Posted on 12/25/2016 12:42:31 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
The misreading of Russia’s geopolitical situation is especially sad because for the first time in many decades there is much to hope for in Moscow. Out of utopian misery has come the prospect of rebirth. It is as yet incipient. But I see great possibilities in it, in the many once-blighted churches now open and loved and full again, in the reappearance of symbols of pre-Bolshevik Russia, in the growth of a generation not stunted and pitted by poisoned air and food, nor twisted by Communist ethics. Many Russians will never recover from the cynicism they were taught, the mistrust, the contempt for religion and the foul cult of Comrade Pavlik. But their children can, and may...
(Excerpt) Read more at firstthings.com ...
To the naive, like President Obama.
“Oddly, this “expansion” only seems to be occurring in zones that Moscow once controlled, into which the E.U. and NATO, supported by the U.S., have sought to extend their influence.”
Oh, I see, Moscow only wants to expand its territorial expansion to what they had during the days of the USSR!
I’m sure the people of Eastern Europe are thrilled.
Trump wins again!
Oooops
Thought this was going to be a Gorebal Warming thread.
“Oddly, this “expansion” only seems to be occurring in zones that Moscow once controlled, into which the E.U. and NATO, supported by the U.S., have sought to extend their influence.”
Oh, I see, Moscow only wants to expand its territorial expansion to what they had during the days of the USSR!
I’m sure the people of Eastern Europe are thrilled.
Controlled??? More like stole, deported and/or murdered their Eastern European neighbors.
And it’s also false. Putinist Russia has made aggressive moves in the arctic. That is certainly NOT the former USSR.
The writer is a Soviet/Putin apologist.
That being said, we were allies against the Nazis, we are natural allies against the caliphate.
Hitchens devotes the heart of his article to disclosing and detailing the physical, social, and spiritual devastation wrought by generations of oppressive atheist Communism in the USSR.
And you call him a Soviet apologist?
Only if “apologist” is a synonym for “opponent”.
Great article, a good read.
It brings out some of the themes Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn brought out in his speeches and writing about the utterly bankrupt nature of the Soviet system drawing parallels between USSR thinking and modern Western thinking.
Putin may not be a democratic leader, but the USSR was far worse and as Hitchens points out, Putin is less brutal than Erdogan in Turkey, who butt is smooched by the USA and Western Europe constantly.
He does not praise the authoritarian aspects of Putin and points them out in the midst of this long article.
But Peter Hitchens notes that Erdogan in Turkey is worse, that the Western nations kiss up to regimes like Erdogan’s and Saudi Arabia’s without objecting to their negative aspects.
I urge everyone to read Hitchens blog.
At the top you see his December 18th column.
Further down if you scroll you will get the December 11th column.
Read them and reflect on the Syrian Civil War.
Hitchens reminds readers that the Russians-Syrians-Iranians were fighting “Osama Bin Laden sympathizers”-”Al Qaeda”-fighting under the banner of “Al Nusra”.
Why are the USA and the UK on the side of “Osama Bin Laden sympathizers” in Syria backed by Saudi Arabian and Qatari money?
Hitchens lays out the explanation for the UK being close to the Saudis in the December 11th column noting that the UK needs Saudi oil and even more importantly their money. He also points out that the Saudis buy defense industry products from the UK.
Those same reasons no doubt drive the slightly less energy dependent and slightly less deep in debt United States of America in taking the side of Islamic terrorists in Syria, Libya and so on during the “Arab Spring” mess.
The link:
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/
Lenin is still on display in Moscow, Soviet songs and flags are still displayed prominently, and they hold a Soviet parade every May 7th.
“And you call him a Soviet apologist?”
Yes.
The writer states that Russia ‘abandoned’ Eastern Europe and that Moscow would bot be expansionist if it were to attempt to extend its dominance to Eastern Europe once again.
He ignores the fact that Russia has a basket case economy, and economy that is smaller than California.
“But Peter Hitchens notes that Erdogan in Turkey is worse, that the Western nations kiss up to regimes like Erdogan’s and Saudi Arabia’s without objecting to their negative aspects.”
Ah, so on the freedom scale, we are going to compare Putin’s Russia to Saudi Arabia?
They are behind the forces fighting against each other in Syria right now, that is for sure.
First, with the collapse of the USSR, Russia *did* abandon its former Central European satellites.
Second, Russia extending influence over those former satellites now is dangerously aggressive in my view ,-— especially Ukraine -— but Hitchens doesn’t call it innocent, he only calls it understandable in the light of Russia’s perceived security needs. We’d argue about that.
Third, you’re faulting him for writing his article, not yours. He didn’t deal with the economy -— but then, he didn’t deal with the arts, higher education, urban planning, agriculture, energy policy, or many other aspects of Russian life.
Soviet apologist he is not. His main theme is that Russia us trying to crawl out from under the social wreckage and spiritual damage of the incredibly destructive Soviet era.
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