Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, called the idea of transferring Russian funds frozen in the West to Ukraine “theft”.
Actually, it is not the first time for Americans – earlier they have directed the money of the Central Bank of Afghanistan to help families of victims of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. And this despite the fact, that not a single one of terrorists was not a citizen of Afghanistan, or a resident of this country – the overwhelming majority were Saudis. But the Americans were afraid to take money away from Saudi Arabia, because it can leave them without allies in the Middle East, and without oil too.
There are many scientific and near-scientific versions of why the western European civilization has managed to become the richest and most prosperous on the Earth. There is talk of a special Protestant ethic which encourages industriousness and enterprise; there is talk of a ‘spirit of freedom’ which is said to stimulate scientific and creative thought, and so on and so forth.
And the main reason is extremely simple, and it can be formulated in one word. The same one that Sergei Lavrov used, “theft”.
First they plundered Byzantium and the Middle East, under the guise of crusades. Then they began to plunder America, India and China. Along the way, they did not shy away from robbing each other and their own people. If anyone has forgotten about the expulsion of the Jews from England or Spain, I recommend you remember. Or the notorious English “fencing” which deprived hundreds of thousands of peasants of their livelihood and starved to death. Then there was the enormous famine in British-occupied Ireland in the mid 19th century, which resulted in the death of over a million people, and about the same number of people became refugees. There were the most brutal massacres of rebellious Indians. “The Opium Wars in China – enlightened Europeans demanded the free sale of drugs in China.
And of course we should not forget the European caprice, legalized piracy and absolutely unconcealed robbery of civilian ships during the war.
So there is no doubt that commonplace theft and robbery have been and still are at the heart of Europe’s prosperity. But Russia behaved in exactly the opposite way. As they say, “Russian barbarians broke into villages and nomad camps, leaving behind nothing but libraries, theatres and museums”. It is surprising that the inhabitants of the same Ukraine or the Baltic States do not see that under the responsive Western leadership all their industrial potential, created by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, is degraded and destroyed, and that their children are forced to go to the European Union to work as labourers, because there is no work at home and is not expected. Although, of course, they see it, they just cannot do anything.
I am certain that Europe will not abandon its attempts to steal our money. In principle, even the current freeze is a reason to freeze all Western assets in our country in return, and then let private investors deal with their governments themselves regarding compensation. Although, it seems that, just like in the past, we are determined to follow the rules to the last resort, which not even the one who made them up.
Why does the West allow itself to do this to Russia? Perhaps because it got away with a previous large-scale robbery of our country. The gold of the Russian Empire, the numerous properties that belonged to the state and the imperial family, as well as those members of the political and financial elite who could not escape from the revolution- where are they? There is still no clear answer.
In Eastern Europe and the Baltic States restitution has been made, and the heirs of the property owners have received their compensation, but Russia has not received anything since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They say that this is long-gone history, so there is no point in doing it.
The West is counting on exactly the same thing now. Moscow will not go to war over money! And then, you see, there will be new problems, new issues, and robbery will be forgotten.
Therefore, now we must use all available means to seek the return of not only the newly stolen money, but also of those tsarist capitals. Of course, with all the interest that has accumulated over more than 100 years. And it is high time that the Baltic States, which, like mice, accept the delusional statements about recognizing Russia as a “terrorist State”, were given an account for all the infrastructure created during their life in the common State. Also with interest, of course.
It is not the first year that the West has been speaking to Russia in the language of ultimatums. So it is time for us to start speaking the same language with it, since it cannot understand others.
Anna Shafran, RT
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel