The EU met again and, with the Greek vote, they prolonged more sanctions on Russia. In the meantime, the EU-backed junta is continuing to kill scores of civilians in Novorussia every day. And while for “Charlie”, we saw millions in the streets, nobody seems to care. Worse, the EU is backing the Nazis murderers (I won’t even mention the USA).
This is tragic in more then one way. Of course, this is tragic for the people of Novorussia, but it is no less tragic for the Ukrainian people how now are living under a Nazi regime with no foreseeable hope for change. This is also tragic for the Russian people who are suffering the economic consequences of the sanctions. And, of course, this is tragic for the people of Europe who are also suffering from these (self-defeating) sanctions. But there is something else happening which might have very long lasting consequences.
For three centuries the Russian elites were more or less split into two camps: pro-western and anti-western. Of course in those days, “West” meant western Europe, not the USA or central Europe.
Russia’s European “friends” – a short reminder
The pro-European camp was formed by the new elites created by Czar Peter I to impose his reforms on the Russian people, and by the late 19th early 20th century, the pro-western camp was almost in total control of Russia. Then, the Soviet era more or less blurred these categories as ideology became central. While one could argue that the Trotskists were de-facto pro-western, they were such a small subset of the Bolshevik party which itself was such a tiny part of the Russian population that I don’t think we can speak of pro-western factions inside the Bolshevik or Communist party. Not even Khrushchev, certainly the worst leader the USSR ever had, was really pro-western. I think that the first pro-western Soviet leader was also the last one, Gorbachev. But after 1991, the vast majority of Russians, tired of ideological tensions, tired of a Cold War they did not want, tired of being seen as the enemies of Europe sincerely desired to become part of the West and finally set aside the past.
We all know what happened then. For a full decade, the West maintained a degenerate regime of oligarchs, CIA puppets and thugs in power while NATO advanced on all fronts. Instead of the promised “democratic lovefest”, Russia was plundered, humiliated, ridiculed, and fully colonized. In truth, from 1991 to 1996 Russia became Uncle Sam’s “poodle”, a thoroughly dysfunctional society run by freaks very similar to the ones sitting in Kiev today. By 1996 the situation became so bad as to be really explosive and Uncle Sam had to tread more carefully, with less visible arrogance, but it took the coming to power of Putin to really begin to reverse that trend. The period between 1991 and 1996 saw Russia suffer from human and material losses fully comparable to the kind of losses one would expect from nuclear war. During those years, the Russian society began noticing a strange lack of friendliness from the West: for all the back-slapping and lofty promises of partnership, the West (US and EU) gave a standing ovation the Chechen Wahabis even though they were at least as crazy and bloodthirsty as ISIS is today. Likewise, the US and EU broke all of their international obligations and jointly attacked both Yugoslavia and Serbia. Russians were aware of that, but they still held a general sympathy for Europeans who were mostly nice, polite, apparently well-intentioned people. Besides, one could always blame all these bizarre policies on the “legacy of the Cold War” cop-out. Finally, Eltsin and Milosevic were jerks, no doubt about that, and Russia was weak and, frankly, ugly. So most Russians kind of understood that the US and EU did not feel to kindly inclined towards Russia.
In a futile attempt to “behave”, Russians tried hard to be “nice” and “hyper-democratic”. They let the Latvians introduce apartheid, they agreed on sanctions against Iran, they saw NATO gradually encircle Russian with military bases and warships and they saw the US treat Russia with open contempt. In response, Russia made some rather vapid protests, participated in useless negotiations and let the USA spend 5 billions dollars in the Ukraine and even overturn elections.
In exchange for a total Russian submission, the West eventually “generously” agreed to stop supporting the Chechen Wahabis who had been defeated by the joint efforts of Vladimir Putin and Akhmad Hadji Kadyrov (and his son, Ramzan) anyway. Then, right when the hopelessly pro-western Dmitri Medvedev came to power and the hopes for the further subjugation of Russia were at an all time high, Saakashvili blew it all by listening to US Neocons and attacking South Ossetia. And here, for the very first time, Russia said “niet” and proceeded to smash the Georgian military even though the local force ratio were very much in the favor of Georgia and the Georgian forces better equipped. The US and NATO backed Georgian military, which some “experts” had referred to as a “tough nut to crack” for the “corrupt Russian military” but which was nevertheless destroyed in all of three days. And then, suddenly and for the first time, western politicians began to doubt their own propaganda: the quasi instantaneous defeat of Georgia, the lightening fast mobilization of the Black Sea fleet and the fact that the Russian Air Force achieved air superiority just 2 days after suffering some very humiliating initial losses, all that left a very bad taste in the mouths those who had believed in western military superiority myths.
Day after day, love turns gray, like the skin of a dying man (Roger Waters)
In Russia, however, this was also left a very bad taste. While the overwhelming majority of Russians had no hostility towards Georgia or the Georgian people, Russians simply could not understand two basic things:
a) How could the people in the West even seriously suggest that Russia was the aggressor when the Georgia attack was broadcast live TV?
b) How could the people in the West support such an obvious psychopath, scumbag and freak like Saakashvili?
Later we saw the West openly betray Russia at the UN over Libya only to immediately to turn to Syria with exactly the same intentions. At least the USA defended their own national interests (as their 1%er deep state understood it). But Europe? Why was France taking center stage in Libya and Syria? What was going on? What was wrong with these people?
The Ukraine from Napoleon to Adolf Hitler to Conchita Wurst
This latest crisis in the Ukraine really did “break” something in the Russian national awareness and now I think that the prevailing feeling in Russia about the West is simply disgust.
The new Europe
Disgust with the total hypocrisy of standing in theory for one thing and in supporting its exact opposite.
Disgust with an entire political system built on lies.
Disgust with a society which values homosexual “rights” to adopt children much more then the right of Novorussian children to live.
Disgust with the obscene whining of millions of “Charlies” combined the total heartless indifference towards thousands of killed civilians every day.
Disgust with an EU subservience to the USA even when it clearly goes against one own’s national interest.
Disgust with a society which bans Nazi symbols or even an honest investigation of the so-called “Holocaust” but sends billions of dollars in support of Nazis in Kiev.
Disgust with a society which did not have the moral fiber to resist Hitler and which had to be freed from Hitler by Stalin.
Disgust for a society which now apparently “forgot” who freed it from Hitler.
Disgust for a society which is willing to commit economic seppuku just to please its imperial overlord, Uncle Sam.
Disgust with central Europeans for having nothing more to offer to their new masters then a competition of which country can be most hysterically anti-Russian (Poland and Latvia win) even though they all had it much better then Russia under Communist rule.
If Napoleon was hated and Hitler was feared, Conchita Wurst is simply despised. Even the Russian liberals, who still get plenty of time on Russian TV, now find nothing better to say than “our government is every bit as bad the those in the West” – hardly an enthusiastic response. The fact is that for all practical purposes, and for the first time in over 300 years, there really is no more truly pro-European or pro-Western camp in Russia, not in the elites, not amongst the common people. Oh sure, there are still plenty of 5th columnists in the top echelons of power (we have the West of 1980s and 1990s to thank for that too), but they cannot openly show their face and promote their ideas. Even they now have to pretend that they are disgusted with West and “patriotic”. This process is made even deeper by another very important factor:
The Russians have changed too
Yes, the Russians have changed. There is an entire generation of Russians now which does not remember the Soviet Union and they don’t have the kind of guilt/inferiority complex the older generation sometimes had.
Here is a joke I heard for the first time in 2008: “how do you recognize a foreigner on the Red Square? He is the one dressed like a pauper” – not very funny unless you remember the Soviet years when the only people wearing fashionable clothes were only foreigners. Now this has turned around – the youth feels totally free from any Soviet-related guilt or inferiority complex and, in fact, a lot of young Russians feel confident and often quite superior to their European neighbors whom they view maybe like a good suitcase: nice, comfortable, useful – but most definitely not inspiring in the least. In some circles I even detect a bigger respect for the WWII Soviet generation then for the modern Europeans. Oh sure, they are welcome to sell Russia their cars or ham, but if they stop, there are plenty of other good cars and ham producers in the rest of the world.
Even the USA make more sense
Russian laugh when their hear that US-Russian trade has gone up and that NASA still purchases Russian rocket engines. That, at least, makes sense. In fact, what are the USA *really* doing right now? They are:
- Trying to protect the dollar
- Trying to maintain their global hegemony
- Trying to subdue Europe
- Trying to crush Russia as a potential challenger
None of that is lofty and moral, but all of it is very much within the logic of empire, and it is no worse than what other, previous, empires have done. Of course, that does not mean that modern Russians believe all the propaganda about democracy, human rights and free markets – they know it is all a lie – but they simply recognize that the US are “doing their thing” and even if recently the US have gone from disaster to defeat to disaster to defeat, at least they are still struggling for their own interests and their own empire. And what about the way the USA made its wealth from WWI and WWII, and then managed to have the world accept the dollar which it printed out of thin air? Do these policies not deserve at least a reluctant respect for being crafty? And when Biden candidly admit that the US forced the Europeans to yield to US demands about the Ukraine – is it not normal that the Russians have far less disgust with him than with Merkel or Hollande? Finally, when Nuland said “f**k the EU” and then never apologized for it – most Russians not only agree with her, they laugh at the Europeans for being treated with such contempt in complete submissive silence.
The consensus: just occupied territories
I was watching the famous “Sunday evening with Vladimir Soloviev” show (FortRuss has posted translated excerpts of it) and I was amazed to see that there was a quasi-consensus amongst most, if not quite all, guests: both the Ukraine and the EU are occupied territories and the war will last until the USA decide that they don’t need it any more. This also means that there is nobody to negotiate with, not in Kiev and not in Brussels. And since the US musts have as much war and confrontation in the Ukraine and in Europe as possible, the only way to stop the war is to win it. That’s the short version. The longer one goes something like that:
While negotiations with Kiev and Brussels cannot solve anything, it might be useful to participate in them just to break the West’s momentum and let the economic crisis in the Ukraine and the EU begin to seriously erode the current US domination. So negotiate, just don’t put any hope into that. And then there is interesting stuff happening in the EU, more and more countries, fractions, delegations and politicians are switching sides or, at least becoming uncomfortable with the situation. And we are not only taking about Greece here, even in Germany there is a lot of discontent. So “forget the EU” only applies to the current political EU, but this might change tomorrow. As for “winning the war”, this does not mean Russian tanks in Lvov or even Kiev, this could mean a wholesale collapse of the junta and the Ukrainian military as a result of the defeat in the East (as this war is already absorbing every penny not sent info offshore accounts).
Finally, there is one difference that Russians make between the EU and the Ukraine. The vast majority of Russian sincerely feel sorry for the Ukrainian people from whom they feel no disgust at all (well, except for the Nazi freaks and their death squads, of course). Most Russians are heartbroken at the waste, the deaths, the mutilations, the poverty, the humiliation and all the evils which have, yet again, befallen this land. An entire lost generation of Ukrainians.
The most famous Russian author right now is probably Sergei Lukyanenko. Lukyanenko is the archetypical Russian: a mix of Russian, Ukrainian and Tatar families and he considers himself completely Russian, even a Russian patriot. Still, his last name is distinctly Ukrainian and he clearly was horrified by what took place in the Ukraine. In fact, Lukyanenko was so appalled and angry, that he personally banned any further translations of his books into the Ukrainian language. A couple of months after he made that announcement, Lukyanenko was invited to participate into one of the marathon Q&A sessions with Putin on Russian TV where people from all over Russia call in to ask questions. Lukyanenko was given the microphone and asked Putin a question about the Ukraine referring to it as “cursed land”. Putin gently and respectfully corrected Lukyanenko saying that the Ukraine was not cursed, but long-suffering and martyred and then he asked Lukyanenko, as a personal favor, to lift the ban on the translations of his books into Ukrainian. Lukyanenko looked deeply moved for a few seconds, and then nodded his head and agreed (which got him and Putin an ovation from the entire audience).
This small incident shows the true face of Russia towards the Ukraine: one of immense sadness and sympathy, but never one of disgust.
The end of an era
But concerning the West (here as the US and the EU), I think that this last western invasion of the Ukraine will mark the end of a very long historic era which saw a long series of tragic, often bloody, and always unsuccessful attempts at somehow making Russia part of Europe or, more accurately, at submitting Russia and colonizing it for Europe. From the fanatic hatred of the Teutonic Knights to the lure of Napoleon’s freemasonery, from Hitler’s grim determination to conquer of what he believed was “his” Lebensraum to the imaginary “democratic lovefest” which never happened – Russia always zig-zagged between resistance and submission, between isolation and integration. I think that this process is now over: while the will to resist any invasion (military, economic or cultural) is still there, there is no more admiration and no more hope, only a sense of complete disgust.
Like all wars, the current one will end, but I think that the sense to complete disillusionment and disgust for the “West” and its “values” will remain a core reality of the Russian political future. Oh sure, diplomats will smile and past conflicts will be put to rest, but I don’t think that there is any future in Russia for those who want Russia to become “like the West”, at least no other than as a 5th columnist or the object of jokes.
The Saker
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Or let’s say in other words. Western decline is well documented fact even by western standards and even excluding so called moral values. The idea that in the last page of the book everybody will live the way of life of Malibu Beach, that will never happened. In future Europe will be just one periphery among others. There is no need for China to have both US and Europe as their priority. They have focusing their neighbours and of course BRICS.
If i have to suggest the era when that great change for slow but free fall in west started it might have been in mid 1960’s. I can even suggest the conflict of Europeans and Muslims having this background. How can any people appreciating culture, traditions and religion (at the core of every culture) respect post modern western people and their way of life? It all happened suddenly. Was it only because Cultural Marxism, the Frankfurt School ideas i doubt. There are deep roots even in late 18th century when first great intellectuals lost their faith. Since that process has accelerated and now there seems to be no fraction on both Europe and North America not adopted this bright new religion of post modernism.
Liberalism is indeed religion with heaven on earth and fruits are seen everywhere. What’s unknown – this liberalism can be belligerent (at least in verbal level, Timothy Garton Ash). However western soldier, with no real faith and values, is indeed hapless. Who wanna die in battlefield if his heaven is in earth – consumerism and hedonism.
New to your blog and greatly enjoying your POV. As someone who was trained as an officer in the US Navy in 1991I certainly remember the difficulty of transitioning away from focusing on the Soviet threat to a new focus. I can certainly say that once I got past the fact that the Cold War was over I don’t think I bore Russia any I’ll will.
I’ve read several hours of your posts and comments associated with them. Certainly, I feel more educated about Russian history from the end of the Cold War until present. And, as a Christian I certainly recognize the massive gulf between what most Americans see as the American dream and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
But, here are few things I would appreciate your thoughts on as they are things that I find difficult to reconcile with your POV:
1) I have no issue viewing the US intelligence apparatus as conducting nefarious deeds like Guatemala in 1954, or Chile in 1973, and innumerable attempted fixed elections in the Third World. But, the one thing I always took from my studies in school (this subject was my emphasis for my B.A. in History) was the general incompetence of the CIA, particularly when compared to that of the KGB and the GRU. Many of the assertions you make would require me to believe that a much less-experienced and much worse-led CIA is capable of so much skullduggery. Now I imagine that your answer would be that because the MSM is so clueless we just don’t know about it. Difficult to believe, but I’m keeping an open mind.
2) You obviously feel strongly about the moral rightness of Russia (and again I am the first to admit that I have a lifetime of anti-Russian indoctrination working against me), but I’m finding that viewpoint to be difficult to handle when I consider things like The Winter War with Finland, Russia’s own experience in Afghanistan, and let’s face it, anything I got from reading The Gulag Archipeligo.
Now, I’m willing to even concede that the thugs and gangsters that held sway in Russia in the early 90’s were horrible. But, am I wrong in being concerned that Vladimir Putin (formerly of Russia’s intelligence service) is somehow a different brand of KGB thug?
It would also make more sense to me concerning your fear of the US if you weren’t actually living in the US. I somehow think if I were writing a similarly anti-Russian blog in Russia I might not fare so well.
Please help me understand where I’m wrong…really I mean it.
Ernest since you were in the military did you develop an ethical and moral code? What I mean is, when you are in war, the aim is to kill your enemy any which way. But there is a code in that. You do not tie up a kid to a tree and then bait the enemy to go rescue the kid and then shoot them dead including the kid. You see the difference there? Or even the fight is over, do you take prisoners who yielded. Unlike your comrades who would just kill them because they cant be bothered to do the paperwork on it. Would you consider a life worth saving if possible even if it means more work for you or do you take the easy way out. A good soldier is not essentially the one who is the most lethal but the most effective in the most humane way possible even in the roughest of circumstances. It takes away nothing from your professionalism or mission objective or effectiveness. But you get to keep your humanity, your soul if you prefer.. Rather than discarding it as inconvenient.
Everything I have read about Putin says he is ruthless. He would go to any lengths as a patriot. To keep those under him safe and secure. That is what makes him effective. But he seems to have also learnt to keep his soul. He can not be bribed and can not be corrupted. This has been proven many times and it is well documented no matter how much they try to hide it. It was the one fact what made him popular, that he would not turn around and give his cronies the scoop on things. Or that you could bribe him to get things done your way. Which is not to say he don’t let his friends and inner circle bend and run around the law or even civil behavior. Only that he does not directly enable them to circumvent the law so he can benefit from it. When I was looking for focus and lack of hope, that is what attracted me to the behavior. After all, he can become a very rich man, retire and enjoy untold riches all curtsey of someone else if only he stands down and railroads his followers for their benefit. We can clearly see this behavior in the politicians of Europe who all stands to gain by just going along and saying the lines their handlers give them. If he was just after power like Stalin, he would not use the courts to punish them, he can make them disappear or have a coconut fall on their head. Instead when he finds people who are subverting the people and what is detrimental to the country as a whole he pushes them to leave and go elsewhere from which they can not do harm. He does not have unlimited power true, no matter what the MSM keeps saying, his powers are very limited but what makes him formidable is that those around his trust him and their loyalty makes it a hard nut to crack. Unlike most others before him that loyalty is to the people and not to themselves. It is what scares the empire so much so that they think WW3 is worth it because if that kind of vision takes off their power is useless.
Putin is not alone in this, what ever we may think of Saddam or Gadhafi who were vilified, they had the welfare of their people before them. Both had the chance to leave their people high and dry and lead a comfortable life in the Florida keys and look how many others took up the offer. How come we never saw all the stuff they looted from their countries and stuff in Swiss vaults. If there was anything you would think it would be front page news. We do have news off how other countries of so called allies actually have done this, the shopping sprees of the Saudi’s, Kuwaitis, Qatari’s for Parisian high priced hookers is legendary. While their own people are chopped up, gassed, jailed, beaten and jailed for voicing against these rulers. We don’t have to look too deep to find the corruption. Slavery on one hand while the elites are living it up. Dig deeper and you find those we vilified and thought monstrous are nowhere else to the decadence of those we seem to ignore.
All I am saying is, we have to look at deeper, find the motivation for what others do. And come to out own unbiased conclusion. For the longest time I wanted Saddam gone, until I saw the results of him being gone.
Not really what I was looking for, but I’m sure I would not have come to the same conclusion based on your points listed.
Your strongest argument for Putin would be his, as you say, reliance on the courts. But, anyone can tell you that Nixon and particularly Obama can use the “law” to go after people. Note the number of people charged with whistleblowing by Obama’s Justice Department, forced into financial ruin while defending themselves, only to have the charges dropped right about the time the jury wised up. The WB is still wiped out. The courts can always be used by the executive if they are inclined to abuse their power. Not to put words in your mouth (I apologize if this seems so), but just because Putin won’t take a bribe or have you sent to the gulag sans trial isn’t exactly a moral ringing endorsement.
As to your proposal that Saddam had no visible corruption or that he had his people’s welfare before him, I’m skeptical. Many of my friends in the Army and Marines Corps literally bivouced in his many palaces while admittedly watching the country tear itself apart around them in 2003-2004. And, I would say if you mean Sunni Baathists as his people, you might be partially on solid ground. What I do know is what most Iraqis remember and talked about incessantly (even former Baathists) was the utter devastation of the Iran-Iraq War. Someone with the welfare of their people at heart would not then almost immediately invade Kuwait and basically devastate his country all over again with sanctions. A lot of people seem to have selective amnesia as to what definitely would have happened to the Iraqi Kurds if that northern no-fly zone was not in effect. Just ask them. The best thing I can give Saddam is that he went out like a man when the Shiites served up that hideous example of a quasi-judicial killing. I can’t speak for Quadaffi having no real experience.
I don’t doubt Putin’s patriotism, but I see very little George Washington or Cinncinatus in his nature. Julius Caesar undoubtedly had the people’s welfare in mind too. His actions after the Civil War leave no doubt. But, it’s also just as likely he crossed the Rubicon in order to retain imperium, by force of arms. At any rate, whatever his motives, his actions soon led to a true Empire if one had not already existed.
At best I see your argument as one where the world exchanges putative (no alliterative Putin pun intended,really) hegemony of the Anglo-American empire (which I’m not ready to concede) for a Russian-Chinese one. Maybe folks might possibly consider that a good exchange, but wrapping that in moral overtones sounds like something out of Goebble’s camp.
That’s okay, you are just repeating what you were indoctrinated with. Maybe that is why many can not see the difference. But others not blinded by selective cognitive function, aka no context to place your perception would not be able to see it. Not many can.. And they place it into what they already know.
Considering the evil I see in railroading Americans to enrich the powerful, And considering the empowering of Russians at the expense of the criminal oligarchs and in defense of the country, I see a clear preference than I want to experience and that is not the western one. as you would die to defend your preference I would die to defend what I would prefer.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that:-)
I’ll just say you might want look at Russia’s history of handing power to men who are willing to use it and the result. Even discounting my indoctrination (or yours for that matter), if what you say is true of my country we generally confine the majority of our killing to Indians, Germans, Japanese, and Arabs. You guys have killed a lot of Germans, Finns, and Afghans, but your historical victims by a wide margin are your own people. Even if Putin is pure as the driven snow the next guy probably won’t be.
And, I’ve heard a lot of bluster on this blog (not from you) about the Russian willingness to fight and die. It would be nice to see a little more interest to avoid it. I, of course would like to see the US bring all our troops home and let you guys (Russia and China ) deal with the world. From Somalia to Haiti to Iraq I’m tired of butting in. Let’s see how you’ll do. If Finland, Hungary, and Afghanistan are any indication, I’m not hopeful. I hope the new Russian-Chinese alliance (???) can prevent Iran and N. Korea from having a nuke. Maybe it’ll work for you guys.
Btw, I never understood our refusal to declare Chechyn Wahabists as terrorist. We certainly have killed plenty of them in Iraq. That school massacre they orchestrated was simply horrible.
After reading the above article. I just want to post two quotes from well known persons !
Support by United States rulers is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man.
Nikita Khrushchev
If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a ‘peace conference,’ you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
Joseph Stalin
Thank The Saker you for this point of vue.
I, as french, am fully agreed with 99% of what being writed there, but i do continue to believe main part of french, german and american people are not that blind and stupid: major proof here and elsewhere. I am among those who are exhausted with official lies and hypocrisies in western medias. Such a madness and such a stupidity are so strange. To whom is able to find and evaluate alternative sources of information, it is quiet obvious something is going wrong in the “empire”… but anyone there has become a slave of consumerism and futility, without any historical memory nor political conscience. Best example? Madonna and Marine Le Pen are about to exhibit themselves around a “human rights table” (!!.. ??.. ) indeed, “universal values” like “democracy” and “human rights” have been completely “détournées” of their original meaning and only proofs of concept for lobbyists and cynical selfsold politicians.
Kind regards!
Thank you so much Saker. This is an excellent text. The lists of reasons to be disgusted with the west embodies perfectly not only the russians’ feelings, but those of many people around the world, not the least of which, the arabs of which I am one.
Thank you!