Russians, buoyant and optimistic

A recent advertisement invited Europeans to move to Russia before winter where there will be plenty of heat, cheap petrol, stocked supermarket shelves and lower inflation.

Much to the chagrin of the sanctionistas, everything is fine in Moscow. Russians have enough to eat. The ruble is strong. Summer entertainments are in full swing. Pepsi and Coke aren’t selling their poisonous brew here, but their dairy products, yogurts and other staples are fully available. McDonalds has been replaced by McDelicious. There’s even a local Parmesan-style cheese that I can’t get enough of. Medical supplies are harder to get and medications are subject to price gouging. All the gaps in the Russian consumer economy are well filled. The fact is that Russia’s turn to the East is working so far. As for me, I’ve had two home visits by doctors with nurses for $130, each lasting more the two hours. Our American pensions reach us easily since our Russian bank in not one of the sanctioned.

Russians don’t understand why Western economies have chosen to damage themselves trying to crush Russia and its culture, which does not need western patronage to thrive. Local TV is awash in music programs not contaminated by todays western pop music and rap. Russian musicians excel at American Jazz, show tunes and swing, plus the pop standard ballads. Soviet pop music and romantic ballads are in a class of their own. Classical music incomparable.

The view in Moscow is that Ukraine is a proxy for the West in its attempt to dislodge Slavic peoples from their position as a bulwark against European expansion into Central Asia and points south. In moments of stupidity, not transparency, U.S. leaders have openly admitted that this is a war to weaken Russia - no matter how many Ukrainians are killed. Madeline Albright once even challenged “Russia’s right to Siberia and the Far East.”

There was a time when the U.S. stood for peace as when we intervened to end the Israeli-British attempt to seize the Suez Canal from Egypt. And when Israel was surrounded by hostile powers, it was U.S. support that kept a balanced peace. But now, the U.S. inserts its military and its weapons to support its global agenda of a world dominated by American values and dollars.

The strangulation of Russia began with the voluntary dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. Instead of slowly helping Russia evolve into a capitalistic society integrated into the European sphere, a chaotic environment was allowed to fester - again with the idea of keeping Russia weak. The Russian people are aware of their having been “suckered” and see Putin as the only one who can put an end to Russia being set up as the “threat” that keeps the military-industrial-political complex well funded.

The false narrative that Russia wants to re-invent the Soviet Union is just a way of demonization. The lesson Russia learned from being an equal in a bi-polar world is that it’s economy cannot sustain such a status. So Russia’s choices were either to succumb to the West’s anti-Slavic hegemony or opt for a more inclusive multi-polar world. This multi-polar option was made possible by the U.S. globalization agenda which resulted in many more strong economies such as China and India, plus wannabes like Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Argentina, Venezuela, Iran, etc. (the BRICS consortium). Up until WW2 these nations were sovereign serfs to the world-dominant European culture led first by the UK and now by the U.S. and it’s NATO proxy.

The West has built up the Ukrainians into a formidable military, the likes of which the US has never faced since WW2. The Russians now understand that there will be no quick victory against such a force, but they patiently wait as Russia refines its responses to Western tactics and armaments. Russians don’t expect total victory, but they do support reclaiming the Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine where persecution runs high.

Russian elites believe the West will crack first when confronted with a revamped nuclear-ready Russia. Putin believes that Russia has insulated itself from most sanctions, which instead will boomerang on the West. There is not going to be any detente until after Russia’s complete reorientation to the East, an alternative world economy and financial system, and respect for diverse cultures. Russians are disdainful of Western values which they see as inimical to family life and create tensions between generations and various other socio-economic groupings.

Wars rarely start when one country attacks another. Before the flash point, there is a series of events, purposeful and accidental, which makes one of the adversaries feel that it has no choice but to act first. People here feel that the West’s strategy was to provoke a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine in order to weaken Russia, foment rebellion and de-federate Russia. But Russia has many Allies besides China and India who don’t want to see that happen. They too fear the thrall of the EU colonialists trying to reclaim the resources they once commanded.

Now that the US has gotten what it wanted all along, a lock on the European energy market with our LNG and oil exports, American interest in maintaining Ukraine and the culture wars with the East will probably wane.