"Conversion of Russia" Update

The Bear and the Dragon Dance

by Christopher A. Ferrara

        More than 20 years after the consecration-that-wasn’t, the "conversion" of Russia is truly being manifested — that is, her conversion from a Soviet dictatorship to a neo-Soviet dictatorship. Only this time the old Russian bear has entered into a never-before-seen overt military alliance with the huge and growing Chinese dragon.

        On August 3, 2005, Associate Press reported that "Russia and China will hold an unprecedented joint military exercise later this month, using long-range bombers and submarines to settle an imaginary conflict in a foreign land." This exercise, notes AP, highlights "budding military ties between Moscow and Beijing, whose relations have warmed after decades of Cold War rivalry."

        So here is yet another fruit of the "consecration" of Russia in 1984: a warming of relations between the two largest dictatorships on earth.

        According to AP, "the two nations insisted that this exercise, the first such drill, was not aimed at any third country." Nonsense. All such exercises are conducted with a specific wartime scenario in mind, otherwise the exercise would be nothing more than a military parade and exhibition. The Russian general involved in the exercise told AP that one of the goals of the exercise was to "settle regional crises." What "regional crisis" would require Russia and China to dispatch long-range bombers and submarines?

        Equally nonsensical is the official explanation that the exercise was designed to "strengthen the capability of the two armed forces in jointly striking international terrorism, extremism and separatism." Why would Russia and China need submarines and long-range bombers to deal with extremists and separatists within their own borders? Moreover, why would the two nations jointly attack "extremists" and "separatists" within one of the two nations?

        Notice that this exercise is described as "unprecedented" and something Russia and China are doing "for their first time" in their histories. Is it merely a strange coincidence that this first-time-ever joint military exercise between the world’s largest dictatorships has come only after the non-consecration of Russia in 1984? Or is this just another example of the Fatima Curse — Heaven’s answer to man’s failure to obey Our Lady’s simple request for Russia’s consecration?

        Surely even the most obtuse defenders of the "Russia is converting" myth must recognize by now that the latter is the case. What a pity pride and stubbornness keep them from admitting it. For if they told the truth, who would be left to stand in the way of Russia’s consecration? Such is the responsibility they bear before the Church and the world.