I have more Russian friends than you could shake a stick at. I have no wish to do so but my Slav friends firmly believe that the US and EU carry a big stick and they do not take kindly to it. Stung by their being stigmatized, offended by hypocritical posturing, our hurt and exiled fellow Europeans turn east to China and south to India. The Russians have now merged their diplomatic, defense and trade relationships with the monolithic BRICS trading bloc. BRICS control almost 40 % of the GDP/PPP in the world. That is more than USA and EU together.
Given the minuscule size, troubled and shrinking economies of the EU and US, one wonders if the EU and U.S in fact exile themselves. The West certainly seems to be now hooked on its own sanctimonious petard. At home, offended Russians now resort to strident nationalism. In Russia today there is a heady mix of Soviet patriotism and Third Reich symbolism, the goose-step parades are back. The serried sea of flags and massive arms displays are now eerily reminiscent of the Reich during the 1930s. President Vladimir Putin’s standing is at an all-time high, Russian opinion of the EU and US is at an all-time low.
The Russians have good memories. They don’t like sieges, they know how to survive them and turn them on their foes. The Russians are particularly embittered by America’s ousting of the legitimate government of their neighbour and partner, Ukraine. Imagine American mortification had the Russians invested $7 billion on ousting the Mexican or Canadian governments.
Our Russian friends are aghast that the West openly supports russia Ukraine war pro-Nazis in Kiev. These Swastika-flaunting Banderistas are far from being Nazis. When the Reich occupied Ukraine in 1941 Banderistas were thrown into German concentration camps; it was Stalin who released them. The Banderistas are Ukrainian xenophobes. Their use of the Swastika is no more reflection on their agenda than it is on the stationery of Skinheads United. Before the war use of Swastikas was widespread. America’s Boeing aircraft manufacturers used it as did on a U.S iconic drinking brand’s labeling that proudly displayed the ancient symbol of good fortune.
Few in the West realize how effective the Russians ‘Great Patriotic War’ brainwashing is. Like the Americans and British, the Russians believe they alone defeated the Nazi meat grinder and saved the West.
Russians are oblivious to or forgiving of Stalin’s enormous crimes. They are blissfully unaware that ‘victim’ Russia in 1941 was poised to attack the Reich from the east when Germany preemptively struck with disastrous effects for the USSR. The Russians firmly believe they were the victims. They forget about Stalin’s wars on Finland, Poland, etc. They now see the US and EU as being the new Nazis. The West should be under no illusions. Don’t mess with the Russians. This is not 1939 and the killing fields are now much more even.