All power to you Thomas! I wish I could join you. ❤️ We must never forget the enormous debt we owe the Russians and it is also so important to acknowledge with what extraordinary calm, intelligence and restraint Putin and the Russian people have responded to the moronic, war-mongering West. All the best!
Thank you, Thomas, for standing on the right side of history. I was born in Moscow and my grandfather was one of the battle-modelers in the Red Army Headquarters during the war, he modeled Stalingrad and Kursk battles and participated in modeling the storm of Berlin. Later he wrote and co-wrote many books on the history of our Great Patriotic War. Today, the "West" (Britain and the US and the NATO cabal) is trying to rewrite the history, saying that the USSR wanted to defeat Hitler out of imperial ambitions, to annex and subjugate... whereas it was Britain that had these intentions, including annexing and dismembering USSR.
Today, Russia is not USSR anymore, sadly - the unity, solidarity and brotherhood are gone, replaced by Anglosphere-NATO propaganda of ethnic hate and fascism in the former republics, to drive Russia into more wars in hopes to divide it by small ethno-states which would drive Russian language and Russian culture out, like Ukrainian regime.
Putin as a leader is being constantly vilified, smeared and even accused of non-existent crimes against humanity.
Nobody knows what exactly he is guilty of, but the Western mainstream hates him, I guess simply because he is a strong leader and is not letting the country to be destroyed.
I am so glad you decided to go to Moscow at this time, just saying that everything in the center of Moscow is in English, everyone speaks English (unlike the West, where nearly no one speaks Russian) and all directions and brochures for the visitors are in English (also in French and Mandarin).
But please be careful, because people are expecting bombings, terrorist attacks, false flag attacks, all kinds of nasty hate acts from the NATO-British dogs.
"Today, Russia is not USSR anymore, sadly - the unity, solidarity and brotherhood are gone. . ."
Great words. Thank you Lena. Many other things are gone, like the socialist economic policies, though I hope that the present government will keep/ restore many of them.
I did not mean that solidarity and brotherhood are gone IN RUSSIA. I meant they are gone in the former USSR republics that turned fascist with glee, such as Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Britain, US and Zionists work hard to nazify other former republics as well.
OK, I didn't understand this point. Sorry. However, I meet so many people here in Canada from these former republics and they are all native Russian speakers and amazingly pro-Russian. I mean, the central Asians and Caucuses people, not those toxic Baltics politicians, but the latter have always been Jew- and Russian haters. Nothing changed.
This is such a wonderful and brave thing to do, Thomas! May 9th is the time when the entire Moscow turns green as all the trees bloom. The downtown streets are majestically all decorated.
Thomas, you write: "European powers have repeatedly gone to war against Russia — in the Crimean War, in World War I and most catastrophically in World War II. . ." You missed another date when Europeans went to war with Russia—in 1918 the Great Britain, France, the United States, and Japan joined the White Army to crash the young Revolution and join the Civil War. Quite possibly, the major reason for the Red Terror as the Bolshevics turned savage and paranoid.
THANK YOU, Thomas! Yes, we need to preserve our culture (as others should preserve theirs)! This paragraph really sums it up:
The myth of “the West” is a fiction — a euphemism for an informal US empire. In severing ties with Russia, Europe has severed ties with itself. As Ritz argues, only by reconnecting with Russia can Europe reclaim its cultural and political sovereignty. Only Russia, among “European” nations, has preserved a vision of European culture rooted in tradition, in contrast to the hollow postmodernism exported by the Atlantic world.
I do like your comment, of course. But it bothers me deeply that so many people repeat this myth about the 21st century Russian's culture being "rooted in tradition" which the other Europeans should adopt. This really means Patriarchy and the Church. And the far-right political ideology. Thank you, but no thank you! No, Russia is not becoming a "Christian nation"— what, after 70 years of religion being cancelled and the previous centuries of rebelling against the corrupt & criminal monks and priests following the European anticlerical tradition. Furthermore, the Russian countryside is still rooted in their Mather-Raw-Earth pre-Christian traditions and rituals— Russia being saved from the Roman conquest and their brutal conversion to Christianity being postponed by almost a millennium. All the great Russian cultural icons were against religion. Eg, Lev Tolstoy insisted on no religious symbols of any kind to be installed on his grave. Indeed, Russia is sometimes more European than Europe itself, but not in some retrograde "traditions" but in its cultural sophistication and enlightenment. Naturally, Putin's political theater of pretending to be deeply religious doesn't help. But it is just that, a theatre.
I would, perhaps, reply in a different way. My concern was and is with our European *critical* tradition going back to Socrates. Sometimes we forget that Christianity is rooted in that tradition (which was, obviously, transformed without eliminating it).
"This is why I’ve chosen to be in Moscow on May 9. It is a small but deliberate act of defiance against the attempt to sever ties between Europe and Russia. The timing is especially symbolic: May 9 commemorates Russia’s victory over Nazism — a history that European leaders are now attempting to rewrite or erase."
My deepest thanks to you and I wish I could make the trip as well to honor the sacrifice and the courage of the Russian people. May your trip help to break the walls of fear and deceit practiced by so many in the West. 🙏
If you get the chance whilst in Moscow, try to visit Bunker 42, the control centre for a potential nuclear war with Germany. Buried deep underground - and I mean deep in the bowels of Moscow - you’ll be startled by the rudimentary tech that Russia had at that time. They only take 10 visitors at a time, most being very patriotic Russians. The reception desks at most hotels will have pamphlets with the address and directions, all in Russian alphebet. But keep that pamphlet/brochure with you because you can stop locals in the street and ask them. You’ll find Muscovites very friendly and helpful. Best, David
David, one can also use Google maps in English while in Moscow. Another thing one can do is to ask the hotel clerk to Google Translate their directions for you.
"Can relations with Russia be mended? That question is not just geopolitical — it is existential."
I can't wrap my head around Europe's russiaphobia. Russia, it's beighbor which can offer so much more for Europe than for ever wars fuc*ing USA. Open your eyes Europe
Счастливого пути! [safe travels]. Hа здоровье means 'You are welcome' or 'Bon appetit.' Unless you wanted to say 'Bless you' to Thomas which is 'Будь здоров.' :))))
"May 9 commemorates Russia’s victory over Nazism — a history that European leaders are now attempting to rewrite or erase." While imposing a new fascism on their own populations.
I agree with a lot, if not most of what Thomas writes, and the current level of Russophobia is truly staggering, but we should remember both aspects of Soviet history, the key role in defeating Nazi Germany and the atrocities committed by Stalin's regime. As someone from an Eastern European country, specifically Poland, I remember the hard times that all of the Soviet bloc countries went through under communist rule. That's probably why it's a good thing Russia is no longer the USSR...
Do recall that Stalin died in 1953. The USSR lasted much longer and whatever hard times you experienced in Poland I am sure were unrelated to Stalin. I also suspect you and your countryfolk did enjoy many socialist economic policies. Including superb free education, free medicine, exceptionally low rent/utilities/transportation, and the affordable high quality food. And, MOST IMPORTANTLY, zero unemployment! The latter, alone, is worth suffering all the hardships of finding fashionable clothes and other such things.
I believe Russia is a mafia regime but I accept that Europe has been complicit in the eastwards expansion of NATO and the dirty tricks orchestrated by the USA (Victoria Nuland et al).
Now Trump is clear that it's up to the Europeans to look after Europe, our leaders need to stop virtue signalling about Ukraine and get real.
Many believe that the US empire is a mafia regime, but it's a matter of the personal belief systems, I guess. And how much brainwashing one's belief system can handle.
Clearly there were a lot of powerful people in the USA who did not want Trump to win power. But he has, and I accept some of those people still have the power to fight him. Where's the Russian example of the same thing? Do you agree with what happened to Navalny?
Richard, Moscow & St. Petersburg are filled to the brim with the opposition to Putin and his political teammates. Some are, indeed, quite powerful. For example, there is a sizable coterie of retired generals, who disagree with his war strategies, who hate him passionately and spend their days complaining about it. Online & in print. Do you read Russian? He is being criticized right and left. Many loudly insist on carpet bombing Ukraine the US/Israel style (more and more Russians feel this way too). Others literally think he is too weak and naïve and constantly falls for the West's tricks (many do so). Yet others vehemently oppose the war all together, especially the Moscow literati. Fortunately, most Russians, including Putin, are against bombing the civilians, they abhor the idea of killing their own grandmothers (a lot of Russians do have Ukrainian grannies, btw). Then, there are oligarchs who wish to kiss the US ass and recover their villas in Florida and Manhattan. And many other factions -- while Putin and his comrades balance it all with exceptional skill. Again, do you read Russian? Listen to the debates? (Highly intelligent and erudite as they always are, not your average Anglo pedestrian & sensationalist type). I don't think you do read Russian because you apparently believe that Navalny was "an opposition." He wasn't. He was a rather unfortunate and highly unpopular CIA stooge. Plus, he was a right-winger and held appalling racist and anti-immigrant views which he proclaimed without shame. His mother bitterly states that it was his wife and her boyfriend who persuaded Navalny to get back to Moscow after he had been sent away a free man. He had a rather poor health and apparently died because of that. Naturally, sending him to some very cold place was very cruel, but who made this decision? People in power who hated him. Russia is a VERY big country. To be so simpleminded and so brainwashed as to believe that a single man, the "evil" Putin (an elected president, for fuck's sake!), makes each and every little decision is, frankly, quite stupid. Do you think Putin never sleeps?
Funnily enough I am reading "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and I have just got to the point where Dubcek comes back from brief imprisonment by the Russians in 1968. As Stalin might have said of some of the types you mention, "How many divisions has he got?". I agree with Thomas that the USA's and EU's meddling have been instrumental in getting us to this point. I also understand that Russia will probably always have an authoritarian leader and that there are candidates who would be worse for Ukraine and Europe than Putin.
All power to you Thomas! I wish I could join you. ❤️ We must never forget the enormous debt we owe the Russians and it is also so important to acknowledge with what extraordinary calm, intelligence and restraint Putin and the Russian people have responded to the moronic, war-mongering West. All the best!
Thank you, Thomas, for standing on the right side of history. I was born in Moscow and my grandfather was one of the battle-modelers in the Red Army Headquarters during the war, he modeled Stalingrad and Kursk battles and participated in modeling the storm of Berlin. Later he wrote and co-wrote many books on the history of our Great Patriotic War. Today, the "West" (Britain and the US and the NATO cabal) is trying to rewrite the history, saying that the USSR wanted to defeat Hitler out of imperial ambitions, to annex and subjugate... whereas it was Britain that had these intentions, including annexing and dismembering USSR.
Today, Russia is not USSR anymore, sadly - the unity, solidarity and brotherhood are gone, replaced by Anglosphere-NATO propaganda of ethnic hate and fascism in the former republics, to drive Russia into more wars in hopes to divide it by small ethno-states which would drive Russian language and Russian culture out, like Ukrainian regime.
Putin as a leader is being constantly vilified, smeared and even accused of non-existent crimes against humanity.
Nobody knows what exactly he is guilty of, but the Western mainstream hates him, I guess simply because he is a strong leader and is not letting the country to be destroyed.
I am so glad you decided to go to Moscow at this time, just saying that everything in the center of Moscow is in English, everyone speaks English (unlike the West, where nearly no one speaks Russian) and all directions and brochures for the visitors are in English (also in French and Mandarin).
But please be careful, because people are expecting bombings, terrorist attacks, false flag attacks, all kinds of nasty hate acts from the NATO-British dogs.
Safe travels, Thomas! Храни Господь!
Thank you for your interesting comment.
"Today, Russia is not USSR anymore, sadly - the unity, solidarity and brotherhood are gone. . ."
Great words. Thank you Lena. Many other things are gone, like the socialist economic policies, though I hope that the present government will keep/ restore many of them.
I did not mean that solidarity and brotherhood are gone IN RUSSIA. I meant they are gone in the former USSR republics that turned fascist with glee, such as Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Britain, US and Zionists work hard to nazify other former republics as well.
OK, I didn't understand this point. Sorry. However, I meet so many people here in Canada from these former republics and they are all native Russian speakers and amazingly pro-Russian. I mean, the central Asians and Caucuses people, not those toxic Baltics politicians, but the latter have always been Jew- and Russian haters. Nothing changed.
This is such a wonderful and brave thing to do, Thomas! May 9th is the time when the entire Moscow turns green as all the trees bloom. The downtown streets are majestically all decorated.
Thomas, you write: "European powers have repeatedly gone to war against Russia — in the Crimean War, in World War I and most catastrophically in World War II. . ." You missed another date when Europeans went to war with Russia—in 1918 the Great Britain, France, the United States, and Japan joined the White Army to crash the young Revolution and join the Civil War. Quite possibly, the major reason for the Red Terror as the Bolshevics turned savage and paranoid.
THANK YOU, Thomas! Yes, we need to preserve our culture (as others should preserve theirs)! This paragraph really sums it up:
The myth of “the West” is a fiction — a euphemism for an informal US empire. In severing ties with Russia, Europe has severed ties with itself. As Ritz argues, only by reconnecting with Russia can Europe reclaim its cultural and political sovereignty. Only Russia, among “European” nations, has preserved a vision of European culture rooted in tradition, in contrast to the hollow postmodernism exported by the Atlantic world.
I do like your comment, of course. But it bothers me deeply that so many people repeat this myth about the 21st century Russian's culture being "rooted in tradition" which the other Europeans should adopt. This really means Patriarchy and the Church. And the far-right political ideology. Thank you, but no thank you! No, Russia is not becoming a "Christian nation"— what, after 70 years of religion being cancelled and the previous centuries of rebelling against the corrupt & criminal monks and priests following the European anticlerical tradition. Furthermore, the Russian countryside is still rooted in their Mather-Raw-Earth pre-Christian traditions and rituals— Russia being saved from the Roman conquest and their brutal conversion to Christianity being postponed by almost a millennium. All the great Russian cultural icons were against religion. Eg, Lev Tolstoy insisted on no religious symbols of any kind to be installed on his grave. Indeed, Russia is sometimes more European than Europe itself, but not in some retrograde "traditions" but in its cultural sophistication and enlightenment. Naturally, Putin's political theater of pretending to be deeply religious doesn't help. But it is just that, a theatre.
I would, perhaps, reply in a different way. My concern was and is with our European *critical* tradition going back to Socrates. Sometimes we forget that Christianity is rooted in that tradition (which was, obviously, transformed without eliminating it).
"This is why I’ve chosen to be in Moscow on May 9. It is a small but deliberate act of defiance against the attempt to sever ties between Europe and Russia. The timing is especially symbolic: May 9 commemorates Russia’s victory over Nazism — a history that European leaders are now attempting to rewrite or erase."
My deepest thanks to you and I wish I could make the trip as well to honor the sacrifice and the courage of the Russian people. May your trip help to break the walls of fear and deceit practiced by so many in the West. 🙏
If you get the chance whilst in Moscow, try to visit Bunker 42, the control centre for a potential nuclear war with Germany. Buried deep underground - and I mean deep in the bowels of Moscow - you’ll be startled by the rudimentary tech that Russia had at that time. They only take 10 visitors at a time, most being very patriotic Russians. The reception desks at most hotels will have pamphlets with the address and directions, all in Russian alphebet. But keep that pamphlet/brochure with you because you can stop locals in the street and ask them. You’ll find Muscovites very friendly and helpful. Best, David
David, one can also use Google maps in English while in Moscow. Another thing one can do is to ask the hotel clerk to Google Translate their directions for you.
Excellent, I'm glad you're going!
Thank you for your clear minded writing and for traveling!
"Can relations with Russia be mended? That question is not just geopolitical — it is existential."
I can't wrap my head around Europe's russiaphobia. Russia, it's beighbor which can offer so much more for Europe than for ever wars fuc*ing USA. Open your eyes Europe
PS Thomas: great assay..thank yoy.
Good for you Thomas. I will be with you in spirit.
Wonderful editorial. Minds are dumb here in Europe and as you say, they have completely forgotten WW2 and 27 million dead Russians.
Great to hear! Hope you get there OK, and looking forward to reading another eloquent, insightful article about your experiences.
на здоро́вье!
Счастливого пути! [safe travels]. Hа здоровье means 'You are welcome' or 'Bon appetit.' Unless you wanted to say 'Bless you' to Thomas which is 'Будь здоров.' :))))
"May 9 commemorates Russia’s victory over Nazism — a history that European leaders are now attempting to rewrite or erase." While imposing a new fascism on their own populations.
I agree with a lot, if not most of what Thomas writes, and the current level of Russophobia is truly staggering, but we should remember both aspects of Soviet history, the key role in defeating Nazi Germany and the atrocities committed by Stalin's regime. As someone from an Eastern European country, specifically Poland, I remember the hard times that all of the Soviet bloc countries went through under communist rule. That's probably why it's a good thing Russia is no longer the USSR...
Do recall that Stalin died in 1953. The USSR lasted much longer and whatever hard times you experienced in Poland I am sure were unrelated to Stalin. I also suspect you and your countryfolk did enjoy many socialist economic policies. Including superb free education, free medicine, exceptionally low rent/utilities/transportation, and the affordable high quality food. And, MOST IMPORTANTLY, zero unemployment! The latter, alone, is worth suffering all the hardships of finding fashionable clothes and other such things.
Thanks Thomas I would be with you all. God save you!
I believe Russia is a mafia regime but I accept that Europe has been complicit in the eastwards expansion of NATO and the dirty tricks orchestrated by the USA (Victoria Nuland et al).
Now Trump is clear that it's up to the Europeans to look after Europe, our leaders need to stop virtue signalling about Ukraine and get real.
Many believe that the US empire is a mafia regime, but it's a matter of the personal belief systems, I guess. And how much brainwashing one's belief system can handle.
Clearly there were a lot of powerful people in the USA who did not want Trump to win power. But he has, and I accept some of those people still have the power to fight him. Where's the Russian example of the same thing? Do you agree with what happened to Navalny?
Richard, Moscow & St. Petersburg are filled to the brim with the opposition to Putin and his political teammates. Some are, indeed, quite powerful. For example, there is a sizable coterie of retired generals, who disagree with his war strategies, who hate him passionately and spend their days complaining about it. Online & in print. Do you read Russian? He is being criticized right and left. Many loudly insist on carpet bombing Ukraine the US/Israel style (more and more Russians feel this way too). Others literally think he is too weak and naïve and constantly falls for the West's tricks (many do so). Yet others vehemently oppose the war all together, especially the Moscow literati. Fortunately, most Russians, including Putin, are against bombing the civilians, they abhor the idea of killing their own grandmothers (a lot of Russians do have Ukrainian grannies, btw). Then, there are oligarchs who wish to kiss the US ass and recover their villas in Florida and Manhattan. And many other factions -- while Putin and his comrades balance it all with exceptional skill. Again, do you read Russian? Listen to the debates? (Highly intelligent and erudite as they always are, not your average Anglo pedestrian & sensationalist type). I don't think you do read Russian because you apparently believe that Navalny was "an opposition." He wasn't. He was a rather unfortunate and highly unpopular CIA stooge. Plus, he was a right-winger and held appalling racist and anti-immigrant views which he proclaimed without shame. His mother bitterly states that it was his wife and her boyfriend who persuaded Navalny to get back to Moscow after he had been sent away a free man. He had a rather poor health and apparently died because of that. Naturally, sending him to some very cold place was very cruel, but who made this decision? People in power who hated him. Russia is a VERY big country. To be so simpleminded and so brainwashed as to believe that a single man, the "evil" Putin (an elected president, for fuck's sake!), makes each and every little decision is, frankly, quite stupid. Do you think Putin never sleeps?
Thanks for that.
Funnily enough I am reading "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and I have just got to the point where Dubcek comes back from brief imprisonment by the Russians in 1968. As Stalin might have said of some of the types you mention, "How many divisions has he got?". I agree with Thomas that the USA's and EU's meddling have been instrumental in getting us to this point. I also understand that Russia will probably always have an authoritarian leader and that there are candidates who would be worse for Ukraine and Europe than Putin.
What happened to Navalny? Who is Navalny? Please, do read something besides the WaPo and other such stuff. Educate yourself.