Heh, we are not dealing with Soviet Russia, any more, my FRiend.
We are dealing with Imperial Russia.
I’ve been there 4 times since 1998.
All their official documentation bears the Imperial Crest of the Tsar, featuring the Roman Double Eagle, St. George slaying the dragon, and the Cross of Christ in two places.
The Russian flag flying over the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has the Red, White, and Blue horizontal bars with the Imperial Crest of the Tsar in the center of it.
Passports of the Russian Federation bear the Imperial Crest of the Tsar on their front cover, as well as a water mark on every page.
No sickle and hammer anywhere.
Among the Western Media, the Lenin mausoleum is called “Lenin’s Tomb”, with great reverence. The average Russian calls it “The Mummy”.
Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the people of St. Petersburg immediately petitioned the Russian Federation to change the name of their city from Leniingrad back to its original Apostolic name.
There is much, much more I can share with you, but Russia is not Soviet any more.
Vladimir Putin worked in the late 80s for Soviet democratic reformer Anatoly Sobchak. He told of his KGB background but it didn’t seem to matter. After the August 1991 coup, he resigned from the KGB and the Communist Party.
He later became an Orthodox Christian and for Putin its not for cynical advantage. Unlike the Soviet rulers, he believes in God and has strengthened the Orthodox Church. He believes religious faith makes a positive contribution to society.
The Soviet Union no longer exists and Christianity survived the persecution of the Soviet time. Now the dark age of atheism must not be replaced by the sinister and perverted lights of our morally relativist era.
Thanks for the reply and I appreciate your firsthand insight. Could you please look over this article from here on Free Republic from May 2012? New Threats for Old: New Russian regime more dangerous than old. Based upon your experience, even if they've tossed Godless Communism overboard, is Russia still a strategic threat to the United States?
I'll admit that I'm skeptical for a leopard can't change his spots. As we all know, the Democrat party remains the party of the Klan in spite of its bogus claims to the contrary. Similarly, has Russia genuinely cast off the demons of Communism after all those decades? I can't help but think of how Russia opposes America in the United Nations. And Michele Bachmann warned of the rise of Russia (she called it the Soviet Union, an understandable slip of the tongue) on the Jay Sekulow back in summer 2011.
Yes, I'd like to think that Russia has come around to the right way of thinking but, as President Reagan said: "Trust but verify". I'm looking forward to your response and hope that it will shed light on the present reality.