Moscow Mayor's Warning Against Georgia, US

AFP ^ | September 7, 2008

[Tailgunner Joe]

MOSCOW (AFP)--The defense Moscow mounted during World War II should serve as a warning to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the U.S., Moscow's mayor said following last month's war in Georgia.

"In the tough times of war, Moscow's defense against the enemy was crushing," Yury Luzhkov said during celebrations for the 861st anniversary of the founding of Moscow, standing alongside Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"Let that be a stern and appropriate reminder to those who surround Russia with their missiles and bases. Let it be a warning to Saakashvili's regime," Luzhkov said in televised comments, in reference to NATO and the U.S.

Soviet forces stopped the Nazi advance during World War II just outside Moscow in 1941 and launched a counter-offensive. The Battle of Moscow is a symbol of Soviet resistance and a source of great pride among Russians.

Tensions between Russia and the West have soared since Russia and Georgia fought a conflict last month over the separatist Moscow-backed Georgian province of South Ossetia, which Georgia tried to retake by force.

The U.S. is planning to set up a radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a missile defense system against the danger of what it calls "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.

Russia says the installations are in fact aimed at weakening its own missile complex and has vowed a tough response. Russia has also complained about the eastern enlargement of NATO to include ex-Soviet countries.

[Tailgunner Joe]

“Ever since Peter the Great, access to warm-water ports has been a goal of Russian foreign policy. Without Sevastopol, the Russian navy could not comfortably reach the Mediterranean - for Russia, a major feature of great-power status. In August, the long-time Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, ominously declared that without the port, "We would lose the Caucasus" - a blunt claim to empire.” - Fear of another Georgia

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (2nd R) and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov (R) attend
city day celebrations in Moscow September 7, 2008. REUTERS/RIA Novosti/Pool (RUSSIA)

---

Talk of a City Day began in 1846, when writer and historian Konstantin Aksakov published an article in Moskovskiye Vedemosti called "700 Years of Moscow."

In the 1840s, Russia's leading intellectual lights were embroiled in a philosophical and historical debate as to the future direction of Russia. The Slavophiles, including Aksakov, argued that Russia should close itself to Western influence and attempt to return to its great Orthodox, Slavic past. The Westernizers, whose ranks included the likes of Vissarion Belinsky and Alexander Herzen, argued that Western rational individualism offered the best way for Russia to overcome its backwardness.

The cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow became symbols of the debate: Moscow, the iconic old capital of the Tsar's power; St. Petersburg, Peter the Great's "Window on the West," rationally designed with its European architecture.

"Moscow is a symbol of Russianness, ahead of St. Petersburg," said Richard Pipes, emeritus professor of history at Harvard University in a telephone interview. "It was the home of the grand princes who united Russia. It's hard to think of an equivalent in Europe."

In his article, Aksakov wrote that Peter the Great's "mistake" of moving the capital of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1712 should be corrected. Nicholas I stayed out of the debate but conceded to celebrations.

In January 1847, Moscow staged its first City Day. Moscow Metropolitan Filaret conducted a service in the Kremlin, with a special prayer written in honor of Moscow. The service concluded with the ringing of the bells of Ivan the Great Tower. At night, Moscow was illuminated; the Kremlin, Red Square and other important sites were lit up with torches. There was a ball at the Governor-General's home on Tverskaya, and ordinary Muscovites were invited to walk around their city, with food and small gifts distributed among them.

The next time Moscow celebrated its birthday was 100 years later in 1947. Two years after Russia's victory in World War II, the country was tired and drained of resources, and the people needed a boost of morale.

"Stalin played to Russian nationalism," Pipes said. "If you are ruler of Russia, you have to play up Moscow as a symbol of unity."

Stalin celebrated the event by fixing up the city. Manezh Square was repaired; work began on the Hotel Moskva; and Stalin initiated the building of the Seven Sisters skyscrapers, which dominated the Moscow skyline before the influx of tall office blocks. The statue of Prince Yury Dolgoruky, known as Moscow's founder, was erected across the street from Moscow City Hall in 1954, pointing to where he wanted Moscow established.

Moscow's original birth-date is widely considered to be 1147, as it was in that year that the city made its first appearance in chronicles, when Dolgoruky held a feast there in honor of the prince of Novgorod. In 1156, he is said to have built walls and a moat around the city.

At this time, the lands now known as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were inhabited by the Rus, who lived in loosely connected city principalities, with Kiev as the main center of power.

As the southern areas of the lands of the Rus in particular suffered from numerous Tartar raids in the early and mid-13th century, Moscow's relatively northern geographical position enabled the city to escape much of the destruction and pillage suffered by Kiev and other cities. Indeed, successive Muscovite princes were able to take advantage of Tartar rule, Pipes said. "The Tartars had difficulty collecting taxes. The princes of Moscow gained the right to collect the tribute. They became agents of the Tartars." In this way, the Moscow princes became "the creators of the Russian state."

"This is not something they want to mention, of course," Pipes added. - The Birth of The Capital

[2ndDivisionVet]

Without lend-lease help from the United States, the Soviet Union would've been conquered by Hitler's Germany and this clown would be speaking German. It is to laugh!

[traderrob6]

PFFFFFFT. Little castrated dog barking loudly.

[Operation_Shock_N_Awe]

yeah, so essentially he is saying the Russians will give up their spot in the bread distribution line to fight us? Doubtful.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Probably not. Stalingrad was won before lend-lease became significant enough to make a difference. What it DID do unfortunately, is give Russia the logistical capacity to make rapid advances during the offensives of the latter stages of the war, raping and conquering Eastern Europe.
It would have been a better thing if we had used those supplies ourselves and liberated the whole of Europe, rather than allow the Eastern Communist hordes to rape and loot their way across Eastern Europe....

[crazydad]

Roosevelt sold out the whole world to the soviet scum. The world had no idea what was in store. Well except of course Good ole George Patton. He warned us.

[crazydad]

Correction. He sold out all over eastern Europe. Especially the Poles!

[MissouriConservative]

Don’t forget Truman had a hand in that as well. He could have changed what Roosevelt had started as he was President at the end of the war.

And don’t forget that Roosevelt and Truman were both liberal democrats. I guess things haven’t changed much in 60 some years.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Patton advocating war against the USSR was idiotic in it’s own right. However, albeit with the benefit of hindsight considering the fact the true capabilities of the USSR and Nazi Germany were not fully understood at the time, giving all that logistical equipment to the Soviet Union turned out to be a big mistake...

[VeniVidiVici]

You said exactly what I was going to say! So I'll just post a pic.

[Tailgunner Joe]

"Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky were also amid the guests, and Zhirinovsky even helped South Ossetia’s President Eduard Kokoity find a place on the stands." - Kommersant

South Ossetia's President Eduard Kokoity, left, Russia's Presidential Administration Chief Sergei
Naryshkin attend celebration of the Day of the City in Moscow, Tverskaya Square, September 7, 2008

[Sal]

Tailgunner Joe, I so want to see the foolish smiles of these thugs wiped off their faces. Okay, I want a lot more than that, but would probably get banned if I said it right out.

The defense Moscow mounted during World War II should serve as a warning ...

These idiots seem to think they actually won something that actually the traitors in our own government PROVIDED them with. Perhaps they should consider our ultimate defense against Japan. They seem to think a new cold war will remain cold...

[SunkenCiv]

“South Ossetia’s President Eduard Kokoity”

Thanks TJ.

[Lasha]

Just for the record - Russia defense around Moscow in 1941 was a joke - thousands, if not millions of people with no rifles at times just thrown at German troops; Even Russians admit that what saved that was severely cold winter that year; and what ultimately doomed Germans (as some historians argue) was a stupid actions by Italy then, when Germans had to send their troops in the spring of 1941 there... there are some speculations that suggest that Hitler wanted to start was against SU on June 1, instead of June 22. Those 22 days delay, caused by these developments in Italy, cost Germans dearly and they could not make it to Moscow before November (it is merely a huge country and it takes time to move forward). Hitler obviously knew Napoleon's story and wanted to make it to Moscow in by early/mid fall and not by mid November; exactly 22 days delay... call it irony, if you want...

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you for pinging me.

[Cold Heat]

Pathetic, yet totally predictable and very unfortunate for all...

This bunch of bipolar militaristic thugs are trying dammed hard to restart their power accumulation and should be treated like the terrorist thugs that they are.

The only way to stop this is from within, just as it is with the Islamics, and the likely hood that they will all now join together for convenience is high and will result in global war if allowed to fester much longer. The next president of the U.S. will have a lot on his plate. That much is certain.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh (left), South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity (2nd left) and
chief of the presidential executive staff Sergey Naryshkin (2nd right) in Moscow, September 7, 2008

[Sal]

Kokoity still doesn’t have a remote clue. He seems thrilled to death at the situation. So to speak.

Bagapsh may be just as short sighted, but at least he’s not grinning like a psychotic coyote. Is it possible he understands a little more than the goof ball from SO?

I wonder what Sergey Naryshkin chief of the presidential executive staff is thinking. I know what he has to say and do, but I wonder if he has an inkling of what’s ahead or if he’s just as dense as Kokoity.