Pope in the steppes of Kazakhstan
Steppe and steppe all around
The path is far.
In that steppe deaf
The driver died...
(Russian folk song)
The path is far.
In that steppe deaf
The driver died...
(Russian folk song)
Two days before the SCO summit and the day before the visit of the head of China to Kazakhstan, the plane of the head of the smallest state on the planet and the marshal of, perhaps, one of the largest religious armies, Pope Francis, landed in Astana. The official reason to visit Astana, which lies as much as ten thousand kilometers east of Rome, was the 14th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions that took place there on September 15-XNUMX.
But is it only the event, which takes place annually in Astana, that made 86-year-old Francis, who has not recovered from knee surgery, moves in a wheelchair and gets up with obvious difficulty, embark on such a long journey? His visit, of course, was announced in advance, although possible amendments to the state of health were implied, that is, no one would be surprised at the cancellation of the visit due to objective circumstances. But the goal, apparently, was so important that the head of the Vatican decided to ignore the problems for a while.
Francis has always been a rather active person, during his career he made almost sixty apostolic visits, but he flew to Central Asia for the first time. At first glance, this is not surprising, because if in Europe (with the exception of Hungary and Poland) and the USA, the flock of the Vatican is already in many ways only nominally Catholic, then in South and Latin America, as well as Africa and the Philippines, the Holy See has “divisions” still quite full-blooded.
Against their background, adherents of Rome in Central Asia look like this: Kazakhstan itself, where there are a total of 180 thousand Catholics for almost 20 million people (in 9 million Belarus officially 4 times more), Kyrgyzstan - 5,2 thousand, Turkmenistan - 0,5 thousand, Mongolia - 1,1 thousand, Uzbekistan - 2,7 thousand, there are still 0,4 thousand Catholics in Tajikistan and even 100 people in Afghanistan. The position of Catholics is somewhat better in Iran (about 22 in all communities), which, strange as it may seem at first glance, has quite a long working relationship with the Holy See. The problem is that for Christian proselytism, and even more so for the conversion of Muslims, the adept runs the risk of falling under the law to the gallows. But Iran is “not quite” a Central Asian direction.
A number of Western publications expressed the opinion that on the sidelines of the XNUMXth Congress, Francis plans to meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, to discuss the Ukrainian issue and the NVO with him, but after the dialogue of both primates in May on exactly the same topic, which Moscow considered "disrespectful", the likelihood such a meeting initially approached zero. That is, it is obvious that it would be incorrect to consider this as the target event of the visit. By the way, most likely, that is why this visit of Francis passed with us almost without coverage.
But everything related to the political dialogue with the leadership of Kazakhstan was prepared at an exceptional level. The speeches of Francis at the meeting with K. Zh. Tokayev upon arrival and in the concert hall "Kazakhstan", of course, were filled with a set of protocol toasts, but there was much more behind the network of these quite understandable chants. Now deep political and economic reforms have been announced in Kazakhstan, but one of the goals of these reforms is investment attractiveness and facilitating attempts to expand its representation in international trade. The second goal is to ensure leadership among the Central Asian states. And the author has repeatedly described the stages of such a movement and intermediate results. But after all, leadership is not just a position that you can declare and go to drink tea, leadership should be perceived as such by both close and distant surroundings.
A day later, Xi Jinping will issue such a “mandate from the East” to K. Zh. Tokaev, and on September 14, the head of the Vatican issued his “permanent pass” to a certain part of Western business and politics for the Kazakh president. Francis blessed the reforms:
“Your country has a form of statehood that reflects the needs of the people. In recent months, there has been a process of democratization, giving greater rights to parliament and local authorities.”
Emphasized the role of Astana in the formation of regional unity:
“And here I want to thank Kazakhstan for always trying to unite.”
“We need leaders who at the international level could promote mutual understanding and dialogue between peoples and revive the “Helsinki spirit.”
It is precisely the non-trivial mention of Helsinki that allows us to conclude that it is not an ordinary greeting, but a form of approval of the goals that Astana is striving for. It should be taken into account that already at that time the first shots were fired in Batken on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, whose representatives were also in Astana, though not the first political figures. So, the role of "Helsinki" was addressed specifically to K. Zh. Tokayev and Kazakhstan, and not abstractly to the region and its politicians.
In fact, Francis gave the green light to the broad cooperation of the business circles he sponsors, which are still quite closely connected with the aristocratic elite of a number of countries, which continues, according to the good old tradition, to withdraw rent payments from the “younger” European business, and in the literal sense. For the Central Asian countries, such a pass to the circles associated with family investment funds, insurance, rent and antiques means a lot - recognition. In Russia, it is quite difficult to understand this aspect of our neighbors, although should we be surprised that the elites are looking towards the West? For the Central Asian states, the situation is seriously complicated by the fact that these circles in Europe have no real idea of a deep cultural interaction with the region in terms of doing business. Raw materials projects do not count here, this is a special category.
Why does Astana need this splendor, in general, is understandable, but what is the point of the Vatican to establish such “bridges of friendship”, if we abstract from philanthropy? And the point is that the Holy See, while Beijing was laying its Silk Roads, also set the task of repeating history Plano Carpini began to pave the way to China, realizing that every year of economic recession and political battles in the EU and the USA weaken him, the Vatican, the main “food base” and increase the potential of what the author calls the “eastern cluster”, which includes and Middle Asia. Moreover, the situation in the US and the EU is such that Rome literally began to "burn heels."
Talk about "two Europes", old and new, has been going on for a long time. They have a real historical precedent, when US Vice President D. Cheney described the processes in the EU in this way, but so far there is no single connotation for all. If for D. Cheney, old Europe meant countries that are historical members of the NATO bloc, and for discussions in the European Parliament, new Europe is already countries that joined it after Maastricht, then for the Vatican this division lies in the sphere of religion and the concentration of family assets and the ability to influence through on social and political processes.
Little is said about this, but along with the formation of the “Greater EU” of the current 27 countries, there was a gradual weakening of the influence of Catholic Rome as a kind of moderator and flag of tribal business, largely tied to land and financial rent, and the growth of the influence of the new business, young, as would now be called "technological". A fierce struggle unfolded between politicians and ideologues of the old formation and the chicks of the globalist nest, often called simply a crowd of "soros". This is not an exact term, but it reflects the very essence of the phenomenon when a politician is formed outside of traditional circles, in new "incubators of individual leadership." The Jesuit order also developed its own incubators for the production of such representatives for centuries - Catholic academies, universities, schools. And so, gradually, these schools stopped producing politicians and officials, and the new “new leadership farms” (usually under the US umbrella) began to rivet replacements for them on a truly commercial scale, since the incorporation proceeded without regard to the initial status of the applicant.
For more than fifteen years now, a desperate struggle has been going on in Europe and the United States between “bottom line” businesses and “new leadership” politicians, overseen by structures like the “Open Society”, supported by part of Wall Street, American Democrats and the old, essentially rent-free, elite. For a long time in the 20th century, the aristocracy and the so-called. “self-mades” worked together and without any problems, creating enterprises, investment funds, but gradually all these structures began to be “eroded” by a completely different type of managers, and financing, ratings and profit structure shifted towards “young technocrats” of a seemingly liberal orientation , but some strange type. As a result, when the Vatican saw that it was dealing not with a certain liberal formation of a new wave, but with a natural sect, aggressively anti-Christian, which was only hiding behind the shield of liberalism, it was already, in general, too late, since the Roman prelates had lost, as they say today, "Agenda".
Two years ago, the author wrote in the article “What the victory of the City on the Hill prepares for us” for the election of J. Biden that we are present in the process of a kind of crusade against Christian Europe and the USA, and a successful campaign. Over the past twenty years, the Vatican has gone from being an important moderator and arbiter in Europe and the US to a semi-marginal consortium. Today, Rome no longer has a strong political influence even in Poland. To participate in the negotiation process on Ukraine, Rome cannot rely on European circles, for this it attracts ... the President of Mexico, who has the same idea of Donbass as the average Russian has of knot writing. The traditionalists cannot even recapture their "second air" - gas, the basis of their production.
What to do now with this sectarian upheaval in Europe and the United States, which is also fueled by US government resources, as well as waves of migration, the See of Rome does not know from the word "absolutely". Naturally, this confrontation affects Russia as well, since our country is the main donor of that same traditional industrial Europe. And according to the idea of the "liberal sect", there should be another donor of Europe - a new, correct one. For sectarians, the battle in Ukraine and the indefinite gas lockdown of European industrialists is a boon, because they are to create a new ideal state on the ruins, but for Roman traditionalists it is a disaster.
And since these processes, which, quite possibly, many will simply perceive as part of some kind of conspiracy theory, have been going on for quite a few years, the Vatican has been starting to rebuild bridges with China since 2018, and even initially successfully. Interaction with the Communist Party of China among the Roman prelates was traditionally tense, because, although through no fault of their own, the Roman residence was cut off in Taiwan, and the Vatican recognized Taiwan as one of the first. This left a colossal imprint on all subsequent decades, since the Roman throne practically ceased to control its flock in China. Mao severed relations, tore down and closed churches, sent out missionaries and founded his own "Catholic Association", which itself licensed the activities of Catholics. The Chinese Communists quite reasonably perceived the Jesuits (the advance detachment of the holy fathers) as political manipulators and spies, especially since there were a lot of historical examples of this kind. Of course, they were not treated as strictly and uncompromisingly as the renegade Buddhists from the Falun Gong sect, but this did not make it easier for Rome.
Accordingly, no one still knows the number of Catholics in China itself (approximately 12 million people. According to estimates). And the prelates are approved by the document of the CCP itself without any connection with the Vatican, which is unprecedented in history for Rome. In 2018, Rome agreed to the mutual recognition of "mandates", and some of the official "Red Catholics" began to be recognized in the Vatican (although after their service they were no longer placed on the pulpit anywhere in the world), and China began to issue official licenses to the Vatican "Catholics" black." But the holy fathers would not have been themselves, and shortly before the visit of Francis, the Roman prelate Y. Chen agreed that he was accused of subversive activities, "conspiracy with external forces", and was put behind bars by the Chinese.
And so, when the liberal sect went for broke in Ukraine, cutting off all traditional ties, destroying the industrial base and marginalizing traditional values in the West in principle - at the level of existential confrontation, the great Roman pontificate in the past had to fly to Astana without agreeing a meeting with the Chinese leader, and hoping through him to influence the course of events in Ukraine. Rome and China really have something in common on this track - neither side wants the final collapse of Europe. Rome as the main financial and fodder base, and China as markets, machines and technologies. The equalization of the cost of raw materials in relation to other industries is a natural process, and Europe should shrink in any case, but not to the extent that the new ultra-liberal sectarians consider.
The author is even surprised that the media practically went unnoticed by that most important episode, that the Roman Pontiff counted on even the shortest meeting with the Chinese leader, in fact, exclusively “at random”. But the delegations exchanged messages, and the meeting did not even take place. The leader of China did not break the schedule for this, and an annoyed Francis issued two tirades:
"Chinese mentality is not easy to understand, but it must be respected, I always respect it."
And right there:
"The Chinese mentality is rich, and when it is unhealthy, it loses this wealth..."
And this irritation was hardly heard in Beijing. And heard, and brought in a notebook.
In response, the head of the Catholics spent a long time mumbling the delegation from our Russian Orthodox Church, lavishing platitudes, but the fact remained - to talk about the fate of Christianity in Europe and the sad fate of “traditional values” there, Xi Jinping sent Francis to Moscow to his Russian colleague. Meanwhile, in Samarkand, the Russian leader was discussing the European dilemma with Indian, Chinese and Iranian partners - how to conduct a further campaign so that Europe and its industrial base would finally “give no oak”, because losing such a market for these countries would be an unacceptable price. Ukrainian crisis. And right before our eyes, Moscow began to make rather harsh and tough decisions. Gas storages in the EU are almost full, and it is possible that European production and trade can survive the crisis of the next escalation of hostilities in Ukraine without supercritical problems for some time. And there is not much time - winter is coming.
The throne of Rome has long tried to feed the Russian elite, welcomed, handed out statuses, crosses and other regalia, but it is unlikely that any of the previously powerful Jesuit fathers would have thought that they would have to walk through the “deaf steppe” with an outstretched hand, sing Italian journalists thatthe regime in China cannot be called anti-democratic"and send weapon to Ukraine "may be morally unacceptable if the goal is to further inflame the war, sell weapons or dispose of unnecessary". Did the predecessors of Francis think that in the 21st century the last army of the Holy See and the last hope would be the historically hated "schismatics from Tartary"?
But didn’t the popes themselves indirectly participate in the preparation of the Ukrainian fascist army, did they not encourage the creation of sectarians of new homunculi - artificial beings with the ideology of racial and national superiority? That is why Ukrainians behave like masters in Europe, they are the favorite brainchild of the liberal sect, even if it is a disposable brainchild.
And here historical parallels come to mind. But we already went through this somewhere: in Germany in the 30s and 40s. And, I must say more, the Vatican, among other things, contributed to the fact that the remnants of this Nazi evil spirits were not finished off in a timely manner. And financially during that terrible war, the Roman curia did not suffer much. The Popes of Rome failed to play the same game for the second time - their fate in Europe and the USA is practically a foregone conclusion, regardless of whether the EU collapses or still, staggering on its feet, will stand as a battered and fading economic center.
The history of the recent adventures of the Jesuits in the steppes of Eurasia shows that it is time for Russia and its political elite to finally stop looking for a “good Europe” inside a “bad Europe” and stop being big knights of Malta than the descendants of the old families staggering before the liberal wind. They showed themselves back in the Second World War, when massively "lay down" under Nazi Germany. Our media are making truly gigantic efforts to convey something to the traditionalists of the EU, to convey through the media, which in turn are controlled by no means traditionalists. Huge resources are spent on this, but the result is natural - it is zero.
The traditionalists of the West, in fact, are already worked out material - minced meat, which must grind the sectarian cutter of the "new liberalism". And the sooner our elite realizes that all these knighting games, the struggle for the right to be accepted into the family financial houses, etc., is the pursuit of a falling monument, the better. There is no more traditional Europe - soon the last cross will be removed there, and this process cannot be stopped. It is still possible for Kazakhstan to play these Roman layouts between “good” and “bad Europe”, it can even bring some practical benefits, but for us, as a state based on Christianity, this will not work, because a liberal sectarian feels for Christianity in any of its there really is a hatred that cannot be explained by ordinary rational economic reasons. The problem is that political scientists usually do not tell us about religious reasons. They talk about gas, oil, grain, but not about that.
Apparently, we need to be guided by the preservation of the European industrial potential strictly within the framework of agreements with partners in the Eastern bloc and not a single gram more, but on the contrary, it is necessary to prepare for war again and already in full force, because the agreement with the quasi-religious new liberal without defeating the army of this liberal is not even a utopia - self-deception. And if someone has any illusions about this, then let him carefully review the footage of the adventures of the head of the Vatican in the Kazakh steppes.
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