Prologue
Canada’s most famous liberal led the liberal Members of Parliament out of the room when the House of Commons was about to vote on whether the Chinese communist government was committing genocide. Under that prime minister’s watch, Canada has yet to erect a controversial memorial to the victims of communism… Maybe being fed up with his fellow-liberals was what drove Bob Dylan to write Blowin’ in the Wind.
Preface
Someone recently asked Vlad Vexler whether Arnold Swartzenegger’s video had any effect. Answer: NO…forget any fantasy of dropping leaflets over Russia, because “the problem is not paucity of information but the averting of gaze.”
Russia
Until the horror of 9/11 we barely knew anything about Arab culture; I didn’t even know Iraq from Iran. And before February 24, 2022, we didn’t truly understand the Russians. I do now, even if I can never understand specific Russians such as Putin: Other people guess at him and others in the Kremlin, guessing at why the invasion, why sending missiles into civilian areas, and why destroying the power grid, but I notice the media’s confident guesses don’t perfectly match—proof that all of them are only guessing.
Only now, over 500 days after the “special military operation,” can I read something that I would not have found 1,000 days ago. From Terry Glavin, National Post, July 13, 2023 page A6:
QUOTE
Talk to almost anyone of any intelligence in the plucky democracies of Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia and they will tell you that whether it’s Putin or some next-generation tyrant that emerges from one or another of Moscow’s ruling organized crime families, Russia’s warmongering will not end until the Russian Federation itself is bankrupted and broken up…
UNQUOTE
Although I should know better, I still share the bafflement of a Russian lieutenant who defected, Yehremov, interviewed by the BBC’s Steve Rosenburg: (link not working)
QUOTE
What does Mr Yefremov think about those Russians – and there are many – who express support for Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine?
“I don’t know what’s going on in their heads,” he says. “How could they allow themselves to be fooled? When they go to market, they know they could be short-changed. They don’t trust their wives, their husbands.
“But the man who has been deceiving them for 20 years, he only has to give the word and these people are ready to go and kill and die. I can’t understand it.”
As we end our chat, Mr Yefremov says sorry to the people of Ukraine.
“I apologize to the entire Ukrainian nation for coming to their home as an uninvited guest with a weapon in my hands.
UNQUOTE
How can one explain a novel by Vince Flynn (deceased) and Klyle Mills, in the best-selling Mitch Rapp series, Red War? The book describes what we know now about Russia… back in 2018— Mills even shows the Russian army believing in committing atrocities like they do today in Ukraine. The author did deep research, I guess, or maybe my educated fellow-liberals and I had been too blind to see. “How many times can a man turn his head…?”
Mitch Rapp is a field operative for the C.I.A. I won’t reveal the ending of the actual story, but I will reveal the last words of the happy epilogue where back in 2018 he refutes his partner. The italics in bold are mine, the first speaker is his partner Claudia:
“Some people are saying that this was a good thing. That NATO is already committing to better financing, better training, and better coordination.”
He shook his head. “The politicians will get sidetracked. They’ll start complaining about the money and in a few years no one will remember the invasion of Latvia any better than they do the invasion of Georgia,” Rapp said. “The Russian situation has never been complicated. They can’t be reasoned with or helped or turned into an ally. All you can do is contain them.”
He pushed her off his lap and stood, draining the rest of his beer. “History’s a broken record, Claudia. The best we can hope for is that next time it’ll be someone else’s problem.”
… …
Epilogue
A Canadian professor pointed out that Canadians can agree on what is “going too far” to the right, such as the horror of white supremacy, but they can’t agree on what is “going too far” to the left, which makes it hard for leftists to “peer pressure” each other.
In London, right near the (Queen) Victoria and Albert Museum, on the Harrods side of the street, in a nice little park, stands a modest monument to the victims of communism. Some leftists, in their blind belief, thought it was appropriate to vandalize it.
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
Calgary
August
2023
Transcript of a Finnish Intelligence officer’s one hour university lecture
https://the-culture-shocks.blogspot.com/2022/03/evaluation-of-russia-by-finish.html
Blog note: I posted about Arnold’s video (and an opposing athletes video) from a Russian perspective, by linking to Arab news, on March 25, 2022 (linking not working, so here is the full URL
https://seanessay.com/a-duped-lady-lies-and-replies-to-arnold/
