Staunton, December 19 – Many
Russians and their neighbors are suffering from the actions of Russian
scoundrels at home and abroad , and the former deserve our sympathy even if the
latter merit only condemnation,
according to Kseniya Kirillova, a Seattle-based journalist who writes
for Novy Region 2.
In an article today, she says that
the ability of Russians to withstand even the worst catastrophes is one of
their best qualities, but not in the current case given that what is happening
in their country and its neighbors is the direct result of scoundrel-like
behavior of so many of them (nr2.com.ua/blogs/Ksenija_Kirillova/Podlecov-mne-ne-zhal-86989.html).
“Difficulties are not so terrible when they are logical
and temporary, conditioned by objective factors, often accidental and not connected
with personal guilt,” she writes. “In
families, love helps people survive difficulties; in a state, patriotism; and
in all cases, mutual assistance.”
“That
is often so, but not in this case.”
The
situation Russians find themselves in today is “a direct result of the
destructive and criminal policy of the authorities which they have no intention
of ending and which with each step they are making worse,” Kirillova
writes. The leadership has made the
entire world opposed to Russia.
But
in this, the scoundrel quality of the leadership has been reinforced by the
scoundrel quality of all too many Russians who are prepared to accept as
justified anything the Kremlin does and to ignore all moral laws.
Kirillova
says that in speaking about this quality, which is covered by the almost
untranslatable Russian world “podlost,” she does not have in mind those
villagers who have been zombified by Moscow television into thinking that
Ukraine is ruled by fascists and Banderites. One can accuse them more of ignorance
than of scoundrelness.
But tragically, there
exists “a still not small quantity of Russians who perfectly well understand
what is being done in Ukraine and none the less approve it,” Kirillova says.
And it turns out, she says, that there are a lot more of such people than she
could have ever imagined. What is worse is that they are not stupid and in many
cases are members of the middle class.
Many of them do
not believe government propaganda completely, but they accept the basic thrust
of it. They are quite prepared to be skeptical about reports of “’fascists’”
and “’the bloody junta’” in Kyiv – they may even pat themselves on the back for
their skepticism – but they have accepted the Kremlin’s idea that might makes
right, that the end justifies the means, and that because other countries have
violated the rules, Russia must be allowed to as well.
Kirillova says that her Russian interlocutors
of this type are “convinced that Russia is doing everything correctly,” that
“objective truth doesn’t exist,” and that “politics is in general a dirty
business.” Such attitudes, she says,
reflect “a total atrophy of moral feeling and even of fundamental human
instincts.”
“Neither the
fate of individuals nor the value of human life nor norms and rules … not even
banal responsibility means anything for such people,” she argues. Instead, they
celebrate what they believe is needed for the Empire, confident that in a
nuclear world, they and Russia can get away with anything.
Such people,
she says, are accomplices in a crime, responsible not only “for the death of
people” in Ukraine but also for “the collapse of Russia which has begun.” They
talk about “the right of the strong” while forgetting that they will not always
be such, and they support war on the territory of other countries forgetting
that it could come to their own.
For such
scoundrels, Kirillova continues, there is no reason to have any regret in tht
regard, but one must feel very sorry for “the innocent people who also must
bear all the consequences of the economic collapse,” not just those who have
spoken out against the war but also those who have in a cowardly fashion “buried
their heads in the sand.”
The writer asks
forgiveness for her own harshness but notes that the greater her regret for the
sufferings of the innocent, the more she understands that she “is not capable
of feeling any sympathy for the scoundrels” who are responsible. “Apparently,” she concludes, where there is
no repentance, one won’t move forward without revenge. Alas.”
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