By Batiushka for The Saker blog
Some commentators on this site have always been impatient for more dramatic Russian military action in the Ukraine, a Red Army Blitzkrieg involving the flattening of Kiev and many other cities. I suspect that, unlike military men, they have no idea of the horrors of real war. Unlike warmongering politicians, who do not do the fighting and do not face getting splattered by the brains and guts spilling out from inside other human-beings alive a few moments before, military men are essentially pacifists.
That does not mean that they are cowards, it means that, as professionals, they want to achieve their aims avoiding losses as far as possible. The aim is not to kill other human-beings. All the more so in the Ukraine, where those opposing you are the same race as yourself and with similar values. Kiev is not going to be flattened, it is a Russian City, indeed, it is called ‘The Mother of Russian Cities’. The SMO is to be implemented with as few losses as possible.
The Ukraine is to be freed, not destroyed. This war is against the USA and its blind but subservient vassals, not against the Ukraine and the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian people are being held hostage. The aim of any liberation is to free and save the hostages, not to kill them. The hostages are not the enemy. The enemies are the hostage-takers, Zelensky and Company. This whole operation is about saving the Ukraine, not destroying it.
Another thing that some in Western countries forget is that Russians have Asian patience. This is quite unlike Western impatience. Russia has not forgotten the Teutonic Knights in 1242, the Poles in the Time of Troubles (1598-1613), the Swedes at Poltava in 1709, Napoleon in 1812, the Franco-British in 1854-56, the Kaiser in 1914, Hitler in 1941, or Clinton in the 1990s.
It is all listed and remembered, just as the Chinese have not forgotten the British-run genocide of the Chinese in the Opium Wars, just as the Indians have not forgotten British atrocities in the First Indian War of Independence (the British call it ‘The Indian Mutiny’) in 1857-8, just as the Iranians have not forgotten the overthrow of their democracy by the British in 1953 and then the torture-chambers of the Shah’s secret police.
The point is that you should not poke the bear. Like Asians, Eurasian Russians have huge patience, but they forget absolutely nothing. When Kiev started its massacres in the Ukraine in 2014, all was noted. After the Bridge, that patience came to an end. The Russians have now appointed as Commander in Chief of what is now an anti-terrorist operation General Surovikin, nicknamed ‘General Armageddon’. His name, which comes from the Russian word for ‘severe’, recalls to any Russian the great hero of 18th century Russian military history, General Suvorov. My advice to Ukrainians after two days with 200 missiles? Either surrender asap or else get out now. Because, just from the news on 11 October:
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the USA and the UK of breaking off the March negotiations between Russia and Kiev in Istanbul, which came very near to peace and on terms fairly favourable to Kiev. Now, they were broken off, Kiev is not going to receive terms favourable to it in the slightest. All of this since March has cost Russia too much.
https://news.mail.ru/politics/53430648/?frommail=1
The head of Chechnia, Ramzan Kadyrov (and when he speaks, you had better listen) has said that the Ukraine has for ever lost any chance of an armistice with Russia because of the activities of Zelensky and his ‘satanised gang’. ‘What is happening today is retribution for the children, women and old men murdered and maimed in cold blood. The countries who today pose as pacifists and judge at the same time, and condemn the missile strikes on military, communications and energy-supply targets of the Ukraine, for eight long years could not have given a damn about the fates of those who lived in the Donbass’.
https://news.mail.ru/politics/53428975/?frommail=1
But, in a third story, the Chairman of the Belarussian Security Services, Ivan Tertel, has said in Minsk that he expects the turning-point of the Special Military Operation in the Ukraine to take place between November and February. ‘If the Russian Federation carries out a mobilisation of quality and provides its groups with the technical means and advanced arms, then military operations will enter their key phase’. This follows the announcement on 10 October by President Lukashenko that ‘with the degeneration of the situation on the borders of Belarus and the Ukraine, he and President Putin have decided on a joint regional army, to be formed in the next two days’.
https://news.mail.ru/politics/53428353/?frommail=1
This follows the release of information that the Ukraine has grouped 15,000 soldiers on the border with Belarus, mining roads and blowing up bridges. Something is afoot. Is Russia about to cut off the NATO road and rail supply routes from Poland and stop the supply of the Kiev forces with Western military equipment? Is an invasion about to cut through the West of the Ukraine? This would explain the targeting of Lvov with Russian missiles in the last two days. Since 25 March, when the Ukraine was left defeated, it has been revived only by $1.5 billion a month and military supplies coming from NATO countries, nearly all through Poland, with Rzheszow in south-eastern Poland becoming an important supply hub. Since 25 March this has become a war between Russia and the USA, which is hiding behind its poodles in Kiev and Western and Eastern Europe.
The end-game seems to be on the horizon. The winter conditions of November are three weeks away: enough time to get everything in place. Until then Russia can soften up the Ukraine, sending missiles and destroying the buildings of the hated Ukrainian Secret Police (SBU) in Kiev and Lvov and all manner of military and logistical targets and power plants, without which the Ukraine cannot function. However, Russia will still do its best to save Private Ukraina because it wants to save the Ukraine, not destroy it.
And beyond this, there is another, ultimately far more important, issue. This is the world economic war. Only once the USA has started to see the dollar fall and fail and Western Europe has started to suffer from power failures will things move here. On 8 October, an amendment in the European Parliament calling for the exploration of all avenues for peace in the Ukraine was defeated by 436 to 118 votes. Thus, for the moment nearly 80% of the EU Parliament prefers War to Peace. Last March the numbers would probably have been 554 votes to 0. Things are already moving. Does this mean that 20% of the EU has already come to its senses? Public demonstrations against NATO in Germany, France, indeed all over Western Europe, are taking place. It is the beginning.
The end-game for the Ukraine is then on the horizon. However, beyond the struggle in the Slav province of the Ukraine, saving Private Ukraina, there is the question of saving Private Europe, even indeed saving Private Northern America. This is far more difficult. Ukrainians have been zombified for only 30 years (admittedly the Galician far west for 400 years), but Western Europe has suffered a full thousand years of zombification, first under the pyramid-scheme and racketeering of feudalism (‘give us your cattle, corn and coins, or else we’ll send in the knights from the castle’), today under neo-feudalism (’pay your taxes and shut your mouths, or else we’ll cut you off from your bank card and deprive you of everything that makes your life worth living’).
Dezombifying Western people? Well, if you can drive a wedge between the people and the elite, you have begun. But the whole problem of the Western mentality is one of the self-flattery of infallibility. It began 950 years ago, as the Western Pope was declared infallible (1), then it trickled down to all Catholic clergy, but since then the Reformation democratised infallibility to Western men, then in the last hundred years to Western women, and in the last fifty years to all who accept the Western mentality, regardless of their sex, race, creed and, as they say now, ‘sexual orientation’. This is the foundation of the totalitarian ‘liberalism’ of Secular Humanism: ‘The West is Best and therefore so am I’.
Flatter yourselves in your delusions, if you want. It won’t last. The end-game is on the horizon.
Note:
1. Article 1 of the 1075 Dictatus Papae (‘Dictated by the Pope’) reads: The Roman Church was founded solely by God. Article 2: Only the Pope can rightly be called ‘Universal’. Article 9: All princes shall kiss the feet of the Pope alone. Article 19: He himself may be judged by no one. And Article 22: The Roman Church has never erred. Nor will it err, to all eternity.
Substitute ‘The West’ for ‘The Roman Church’ and ‘The US President’ for ‘the Pope’, and there you have the whole descendance and origin of the UN, sanctions, the WEF and many other horrors you can name.
11 October 2022
@Batiushka, I hope you are right and the end game is indeed in sight and a semblance of peace can be restored to Ukraine and her people.
I however see the situation a little differently, this conflict is of an existential nature for the United States and its elite will go down fighting to the last man/woman/child. It simply cannot afford to lose this as it will only accelerate the collapse of the dollar much quicker and thereby cause possible severe instability within the United States itself and the west at large. If this is Putin’s goal then clearly he is winning and while I personally admire Putin’s patience and his actions reveal he has given this much thought it is a very big risky gamble he is taking by not going “all in” militarily into Ukraine. I do not believe Putin is a true street fighter at heart like Kadyrov who has the street fighter instincts needed in such a military confrontation, by showing weakness you invite attack, it’s human nature.
I believe the United States will attack Russia and intervene in Ukraine if Ukraine is about to fall. It can be argued that this is a proxy war and the US would never intervene with manpower on behalf of Ukraine but the stakes are even higher for the United States than they are for Russia. I hope Putin doesn’t forget that the US leadership bombed Japan twice with nuclear weapons and didn’t even blink and in fact such a bombing is still celebrated within the United States and is celebrated with the reasoning “If we hadn’t done it , millions would have died”, the same exact argument can be applied to Ukraine.
Don’t conflate the globalists, bankers, Wall Streeters and Progressive elites with the population of the USA.
Sure, there are many useful idiots going around but there is a very significant percentage of The People who are getting mightly pissed off and this is a Federation of States, after all.
And to top it off, we also have a strong tradition of counties… wherein the local Sheriff is actually the highest constitutional official… and there is tradition of conservatism in most local police forces -specially at the foot level.
So, very much unlike Western Europe, the US can only be pushed only so much before a new Civil War kicks in. And this time, I think, it will be fought at the County level against a distant Federal, and State in some cases. It will be a national and state Civil War.
And it won’t last much. The Progressives will fall rather quickly I think.
After 60 years of constant wars, people are getting pretty much tired of this.
In a nation blessed with abundant natural resources the Progressives are turning us to a Venezuela.. I don’t know a single person happy with the situation here.. And many are massively pissed off.
Yes. Just look what Tulsi Gabbard just did and said. She tapped into what many in America believe. That said, all of my elected representatives but one are still for Ukraine. We will have to set them straight.
“…but the stakes are even higher for the United States than they are for Russia…”
Why?
10 thousand miles away, on the other side of the globe. Who’s front yard ukraine is?
Do Russians wage war in Mexico?
You know what the stakes are, the same they were in time of Yeltsin. The US is engaged in massive theft in Syria and now former ukraine, to name a few.
Only theft can save the economy, if at all, you’re aware that derivative market is a one giant nuke, propped up with big fat void.
Didn’t they admit the time of abundance is over. Watch panic increase daily.
Unfortunately, the cabal will reach for nukes, that’s all they got. So be it.
Tulsi Gabbard, former U.S. Congresslady from Hawaii, just announced she is leaving the democratic party ’cause she can no longer stomach the “elitist cabal of warmongers” within the party. ‘ suppose that is a start.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tulsi-gabbard-announces-leaving-democratic-party/story?id=91326164
As for activities in the Ukraine, Russia I believe has come to realize, something which most folks living in the U.S. already realize from experience, that there is no real negotiation possible with the “warmongering elitist cabal”. That means the only way to solve the Ukraine problem is for the complete and utter removal of the local ruling warmongering cabal in the Ukraine. And that goes on to say for that to happen is to neuter the ability of the cabal ruling the Ukraine to function, which means the complete and utter destruction of all infrastructure, e.g. electric, rail, gas, power, communication, roads upon which the cabal relies upon to govern. I think that is what many of the commentors on this site appearing to be “armageddon types” have been trying to say. Not that they are true warmongers per se, but understanding what, and who, Russia is up against, and understanding the dangers of a long war. Now, that does not mean killing lots of people. Hopefully not too many people will be in the way. Hopefully, some ruling elites can come to their senses before our planet gets melted away.
They appear to be gathering the forces to storm and sweep the capital, probably in nov-feb range.
And that should put a hurtin on their ability to communicate or even maintain an army. If it spreads from there, it is anyone’s guess.
You mean the Trumpians are going back to The Capital? Sure hope you’re right.
Cheers M
I don’t know so much about that, but troops are preparing something to be launched from Belarus in the near future, and after having come up short the first time, I think the second time shall be different.
I suppose anything is possible, I see the Belarus movement as more logistical, rear base, reserve supply, and a huge Anvil hanging over western Ukraine along with a Kinzal or two aimed at Poland should things get that far…….I don’t think the EU have the stomach for were this is going.
Cheers M
I have close ‘friends’ who are certainly not dumb, but they ‘believe’ the main stream media narritive. They got the jabs and they condemn Russia for invading a soevereign country. Even when they know the main stream media as an outlet of the political system lies constantly, they somehow keep believing new presented stuff. Intelligent people who take the jab and believe Russia is to blame. I find it stunning, but it’s the majority of the people. For the jab you can say it’s all about fear. For Russia you can say they don’t know anything about history. I have wondered a lot about how it is possible for reasonable intelligent people to believe the constant lies. You only need to ask your self very simple questions to be able to doubt and start seeing through the lies. Who benefits? Why are certain people censored? Can I trust a news outlet, a journalist or a politician who lied before not once, not twice but many times? Did I checked other opinions or even searched for truth in historian facts? Those close ‘friends’ do not really listen to me when I try to talk some sense into them, even when they know I’m dead serious. A wedge between the people and the elite is by far not enough. People need a trauma to get out of their cognitive dissonance. It’s the only way change can happen, because the people are not conscious enough to see through the lies. I’m afraid this generation never will. Only a small percentage is conscious and that is not enough.
They’ve cultivated the “Putin as a terrifying autocrat” image so relentlessly from the start that even I believed it at first and would have continued to if I hadn’t been visiting Russia and talking directly with people there. Even Tyler Durden on Zero Hedge said a couple days ago that Russia is an autocracy. It’s an unexamined assumption that people take for given, very much like the electron microphotograph of a purported virus that has become so iconic in the last three years. Thus everything shocking said about Putin and Russia is simply taken as basically true, perhaps details are off. The best thing to do is ask these people if they have ever been there. Once in a while you meet someone who worked on an oil rig or some such who was there to exploit the people when they were down and hated his time there, but a thoughtful person will stop and say, “No, I really don’t know Russia, do I.”
The West hates Putin because he spoiled their big
plans, first with his actions to stop the West’s “Big Steal” of Russian resources when he took power in 1999, second, when he foiled the West’s regime change war in Syria. As a result, according to Professor Stephen F Cohen, “Putin is the most demonized world leader in history.”
It must be extremely frustrating for them facing an “enemy” who precedes them on so many levels. Putin is a highly skilled pressure player. Or like a chess master, stays many moves ahead of his opponent.
So, mistakes happen when the western hubris gets in the way of reality. As they plot their next move against him and lay in wait, overcome with fantasies of personal invincibility, trembling with gleeful arrogance…
… but there he is again, already there… waiting for them.
This article cuts to the chase. Exceptionalism is a derivative of infallibility. This is the heart of the rules-based order, where the rules are given. Unclear though, by whom? Well, God, actually, and the idea is these rules therfore can’t be questioned.
Sweden withstood the dictats of the Church longer than most in Europe. The question I ask myself is whether our roots today go deep enough to reach those distant times when we were in touch with reality. I tend to think so. The shock we’re in for may kick-start the dezombification process so we can remember that our roots in Sweden are intertwined with the forming of Russia, way back in the 9th century.
https://youtu.be/W3CvfrmHpt4?t=588
The Varangians were Swedish Vikings from Roslagen (teams of rowers) and the Rus in Russia is from Ros in Roslagen.
This gives me some comfort and hope that we will come to our senses.
I learned what you described in college in Arizona. It was an excellent history class with an excellent professor. Dr. Michael Crichton who wrote Jurassic Park got the idea for his book Eaters of Men which was made into the movie 13th Warrior.
13th Warrior is the story of a Muslim diplomat, Iben Fahd from Baghdad. Iben Fahd (PBUH) existed and was Embassador to the Kievan Rus. His journals are stored at the King Fahd University in the KSA.
Nice to meet you brother.
Hi, thanks for an interesting article.
Can you provide any link to this referendum, i cant find it
On 8 October, an amendment in the European Parliament calling for the exploration of all avenues for peace in the Ukraine was defeated by 436 to 118 votes.
Keep up the good work
“Thus, for the moment nearly 80% of the EU Parliament prefers War to Peace.”
Lunatics out of touch with reality.
They dont represent us! They represent themselves and the corrupt system that supports them.
If it ever comes to that, russia should start with those evil fools, and a few of those bunkers the leets count on surviving and coming out on top. the deeper the better.
it would send the right message to keep the conflict short of doomsday, which seems to be where we are heading.
I hope you’re right, however: the West resembles a pack of rabid dogs who surround their foe and keep snapping away. If the West have no face saving way out of this disaster they will keep fighting, after all they have lots of Ukrainians still to sacrifice. We may have to wait for Trump to take power and pull out.
On the sending the right message to avoid armageddeon department, someone should divulge as wide a list as possible with the coordinates of afore mentioned bunkers.
Worst case scenario it would come handy to any survivors.
Reference to EU Parliament vote: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeiZ-LgXEAIsaCl?format=jpg&name=large
One can certainly argue that a short and massive invasion would in he end be the more humane approach to a long drawn out confrontation hat now results in damages to the infrastructure anyway – and that just before winter
“Mikheev attributed to his opponents in the Kremlin the argument that what they are doing is more humane, that Russia has no intention of leaving the broad Ukrainian public without heat or electricity in winter, or of causing unnecessary civilian deaths in its missile strikes. He insisted that the more humane way would have been to inflict massive pain on Ukraine back in March and April, so as to bring the conflict to an early conclusion. Escalation by baby steps is only prolonging the war and raising the risk of nuclear Armageddon.”
and it seems the Russian public is now involved
” What has happened to the passive Russian public? The one-word answer is mobilization. As Sergey Mikheev, a panelist in last night’s Vladimir Solovyov talk show explained, the mobilization has turned what was a technical operation manned by professional soldiers into a ‘people’s war’ and the people now want a say in how it is conducted.”
And a healthy doubt as to the conduct of the war, as directed by the political leadership seems to take hold
“Doubts about how the war is being conducted are causing ordinary Russians to lose confidence in their leadership and to look for hidden traitors. People are asking whether the oligarchs are influencing how the war is being fought so as to protect their interests. There is no room for private interests in what has been described as an existential conflict, says Mikheev.”
And then there is of course the absolute failure of security on the Kerch Bridge, leading to luckily not irreparable damage, which considering the terrorist attacks on Russia should never have been possible, and is due to bureaucratic complacency by not demanding to inspect carefully any commercial vehicle entering from either direction.
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/10/11/partial-mobilization-and-democracy/
I recently read a good essay about why Russia waited so long and walked so slowly during the SMO.
It posited that the Kremlin had to:
(1) Expose the masks of NATO and force it to bring out its support of Ukraine and its threat to Russia into the open.
(2) Build consensus withing Russia that NATO’s intentions and actions in Ukraine are indeed an existential threats to Russia and must be addressed.
(3) Legally transfer the Eastern Ukrainian regions to Russia per established UN rules.
Only once all three have been fully completed could Russia fully engage in the conflict, and the time is perfect since winter is actually the best time for the Russians to conduct warfare…
… and on a side note. I can not believe the hubris of the Western Elites on bombing the pipelines and bridge. Absolute arrogance… did they not understand how this would affect the Russians?
Poke the bear on the nose, at the entry of her cave with her cubs inside… with no other way to get and out.
Imbeciles.
One could only hope that the small lesson of what the russians could actually do, the west and their poodles in Kiev would come to their senses. Personally, I find it unlikely – unless the russians smacks the western CnC centers and smack them hard, they’ll never learn.
Well they could have hit the US Embassy in Kiev and said it was a mistake,like Nato did when they hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
I too have been advocating for that to happen. They could yell & scream blue murder but what else could they do without an even more direct strike. Russia should destroy the Embassies of uSA , UK & Germany. They have ALL sent weapons of war to the Nazis.
Guys, those buildings are empty, nothing but symbols…..the staff work from other buildings which Russia is aware of….hence Ukie twitter blowing up with news that many were disposed of in a liquidation sale yesterday.
Cheers M
“Flatter yourselves in your delusions, if you want. It won’t last. The end-game is on the horizon.”
I live in the U.S. and I am often struck with just how delusional this society is. First there is the grandiose delusion that our nation is indispensable and exceptional. The U.S. can do whatever it wants in the international realm without any consequences. Can you imagine this level of arrogance?
There are many delusions that are believed with almost religious vigor. To question any of them is seen as unpatriotic or inhumane. Our military is seen as omnipotent. Women produce sperm and can impregnate men. Farms don’t need fertilizer or water because food comes from the shelves of Walmart and these are always full. Everyone can just buy a $80,000 electric car and drive it for free by plugging it into a windmill. Untested vaccines are safe and effective because the FDA says so. A nation that has monetary crisis can just print more money and solve this problem, etc. I could go on and on but I think you get the point.
Reality is a funny thing, however. You can believe that you don’t need oxygen in outer space all you want until you take your first breath.
In the US, if we had an honest media, none of this would be happening.
However, most people I talk to see right through of that crap. Don’t believe what the media (propaganda machine) tells you.
I’ll give a simple but very telling example. The “TV News” last night said that 40 missiles had fallen on Ukraine… they wouldn’t even acknowledge that little fact… that over 200 missiles had fallen.
If they can even acknowledge little facts, you know they are lying all the time.
Lying all of the time, no doubt about it. Nevertheless, under the right conditions Colin Powell terrorized a nation with a vial of talcum powder. I don’t think things have changed all that much since then.
Batiushka. I among some of the commentators who urged action were proved right.
Tip toeing through the Ukraine for eight months on the pretext of saving lives and infrastructure ended with an offensive which pushed the outnumbered Russian forces back. Here comes Surovikin to do exactly what you were saying shouldn’t happen and the missile strikes on Ukraine cities long overdue now begin, along with the partial mobilization that apparently wasn’t needed.
We were drowned out by the noise, otherwise you’d have heard us. The SMO is over and war begins, as it should have from day one and I suspect we’ll see a different hardline Mr. Putin emerge from this. Neither Moscow nor Mr. Putin are Asian and it seems as if Mr. Putin’s ‘patience’ has finally and predictably run out.
No offence Batiushka, but events have moved on and your assessments are eight months out of date just as we, some of the commentators were warning about for months.
The Catholic church and after it protestantism have served as trojan horses for the cultural, social, political and economic subjugation and control of distant lands and for the benefit of the ‘mother country.’ Notice how every country that accepted these two cults is subservient to the US and western Europe to some degree. And notice how these countries have an animosity toward Russia, even countries that historically never fought any wars with Russia. Finally, notice how every country that has ever invaded Russia and tried to conquer it, eventually was defeated, and today hate Russia with a passion.
Mr. Pawel, What you say is not accurate. The USA has persecuted Catholics since its inception as a nation, let me remind you how they behaved with their Irish troops during the Mexican-American War in 1847 by refusing to fight against a Catholic nation (all hanged) and in the war of the Mexican dictator Plutarco Calles against the Catholic Church causing an insurrection of the Mexican believing people against an armed army that was defeated in the end. The USA supported Calles with the help of Freemasonry and the US Freemason ambassador. The “Cristiada” caused tens of thousands of deaths in Mexico.
Yes, you have your finger on the pulse – excellent article! Many Thanks!
Mr. Batiushka, on July 18, 1870, the Constitution “Pastor Aeternus” was promulgated, which defined the two dogmas, of the primacy of the Pope and papal infallibility. It was not a thousand years ago as you suggest.
Within the Catholic Church this Constitution caused much opposition at the time. Today it has derived in a more extreme variant: Papolatry or Papalism. The one who writes this to you Mr. Batiushka is a Roman and Apostolic Catholic.
Batiushka, as good a read as there is out there, as per usual, and I wonder why I haven’t seen you appear on all the ‘live stuff’ alongside the usual suspects (Martyanov, Escobar, Mercouris, Alex, Berletic, Lira, Ritter, Johnson, Dive, . . . . . . . . ). Maybe, you’re camera shy and avoid the limelight or maybe I’ve just missed you on another platform.
Up until reading your article here, for whatever reason, maybe because of your prior articles, with your grasp of British affairs, I assumed you were British or maybe had lived in the UK for years. I say that because only 10% of Brits could name more than 5 members of Government in any British Parliament since and including Tony (POS) Blair or Maggie (Hatchet) Thatcher.
The line,
‘But the whole problem of the Western mentality is self-flattery of infallibility’.
. . . . IMO, is only applicable to the ruling class or those with a vested interest, like the maggot politician who sells his/her soul to the highest bidder.
The Neocons/Zionists have usurped every nook & cranny of Civil Society in the West. The MSM did a real hatchet job on Corbyn (supporting Palestine, made him an antisemite, you’re with us or against us).
The UK is so captured and zombified, marginalised and vulnerable, that talk of ‘self-flattery and infallibility’ with regards to UK/Euro Fodder is incorrect, way off the mark, ceased decades ago. Plain survival is the current order of the day.
Look at Greece, Portugal, even Italy, my preferred go to countries, the stuffing’s been knocked out of the working, middle-classes. It’s plain survival mode and going through the motions, very little time for frivolity and gaiety.
Yes, the ruling shadow Elite and their bought and paid for political representation, the Enemies of the people may still embody superiority and exceptional mindsets; however, even this is FAKE, deep down their masks have fallen, they’ve been exposed as the Unclean, the killers they are.
If there’s one thing I know about, it’s people, whether a tradesman, a businessman, rich or poor, male or female, white or black, young or old, having travelled the globe, not sat in the 5-star hotel, gone out into the bush and fraternised with the locals/communities.
Trust me, there are many people scraping by in developing countries who are leading a far happier existence than the majority of their western counterparts. For example, it’s much safer to walk down the streets late at night in Luanda, Angola, than in many cities in England.
Sorry to go on,
Yesterday there was a guest on a show who is an American, residing in Moscow, Tim Kirby.
At one point, he blushed and considered whether or not he should expose Russia’s main societal weakness, their inferiority complex with regard to Westerners. Even contemplated whether or not this ‘chestnut’ could be used by the Western Governments/Elite to Russia’s detriment.
Having met a multitude of Russians whether on business trips abroad, through business conferences, on the phone, email or even sitting down in a Russian restaurant in Germany, the last impression I’ve walked away with is that Russians are shrinking violets, self-effacing or lacking in confidence.
Therefore, is Tim Kirby in anyway correct, or is he way off the mark and maybe needs another 5-10 years in Russia, get out into the suburbs more?
Or maybe it’s just the Russian elite who feel inferior to their Western counterparts!! Again, maybe just the lousy Liberals, born of little substance other than materialism.
In the regions of the world, say in the Americas, most countries are wary/frightened of the USA, in the African sphere, west more applicably, it’s Nigeria, in Eastern-Asian Europe, of course Russia will be intimidating to some by the very nature of its size, influence, dominance.
I’d say 90% give or take of Europeans are accepting of their mediocre existence and do not feel more adequate than others, while only 10% hang onto former glories, even the majority here aware their shortcomings, with only 1-3% in the psychopath bracket.
If Russia had no Energy Resources, then the 1-3% who rule roost over us would only hate Russians half as much. Without all Russia’s remaining natural resources, the hate would half again. In other words, they hate you for your wealth and the ethnicity/culture angle is used as a tool to get at Russia’s wealth (Dehumanisation). I’m not talking about the rabidly hate-fuelled ex-Soviet Neocon , the tormented Zionist (Nuland, Blinken) whose grandfather fled the Soviet Union for America/Canada here.
Anyone?
Maybe the West hates Russians because they are genuinely ‘exceptional’.
Your analysis made much sense, many good insights. However, the last comment on the West’s supposed sense of infallibility is way off the mark. There certainly is an attitude of arrogance, imperial pretentions and even an incorrigible hint of cultural superiority in the Western mentality, but infallibility, no.
By the way, the doctrine of papal infallibility was only proclaimed at the first Vatican Council in 1870, not 950 years ago, and it only refers to his inerrancy when speaking as pope on doctrinal matters if faith and morals.
In any case, I generally appreciate your articles, but try to avoid conflating matters.
Lets hope this General Armageddon conducts himself in a manner befitting his nickname.
Interesting that you mention the possibility for Russia to enter in Western Ukraine through Belarus.
I was previousky thinking that Russia will now have to linerate all of Ukraine to put an end to the Banderites’ regime, but have lately been thinking about only a half invasion of the Western Ukraine from Belarus until being within fire range of Ukraine’s South West border on a 30 km band should be suffiecient to block any NATO weapons’ transfer. And then huge offensives from Belgorod into Kharkov oblast towards the South and from Crimea into the Zaporhozhia oblast towards the North both along the Dniepr river, and then from LPR and DPR towards the West, blocking and slowly squeezing the entire Ukrainian army and NATO mercenaries currently fighting in East Ukraine with no possibility for help or to retreat once the North and South offensives meet in the center.
It might be one of the plans being considered by the Russian General Staff, with troops in Western Ukraine redeployed back into Belarus once East and South Ukraine are liberated.
In this way, additional NATO weapons won’t be able to reach the frontline due to Russians forces dug in in Western Ukraine preventing that, and the nazis will be slowly eliminated in the Eastern cauldron.
If such plan starts by the time the ground freeze in Ykraine in November, the war could very well end by February indeed.
I can only speak for myself. That said, this is probably one of the best articles I have read on this blog. It was succinct, practical and sensitive. It also pointed out one or two things I did not know or had forgotten.
My service in the military did not involved kinetic activities but, by its nature was very dangerous. On several occasions it looked like the end for me ……. and everybody else near me. Only the hand of God saved us, pure and simple. A friend of mine and the others with him, did not make it.
I participated in Cold Ex 83´. I was there ladies and gentlemen, having a bird´s eye view of what we were doing. I know exactly why Russia was extremely unhappy about it. I was not in the loop on official briefings but, it was very shocking to me once observed. It was as plain as day. It´s best I keep my mouth shut as instructed even almost 40 years later. I will say that the Europeans, all of them, are poodles, manure actually, to be spread as thinly or thickly as desired.
In this deep regret, shame almost, for having been a willing participation an overall gruesome and heartless grind of events, the author has struck a cord. For all of those fed on the bravado, thirst for blood, go stand in front of the families of those who have been taken as they are put into their graves. Go hold a mother who has lost all reason for life, who has broken down in your arms and weeps in the deepest possible sorrow, as the casket of her son has just been lowered into the ground. Those experiences are as profound as those when you are waiting, even calmly, to die in the next few moments.
Service members, we warriors, carry this with us the rest of our lives. It´s always there, burned into our souls. The author touched upon this and truly understands why there is no joy in killing. After the rage, the fury should one survive, there is always the rest of life staring back at you.
My thanks Batiushka. Fare thee well.
These essays by Batiushka are simply fabulous, great writing in the greatest Russian tradition. I am wondering if his work, here or elsewhere, is also widely available to the Russian population. I would sure hope so. Also wondering if there are other such great thinkers/authors in Russia putting out similar opinion ? His opinions couldn’t be more ‘well put,’ couched in great metaphor and spirit rallying hope and aspirations. I am a long ago fallen away Catholic, educated in that ideology to graduate level and then fully rejected with prejudice. Batiushka as pastor is one of the few things that could bring me back to the pew/congregation, assuming the Orthodox orientation. In grade school we had a favorite parish priest who at one point started as series of historical analysis discussing the past centuries and the protestant reformation and all that period, which were unbelievably well attended, like the whole parish were just crowding into his masses/sermons, as he was one of three. People are hungry for reality, education, real information. Thank you Batiushka for continuing my education in a most interesting way.
This is correct – Don’t forget why you are doing this… else, RUS risks losing its soul.
UKR is a Slavic brother… lost and ‘possessed’… there are good people there.
The blood of RUS and UKR soldiers must not be fertilizers for hatred.
I hope memorials to BOTH soldiers be drawn up and positive, painful lessons be drawn.
I absolutely agree that Papal infallibility was not dogmatised until 1870. But that is not the point. A reading of the life of Hildebrand (Pope Gregory VII) or just his 1075 document ‘Dictatus Papae’ is enough to realise that he considered the Popes of Rome infallible.The fact that dogmatisation took another 800 years is beside the point. Please read the Note.
hold on : this is not the citizen who votes, this is the proletarian !!!!!!!!!!
the peoples of Europe don’t have a say about foreign policies, nor inner policies anyway.
money rules the western world !!!!!!!!
suggesting that the citizens must awake is silly
Russia was not that strong in the early ’90s : where was – then – the cultural superiority of the russians ? Russia was down…and the orthodox religion did not make a change about it – 2 millions dead !!!!!!!.
who made a change ? a former communist, high-ranker from KGB…not the people of Russia !!!!!!
Geoffrey, communist from Belgium