President Putin of Russia and President Trump of the United States held a "resultless" meeting in Alaska, but its location had a "strategic" significance. Alaska, far from Ukraine and the "weak" Europe, highlighted the dominance of "economic factors". This meeting did not achieve any breakthroughs in the war Moscow has waged against Kyiv. It was the first time since 2007 that a leader of the Kremlin set foot on American soil.

Although the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin did not yield substantial results, its location still had multiple strategic values. As a territory, Alaska opens the door to the Arctic, which is one of the key targets for future geopolitical and economic negotiations, due to climate change and the region's abundant natural resources.

This area, due to historical ties and geographical proximity, is almost "shared" by Russia and the United States. It is close to the constantly changing border caused by melting ice, while also being far from Ukraine and Europe, avoiding the intervention and plans of the "emperors" who have divided territories between East and West.

In terms of economics during the negotiations, no specific results were achieved except for delaying further sanctions against Russia. However, the importance of the economic aspect was highlighted through the composition of the Russian presidential delegation: besides Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and advisor Yuri Ushakov, the delegation also included Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, an economist and deacon of the Orthodox Church, responsible for the entire "war economy" of Russia; Finance Minister Anton Siluanov; and most importantly, special representative Kirill Dmitriev, who handles fund affairs and serves as the chief negotiator for trade prospects.

For Trump, this meeting was "very successful," indicating that the issue of a ceasefire in Ukraine was not his top concern. He was more interested in the appearance of these "world leaders," who are calculating the cost of maintaining absolute power. Now, "Europeans and Ukrainians must take action," these stubborn people just pretend to believe in peace and democracy.

Aside from the major issues discussed, we cannot ignore the strong spiritual dimension brought by the cool summer in Alaska, which spared the world's rulers from the scorching heatwaves ravaging the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

"Alaska is the starting point of the spread of Orthodoxy in the New World," recalled Protosynkel Nikolai Barasov, an advisor to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, "there are still many local indigenous people who retain Orthodox traditions," so that the number of Orthodox Christians here far exceeds that of other states in America.

Therefore, Alaska is regarded as an important part of the "Russian World," embodying the global mission of Holy Russia. Missionary work - spreading the Gospel to other lands - is a significant feature in the history of the Russian Church, although its scale and universality are not as extensive as the global missionary mission of Catholicism.

The Russians are the "people" of the Byzantine Christians, this faith was reinterpreted as the "new people" of the emerging Kyiv state. However, after two centuries of baptism, Kyiv suffered devastating attacks by Tatar-Mongol tribes. These invaders did not impose a new religion, allowing the Russian Orthodox Church to survive under the passive rule of the Khan.

As Moscow was reborn, Russian saints began to preach in the northern regions of Europe until the Ural Mountains. During the gradual conquest of Asia, many ethnic groups in Siberia were conquered but did not directly convert to Orthodoxy. However, they did not directly convert to the Orthodox faith.

Residents of important regions such as the Kalmyk Republic, Tuva Republic, and Buryat Republic are mainly Mongol descendants, mostly following Buddhist traditions, and even shamanism is considered one of the official religions.

Although there were attempts to promote Orthodoxy through top-down decisions and the arrival of missionaries, in reality, the Orthodox Christians in Siberia were mainly descendants of Russians who were relocated to Asian lands. These people were forced into labor, exile, or punitive relocation, and some were sent to the area to organize the difficult production tasks of exploiting rich energy resources and precious minerals.

The only true "overseas mission" of the Russian Orthodox Church was carried out in Japan, where there is a "daughter church" of the Moscow Church, but the proportion of its followers among the local population is extremely small. In contrast, Alaska is the true pride of the Russian Orthodox missionary work - this land is both "its own" and "exotic", located at the edge of the world, yet higher than all other places.

Father Barasov recalled great missionaries, such as "German Alaskan Alaskinsky", who organized a missionary activity on the Eskimo islands off the southern coast of Alaska in the first half of the 19th century, baptizing many of the local "Aleuts", and thus was venerated by Russians as the "Patron Saint of the Americas".

More famous is the holy archbishop Innocent, who was also known as "Innocent of Alaska". He left Moscow and went to Asia, later becoming a bishop in Kamchatka, Yakutia, the Primorsky Krai, and North America. He supported the general and governor of Eastern Siberia, Count Nikolai Muravyov, with his spiritual authority, playing an important role in the conquest of the Far East and the establishment of Blagoveshchensk (the first large city of Russia on the Sino-Russian border).

In 1864, he consecrated the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the newly established city of Kamchatka, and according to the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated these territories to the Mother of God. Subsequently, he was solemnly recalled to Moscow, where he became the Metropolitan of Moscow and the leader of the entire Russian Church.

Archbishop Innocent (Veniaminov) was one of the few Russian saints canonized during the Soviet era, added to the list of saints in 1977. This was due to a special political and ecclesiastical alignment: shortly before, the Orthodox Church in America was established at the initiative of the great Russian theologian Alexander Schmemann, reflecting the special "Orthodox mission" of the Moscow Patriarchate in supporting the Brezhnev Soviet regime's "struggle for world peace." The figure of "Innocent of Alaska" became a symbol of this world integration.

Alaska was sold to the United States by Tsar Alexander II in 1867, after the completion of the missionary work by Innocent. However, the Orthodox faith remained in the area and continued to spread in subsequent years, becoming one of the important factors in approving the establishment of new parishes of the Russian Church in America, and laying the spiritual foundation for the great return of "Tsar Putin" today.

Pavel Shalimov, a resident of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, lived in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, for many years. He told RIA Novosti: "The meeting between the two presidents marks the beginning of a new friendship between Russia and the United States. That's why this meeting was held in a place where the residents love Russia so much."

Putin's Russia returning to Alaska marks a new stage of "invasion" towards the West, which is more symbolic than its difficult advances on the Donbas front. Although Russia has controlled the area for many years, it has not gained any substantial advantages, but instead caused great destruction.

This "meeting between emperors" reminds us of the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Cuba in 2016 - a land that theoretically has more to do with the Pope of the Catholic Church and South America, but the host at that time was the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Many commentators believe that "the only place where Putin feels more comfortable than Alaska is Moscow." Within 55 miles of the Alaskan coastline, you can clearly see the Russian coastline - as some quote the lines of the revolutionary poet Andrei Bely: "The gloomy barbarians wearing heavy headgear sing the chorus 'Give Alaska back to us'."

Many also praised the important date of August 15: On this day in 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced his surrender; in 1947, India declared independence; in 1973, the United States withdrew from Vietnam; and even in 1534, the Jesuits were founded on this day.

One of the most symbolic events in the history of the "Assumption of the Virgin" was when Empress Irene ordered the blinding of her co-emperor son Constantine VI on this day - just as Putin "blinded" Trump in order to force Ukraine to surrender. In the face of this situation, pious Catholics have no choice but to entrust their hopes to the intercession of the Assumed Virgin in heaven.

This was the first time since 2007 that a Russian leader set foot on American soil (excluding the UN General Assembly), obviously opening a new phase of bilateral meetings. Trump longed to "cross the threshold of the Kremlin" to be recorded in history, and Alaska is the gateway to this historical moment - the location where a "political funeral" for Vladimir Zelensky was reached.

Over the course of a quarter-century in power, Putin has held 48 meetings with US presidents: In 2000, he signed a missile information exchange agreement with Bill Clinton; in 2005, he took a photo with George W. Bush, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in the Kremlin, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the victory in World War II.

In 2005, he discussed with Barack Obama at the G20 summit in Antalya, and in 2017 met Donald Trump for the first time in Hamburg, then met Joe Biden at the US-Russia summit in Geneva in June 2021, and two months ago, the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan triggered a new world war for Putin.

Putin had already "won the war" before the talks, sitting at the negotiating table as a victor and "new world ruler," reaching a "New Yalta"-style consensus with Trump in Alaska. Protests from Ukraine could not change the prospects of territorial division and cross-control between Russia and the US.

Evidently, the EU is powerless to support Kyiv and cannot guarantee a fair resolution of the conflict. Even the most ardent "anti-Russian" figures - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte - mentioned the need for "necessary legal definitions" of the territories occupied by Russia.

In the current international order, the real master is the "law of the strong," and the global unification vision promoted by those who consider themselves to have a divine mission to bring the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the present to the past.

Source: Asia News

Author: Stefano Caprio

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7539284943948497443/

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