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In memory of the start of Operation «Uran» at Stalingrad on the 19th of November 1942

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Stalingrad Counter Offensive

On 19th of November 1942, The Red Army launched the legendary counter offensive at Stalingrad.

In a series of Telegram posts we will commemorate the glorious feat of the breakthrough that led to the decisive victory over the Nazi-german 6th Army on February 2nd 1943.

As we know, the victory at Stalingrad marked the great turning point of the Great Patriotic War, and marked decisively the geopolitical reality that defined the strength ratio of WWII and gave hope and encouragement to antifascists and resistance fighters in all occupied counties. 

Read on either on our Telegram channel Beorn and The Shieldmaiden or through the embedded messages below. Additional posts will be appended to this blog post as we publish more materials on our Telegram channel.

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Myths and Truth about Pogroms in the Russian Empire

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The West is busy re-writing history and miring the name of Russia in the process. It’s been like this since the time of Ivan the Formidable, and nothing has changed to this day.

A NAFO tweet from “Terror Alarm” decided to ascribe the Holocaust to the Russians! That’s a new level of impunity in history rewriting, seeing as it was the Red Army that liberated all the German Nazi concentration camps east of the river Elbe, where millions of people, – among them, Jews – were held and killed.

It was only a matter of time before Russia would be again blamed for “pogroms”, so I started translating the article below, addressing this historical half-truth. And in the process, a certain other NAFO twitter channel, Visegrad24, did not fail to deliver an expected accusation, though in such a way, that it debunks itself, and ties in nicely with the fourtt myth, discussed of the article below. I will thus include the screenshot of it after the translation. UPDATE: Later on the same day, after the West-instigated events in Dagestan, a Swedish newspaper DN came out with an atricle that opens with a direct use of the third myth; this will also be addressed after the translation.

Before we proceed to the article, there is one thing to bear in mind. The Russian word “pogrom” means “destruction of property”, “looting”. It does not immediately imply murder, let alone on ethnic grounds, but the clashes that did happen, sadly resulted in a certain number of deaths.

The article was published on Dzen on the 26th of January 2021.

Myths and Truth about Pogroms in the Russian Empire

Pogrom of 1881

The Kiev pogrom of 1881. Drawing of a contemporary

The so-called Jewish pogroms swept through many cities of the Russian Empire in 1905-1906. Some of such cases have occurred before, for example, in 1881, in 1903 (pogroms in Chisinau and Gomel). But as a mass phenomenon, they unfolded during the 1905 revolution. Most of them occurred in the second half of October (old style), but some outbreaks were noted in 1906.

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For the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Northern Norway, the WWII History Is Being Rewritten There

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(Updated 28.10.2022 – added an afterword)

On the 25th of October 2019, the Norwegian state TV channel NRK 2 aired a 3 hour 20 minute long TV marathon, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of liberation of Finnmark, Northern Norway, by the Soviet troops. The documentary went under the title “Saved by the Russians”.

Save by the Russians

It featured a wide range of materials – interviews with the surviving witnesses, official ceremonies, both Norwegian and Russian documentaries, the efforts to locate the unburied remains of the fallen Soviet soldiers, interviews with the politicians and historians, a cultural part, where we could even see the choir of the Russian Northern Fleet sailors performing the Norwegian anthem.

Here are the chapter titles to give an idea of the scope of the documentary: Russians are coming; The King is giving his thanks; Russian liberation; The last days of the war; The battle of Neiden; Mothers and children in a war; War-zone Murmansk; Russian captives; The partisan Trygve Eriksen; The history of the partisans; The choir of the Northern Fleet; Forced evacuation on the North; The liberation anniversary in Kirkenes; The Prime Minister is giving a commentary; The battles on the Litsa front; The big losses of the Litsa dale; Dead soldiers in Litsa dale; The year under Russian governorship; Nidviser speaks about the local population; The children of war; The Swedish children; Child-soldier Alf Rafaelsen; Still finding the remains from the war; The culture of memory; The cooperation across borders; The choir of the Northern Fleet.

At a time when the rest of Europe was descending into a historical amnesia when it came to the events of World War II, with the history being actively re-written, this Norwegian program was a bastion of steadfast remembrance of history.

Norway will never forget the Soviet army’s heroic efforts.

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Israeli Zionists follow in the footsteps of the German Nazis. Genocide and Holocaust of the Palestinians. Destruction of World Heritage

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Over the past weeks, the civilised world was watching in horror and condemning the atrocities committed by the Israeli Zionists against the Palestinian population. Everything that we are witnessing has been done before by the German Nazis against the Slavic and Jewish people, and against the Communists of Europe during WWII. At the same time USA, Ukraine, NATO and EU were egging the Israeli Zionists on to commit more crimes, which is fully expected – the Bidens, Stoltenbergs, Netanyahus, von der Leyens and Zelenskys of today are following in the footsteps of Hitlers, Banderas, Quislings and Mussolinis of the past.

Israel iS Starting to turn the
Gaza Strip
into a
Gas Chamber
for the
Holocaust of the Palestinians

After the number and the scale of atrocities committed by the Israeli Zionists, it is, by now, fully justified to start calling them “Zionazis“!

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Russia Running Out of Weapons 2.0 – A Documentary

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It was very surreal listening last year to Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech, standing there in a brown suite, giving a OUN/UPA Nazi collaborator greeting, and then proclaiming that Russia was taking chips out of dishwashers. So much so, that it prompted us, while working on the translation of “2 Years” – A Danish Underground Publication from 1943, to create a historical parallel caricature. At the same time, media was in a frenzy about how Russia, any second now will run out of missiles, or had actually already done so. It was also presenting a portent analogy to the media frenzy in the German-affiliated press in 1941, just as Nazi Germany invaded the USSR. I was saving the links to those publications back then, for a better time, which happened to be now…

Bizarre delusions of grandeur to go with self-seductive propaganda narratives seem to be inherent as Western imperialism once a century launches project “defeat and conquer Russia”.

German Nazism once displayed it big time, and EU and NATO now parrot their predecessor while openly aligning politically with Fascism.

Since the start of the SMO western MSM have consistently reported “Russia out of missiles”. A mantra that didn’t age very well and the humour is lost on no-one, when the articles are viewed in one take. We added some 1940s deja-vu, plus a little something for the full-spectrum experience.

Earplugs!

The video is also published on the “Beorn and The Shieldmaiden” Telegram channel.

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“The Yanks Gave the Order: Fire!” – Witness Testimony of Iona Andronov, a Defender of the “White house”

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In my article from November 2015 The ”Wild ’90s” in Russia, as reflected in people’s memory I mentioned in passing a testimony from Deputy Iona Andronov, describing the American involvement in Yeltsin’s coup of 1993. In yesterday’s publication Newspaper “Pravda” commemorating the 30th anniversary of the “Black October” of 1993, the author of the final article made a reference to the same testimony by Andronov.

In fact, this testimony has such significance, that I think it must be translated in full as a separate article. The original document can be found here on the subdomain of the Narod.ru site, dedicated to the events of October of 1993.

Iona Andronov – a historian-orientalist, journalist, writer, the Deputy of the Supreme Soviet in 1993 – also has a homepage on Narod.ru and a blog on Cont. I want to draw attention to a large 110-page long exposing publication in Russian that he has posted on his homepage in memory of the 30th anniversary of Yeltsin’s coup: The Counter-revolution of 1993. Epilog. 30 Years Later. (A chapter from the “Parting Memoirs of a Soviet Journalist”) – also available as a PDF, which expands on the testimony you are about to read, and also adds the descriptions of the actions of the Westward-looking “liberals” and “dissidents” of that time.

The Yanks Gave the Order: Fire!

The 3rd of October 2003
– A version for the press

The plan to storm the Supreme Soviet was developed by Boris Yeltsin’s entourage under the directions of the CIA and the inner circle of US President Clinton. This was told to the correspondent of “EG” by Iona ANDRONOV, a former defender of the “White House”, a deputy of the dispersed Supreme Council, at that time, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs. He is the one who negotiated with the representatives of the American embassy on the night before the carnage, trying to prevent the massacre of the Parliament.

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Newspaper “Pravda” commemorating the 30th anniversary of the “Black October” of 1993

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In this post I am continuing with the remembrance of the events of September — October 1993 resulting in Yeltsin’s unconstitutional power grab. After Yeltsin’s coup, the newspaper “Pravda” was forbidden, which was highly symbolic, as “Pravda” means “Truth” in Russian, and so after October of 1993 and for a long time The Truth was forbidden. The previous posts in the series are: Autumn of 1991 as a Prelude to the “Black October” of 1993 and the “Wild ’90s” in Russia and The Bloody October of 1993. Retrospect. The Last Interview with Ruslan Hasbulatov.

The newspaper published a series of Telegram posts and articles, commemorating that turn to the worse in Russian history. Below, I will translate three materials from Telegram, finishing with a longer article by Doctor of Political Sciences Sergej Obuhov, who asks several highly-relevant questions about those times and how the events echo in today’s Russia.

All the images can be clicked on for higher resolution.

Telegram post 1:

“The Black October”: 30 years

A barricade leaflet.

Today, after exactly 30 years, our editorial office publishes the historical Moscow edition of the newspaper “Pravda”, published on the 1st of October 1993 under the general headline “Politics is over. The dictatorship has begun”. It truly became a barricade leaflet, a “battle leaflet” that contained both a chronicle of what was happening, an analysis of the situation, and the thoughts and experiences of the participants in the events. Even now one can see in it the intensity of those events, the nerve of that time of troubles. For the edification of future generations.

In just two days there will be a bloody suppression of the popular uprising in the worst traditions of Pinochet, and “Pravda” became banned for a long time.

Here’s what the deputy editor-in-chief of Pravda, Viktor Linnik, wrote: “…It is absolutely not necessary to admire Hasbulatov and Rutskoy in order to be outraged by Yeltsin’s utterly cynical actions. Although it is precisely today that both Rutskoy, Hasbulatov, and every defender of the “White House” deserve the gratitude of the Russians for daring to throw the gauntlet in the face of tyranny.

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A brief history of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabah

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The conflict over Nagoro-Karabah (“Mountain-top Karabah”) has been going on for a little over a century. In the later years Russia tried to be a mediator and bring a resolution that would satisfy both Armenia and Azerbaijan, in accordance with the Russian saying of “both the wolves are fed and the sheep are whole”. However, the West’s darking Pashinyan did everything in his power to sabotage and discredit Russian efforts, to flirt with USA and France, and to actually lose Nagorn-Karabah to Azerbaijan.

After that, Russia could only try to save the Armenians living there and ensure their safe passage to Armenia poper:

Incidentally, at the moment there are more Armenians living in Russia, than in Armenia itself, but even bigger – or, more influential – Armenian diasporas can be found in France and the USA, which explains the political pull those two countries exert on Armenia.

USSR 1922In this article I want to present a translation of a publication from Dzen that recaps the history of the contested land.

For reference, see the map that I posted in relation to Kazahstan in the article A short look at the short history of Kazahstan through the lens of a 1922 map (inset in the lower left corner).


Nagorno-Karabah: Why Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over it for 100 years

Before the revolution of 1917, there were practically no monolithic ethnic groups anywhere in Transcaucasia, the peoples lived mixed. At the same time, the territory of the future Nagorno-Karabah Autonomous Region was populated overwhelmingly by the Armenians.

In 1918, the newly independent states – Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia – began to divide Transcaucasia among themselves. At the same time, ethnic deportations began in the region.

The situation was complicated by the foreign intervention. Both the German-Turkish, and the British occupiers who replaced them, supported Azerbaijan’s claims to Nagorno-Karabah. The ethnic sympathies of the Turks are obvious, while for the British, the desire to gain control of the Baku oil fields by supporting Azerbaijan was probably crucial.

Although an Armenian National Council was established in Karabah, the attempt to annex the region to Armenia ended in failure. Karabah remained under Azerbaijani military control.

In 1920, the Sovietization of both republics took place. However, the dispute over Karabah has now continued between the Communists of both sides. It is noteworthy that the Russian Bolsheviks also supported Azerbaijan.

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The Bloody October of 1993. Retrospect. The Last Interview with Ruslan Hasbulatov

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Motherland Remembers Decree 1400, 21st of September 1993

On this day, exactly 30 years ago, Yeltsin, with the direct blessing from the USA, gave order for the tanks to open fire on the Parliament building in Moscow, that also was known as “The White House”. This ended the confrontation between the defenders of the Russian Constitution and Yeltsin, who was unconstitutionally concentrating more power in own hands, a confrontation that started with Order 66 Decree 1400 that unconstitutionally dispersed the Parliament (also known as the Supreme Council or Supreme Soviet), and the Parliament responding with a preparation for the impeachment of Yeltsin.

30 years is a long enough stretch to time to be able to look at the events of that Autumn with a critical eye, yet short enough for many of the contemporaries and direct participants of the evens to be around to remember what was happening on both sides of the barricades. In a few weeks I will finish translating a documentary that does just that. But first, a short look at the political spread in 1993 both internally and coming from the USA. And this publication will be concluded with a fragment of the last interview with one of the main participants of the stand-off, who defended the Parliament – Ruslan Hasbulatov, who passed away on the 3rd of January 2023.

In the previous post, Autumn of 1991 as a Prelude to the “Black October” of 1993 and the “Wild ’90s” in Russia, I described in short the turmoil of the Autumn of 1991. Back then Yeltsin played a major role in the breakup of the USSR, and it was he who, in a feat of projection, accused the SCSE – which tried to save the country – of being the coup-makers. At that time Yeltsin became an important asset in the US State Department’s arsenal, one that the USA would have been loath to lose. In 1993 Yeltsin had the complete backing of the USA, but his ability to give external control to Russia was severely limited by the Parliament. This lead to passing of the unconstitutional Decree 1400. At the same time the experience of 1991 was again used, with the Parliament being presented as coup makers, and not as defenders, in the public view. The liberal crowd began an assault on the Constitution, basically saying who needs a Constitution like this (meaning, where Yeltsin cannot do anything he wants).

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Autumn of 1991 as a Prelude to the “Black October” of 1993 and the “Wild ’90s” in Russia

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This autumn marks a sombre anniversary – 30 years since the bloody events of autumn 1993, which cemented Russia’s fate for the next 7 years and set the stage for the “Wild ’90s” and the “Desolation of Yeltsin” that almost destroyed Russia. I had several posts on the pages of this blog about the “Wild ’90s”, which are easiest accessed through the corresponding tag. Some of these posts are:

This is the first in a series of three articles I have planned for this autumn to remember the events of 1993. In this material I want to start by looking at August of 1991 through a series of short video materials – a time when the USSR was still around, and when it all really began.

First, let’s watch one aspect of the president of the USA G.W.Bush visit to the USSR – his speech before the congress of deputies of the Ukrainian SSR. Pay attention to the wording that Bush used in his speech, what emotions it played on.


(Original publication on Putinger’s Cat Telegram channel)

Three weeks after Bush’s visit, the USSR was engulfed in a coup d’etat, the so-called SCSE – The State Committee on the State of Emergency, or GKChP as it is known in Russian. I remember it as a highly-chaotic time, trying to tune in on some radio stations in Moscow and the “enemy voices” – Voice of America and Radio Svoboda, trying to make sense of what is happening. The information was very conflicting, and it was presented as if SCSE grabbed the power in the USSR, trying to depose Gorbachev.

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The purchase deed of Kiev by the Russian Kingdom from Poland is valid still

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As an addendum to the post “An Honest Deal. How Peter I Bought the Baltic Territories from Sweden. With a bonus about an earlier purchase of Kiev.”, I mentioned the purchase of Kiev by the Russian Kingdom, a deed that is still legally binding to this day.

Here is an expanded article, which is a blend of a translation of a WebArchived copy of a Dzen post and the previous publication, mentioned above.

Russia forever bought Kiev from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: the purchase deed is valid till this day

In 1686 Russia acquired Kiev for 146 thousand roubles, concluding an agreement with the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth on “Eternal Peace” – this peace treaty regulated the division of the Getmanate. The de jure agreement is still in effect, by analogy with the sale of Russian Alaska to the United States.

The parties began long negotiations on the price that Moscow would pay to Warsaw “out of brotherly friendship and love” — this is how the diplomats officially formulated the purpose of the payment in 1686. The bargaining for Kiev went on for several months. Although the Polish Sejm ratified the document only in 1764, seven tonnes of silver were paid immediately by the Russians, and the deal was concluded.

Converted at today’s exchange rate, the cost of Kiev at the end of the XVII century amounted to slightly more than 397 million roubles, and if we count using the price of silver, to 133 million roubles. Anyway, at that time it corresponded to about 10% of the annual budget of Russia.

The Tzar (Ivan V Alekseevich, co-ruling with Peter I) feared that Poland would use the proceeds to modernize and expand the army, but the money were divided among the patrimonial nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and did not contribute to the militarization of the neighbouring state. At the same time, Ukraine became known on European maps as “Okraina” (“Borderland”).

Formally, the purchase deed for Kiev within the framework of the “Eternal Peace” is still valid. Two centuries later, in 1867, Alexander II sold Alaska to the United States for 7.2 million gold dollars.

As a postscript: After the dissolution of the USSR, the borders between Russian Federation (the legal heir of the USSR, the Russian Empire and the Russian Kingdom) and Ukraine (first appeared on the map as a state in 1992) never underwent the procedure of demarcation. As such, it has large legal repercussions for the international relations. The following article gives a good introduction into the matter, also touching on the demarcation of borders between RF and China: Demarcation of borders is … The problem of demarcation. Ukraine did not and did not properly register in the UN the demarcation of its borders as a state

The rewriting of WWII history continues by van der Leyen and Johnson

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In 2019 I published an article History being rewritten in front of our eyes… Today more such rewriting came about from the mouths of Boris Johnson, who posits that it is USA and UK together with Ukraine (!) who won WWII. It is needless to say that Ukraine did not exists back then, but was a Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic with the USSR, and it was USSR as a whole that took Berlin and ultimately ended WWII (through huge sacrifice), while the USA and UK provided some assistance.

Boris Johnson said that the Second World War was won by the West and Ukraine: The Anglo-American agreement was its achievement. And that is why the West won the Second World War with the Allies, incidentally, with Ukrainian help.

Hot on BoJo’s heels comes Ursula van der Leyen (henceforth known as van der Lie’en) basically stating that nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan by… the USSR. In reality it was the USA that did it to intimidate the USSR by this demonstration of power (at that time the USSR still did not have the nuclear technology in place), and as we now know: 204 A-Bombs Against 66 Cities: US Drew up First Plan to Nuke Russia Before WWII Was Even Over (RI repost)

Maria Zaharova had this to say to van der Leyen:

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“Ukraine’s Crimes Against Humanity (2022-2023)” – a black book with over 400 testimonials

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Ukraine's crimes 2022-2023In June I wrote about a recent black book covering the Ukrainian atrocities, with my translation of the preface. “The Black Book. Atrocities of the modern Banderites – the Ukrainian neo-Nazis in 2014 – 2023” – by Maxim Grigoriev & Mihail Myagkov was in Russian and continued the work of the Russian Foreign Ministry and their White Hooks covering the years 2013-2014: Recent Ukraine human rights violations released in ‘White Book’ report

Ukraine’s Crimes Against Humanity (2022-2023) is also compiled by Maxim Grigoriev (Russian language Telegram channel of the author).

The book was published on the Maxim Grigoriev’s English-language Telegram channel «War Crimes in Ukrake» and announced in this post on the Telegram channel of the Russian Ministry of foreign Affairs.

➡️ The PDF of the book can be downloaded directly from this site.

Below are the introduction and the table of contents of the book:

INTRODUCTION

The book ‘Ukraine’s Crimes Against Humanity (2022-2023)’ contains more than 400 testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses of Ukrainian war crimes and terrorist acts against civilians, committed between 2022 and 2023.

These testimonies have been collected by various public initiatives and organizations, including the International Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis and Their Accomplices, the Foundation for the Study of Democracy, and many others. The non-governmental nature of the work of these organizations, and limited resources has allowed only a small number of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian war crimes to be documented.

The evidence of crimes presented in this book contains direct speech — the accounts of victims and witnesses of crimes — and is classified according to the types of crimes under international humanitarian law. In each case photographs and full details of the victims and witnesses are provided, allowing them to be re-interviewed both by the media and by national or international judicial structures.

The accounts presented in this book testify to massive Ukrainian war crimes, which under international humanitarian law are classified as crimes against humanity and have no statute of limitations.

We would appreciate if you could repost this message with this book in social media or pass it to the media and human rights organizations of your country.

М. Grigoriev

President of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy

CONTENTS

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Occupation of Russia by the USA in 1918-1920. The “international intervention” during the post-revolutionary unrest.

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Dividing the skin of a living bearA couple of months ago some Gunther Fehlinger, apparently a “Chair of European Committee for NATO Enlargement for Kosovo, Ukraine, Bosnia, Austria, Moldova, Ireland, Georgia, EU” (mostly concerning the places where trouble can be stirred) posted an X-Tweet with an image of a partitioned Russia, under a prettified title of “Why Russia must be Decolonised” and a link to a EuroMaidan article arguing that Russia is not a federation and it is thus an open season on dividing the skin of the not-yet-killed bear (as the Russian saying goes). It does not disconcert them that the exact same argument that they are making can be applied to the USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and quite a number of other candidates for “decolonisation NATO-style”.

Napoleonida

Napoleon’s plan for the division of the territory of the Ukraine (as of 1954-2014):
Grey – Give to Poland
Red – The Duchy of Poltava
Green – The Duchy of Chernigov
Yellow – The State of Napoleonida
Beige – Didn’t partition

This is not something new. The “Drang nach oesten” has been the lead tune in the various invasions of Russia by the Western vultures. We can, for example, recall that before the 1812 invasion, Napoleon had already designated Crimea as a new French Riviera, while partitioning the rest of Russia between France and Poland. We can recall how Germany and its Axis were establishing Reichskommissariats for their “new” territorial possessions.

More can be read in my prior articles Is the West gearing up to invade Russia once again? and Will Russia have to fend off NATO invasion too..?

The 20th century was the most abundant in the attempts to partition Russia/USSR. The map below is from the “American Magazine, published in the March of 1939 after the Munich Conspiracy of 1938 (covered in The Great Unknown War. A must-see documentary about the WWII prelude. By Andrei Medvedev), coupled with the “allies'” reluctance to open the second front until it was absolutely clear that the USSR was winning, shows that area of interest from the American perspective.

Next European War - 14th of March 1939, American Magazine

“American Magazine”, 14th of March 1939

Invasion of the USSR by the USA - October 27, 1951, Collier's magazine

Invasion of the USSR by the USA – the 27th of October 1951, Collier’s magazine

And just as the War was over, the USA did not stop dreaming of that piece of land for their own use, as can be seen from the cover of the “Collier’s” magazine from 1951. “Preview of the war we do not want” reads the hypocritical title while talking about “Russia’s defeat and occupation”. As we now know, if the USSR did not get the nuclear arsenal by that time, this was very much the plan the USA were nuturing. We can also see it from the USA’s own plans for the use of nuclear weapons against the USSR, as I described in two articles in the previous years: 204 A-Bombs Against 66 Cities: US Drew up First Plan to Nuke Russia Before WWII Was Even Over (RI repost) and USA’s plans for the nuclear annihilation of USSR (Russia) and China disclosed. Another declassified document from that post-War era points towards the same desire. I covered it in The Plan to Destroy Russia. Conceived and Started in 1948. Concluded in 1993? Or Not…

In 1993 the USA actually got a total colonial control over Russia without engaging in a hot war, and during that time Russia was also almost partitioned administratively. Luckily, the Americans saw Russia as defeated, what with the “end of history” and other such ideas, and did not bother to fire the control shot in the back of the country’s head, as such cold-blooded killers usually do.

But the first time when the West came closest to realising that wet dream of partitioning Russia and laying its hands on the Russian resource happened in the wake of the 1917 Revolution when Russia was plunged into the Civil War, while it had been weakened by WWI. The article that I translate below illustrates one of the areas where such partitioning almost happened.

Reading the article below, think also of the historical parallels with today, of the ongoing civil war in Ukraine and how the Western intervention is prolonging the conflict, making it more bloody, than it was initially shaping up to be.

The link to the original article on the site of Russian Information Agency (RIA) may not work, as the West, in its pursuit of the the purity (of the “freedom”) of speech, blocks RIA. You can alternatively view the WebArchived version of the original article.

The American-style occupation. 100 Years Ago, the US Army Invaded Russia

Published: 08:00 15.08.2018 (Updated: 11:37 03.03.2020)

American troops during a parade in front of the headquarters of the Czechoslovak Legion in Vladivostok. 1918

American troops during a parade in front of the headquarters of the Czechoslovak Legion in Vladivostok. 1918

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Western songs of the ’90s that codified the youth of the USSR – Pet Shop Boys and Scorpions

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Back in the early 90s I, just as lots of other youths in Russia and the post-Soviet space listened to a multitude of Western pop groups, like Scorpions, Pet shop boys, A-Ha. With my command of the English language becoming more solid, I was also starting to understand the lyrics – remember, there was no Internet to check the texts, so you got by with what you understood on your own.

And the understanding was that of a warm and fuzzy welcoming feeling – the West invitingly offering to become the best friend of Russia. Or so it seemed. Later, in the naughts, came other musical preferences, and Scorpions with PSB faded into the background.

Now, many decades later I re-listened to some of my favourites from that time. And, what is more important, re-watched the clips. It’s important to keep in mind that not all music of that time had a political undercurrent or agenda, in fact, the majority of the clips were perfectly innocent in this regard. And then there were occasional musical items that failed the smell test of time.

“Wind of Change” by Scorpions seemed like a nice peace-building work of musical art, a hand of friendship outstretch to the new Russia… until 2023, when they changed the lyrics to suite the new political agenda of pandering to Ukraine, with Ukraine becoming the new target for this song.

Pet Shop Boys has two clips that drew my attention with the modern knowledge of the past events. Watch closely “Go West”. I always thought of it as addressing the wider Soviet audience, luring people into the sweet embrace of the West (that with the hindsight turned out to be a sweet honey trap). Yet, watch closely the clip.

Pay attention to the blue-and-yellow “Ukrainian” colour scheme…

…the gesture of the OUN-UPA Bandera Nazi collaborators nonchalantly thrown at three places in the clip…

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