The Economist: "The Catholic Church does not depend on the views of the western countries"

The US independent publication Axis of Logic writes that Washington  condemning Russia is fueling the war in Syria. Only a few hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had made a plan for a ceasefire in Syria, America's closest allies insisted on a major escalation of the war in the country. On Saturday, Turkey and Saudi Arabia confirmed that they are ready to begin a ground operation in the SAR. Washington, in turn, approved the plan of the operation, even though it threatens to escalate into a full-scale world war. US Defense Secretary Carter said that "military action will be carried out against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," but the main purpose of both Turkey and Saudi Arabia is the change of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Iranian leadership, in turn, warned on Sunday that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not allow the situation in Syria to get out of control and, if necessary, is ready to take appropriate counter-measures.

The situation around the conflict in Syria is exacerbated by the fact that Russia's military campaign in the country is bringing significant results, which suits neither the United States nor NATO. That is why they are willing to go to any measures, even the most radical, not to allow Moscow to completely destroy the strongholds of the US in the Middle East, represented by the ‘trusted Islamists’.

Kerry accuses the Kremlin of aggression in Syria, saying that the vast majority of the Russian attacks are being carried out against legitimate opposition groups. French Prime Minister Valls echoed Kerry, urging Moscow to stop bombing ‘civilians.’ But in fact criticism of Kerry and Valls are hypocritical and falsely rooted. The main reason for the war, which has claimed the lives of 300 thousand and forced 11 million Syrians to flee their homes, was the desire of NATO and its allies to overthrow Assad. Sunni Islamist militants, the members of the group Ahrar al-Sham and the Al-Farouq Brigade, which the West describes only as ‘moderate opposition forces’, are in fact standing for the creation of a Sunni theocracy and sectarian violence against Shiite Muslims.

An official document of the Munich Conference in 2016 makes it clear that a world war is quite possible, since the escalation of violence between the major powers has reached a peak for the first time since the end of the Cold War. The fact that the Western leaders, including the US, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, do not see any alternative to war has an extremely negative impact on the world community as a whole and may indeed lead to a global confrontation.

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The British publication The Economist writes about the importance of the meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis. Despite the fact that among his millions of fans Pope Francis is considered to be a very highly spiritual person who does not interfere in political affairs, the meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill presented the head of the Catholic Church in a new light. The fact is that in the conversation with his Russian counterpart Francis touched on geopolitical issues and criticized the foreign policy of the West, which caused the disapproval of some supporters of the West.

Pope Francis said that the US invasion of Iraq and the disappointing results of the Arab Spring were predictable. According to the head of the Catholic Church, the strongest players were to remain in their places in the Middle East.

The meeting of the two spiritual leaders took place against the background of the fight against militant Islamism, for which, in the words of the Pope, it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the international community to confront the common threat. The talk of the clergy is only the first step on the long road to a mutual understanding between the two churches, but it is a diplomatic victory for the Russian government.

Thus, the meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill showed that the Catholic Church does not depend on the views of the western countries, and has its own reasonable point of view and a position that on some points is closer to the Russian view than to the Western one.