Everyone keeps talking about tanks, sanctions, NATO, troop movements — as if war starts the moment the first missile is launched. That’s cute. Real war starts years earlier, when you quietly make your enemies too dependent, too confused, and too ideologically compromised to resist you. Russia didn’t just roll into Ukraine. They prepared the battlefield…

Every few months, some self-styled “traditionalist” influencer holds up Russia as the last bastion of faith and family values. You know the pitch: “The West is lost, but Russia still believes in God, family, and order.” Cute story. Too bad the numbers tell a tale that looks more like a hangover than a holy revival.…

I. Introduction: Religion as a Survival Technology For most of human history, religion wasn’t optional — it was existential. Tribes without binding rituals, shared moral codes, or supernatural threats to keep the psychopathic in check didn’t last long. The gods weren’t just metaphysical mascots. They were evolutionary hacks — tools our ancestors used to coordinate…