Here’s the real deal on Russia…
______________________________
Editor’s Foreword:
The author of this piece of unqualified obsequious bullshit, Grigori Yavlinsky, is an pro-American lickspittle and neoliberal crapitalist cheerleader (think of the Fox News lot, and you have him pegged… he’s a contemporary analogue of the Vlasovtsy traitors of the VOV). His party is unpopular; it has no seats in the RF Gosduma and only 12 seats out of 3,787 in the various local assemblies. Note well that Yavlinsky uses the western-tinged “Primate” rather than the Orthodox “First Hierarch” in his writing. He’s a drooling disciple of Free Market buccaneering and he’s an utterly evil man. Remember, evil doesn’t wear red tights and carry a pitchfork… it wears a three-piece suit, it speaks “properly” and “politely”, it’s attractive and lucid… and utterly amoral and malicious to the bone. This is the sort of rubbish that Potapov and Paffhausen (don’t they sound like a duo of sleazy burlesque comics?) eat up and pass amongst the “true believers”. I’ll have more to say after this… it’s untrue and meretricious… but you MUST know what’s out there.
Warning!
This writer is so pro-American that he distorts facts and his grasp of history is extraordinarily-weak for a Russian (indeed, he’s closer to American lotus-eating than to Russian reverence for the past).
BMD
******
US President Barack Obama took his second oath of office on 20 January. The following Sunday, also in Washington, Metropolitan Tikhon was enthroned as the primate of the Orthodox Church in America. A second major phenomenon largely overlooked by the media is that 1 million Orthodox Americans affirm the importance of upholding their faith in that multicultural “melting pot”… even though most speak English and weren’t raised according to traditional Russian customs. Although many American Orthodox believers aren’t Russians or Europeans, and some aren’t even direct descendents of Russian and European immigrants, they often had an even stronger personal connection to the Russian émigrés and anti-Bolsheviks of the 18th and 19th centuries and responded more passionately when the Russian Orthodox Church was driven partly underground.
Against the backdrop of these two factors, we should take another look at the deeper significance of American relations with Europe and Russia… and not at the shifting winds of political trends that often determine the outlook of provincial-minded Russian officials. First, we should be aware that the USA does have many shortcomings. Even though many American citizens have European roots and might naturally be expected to feel close ties to their forebears across the Atlantic, Americans most decidedly don’t consider themselves Europeans. They refuse to let go of their right to carry arms… even assault weapons. They have a peculiar and very formal justice system. Many states have the death penalty.
Traditionally, Americans (like Russians to some extent) don’t like to compromise. They aren’t so much imperialists as they’re deeply provincial… they hold an overly-high opinion of their own rules and principles. At times, they seem to think that the whole world is an extension of the USA, so they’re genuinely surprised when somebody doesn’t want to live according to their standards. This often leads to serious and dangerous misunderstandings. At the same time, they’re wealthy and truly effective in many spheres of activity. That is why it’s difficult to befriend the USA while maintaining independence and the right to say “no”. However, then, who said it should be easy? Is it easy to get along with Russia… heir to the Soviet empire, and often unhappy not only with itself, but with its neighbours as well? In fact, Russia and the USA are linked by special historical, cultural, and political ties and are united by many common interests. Émigrés from old Russia were probably among the top five largest groups that helped settle and are still influencing the USA today.
The Russian Empire had an excellent relationship with the USA. Washington never took a confrontational stance toward the Russian Empire and even acted as a counterbalance to several European states. Russia supported America’s freedom-loving spirit, which it combined with conservatism and its ability to incorporate and improve upon fresh and dynamic ideas. It’s impossible to imagine the USA without its Russian immigrants. In the 18th and 19th centuries, they were present at Fort Ross and Alaska. There was German the Monk and St Innocent of Alaska (later Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia). After 1917, the USA was enriched by Russians seeking a safe haven from persecution. Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his outstanding music there, Igor Sikorsky created the helicopter, Vladimir Zworykin invented the television, and Wassily Leontief formulated his unique economic theory. More recently, Russian émigrés such as ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have made major contributions in their respective fields.
The USA twice helped Russia in wartime. As a result of the October Revolution, Russia withdrew from its alliance with the USA and suffered severe consequences. Although American involvement in World War II was by itself not enough to topple Nazi Germany, without that help, the Soviet Union would have paid a far higher price for victory… a fact that should be firmly acknowledged. The USA gave shelter to many persecuted people from Russia, but also committed an unforgivably-horrible act by repatriating many Russians, dooming them to suffer or die in Stalin‘s labour camps. Over the past 20 years, the Russian economy has been largely built with the aid of American technology and know-how, a lack of access to which would have had disastrous consequences for this country.
Russia must halt its shameful anti-Americanism and stop earning Herostratus-like fame (as well as money, most likely held in dollars) through trivial and dangerous provocations and conspiracy theories. If the USA can be faulted for anything, it’s only that Washington sometimes pays too little attention to Russia. Then, is the USA responsible for solving Russia’s problems? Of all the powers in today’s world, the USA best answers Russia’s need for a strong ally capable of making and fulfilling treaty obligations, more than China, India, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia. The mutual understanding built up between Russia and the USA is a far more significant factor in world politics than the surrogate peripheral structures that Moscow is member to now. Those might serve well enough for propaganda purposes, but the Moscow leadership understands perfectly well how limited in scope and duration such alliances can be.
Russia should firmly defend its interests… but only when they actually exist. It shouldn’t artificially invent them at every step in order to “stick it to Washington” and “teach those Yankees a lesson”, only punishing itself in the end. Russia should not swagger and goad others. Such behaviour does not befit the leaders of a major power, at least not if they want their children to see Russia’s heyday in their lifetime. Hopefully, the USA, with all its diversity, will not forget its roots and will ensure a significant place in this century’s history by winning not only recognition of its might, but genuine esteem for its character.
19 February 2013
Grigori Yavlinsky
Moscow Times
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/us-is-russias-best-friend/475783.html
Editor’s Afterword:
The Russian people have spoken on Yavlinsky and the Yabloko Party… in the last election that it contested, in 2011; it only won about 3.5 percent of the vote. It has NO Duma deputies… they’re a bunch of sorehead intellectual and Free Market wannabes with no roots in the people. Virtually everything that Yavlinsky wrote was a distortion or simply untrue. However, it’s what’s out there… and you need to know that it’s there… and that the USA is still trying to interfere in Russian domestic politics through its surrogates. Yavlinsky should be deported to Washington DC… he’d get on famously with Paffhausen and Potapov and their Moonie pals at the Washington Times. One can hope, no?
Oh, yes… Orthodox people should be aware that Yavlinsky doesn’t stand tall for the Church… he supports American-style religious anarchy. That is, he opposes the special position given by the Russian state to the traditional religions of Russia. For that alone, he’s a traitor…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
“USA Is Russia’s Best Friend”: Absolute Hooey from Zapadnik Yavlinsky
Tags: Grigori Yavlinsky, Moscow, political commentary, politics, poster, Russia, Russian, Russian Empire, Russian history, Soviet Union, United States, USA, Washington, Yabloko
Here’s the real deal on Russia…
______________________________
Editor’s Foreword:
The author of this piece of unqualified obsequious bullshit, Grigori Yavlinsky, is an pro-American lickspittle and neoliberal crapitalist cheerleader (think of the Fox News lot, and you have him pegged… he’s a contemporary analogue of the Vlasovtsy traitors of the VOV). His party is unpopular; it has no seats in the RF Gosduma and only 12 seats out of 3,787 in the various local assemblies. Note well that Yavlinsky uses the western-tinged “Primate” rather than the Orthodox “First Hierarch” in his writing. He’s a drooling disciple of Free Market buccaneering and he’s an utterly evil man. Remember, evil doesn’t wear red tights and carry a pitchfork… it wears a three-piece suit, it speaks “properly” and “politely”, it’s attractive and lucid… and utterly amoral and malicious to the bone. This is the sort of rubbish that Potapov and Paffhausen (don’t they sound like a duo of sleazy burlesque comics?) eat up and pass amongst the “true believers”. I’ll have more to say after this… it’s untrue and meretricious… but you MUST know what’s out there.
Warning!
This writer is so pro-American that he distorts facts and his grasp of history is extraordinarily-weak for a Russian (indeed, he’s closer to American lotus-eating than to Russian reverence for the past).
BMD
******
US President Barack Obama took his second oath of office on 20 January. The following Sunday, also in Washington, Metropolitan Tikhon was enthroned as the primate of the Orthodox Church in America. A second major phenomenon largely overlooked by the media is that 1 million Orthodox Americans affirm the importance of upholding their faith in that multicultural “melting pot”… even though most speak English and weren’t raised according to traditional Russian customs. Although many American Orthodox believers aren’t Russians or Europeans, and some aren’t even direct descendents of Russian and European immigrants, they often had an even stronger personal connection to the Russian émigrés and anti-Bolsheviks of the 18th and 19th centuries and responded more passionately when the Russian Orthodox Church was driven partly underground.
Against the backdrop of these two factors, we should take another look at the deeper significance of American relations with Europe and Russia… and not at the shifting winds of political trends that often determine the outlook of provincial-minded Russian officials. First, we should be aware that the USA does have many shortcomings. Even though many American citizens have European roots and might naturally be expected to feel close ties to their forebears across the Atlantic, Americans most decidedly don’t consider themselves Europeans. They refuse to let go of their right to carry arms… even assault weapons. They have a peculiar and very formal justice system. Many states have the death penalty.
Traditionally, Americans (like Russians to some extent) don’t like to compromise. They aren’t so much imperialists as they’re deeply provincial… they hold an overly-high opinion of their own rules and principles. At times, they seem to think that the whole world is an extension of the USA, so they’re genuinely surprised when somebody doesn’t want to live according to their standards. This often leads to serious and dangerous misunderstandings. At the same time, they’re wealthy and truly effective in many spheres of activity. That is why it’s difficult to befriend the USA while maintaining independence and the right to say “no”. However, then, who said it should be easy? Is it easy to get along with Russia… heir to the Soviet empire, and often unhappy not only with itself, but with its neighbours as well? In fact, Russia and the USA are linked by special historical, cultural, and political ties and are united by many common interests. Émigrés from old Russia were probably among the top five largest groups that helped settle and are still influencing the USA today.
The Russian Empire had an excellent relationship with the USA. Washington never took a confrontational stance toward the Russian Empire and even acted as a counterbalance to several European states. Russia supported America’s freedom-loving spirit, which it combined with conservatism and its ability to incorporate and improve upon fresh and dynamic ideas. It’s impossible to imagine the USA without its Russian immigrants. In the 18th and 19th centuries, they were present at Fort Ross and Alaska. There was German the Monk and St Innocent of Alaska (later Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia). After 1917, the USA was enriched by Russians seeking a safe haven from persecution. Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his outstanding music there, Igor Sikorsky created the helicopter, Vladimir Zworykin invented the television, and Wassily Leontief formulated his unique economic theory. More recently, Russian émigrés such as ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have made major contributions in their respective fields.
The USA twice helped Russia in wartime. As a result of the October Revolution, Russia withdrew from its alliance with the USA and suffered severe consequences. Although American involvement in World War II was by itself not enough to topple Nazi Germany, without that help, the Soviet Union would have paid a far higher price for victory… a fact that should be firmly acknowledged. The USA gave shelter to many persecuted people from Russia, but also committed an unforgivably-horrible act by repatriating many Russians, dooming them to suffer or die in Stalin‘s labour camps. Over the past 20 years, the Russian economy has been largely built with the aid of American technology and know-how, a lack of access to which would have had disastrous consequences for this country.
Russia must halt its shameful anti-Americanism and stop earning Herostratus-like fame (as well as money, most likely held in dollars) through trivial and dangerous provocations and conspiracy theories. If the USA can be faulted for anything, it’s only that Washington sometimes pays too little attention to Russia. Then, is the USA responsible for solving Russia’s problems? Of all the powers in today’s world, the USA best answers Russia’s need for a strong ally capable of making and fulfilling treaty obligations, more than China, India, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia. The mutual understanding built up between Russia and the USA is a far more significant factor in world politics than the surrogate peripheral structures that Moscow is member to now. Those might serve well enough for propaganda purposes, but the Moscow leadership understands perfectly well how limited in scope and duration such alliances can be.
Russia should firmly defend its interests… but only when they actually exist. It shouldn’t artificially invent them at every step in order to “stick it to Washington” and “teach those Yankees a lesson”, only punishing itself in the end. Russia should not swagger and goad others. Such behaviour does not befit the leaders of a major power, at least not if they want their children to see Russia’s heyday in their lifetime. Hopefully, the USA, with all its diversity, will not forget its roots and will ensure a significant place in this century’s history by winning not only recognition of its might, but genuine esteem for its character.
19 February 2013
Grigori Yavlinsky
Moscow Times
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/us-is-russias-best-friend/475783.html
Editor’s Afterword:
The Russian people have spoken on Yavlinsky and the Yabloko Party… in the last election that it contested, in 2011; it only won about 3.5 percent of the vote. It has NO Duma deputies… they’re a bunch of sorehead intellectual and Free Market wannabes with no roots in the people. Virtually everything that Yavlinsky wrote was a distortion or simply untrue. However, it’s what’s out there… and you need to know that it’s there… and that the USA is still trying to interfere in Russian domestic politics through its surrogates. Yavlinsky should be deported to Washington DC… he’d get on famously with Paffhausen and Potapov and their Moonie pals at the Washington Times. One can hope, no?
Oh, yes… Orthodox people should be aware that Yavlinsky doesn’t stand tall for the Church… he supports American-style religious anarchy. That is, he opposes the special position given by the Russian state to the traditional religions of Russia. For that alone, he’s a traitor…
BMD