Born in the USSR in 1970, Russian by both nationality and ethnicity, and as such, have my own opinion on everything.
People, just try to think different. Maybe it won't make you happier, but the world will be a much better place to live in, if populated by thinking people.
You might not speak Russian, however, it won't prevent your enjoying the wonderful 360-degrees video.
Because war speaks one language.
As the country which suffered the true total war unleashed by Hitler, we have sincere and deep respect to all those who fought Nazis, whatever language they spoke and uniform they wore.
Hopefully, the lessons of early 1940s and 1975 will sometimes be learned. We could be allies against evil and for the progress of mankind; that means, so we can in the future, sooner or later.
It was a nice and quiet Sunday morning of June 22, 1941, when Hitler started the most terrible and devastating war our great country ever experienced.
In just days "The Sacred War" became kind of an unofficial anthem of the fighting Soviet people.
Multilingual titles included.
The meaning of the War for us Russians (including Ukrainians and Belorussians, for the matter) is often underestimated by the Westerners.
According to the state statistics (the accounting lasted for decades, and seems unfinished till now), the Hitlerites, their satellites and collaborators intentionally killed 7,420,379 civilians on the occupied territory uf the USSR. More than 1.7 million of Soviet Ostarbeiters died in the 3rd Reich, and 450+ thousands of those who survived, did not return back; the country lost them all. Approximately 4.1 million of civilians died on the occupied territory due to unbearable conditions of the regime installed (hunger, diseases, lack of medical assistance, etc.). Thus, for the USSR the "New Order" cost was at least 13.7 millions of civilians alone.
The war led to a considerable increase of child mortality; extra 1.3 million children born during the War, did not survive it (calculated on the base of death mortality in 1939-1940).
To save the Motherland, 8,668,400 soldiers gave their lives.
Taking into account demographic losses, we come to the unthinkable figure of 26.6 million people — and it's the lowest possible strictly scientific calculation.
This was in fact a genocidal war. Quite possibly, the very collapse of the USSR in 1991 became a postponed consequence of it.
Even now I tend to stand up when hearing the song above — just like the people do in the video, my fingers make fists, and tears come to eyes. And I am a grandson of those who fought and survived the War.
The war we understandanly call the Great Patriotic. And my feeling is that we will never forget it — as long as Russia exists, as long as there are Russians (of all 190+ ethnicities) in Russia.
Well, I am not going to discuss the evident fact of Russia being resurgent; I'm rather into another evident fact: this is an insufferable event for some of the big guys around there, and Philip Breedlove is not an exception.
The very idea of bringing back U-2 for surveillance over Russia sounds as kind of a mental diagnosis to a formerly brave US fighter pilot and presently NATO supreme allied commander, who is to step down this spring.
56 year ago, on May 1, 1960 a U-2 did a great service in breaking US-USSR relations; Gary Powers did not commit suicide... Surely, for the US military those were good old times and bright hopes; a great war seemed to be round the corner. Luckily, then, in the sixties, big guys succeeded to overcome all crises and kept the strategic peace till now (I am not talking about local wars; those bloodsheds did not threaten the very existence of life on Earth).
Now, in 2016, the Breedlove's idea is not only desperately outdated; it puts under question the very ability of the high-ranked military to perceive reality adequately.
The following text wrote recently my Facebook friend Eva Merkuryeva (link below). I couldn't write it better, so my conribution is translation.
It was exactly 17 years ago that 14 NATO countries brought democracy and freedom to the country of this little girl. 78 days of democratization…
And when splinters of a democratic shell hit the house of this girl — Milica Rakić — none of European officials in Brussels cried.
Milica Rakić (1996—1999), one of the victims of the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.
The democratic air force included 10 planes from Belgium; 42 airplanes from Italy (the homeland of crying Federica Mogherini) brought to Yugoslavia democratic bombs as well, and the total of 559 airplanes participating in the operation “Allied Force” used Italian air bases.
To celebrate freedom and democracy, the American and European “democratizers” decided to destroy the country of this child and to kill her personally.
Fighting back tears following the Brussels terrorist attacks, Europe's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini abruptly walked out of a news conference in Jordan saying 'today is a difficult day'. Image source.
Therefore the tears of the EU High Representative for foreign affairs and a security policy are those of a crocodile. You should cry when Yugoslavia was bombed. Now, after those terroristic attacks in Brussels, Mogherini’s tears are tears for the security policy which does not exist in Europe any more. And the European officials do not see or rather pretend they do not see the direct cause-effect relationship between local wars and colour revolutions supported warmly by Europe, and the present lack of European security.
All those common people drawing hearts on asphalt of European squares are hostages of that “security policy”. Nobody guarantees them safety. The only thing guaranteed is crocodile tears.
Mogherini considers it is necessary to stop the war in Syria for security. However, she hasn’t spelled a word they shouldn’t even start “democratizing” Syria in 2011.
The terroristic attacks are a direct consequence of that “democratization”; interventions in life of other people; transformation of other countries into ruins and destruction of histories that differ.
If Yugoslavia existed today on the map, if peaceful cities of Syria shone with evening lights, the people who died in Brussels would safely reach their homes, offices, friends...
And three-year-old Milica Rakić, killed with a splinter of a NATO shell, would be twenty now.
Live twenty-year-old Milica would be a guarantee of European security policy.
But when Milica was three, Europe killed its security; and went on killing it in the following 17 years.
Having read first coverages of the terroristic attack in Brussels (I love this city; I was thereto about 30 years ago, in 1985 and 1986. I undertsand the city has surely changed meanwhile, yet I do love the you know sweet remembrances of youth) in major media, I remembered an old piece from the Washington Post. It's rather small; I quote it in full.
Why Russia can't stop terrorists
Thursday, January 27, 2011; 8:04 PM
THE HORRIFIC suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport on Monday underlined a couple of sad conclusions about Russia's battle against terrorism. One is that the country's security services, unlike their counterparts in Europe and North America, have failed to develop the means to uncover terrorist networks, prevent attacks or protect public spaces such as airports and subway systems. No country's police can guarantee security. But in Russia over the past decade, as Vladimir Putin has cited the threat of terrorism in consolidating a domestic police state, Moscow alone has suffered eight major attacks, along with the destruction of two airplanes that took off from Domodedovo. Casualties have been heavy: At least 35 died and more than 200 were injured in the latest strike.
Second, Mr. Putin's autocratic form of rule and imperialist policy toward non-Russian nations has made it impossible for him to resolve - or even seriously address - the underlying problem that fuels most of the attacks. That is the restiveness of the mostly Muslim republics of the North Caucasus, including Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, which for the past two decades have been seeking more autonomy from Moscow. Russia's brutal response, including Mr. Putin's scorched-earth campaign in Chechnya, fueled the rise of Muslim extremist groups that have been growing steadily stronger despite nonstop counterterrorism operations. According to official Russian reports, the number of terrorist attacks in the Caucasus doubled in 2010 - though the bloodshed gets little attention when it occurs outside Moscow or other Russian cities.
Mr. Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev sometimes seem to recognize that sweeps by security forces will never stop the terrorists. Mr. Medvedev has blamed the "economic backwardness" of the Caucasus, and Mr. Putin has promoted a development plan under which the central government will invest $13 billion in the region over the next decade. That could do some good if the programs don't fall victim to Russia's endemic corruption. But the Kremlin leaders won't seriously address the issue of self-rule for the republics. Nor are they willing to take on the federal secret police and other security services, which are more skilled at protection rackets and the persecution of political dissidents than in detecting terrorist plots. It was telling that in the aftermath of the bombing, Mr. Medvedev blamed the management of the privately operated airport rather than federal officials responsible for counterterrorism. What's particularly worrying about the regime's failures is that Russia is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, on the edge of the Caucasus. The International Olympic Committee's unwise decision to accept Russia's bid means that athletes and governments around the world have to depend on the Putin-Medvedev regime to prevent terrorist disruption of the Games. Monday's attack was a reminder of how risky a bet that is.
It's an unsigned editorial piece; I take it for, say, an official position and viewpoint of the editorial office.
Having the recent events in Brussels on mind, I dare to put up some notes and questions, going backwards through the text above.
This decision is strongly opposed by "Rodes Must Fall" campaigners. THis campaign succeeded in South Africa, where a Rhodes statue was removed. The idea was adopted in Oxford by activists students insisting that Rhodes' views were incompatible with the modern 'inclusive culture'.
I have no doubt his views are incompatible. How could we expect it other way, talking about a British imperialistic (and as such, surely white) politician of 19th century?
The matter is that history was just the way it was. One can remove a statue, but no one can change history. History is to be studied, its lessons are to help us here, today, avoid mistakes of the past, and find better ways to future that is supposed to be better than the present and way better than the past.
The UK government says they are going on providing assisiatnce to the Ukrainian army.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon today (19 November) informed Parliament that the UK will provide a £971,000 gifting package as part of our non-lethal support being provided to the UAF. The equipment being gifted includes 170 large tents, 170 heating units and 600 sets of cold weather clothing...
Well, I am a bit surprised 170 tents + 170 heaters + 600 sets of winter clothes make almost one million pounds. It smells like some guys are making good business. Anyhow, that's what Capitalism is all about; this is nit the point I am going to discuss.
Having read this piece of news, I remembered a story that took place almost exactly a century ago, in 1919. And it was also about the British military assistance to a fighting side in Russia (which Ukraine is just a part of; maybe except for its Western part).
Most of the uniforms for the mobilized Russians were supplied by the British. General Knox stated that one hundred thousand uniforms had been supplied by the British for Kolchak forces. This was partially substantiated by the number of men in the Red Army wearing British uniforms. General Knox was disgusted at the Reds wearing British uniforms and later is re-ported to have said that the British would supply nothing more to Kolchak because everything they supplied reached the Bolsheviks. The men found in the Red Army wearing the British uniforms were the same men, generally speaking, to whom these uniforms were issued when they were with the Kolchak forces. The great mass of these men had no heart for fighting for Kolchak.
The methods used by the Kolchak people to mobilize these Siberians created a resentment not easily removed. They went into the service embittered by fear, not of the enemy, but of their own forces. The result was, as soon as they were armed and equipped they deserted by regiments, battalions, and individually to the Bolsheviks.
We will see how many of the stuff Fallon says about will make its unsurprising way to Novorossia.
Today most Russians celebrate the 98th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution — a brave attempt of some to make the life of all better. In many aspects, it was a great success, and even though the USSR failed early in 1990-s, its collapse had nothing to do with original ideas of common wealth. Old Russian calender was a bit behind of the world; the Bolsheviks adopted the common one in 1918, but the Revolution in Russia was in October, though for the rest of the world it was November 7.
As for today, I would express my sincere gratitude to General Major William Sidney Graves (1865—1940), who was in command of the American troops in Siberia in 1918—1920. His book "America's Siberian Adventure (1918—1920)" is a great evidence of what happened then in the Eastern part of our huge country. And of those 'Whites" who had nothing to do but lose the Russian Civil War, even agerssively supported and backed by foreign powers.
Admiral Kolchak surrounded himself with former Czarist officials and because these peasants would not take up arms and offer their lives to put these people back in power, they were kicked, beaten with knouts and murdered in cold blood by the thousands, and then the world called them "Bolsheviks." In Siberia, the word Bolshevik meant a human being who did not, by act and word, give encouragement to the restoration to power of representatives of Autocracy in Russia.
* * *
Semeonoff and Kalmikoff soldiers, under the protection of Japanese troops, were roaming the country like wild animals, killing and robbing the people, and these murders could have been stopped any day Japan wished. If questions were asked about these brutal murders, the reply was that the people murdered were Bolsheviks and this explanation, apparently, satisfied the world. Conditions were represented as being horrible in Eastern Siberia, and that life was the cheapest thing there.
There were horrible murders committed, but they were not committed by the Bolsheviks as the world believes. I am well on the side of safety when I say thatthe anti-Bolsheviks killed one hundred people in East-ern Siberia, to every one killed by the Bolsheviks.
A good propaganda does not necessarily mean to say something; sometimes it is absolutely effective to keep silence of this or that.
The Russian Service of BBC has recently announced a new OECD publication, "Health at a Glance 2015". Speaking about the life expectancy in different countries, an anonimous writer states:
Russia has one of the most unsignificant growth figure. As the organization says, in the 1970-s the average life expectancy of a Russian person was 68 years, and it increased to 71 years in 2013. Lithuania and Latvia showed comparable growth, though their figures were approximately one or two years more than that of Russia (73.9 and 73.5 years, correspondingly)...
What would an average British, or German, or, say, American citizen understand out of such a piece of data? While all the civilized world was steadily growing the life expectancy of its population, those evil Russians under their evil tyranny of Vladimir Putin almost stagnated, falling far behind the advanced nations. Putin must leave the Kremlin and let Russians live long and healthy lives!
And it would be a total and complete moronic bullshit, carefully created by pretty skilled in Russophobic matters BBC's staff.
'Cuz there were some events in between the 1970s and 2013 in Russia, you know.
When "the best German" Gorbi destroyed our country, and then betrayer and drunkard Yeltsin destroyed its economy, we had some troubles, you know. Statistics says, about 13 millions of Russian people prematurely died — losing the cold war turned out to be a quite bit hot for us Russians. My beloved father died at 63, and his early death belongs to this count as well.
So, when you come across some piece of news about Russia, it can in fact be a piece of shit prepared by skilled hands of propaganda cooks; and it's your choice whether to eat it or not.
With all my due thanks and best regards to blogger Fritzmorgen for the idea and picture.
The story below has been carefully collected and archived by Alexander Dyukov, Russian historian, author and human rights defender, founder of the Historical Memory Foundation. My part was just to translate and post it here. Well, and to add the last line.
You just have to see it with your own eyes.
These are the former armed insurgents of the so called "Maidan Self-Defense Forces", nowadays the "Kiev-2" battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
They seized a man; made him undress; beat him; tied his hands and threw him into dirt.
It's Autumn; and it's not that warm round there.
They pose with their beaten and bleeding victim lying in the foreground.
Having watched Blair's inteview to Fareed Zakaria, I didn't believe my eyes (well, rather ears) first. Tony Blair did publically admit and say apologies they had been misinformed by their intelligence about Iraq, and they had had bad plans about Iraq's future after Saddam was thrown away.
(As soon as the CNN uploads the full video, I'll replace this short extract.)
... I apologise for the fact that the intelligence I received was wrong.
Because even though he had used chemical weapons extensively against his own people against others, the programme in the form we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought. So I can apologise for that.
I can also apologise, by the way, for some of the mistakes in planning and certainly our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you had removed the regime.
Of course you can't say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.
As far as I see it, the British ex-PM says, simply speaking, "I was a stupid bloody moron, and all the shit of today is firmly based upon those bricks I with my boss from the White House shitted out in 2003."
The German humorists of "Die Anstalt" TV show remind us how did the USA improved order in the Middle East since 1953. The video was aired about 1 year ago, but it is sooo nice that it well deserves to be shared as wide as possible. And I cannot say the high hat player has somehow changed his own rules of the game he tries to play, so it is not outdated at all.
The one above is original German with English titles. This one has decent Russian titles.
Isn't it funny? Yes, and sadly so.
It looks like the USA are unable to learn on their own mistakes. But being the world-leading superpower they do not prefer to pay for their mistakes themselves, leaving the rest of the world to cope with the burden of having the USA atop and pay their bills. But this cannot last forever.
You can never extingush a fire with gas or matches.
President of the USA Mr. Barack Obama called President-elect of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych on February 11, 2010:
President Obama called Victor Yanukovych of Ukraine today to congratulate him on his election and wish him success in carrying out his mandate. The President commended the Ukrainian people on the conduct of their February 7 vote. This peaceful expression of the political will of Ukrainian voters is another positive step in strengthening democracy in Ukraine. They agreed on the importance of continuing cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation. They also wished each other’s athletes success in the Vancouver Olympic Games. The strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine is based on shared interests and values. These include expanding democracy and prosperity, protecting security and territorial integrity, strengthening the rule of law, promoting non-proliferation, and supporting reform in Ukraine’s economic and energy sectors. The United States looks forward to working with President-elect Yanukovych and continuing to strengthen our cooperation with Ukraine’s government and its Parliamentary leaders.
Almost exactly a year ago, on September 24, Barack Obama said in his speech at the 69th UN General Assembly, in particular:
As we gather here, an outbreak of Ebola overwhelms public health systems in West Africa and threatens to move rapidly across borders. Russian aggression in Europe recalls the days when large nations trampled small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition. The brutality of terrorists in Syria and Iraq forces us to look into the heart of darkness.
Each of these problems demands urgent attention.
So, from this viewpoint, the three top threats to the world are: Ebola, Russia, terrorists (evidently, ISIL).
At the same time no one can say these problems received proper medication during the last year. We don't hear about the US' victory over Ebola; after a year of anti-ISIL airstrikes media announced just new and new acts of brutality, terror and vandalism of the ISIL, which doesn't seem to be somehow bothered by the coalition's warfare. Those 'sanctions' supposed to stop so called 'Russian aggression did weaken our national currency to the point of considerable strengthening of our domestic economy, which is not bad at all now, though, surely, could be better.
So, what we have in the world now?
Magically, the second biggest US' trouble is somehow winning over the first and the third ones.
And don't miss this once-in-a-life chance if you're lucky enough to be in London till March 13, 2016.
Story of space exploration is the story of great achievements of the USSR. The Sputnik opened the sapace age on October 4, First ever human in space, Yuri Gagarin, started his exciting travel as a 1st Lieutenant, and landed as a Major of the Soviet Airforce.
We are often told the Russian civilization is in fact a part of the European, Western one. That is, we at all not Asians and shouldn’t look at the East.
In this thesis only one part of the statement is correct: we aren’t Asians.
But from the fact we aren’t Asians doesn’t follow at all that we are Europeans — for we are Russians.
I explain it as one-two-three.
A certain sovereign, Ivan the Great, known also under the number IV and name “the Terrible”*, wrote to the Queen of England approximately so: you, the silly woman, put interests of trade above the state interests, and you are a servant of your merchants.
I am not going into thin matters of how funny (and tragic at the same time) it sounds for me as an ex-Soviet citizen. I just wuold like to draw your attention to one of the tweets with which Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko celebrated the day.
Ukraine existed, exists, and will exist. And Novorossiya is a Tolkien's myth called Mordor.
He wrote it in Ukrainian, but our languages are so close that there's absolutely no trouble for me to translate it.
The matter is that the word Novorossiya (literally, New Russia) officially appeared in 1764, when Russian empress Catherine the Great established the Novorossiya governorate on the lands conquered during Russo-Turks wars.
The Immortal Regiment is the name of a non-official movement that started in Russia a couple of years ago.
The rules of the game are quite simple: you print a big size picture of your realtive who fought against Axis countries during the War, stick it to a board with handle, and walk out with the people like you.
The our part of the WWII, which is called the Great Patriotic War, had an enormous effect on the USSR. Virtually all families had relatives who was somehow touched by the war: either killed on the front or occupied territory, or served in the Red Army, and even more people worked hard in the rear.
In my family, my granddad and all three his brothers served as officers in the Red (later — Soviet) army. All the Samarins men were lucky to survive the war, but the top price was paid by many others. "Saving Private Ryan" is a great film; as for the USSR, it could not afford such an approach. There were mothers that los ALL 7 or 6 or 5 sons (let alone the fewer quantity) at the war.
I have already said, and I will repeat in the future, that was the war for the very existence of our country and people, something the Europe, especially the Western Europe did not experience to a least possible extent. Neither France, nor Belgium, nor the Netherlands, nor other occupied or allied with Hitler Germany lands.
Out of nine sons of Epistinia Stepanova, Alexander (Sr.) was executed by the White Army during the Civil War in Russia, Fyodor was killed by the Japanese during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, Vasiliy, Ivan, Ilya and Alexander (Jr.) were killed by Germans (the second Alexander was post mortem awarded with the highest Soviet award, the Hero of the Soviet Union), Filipp died as a POW already in 1945, Pavel was missed in action. Only disabled Nikolay made it to home; he died of wounds in 1963, being just 59. The mother survived all of them.
On June 24, 1941 Vasily Lebedev-Kumach published a new verse "The Sacred War" in two major Soviet newspapers, namely Izvestia and Krasnaya Zvezda. The next day Alexander Alexandrov, Alexandrov Ensemble founder and future music composer of the Soviet national anthem, wrote music for the lyrics.
His ensemble performed the newly-born song June 26 at the Belorussky Railway Terminal of Moscow, while mobilized troops were departing to the front. In fact, it was sung five times one after one, and became an immediate and great success across all the fighting country.
The video starts with the first official radio announcement of the war,
that shocked the Soviet people at noon (Moscow time) of the wonderful sunny summer Sunday, June 22, 1941.
I would even say, the song became an informal anthem of the war, which was soon baptized as the Great Patriotic War, as it was indeed.
It is a kind of magic. I was born 25 years after the war; both my parents were born after the Great Patriotic War (yet before the end of the WWII). But every time I hear this song duly performed, my fingers make fists.
