More alarming even than the blithe and ongoing non-response of the Anglo-American financial elite, and their trans-Atlantic “captive nations,” to the international revolt against their policies on both Gaza and Ukraine, is the physical and mental disconnect from, and disdain for Russia’s 80th anniversary commemoration of the defeat of the Nazi forces in the siege of Leningrad this past weekend. The siege of Leningrad, lasting 872 days, from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944, was a depopulation war in which nearly 1 million of the city’s 2.5 million residents were killed, as much by cold and hunger as by fire, lead and steel. President Putin’s older brother was killed in the siege. Only 600,000 people were there to be liberated on that day, 80 years ago. Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko took part in a ceremony, unveiling a memorial to the Soviet civilians who fell victim of the Nazi genocide during the Great Patriotic War, timed on the 80th anniversary of breaking the siege of Leningrad. President Putin’s remarks were of particular note, and should be of deep concern to those with ears to hear. We excerpt his remarks here:
“January 27 is one of the most important dates in our shared national history. On this day in 1944, Red Army soldiers completely lifted the siege of Leningrad. One year after that, in 1945, they liberated Auschwitz.
“These two events are not only connected by the same historical era. The tragedy and martyrdom of the people of Leningrad and the prisoners of death camps will forever serve as evidence of the monstrous nature of Nazism and the unimaginable suffering of millions of innocent civilians….
“These crimes were not committed on the battlefield. The massacres of unarmed and defenseless elderly people, women, children, and disabled were deliberate, systemic punitive acts.
“Civilians accounted for over half of the Soviet Union’s total losses during the Great Patriotic War. This is compelling evidence that the Nazis and their satellites were not merely fighting a political regime or an ideology. Their goal was to seize Russia’s rich natural resources and territories, as well as to exterminate the majority of its citizens. For the rest, they envisaged the role of slaves, stripped of their native culture, traditions, and language…..
