Trolling Russia

A good look at the breakdown of relations between Russia and the West, which is a long-time coming; the Ukraine is only the final straw. And it is better described as the Bear finally lashing out after having the stick waved in its face over and over again for years.

"Until now, Russia, like a country bumpkin in Eton, tried to belong. It attended the gathering of the grandees where it was shunned, paid its dues to European bodies that condemned it, patiently suffered ceaseless hectoring of the great powers and irritating baiting of the East European small-timers alike. But something broke there. The lad does not want to belong anymore; he picked up his stuff and went home."

The part Russia chose to take in the Charlie Hebdo demonstrations as well as its decision not to attend the Holocaust memorial day in Auschwitz signals reflect the fact that Russia has had enough of trying to fit in with the US-European order. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, made only a token appearance at the Charlie Hebdo demonstrations before going to spend his time praying in the Church. "Je ne suis pas Charlie," Lavrov said on Russia's behalf, in effect; Russia is not going to lionize a sacriligious cartoon that caricatured Christianity as obscenely as it did Islam.

"Thus Lavrov’s escape to the church was a counter-demonstration, saying: Russia is for Christ, and Russia is not against Muslims."

Russia has spent a long time trying to fit in with the West and to advance its common interests with the United States. It supported the US war on terror when it began in Afghanistan. It agreed to the sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Its attempts to establish partnerships with the United States and Europe have been repaid with the bombings of Serbia (a Russian ally), the breaking of the promise that NATO would not admit the countries of Eastern Europe, the US arming of Georgia (leading it to invade South Ossetia and trigger a war with Russia in 2006), US backing for Chechen terrorism, the Western-backed attempts to overthrow the government of Syria (another Russian ally), and finally the Western-backed coup that overthrow Yanukovych in Ukraine and installed an anti-Russian government, while the Western media used everything from Pussy Riot to the Sochi Olympics to try and make a mockery of Russia.

It's not just Vladimir Putin who's had enough of this. Russians have had enough of this. That is why Putin remains overwhelmingly popularly in spite of the Western-engineered sabotage of the Russian economy: Russians are tired of their country being lied to, mocked, and betrayed. They want a leader who will stand up for their country, and make them proud again. Putin is that leader. He is not a madman. He is doing what the people of Russia want him to do.

Russia could have been our ally. But that's not the way our government played its cards. Now it's poked the Bear in the face with the stick one too many times, and then it dares to wonder "What's going on in Putin's head?"

Tim Mulhair

http://www.unz.com/ishamir/trolling-russia/