President Joe Biden signs the "Consolidated Appropriations Act," a funding bill including $13.6 billion in Ukraine aid, in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 15, 2022. /VCG
Editor's note: Seymur Mammadov is the director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan news agency Baku Tribune. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN
Sanctions and the supply of weapons to Ukraine — this is not yet a complete package of Western tools to contain the Russian special operation in Ukraine. Since the above methods of containment were not effective enough, the West decided to declare war on Russian culture and people of Russian origin as well. Against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine, courses on the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky were canceled at the Bicocca University of Milan. And the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra in the United Kingdom decided to remove the performance of the overture by the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky from its forthcoming program.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, at the opening ceremony of the diplomatic forum in Antalya on Friday, said that the attacks on citizens of Russian origin and representatives of Russian culture living in the West are "completely unacceptable" and "fascist." As an example, the head of state cited the case of the dismissal of Valery Gergiev, chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. "Look at the situation where the conductor of a philharmonic orchestra in Germany is fired because he is a friend of Putin. Is it nonsense? Dostoyevsky's works are banned. Is this nonsense?" the Turkish President said.
With his speech, the Turkish leader surprised many, as he stood up for a Russian writer who dreamed that his country, the Russian Empire, would take over Istanbul. In the past, Russian emperors Alexander II, Nicholas II and others nurtured the idea of a military operation to capture Istanbul. Slavophile patriots dreamed of taking possession of the Turkish city, among which the most ardent fan of this idea was the famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, for whom the Turkish leader stood up recently.
What did Erdogan say? About not mixing culture with politics. Moreover, to wage war with the dead is extremely unacceptable.
Do you think the West, which is at war with Russian culture and the dead, will wage war with Russia? I doubt it. Otto von Bismarck, Germany's "Iron Chancellor," said "Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity."
However, the West is ready to do anything — the main thing for the United States and Europe is to ensure the defeat of Russia, to weaken its military potential. And today the united Europe acts as a single fist against Russia. A similar situation of European unity against Russia has been repeated many times in Russian history — and at those moments, the greatest successes of the Russian army.
Suffice it to recall the Russian-Swedish Great Northern War under Peter the Great (1700-1721), when England concluded not only peace, but also an alliance with Sweden. In addition to England, Austria also put pressure on Russia, demanding that Peter make peace with the Swedes on completely unacceptable conditions. Then in Poland they started talking about the need to clear Courland, a historical region of Latvia, of Russian troops in order to return it to the dependence on Poland. European countries, especially England, "pumped" Sweden with resources for a future war with Russia.
What is most interesting about this war is that the Europeans morally and diplomatically supported Sweden in the war against Russia, but there was no direct military support for it. When the Russian fleet, under the command of Peter, headed for the Swedish coast, England sent a squadron to the Baltic Sea, but the English fleet refrained from a sea battle. The Russians attacked the Swedish squadron right in front of the British near Grengam Island, and won.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and attendees applaud after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed them by video link during a meeting of the the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), in London, the United Kingdom, March 15, 2022. /VCG
If in the first days of the war in Ukraine there were more supporters of the fact that the West would send its troops to help Kiev, today many of them will be disappointed. The only thing that the U.S. and Europe do not refuse today is the supply of weapons to Ukraine. At this stage, it is important for them that Ukraine continues to resist Russia at any cost and does not agree to the conditions put forward by the Russian side.
I doubt that the continuation of the fight against Russia is a sovereign decision of the Ukrainian authorities because inside Ukraine there were no resources for such a struggle. Yes, there were certain resources, but not comparable to those that Russia has today. As soon as the war began, military and other resources began to come from the U.S. and Europe in much greater volumes in order to keep the war going.
The war will stop if the resources of one side are depleted. Russia has these resources in enormous quantities. Today, Moscow is at war with its own resources, which cannot be said about Ukraine, which is actually fighting for the realization of U.S. geopolitical interests in the post-Soviet space. Ukraine, unfortunately, is a victim of the confrontation between the West and Russia. And the war, given the zeal with which the West supplies weapons to Ukraine, will probably not end soon...
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