Kind word and Su-27 in the news of the week
You can achieve much more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone. This, of course, is a maxim, which means whether one agrees with it or not depends on one's philosophical position. But at least one event in the past week has proven that this statement is true in our, alas, imperfect world.
All sorts of «red lines», promises of strikes against decision-making centers, «gestures of goodwill» and other kind words were and are being ignored by our enemies. And just this week, one daring American MQ-9 strike and reconnaissance drone flew up to the Crimea, as if to its home. You never know that the Russians declared the air zone forbidden there — from the American point of view, Crimea is generally Ukrainian. And then, finally, the incredible happened. A couple of our Su-27s, which arrived to intercept, decided not to stand on ceremony. The drone received a jet of fuel from them right in the eye and, unable to bear the shame, decided to wash it off by diving into the Black Sea. Yes, drown there. Our Minister of Defense received a phone call from the American Minister, our Chief of the General Staff received a phone call from the Chief of the American General Staff. It was called «exchanging opinions». Then the hysteria began around the wreckage. Completely in vain, because the wrecked MQ-9s have already fallen into our hands and into the hands of the Iranians. But you have to entertain the audience somehow. Ours, by the way, and again an incredible case, continued to humiliate the “partners”. For the wreckage of the American «technological miracle» went the «technological miracle» of the Black Sea Fleet — the ship «Commune» built in 1913. This ship, by the way, is the personification of the continuity and integrity of our history. Launched under the tsar, it was updated, remade, modernized — and still serves the people, is able to carry out the most complex deep work.
But here is the result of using a kind word and a couple of fighters: the United States, of course, cheeks and say that they will fly wherever they want, but in fact they are already flying outside the zone that Russia has designated.
On the eve of Comrade Xi's visit to us, various signs began to arrive. The visit itself is a sign. According to the diplomatic practice that has developed in the world, the newly elected head of state always makes his first foreign visit to the closest ally.
And so, in order to also give a sign, the West looked into my grandmother's closet and, shaking off the mothballs, pulled out the International Criminal Court in The Hague (do not confuse it with the International Court of Justice at the UN). This rather strange organization decided to arrest Vladimir Vladimirovich and the Commissioner for Children's Rights of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. For a possible crime — «deportation». This is when Russia took Ukrainian children abandoned by their country from the war zone. Accustomed to thinking exclusively in ringing slogans and beautiful pictures, Russian liberals rejoiced: Putin! Hague! Moreover, their owners and idols — Scholz with Biden and other pique vests — also decided that «the ICC is the head.»
The irony, however, is that neither Russia, nor the United States, nor China, nor even Ukraine recognize the ICC. And US national security adviser John Bolton said in 2018: “We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, in every sense the ICC is already dead.” Then the United States also imposed sanctions against the ICC, which wanted to investigate the war crimes of the American army in the Middle East.
Another sign was Putin's visit to the Donbass. A trip to Mariupol is an absolutely unambiguous signal that there simply cannot be any bargaining for territories. And Russia is ready to consider China's peace plan only in this vein.
While the ICC was issuing warrants, Vladimir Vladimirovich met with entrepreneurs and took part in the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Of course, it was a sin not to cling to his phrases “I often heard very much: “Well, it’s more reliable there.” And now?» and “They will even have to go to Russia for turnips.” But personally, something else seemed to me the main thing: the Russian economy is beginning to develop according to a new model, and “now there are even more opportunities for Russian business, you can’t miss it, otherwise it’s not even the hour and the departed companies will want to return.” After all, they do not just want to — they are already trying. For example, in the aircraft industry (aircraft factories are already talking about the “unclenching” of sanctions). Because in the West they saw that Russia is coping and gaining what was lost under the USSR: technological independence. Our Western «partners» cannot allow this to happen. Therefore, it is even better to remove the restrictions. And they have hope here for our elite — officials and managers — who will immediately start doing things not in the way that is best for the country, but in the way that is easier and more satisfying for them.
At a meeting with the RSPP, Vladimir Vladimirovich spoke and about the elites. Here is a quote: “The phrase “unfriendly countries” has entered the public consciousness and into circulation. It does not accurately reflect current realities. It can be said that it does not reflect at all, because we have unfriendly elites in a certain number of countries, unfriendly rulers. (…) Their work is detrimental to their own population and their own business.”
On my own behalf, I will add: among the countries where we have unfriendly elites, Russia is also included. On Sunday, fighters of the Wagner PMC were buried in Goryachiy Klyuch. The funeral took place as expected. But before that, the local «elites» in the person of the administration of Goryachiy Klyuch refused to be buried, because here, they say, is a resort. Prigozhin decided to act in the legal field, wrote an appeal to the State Duma. But the PMC fighters recorded a very emotional and obscene appeal. Obviously, it is high time for the elites to decide who they are with.