Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 24 – In her latest collection of anecdotes Russians are telling each other in order to come to terms with the realities under which they live, Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova offers a list of ten ways those who engage in aggression always use to defend themselves, a list to which Putin fully conforms (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/47399/-):
1. We didn’t want war; we are only defending ourselves.
2. Our aggressive enemy bears full responsibility for this war.
3. The leader of anyone hostile to us is the devil.
4. We defend a noble cause, not our power or self-interest.
5. The enemy commits atrocities against us; and if we are compelled to use force, we do it with great grief.
6. The enemy uses prohibited weapons. We use only the most gentle and selective ones.
7. Our losses are insignificant while the enemy’s losses are enormous - because only cowards and mercenaries are fighting on the other side.
8. We are supported by recognized masters of culture, the best writers, singers, composers, actors and directors. Everyone supporting the other side is a mediocrity.
9. Even the Lord is on our side - according to the testimony of our priests, who, unlike the deceitful enemy, are as righteous as possible.
10. Whoever questions our peaceful policy aimed at clearing the earth of filthy enemies helps them and is a traitor worthy of the most cruel punishment.
Pushkaroyova offers three more that deserve to be mentioned:
· Russia’s “opposition” parties are lining up to support Putin, an action that is something like the pre-1917 Socialist Revolutionaries coming out in support of the accession to the throne of Nicholas II.
· Yekaterina Duntsova owed a lot to the Central Election Commission’s refusal to register her as a candidate to oppose Putin. This proves she wasn’t a Kremlin project after all.
· In Russia, the church and science have been reconciled. They agree that the earth is definitely flat but that it is just stretched over a ball.
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