FoRB Podcast: The Russian World Narrative and the Russian Aggression in Ukraine

In Episode 3 of The FoRB Podcast, Dmytro Vovk and Merilin Kiviorg invite Catherine Wanner and Thomas Bremer to discuss the Russian world (Russky mir)—a narrative utilized by the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church to justify Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine and to portray Russia as an “anti-Western civilization.” They touch on the ideological origins and content of the Russia world, the Russian Church’s involvement in the war, political and legal responses to the Russky mir narrative by Russia’s neighboring states (Ukraine and Estonia), and debates over these issue in the United States and Europe. 

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Holiness as a Political Category: Reimagining Society Through the Mosaic Tradition

Ronen Shoval is dean of the Argaman Institute of Advanced Studies and head of the Herzl Program in Philosophy and Culture. This post is based on chapter 3 of his book Holiness and Society: A Socio-Political Exploration of the Mosaic Tradition (Routledge 2024).

 On Capitol Hill, the seat of the U.S. Congress, 22 relief portrait plaques are installed above the gallery doors of the House Chamber. These plaques, collectively known as the Lawgivers, depict figures noted for their foundational contributions to the principles underlying the concept of law. Among these figures are Hammurabi, Justinian, and Solon, lawgivers whose ideas shaped legal thought across civilizations.

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The Zoroastrian Community Post-Religious Persecution

Malcolm M. Deboo has been president of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe since 2009. This post is based on his remarks at the AMAR International Charitable Foundation’s Windsor Dialogue Conference held at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, England, 24 June 2024. It was published as part of the feature “Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide.”

In the West, members of my community are called Zoroastrians, based on the ancient Greek name for the Prophet Zoroaster. In Iran, however, where the faith was established, we are called Zarathushtis, after the Prophet Zarathushtra. In India, we are known as the Parsis, meaning “those who came from Persia”; that name was given by the Hindus to my religious ancestors who left Iran more than a millennium ago, sailed down the Strait of Hormuz via the Persian Gulf, and landed on the west coast of India, in South Gujarat, where they were allowed to stay as refugees. Although India is home to other communities from Iran, including Shiites, the name “Parsi” was reserved for my people. In many ways, they were some of the world’s first “boat people.”

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