Historically, Russia has always fought intuitively for the survival of all mankind. Of course, the events do not always look this way. But whatever they look like, this huge country has repeatedly rebuffed the most powerful forces of evil which were becoming a threat to the very existence of our planet.
By Andre Vltchek
During the Second World War, the Soviet (mostly Russian) people sacrificed at least 25 million men, women and children for the sake of the victory over Nazism. No other country in the modern history has ever had to go through such hardship.
Right after this victory Russia, along with China and Cuba, launched the most incredible and noble project of all times: the systematic destruction of the Western colonialism. All over the world the oppressed masses rose up against the European and North American barbarity, and the Soviet Union was ready to become a beacon of hope for them, to provide them with substantial financial, ideological and military aid.
As the oppressed and disadvantaged nations, one after another, gained their independence, in all the capitals of the Western world there was growing hatred of the Soviet Union and the Russian people. After all, the looting of "non-white" continents was considered a natural right of the "civilised world".
In the USA and Europe such words as "colonialism" and "imperialism" very quickly acquired a negative connotation, at least, outwardly. So demonising the Soviet Union (leaving alone attacking it) for supporting the struggle for liberation on all the continents would have been counterproductive. Instead, there were developed theories about the "Empire of evil".
Russia has always been an "obstacle". This enormous country has been preventing brutal plans of Washington, Berlin, London and Paris. Plans of controlling and plundering the entire world.
However, the more noble the deeds are, the dirtier the attacks on them become.
Russia has always been known for its incredible ability to mobilise its forces, to throw all its resources to achieve a single, deeply humanistic and moral, goal. In its struggle there has always been something sacred, something high and extremely important.
'Arise, the great country, arise to fight to death!'. This is how begins one of the greatest patriotic songs of the World War II. When Russia is fighting, it is only the victory that is important for it. The victory at any cost.
Russia was destined to fight for the fate of the entire world. If you do not believe in fate, you'll never understand the famous "Russian soul". It is not about a religion, as for the most part Russia is anarchist and atheistic. But it believes in destiny and accepts it.
Besides, in most cases, Russia hardly had a choice. It was the end of mankind that was an alternative to the victory.
So, when the very existence of the world was under threat, Russia always rose - fierce and frightening but, at the same time, incredibly beautiful in its anger and determination. It fought with every handful of its land, with every heart of its people. And it almost always won. But it did so at a terrible price - having buried millions of its sons and daughters, and having plunged itself into the sea of unimaginable sorrow and pain.
Moreover, there never was anyone nearby to comfort it. While the fires were still raging, while the faces of mothers and wives who had lost their close ones were still wet with tears, the country already was being spat upon, mocked and humiliated by the treacherous Western regimes and their propaganda.
Its heroism was belittled, its victims were mocked. It was alleged that its millions who had given their lives for mankind had actually died for nothing.
In exchange for its heroism Russia has never asked for anything, except for two basic things: recognition and respect. And yet, it has never received either.
Now Russia is rising again, it is beginning the epic struggle against the ISIS, a monstrous parody of the Muslim faith, created and armed by the West and its regional mean hangers.
Russia was forced to act. After all, who else could have done it? After centuries of the Crusades and barbarian colonialism of the West there is almost nothing left of the Middle East, one of the cradles of our civilisation. The Middle East, plundered and humiliated, has turned into a mosaic of miserable client states standing in service of the West. Tens of millions have been killed. All that could have been looted has been. The socialist and secular governments have been pressed to the wall and overthrown.
I have worked a lot in this region and can attest that, perhaps, with the exception for Africa, there is no greater victim of the West's greed and barbarism in the world.
Syria and Iraq, two desperate, long suffering, mortally wounded countries, appealed to Russia for help. And it agreed to provide it.
Oh yes, I can already hear the cacophony of shrieks about the 'Russian interests' and 'spheres of influence', coming from Europe and the North America. Because there is nothing sacred in the West. There can not be anything sacred there. Because everything there is tainted with grim sarcasm and nihilism ... If the West behaves like a thug, the picture of the rest of the world should also be drawn in the same colours. After all, the West has neither allies nor feelings. Only interests. It is not my idea, it was said to me over and over again when I was living and working in the destroyed parts of Africa.
But I do not care what they say in Paris and Washington. What matters is what they say in Iraq, Syria and Libya. And I will explain to you how things are there: if you go to the barber and say that you are Russian, the people will rise, hug you and weep.
Russia will never attack other countries, but if it comes under attack itself, its fury can be terrifying, especially during a war. 'Who comes to us with a sword, shall perish by the sword!', said the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky in the XIII century.
The recent incident with the Russian bomber that was shot down over Syria by the Turkish Air Force increases the risk of a wider regional war. Turkey, a NATO member country, is spreading terror all over the region: from Libya and Somalia to Iraq, Syria and its own Kurdish territories. It is torturing people, destroying a lot of them (including journalists), robbing millions of their natural resources and dissipating (mostly with Qatar's money) the most extremist Islamist teachings.
I met Recep Tayyip Erdogan many years ago, in the early 1990s in Istanbul when he was still the mayor of the city, and I was "licking my wounds" after the publication about the West systematically destroying Yugoslavia.
'Do you speak Turkish?, he asked me once.
'Not very well,' I replied. 'Just a little'.
'But you know perfectly well how to pronounce the name of our party!', he exclaimed. 'This proves how important we are'.
From the very first meeting I realised that he was an aggressive villain with delusions of grandeur and the inferiority complex. And yet, I had no idea that he would go so far. But that is exactly where he has gone. And because of it millions of people are suffering all over the region.
Now he has shot down the Russian bomber and invaded Iraq.
Turkey has repeatedly fought with Russia and almost always lost. Moreover, in the period between the two world wars it was able to survive only with the help of the Soviet Union. So, it should have twice thought over the next step.
Russia does not just "wage wars". Its struggle for the survival of mankind is nothing but a work of art, poetry, a symphony. It's hard to explain but it's true. Everything is intertwined there.
To meanly shoot down the Russian Su-24 is the same thing as to spit on the graves of 25 millions who died in the Second World War. It is a disgusting and stupid move. In Russia people do not act like this. In Russia, if you want to fight, you fight face to face with your adversary.
But if you kill like a coward, if you invade devastated neighbouring countries, one day it can be not the Su-24 that you will see in the sky, but heavy bombers.
Russia can not be defeated. There are many reasons for that. One of them is very pragmatic: it is a nuclear superpower. Another is that Russia usually fights for a just cause. And it does it with all its might and with all its heart.
But for Russia, the planet Earth would no longer exist. At least, in the form we are used to seeing it in. The West and its Christian fascist states would fully control the world. And they would treat "sub-people" like animals (even worse than they are doing now); there would be no boundaries, no limits to theft and destruction.
The so-called "civilised world" (the one that builds its theatres and schools on the bones of the others) would, without the slightest resistance, go to the full control over our planet.
Fortunately, Russia exists. And it can not be defeated. No one will ever manage to do it. And that is why the West will never forgive it for standing up for the poor and oppressed.
Andre Vltchek