The world seems to gyrate these days, just like a downed jet. Each party to the Middle East conflict has its own arguments, own grievances and motivation to destroy the enemy. It’s Putin's Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bashar al-Assad, the Kurds, the Syrian opposition, ISIS, France and many others. And no one is willing to retreat but Obama who is used to hiding his head in the sand at the slightest threat. And there is no price that they are not willing to pay. But they pay with other people's lives. They are still delusional, not comprehending that their lives are also in danger.
I wonder whether the few Russians who will survive World War III, will be able to explain its reasons to their descendants.
That's the way World War I started 101 years ago, eventually killing more than 22 million people and maiming another 55 million. Four empires disappeared from the world map – the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman.
I wonder whether the few Russians who will survive World War III, will be able to explain its reasons to their descendants.
Putin ordered his army of subordinates to take away Crimea from Ukraine. There were just several casualties in this operation. The global community swallowed the whole thing, while the Mordor applauded, and Putin’s popular rating hiked to space. The next thing was Russia organizing and financing a punitive operation in Ukrainian Donbas. The death toll rose to tens of thousands, including passengers of the Malaysian Boeing downed by the Russians. The woes have added up of one and a half million of Crimean and Donbas IDPs. The world scratched its head and swallowed it again. Obama, his eyes flashing in fury, called for calm, again.
Pay close attention to the dynamics: just a while ago it was all about breaking ties between Russia (and Russian citizens) and “Judeo-Banderite” Ukraine made up by Kremlin propagandists Ukraine. Then it was about temporarily ignoring the hostile Egypt. Then - about massive exodus from the Turkish beaches… But today, further existence of human civilization is in question.
Perhaps for the first time in history, a military aircraft of a NATO member state shot down the Russian Su-24 which had invaded the airspace of this very member state.
Putin and his officers habitually decided that there will be no repercussions for their “mischief,” and the other party would just go with it, as always. Well, they didn’t. Therefore, there’s such a shock.
Prior to the incident, the Turks have issued numerous warnings over a period of one and a half months to the Russian pilots who had flown a thousand kilometers away from their native land to protect "the cradle of Christianity." Moscow seems to have an itch for these deserted lands… Really, is there any other challenge for the Russians, more important than freeing this cradle from the barbarians?
Putin and his officers habitually decided that there will be no repercussions for their “mischief,” and the other party would just go with it, as always. Well, they didn’t. Therefore, there’s such a shock.
What was it the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev said in a follow-up of the tragedy? “The longstanding good-neighborly relations between Russia and Turkey, including in the economy and humanitarian spheres have been undermined. This damage will be difficult to repair — its direct consequence may be the cessation of a number of important joint projects and the loss by Turkish companies of their positions on the Russian market," said the prime minister of the country which sent an S-400 surface-to-air missiles to the Turkish border.
Whose planes do you think they are going to shoot down in Syria? According to the Russian propaganda, the Kremlin wages war against ISIS, but those terrorists have no aircraft whatsoever.
Therefore, it is highly likely that there will be more downed warplanes and helicopters from various sides to the conflict, following the downing of the Russian Su-24 and a rescue mission helicopter. And while the conflicting sides will be hunting each other’s aircraft, they’ll also continue to pour on us the streams of conventional lies.
I have deep doubts about the sanity of the Russian leader and the world's ability to stop him and scoundrels alike. There is no doubt that Russian society, which one time gave birth to such humanists as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov, has no control over its leaders and can’t influence them. So there’s nothing to wait for from behind the curtain.
Therefore, plenty of people on the planet Earth start to feel that, if some madman with a nuclear suitcase decides to fly our common plane to the ground, he might actually succeed.
Yuriy Kulikov
