Another mouth from Moscow. That’s one thing they seem to have in abundance these days — unlike ammo, natural gas, and friends. So, let’s see what the Foreign Minister has to say for himself this time.

Well, that must have been quite an interesting U.N. General Assembly meeting at New York last week, between Turkish President Erdogan’s declaration of fealty to Vladimir Putin, and now Sergei Lavrov’s hard-line pronouncement of Russia’s intentions toward Ukraine, and his all-too-familiar, Soviet-style diatribe against “the West.” As cited by two Kremlin-friendly media sources, TASS and RIA Novosti, following is the gist of his statements:

– Russia is allegedly ready for negotiations with regard to Ukraine, “but will not consider any proposals for a cease-fire because it has allegedly already been deceived once.”

– “. . . nobody in the West wants to show enough understanding of the war in Ukraine seriously, and ‘since they want to solve the issue on the battlefield, it means that it will be [done] on the battlefield.’”

– “. . . the ‘peace formula’ of the President of Ukraine . . . is allegedly absolutely impossible to implement, and everyone knows it.”

– “In his speech, Lavrov called the West an ‘empire of lies’ because Western countries allegedly assume obligations and do not fulfil [sic] them.”

– “He also claims that ‘rejection of the principle of equality and total inability to negotiate became a kind of calling card of the collective West long ago.’” [All as reported by Ukrainska Pravda, September 23, 2023; Lavrov’s actual words in single quotes.]

Gee, Mr. Minister . . . don’t mince words. Tell us what you really think.

*. *. *

Actually, everything he reportedly said is typical Orwellian doublespeak, so familiar from the old Soviet days: you just turn everything around so that the blame points to the other guy, then act indignant. It’s the same bullshit Hitler used to screech at the German masses, and Lenin fed to the Russian proletariat. It’s just toned down a bit, and spoken by a grandfatherly-looking man incongruously clothed in an expensive-looking Western suit and tie.

But where are the specific examples of the West’s alleged deception, lack of understanding of the war, and failure to fulfill its obligations? Not surprisingly, they’re conspicuously absent. I would like to challenge Mr. Lavrov to back up his accusations with detailed, provable facts; but unfortunately, he doesn’t read my blog.

In fact, no one from Russia has ever read my blog, which is shared worldwide on Facebook. I have had readers from 26 different countries in addition to the United States, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Nigeria. But not one single reader from Russia. Could it be because communications there are once more under government control? Is it not resoundingly clear what is happening again to a people who, just 30 years ago, were celebrating their freedom and sharing a hope for a bright future?

Of course, it’s clear . . . to most of us. But there are those who still take Vladimir Putin and his minions at their word. People who, like Turkish President Erdogan, still say, “I have no reason not to trust them.” And America’s own Donald Trump, following a face-to-face meeting with Putin at Helsinki in 2018, when he famously answered a question from the press concerning the issue of Russian meddling in our elections: “President Putin . . . just said it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.” And who to this day continues to express his delight when Putin praises him. These are people who should know better, and whose followers . . . well . . . follow them.

And that scares me to death.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/30/23