The Twelfth of June, Russia Day... On this day in 1990, Boris-vodka-Yeltsin founded Russia…
Does this mean that Russia is younger than Bangladesh, or Comoros; a troubled teenager with a history of serious mental problems: she effectively murdered her parent, the late Soviet Union? Does this mean that I have never known Russia, who was not even in existence, while I was a citizen of the Eastern Hemisphere? Nah!
Does this mean that Russia is younger than Bangladesh, or Comoros; a troubled teenager with a history of serious mental problems: she effectively murdered her parent, the late Soviet Union? Does this mean that I have never known Russia, who was not even in existence, while I was a citizen of the Eastern Hemisphere? Nah!
Well, they will tell me, don’t be silly. This holiday is not about the founding of Russia, of course. It is about Russia’s sovereignty and independence. Independence from what and from whom?, I might ask. Independence from the USSR! From 100% literacy, from free education, among the best in the world? From free medical care, full employment, adequate social subsidies making sure that no one goes hungry, no one is reduced to living in the streets? Or is it independence from the heroes of Stalingrad, from the liberators of Auschwitz, from the destroyers of the Third Reich? From the glorious memory of the Sputnik, from Gagarin’s journey into space? From the Soviet-Russian superpowerdom? From history as such?!...
There is something very wrong with this picture. There is something very wrong with the Twelfth of June!
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