Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been silent this past week, hopefully away on a well-deserved vacation from what has to be an exhausting job. I can’t imagine having to keep up with the workings of Vladimir Putin’s mind day after day after endless day!

And in his absence, we’ve been hearing from various members of the Kremlin inner circle — a different one each time. Although the topics have varied, the message has been pretty much the same: The United States is to blame for everything bad that happens anywhere in the world. Right.

For example, on Monday Vyacheslav Volodin — Chairman of the State Duma (the equivalent of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) — accused the U.S. government, with no evidence whatsoever, of being behind the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France in order to be able to take control of his controversial messaging platform, saying:

“Telegram is one of the few and, at the same time, the largest internet platforms over which the United States has no influence. On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for President Joe Biden to take Telegram under control.” [Billal Rahman, Newsweek, August 27, 2024.]

Yeah, right . . . as though France is going to go through all of this just because we (or anyone) said “pretty please.” Are you nuts?

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Also on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said unequivocally that U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s counter-offensive (he used the word “incursion”) in Russia’s Kursk region was no longer an accusation, but was now “an obvious fact”:

“Washington’s escalatory path is becoming more and more challenging. The impression is that [U.S.] colleagues have thrown away the remnants of common sense and believe that everything is permissible for them. Similar approaches are followed by their clientele in Kyiv.” [Lucy Papachristou and Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, August 27, 2024.]

First of all, the U.S. doesn’t have “clientele.” He must be thinking of Russia’s own “clients” — in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe . . .

And second, speaking of “[believing] that everything is permissible for them . . .” Again, are we looking into a mirror, seeing our own reflection, and confusing the left side with the right? Must be.

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And then they brought out the big gun: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who declared that the West is escalating the Ukraine war and “asking for trouble” by so much as considering Ukraine’s requests to ease restrictions on the use of foreign (i.e., U.S.) -supplied weapons. In his customary subtle manner, he continued:

“We are now confirming once again that playing with fire — and they are like small children playing with matches — is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” he told reporters. “Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively.”

He added that Russia was “clarifying” its nuclear doctrine. [Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin, Reuters, August 27, 2024.]

Excuse me, Mister Minister. But have you conveniently forgotten about all those weapons and related technology you’ve been receiving from China, from Iran, and from God-knows-where-else? If there are any restrictions placed on the use of those weapons — say, for instance, in Ukraine — the world hasn’t seen any evidence of it during the past 30 months.

Not too hypocritical, are we?

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And while all of these Kremlin officials were busily playing the blame game, what was the Russian military doing? Why, they were having a field day launching their most massive air attack across Ukraine since the start of the war, aiming their Chinese and Iranian missiles and drones at energy infrastructure, killing at least seven people, and causing power outages in several cities. [Svitlana Vlasova, Ivana Kottasova, Daria Tarasova and Christian Edwards, CNN, August 27, 2024.]

And then they moved in on the civilian residential areas — those very areas they claim not to target — in scores of regions, killing no fewer than another six people. In the city of Kryvyi Rih alone, three people were killed, another five injured, and one person — Serhiy Lysak, Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in which Kryvyi Rih is located — was still missing. And three more people were killed in drone attacks in Zaporizhzhia, an already hard-hit city in southeastern Ukraine. [Valentyn Ogirenko, Gleb Garanich and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Reuters, August 27, 2024.]

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You know, what really gets my goat is not the posturing, not the cover-ups, not the false accusations, the veiled threats, or even the outright bald-faced lies. What I can’t understand is how you — all of you Kremlin mouthpieces — can think that we in the West are stupid enough to buy your bullshit . . . or weak enough to cave in to it.

Because — surprise! — we’re not.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/28/24