Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, February 17

by Dr. David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

OLYMPICS: A PARADE OF NATIONS INCLUDING A UNIFIED KOREA

When the athletes of different nations entered the stadium to open the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, the first nation as always was Greece. The Olympics tradition of political bodies competing in sports rather than war began in Greece. The rest of the teams enter in alphabetical order (the Korean alphabet) with the home team last. In this case the North and South Koreans entered under a common flag. The Americans(represented by a somber VP Mike Pence) were not happy about this show of unity. Nor has any joy been expressed over the proposed trip of the South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit the North Korean president in North Korea. Kim Jong Un's beautiful sister Kim Yo Jung in the name of her brother made the offer. Vice President Pence basically took a knee when the unified Korean team entered the stadium. He refused to stand in respect. Learning how to conduct a nationalist foreign policy entails a new respect for the other nations as nations. We should remember one of the criticisms of our liberal State Department in 1963 against the Catholic President of South Vietnam Ngo Diem was that he seemed too willing to discuss his country's fate with North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.

An NBC announcer who announced the deep respect Koreans have for Japan (Prime Minister Abe bravely came) had to apologize the next day as a brief synopsis of the history of the 20th century was reviewed. The ancient Korean Kingdom was occupied in 1910 by the Japanese and then divided after the defeat of Japan in 1945 into communist and free states. The bitterness of Koreans (North and South) toward the Japanese for that brutal occupation remains close to the emotional surface and  embedded in the historical memory of the Korean people.
 The unification of Korea should be the goal of any truly nationalist foreign policy. This is difficult because our military is organized for global containment of China  with South Korea serving as a major encirclement base for US troops.  The Catholic president of South Korea (elected in 2017) is one of the first South Korean leaders who has  seriously rejected this paradigm. Just when Americans elect a new president who talks much tougher with the North Koreans, the South Koreans elect a president who seriously wants to talk. The whole dynamically creative scene was on display at the Olympics.

I. POPE FRANCIS, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH & AND THE CULTURE OF LIFE AND PROTECTION

LENT BEGINS: May America repent for our sins and renew our country under God.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - OUTRAGE AND IGNORANCE: It is not good if a man strikes a woman but the incredible emotional imbalance in our treatment of men, women, and children in discussing domestic violence has unhinged our discussions from reality. The most devastating domestic violence in America is the willful destruction by an adult female of her defenseless infant. This is widespread and should induce repugnance from a moral nation. Should a history of procuring an abortion preclude a person from working in national security? We will leave that to the morality squads defining unforgivable sins.

PRESIDENT TRUMP AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST: President Trump address on Feb 8, 2018. "As long as we open our eyes to God’s grace and open our hearts to God’s love, then America will forever be the land of the free, the home of the brave, and a light unto all nations."

PRESIDENT TRUMP AND FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING: A PREDICTION
President Trump after his unity talks in Florida about the school shooting that left 18 dead said we must do something effective not "just say something to feel good". He said he would be meeting with state leaders. Our prediction is that he will propose a program for states or local school districts  to defend the schools with some combination of armed teachers or police. Some commentators use the term "hardening our schools." A culture of life is a culture of protection. Wherever America's kids are gathered, the grownups need an organized way to protect them with lethal force. That is usually the duty of our local police. Apparently that is not enough protection for our schools which offer a large dependably unarmed target to predators. Protecting our children in public settings  is at the heart of political duty. Masculine politics is about establishing social protection. Masculine nationalist politics is about providing maturation pathways for all young American males into our shared protective brotherhood of citizenship.  Feminist politics has been about careerism and smashing one glass ceiling after another trying to get the top job without realizing the content of that job. Political leadership is about socializing and organizing males as protector citizens not predators. That is what state militias(every male 18-65) and the right to bear arms were all about. Organize protection! Donald Trump has replaced the Lindsey Grahams and Hillary Clintons of the two parties because he gets this. There is a whole lot of American men who want to act as effective protectors not victims. That includes school teachers, coaches and custodians. No more, "Everybody Hide Beneath our Open Desks!" as the School Safety Drill.  Let America's men show our young males that their path to manhood and our maintenance of civic community are intersecting projects. One way to do that is to reestablish an armed male presence (some open, some hidden) at our schools until we have reestablished enough social order that the local police are enough again.


RUBIN, SHAPIRO, PETERSON DEBATE: One hour; three men; a discussion by three internet phenomena. Dave Rubin is openly homosexual who has left the politically correct left to host a very popular interview show. He is an open, honest, listening and penetrating interviewer. Jordan Peterson, clinical psychologist and Canadian professor (our profile here) believes there is a deep Jungian truth to Christianity. He is an honest intellectual and a great teacher. He is not a worshipping Christian but he sees its compelling truth. Even with his severe limitations as a Christian apologist he shows us the superficiality of tool much of Christian discourse. Ben Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew who deliberately tries not to use G..d or Revelation in his many debates with his leftist, politically correct enemies. His enemies are legion as are his followers. In this debate Shapiro could have made a much more vigorous assertion of the reality of God. He didn't. The three found comradeship in their intellectual honesty and internet fame. The interviewer Rubin asked an excellent question. Is there any difference between the believing Christian and the believing Jew. Does it matter? He asked the right questions that displayed the severe limitations of Jungian psychology and an Orthodox Jew trying to explain the world without G..D. These men are doing in the intellectual square what President Trump is doing in the political arena. They are fighting for a space where the truth can be told. May God bless them all. In another setting  Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Haidt discuss the nature of morality and political dialogue. They open by discussing a topic of Haidt's research and writing: What is disgust?

TONY DUNGY SAYS FAITH MATTERS IN FOOTBALL: Fellow sportswriters say that's a bridge too far.

THE ALT RIGHT AND PAGANISM: If Christians don't claim the nations, there is another group quite willing to rise that banner against the globalists. This article is not an argument for Christian nationalism (which we make at AOA) but it is an excellent resource on the pagan roots of the alt-right.

PARADOXES OF THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION: Part One - How contraceptives led to more unwanted unplanned pregnancies.

II. AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE NATIONS

THEY BELIEVE WE CAN WIN IN AFGHANISTAN: From Defense One - what the generals say.

THE US WILL STAY IN EASTERN SYRIA BASED AGAINST ASSAD AND IRAN: Not exactly a nationalist policy. Israel jet shot down in Syria. Is Syria a country with borders to be respected? Is it allowed to form its own alliances? Don't nationalists believe such prerogatives are foundational to national self determination? Syria, Russia, and Israel. Pat Buchanan asks: Is the US being sucked into Syria?

IRAN PROTESTS: What were they about? Not a protest against Iranian foreign policy.

MACEDONIA, BULGARIA, AND NATIONHOOD: The Orthodox and the nations - learning history in Macedonia.

JOHN BRENNAN - FORMER CIA HEAD NOW MSNBC CONSULTANT: Role in pushing Dossier and feud with James Comey. Role in tying Russia and Trump by Paul Sperry at Real Clear Investigations.