Victory Day 2024

I begin with this short essay written by Yuliana Titaeva / Юлиана Титаева and published on her Telegram in two parts—part one and part two. Both parts will be combined into one. Some will find it controversial; other’s won’t:

About Our Great Victory

Every year on the eve of May 9th, a battle for historical memory of our great victory begins in the media space. Do those who repeat the clichés about "this day of mourning," "why the parades?" or "is this victory necessary?" realize that these are not their own judgments, but narratives cynically imposed on them by the very propaganda from which they avidly hide in "alternative sources of information" like YouTube and Meduza? And that the memory of the fact of our victory has long been, systematically, and deliberately destroyed? "By whom?" the liberal will ask, and I will answer "by those who paid for this war."

And it was paid for by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. Having profited from the First World War and boosting their industrial sector and economy, the US needed continuation. A new war promised to solve problems according to the principle of "everything everywhere at once": rivers of oil in the form of fuel and lubricants would bring dividends to Standard Oil, industrialists like Ford would sell military equipment, American banks would lend money to warring sides (both), and the unfinished business of Europe in the First World War and the burgeoning USSR would be "chopped down to the last" soldier. The planned action was phased and stretched in implementation for almost 20 years.

First, the US intentionally attacked the economy of Germany, which had sunk into an economic crisis due to reparations payments after losing the First World War, then offered its own help to it - in the form of loans and active penetration of American capital into the German industry, which in a few years rose to second place in the world, but with a small nuance: it all belonged to American owners. The German Farbenindustrie was under the control of Standard Oil, General Electric controlled the electrical industry through AEG and Siemens, Opel belonged to General Motors, Henry Ford owned 100% of Volkswagen's shares, and by 1933, under the wing of American capital, large banks such as Deutsche and Dresdner were also.

At the same time, with American capital money, the Nazi party and personally Hitler were prepared and sponsored. To bring a new political figure onto the big stage, the United States first intentionally withdrew its loans from the German economy, causing a sharp crisis there, then let all the dogs loose on the current government and offered the electorate a familiar solution: "you need a new leader, like a comedian or an artist, and we have him!". History always repeats itself twice.

What was done in 20 years completely prepared Germany for war. Apparently, it was promised that "we will take the Union quickly, and you, Dolphi, will receive the Nobel, the cover of Time, a house in Nice, a place in history, and a bucket of choice cocaine" (or was this promised to another president?), but of course, no one was going to take the Union quickly). The US needed a long, drawn-out, exhausting war, in which they would feed, finance, and ruthlessly exterminate every one of its participants. The winner didn't matter, but we ended up paying the huge price.

They pay for the war today, implementing the same plan right before our eyes. They also pay for the revision of history, erasing any information about their interests in the Second World War and gradually shifting the blame for its outbreak onto the winner, while appropriating the fact of victory for themselves.

They instill in immature minds something about the futility of holding parades, suggesting "quietly mourn at home," and hit the target with it precisely because they know that every historical symbol must be loud and noticeable, and what is not repeated en masse, as truth, from generation to generation, is simply forgotten forever.

They made hundreds of films about the Jewish people, but not a single film about our 28 million victims, who fell so that Standard Oil would have something to fuel its oil.

We did not ask our ancestors for this sacrifice, nor did they ask for it: the historical moment came to give it away, and they did. But now it's our turn to sacrifice and fight for our memory and victory with parades, conversations about the important, viewings of "The Dawns Here Are Quiet," and festive posts on May 9th. And we give this sacrifice, it's necessary.

I credit Pepe Escobar for posting the above to his Telegram. And it was immediately understood by some neutral observers what would follow Versailles as proven by John M. Keynes’s The Economic Consequences of the Peace published in 1920. So, yes, the memory of the past must remain pure; and what’s been muddied and swept under rugs must be exhumed so a true narrative can finally be written of the past 140 years of history. There are some excellent dots that already exist but need to have new dots produced so they can all be linked properly. On to the Parade.

Snow flurries fluttered through the gray May sky onto the participants and spectators

I hadn’t noticed before that the women’s Eye’s Right included smiles

While the men let out a roar of some sort:

While some of the photos capture facial expressions some would probably not want shown:

Here’s the Kremlin’s synopsis:

Before at the beginning of the parade, Vladimir Putin greeted the leaders of the Kremlin in the Armorial Hall of the Kremlin foreign states who arrived in Moscow to participate in the in ceremonial events.

Parade began with the removal of the Russian flag and banner to Red Square Victory. The parade was commanded by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Army General Oleg Salyukov, received by Acting Minister of Defense General Army Sergei Shoigu.

In the composition of 30 parade crews marched along Red Square: more than nine thousand servicemen, including more than a thousand fighters special military operation.

Mechanized the column was led by the legendary "Victory Tank" T-34. On the main cobblestones multi-purpose universal armored vehicles "Tiger-M", "MIC Ural", "KAMAZ", protected ambulances "Linza", Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system, anti-aircraft missile system S-400 Triumph system, Yars missile system launchers, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers.

Ended Victory Parade with a flight of aviation: the famous "Kybinsky diamond" – a rhombus of Su-30SM and MiG-29 aerobatic aircraft groups "Russian Knights" and "Swifts", then six Su-25 attack aircraft were painted The sky is in the colors of the Russian flag.

Music the parade was supported by the combined military orchestra of the Moscow garrison.

Here’s Putin’s short speech:

Vladimir Putin: Dear citizens of Russia, Dear veterans,

Fellow soldiers and sailors, sergeants and petty officers, midshipmen and ensigns! Fellow officers, generals and admirals! Fighters, commanders, and front-line soldiers who are the heroes of a special military operation!

I congratulate you on Victory Day – our most important, truly national, sacred holiday!

We honor our fathers and grandfathers, great-grandfathers. They defended their native land and crushed Nazism, liberated the peoples of Europe, and reached the heights of military and labor valor.

Today we see how the truth about the Second World War is being distorted. It [the truth] hinders those who are used to building their essentially colonial policy on hypocrisy and lies. They demolish memorials to the true fighters against Nazism, put traitors and collaborators of the Nazis on pedestals, cross out the memory of the heroism and nobility of the soldiers-liberators, of the great sacrifice they made in the name of life.

Revanchism, mockery of history, and the desire to justify the current followers of the Nazis are part of the general policy of Western elites to incite more and more regional conflicts, interethnic and inter-religious hostility, and to restrain sovereign, independent centers of world development.

We reject the claims of any state or alliance to exclusivity, and we know what the exorbitance of such ambitions leads to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash, but at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always on alert.

The West would like to forget the lessons of World War II, but we remember that the fate of humanity was decided in the grandiose battles of Moscow and Leningrad, Rzhev, Stalingrad, Kursk and Kharkov, Minsk, Smolensk and Kiev, in heavy bloody battles from Murmansk to the Caucasus and the Crimea.

For the first three long, difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union and all the republics of the former Soviet Union fought the Nazis almost one-on-one, while almost all of Europe worked for the military power of the Wehrmacht.

At the same time, I would like to emphasize that Russia has never belittled the importance of the second front and the help of its allies. We honor the bravery of all the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, members of the Resistance, underground fighters, partisans, and the courage of the people of China who fought for their independence against the aggression of militaristic Japan. And we will always remember, never, never forget our common struggle and inspiring traditions of alliance.

Dear friends!

Russia is now going through a difficult, milestone period. The fate of the Motherland, its future depends on each of us.

Today, on Victory Day, we realize this even more acutely and clearly, and we always look up to the generation of winners-brave, noble, wise, on their ability to cherish friendship and persevere in adversity, always be confident in themselves and in their country, sincerely and selflessly love the Motherland.

We celebrate Victory Day in the context of a special military operation. All its participants – those who are on the front line, on the line of contact-are our heroes. We bow down to your steadfastness and self-sacrifice. With you – all of Russia!

Our veterans also believe in you and care about you. Their spiritual involvement in your destinies and exploits unbreakably binds the generation of heroes of the Fatherland.

Today we bow our heads to the bright memory of all those whose lives were taken away by the Great Patriotic War. Before the memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends.

We bow our heads to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who have left us. Before the memory of civilians who died from barbaric shelling and neo-Nazi terrorist attacks. Before our comrades-in-arms who fell in the fight against neo-Nazism, in the righteous battle for Russia.

A minute of silence is observed.

(Minute of silence.)

Dear veterans, comrades, and friends!

The ninth of May is always a very emotional, poignant day. Each family celebrates its heroes, looks at photos, at dear, beloved faces, remembers relatives, their stories about how they fought, how they worked.

Victory Day unites all generations. We are moving forward based on our centuries-old traditions, and we are confident that together we will ensure a free and secure future for Russia, our united people.

Glory to the valiant Armed Forces! For Russia! For the Victory! Hurray!

Perhaps Putin’s praise of the other allies would differ if empirical proof what Ms. Titaeva implied at top materialized. Putin has presided over more Victory Day Parades than any other Russian leader, although many others have participated in various ways over the almost 8 decades since 1945. The sort of loathing we see exhibited by the West is what we expect to see from losers, yet most were on the winning side, which IMO says quite a lot since your inner values are exposed by such behavior.

After the Parade the wind rose and skies cleared some for the flower laying ceremony the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Afterwards, Presidents Putin and Lukashenko entertained the press for a few minutes:

Question: Hello!

Happy Great Victory Day to you! Today is another 80 years of liberation of Sevastopol.

Alexander : And 80 years of liberation of [the Republic of] Belarus in the coming days.

Question: But this is not all we are talking about today. It is impossible not to talk about the heroes of our time – participants of a special military operation. Do you have a special message for them?

Vladimir Putin: We worked together for a long time yesterday, and we parted quite late.

Alexander Lukashenko: At three in the morning, as always.

Vladimir Putin: During the discussion of our bilateral relations, we also talked about what is happening on the contact line, the situation related to the difficult events around Ukraine. We also talked with the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. We had a full-fledged meeting. And of course, we talked about what is happening, as I have already said, on the line of contact. Alexander Grigoryevich said that he met with military personnel on May 7, with the commanders of units that have distinguished themselves especially recently. There was a lot to talk about. And of course, we talked about our guys, those who are on the front line, and noted their heroism, courage, bravery and the results of today's combat work.

Question: Have the Presidents decided to conduct tactical nuclear weapons exercises?

Vladimir Putin: This is not an application, this is an exercise.

Alexander Lukashenko: Training session.

Vladimir Putin: Since non-strategic nuclear weapons are deployed on the territory of Belarus, this time we offered our friends, allies, and the President of Belarus asked for it, to take part in one of the stages of this exercise. We hold them regularly, this time they are held in three stages, and at the second stage our Belarusian colleagues will join our joint actions. Relevant instructions have been issued to the defense ministries and general staffs of our armies. They started training together.

Alexander Lukashenko: We conducted the first stage almost separately. But we made a decision yesterday to synchronize and conduct the second and third stages together. Vladimir Vladimirovich correctly stressed that this is not the first time. This is our third training session. Well, there were probably dozens of [training sessions] in Russia. Therefore, we are synchronizing, and the general staffs, as the Russian Defense Minister told me, have started executing these instructions.

Vladimir Putin: Yesterday and [Valery] Gerasimov

Alexander Lukashenko: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: So there is nothing unusual here. This is routine work. [My Emphasis]

Clearly, it was decided to add a period to the end of the exercise, which sent the message it was meant to send. I’d guess not many people in the West will know what was said by Putin today or ask why. Readers here at the Gym will know more than most. The evening’s festivities are now in full swing in Moscow and elsewhere within Russia and those who celebrate Victory Day with it. The formal formation of the Russian government as instructed by the new Constitutional rules will begin tomorrow. I expect many to retain their former postings.

In closing, the words of Mr. Medvedev are appropriate as he’s able to say what’s implied by Putin’s speech. In a 32 page essay published at the site of Russia’s Security Council, we can see where our opening essayist got her inspiration. RT has a short report about it, “Russia fighting ‘reincarnation of fascism’ – Medvedev,” a thesis I agree with 100%.:

Russia’s military operation in Ukraine is a step towards defeating fascism and Nazism once and for all, former president and head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has said.

In an article marking the 79th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, he wrote that fascism had been officially defeated in World War II but the West has allowed its ideological descendants to continue wreaking havoc by supporting the Kiev regime.

“For many years, even the demonstration of Nazi symbols, not to mention other symbols and ideas of Hitlerism, was legally prohibited in most countries of the world,” he said.

Now, however, he said Russia was being “forced to fight the reincarnation of fascism, its zombie spawn, which embodies the disgusting and cynical great-grandson of Hitlerism – the Nazi regime of Kiev.”

The US, EU and other Western states have firmly sided with Kiev in its conflict with Russia. Ukraine’s backers have spent billions on the war effort and have supplied it with ammunition and weaponry, while placing unprecedented economic sanctions on Moscow.

In the article, published on the official webpage of the Russian Security Council on Thursday, Medvedev slammed the “furious efforts to turn the world upside down, split and burn it in the conflagration of World War III.”

According to Medvedev, Nazism won’t disappear on its own and therefore needs to be eradicated – this is what Russia sees as its “historical mission.” He noted, however, that Russia’s military operation and “the denazification” of Ukraine is only the first step towards building a new “architecture” of international relations, which would involve creating global instruments aiming to ensure the security and stable development of all states….

Similar sentiments had been voiced earlier on Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his address at the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, he accused the West of pursuing a colonial policy and inciting regional conflicts to restrain the development of non-Western nations. He vowed that Russia would do everything possible to prevent a global conflict but warned that it would not allow anyone to threaten its own safety and sovereignty. [Emphasis Original’

It will take awhile to get a readable copy of Medvedev’s pdf translated, which I fully intend to do given its important historical nature.

Do, please, raise a toast to those who made victory possible in WW2 and those working to prevent Fascist global control today. The latter task has only begun.

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