Nuland announced the imposition of sweeping sanctions against Russia on February 24

Victoria Nuland. Photo: AP.

US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that on February 24, the United States intends to introduce, together with its G7 partners, a new comprehensive package of sanctions against Russia.

According to These sanctions will be aimed at the Russian military-industrial complex and against the supply of high-tech equipment.

At the same time, it was previously reported that the European Commission has abandoned plans to impose sanctions on the Russian nuclear sector or its proxies in its next sanctions package.

Источник www.mk.ru

Russian special operation in Ukraine: online broadcast February 16

Events, comments, consequences of sanctions

MK broadcasts events in Ukraine online. The 358th day of the special operation is underway. A day earlier, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that Bakhmut could be encircled in March-April this year, but the delivery of heavy weapons to the armed forces of Ukraine could affect the timing. The media wrote about the preparations for the meeting between the American and Ukrainian presidents Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Poland. Ukraine's Defense Minister Reznikov has announced that he will remain in his post, and Zelenskiy has asked him to do so.

Read previous online here.

< img src ="/wp-content/uploads/c5dc787af019a7dbaed3567c606bc614.jpg" />

Photo: Global Look Press

12:04 Lukashenko called it a condition for Belarus to join the special operation in Ukraine.

11:34 > Vladislav Surkov admitted that he does not believe in the implementation of the Minsk agreements.< /p>

< strong>10:58 The head of Vladimir Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel that Russia has changed the tactics of conducting NMD: The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation allegedly started using “fake targets”. He also confirmed the information about the explosions in the Lviv, Dnepropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions of Ukraine on Thursday after an air alert was issued across the country.

10:49 An air alert was issued in a number of eastern regions of Ukraine on Thursday morning. This is reported by the Telegram channel “Map of aviation warnings”.

10:29 Voenkor Yevgeny Poddubny said that the situation on the Artyom Front is difficult. that the enemy has accepted defeat prematurely. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are making a new way to Bakhmut.

10:14 Critical infrastructure equipment was damaged in the Kirovograd region of Ukraine, rescuers are extinguishing the fire .

10:06 Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen arrived in Kyiv. He announced it on his Twitter. It is worth noting that this is the first visit of an Israeli representative to Ukraine since the outbreak of hostilities.

9:48 British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace called on Kiev to use ammunition more economically. He said this in an interview with Times Radio. Wallace noted that the armed forces use a very large amount of ammunition for their defense. That's one reason why the military is trained in Western-style combat.

9:30 Retired US Marine Scott Ritter said Russian President Vladimir Putin is very patient. He said this in a comment on the Naturalist Capitalist YouTube channel. Ritter believes that Russia has been provoked since 2008.

9:13 Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of administration of the Zaporozhye region, turned to the Ukrainian authorities and demanded that have stopped blocking water supplies to the Kakhovka Dam.

9:05 Chinese and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers Wang and Dmitry Kuleba may meet on the sidelines of the Munich conference, reports The Wall Street Journal.< /p>

9:00 Several explosions were heard in the Lviv region after an air traffic alert was announced, local media reported. < /p>

Источник www.mk.ru

Prigozhin: American mercenary Reid was killed by “friends” in Artemovsk

Photos: Photos from the video

Founder of PMC ” Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin responded to CNN's question about the death of former sailor Peter Reid in Bachmut, who fought as part of the armed forces of Ukraine as a mercenary.

The CNN reporter asked if Wagner's soldiers were involved. Reed's death, to which Prigozhin replied that the PMC had no information about the means by which the American was killed, nor information about the presence of foreign volunteers in Bakhmut.

“The presence of foreign volunteers does not prevent Ukrainian forces from using chemical weapons in the Bakhmut area, ” said Prigogine. He also wondered why the Estonian Erko Laidinen filmed Reid before his death.

According to Prigogin, the place where Reed died is located at least 5 kilometers from the Wagner PMC positions and is surrounded by high-rise buildings. buildings and it was much more convenient to intervene at this point from Ukrainian positions.

“I can say with certainty that Peter Reed was killed by his own people,” Prigogine wrote on his Telegram channel.

p >

Источник www.mk.ru

Diplomat Polyansky called Europe completely dependent on the United States

Photo: Still from video

Currently European countries are creating problems for themselves by their actions. This was stated by Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN and the UN Security Council.

According to the Russian diplomat, the West cannot understand the consequences of such a policy. Europe is losing a lot and the question arises whether it is now able to play the role of an independent actor.

European countries completely follow American foreign policy. No independent interests can be seen in the actions of European politicians. In reality, says Polyansky, Europe is “shooting itself in all its limbs and sometimes even in the head.” As for the alternative point of view, it is de facto prohibited in European countries, noted the Russian diplomat.

Источник www.mk.ru

American Professor Walt: Putin was right about four things

Vladimir Putin. Photo: Kremlin.ru.

Stephen M. Walt, foreign policy columnist, Robert and Rene Belfer, professor of international relations at Harvard University, said in his article that Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated the strength of Ukrainian nationalism and the ability of the Ukrainian military to resist, but during the special operation it showed that the Russian leader was right about four things.

As Walt noted, US President Joe Biden's administration hoped the sanctions would “strangle the war machine” of Russia and cause “popular discontent.” However, Vladimir Putin was sure that “Russia will be able to survive any sanctions”, and this has been proven.

“Secondly, Putin correctly judged that the Russian people will bear a great cost,” the American professor also wrote. , added that Putin believed in the support of the Russian people.

“Third, Putin understood that other states would pursue their own interests,” Walt continued, adding that there was no blanket condemnation of Russia. He cited countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel as examples.

Most importantly, Putin understood that the fate of Ukraine was more important to Russia than to the West,” Walt said. He explained that Putin's advantage over Western countries is that the political orientation of Ukraine, which borders Russia, is more important to Moscow than to the people living further away, and especially to the people living a rich and secure life on the other side. ocean.

It is precisely with this, the professor said, that Joe Biden declared from the very beginning that he ruled out the possibility of direct participation of American troops in the Ukrainian conflict.

Источник www.mk.ru

The Secret Command of the War with Putin: Correspondence Report from the Anti-Kremlin Center

How Poland plans to create an informal empire of 100 million people in the center of Europe

“For Poland, as for Europe, victory over Putin is the state's raison d'être,” this recent statement by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was perceived by many in Moscow as an empty, shameless boast of a politician who, moreover, is not a full-fledged head of government, but a screen behind which Jaroslav Kaczynski, a long-time puppeteer of Warsaw's political life, is hiding. However, this assessment is flawed in several ways.

Photo : globallookpress.com

Indeed, the most influential person in Poland remains the 73-year-old leader of the ruling party, Kaczynski, a staunch bachelor (never married and never had a girlfriend), a big fan of teaching women (“A woman has to mature to become a mother. When they are behind the collar after 25 years, it is not a good assumption in such matters”) and a passionate lover of cats (“the hostess” at Kaczynski's villa in the Warsaw suburb of Zoliborz is the cat Fiona, and at a meeting of the Polish parliament Kaczynski was once caught studying the “Atlas of Cats”).

globallookpress.com

However, according to experts, the dynamics of power in Warsaw are gradually changing. After starting his career as another pocket prime minister of Kaczynski, Morawiecki has transformed into an independent figure.

The view of empty boasting is also unfounded. In each of the Western capitals, the headquarters of the struggle against Putin is now effectively functioning. The most powerful of these headquarters is, of course, in Washington. But the headquarters, which is most ideologically charged and at the same time has the most well-thought-out action program, can be found in Warsaw.

“Kill the Bolshevik!” – Polish poster from the war with Soviet Russia in 1920. In 2023, it is customary in Poland to depict Russians in much the same way. Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Warsaw's plans for the next decade

In November 2022, Anna Gromada, co-founder of the Warsaw think tank Kalecki Foundation, and Polish economist Krzysztof Zeniuk published an article in the UK's The Guardian titled “Why Poland could benefit most from Russia's defeat in Ukraine”. This text outlines Warsaw's strategic plans for the coming decade with surprising candor and clarity: “Ukraine's success will provide the region with a historic chance to shake off its peripheral status and become a counterweight to the EU's major Western powers.

A Ukrainian victory would likely mean regime change in Belarus, the second missing link in the historic Inermarium project, which provides a buffer of allied countries that stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea to serve as a counterweight to Russian power.

For Poland, it would such a scenario meant a double jackpot. For the first time since the 17th century, we will be able to solve the “neighborhood” problem… A united region covering the whole of Eastern Europe, with a human and economic potential of more than a hundred million people, could displace the dominance of the old Rhineland in the European Union.”

According to an article by Polish experts in The Guardian, first Warsaw, together with the United States and Western Europe, intends to negotiate with Russia. Then Poland, relying on the support of Washington, is going to turn the western part of the EU into a “European periphery”.

However, the plan also has a third point in the form of the coming disengagement from America: “It seems that today the American and East European interests coincide. However, there are… obvious reasons why they may separate in the future…

The United States is much more afraid of a repeat of the chaos of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the associated nuclear security risks. They do not take these security risks lightly in Eastern Europe either. But if you already live in a threatened area, then the prospect of significant improvement (“by improvement” here means the dismantling of Russia. – “MK”) makes your view different.

Are Warsaw's strategic plans really on a Napoleonic scale? Laughter is absolutely inappropriate here, from my point of view. The first phase of these Napoleonic plans is currently being attempted.

“Big brother” came to morally support “younger”, Kyiv, March 15, 2022. Jarosław Kaczynski (left, in white shirt) on edges, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (with glasses) in the very middle. This reflects the new balance of power in Polish politics. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Wolves from Smolensk

In February 1764, Empress Catherine II appointed of Prince Alexander Vyazemsky Prosecutor General (actually the First Minister) and gave him a handwritten “instruction” on what line to follow in public affairs. Point nine of this “how-to” sounds on the one hand very current, and on the other hand it can throw the modern reader into a state of utter amazement.

Returning at this point to the topic of “Little Russia, Livonia (comprising the territories of modern Latvia and Estonia – 'MK') and Finland,” Catherine wrote: “These provinces, as well as Smolensk, should be transferred to Russification and cease resemble the forest like wolves. Everything is clear with “little Russia” (i.e. Ukraine) and the Baltic states. But what is Smolensk doing in this society of “non-Russian wolves”?

During the Troubles, in 1609, Polish troops captured Smolensk from Russia. In 1654, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich managed to bring her back. But as we can see, even after one hundred and ten years, Smolensk could not become a completely Russian city again.

We are used to the image of a world in which Moscow belongs to the world capitals of the first category and Warsaw – the second or third. For several periods in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Tsardom of Russia and the Commonwealth (the predecessor of modern Poland) were roughly equal states in their strength. And sometimes the balance of power between them was completely skewed towards Warsaw. The population of the Commonwealth in 1580 was 7.5 million people, and in 1650 – 11 million. The population of Russia at the end of the 16th century was 6 million, in the 1620s it was 3.5 million, in the 1640s it was 7 million. Of course, given the “accuracy” of statistics from these years, all these numbers are arbitrary. But they still give some idea of ​​the big picture.

By the way, did you pay attention to the catastrophic population decline of the Russian Empire in the early 17th century? It is a direct result of the collapse of the state during the Troubles and a series of Polish interventions.

Russia then found itself in a vicious circle. The collapse of the “vertical of power” prompted Polish interventions. And Polish interventions deepened and consolidated the process of disintegration of power.

In the years 1610-1612, Moscow was occupied by Polish-Lithuanian troops. The instability of Russia's position was felt for many decades afterwards. For example, the Poles have long demanded that the first Russian ruler of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail, stop calling himself “King of All Russia” and settle for the title “King of his Rus” instead. .” But at first gradually, and then more and more quickly, the balance of power began to change in favor of the arrogant Warsaw nobility. 1772, 1793, 1795 – three divisions of Poland between Russia, Austria and Prussia. In 1815, Warsaw and other Polish territories became part of Russia.< /p>

Of course, the Poles rioted periodically. The uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864 became events of pan-European scope. But despite the fervent sympathy for the Poles of “all enlightened Europe,” Warsaw remained under the rule of St. Petersburg.

The pendulum of history began to swing in the opposite direction only in the twentieth century. During the Russo-Japanese War, the professional revolutionary Jozef Pilsudski (his older brother Bronislav, together with Lenin's older brother Alexander Ulyanov) participated in the preparation of the assassination of Emperor Alexander III, but Lenin's brother was executed, Pilsudski's brother was sentenced to death, he was pardoned and sent only for hard work) established contact with Japanese diplomats.

Piłsudski presented his potential allies with a “tempting offer” in writing: “The power and importance of Poland among the individual parts of the Russian state leads us to establish a political the goal – to divide the Russian state into its main components and to liberate the countries that were forcibly incorporated into this empire.

We perceive it not only as the realization of our country's cultural aspirations for an independent existence, but also as a guarantee of this existence, since Russia has been deprived of its conquests, it will be weakened enough to cease to be a formidable and dangerous neighbor.

The Japanese took Pilsudski quite seriously: he was invited to Tokyo and honored to meet with the architect of the war with Russia Aritom Yagomat, former prime minister and current chief of the general staff. But in 1904 Pilsudski did not grow together. He had to return to the Russian Empire and deal with “ex” – that is, expropriation or banal criminality: robbing banks and trains, allegedly with revolutionary goals. However, Piłsudski did not miss the chance that presented itself after the establishment of independent Poland after the First World War.

Another staunch Polish nationalist, Roman Dmowski, was among the most influential figures of the new state at the time. Why is this detail important? Because despite all his nationalism, Dmovský was also a talented realistic politician. He considered Germany to be the main danger for Poland and proposed to neutralize this danger by establishing close relations with Soviet Russia.

In a fratricidal political struggle, however, Dmowski lost to Pilsudski. Warsaw relied on a confrontation with Moscow and an attempt to implement the Intermarium project. It all ended with the Polish national disaster during World War II.

During the period when I visited Poland several times in the first decade of the 21st century, all these events seemed to me like ancient history that had nothing to do with the present. For example, I remember how, as part of an international group of young professionals, I found myself in an audience with the then President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski. The head of the country spoke friendly with Poles in Polish, with Germans in German, with Russians in Russian. What Kwasniewski said has completely disappeared from my memory. But it left a general impression: Kwasniewski acted like “Mr. Charm”.

I was even more impressed by a meeting with the then Polish ambassador in Moscow, Jerzy Bar, in December 2009. “Mr. Ambassador, there is an opinion that the main driving force of Warsaw's foreign policy is Russophobia, and dislike of Russians is very common in Poland at the household level. What do you say? I asked him during the interview.

Jerzy Bar replied: “In every democratic country there are different opinions. And do not be surprised that there may be separate Russophobic statements. I am afraid that such sentiments exist. But that is not the policy of the state…

You have incomparably more friends in Poland than you think. How can you be sure? It seems to me that there is only one way. I wish that less and less of my Russian partners would answer my question: “Have you been to Poland?” – they answered: “Yes, in transit.”

Even such a vivid symbol of Polish Russophobia as Radosław Sikorski, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, tried to convince me that he was being slandered, and he was no, he is not Russophobic.

p>

When I found myself in December 2010 as part of a press tour organized by the Polish party in Sikorsky's office, I decided to take the bull by the horns: “Mr. Minister, have you now moved from the category of open Russophobes to the category of hidden ones?” Sikorsky visibly flinched at my question. But he quickly recovered and gave a rather convincing-sounding answer: “The Greek word 'phobia' does not mean hostility, but fear… And we were afraid. If you scare us, we will seek allies. But if you're looking to work with us, then we're ready!”

I have to admit that after talking to many Polish experts and political figures during this press trip, I returned to Moscow with the conviction that the historical reconciliation between Russia and Poland is of course not the only but quite possible scenario.

>

And how could this not be considered a possible scenario, when in 2010 even Jaroslav Kaczynski himself spoke of good relations with Moscow? After the death of his twin brother, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, he began his appeal to the citizens of the Russian Federation as follows: “Friends of the Russians!” True, even at that moment there were skeptics who considered such rhetoric a tactical and purely temporary maneuver on the part of Warsaw.

Even during the press trip, I heard (to my shame I don't remember from whom) the following opinion: in the second half of 2011, Poland will preside over the European Union for the first time in its history. To make this presidency as successful as possible, he needs to cool down relations with Moscow.

In the end, this point of view turned out to be the most striking. At that moment, Warsaw felt like the junior partner of Berlin, Paris and so on. It was important for her to convince the “big brothers” from the western part of the EU that she is a serious, responsible and predictable player capable of “adult behavior” – even such as reconciliation with Moscow. However, the goals of the Polish maneuver were not exhausted. As it turned out a little later, another goal was to dull Moscow's vigilance against new political attacks on Ukraine and Belarus.

Painting by artist Ernest Lissner “Expulsion of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders from the Kremlin.” In modern Warsaw, this event seems to be considered the “greatest injustice”. Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Restore the Commonwealth

A little over two months after the launch of the NMD, the director of the Russian Foreign Service, Sergei Naryshkin, described Poland's strategic plans in a special statement as follows: “Washington and Warsaw are working on plans to establish strict military-political control over Poland. over “its historical property” in Ukraine. The first stage of “reunification” should be the entry of Polish troops into the western regions of the country under the slogan “protection against Russian aggression”…

According to the calculations of the Polish administration, the preventive consolidation in the west of Ukraine will with a high degree of probability lead to the division of the country. At the same time, Warsaw will essentially gain control of the territory, which will include “Polish peacekeepers”. In fact, we are talking about an attempt to repeat the historical “agreement” for Poland after the First World War, when the collective West, represented by the agreement, recognized the right of Warsaw to first occupy part of Ukraine in order to protect the population from the “Bolshevik threat”, and then the inclusion of these territories in the composition of the Polish state .

I have great respect for Sergey Naryshkin. But when I first read this statement, it seemed to me that it somewhat exaggerates the magnitude of Poland's geopolitical ambitions. But now I am of the opposite opinion: the magnitude of Warsaw's geopolitical appetites in this statement is greatly underestimated.

It is not a “return” of several separate regions. We are talking about Poland joining the informal “club” of major world players. State control over territories can be expressed in various forms. For example, in the form of direct ownership. Warsaw actively practiced this form in the period between the two world wars, including regions inhabited by ethnic Poles and Belarusians and exposing them to violent “Polishness”.

Something similar is theoretically possible in the future. I quote a report by RIA Novosti on January 23 of this year: “Warsaw considered the possibility of dividing Ukraine at the initial stage of the Russian military operation,” said former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky. “I think there was a moment of hesitation in the first ten days of the war, when we all didn't know how it would turn out, and maybe Ukraine would collapse,” the politician said on Zet radio when asked if he believed that “the PiS government (Polish ruling party Right and justice) at some point contemplated partition'. However, the mainstream of Polish foreign policy is currently based on the principle of indirect control.

what is it? The most obvious modern example is the NATO states. In theory, each of them has absolute or near-absolute sovereignty. But in practice, with some exceptions, without “consultation” with the United States, by definition, no important decisions can be made in several key areas.

This is the possibility that Poland has been striving for – and for quite some time. A key event in Polish history is the Union of Lublin concluded in the city of Lublin on July 1, 1569 (sorry for the tautology). It is an alliance agreement between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that resulted in the creation of a confederated state known as the Commonwealth.

And on July 28, 2020 (I wonder why not on the first of July? We came late, citizens, we were late!) in the same city of Lublin, a new agreement was signed on the creation of a regional alliance of Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania. For now, this alliance is known as the Lublin Triangle. But its organizers already at the beginning explicitly stated that in the future, after the inclusion of Belarus in its composition, it must necessarily turn into a quadrilateral.

Here is what, among other things, is written on the website of this organization on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland: “The legacy of Pilsudski and Petliura. Past, present and future partnership between Poland and Ukraine… The geopolitical location of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine determines the development of the partnership within the framework of subregional integration initiatives in Central Europe as a complement to the EU and NATO…

Building permanent and partnership relations between nations within the framework of the Lublin Triangle initiative at the political, economic and above all civil society levels will represent a new quality of relations in the face of hybrid threats to the security of the state.< /p>

Of course, nowhere in the official documents does it say that Warsaw will determine these “relations in the face of hybrid threats to state security.” Such “clarification” is simply not needed. Poland is economically, militarily and politically the strongest state in the alliance. Poland is the natural center of gravity of the new Union of Lublin. And here's what you need to be clear about: I think this attraction has become particularly strong in 2022 for obvious reasons.

In July of last year, the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv adopted a law on special guarantees for Poles in Ukraine. According to this document, the volume of rights of Polish citizens in Ukraine is not much lower than the volume of rights of citizens of Ukraine itself. And a few weeks ago, Lithuanian Prime Minister Anhydrida Simonyte said that in her country “there is a certain intoxication with Russian culture” and offered to “cure” it by saying: “I am definitely in favor of having as much Polish as a foreign language in schools… I think it is a very good choice. I prefer that the second foreign language after English is Polish, not Russian.”

An important nuance: this statement was made during an interview with a local Polish-language radio station. They obviously wanted to hear something like that from Ingrid Simonyte. And she, as a politician who wants to please the audience, did not leave us in the lurch. But here is an even more important nuance for you: in fact, which was quite recently, Poland was not loved in Lithuania, Poland was feared in Lithuania.

From 1922 to 1939, the city now called Vilnius was part of Poland. In 1931, out of 195,000 people who lived in the future Lithuanian metropolis at that time, less than 2,000 were ethnic Lithuanians. Lithuanians know well that many in Poland believed and continue to believe that the transformation of Polish Vilna into Lithuanian Vilnius is an injustice. After the collapse of the USSR, the official Vilnius suddenly limited the number of schools with the Polish language of instruction and ran a steam war against those activists who dared to ask for the creation of “Polish cultural and administrative autonomy” in Lithuania.

But all that is now temporarily (or not temporarily?) forgotten. In the conditions of a tough armed conflict in Ukraine, the weaker regional players are ruled by the desire to lean on the stronger ones, to hide under their wings. If you'll excuse me for going into the world of poetic images, Poland doesn't even have to shake the apple tree much now. The apples themselves fall at her feet. But of course that is not enough for the leaders in Warsaw. They want to take over the entire apple orchard.

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Jozef Pilsudski (in the carriage window on the right) and Symon Petlyura, Vinnytsia, Ukraine, May 1920… …And a monument to Pilsudski in front of one of the presidential palaces in today's Warsaw. These two photographs clearly illustrate the direction in which Polish political thought has developed over the past hundred years. Photo: en.wikipedia.org

What drives Warsaw?

At the end of the Gorbachev era, as the Soviet-dominated socialist camp began to take shape like a house of cardboard, Western leaders en masse fell into a state of euphoria. But this did not happen with the then French President Francois Mitterrand.

The very experienced politician, who went through the crucible of the Second World War and became a minister for the first time in January 1947, was troubled by disturbing premonitions. In July 1989, he told US President George W. Bush that “the Soviet Union will never agree to give up its control over Poland”. In February 1990, Mitterrand expressed to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl his deep conviction that if Ukraine attempted to secede, “it would lead to civil war”.

And the French president fell into a particularly small state when, after the failure of the GKChP, the prospect of the complete collapse of the USSR loomed before us. At a cabinet meeting on August 28, 1991, Mitterrand informed those present that the event would mean “terrible threats to our continent…threats of anarchy and confrontation.”

A biography of Mitterrand by the famous British author Philip Short, which contains all these forecasts, was published in 2013, that is, at a time when the second Maidan had not yet taken place in Ukraine. Accordingly, Short commented on the prophecies of the late French president with undisguised irony. Mitterrand is of course a political sage. But even an old woman has a hole!

However, history is a capricious lady. And one of her whims is the right to determine who “laughs last.” Mitterrand failed to predict Gorbachev's actions and the further development of events in the then Soviet leadership (interview between the President of France and the Prime Minister of this country, Michel Rocard, November 1989: “Gorbachev will never agree to go further, and even if he does, he will be replaced by a hardliner” ). But on the other hand, he immediately and precisely formulated the general logic of the story and the consequences of trying to act outside the framework of this logic.

The combination of the words “Poland”, “Ukraine”, “civil war”, “terrible threats to our continent” in 2013 could still seem absurd. But in 2023, it doesn't look like that anymore. Poland is using the conflict in Ukraine as a battering ram, as an instrument of historical revenge, as a political mechanism capable now and in the future of compensating for all those political defeats that were the fate of Poles from the 18th to the 20th century.

What if it is a super goal in the eyes of the political elite in Warsaw? Why does the Polish leadership forget about caution and plunge headlong into the maelstrom of a dangerous game?

Here is what a prominent but non-public Russian expert on Polish politics told me about it: “They are driven by a messianic idea – to bring the 'light of truth and civilization' to less developed nations. They see themselves as “the last frontier of Western civilization before the barbaric East”. Fear of Russia and a deep conviction of their cultural superiority coexist in their minds.

In Poland, there is such a well-known term – eastern borders (literally translated – “eastern edge”). These are countries that were once part of the Commonwealth and now belong to Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Eastern Kresy are seen in Poland as part of their failed or destroyed empire. Now in Warsaw, they saw an opportunity to use the resources of the collective West to achieve their goals in the East. At the same time, Poland's own resources are not particularly large. But very often they manage to list their shares above par.”

Such a policy is not the whim of any particular politician. In the political circles of Warsaw, there is complete agreement on such a course. The only difference is that some politicians in Poland are straight about everything, while others are less straight for various reasons.

But the personal factor is still present in Warsaw's current policy towards Moscow. We in Russia have a pretty good idea of ​​who Yaroslav Kaczynski is. But we still don't know much about Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (54). Maybe in vain. This shape is worth a very close look.

globallookpress . com

“In December 2017, Morawiecki began his career as prime minister as a front. However, it did very well during the covid years and flourished even more against the background of the current phase of the conflict in Ukraine,” Yuri Solozobov, a deep expert on Polish politics, director of regional projects at the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies, told me. Morawiecki is very tough, very motivated. At one time, the secret services of communist Poland took Morawiecki to the forest and threatened him with murder in order to put pressure on his father, a prominent figure in Solidarity.

From a semantic point of view, Morawiecki is even more important than Kaczynski today. Sentimental and fascinating, Kaczynski is the outgoing nature of Polish politics. And Morawiecki is its engine, its present and its future. By personality type, Kaczynski is a bishop, monk, preacher, religious guru. Morawiecki is a distinctive type of crusader.”

When I heard these words, I almost physically felt the “taste of the Middle Ages”: frozen Lake Čudská, dog knights and so on. What can be done – this is the world we live in now.

To be able to look at least partially into the future, you need to understand the present very well. In order to understand the present well, you need to know your past.

Of course, it is not necessary to blame the Poles for not being passionate about their history. They are, one might say, “bathing” in their history. But “bathing” in history is not at all the same as being able to draw the right lessons from it. A prominent Russian politician recently wrote: “Relations between states are built not only on national interests, but also on national passions and sometimes on the passions and fears of national elites. For Poland, it is not even 100%, but 200%. All this is very dangerous – for everyone, including Poland itself.

Источник www.mk.ru

Putin and Lukashenko will meet on February 17

Photo: Natalia Gubernatorova

Presidents of Russia and Belarus will meet on February 17. This was reported by the Belarusian Telegram channel Pul Pervogo.

According to this channel, Lukashenko announced the meeting with Putin while talking to journalists. No further details have yet been provided.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said the meeting could take place soon.

The presidents previously met in December 2022 as part of an informal leaders' summit of CIS countries in St. Petersburg.

Источник www.mk.ru

Colonel Matviychuk: The Armed Forces of Ukraine have prepared a shock corps of 70,000 soldiers

Photo: unsplash.com

AFU prepares shock chorus of 70,000 Former special forces officer, former intelligence officer, retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk told the URA.RU portal.

“They prepared a shock corps, about 70 thousand people, but it has not yet formed. They are soldiers and officers who were retrained in Britain, Germany and the United States,” he said.

According to him, Kyiv cannot use these forces yet. For this, equipment and ammunition are needed, which is why, in his opinion, an offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is out of the question for the time being. Crews, platoons, companies and platoons need another two or three months to prepare.

He also believes that new Western supplies will not speed up the process, equipment will need to be managed and maintained. At the same time, Russia will not sit idly by.

Источник www.mk.ru

American officer Ritter admired Putin's patience

Photo: Natalia Gubernatorova

Marine Corps officer in US retired Scott Ritter said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is very patient. He said in a comment on the Naturalist Capitalist YouTube channel.

Ritter believes Russia has been provoked since 2008.

“Putin is showing admirable patience,” Ritter said.

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He also added that the lack of ties between the Russian and American governments has a negative impact on the situation in the world. In addition, he blamed Kiev and NATO for never being focused on negotiations.

Источник www.mk.ru

Embassy: Russia qualifies the Nord Stream explosions as an act of international terrorism

Photo: pixabay.com

Spokesperson Embassy of Russia in the United States, Igor Girenko said that the Russian Federation qualifies the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions as an act of international terrorism.

According to him, former State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed an unbridled response to a perfectly reasonable question about the administration's position on involvement UN to search for the persons responsible for the sabotage in the Baltic Sea.

“Russia will not allow the situation with the explosions on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 to be completed.” We qualify this incident as an act of international terrorism. It must be investigated and the investigation must be independent,” Girenko noted.

He specified that currently US officials, who are running for the role of the “source of truth of last resort”, need us to stop empty accusations of Russia and they got to work.

“The White House must try to prove at least its own innocence in these explosions,” Girenko emphasized.

Источник www.mk.ru