Address by Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, September 11, 2014
Translated from Russian by Gleb Bazov (Subheadings by the Translator)
Edited by S. Naylor
It has been a month since the moment when I had to resign from my position as the Donetsk Peoples’ Republic (“DPR”) Minister of Defence and the Commander-in-Chief of the Militia. I will not say that this decision was easy for me. Nor were the circumstances, in which it was made, simple. The city of Donetsk and the entire grouping of the DPR armed forces were in an operational encirclement, repulsing with great difficulty the unending attacks of the punitive forces, which were coming from all directions.
Only a few of those in the leadership of the Republic knew that within the next few days significant changes would occur, and that the enemy would be dealt a decisive defeat. I was one of those few, but I could not even hint to my subordinates that soon we would be on the offensive and start to retake the positions occupied by the enemy. It was even more difficult to realize that the liberation of the abandoned towns and settlements of the Donbass region (abandoned pursuant to orders made personally by me) would have to be led by someone other than me. Morally, it was hard to abandon my comrades, leave them, so to speak, in the “early hours before the dawn,” when the death of our common cause seemed to many to be inevitable.
I will not focus on the circumstances that forced me to resign. I will only say that the decision I made then has justified itself and –– on the eve of the offensive – allowed leadership of the armed forces of the DPR to unite in the hands of one and to avoid many of the conflicts, which, akin to leprosy, were eating away at the Republic; and also to ensure a reliable supply of everything necessary to our units and detachments.
On the Precipice of Victory and on the Verge of Defeat
Over the past several weeks the situation at the front in Novorossiya had fundamentally changed. In most areas, the punitive forces had been repulsed after suffering enormous losses, and had gone on the defensive. The prerequisites for the complete liberation of Donbass from the punitive armies and the units of the Kiev authorities had been formed. Snarling, the enemy started to back away to the west under the blows of the DPR army, and panic had seized its forces and its leadership.
But what happened next? Right before our eyes the forces that once almost destroyed the Russian Spring intervened, and thereafter never ceased their attempts to eliminate the People’s Liberation Movement of the Russian people of Novorossiya. There is no villainy, which is beyond these forces that have repeatedly manifested themselves in the modern history of our Fatherland in the most sinister of forms. It was these forces, directed from abroad, that played a decisive role in the destruction of the USSR in 1991, and thereafter throughout the 90’s openly abused the peoples of Russia; organizing an orgy of looting of the enormous Soviet economic and cultural heritage. They staged liberal experiments – monstrous in their consequences – on the remnants of our Motherland; not caring in the slightest about the consequences for the country, which they referred to (and to this day continue to mock) with contemptuous epithets.
Russia Rising from her Knees
This bacchanalia of collapse was accompanied by bloody wars that they provoked, by a savage orgy of rampant crime, by immorality, by propaganda, of the most vile vices that can be imagined, by the destruction of economic independence and national sovereignty. Even after failing in the attempts to deal a final blow to Russia in the early 2000s, these forces did not go away. They secretly continued their destructive work, in the hopes that their hour would come again, and that, in time, they would complete what they had started.
However, dawn of the Russian Spring broke on the horizon; and our country started – not in words, but in reality – to rise from its knees. But as soon as Russia attempted to rethink the results of Gorbachev’s capitulation and to regain the rights and the territories that belonged to it from ancient times – to achieve real independence – the Fifth Column mobilized all the forces available to it. The return of Crimea to Russia shocked it, and the uprising in Novorossiya caused true panic, and forced it to manifest once again its true face.
The web of numerous agents that for many years successfully masqueraded in the sheep’s clothing of “patriots” and “statists”, and under this guise infiltrated the highest echelons of power, and even the entourage of the President of Russia, was raised on alert and thrown into battle. Acting, in reality, against the interests of the country and its people, these traitors nevertheless continue brazenly to assert that they are the President’s “friends”, and to portray their frankly subversive activities and sabotage as the only true measures to strengthen Russian sovereignty. From where, you might ask, do they draw such arrogance and confidence in their own invulnerability? The explanation is extremely simple: all that is valued by the representatives of the Fifth Column (in other words, money and other material resources, as well as families and offspring) has been exported abroad long ago, and its preservation depends entirely on the mercy of their foreign owners.
The Militia as the Guarantor of Novorossiya’s Freedom
Over the five months of the struggle, the Russian people of Novorossiya felt for themselves the full measure of the impact of the “fruits” of these types of subversive activities. At a time when Russian military aid was vital to the virtually unarmed militiamen, and when this assistance could – almost without bloodshed – lead to the liberation of all the Russian-speaking regions, the agents of influence howled in unison about the impossibility and the impermissibility of direct military aid to the rebellion. While the punitive forces were burning people alive in Odessa, bombarding Slavyansk with heavy artillery and urgently forming a combat-capable army, their accomplices, who penetrated the foreign policy leadership of Russia, not only sabotaged any and all military and political assistance to the Militia, but also – in complete understanding with Poroshenko, Turchinov, Akhmetov, Taruta, and other representatives of the Ukrainian oligarchy – worked to split the ranks of the Militia’s leadership; preventing the creation of a unified command, and through joint efforts attempted to lure the President of Russia into the traps laid by them.
The persistence and selflessness of the Militiamen did not allow the punitive forces to quell the uprising before the real help from Russia finally reached its addressee. The Militia commenced its offensive. However, here also the traitors manifested themselves in full measure. To the punitive army that was on the precipice of total defeat they immediately extended a “helping hand” by arranging a ceasefire and attempting, in the course of the negotiations, to surrender literally all the gains made by those who rose up; placing them at the mercy of the Kiev Junta. It is simply impossible to come up with more disgraceful covenants that those currently being discussed in Minsk.
And in the meantime, Kiev is hastily replenishing, rearming and training its army, preparing to continue the genocide of the Russian people of Novorossiya. As a result, we now have absolutely the same situation as in the beginning of our movement, except that we find ourselves in more difficult starting positions. Whereas in April-May Kiev had neither a combat-capable army, nor the support of the population, now the punitive forces have been mobilized and armed to the teeth, and the population of Ukraine, subjected to the massive influence of propaganda that extensively uses techniques of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, has, to a large degree, been zombified and brainwashed, and can no longer distinguish truth from falsehood.
Choose Shame over War, and War Will Follow
During these same months, several rounds of sanctions have been imposed against Russia, and the half-forgotten claims regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia have already begun to sound from the mouths of senior military officials and diplomats of the Western countries; unconcealed threats are also heard from Islamist militants controlled by the United States. They are preparing to fight Russia for a long time and in earnest. The West and the Fifth Column make virtually no secret of their plans to overthrow President Putin; and subsequently to completely dismantle Russia. Their agents of influence use all means at their disposal to convince the leadership of the country that reconciliation is not only possible, but also singularly necessary. The fact that nothing but Russia’s complete capitulation will appease its enemies is being carefully concealed from the public and, possibly, even from the President.
As a result, all the exceptionally favorable conditions that were available to Russia in the spring remained unrealized, and – on the contrary – we now face a continuously increasing military threat. The responsibility of the Fifth Column for this result is undeniable.
Why is it that our liberals have acted out so implacably and perhaps even suicidally against the President and his political path? What is it that has made them so bold that they openly challenge him and his policies? In my opinion, two main factors are present here, and the first of them is that for the Fifth Column there is no other path but mutiny (still concealed, but only for now). The “Revolution from Above” that was begun by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin leaves them no chance of political survival, while their foreign owners are not permitting them to simply leave the country for their “earned with back-breaking labour” overseas possessions.
The second factor is even more obvious: having a strong presence in the leadership and considerable financial resources, the traitors expect to seize the power for themselves, and to start –with relish – a new stage of plundering the remnants of the once great country, and the “utilization” of the peoples that inhabit it. But to realize their plans they need to implement many more preliminary measures. They need – in the first place – to deprive President Putin of that incredibly broad popular support which he deservedly received, as a result of foreign and domestic actions in recent years. And what can be more advantageous in this regard, than the betrayal of the Russian people of Novorossiya, followed by the laying of all responsibility therefor on the President himself? After all, the representatives of the Fifth Column hide in his shadow, like hyenas, avoiding any and all publicity.
The path that has already been set out by the enemies is crystal clear to us. The maximum prolongation of the war, accompanied by as much loss of life and hardships for the Russian population on both sides of the border as possible – that is their task. Giving the Militia not even a chance to win, they hope to create an ever more bleeding “ulcer” on the borders of Russia; into which Russia will pour, drop by drop, its resources; and where, as a result of “one step forward, two steps back” policies, no decisive success will ever be achieved. At the same time, the Russian Federation will continue to be saddled with an ever-greater burden in the form of – at first – hundreds of thousands, and then millions of refugees; while Western sanctions gradually undermine the financial and economic health of the country, all the more so because the homegrown oligarchs will try to shift the costs of the sanctions onto the general population.
The traitors hope eventually to bring the situation to the conclusion of a most shameful and humiliating peace treaty, accompanied by the betrayal of the Russian population of Ukraine, in order to cause an additional wave of indignation in Russia itself. And then – in full compliance with the political technologies already perfected in the early 20th century – to bring about a Moscow Maidan, where the right and the left, patriots and liberals will unite in supposedly justified indignation. The proven scenario of 1905 and the 1917, that follows the scheme of “shameful defeat – economic crisis – discrediting of the authorities – popular uprisings – palace coup” is once again in action.
In This Struggle There Can Be No Compromises
In this regard, the defence of Novorossiya and the support of its population are important for the preservation of Russia itself and the disruption of the Fifth Column’s plans. If we are able to secure a victory there – we will preserve Russia. If we lose – we will accordingly lose the remnants of our Fatherland. In this struggle there can be no compromises, and he who tries to convince otherwise is, consciously or not, grist to the mill of the enemy. It is all or nothing – either Russia will restore its real sovereignty in full measure, or it will be destroyed by the coalition of external and internal oligarchic clans.
Having assessed my own place in the fight against the plans of the subversive forces, I would like to say that I have made my choice. The main front of the struggle for Russia is currently here. I hope that it is in Russia that I can do the most good. At the same time, I will emphasize, once again, that those who hoped or still hope to use me or my name for destructive purposes will be sorely disappointed. However critical I may have been with respect to the internal policies of the President, in the circumstances of a war being waged against us, I consider it unquestionably vital to speak out in support of him; as the only legitimate Commander-in-Chief, and the principal guarantor of the freedom and independence of our country. In my opinion, to really protect Novorossiya, which is being subjected to Nazi genocide, we must expose and remove from power those of Novorossiya’s “well-wishers” that have brought us to the brink of military defeat.
And to those who have diligently started to sculpt in the mass media the image of “Colonel Strelkov – the leader of the popular protest”, I declare that they have no chance of bribing me with false praises and promises. The essence of an officer’s duty is to serve his country and his people. It would be the height of dishonor for me to exchange the often thankless, but faithful service, for false glory and popularity of the enemies of the Fatherland. Let them understand, once and for all, that in Russia there are still people (and I am just one among many) who place their Duty and integrity above their own benefit and vanity. And, as the events in Novorossiya have demonstrated, there are still a great many of people like that! And we will not allow for Russia to be ripped asunder and ruined again and again in the manner in which the Russian Empire was destroyed in 1917, and USSR – in 1991.
September 11, 2014
Игорь Иванович Стрелков / Igor Ivanovich Strelkov
SLAVYANGRAD.org 
Reblogged this on civilizationchanges and commented:
in text
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Posted by demargot222 | Sep 12, 2014, 00:46xxxxxxxxxxxx What an eye popping opener article! The horrendous truth of it rang through loud and clear. Strelkov’s sacrifices brought me to tears. Just know this: God has said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light.” So God is with you and you cannot fail.
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Posted by Janis Schmidt (@thegoodgerman) | Sep 25, 2014, 18:14Thank you, Gleb Basov, for transcribing this empassioned speech.
Please forgive my ignorance of Russian politics, but I have several questions. When Strelkov says, “either Russia will restore its real sovereignty in full measure or it will be destroyed by the coalition of external and internal oligarchic clans”, who actually are these external and internal oligarchic clans? What are their names? And who is the Fifth Column? I mean, I simply don’t know. Can you or anyone explain? Does this include the Rothschilds? Khordokovsky? And hasn’t the West itself already been completely destroyed by these oligarchs? Are these the same people Saker refers to as the Anglo-Zionists?
I had honestly thought the ceasefire agreement was trick on the part of the Ukraine government and its backers. To what extent do these oligarchs control the government in Kiev? Do they also control the EU? How far do their tentacles reach? Any explanation would be helpful. Thanks.
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Posted by konar | Sep 12, 2014, 02:11FROM THE EDITOR: I’ll circle back to you in under a day. Lots more translated material coming. Thank you!
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Posted by Gleb Bazov | Sep 12, 2014, 02:22Oligarchy is a worldwide historical phenomenon. There are oligarchs everywhere, but the biggest ones are in the West. The Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, the British and European royals are at the top of the world oligarchy. There are smaller oligarchs in every country. Together they make up the world ruling class. The central core of the oligarchy is still Britain. People say Britain is a U.S. puppet, but it’s really the reverse. The United States is controlled by Anglophile oligarchs, who have been with us since the American Revolution, when they were called Tories. After the Revolution, they went underground and have continued as a British fifth column to this day.
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Posted by tonywicher1 | Sep 12, 2014, 07:16Thanks for posting and I’ll be back also to see what have to say. Great Speech
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Posted by jo6pac | Sep 12, 2014, 15:45Konar, look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXLUJpqaQpY
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Posted by Uwe | Sep 13, 2014, 03:28“And who is the Fifth Column? I mean, I simply don’t know. Can you or anyone explain? ”
While I am not qualified to explain the “internal and external Oligarchic clans”, the fifth column is easier to define. The fifth column are NGO’s (“non-governmental organizations”) which are established in the host country (Russia, in this case) by enemy agencies like the CIA with money provided for that purpose by the aggressor nation. The NGO’s are usually given some kind of acceptable public facade; for example it may present itself as a “human rights” organization with the purported goal of championing the rights of prisoners in Russia, or perhaps fighting for “women’s rights” or the rights of gays and lesbians in Russia and so on. Their true purpose is to tear at the social fabric and conventions of the host nation and to weaken it from within. There are many thousands of these agencies with all sorts of names. Many of them have members who truly believe that they are working for “the betterment of the people of Russia”, but those people are the “useful idiots” in the group. Those at the apex of the group’s structure know the true purpose and goal that they are striving for, and it is anything but the “good of the Russian people”. According to Wikipedia there are about 277,000 of these organizations in Russia, if you care to believe their figures. I hope this is some help to you.
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Posted by George | Sep 15, 2014, 17:06Honestly, this brought tears to my eyes.
I remember my Grandfather, a black Canadian WW2 veteran, lamenting the end of the USSR and saying “it’s treason against us all”. Strelkov’s words just brought that back to me.
RRH
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Posted by Richard Harding | Sep 12, 2014, 03:56Thank you … this touched me right to the core …
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Posted by Gleb Bazov | Sep 12, 2014, 04:24Certainly. a great treason which we, the working people, the peoples struggling for their liberty all around the world, are paying very dear since. All is wrong, very wrong and without hopes for better since that treason, since the end of the USSR and its consequences. We are losing rights and liberties day after day… A real catastrophe… not only for the Russian and the other soviet peoples, but for all the peoples of the world.
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Posted by Ta #Stop_USA_EU_Axis (@TadeoPuoenrostr) | Sep 12, 2014, 12:38Thanks Gleb, I have spread it as widely as I can.
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Posted by gerryhiles | Sep 12, 2014, 07:08Thanks so much, Comandante Strelkov, for such a clairvoyance and passion in your stance towards Novorossiya, and Russia as a whole, about the only hope for the peoples of the World to face the shady and criminal powers which aim to subjugate us all into slavery. You know, this is not just a battle to preserve the freedom and wellbeing of the Russian/Slav peoples, but of all the oppressed peoples of the World. You are, Comrade Strelkov, a beacon of light and an inspiration for all of us.
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Posted by spartacus3011 | Sep 12, 2014, 08:58Reblogged this on HERSTELPOLITIEK.
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Posted by ADMINISTRATOR | Sep 12, 2014, 11:19Well said.
It must be appreciated that what is happening to you, is also happening to us (I am British), to every Country in Europe, and also to America (amongst others).
We are being flooded with (let’s be kind) uncivilized immigrants, and our Sovereign Nations are being broken up (look at the self serving scum driving the effort for independence for Scotland, and just how can the Scottish people achieve anything but serious disadvantage from it). Throughout the EU, there is no Rule of Law, and by every definition, there is only the creation of the lawless State. America too has been thrust on the path of the lawless State.
In Britain, since Queen Victoria’s day, our Monarchy have been prisoners in a gilded cage. Our balanced Republic (what our Constitutional Monarchy was) has been torn apart, the Aristocracy part has been gelded since 1911, and there is no Democracy any more in the democratic part . Our Laws (and therefore our Rights, Liberties, and Freedoms) have been criminally changed along the way (this started in the early to mid 18th Century, believe it or not, and the true cause of the American War of Independence, was the damage done to the Law by the Jacobite William Murray, when he was Attorney General and Lord Chief Justice – this was confirmed by President John Quincy Adams).
To me, we are all being deliberately factionalised, and then turned against each other. There are powers at work here, that have been at work for a very long time, and they seem to have allegiance to no Nation. To think this is a problem of Nations vs Nation, appears to be swallowing the bait that is being used to entrap us.
In the words of George Orwell, “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.” It’s the power grab, in other words, and nobody can be trusted with power. Not even me.
This is why the balanced Republic is so important. It is inclusive, and by denying power under the Rule of Law (which is literal) which it allows, it removes the forces of factionalisation, and turning people against each other as tools of power grabbing forces (internal or external).
Avoid the silly labels whenever possible (I know, it can be hard to do), they are a tool to assist factionalisation. There are only three possible forms of Government, each with unique and indispensable strengths, and each with fatal, and self destructive flaws, that guarantee failure (all via a descent into power grabs and the inevitable lawless State). They are Democracy, Aristocracy, and Monarchy/Dictatorship (a President is only a term limited Dictator). The balanced Republic contains all three, along with an independent Judiciary, and a Jury of our peers.
The lawless State is the assumption of the proven lie and despotic tyranny of Divine Right, where “The Law is what ‘we’ say it is”. This is no different to the Satanist Aleister Crowley’s equally disastrous “Do what thou wilt be the whole of the law”.
Lawless States always fail (there hasn’t been a successful one in the whole of human history), usually catastrophically, and usually accompanied by great bloodshed.
When you boil it down to the truth and fundamentals, the choice is really simple. It is the lawless State (which doesn’t work) versus the Rule of Law (which does work).
To work, power is swept off the table entirely, the three forms of Government are kept separate to prevent infighting (power grabs). Power is placed in the safekeeping of the Law. Nobody is then allowed to make Laws (because making Law is the exercising of power). The representatives create legislation instead, in legislative Bodies, and all legislation must comply with the Law to be lawful, otherwise it is illegal, and void. The final arbiters in the legality of legislation, is a Jury of our peers (who can find legislation to be “Not Law”),
No legislation must contravene inalienable fundamental Rights, such as Life, Liberty, and Property. Any such legislation is also illegal, and void. All legislation must be thoroughly discussed in the legislature, so that the Courts can determine the intent of the legislators (otherwise Courts interpret it as they see fit, essentially making Law in the process, which is again, a lawless State – the EU is in this predicament amongst other lawless State features, as the judges have admitted that they “make it up as they go along” and even think that they “make Law”).
These principles were clearly understood by America’s Founding Fathers, which was why Thomas Jefferson was correctly able to say:
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
Good luck, and God Bless You All with a clear path towards Freedom and Justice, with all real enemies revealed to you. You have many friends praying for you all around the World, including in America, Britain, and Europe. We are in the same boat, are victims of the same enemies, and will probably face similar struggles in the near future.
“All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.” Mahatma Gandhi
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Posted by Bob | Sep 12, 2014, 13:27The fascism of Sparta | vgiannelakis
http://vgiannelakis.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/the-fascism-of-sparta/
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Posted by rizes | Sep 12, 2014, 13:421) The tumor which has killed all the Western Countries, i.e. all media, finance and politicians controlled by alien money and interests, has widespread metastates even inside Russia.
2) The forces behind the internal “revolutionaries”, “liberals”, “democrats”, and their agenda, in 1917, 1991 and today, are EXACTLY the same!
3) It’s ABSOLUTELY VITAL, for Russia AND Novorossija (and the world at large), to preserve and protect Putin, from everything and everybody, Putin included.
No alternative is conceivable, not even the thought should be contemplated.
These are the main points from Strelkov address. I wholeheartedly agree! He just misses the international aspect of this fight today: the struggle against Demonocracy is common to many people in all the Countries around the world and Russia should take this in due consideration.
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Posted by maedhros67 | Sep 12, 2014, 16:35Thanks to committed independence fighters like Strelkov, momentum continues to build for Novorossiya. Here si more vidence that the ceasefire agreement was indeed a trick by the Ukraine government. Vladimir Suchan says on his facebook page:
“From a number of different sources it has been now confirmed that the text of the Minsk Protocol was composed by Kiev and not by ‘successfully NATO-sabotaging’ Russian diplomats. But there was very huge pressure to sign the Protocol very quickly so that Russian diplomats were not even given any time to think too much about it or to edit it. But the backers of the Minsk Protocol lost the battle for public opinion. Hence Putin’s candle for Novorossiya, and yesterday’s move of the Army of Novorossiya out of stupor, especially around Debaltzevo, which might be a new cauldron now.”
The link is:
I myself have received from a 100% reliable source that the OSCE was pushing Poroshenko’s “Peace Plan” several weeks before Minsk. The OSCE was not neutral at all.
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Posted by kennedy applebaum | Sep 12, 2014, 18:22Why don’t we call a spade a spade: The West, Britain even more than the US, and much of the US foreign policy establishment is self-consciously anti-Christian and they have always hated Russia, first as a rival in the 19th Century, then as an illiberal (and I would say anti-Russian) force in the hands of the Zydo-Masonic conspiracy during Soviet times, and most of all when it recovered its cultural and spiritual heritage following its terrible, suicidal lackey and unpatriotic leadership under Yeltsin and the convulsions of moving away from a command and control economy and anti-Christian system.
I am an American, but our country and its foreign policy in particular is in the hands of puppets, idiots, fools, and the like. Why else do they allow terrorist Muslims in our borders as they start wars to democratize Muslim countries? It’s ridiculous. Why else do they support separation of Kosovo, while opposing it in Ossetia and Donbas?
I would no more want Russia funding coups in Mexico than the US should do so in Ukraine. Every country should find its own way, and it is natural that every country must find a way to get along or reach an accommodation with its neighbors. Russia and US should be friends, and perhaps we will when we realize our common enemies: multiculturalism, LGBT, international high finance system, Islamic militants, and the anti-Christian bureaucracies of the UN and the EU.
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Posted by Mr. Roach | Sep 12, 2014, 20:46Following this impassioned document, watching Sergei Glazyev on You Tube:” United States Militarises Ukraine in order to attack Russia” would only increase the focus on the need to defend Russia.
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Posted by suzannedek | Sep 13, 2014, 12:47Since the combined West of the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Israel are producing propaganda instead of news the power of Sergei Glazyev’s explanation of the actual situation Russia finds itself unmeshed in, is explosive. The intent of the combined West is to provoke WWIV, if you consider, as does Russia,WW111 was the US Cold War.
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Posted by Suzanne Majo De Kuyper | Sep 13, 2014, 14:04“And we will not allow for Russia to be ripped asunder and ruined again and again in the manner in which the Russian Empire was destroyed in 1917, and USSR – in 1991.”
Although I fully agree that the destruction of the Soviet Union was without a doubt a huge defeat for humanity – I don’t see how the “destruction” of the “Russian” Empire was much of a tragedy, and I’ll explain why (IMHO):
A) There was nothing “Russian” about the Russian Empire. It’s rulers (and they were rulers, not leaders) – the autocratic Romanovs – were all of German extraction. The common people had no say in the rule of the country. Many were still little more than slaves bound to the land, living at the mercy of capitalists and the big land lords. In throry, the Czar was above them all and could defend them against the rapacious nobles – but as 1905 proved, the Czar was on the side of the oligarchs and the landlords, not the people.
B) The Soviet Union – eventually – comprised all of the lands of the Russian Empire, save Poland and Finland. So there was little to bemoan about territorial losses.
C) The Soviet Union comprised not just the the former Russian Sphere, but was actually ruled by those who lived there – the common people. Not by some German usurpers who were closer in blood to the English Kings and Queens that their people of Russia. Russians, Georgians, Ukrainians all joined together to make the Soviet Union great, and each Republic had its own say. This was something never seen before in history – a multi-nation superstate.
D) It is hard to imagine a Russia that didn’t go through the revolution of 1917 being able to fend off the Germans which may well have become aggressive Nazis because of Versailles anyway. It is impossible to see that a Russia that still held to the Czar and religious superstition would not be as weak as it was in the First World War.
That’s it – I submit to you that the Soviet Union was a great period in Russian and world history – a state that helped liberate most of the so-called “Third World” including China who now may well be Russia’s greatest friend against the West. The Soviet Union was a Russia of fairness – without the Czar, and without the oligarchs. I submit that had the Soviets not have won the Civil War, then what happened to Russia in the 1990s – which even as a strong society like the one put together by the Soviets barely survived – would have happened in the 1920s, and Russia as we know it would not exist today.
Yes, the Soviet Union had its problems, but compared to the so-called “Russian” Empire, it was a paradise for its people. A people who went on to do the single bravest and greatest act in human history – the thrashing of the Nazi armies in spite of their killing 24 million Soviet people, and the championing of liberation from imperialism from Havana to Beijing, to Luanda, Cairo and beyond. The Soviet Union should be considered a great and necessary part of your history – not as a tragedy. And the polls prove most Russians DO see it like this.
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Posted by guest77 | Sep 13, 2014, 23:19I very much agree with you.
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Posted by gerryhiles | Sep 13, 2014, 23:38have to agree too. I know many Russians still look back at the “old days” of the USSR with fondness. We, in the west, have all been taught lies.
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Posted by Ariel | Sep 14, 2014, 04:48That is a thoughtful survey regarding the historical meaning of the SU, @Guest77.
Well, you could have elaborated a bit more on the ‘problems’-side of the SU (especially Stalin), but I agree, that pre-1917-Russia was an Autocratic Feudalism with REAL SLAVES. And I agree, that without the SU (and, well, also Stalin, sort of … :P) I would now live in some kind of Nazi-Germany (which is, by the way, ideologically prospering and fostering in our bureaucracy and secret services, as the case of the NSU – the ‘National-Socialistic Underground’ – has shown).
The problem with Strelkov and some of his political comrades like Borodai and Dugin (who is close to the Putin-circle) simply is, that they see the beginning of decadence somewhere late in the Medieval Era – and the death of the Russian Empire with the outbreak of the Russian Revolution 1917. Strelkov would have fought for the Czar and the White Guards for sure, not the ragged soldiers and peasents.
That’s why Strelkov seems to be uncomfortable with the public opinion about his role as the ‘leader of the public protest’ – he prefers to be seen as a professional military person, which he is.
That implicates also, that the Donbas Civil War has to be seen in a different light of a more or less successful counter-reaction to Western aggression and affiliation with Nazism.
If you accept a command chain ‘Putin —> Dugin —> Gubarev, Borodai, Strelkov —> Mozgovoi …’, then you could state the theory, that Putin has sent his War Dogs with the sharpest teeth (their ideological concept of Slavism) to Krim and Donbas to ‘do something’ against American Invasion. I doubt, that the PEOPLE of Donbas are really a part in this equation.
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Posted by Historian | Sep 14, 2014, 20:50President Putin is caught ‘between a rock and a hard place’; he is caught between the horns of a dilemma, faced with not wanting to appear too aggressive on the one hand but also not wanting to be too appeasing on the other. And so far, I think he has performed quite well in striking a balance between these two opposing tendencies.
We must not forget that the USA – the principal instigator in this affair – is not only seeking to divide Russia but also Europe as well. The Americans seek to drive a wedge between Russia and the West. Washington wants to stop the growing economic integration within Europe and between Europe and Asia and goading Russia into acting aggressively in Ukraine is a means by which they may achieve this.
By giving western propagandists a means of vilifying Russia, a new raison d’etre for NATO is created and the continued domination of Europe by the USA is assured. That is why president Putin cannot afford to overplay his hand and must act with extreme caution, for what are apparent strengths – such as Russian military superiority vis-à-vis Ukraine – may, in fact, turn out to be weaknesses. Opting for a military solution to the crisis is therefore probably not as advisable as it first would seem because, while easily achieved, it could incur undesirable economic and political costs (further US/EU sanctions).
Regarding those who collaborate with the West in sowing dissent within Russia itself (the so-called Fifth Column), one must remember that, once again, president Putin is faced with a dilemma.
A classic tactic of the West is to destabilise a foreign government by fomenting civil unrest and when the targeted government attempts to re-establish law and order to have western propaganda portray its leader as being a dictator oppressing the people. This is then used by the West to justify sanctions and giving aid to the ‘oppressed’.
Democracy is when the people of one country elect leaders to serve the interests of their country and not the interests of another country and western leaders don’t care for that. They would much rather prefer a dictator in power than a democrat. ‘Democracy’ is something they want only for the West and only if it is corrupt and false. Russia needs to be careful of not falling into the trap of trading its new-found freedoms for security, or they will find like Americans did after 9/11 that they have precious little of either.
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Posted by John Roberts | Sep 15, 2014, 19:35Great article, too bad that not enough people see the dirty geo politics of America and Nato. Ignorance is no bliss but rips a country apart. What can we do ? Talk as much as you can about this. I tried many times and people look the other way. What else can we do ?
People are afraid and hope it will move over like a dark cloud in the wind. But this time it won’t. The petro dollar is under pressure and the dirty American government will do everything to keep the petro dollar. Just look at how kennedy, sadham hoessein, kadhaffi all
ended. Just look at the inside job horror of 9/11.
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Posted by Lorenzo | Oct 2, 2014, 19:26