King Herod did not expect that Herodias’ daughter would ask for the head of John the Baptist. Likewise, Western nations did not expect that their repeated failures to stop Russian aggression would lead to the disaster in Ukraine.
Scripture: Mark 6: 17-28 Nigel Bunce
Two things strike me about this story. The obvious one is that John the Baptist lost his head – literally – for speaking out. For saying that the behaviour of Herod and Herodias was immoral. I’ve spoken about that before.
This evening, I also want to talk about thinking things through. About looking before you leap. Herod made a promise to Herodias’ daughter. Infatuated, and probably drunk, he offered her anything she wanted. Anything! No limits. And when the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist , Herod couldn’t refuse. His honour was at stake.
Western pathy towards Russian agression
As I think about the dreadful situation in Ukraine, I can’t help thinking also about the role that Western democracies played – however unwittingly – in bringing it about. It goes back a long way. One aspect is the failure of the West to do anything about Russian aggression throughout this century. Russian behaviour in Grozny, Chechnya. Again in Syria, in support of Bashir Al-Asad. In both cases, there was utter disregard for human life and suffering. And in Syria, the failure to respond to crossing so-called “red lines”.
Then, in 2014, the annexation of Crimea. It caused a mere tut-tutting. So, why wouldn’t Vladimir Putin think that he can get away with whatever he wants? His stated quest is to rebuild the Soviet empire. Bring it on!
Western greed
Like Herodias and her daughter, our Western nations aren’t blameless. And the reason is greed. Russian oligarchs – associates, cronies, of Putin – have laundered their ill gotten gains in Russia by buying up property in the West. Mansions in London, New York, Toronto. Luxury cars, jewellery, and yachts.
Western governments were happy to look the other way and accept these ‘investments’, otherwise known as sewers of dirty money. People in England, for example, seems mainly to be obsessed by the fate of Chelsea Football Club, owned by the oligarch Abramovitch.
Canada hardly has clean hands. Just last week the Globe & Mail pointed out that our laws on shell companies allow “investments” in Canada to be made by people who are not named. It makes me wonder how many other companies are like Evraz, the company controlled by Abramovitch that is making the steel pipes for the federally owned Trans Mountain Pipeline.
Greed in Europe
Becoming over-dependent on one major supplier of energy – Russia. In Germany, especially, by teaming up with Gazprom to build the two Nordstream gas pipelines. With the prospect of avoiding transit fees to Ukraine for Russian natural gas. And now: “O my goodness, whoever would have thought it. We can’t sanction Russian gas, otherwise our people won’t be able to heat their homes. Sanctions or no sanctions, we have to keep paying Russia for it.’
And, by the way, we can’t keep our nukes running because we made a promise to shut them down.” The same reason Herod couldn’t say ‘no’ to Herodias’ daughter! I’m not trying to justify what Vladimir Putin has done and is doing. But if you were a somewhat deranged and highly egotistical dictator, you might well have concluded that an invasion of Ukraine was likely to have very little down-side.