As I have said before, when religions are in the minority, they tend to emphasize tolerance and acceptance of diverse views. It is only when they get political power or influence that they reveal their true intolerant natures. Even if they do not become a state religion, as long as political leaders feel they are important enough to pander to, they start to suppress anyone or anything that opposes them.
Russia is a good case in point. The Communist revolution displaced the Russian Orthodox Church from having much political influence but now we see that Vladimir Putin seems to want to pander to them. As a result, he has agreed to the request of the head of the church patriarch Kirilli I to crack down on critics and unbelievers and criminalize blasphemy, in order to ‘protect the religious feelings of believers’.
It does not seem to matter that Kirilli has already been revealed to be hypocrite and a liar, whose shenanigans were hilariously exposed by bloggers. This may be why he wants to have the government crack down, so his future dishonest acts won’t be exposed.
In Russia truth will set you in prison.
I’ve been to a few protests at the local Russian consulate. We even had a few women show up in neon tights, sheath dresses, and ski masks a few months ago. It’s far too hot for that now.
I’d say we need to stir up trouble and shut down the consulate for a day, but I think I learned my lesson from the Occupy Houston action on #D12. We won the battle. We even got the Port Authority commissioner to resign, but we lost the war and were disbanded by February. I’ve been reading some Gene Sharp. We need people on the inside, allies in the Russian Jewish community, allies in the police, allies in the consulate itself, and allies in the Federal Court (We already have two judges on our side). Dialog and infiltration should precede protest. This is why Occupy failed. We will do it right next time.
This may be why he wants to have the government crack down, so his future dishonest acts won’t be exposed.
I suspect that he wants revenge.