RUSSIAN MIGHT

ANDRE VLTCHEK—One of the vilest fabrications has been those which were unleashed against the young Soviet Union, a country that emerged from the ruins of the civil war fueled by the European, North American, and Japanese imperialist interests. Foreign armies and local violent gangs were destroying countless cities and villages, robbing, raping, and murdering local people. But determined acts to restore order and elevate the Soviet Union from its knees, dramatically improving lives of tens of millions, was termed in a derogatory way as “Stalinism”. The label of brutality was soon skillfully attached to it.

President Vladimir Putin joined a spectacular Red Square military parade on Wednesday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s World War II victory over the Nazis. The event was initially postponed from May 9 because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, despite critics say it is irresponsible to go ahead with it now. Putin delivered a speech at the celebration, on the eve of a nationwide vote that could extend his rule until 2036, patriotic display critics say is designed to lift his lower than usual ratings. Putin, flanked by veterans, did not wear a mask, but people around him had been tested for the coronavirus, including veterans quarantined at a resort outside Moscow beforehand. Thousands of people thronged Moscow’s streets to watch tanks roll through the city on what was a public holiday.

RAMIN MAZAHERI—The creation of credit-fueled financial bubbles may have bought the Pentagon some fancy toys, but it also bankrupted the US economically, ideologically and culturally – how could virtue and success ever be the final result of an insane, sovereignty-violating, global-sized war on other people’s types of socialism?

Editor’s Note: Russell Bentley, American expat and volunteer antifascist soldier in the struggle of Eastern Ukraine’s young republics of Donetsk and Lugansk against Kiev’s Nazi-infested, NATO-supported regime, has produced a moving video showing the people of Donetsk commemorating Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War. Simple and eloquent, the images say it all. I believe that decent people everywhere who understand these things, what WW2 meant to so many in terms of losses, pain and sacrifice,  will have a tough time holding back the tears. Paul Robeson’s singing is a most felicitous addition.—PG. 

An excerpt form the popular Russian talk show “An evening with Vladimir Solovyov”. Translated and subtitled by Eugenia. A well-known Russian filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov discusses the meaning of the WWII memory for the Russian society and the Russian people. The context of the discussion was the proposed constitutional amendments. Translator’s notes: (1) The Soviet division consisted of 10,000 soldiers. (2) The British light cruiser Edinburgh carrying 5.5 tons of the Russian gold as payment for Western supplies was sunk by a German submarine on its way home from the Soviet port Murmansk in April of 1942. Shakhnazarov mistakenly said that it happened in 1941.