May 092022
 
 May 9, 2022  Posted by at 2:07 pm Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


M.C. Escher Gravitation 1952

 

 

Earlier today, I read that the Russian ambassador to Poland was hit by a paint bomb while laying a wreath for WWII fallen soldiers, with the culprits chanting: “fascist, fascist”! And I thought that is rich, on the day that Russia commemorates the 25-40 million Russian lives lost in WWII fighting fascism.

I don’t know how many of you ever saw Claude Lanzmann’s 1980’s 8-hour documentary “Shoah”, but I did at some point. It shook all of me, every molecule, and I will never watch it again. I come from the land of Anne Frank. What it told me was that nazism wasn’t just a German thing, it was the region, not the nation, it was where most Jewish people lived before Hitler and Goebbels came along.

Lanzmann interviewed scores of Polish people who were loudly proud of having pushed back Jews, trying to flee, onto the cattle trains bound for Auschwitz et al. That same mentality has prevailed in large parts of Ukraine as well over the by now 80 years or so. Just look at the map: that’s where this was happening. And the Russians defeated it in that part of the world, not western troops.

And when it was done, the role of the 25-40 million Russian deaths in it was denied in the west, because: communism vs capitalism. But of course Russia cannot just ignore or deny all those deaths, just because Hollywood wants to sell tickets to Saving Private Ryan. For Russia, WWII meant: never again. And for them that means something slightly different than for us. It’s not just never again fascism or nazism, it’s also that these two things are symbolic for having your motherland invaded from the west, and by the west. Never again. That is why Russia moved into Ukraine.

And they are convinced that NATO was getting ready, with the remaining nazis in Ukraine, to attack the Donbass and Crimea. Note: Russia has an excellent secret service. They’re not just guessing. 100s of 1000s of troops were amassing on their eastern border(s).

And now Zelensky is calling the Russians the nazis. That’s quite the about face. They lost all those lives fighting the nazis, only to become the nazis themselves. Labeled so by an actor who relies heavily on admitted, and tattooed, 2022 nazis to stay in power.

Western media, and governments, had a zillion predictions about what Putin would say today, but still there was no mobilization of Russians, and no total war declaration. They were all wrong, again. But it helped get the clickbait up! Still, he would have said it if we did not announce his intentions!, us who have a direct line into his brain…

I’ll leave you with three full reports from today, so you can make up your own mind- something I always try to do. First, RT, for which I cannot provide a link (banned because it’s propaganda!), then Guardian and then BBC.

 

 

Launching The Offensive Was “The Only Right Decision,” Russian President Insisted At The Annual Victory Day Parade (RT)

Russia’s military operation in Ukraine was a preemptive move against future aggression, President Vladimir Putin has outlined during his address at the Victory Day parade in Red Square in Moscow on Monday. Putin not only praised the achievement of the Soviet people during World War II, but also addressed the Kremlin’s reasons for the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Russia had to act because a large-scale offensive against the breakaway republics in the eastern Donbass region was being planned, he claimed.

“We saw the military infrastructure unfolding [in Ukraine]; hundreds of foreign advisers starting their work; there were regular deliveries of the most modern weapons from NATO countries. The danger grew every day,” the president explained. “Russia gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression – this was a forced, timely and the only right decision by a sovereign, strong and independent country,” he added, referring to the launch of the military operation. “Despite all the disagreements in international relations, Russia has always advocated the creation of a system of equal and indivisible security,” Putin continued. He cited Moscow’s attempts to engage in dialogue on security guarantees with Washington late last year, which failed to yield results.

“NATO countries didn’t want to hear us, which means that, in fact, they harbored completely different plans, and we saw it,” he elaborated. There were open preparations for a punitive operation in the Donbass and “an invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea,” Putin insisted, adding that Kiev also announced plans to restore its nuclear capabilities. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US has increasingly spoken of ‘American exceptionalism,’ Putin pointed out. By spreading those ideas, Washington is “humiliating not only the whole world, but also its satellites, which have to pretend that they don’t notice anything and humbly accept it all. But we are a different country,” he insisted.

Russia has a different character, we’ll never give up on our love for our Motherland, on our faith and traditional values and customs of our ancestors; on respect for all peoples and cultures. But the West has apparently decided to “cancel” those values, with such “moral degradation becoming the basis for cynical falsifications of the history of World War II, and the incitement of Russophobia,” he said. “We know that American veterans, who wanted to come to the parade in Moscow, were basically banned from doing so,” Putin added. But he pointed out that Russia remembered the feats of the US servicemen and their contribution to victory in World War II.

Returning to the military operation in Ukraine, the president illustrated that “the self-defense forces of the Donbass Republics together with the Russian military are fighting on their land… for the Motherland, for its future, to make sure that no one forgets the lessons of World War II, so that there would be no place in the world for butchers, punishers, and Nazis.” Announcing the “special military operation” on February 24, Putin said that Moscow should not repeat the mistakes of the Soviet leadership of 1940-1941.

Back then, he explained, the USSR tried not to provoke Nazi Germany by “refraining or postponing the most urgent and obvious preparations it had to make to defend itself from an imminent attack.” As a result, the president continued, the moment was lost and the country was not prepared to counter the invasion. “The attempt to appease the aggressor ahead of the Great Patriotic War proved to be a mistake which came at a high cost for our people…We will not make this mistake the second time. We have no right to do so,” Putin said.

 

 

The essence: “We will not make this mistake the second time. We have no right to do so,”

 

 

Putin Ties Ukraine Invasion To Second World War In Victory Day Speech (Guardian)

Vladimir Putin has told Russian soldiers they are “fighting for the same thing their fathers and grandfathers did” as he used his Victory Day speech to justify his invasion of Ukraine. As Putin sought to rally his country through the memory of the second world war, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pushed back in his own address from Kyiv. “We will not allow anyone to annex this victory, we will not allow it to be appropriated,” he said. The dual speeches marked a closely watched anniversary in eastern Europe, where Russia has used claims that it is fighting fascism to justify its bombardment of cities such as Mariupol and Kyiv and to launch the largest military campaign in Ukraine since the 1940s.

Prior to the speech, foreign officials had said Putin could use it to launch a full mobilisation of Russian troops or formally declare war in Ukraine, but there were no large policy announcements. Instead he suggested Russia was “forced” into the war by Nato and pledged to provide aid for the families of soldiers who had died in what the Kremlin is calling a “special operation”. Speaking at the 77th annual celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Russian president launched a defence of his war in Ukraine, pivoting from a recognition of Russia’s “greatest generation” to a description of how it was believed Ukraine was being armed by the west for an imminent attack on Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

“Nato countries did not want to listen to us,” Putin said. “They had different plans, and we saw it. They were planning an invasion into our historic lands, including Crimea … Russia gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression, it was a forced, timely and only right decision.” He also described the war as “sacred”. “The defence of the motherland, when its fate was being decided, has always been sacred,” Putin said, speaking of the second world war. “And now, you are fighting for our people in the Donbas. For the security of our homeland – Russia.” Russia provided fewer armoured vehicles than in past years during the Red Square parade on Monday and a planned flyover was cancelled, ostensibly due to weather conditions.

Putin did not bring up specific Russian victories in his speech, despite speculation his forces were engaged in a last-ditch effort to secure Mariupol and its Azovstal plant from the remaining Ukrainian defenders by 9 May. Instead, the Russian president addressed troop losses in the war, saying he had signed a new order that would give educational aid to the children of those killed. The Kremlin has been accused of seeking to cover up losses. After the sinking of the Moskva cruiser in the Black Sea, a number of families went public with claims the Russian military was trying to avoid confirming deaths onboard the ship.

“The death of each of our soldiers and officers is a grief for all of us and an irreparable loss for relatives and friends,” Putin said. “The state, regions, enterprises, public organisations will do everything to take care of such families and help them. We will provide special support to the children of the dead and wounded comrades. The presidential decree on this was signed today.”

The muted speech came in stark contrast to that delivered by Zelenskiy, who delivered a recorded address to a piano accompaniment as he walked through central Kyiv past anti-tank barricades. “This is not a war of two armies,” he said. “This is a war of two world views. A war waged by barbarians … who believe that their missiles can destroy our philosophy.” In the speech, Zelenskiy took aim at Russian claims Ukraine had sought to block 9 May celebrations, a focus of Russian state media in advance of the holiday.

“Our enemy dreamed that we would refuse to celebrate 9 May and the victory over Nazism,” said Zelenskiy. “So that the word ‘denazification’ will have a chance [to succeed] … On the day of victory over Nazism we are fighting for a new victory. The road to it is difficult but we have no doubt that we will win. “And very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine. And some will not even have one left.”

 

 

“The defence of the motherland, when its fate was being decided, has always been sacred.”

 

 

Putin Says Russia Fighting For Motherland In Ukraine In Victory Day Speech (BBC)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces in Ukraine were fighting for the future of their motherland, in his annual address marking victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Despite rumours he would make a major announcement his speech stuck largely to defending Russia’s invasion. He tied the war in Ukraine to victory in 1945, blaming the West and Nato for rejecting security demands. Almost 10 weeks into the invasion, civilian casualties continue to mount. Some 60 civilians are feared dead in the eastern town of Bilohorivka, after a Russian attack on a school where people were trying to escape bombardment.

Flanked by military top brass, Russia’s leader spoke of Ukrainians as fascists, repeating his false claim that the democratic government in Kyiv was run by neo-Nazis. Defending the motherland had always been sacred, he said, referring to the eastern region which is now the main focus of Russia’s assault: “Today you are fighting for our people in Donbas, for the security of Russia, our homeland.” He also made unfounded allegations against Nato and Ukraine and described the invasion as a pre-emptive rebuff: “They were preparing a punishing operation in Donbas to intrude on our historic lands. In Kyiv they were saying they might get nuclear weapons and Nato started exploring the lands close to us, and that became an obvious threat to us and our borders.”

Ukrainian presidential official Mykhailo Podoliak later responded, tweeting that there were no rational grounds for the war: “Nato countries were not going to attack Russia. Ukraine did not plan to attack Crimea.” There had been speculation that Russia’s president may be considering a change of military strategy, either a full declaration of war, rather than the current so-called special military operation, or a mobilisation of Russian men to boost the armed forces. Instead he said he was signing a decree for families of the dead and wounded in Ukraine to receive special support.

There was a minute of silence, including for the fallen in Ukraine, and he ended his 11-minute address with the words: “Glory to our armed forces – for Russia, for victory, hurrah”, at which the assembled forces responded with a big cheer. The parade was more modest than in recent years. Russian news agencies said 11,000 troops and 131 armoured vehicles took part in the event, including Russia’s widely feted Armata tanks, which have not been considered combat-ready for the war in Ukraine.

Not everything went according to plan. A flypast by the air force had to be cancelled shortly before the parade because of “weather conditions”, according to the Kremlin. Ahead of Victory Day, warplanes had rehearsed over Red Square in a Z-formation, the motif used by the Russian state during its war in Ukraine. Smaller parades took part in cities across Russia and the weather was also blamed for similar cancellations of flypasts in Yekaterinburg, Rostov and Novosibirsk. There was no mention in Vladimir Putin’s speech of Mariupol, the southern Ukrainian port city where a small group of Ukrainian forces continue to hold out in a maze of tunnels under the Azovstal steelworks.

But Russia was able to claim limited success on Monday in Kherson, the one Ukrainian city it can claim to have fully occupied. State-run news agency Ria Novosti showed footage of a Victory Day march in memory of those who died in the war. It was led by Volodymyr Saldo, a pro-Russian local official who has been named Kherson governor and is now being investigated for treason by Ukraine. What was then the Soviet Union lost 27 million lives during World War Two, with Ukraine accounting for eight million of them. In a separate message marking 9 May, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Nazis had been expelled in 1945 and Ukraine would not allow anyone to “annex this victory”. Very soon, he said, Ukraine would have two victory days to celebrate.

 

 

 

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Home Forums Victory Day in the Motherland

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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  • #107610

    M.C. Escher Gravitation 1952     Earlier today, I read that the Russian ambassador to Poland was hit by a paint bomb while laying a wreath f
    [See the full post at: Victory Day in the Motherland]

    #107611
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “This is a war of two world views. A war waged by barbarians … who believe that their missiles can destroy our philosophy.”

    A war between those who want a one world government and more centralization and those who believe decentralization and new leadership are a better option?

    #107617
    zerosum
    Participant

    11. How many times will you accept the lie, “Its Somebody Else’s Fault.”?
    HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU NEED TO HEAR THE TRUTH BEFORE YOU BELIEVE IT?

    #107633
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    John Helmer on Putin – Guterres meeting, … snip:

    In Guterres’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on April 26 (lead image), Putin warned Guterres he had been “misled” in his efforts. “The simplest thing”, Putin told Guterres in the recorded part of their meeting, “for military personnel or members of the nationalist battalions is to release the civilians. It is a crime to keep civilians, if there are any there, as human shields.”

    This war crime has been recognized since 1977 by the UN in Protocol 1 of the Geneva Convention. In US law for US soldiers and state officials, planning to employ or actually using human shields is a war crime to be prosecuted under 10 US Code Section 950t.

    Instead, Guterres ignored the Kremlin warning and the war crime law, and authorized UN officials, together with Red Cross officials, to conceal what Guterres himself knew of the foreign military group trying to escape. Overnight from New York, Guterres has refused to say what he knew of the military escape operation, and what he had done to distinguish, or conceal the differences between the civilians and combatants in the evacuation plan over the weekend of April 30-May 1.May.

    DID UN SECRETARY-GENERAL GUTERRES COMMIT A WAR CRIME AT AZOVSTAL?

    DID UN SECRETARY-GENERAL GUTERRES COMMIT A WAR CRIME AT AZOVSTAL?

    F.S.

    #107639
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    After a conversation with my sister, who refuses to talk “politics”, I have given up what little remaining hope I had left that the USA/west will ever see the real Russia…or its own propaganda/lies…
    Apparently Zelensky’s support of the Nazi’s Azov battalion are all Russian propaganda…
    My sister absolutely refuses to hear any opposing view…ditto the CV-19 vaccines are causing more harm than good…
    Ukraine good…Russia evil bad…
    She is a classic case of don’t mess with my confirmation bias’s…
    I see her as typical of US citizens…we’re f*cked!!!!!!

    #107643
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Ilargi;
    I very much appreciate this Freedom Rattle today.
    We need constant reminders of where we’ve come from so we can keep a keen eye on our future directions…
    We’re so easily distracted, fooled, mis-lead, and that is an inherent fault of us humans probably going back to tribal times…
    Cheers and thanks

    #107647
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    V. Arnold

    People without perspective, having near horizons in geography and time, unaware of history or themselves for that matter will cling to any anchor that keeps their feet dry as their Titanic sinks. A Canadian university professor wrote a thesis concerning the authoritarian personality that once went viral. It was noted that authoritarian not only was of the dominate but included also those dominated and that involves a sizeable fraction of any population not having the interior structures to support independence from the herd. Most people are too involved in the minutia of their daily lives to give much thought of matters external to those lives. It is simply just the way things are, the important matters get attention, distant matters are ignored. Add to that the social support beliefs, emotional attachments, myths and trust in authority over fact, knowledge, study, critical assessment and the rational mind and what you are seeing is the result. No one person has the ability to overcome that tsunami of factors. It took FDR’s New Deal assortment of factors, e.g. academia, political supports, to change the status quo just enough to address the economic conditions of the time. The resistance to that change was fierce and eventually was able to destroy the New Deal almost completely as public attention was diverted and lost in the trivia of life.

    Keep your vision and perspective alive but trying to share it will most likely end in tears. Those who can see will and those socially blinkered will miss the message if not be assaulted by your message. The Titanic has been holed beneath the waterline and is going down. The enormous wealth and riches have been spent on the pipe-dreams of empire by arrogant children playing at being leaders, employing the pied piper of media and entertainment. A long dark age will follow until another enlightenment happens without the resources the original had to drive its unfolding. The future must find their own resources for that; we here haven’t that ability to advise and should refrain from trying, as hard as that is to do. YMMV

    #107648
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Formerly T-Bear

    Keep your vision and perspective alive but trying to share it will most likely end in tears.

    Indeed, it’s a lesson I seem to need to learn over and over again…shame on me… 😉

    Thanks for that thoughtful response…
    Cheers

    #107649
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ T-Bear

    People without perspective, having near horizons in geography and time, unaware of history or themselves for that matter will cling to any anchor that keeps their feet dry as their Titanic sinks.

    I especially enjoyed that part of your reply; very germaine to these times and most peoples position in these most critical dealings…

    #107659
    citizenx
    Participant

    “The defening noise once again reached a crescendo. Wailing was all around, in a dreadful many-voiced choir. Earth and mud dashed against the open wounds. I crawled towards the next prone body. He lay face down in the earth; a white mess of brains had sprayed across his tunic. He had mercifully lost consciousness; his breathing was like a clogged motor, jerky and gurgling. His death throes made his limbs tense and twitch. Then that great calm came over him.

    Hour after hour passed by like this … When the shelling and screams had finally grown silent, only groaning, whimpering, cursing, praying, protests and invectives could be heard, along with the death rattles of the dying. They lay everywhere, among the meadows and sunflower fields – the dead and those who did not yet know whether they, too, were to die. A swarm of low flying aircraft swept past and freed a few from this uncertainty.”

    Barbarossa Unleashed, Wehrmacht Dr, Russian Front 1941

    Glory to the Motherland, death for Nazis and those who support them.

    The Empire of Hate and Lies chose poorly.

    #107662
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Question I have: is it as I believe, that Russia in general agrees with Putin and believes the West are at it again, and Putin did the right thing in preemptively attacking the Nazis in their own country this time? The approval numbers, at least twice as high as for any Western leader would suggest this, but it’s hard to get non-lies about anything, and although Democratic in the general sense, Russia is and always has been an authoritarian state.

    And so they had to break the kneecaps of the Pope to get him to admit NATO maybe-mighta had something to do with the war? He was seen in a wheelchair this week.

    Being here, I believe you are correct V. Arnold. That is the general view, and they are married and dedicated to their ignorance and close-mindedness. Regardless of anything that can happen, like the ongoing border war and 70k killed with Fentanyl. There are some who are not, but they are the sharp minority and no one knows why they are immune to the narrative. No one knows how to break the spell, the death of their children only makes it stronger.

    God save us from war, but war comes from Man.

    #107664
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    @V Arnold: It sounds as though your sister is a normie, and when you interact with normies for any length of time, you realize you really can’t talk to them because something crucial and fundamental…just isn’t there where they are concerned.

    #107670
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    A few weeks ago I turned on the TV which was tuned to the BBC Breakfast Show. A guy who said he was from Eastern Ukraine was on. He said that although we [in the West] have heard a lot about Nazis in Ukraine, it was a myth – they don’t exist! I did not linger to hear the host’s response.

    This ‘non-existent’ group has been in close contact with like-minded groups in the West. If there are food shortages and othe problems later this year then these white supremacist groups could gain popularity in the West.

    Interesting times!

    #107689
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Having trouble wrapping my mind around the numbers: 25-40 million Russian lives lost. Even at the low end, 25 million is an astounding number. One country paid a mighty price; how must that “event” continue to LIVE in the Hearts, minds, and DNA of those who remember?

    WWII – By far the most costly war in terms of human life, in which the total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 60 million. US count is 405,000 (military).

    #107693
    Noirette
    Participant

    Moon of Alabama has this map of attacks on the Donbass, violations of the zone, to 21 Feb.

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/12i/oscefeb21-s.jpg

    b states: The February 15 report of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine recorded some 41 explosions in the ceasefire areas. This increased to 76 explosions on Feb 16, 316 on Feb 17, 654 on Feb 18, 1413 on Feb 19, a total of 2026 of Feb 20 and 21 and 1484 on Feb 22.

    ———————————

    In short, the attack on the Donbass was being rapidly and steadily ramped up, organised by USuk (with other W complicity or help, other topic), according to a plan.

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/ukraine-putin-on-why-the-war-started-failed-attempts-on-snake-island-other-issues-.html#more

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