Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts
Winston Churchill said that Russia was “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Having read two contrasting news reports of attitudes in Russia, I understand what Churchill meant.
General Valery Gerasimov, chairman of the Russian General Staff, has concluded from Washington’s many NATO intensified drills on Russia’s border that Washington and its NATO puppet states are preparing for a major conflict. In a briefing to foreign military attaches in Moscow, Gerasimov said that the increased number and scale of military exercises conducted by NATO members indicates that the alliance “is purposefully training its troops to be engaged in a major military conflict.” https://www.rt.com/news/476178-nato-big-war-kremlin/
The Kremlim’s spokesperson said that the Russian government trusts the opinion of General Gerasimov.
To be clear, based on analyzed evidence the Russian military sees Washington and its vassals preparing for war with Russia. The Russian government states that it trusts the opinion of the Russian military leadership.
Yet, a contemporaneous poll published by the Levada Center, an independent Russian pollster, reports that 80% of Russians see Washington and its NATO vassals as “friends.” https://tsarizm.com/news/eastern-europe/2020/02/18/poll-4-out-of-5-russians-view-west-as-a-friend/
“Only 3% of Russian respondents said they see the West as Russia’s enemy, Levada said. Another 16% said they view the West as a rival.
“Two-thirds of Levada’s respondents (67%) said Russia should treat the West as a “partner,” while 11% said Russia should treat the West as a “friend,” according to the Kommersant business daily’s breakdown of the data.”
The extraordinary difference between the view of the Russian general staff and ordinary Russians is hard to explain. Who is communicating with the Russian people? Their leaders? Or the Western funded NGOs and media that feed Western propaganda to the Russian people? Are the Russian people still listening to the Voice of America?
If these contrasting news reports are correct, then Russia is faced with the fact that the awareness of the government that Washington and its European vassals are an enemy intent on war is not shared by the Russian population. This implies a total failure of communication between the Russian government committed to Russian national sovereignty and the Russian people who apparently see no risk of being colonized by their friends in the West.
How can the Russian people, humiliated by American sanctions and endless denunciations of their elected president, who led them out of American captivity, and threatened by Washington’s nuclear missiles on their border, possiblly believe in friendship and partnership with Washington?
If the polls are correct, and the Russian people do not understand Washington’s hegemonic impulse, Russian sovereignty is not a sure thing.
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In the mid 80’s, I had the opportunity to have dinner with some Russian businessmen. We talked about a lot of things and it truly appeared to all of us at the table that we just wanted to get along with our life, raise our kids and see them do well. None of us saw the other as an adversary. A similar thing happened in the early 90’s when the company I was working for was training some mainland Chinese. Other than the obvious one party member, they were just regular businessmen.
Without governmental leaders, there would be a lot more peace in the world.
Wasn’t lost in translation that
maybe General Valery Gerasimov is talking about US (and other Western) governments,
while the Russians are talking about the US people?
I’d rather be Russia than China right now.
Unless things have changed recently, the Russian MSM is owned by Putin hating oligarchs.
Didn’t Pompeo go before NATO about a month ago and say that the Trump administration is strongly considering taking out Russian and Chinese leaders by drone attack AND Putin was not off limits? Russia is being pushed to the limit.
Bl.
We are pushing everyone to their limits. Reminds me of an aging boxer who’s behind on points, trying one last blitz.
Iv’e said for year that they are going to give their power to the beast for one hour and smoke us once and for all. Now that we are no longer the indispensable nation, why not. Maybe they won’t nukes us with bombs but there are other ways to shut us down.
As long as DC, and its continuity-of-government back-ups, each catch sufficient thermonuclear consideration, going toe-to-toe with the Russkies just might be the best way forward for the USA.
Russia is far less doomed than America. It has a fairly homogeneous population that threw out the jews (who came here) and are returning to Christianity.
Russia = The B team players
I’d be interested, but 25 bucks for the book, and no kindle edition, I’m out.
We funded and assisted the Bolshies before there even was a Soviet Union.
Look, more BS seemingly “proving” everybody depends on the indispensable nation…
It’s looking more and more like Russia is controlled by Chabad, just like the US. So why the “hostility” between the two nations? Can you think of a better way to slaughter millions of Christians and get away with it?