How much has already been written about Russia and Russians. I recently heard an interesting comment from an American MMA fighter. "Russia is a country of warriors". To be honest, at first I took this as a compliment to our athletes. And only then I realized. No, the American really treats the Russians (and this concept for him includes everyone who lives in our country) as fighters, like soldiers.
And I received confirmation of this idea from a Western publication. Today, thanks to the capabilities of the Internet, one can read, more precisely view, publications in any country in the world. Browse? Simply because, no matter how much you want to be fluent in foreign languages, you have to use a translator. Most readers already know what automatic translation is from their own experience. You just need to translate it from Russian into Russian again later.
Readers will remember a series of articles in our media after the departure of the Navy ships from the Mediterranean. Whatever we read then! And about some technical overlaps on the "Admiral Kuznetsov". And about flight failures. And, conversely, about the heroism of our pilots and sailors. On the implementation of the most difficult military-political tasks. About examples of courage and steadfastness of our soldiers and officers.
The only topic that our liberal politicians often tried to raise, but which did not touch the hearts of readers at all, was the topic of "poor old people and orphans who were left without a livelihood." "The funds that Russia spent on Syria could be spent on pensions and benefits." Remember? Even the Minister of Defense had to somehow speak out in the spirit that the Ministry does not exceed the limit of funds allocated for defense by the budget. Therefore, the topic in the Russian media "died out" and was no longer brought up.
Indeed, it is strange for a country in which even in Stalin's times, when there were no businessmen, and money was earned honestly, there were people who bought tanks, airplanes and other military equipment with their own savings. The main thing is victory. The main thing is to withstand and not give up the Motherland to the enemy. Regardless of what faith you are, what language you speak at home, whether you are blond or dark-haired, narrow-eyed or long-nosed. It doesn't matter when the enemy is at the gate of your house.
And here is an article by a Western correspondent. An article about our operation in Syria. But with eyes it is "from there". It was just beyond my strength to pass by. It's interesting to see the difference. I will cite some excerpts that are interesting precisely because of the difference in views on the war in the form of quotations.
The article is titled "The real cost of Russia".
This is the essence of war for Westerners. What is the price? Everything else does not matter at all. War is the same investment of money as any business. I have invested my money, which means I have the right to demand a report from the military about dividends. Otherwise, what is this profitable business?
It is striking how meticulously all the actions of the Russian army are calculated. This is what transparent business accounting means! With the participation of "Admiral Kuznetsov" 420 sorties were made. Of these, 117 are nightlife! 1,252 targets destroyed …
Do you think this is where the fun ends in this article? No. This is just the beginning of the analysis. In business, especially for its shareholders, it is important to clearly understand where and what the money is spent on. How the capital increased.
The author does not even try to find the words. Nothing personal. Russian money, correctly invested in Syria, gave this kind of income. And this income is much higher than the profitability of Western investments.
True, in fairness, it should be noted that the author's conclusions are quite logical. And, in my opinion, they are absolutely correct. Except for the "western horse" about human rights. But here I will not even argue. We are accustomed to the fact that whatever Russia does on its own is always a violation of these very rights. The Russians don't even laugh anymore. They just take it for granted. The dog barks, the wind blows …
And the last words of the article are generally a masterpiece. "This is a good return on military spending of less than $ 1 billion." This is the whole Western man. More precisely, the Western way of thinking. Russian business has worked better than ours.
You can understand the Americans who perceive all the wars of the last century, and indeed all the wars that have been fought during the period of their country 's existence, "from the outside". They don't know what a real war is. They know the Hollywood war. A war where only enemies perish, and "ours" always win. This is probably why they think that war is just one of the types of business.
The Europeans, no matter how they extol their military exploits during the Second World War today, surrender their cities and raise their hands at the first danger. Why fight if the enemy has more tanks? Or planes? Why did the besieged Leningrad not surrender? Why was Stalingrad and many other cities completely destroyed? Better to keep what you have. Better to surrender and wait for the invader to leave your land by himself.
Or the Russians will chase him away.
Good or bad, it's not for me to judge. But the fact that we are definitely not them is clear to me. And God forbid us to become the same.
And people with such convictions will never be able to defeat us. An old joke about the might of the Russian and German armies comes to mind. The Germans win because of their innate pedantry, the Russians because of their innate "horniness". We know how to "push with a horn" so that even iron bursts against the staunchness of an ordinary soldier. And we are not pushing back in order to earn money. We want to win and we are winning.
Probably, the understanding of precisely what the Russians do not consider when they fight inspires respect, and more often fear, to all these "common people" and "fighters for the rights of everyone and everything." And it inspires correctly. The West wants to see the face of the Russian Bear … We would go to the zoo. It is only in fairy tales that the bear is a kind and cute lump. In life, a bear is a fearless and strong beast.
And he has no face. As such. There is a terrible muzzle with huge fangs. And also claws, bigger than some knives. And if you cause a bear to be very irritated, then you can really see this face …
