Posted on 01/09/2010 2:55:00 PM PST by WesternCulture
When I grew up, the Soviet Union was considered a super power.
Today it doesn't even exist.
Isn't it amazing how rapidly the images of national power can shift?
I'm Swedish and know a little about fighting Russia. My family and our ancestors have done so for centuries.
We have been shot at, raided, ambushed etc. But never intimidated from defending Nordic freedom.
I'm no hero. Several of my ancestors were though and the least I can do in order to honor them is to stand up for what eternally is true and right, help build my own country and support the allies of my nation, among them the rest of Western Europe and the United States of America.
By today, it is I who sit here enjoying an expensive Italian wine on a Saturday evening (nota bene, I'm poor by Swedish standards, like I use to point out on this site) while the average Russian lives like people did in my part of the world during the days of the Great Depression.
Is it even possible to build a super power on the backs of a disillusioned population?
Hitler failed. Stalin failed.
Western Europeans as well as Americans ask themselves how to deal with Russia of today, a nation that apparently does not wish to belong to Western Civilization.
If the NATO would've have launched a major strike against the Soviet Union during the reign of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the Soviets would've faced severe problems of, literally, fueling a counter attack.
Today, they've got fuel and the last thing we Western Europeans wish to do is to start another war with Russia. We have invaded them a lot, yes, but it is also obvious that the age of geopolitics is a bygone one.
I can easily see why they don't trust us, but their hostility and distrust is a major mistake on their behalf.
They are invited to the sit down at the big table of European brotherhood, so to say. We Western Europeans are not Fascists and Nazis. We are Europeans.
In this climate of opportunity and good will, what do they choose to do?
Of course, they decide to, repeatedly, violate NATO territory by flying their fighter planes over Norway.
Alea iacta est.
But there are even more challenging threats than that of Russia possibly gaining confidence enough to strive for influence over Western Europe again.
The risk of collapse from within.
First, we have the spread of Islam.
From Wikipedia:
"(..)while there are 6 million genuine followers of Islam in Russia, there are more than 20 million officially self-identified Muslims, a number that has risen by 40% in the last 15 years."
Secondly, the average Russian has little understanding of concepts like liberty and citizenship. This leads to several disadvantages from a national perspective.
A Russian will fight back if his village is invaded by Charles XII, Napoleon or Hitler, but won't lift a finger to rescue a distant Russian city.
Sooner or later, such a lack of national unity and will of sacrifice will result in national collapse.
Russian mafia, the force that today is in charge of the Kremlin, could probably maintain some sort of order for decades on, just like the mafia of Sicily once appeared to actually rule a part of a major region of a G7 member boasting a population of five million.
Russia has over 140 million inhabitants. Few of them understand how truly oppressed they are.
There was great bravery among the Sicilian mothers who took to the streets in order to let the mafia know they could not afford to lose another son.
They got support, not only from all of Italy, but from all of the freedom-loving world.
In Russia, there are plenty who praise Stalin, Peter the "Great" and other incompetent former rulers like there is no end to this farce.
Who is to blame?
Perhaps the only one to blame is the demon of historical heritage.
Serfdom existed until the 1860s in Russia, but despotism remained and thereafter the Russians were plagued by the brutality and oppression of Communism.
Today, Russia is like Chicago under the reign of Al Capone.
Just like Chicago of the 1930s, in the long run, couldn't have survived by being a smugglers' haven, Russia won't survive by selling her women on the streets of Berlin, Vienna and Stockholm or any other sort of shady business.
BUT if Russia wishes to really become prosperous and strong, perhaps even become a part of the new Europe, Russia will have to realize it today is little less than the Somalia of Western Civilization.
BTW I agree 100% leaders are either rewards or judgements upon nations and history and Biblical History proves it. That is why I put it back to about 1989 as when this latest change began in full movement. "New World Order" was not a slip of the tounge any more than another presidents so called preacher saying GD America.
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