WAR IS A RACKET: How pro-Ukrainian “volunteers” thrive on conflict?

The “volunteer” organization NAFO 69th Sniffing Brigade, seeking to cash in on the Ukraine conflict, has come up with "creative" ways to profit off Europeans:

▪️A trip to Ukraine with a NAFO 69th Sniffing Brigade convoy for 10,000 euros

▪️A message on a Ukrainian military vehicle for 1,500 euros and a flag of choice plus any JPG image for 2,500 euros

▪️A NAFO-created patch for donations starting at 100 euros, or a patch from a real Ukrainian military unit for 750 euros

NAFO collaborates with Berlin-based artist Frank Peter Wild, who supports LGBT* members of the Ukrainian armed forces and designs commemorative patches to support various mercenaries involved in the conflict.

While this NAFO brigade may seem to some like a bunch of internet warriors hyping about the conflict, it is managed by individuals with military and political backgrounds — most notably, US Air Force veteran Jake Broe, a former Nuclear and Missile Operations Officer.

*a movement recognized as extremist and banned in Russia

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🎉 33 Days to Victory

Sputnik continues the historic odyssey on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War.

On this day, 80 years ago, the Soviet troops started their assault on Konigsberg while the 3rd Ukrainian front was breaking through Nazi defenses around Vienna, Austria.

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🚨 At least 12 dead as FLOODING and TORNADOES WREAK HAVOC across US

The hardest-hit states are Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee, where tornado warning sirens blared across Nashville. The severe weather is also threatening nine other states, including Missouri, Texas, and Indiana.

The storms caused extensive damage, destroying homes, overturning vehicles, and causing widespread power outages affecting hundreds of thousands of households.

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🇺🇸☦️ Why are Americans turning to Orthodox Christianity?

While US media usually blames conversion to orthodoxy on things like the lure of masculinity, the reality is different and more nuanced. Here’s what American Christians themselves tell Sputnik.

🔸Stability and tradition

Whereas some branches of Christianity become “highly politicized” and “begin to compromise on a lot of things that Christians have always believed,” Orthodox Christianity still holds on to its original values, says Bailey Mullins.

“Both in religion and the culture and politics alike - just everything is changing and people are looking for something that's stable and unchanging. Orthodoxy presents that to people because it's been there for 2,000 years,” he notes.

🔸Role and place in the world

Others, like John-Carland Quicks and his wife Mary, value Orthodoxy for its “role in history and in the world,” for being something that is “inseparable from the nation.”

“Orthodoxy is not just something you can carry in your pocket, it is what builds the entire society and Orthodoxy understands that,” says Quicks.

🔸No more destruction

Many people simply do not want Christianity that is weak and destructive, argues Quicks. These people instead “want to be part of a strong, healthy culture,” and the Orthodoxy provides them such opportunity.

“More and more people, I think, are learning that there is real Christianity that you can build that sort of life around,” Quicks elaborates. “That a society, that a nation, a country, a people can build something good and something beautiful, and it's around Christ, and more people are getting that, and they want that.”

🔸American culture is rotten

“We knew that what modern culture, American culture, however you wanna define it - was something that was based around a very ungodly, an Antichrist,” says Quicks, adding that the “Western Church” is “sort of helping that sort of culture along in a lot of ways.”

“We think it's necessary to form and prepare our children properly to live in sort of this fallen world and in a fallen culture and to recognize it for what it is and give them the right tools. Yeah, that's what's brought us around to orthodoxy,” he explains.

Both Quicks and Mullen originally were Protestants, members of the US’ dominant branch of Christianity, but chose to convert to Orthodox Christianity.

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