wrote a piece once. But most of todays conservative and Republican leaders are actually trying to hitch themselves to the new John Birchers.

Donald Trump famously refused to denounce the QAnon crazies, describing them only as people who are against pedophiliathe most flattering possible description of the group. Its like saying that the John Birchers were against communism. In both cases, the actual salient characteristic of these groups is their wild, paranoid, evidence-free conspiracy theories.

Trumps sympathy for QAnon helped ease it into the conservative mainstream, and we can see the results in two recent incidents.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the leading candidate to become the sane Trumpa Republican who can harness Trumps populist appeal, but in a disciplined and calculating way. But after DeSantiss defenders rushed out to assure everyone that his bill targeting teachers was not a Dont Say Gay Law and was not animated by anti-homosexual bias, his press secretary Christina Pushaw declared that the bill would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill, adding, If youre against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer. A groomer, for those who are fortunate enough not to know, is a child predator who manipulates his victims to prepare them to accept abuse.

So much for being the sane Trump.

The idea that gay teachers are predators preparing to groom children is an old trope with a history in Florida. You may recall that previous iterations of the culture war attempted to ban homosexuals from teaching jobs. But more significant is the way this claim taps into the QAnon conspiracy theory. The whole base of QAnon is the dangerous delusion that their enemies are all secret pedophiles. This is the line that has been taken up by conservatives and endlessly repeated, including in a conservative campaign to boycott the Walt Disney Company (and also to subject it to land-use and antitrust regulations) as a political reprisal for opposing the Florida law. And why not if, as authoritarian conservative Rod Dreher puts it, Disney has gone groomer?

Taking a bill with many serious problemsa vaguely worded restriction and an enforcement mechanism designed to facilitate legal harassmentand characterizing any criticism of it as grooming and as support for pedophiles and predators has created an atmosphere of constant, vicious defamation aimed at any and all opponents. This is being egged on, of course, by the usual unscrupulous carnival barkers.

This mode of conspiracy thinking was also reflected in the scurrilous conduct of the Senate hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, when Senator Josh Hawley pandered to the QAnon vote by trying to portray the judges past sentencing work as soft on pedophiles. Many people, including conservative authors such as National Reviews Andrew McCarthy, have debunked the smear, showing that Judge Jacksons sentences were in line with the consensus view of other judges.

But once given this talking point, the crazies will chant it forever as if it is the gospel truth. Except that practically everyone is one of the crazies now. Hence the spectacle of Mollie Hemingway, of the Federalist and Fox News, trying her hardest to imply that Mitt Romney is a secret pedophile.

Which makes as much sense as Eisenhower being a secret communist.

From the top down, the Birchers have won. They now own the conservative movement and the Republican party.

Conspiracy theories have consequences. If you have been arguing these issues on social media, you will find that in among the groomer smears lobbed around carelessly there is an undertone of menace, with reminders that we know what to do with pedophiles. Before this is all over, someone is going to take this groomer and pedo talk literally. There will be blood.

We should also remember what conservatives accomplished by purging their crazies the last time around: By basing the movement on substantive ideas and having the courage and self-discipline to purge the kooks who claimed to be on our side, we achieved a few little things like pulling the U.S. out of the national malaise of the 1970s and winning the Cold War, followed by a period of peace, prosperity, and the spread of free societies across the globe. It wasnt just good for the movement, it was good for the country and the world.

If we want to experience anything like those triumphs again, we need build new institutions defined by pro-liberty ideasand we need to push the conspiracy theorists back to the fringes.

Here is the original post:
Did the John Birch Society Win in the End? - The Bulwark

It was first mentioned in 1111.

Font size:A-|A+Comments disabled

This article was prepared for an edition of the Spectacular Slovakia travel guide and was published in the travel guide Slovakia.

Draovce, a village at the foothill of Zobor Hill, has been part of Nitra since 1975.

Its first mention comes from the Zobor Charter of 1111. The village represents an important archaeological site where the Great Moravian fortification and graves from the 11th century were revealed.

It became popular for the romanesque Church of St Michael the Archangel from the 11th century. The church stands on a hill overlooking Draovce, offering beautiful views of the surrounding area. Experts have identified 10 building phases, six of which were done in the romanesque period. Legend has it that the Virgin Mary once appeared before a shepherd and pointed to the decaying church.

Residents suddenly realised the church was in poor condition and began to reconstruct it. Thanks to their huge efforts, it has survived to date.

In 1803, when a new church was built up in the village, the church on the hill stopped serving religious purposes. Under communism, its existence was in jeopardy as the nearby rocky terrain had been turned into a quarry. That is why the church now stands on the edge of a steep cliff.

The church opens on the Day of St Michael, but masses and weddings sometimes take place there. A visit to the church is possible on other days but visitors must talk to the local superintendent first.

The church has a rectangular ground plan with a semi-circular apse in the east and a brick pyramid tower in the west. Its invaluable architectural details include the remains of a former romanesque portal and two copies of stone tablets, which are linked to the overhauls of 1780-1829. Inside are restored remnants of romanesque plasters and the late gothic template painting in gray-black and red colours with a rhombus motif.

Original post:
Draovce: Terrain near the romanesque church turned into a quarry - The Slovak Spectator

By James J.Y. Hsu

Capitalism had a great war with communism in the 20th century. It was a cold war with hot battles, and capitalism took more than half a century and two generations to defeat communism.

Since the idealism of The Communist Manifesto can no longer be an inspiration or aspiration to govern, authoritarian regimes put up a new face of greatness in the name of nationalism. Wars between democracy and autocracy are inevitable, as they have opposing goals: individual freedom and happiness versus police-state security; rule of law and social harmony versus absolute authority; personal creativity and accomplishment versus national superiority.

While authoritarian regimes fought each other throughout history with senseless sacrifices of numerous lives, the West also experienced large-scale religious conflicts from the French wars of religion in the 16th century to the Thirty Years War of central Europe in the 17th century. Freedom of religion did not prevail until the 18th century, notably the American Revolution that opened up a free new world.

Notwithstanding religion and autocracy battles in some corners of the world, freedom and democracy have become the universal values of civil societies, and the desire of common men and women. It is just a matter of time for democracy to confront autocracy in their final battle.

At the start of the 21st century, the world witnessed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There is every sense that this is a war between democracy and autocracy, as US President Joe Biden provided a clear vision and an unapologetic conviction by declaring last year that saving the world from autocracy is the challenge of our time. It mobilizes the democratic camp to act quickly, globally and completely to deliver weaponry supplies, financial sanctions, humanitarian aid and more to Ukraine.

The democratic camp appears to be strongly bounded in the spirit of NATOs Article 5, which states a that an armed attack against one or more signatory shall be considered an attack against them all, declaring that each will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary.

The worlds alliance of democratic and free countries clearly would want Russian President Vladimir Putin to be pushed out of office if he unleashed chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on Ukraine. Bidens public statement in Poland: For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, reflected then-US president Ronald Reagans 1987 remark in West Berlin: Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall, referring to the Berlin Wall.

The comments were meant to place historical milestones; for Reagan, to eliminate communism, and for Biden, autocracy.

The two largest autocratic countries today are China and Russia, and Russia is the lesser of the problem. Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping () said in 1978 that it does not matter if a cat is black or white; so long as it captures mice, it is a good cat. With that comment, he unleashed the individual creativity and entrepreneurship of the Chinese, which not only changed the course of China, but also human history by pulling the greatest number of people out of poverty in the historically shortest time.

However, during the civil war between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the renowned academic and May Fourth Movement leader Hu Shi () famously said: The US has bread and freedom. The Soviet Union has bread, but no freedom. Communist China would have no bread and no freedom.

It is a blessing that the Chinese now have more than bread, but do they have freedom, let alone happiness? The lack of rule of law creates difficulty for China in maintaining a harmonious society. Just look at its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Hong Kong democratic movement. The sad truth is that absolute authority of a police state has more often than not created chaos beyond imagination.

The problem is not limited to individual freedom being unreasonably compromised, or human rights being severely violated. Entrepreneurs are forced to give up their creativity, abandon their talents and jeopardize their businesses to remain loyal to the party. As a result, free-market forces no longer work properly, outflows of capital and foreign investment threaten the economy, and entrepreneurship dims the light, ready to forfeit its promise of prosperity.

Power corrupts and absolute authority corrupts absolutely. Justice comes too late for those who die in a collapsing tofu apartment, shaky school building, poorly drained highway tunnel or outside the hospital without urgent care for lack of a negative COVID-19 test.

That some Russian troops became sitting ducks in Ukraine reveals how corruption in the military easily sends their young soldiers to graves. Harsh government is fiercer than tigers, as the Chinese proverb says.

Moreover, seeking national superiority stirs up hostility in neighboring countries and beyond. Rumors were rife that China would invade Taiwan in the fall if Putin had his way in Ukraine. More global tragedies are undoubtedly waiting to occur if the trend continues. The worst is yet to come if Chinese President Xi Jinping () is allowed to remain in power for another term or more.

Some democratic force within China appears to be hard at work. Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (), who negotiated Chinas 2001 accession to the WTO, privately questioned Xis state-centered policy, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that many elders in the CCP, including Zhu, quietly oppose Xi remaining in power.

Nobody knows how autocracy in China or Russia might evolve. As Sun Tzu () wrote in The Art of War: Do not count on their inaction; count on our being prepared. Do not count on their failure to attack; count on our being unattackable.

If any lesson is to be learned from the Ukraine war, it must be the refugee crisis. This war should have been fought on Russian territory, or at the least at the Ukraine border, to minimize the refugee outpouring, consistent with the strategy the best defense is a good offense.

The war between democracy and autocracy is descending upon us as the greatest challenge of our time. Beyond Ukraine, the Taiwan Strait could be the place for the next major war between democracy and autocracy.

The worlds democratic bloc is under great leadership, and Taiwan is an integral part of global humanity. A concerted effort by all concerned parties could alleviate the bloodshed and crises involving refugees and supply chains. It is never too late to try to help democratize China and Russia as a good offense for the worlds sake, before the worst scenario runs its course.

James J.Y. Hsu is a retired physics professor who taught at National Cheng Kung University, and is a member and former president of the North America Taiwanese Professors Association.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

Link:
Freedom must prevail over threats -

On March 31, 1991, the military alliance between the Soviet Union and seven of its satellite states came to an end.

The Warsaw Pact, formally known as the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, was formed in 1955 when NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, invited a rearmed West Germany into its numbers.

The pact served to supplement existing agreements following World War II and to serve as a response to NATO.

The Warsaw Pact included the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Albania, and existed throughout the Cold War with the purpose of strengthening military control over Central and Eastern Europe and reinforcing Communism.

The Warsaw Pact embodied what was referred to as the Eastern bloc, while NATO and its member countries represented the Western bloc. NATO and the Warsaw Pact were ideologically opposed and, over time, built up their own defences starting an arms race that lasted throughout the Cold War. NATO

IN the 1980s, the Warsaw Treaty Organization was beset by problems, including the economic slowdown in all Eastern bloc countries and political changes in most of its member states that made the pact virtually ineffectual according to The Office of the Historian.

By 1991, however, anti-communist sentiment grew, and in March the pact was dissolved, nearly nine months before the fall of the Soviet Union.

Featured Image: Meeting of the seven representatives of the Warsaw Pact countries in East Berlin in May 1987. From left to right: Gustv Husk, Todor Zhivkov, Erich Honecker, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nicolae Ceauescu, Wojciech Jaruzelski, and Jnos Kdr.

Continued here:
Today in military history: Pro-communist Warsaw Pact ends - We Are The Mighty

In his writings on Fatima and Russia, the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen pointed out that the world has become so used to judging temporal events in terms of other events, that it has lost sight of that greater standard of judgment, namely, the Eternal. Michael Warren Davis, in an article forCrisis, has recently accused another archbishop, Carlo Maria Vigan, of having fallen into precisely this error, becoming so absorbed in worldly events, so swept away by trends in modern politics, that he has let the clamor of current events drown outthe voice of God, and blind him to the evils of the Russian government.

I strongly disagree. In fact, if we look at Vigans writings in the light of Sheens discussion of Fatima, we can see that just the opposite is true. Far from Vigan being the one drowning out the voice of God, it is actually the entire Western world that is guilty of drowning out not only the voice of God but even the very clear signs of His intervention in and movement through world events.

To understand this, we must step back and address what Mary meant when she spoke of Russias errors. The most common interpretation is that she was referring to the errors of communism. But there are several reasons to reject this interpretation. First, she spoke of these errors in her July appearance, months before the communists took over. The February Revolution had been a bourgeois democratic one that ended what had previously been seen as the divinely-appointed Tsarist monarchy. If Mary meant the errors of communism, why appear before the communists took over? Why appear when those at the time would have thought she was referring to the democratic revolution?

Further, communism was not newly spawned in Russia in 1917. By that time, it had been spreading its errors across Europe and the world for more than 70 years, and the Church had been sounding the alarm about it throughout those years. Neither it nor its spread were new to Russia. Third, if Mary meant communism, why not just say communism or communist errors? Why just errors?

Sheen points us in a different directionspecifically, to the year 1858. He asks us to look not only at the world events of that year but at the Eternal ones as well. Rejecting the commonly held view that the Modern Age started with the rise of science, something that is not at odds with Faith, he argues that it began instead with the writing of three seminal works: Darwins On the Origins of Species, Mills On Liberty, and Marxs A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. In those three works, Man summarized the errors of the Modern Age and announced his independence from God: we were not divinely created but rather evolved from mere matter; there is no higher authority than man to which we must answer, freedom is license, the only laws are those we choose to make; and Man and history are driven by economics and politics not religion and certainly not anything spiritual.

These are not the errors of communism. They are the errors of modernism. They are errors that have to do with Modern Mans denial of God, of Creation, of Gods Authority over Man, of any obedience due to Him. Sheen points out that what was effectively said in those works, in that year of 1858, was that all men are immaculately conceived, all born without Original Sin. For if there was no Divine Creation, then there was no Fall. No Fall, no Original Sin. If there is no Original Sin, then all men are born immaculate and free to be whatever they want to be, answerable to and in need of no higher authority.

Those were the key human events of 1858 to which Sheen directs us. He then shifts our attention to Gods response, His Eternal judgment, that occurred that very same year: the Apparitions at Lourdes. Mary appeared from Heaven and announced: I am the Immaculate Conception. Sheen points out that at the very moment the world was denying original sin, our Blessed Mother claimed the prerogative solely as her ownshe alone and uniquely was immaculately conceivedeveryone else was born in original sin.

In the Blessed Mothers appearance at Lourdes, Sheen notes, God answered Mans arrogant claim of independence and provided proof of his errors. Her very appearance said yes, there is more than matter; yes, there is a God; yes, there is a Heaven; yes, Man was born in Original Sin; and yes, Man owes obedience to God and reparations for the sins committed against Him. Every error contained in those three seminal works was contradicted in that one announcement: I am the Immaculate Conception.

Thus, Sheen says, began the Modern Agenot with science and reason, but with the denial of Original Sin and Gods response.

But Man did not take notice of, nor heed, that Eternal pronouncement, that Eternal judgment.

Instead, the modernist errors continued to be spread throughout Europe, along with all the other errors that went hand in hand with them: rationalism, socialism, communism, and all the others Pope Pius IX listed in Quanta Cura and its attached Syllabus of Errors. But that was in 1864. By 1917, those errors had existed and been spreading for another 50-plus years before the Russian Revolution and Marys appearance at Fatima. They were unique neither to Russia nor to communism. So, what was different about Russia that Mary would single it out?

The answer can be found in the pages of Pope Leo XIIIs Rerum Novarum. In it, he gives the Churchs answer to communism: inequality and class conflict are not aberrations to be fixed, but rather they are a part of the human condition. Mankind lives in a fallen world, a world felled by mans disobedience to God. Only through God and with God, through His Church, will peace and harmony be possible. All the sects, organizations, societies, fraternities, all the governmental solutions that communists and socialists think able to fix the world are futile and delusional. No organization or State, apart from God, will ever be able to bring peace to the world. Social problems cannot be solved apart from God and His Church.

If we look to all the writings of the Church throughout this time, what we see is increasing concern not just over the errors themselves but over the increasing belief that man could fix the human condition through the creation of a godless State, through the implementation of mere economic and political change. And that is what was new in Russia, in the February Revolution and to be completed in the Bolshevik one: the successful creation of a political body that incorporated all those errorsa secular State that, apart from any reference at all to God, claimed to be able to solve the problems inherent in the human condition; a State that said no to God, no to any authority higher than itself, no to natural law; and a State that would be powerful enough to spread those errors across the world. As Sheen put it, Russia gave political form and social substance to the de-spiritualization of the Western world.

The danger in believing Mary was pointing specifically to communism and to Russia lay in believing the problem is Russia and the error communism, when in fact the error is believing that man is nothing more than a rational animal who can fix all his social problems through the political and economic policies enacted by a secular State.

When Mary appeared at Fatima, her first announcement was this: I am from Heaven. As God responded to Mankinds announcement of its separation from Him in 1858, so He responded in 1917 to its erection of a godless State as the new path to human happiness and freedom: Mary stepped into time and announced that Heaven exists. And if Heaven exists, then there is a higher authority. Salvation and redemption will not come from a man-made State but from God and only from God. And to prove this, to drive the message home, Mary would appear six times. And on the last one, she would bring direct proof from Heaven, a miracle that would prove the lie that man is the highest authority on earth and fully capable of fixing that earth as he alone wills it to be fixed.

But even with a miracle witnessed by tens of thousands, Modern Man again said no and did not heed the message.

And the Soviet State grew and did indeed spread its errors across the world. Not the errors of communism, but rather the modernist errors that man is independent and can create his own path to utopia by means of the secular State. Throughout the West, in country after country, man began to turn to the government, the State, to solve more and more of his social problems. Care of the poor shifted to the State. Mediation of class conflict shifted to the State. Alleviation of discrimination, racial conflicts, income inequality: all shifted to the State. Individual charity was replaced by State-run charity.

Even the Church turned to the State to solve societys problems, mans human condition, and she shifted her focus to influencing public policy. Every social problem came to be seen as fixable through a new State policy, a new institutional or systemic change. It was only a matter of time until they were also seen as the result of poor government policy, not a wound in mans human nature. Everything was fixable through the State, not by healing hearts and souls through grace attained through the Church God created to heal mens souls.

Sheen drives home the point again and again that the errors were not specific to Russia or communism. They caught fire in capitalist countries as easily as they did in communist ones. He notes that there is a closer relation between communism and monopolistic capitalism than most minds suspect. They are agreed on the materialistic basis of civilization; they disagree only on who shall control that basis, capitalists or bureaucrats. And further, he says: Capitalistic economy is godless; communism makes economics God. Capitalism denies that economics is subject to a higher moral order. Communism says that economics is morality.

In fact, he highlights how the Church is as opposed to monopoly capitalism as it is to communism. The errors permeate both. Both reduce man to a mere economic animal. Both use the State to rule.

The issue isnt Vigan being blind to the evils of the Russian government. It is the West that is blind to the evils that have permeated its own existence to its very core. It is the modernist Church that is blind to the evils of thinking it right to replace sacraments with social action, taking government money to feed bellies at the expense of feeding souls.

Vigan looks at the WEF, the IMF, the UN, NATO, the EU, and all the other associations that have risen in the West and sees them not in terms of other worldly events but in terms of the Eternal. He sees them as Pope Leo XIII saw the secular associations of his day: efforts by man to fix the world apart from God and His Church.

He sees, too, that what they are trying to do is create a new, even more powerful State than the Russian one Mary warned us about, a Global State with the declared goal of creating a New World Order and a new transhuman creature. Modernism stripped man of his spiritual nature. Transhumanism seeks to strip him of his most basic human nature, reducing him to a mere machine, perfected by technology and microbiology.

Vigan has not become absorbed with politics. He has become absorbed with the Eternal, with seeing the Eternal in the affairs of the day, including both those things God seems to be moving as well as those things Satan seems to be moving. We dont know if the Consecration occurred as Mary asked, but Vigan asks us to look at world events not just in terms of other world events, but in terms of spiritual events. What we do know is that the Soviet State collapsed in 1989. And we know that since that time, Russia has been undergoing a Re-Christianization while the entire Western world has been experiencing its De-Christianization.

Vigan asks us to see that it isnt really Russia, or communism, or capitalism that we are battling but rather the Principalities, the Satanic forces that seek to enslave all men to a godless Global State. He asks us to consider that God is giving Russiare-Christianizing Russiathe chance to atone for its sins by being the very thing that prevents that Global State from being created.

And is that so hard to imagine? Is it not just like our God? To let Russia atone for its sins and be the means of saving many souls?

And is this not also just like Our God: To once again respond to mans rejection by guiding us to Him and Our Blessed Mother Mary? Is it not just like Him that, on the Marian feast day of the Annunciation of Gods Incarnation, the most modernist pope in the history of the Church got down on his knees and called the entire world, East and West, to likewise fall to its knees, every bishop, all people, on our knees, and not just recognize, finally, the Immaculate Conception, but moreto consecrate ourselves, and our entire world, to her Immaculate Heart, the Immaculate Heart of the Immaculate Conception, thereby saying, at last, after all these years, after all these appearances, finally: yes, there is a God; yes, there is a Heaven; yes, we are more than mere matter; yes, we are all sinners; and yes, we must obey God and make reparations for our sins.

In turning our eyes and our hearts to Mary, are we not finally conceding, agreeing with Pope Leo XIII, that apart from God, there will be no peace? Apart from God, no merely human institution, no godless Stateno matter how big, how globalis going to save us.

And is that not just like our God? The most modernist pope of all timeleading the world to renounce the most fundamental errors of modernism?

Is it not a fitting way for the Eternal to announce the end of the Modern Age?

At just that moment when man cant even define what a woman is, God reminds us that it is to a woman that He has given the power of overcoming evil, a woman who will crush the head of the Serpent. Modern Man lost Jesus. His Mother has returned to help us find Him. She has experience in that.

Read more from the original source:
Mary, the West, and Russia's Errors: A Defense of Archbishop Vigan - Crisis Magazine