As US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet in Helsinki, all eyes are on what generally are regarded as the "usual" political issues that divide the world's two foremost military powers: Ukraine, Syria, sanctions, claims of election interference, and so forth. This reflects the near-universal but erroneous view that this current, second Cold War is not ideological, as opposed to the first Cold War that pitted atheistic Soviet communism against America's "in God we trust" capitalism. (Leave aside whether "capitalism," an
anarcho-
socialist term popularized by Marxists, is the proper description of contemporary neoliberal corporatism.)
No,
we are told, the current Washington-Moscow standoff is a turf war, nothing more. Unlike the 1945-1991 rivalry it "lacks an ideological dimension" beyond the authoritarian determination to elevate "the Russian state, ruled by him and his clan."
Such a view totally dismisses the fact that following the demise of communism as a global power bloc there has been an eerie spiritual role reversal between East and West. While it's true that during original Cold War the nonreligious ruling cliques in Washington and Moscow held basically compatible progressive values, ordinary Christian Americans (mainly Protestants, with a large number of Roman Catholics) perceived communism as a murderous, godless machine of oppression (think of the
Knights of Columbus' campaign to insert "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance). Conversely, today it is western elites who rely upon an ideological imperative of "democracy" and "human rights" promotion to justify a materialist global empire and endless wars, much like the old Soviet nomenklatura depended on Marxism-Leninism both as a working methodology and as a justification for their prerogatives and privileges,. In that regard, promotion of nihilist, post-Christian morality -
especially in sexual matters - has become a major item in the West's toolkit.
Comment: Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are not only illegal, they are also used as a weapon against the local Palestinian population, as well as a tool to create 'facts on the ground' and take over land.
Imagine someone armed with a gun moving into your house and forcing you to move into the garage or move out. Then you call the police and the bully tells them that's actually his house, because that's where he lives.
For more context on the Irish decision: Ireland set to boycott imports from illegally occupied Israeli settlements