Today is the never-to-be-forgotten day of one of the greatest tragedies
of Russian history. June 22nd, 1941. The day when Hitler’s Germany
invaded the USSR, resulting in the death of countless millions and unimaginable
suffering of the Soviet people, yet in the next four years reducing the German
colossus to the unenviable status of loser, and Hitler himself, literally, to
ashes.
The greatest irony: Stalin’s totalitarianism fought and defeated Hitler’s
totalitarianism, thus saving the Western world for its democracy. Who else but
a totalitarian superpower could overcome another great totalitarian empire?
There was something about the Soviet national will that brought the
German national will to dust. No other nation was capable of this
world-historical feat…
How does that reflect on today?
The future of the world depends on mutual respect and cooperation between
East and West, and Russia is the key to that future.
Restoring that mutually beneficial relationship is the most critical task
facing the West. Let us hope that sobriety and reason may return to the
political elites of the North-Atlantic community, bringing a radical change to
the policies and perspectives of their elected politicians.
Every great endeavor starts with the first step. So, let this step be a
serious and deep contemplation on the significance of today’s date in history.
Meanwhile, may Russia mark this day with national remembrance, great
grief, and great pride in her heroic history.
***
See also my other entries posted on this day in previous years:
June of War (2011);
Tragedy and Glory (2012);
Seventy-Two Years Ago (2013);
Seventy-Three Years Later (2014).
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