Re: The Launch Of Russia's New 'Silent' Sub Is Just One Step In Rebuilding Its Mighty
You are probably asking me about Russia? America, NATO, Germany. My opinion - 1) Russia is very lucky with President Putin. At the moment there is no leader of state in the world , equal to Putin. In Russia, in 2005 there was a civil war. And in 2012, according to the World Bank, in terms of GDP, Russia is the fifth economy in the world. And overtook Germany.
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP_PPP.pdf Real incomes more than doubled and the average salary increased eightfold. Who else can boast that? I was in Russia and I love Russian. Art, philosophy - not less important than the great German thinkers. Literature - it's fantastic. Great story. By the way, West slanders the history of Russia.. Russian politics are very peace-loving. Maybe I'm not objective, but, in my opinion Russia is the best country. By the way, I read somewhere - Dominique Strauss Kahn wants to receive Russian citizenship. 2) Germany - a great country. My opinion German soldiers - some of the best (natural German.), second only to the Russian. The rich history. The great philosophers, musicians (I especially like Wagner), artists. By the way the Germans are very sentimental (by that they are very similar to Russian) The strong point of the Germans - the famous "Ordnung". If we talk about the politics of Germany - in my opinion it is clearly weak. Of course in Europe, Germany - № 1. But feel - its policy is not independent. And it is strongly evident. But this is not surprising. Germany is still under occupation. Another Annoying - "tolerance." It is sad to see how a great nation degenerates on their land. My opinion - if it was possible to conclude an alliance of Germany and Russia - they would be the rulers of the world. and in the economy, and in the military alliance. But the Anglo-Saxons would prevent this union by all means. Because, in this case, they will be in the outhouse. 3) America - America died. What is now located in this place - it is evil, two-faced monster. The first victim of which, was the American people. America now - it's a fascist state with total control of the population. With medieval torture. With the Inquisition NSA. And even with the concentration camp (for example Guantanamo). Where people are kept without charge or trial. A country that kidnaps people around the world. A country that supports terrorism around the world. In brief country-monster. Is nothing good about the policy of the United States can not say. The Americans - very kindly people, trusting people. You could say - the big kids. Enterprising, hard-working (by the way as Germans). Large patriots. I feel sorry for these people. I think - will soon be an economic collapse. I think in the range of 3-7 years. 4) NATO - puppet. With the bad infrastructure, with a huge bureaucracy. As a military force - nothing. Capable of carrying only some peacekeeping operations. And that - rare and no qualitatively.
I liked your posting, not necessarily because I agree with everything you say, but because I appreciate your openness and honesty.
I'll let you know my view: I make a difference between the Russian culture and Russian government and current society. I am a great admirer of Russian culture. Russian culture is very deep, you had amazing composers, from Rimski-Korsakov over Tchaikovski to Prokoviev and Stravinski, many important Russian scientists and I think Russian classic literature is my favorite next to German literature (unfortunately, I rely on translations, as I don't speak Russian). I'm especially fond of Dostoyevsky and I'm currently reading "Oblomov" by Goncharov, which I enjoy very much (a satire only matched by the American movie "The Big Lebovski", IMO). Also, I sometimes wonder if the "useless person" today appears in Germany very often, maybe I am one myself.
That said, I don't think Russian society is in a very good state today. It's corrupt. Maybe Moscow and St. Petersburg are florishing, but everything else is riddled by massive corruption, the mafia is usually more powerful than everybody else and the line between mafia and government/police is blurry. Then, Russia has a massive alcoholism problem, more than any other "white" country. And then, because of centuries of abuse by the government and authoritarianism, most Russians have become cynic. They don't believe in anything, are completely pessimistic and reject any moral claim anybody advances, because you're used the mighty and powerful will just play games with you. That's why you fail to see that at least much of the Western moralism is genuine. You simply can't believe any government will ever do anything else than abusing morals as excuses for power games. Also, Russia is suffering from the same illnesses the West is suffering from: You have a massive demographic problem, as fewer and fewer children are born (even less than in Germany or Poland), after losing more than half of the Soviet population to the independence of these countries. Then, you lose even more to alcoholism.
At the same time, Russians are once again falling for it. Your government has needlessly declared the USA/the West/NATO an enemy. Your government uses massive propaganda to shift the blame the scapegoats: The USA, the gays, the Jews, the Muslims. And Russians, in absence of even basic humanist and enlightened values (this lack is a heritage of 70 years of totalitarianism), and totally high on the substitute drug of nationalism, buy it. Russia today reminds me very much of Germany in the 1930s, spiritually and intellectually. You are not used to freedom and rule of the masses, maybe not mature enough for it (no big deal, it took Germany more than 30 years of occupation to develop a somewhat functioning civil society), and you compensate your rather poor situation with the substitute of extreme nationalism.
Putin? He certainly knows what kind of people he's dealing with, I give him that. He masterly plays with the sentiments and prejudices of the people, and is not shy of abusing them for his ends. Maybe he's even the best Russia can hope for, in its current situation, given that no President can govern without paying tribute to the "state within the state" (the old communist rope teams within the apparatus) and to the mafia structures. Maybe no other President could do much more than he does, and he at least warrants stability and some economic improvement. Although his track record on human rights and democratic standards is totally atrocious by the yardsticks of the developed world (mostly the West).
And Germany? Yes, I agree, Germany is not independent. And I think that's good. We fare better inside the American realm than we ever did before, both economically and ideologically. There is a very interesting German political theorist, Herfried Münkler, who wrote a lot about the merits of imperialism as a form of order. America is an empire, and we are within its sphere of influence, just like ancient Greece was within Rome's sphere of influence. And it grants us benefits unheard of before.
Americans are good people. You think they are naive. I think you are way too cynic, for historical reasons. They and I have values. And these values at least somewhat impact our governments' policies. Our governments are less bloodthirsty and hostile than other governments in the past, because they are held responsible by a very idealistic populace. And America's military capacity is remarkeable. Maybe you are right and Russia's is still very good; but America can still win any conventional war against any other country in a few weeks. The only problem for America are asymmetric wars against reckless guerilla fighters and terrorists; they abuse our "post-heroic" mindset (again look for Winkler for this term he coined; we in the West are not really willing to sacrifice our lives, which I think is a sign of humanist progress, not of decadent weakness, as cynics might say).
But I agree Germany's military condition is pitiful. If the Americans ever decided to abandon us, or are in a situation they can't help us, we are screwed. Russia has ca. 40 tank divisions ready within a few weeks, Germany only 1 to 2. And we have no nukes. If Russia ever decided to attack us, and America was in no position to help, we'd probably lose. But that's a rather extreme situation. Much would have to change until this becomes a possibility. But hey, who knows? Maybe in 30 or 40 years? What if world economy based on the $US collapses?
That said, it makes me suspicious that Russia is rearming and again declaring NATO the enemy of Russia. You'd have a much better life and society, if you finally accepted that you're a "white" country too. And if you left the 19th century mindset regarding security policy. I already said Russia today reminds me of 30s Germany. You too miss your status as world power. You face the same choice today Germany was facing back then. We decided the wrong way, which was a catastrophe for Germany, for Europe and for the entire world. We should have embraced our neighbors and the Western World back then. You should do the same. Just a friendly advice.
