An Easter lesson for the world

Reincarnation, resurrection and restitution - the messages of the Christian Easter, repeated in fertility festivals at this time of year for thousands of years

Eostre, or Ostara, was the Pagan Goddess of Dawn, the bringer of Light, daughter of Heaven, depicted in rock engravings as a fertility goddess with motifs of the egg (circular, no beginning or end, meaning eternity) and rabbits (fertility). So the resurrection is nothing new and is not confined to Christianity. The Babilonian vegetation God Tammuz was the incarnation of new life, and Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, among other faiths, all embrace the resurrection, new life and fresh hope.

Even in the most dire situations. And today, Planet Earth 2018, we live again another moment of darkness, of impending conflict, with hawks gathering in the dark skies above Washington, flying in warlike circles like vultures over a corpse which they shall pre-emptively create. London, the faithful Poodle, has whipped up anti-Russian hysteria among the sycophantic gaggle of grannies, Western Europe, eagerly joined by Eastern European countries with an endemic penchant towards Fascist tendencies.

This Easter, the Resurrected One is Yuliya Skripal, supposedly poisoned by the Russian State (according to London) by a military grade chemical agent which was deadly and which caused death within minutes and here she is four weeks later chatting to doctors. Why the British authorities refuse to give samples of the agent to Russia and why the British authorities refuse their obligations under international law to collaborate with the Russian authorities in investigating the attempted murder of a Russian citizen on British soil, gives rise to the notion that it was highly unlikely that Russia was involved, given that there is no plausible alternative explanation due to the reticence of the British authorities to comply with international law. What are they hiding?

Much has been said of an ex-MI6 agent who recruited Skripal in Estonia, much has been said about another ex-MI6 agent, and both of these linked to the same British-based company which provides intelligence for businesses, and States, and is indeed a geo-political player in its own right. Much has been said of Skripal's continued friendship with the former MI6 agent, who according to some accounts was photographed in the same pub where Skripal was drinking shortly before he fell ill. Much has been said of the hand of the latter MI6 agent, in drawing up the infamous Russia File in Washington. Hmmmm.....

Much has been said about Skripal's false retirement, since when he was in the UK he had multiple meetings with multiple persons from multiple States and allegedly knew too much about Washington's Russia dossier, or lack of it. Surprise, surprise. Er...can we have a look at those samples, again, please?

Notice in this piece I am not reacting in a knee-jerk reflex action, pointing my finger, naming names and saying "Hey! YOU did it!" because I do not have a shred of evidence to say so and common decency means you follow the precepts of due legal process, investigate properly, then you make a formal accusation in a proper forum of law in which the accused is supposedly innocent until proven guilty and even then has several rights of appeal. I follow these precepts because I am a balanced and civilized member of society and I have values and morals which I stick to through thick or thin. Can the same be said of the West?

After lying about not expanding NATO eastwards, after lying over Iraq, after lying over Libya, after lying over Syria, after lying over Georgia, after lying over Abkhazia, after lying over Crimea, after lying over Ukraine, we see the West is the Queen of Liars and one cannot believe a word they say. Reputable western media outlets have over the years been manipulating and forging photographs - a Greek bank shown as a Russian one in the Greek banking crisis, and demonstrations cut and paste from two decades before, turned around and the title changed from demonstrations against the dissolution of the Soviet Union, to demonstrations against Putin. Photos from the Iraqi conflict when NATO massacred dozens of children, or thousands, shown lined up and paraded as victims of Russian actions in Syria. Syrian chemical attack victims shown giggling and giving the thumbs up sign when western cameras had passed by and left the room.

And all of this sinister manipulation, lies spun in a web of skulduggery, aimed at Russia, the eternal foe, a fiend, a monster, a dangerous bear, malevolent, evil, murderous. This is the message the media have given out to create a powerful THEM which justifies the US. Nothing is said of the Western interference in the Russian Civil War, on the side which was defeated, the White Russians, nothing is said of the USSR saving the West from Hitler and losing 26 million souls in the process; nothing is said of Russian aid programmes abroad, although they are the first to arrive and do not go around parading what they have done - they just do it, silently and efficiently. Nothing is said of Georgia's murderous act of provocation in 2008, nothing is said of Georgia's plans to attack Abkhazia, nothing is said of the Fascist massacres of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Ukraine, nothing is said of the legality in the Crimea Nationality Referendum, conducted by the Legislative Assembly, the due legal authority after the illegal removal of the democratically elected President.

So for every action, a reaction. I shall continue to tell the truth, I shall continue to stand up against lies and I refuse to admit a Western victory for Goebbels in repeating the lie until everyone perceives it as the truth. I do not, however, condone hatred and conflict, believing that the death of any human being is a tragedy, whoever they are. In this piece let us all celebrate the recovery of Yuliya Skripal and hope that her father also recovers, so that he can shed some light on this matter, a sentiment Moscow is also keen to express because his testimony will spill the beans on who really did it.

I believe in fresh hope, in restitution, in resurrection, in reincarnation; I believe in resets, I believe in shaking hands after a fight, I believe there is nothing more beautiful than two former foes becoming lasting and close friends. With Russia, I do not believe, I know, that this is possible; Russia is forgiving, shows resilience and patience and Russians are family-oriented people who love to read and play. With today's West, it is clearly impossible. They are snide, aggressive, lying, belligerent and for twenty years, they keep coming, prodding, provoking. They want to create an entity which justifies investment in the military-industrial complex which controls Parliaments, Congresses and Senates and ultimately, they want Siberia's resources.

So the onus is on the West to change. As a rule, God is Great, slays the Demon and Good triumphs over Evil, as the history book has shown us, time and time again. While the social media exists, there are millions of activists with a voice to shed the light from the rooftops across the globe. This light is the light of peace, a world in which we can all live as brothers and sisters around our common lake - the seas - in an unpolluted environment which respects indigenous peoples, cultures and traditions and the habitat of the animals we share our home with.

If people become politically active, and use the existing mechanisms to hold their representatives to account, holding them accountable for their decisions, and selecting them or deselecting them based on their position towards the promises they have made, then Government can be wrested away from the Lobbies who pull their strings and placed back in the hands of the people. All we have to do is place political benchmarks on the agenda and demand a minimum response in reply. It means we cannot sit on our backsides munching popcorn watching the Simpsons. We have to read, get informed, network. And act but always within the law.

We do not want conflict, we do not condone war, we do not agree with such a high level of military spending, we do not agree with confrontation, we want conciliation, we want the onus on education and development, on job creation, on safe food, on respect for the environment. Above all, we do not believe a word the Mainstream Media tells us and if we want the truth, we read the comments section below the article, we take the story, turn it upside down and inside out and then we reach the same conclusion as the comments. In a word, the Truth.

Whether 2018 brings a Resurrection in international relations, I have my doubts; but hope is the last thing to die.

Photo: By Superbass - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

Source:

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru 

Twitter: @TimothyBHinchey

[email protected]

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. A Vegan, he is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights. He is Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru.