On June 24, 2022, or June 12, Old Style, it will be exactly 210 years since the “Grand Army” of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Russian Empire, crossing the Niemen without a declaration of war.
440,000 soldiers and officers of the first echelon and another 170,000 of the second, of which the French accounted for only half and the rest were the so-called “conquered peoples of Europe” (Germans, Austrians, Belgians, Dutch, Danes, Spaniards, Italians, Czechs, Poles and others). In all, the “Great Army” numbered around one million men.
Slightly less than two years later, on March 31 (19th according to the old style), 1814, Russian troops, led by Emperor Alexander I, triumphantly entered Paris. Bonaparte abdicated the throne, and the era of Napoleonic Wars in Europe was over.
A year later, in June 1815, the famous Congress, which had lasted since September 1814, was held in Vienna. As a result, the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil returned to Austria, the Kingdom of Poland, headed by the Russian emperor, was established in place of the current Poland, and Russia itself gained such influence in the Old World, And Russia itself gained such influence in the Old World, that for many years after Alexander I died under his younger brother Nicholas I, the West called our country “the policeman of Europe”, because no one in the whole area from Tilsit to Gibraltar dared to utter a word without the highest permission of the Russian monarch.
Memories of that historical period, understandably, do not give Europeans a pleasant feeling. And so they are trying their best to push them out of their memory. But the unpleasant feelings and negative emotions of being put in their place and forced to submit to their will by those whom they considered and still consider to be savage barbarians have not gone away.
I am not inclined to say that it was then that the foundations of modern European Russophobia were laid, not at all. Rather, it was one of its most striking manifestations. Just like afterwards, in the middle of the last century, when under the leadership of another leader (literal translation of the German Führer) they tried to get even and take revenge. But this time too it was the same as before – they had to flee in shame, bow their heads and resign.
And when today, or rather yesterday, commenting on the slide towards an openly anti-Russian foreign policy agenda of the Moldovan leadership, which has recently been gifted the status of a candidate for European membership, the official Kremlin voice Dmitry Peskov says that this is a way of showing its “Europeanness”, he is absolutely right.
“There is nothing to say about Ukraine, everything is clear here, but we see, for example, Moldova, which wants to become Europeans more than Europeans themselves. It tries to do its best to take some measures. And this candidate status is largely associated with anti-Russianism, i.e. the more anti-Russian they become, the more they think the Europeans must like them. We would very much hate to see that happen.
Similarly, our Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is right when he compares the current Russophobic hysteria and bellicose attitude of the European powers with the times of the Third Reich.
“When World War II began, Hitler gathered a large part, if not most, of the European countries under his banner for the war against the Soviet Union. Now, in the same way, the European Union and NATO are putting together the same modern coalition to fight, and by and large, to wage war against the Russian Federation. We will look at all of this very carefully.”
European Russophobia is a chronic disease with roots going back centuries. It has not always taken the same forms, and periods of aggravation have been followed by recession, but there has not been, and probably never will be, a full and complete recovery.
Today we are witnessing another crisis. And, in fact, by the degree, by the level of hatred it does not differ from the times of Napoleon or Hitler. It is just that in the 21st century, the West has learned to fight with other people’s hands (the same proxy wars), and so there is no difference.
The idea of conquering the Russians and bringing us to our knees is once again on the back burner in Europe, and everything is subordinated to it: cleansing the information field, psychological pumping, pressure on potential allies and so on.
The European Parliament recently passed a resolution allocating €3.5 million for the training of young journalists in ten European countries, RT reports. A separate module will be held in each participating country – Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. It will be followed by another one in Brussels or Strasbourg for a limited number of journalists.
At the same time, the European Commission decided to monitor the media and social networks in Slovakia, which was suspected of spreading “inaccurate”, i.e. pro-Russian information. When one recalls that Stefan Garabin, ex-Chairman of the Supreme Court and former head of the Ministry of Justice, was recently arrested in Slovakia for expressing a different opinion on Russia’s special military operation, it becomes clear that the only purpose of all these grants, competitions, conferences and other roundtables and media training courses is to block anything that might convey a different viewpoint from the Russophobic mainstream.
Alas, we have to accept that the European is a Russophobe (and even if he is not, he will be forced to be one) and that the Old World will never treat Russia as an equal. No, under certain circumstances, we may well be good business partners and neighbours, but they will never get rid of their arrogance or stop having a stick in their pockets.
It’s a timeless story (just like the forgotten Imperial Bank ad), incurable. There is no way to change it, no way to fix it. And so the current period of history must simply be endured.
Of course, sitting idly by is not an option either. We will still have to “join the fight”, we will simply be forced. In fact, we have already been forced to. In this case, we must try to deprive them if not the opportunity, then at least the desire to constantly crap on us. To discourage them from meddling in our affairs. This is undoubtedly a global and difficult task, but it is the only way to gain stability. Otherwise, it’s a perpetual cycle of running in circles.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, even a total defeat of the West against the rest of the world will not clear their minds. There is no rewiring here. One simply needs to soberly understand with whom one is dealing, and stop trying to flirt with them, taking a temporary clarification of consciousness for a complete recovery.
Alexey Belov, Antifascist News Agency
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