What Does Defender of the Fatherland Day Mean for Modern Russians? Patriotism is Changing and Evolving
Agitation&Propaganda
The geographical spread of Defender of the Fatherland Day celebrations, or what used to be Soviet Army and Navy Day, reflects well what remained from what seemed to be indestructible Soviet state and its armed forces. Apart from Russia, February 23rd is a holiday in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Transnistria. That's it.
Despite the fact that about 40% of respondents in Ukraine continued the Soviet tradition in 2013, February 23rd is no more a holiday there. A different Fatherland means different defenders.
kyivpost.com:
"It is now up to Ukrainian soldiers to decide if the brand-new M4-WAC47 assault rifle – a special descendant of the legendary American-made M16 rifle – is good enough to eventually retire their decades-old workhorse Kalashnikovs. A year after the initial announcement, the first batch of 10 new rifles is now undergoing firing trials by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, National Guard and Border Service. One rifle was also sent to the Donbass war zone for assessing its merits and flaws in actual combat".
Now that Poroshenko has signed the law on Donbass reintegration, different format of the military operation there and the upcoming change in the joint command, nothing can hinder using the rifles 'in actual combat.' TV shows the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully shelling the Donetsk suburbs, while millionaire Igor Pasternak is rubbing his hands, anticipating jammy contracts. A Lvov emigrant and creator of airship, Pasternak views himself as Elon Musk Jr., an innovator, incarnation of the 'Ukrainian dream.' He proudly takes a picture of his family at an American space airfield, but what Pasternak's Aeros Corporation ships to Ukraine can hardly be called ambling airship.
diana-mihailova.livejournal.com:
"In January 2017, during his working visit to the Donetsk region, president Pyotr Poroshenko visited a watch tower and attended the launch of the Aeros system of early detection, prevention and identification of targets which is deployed in Mariupol. According to Poroshenko, the Aeros system is a joint Ukrainian-American development made by one of the Ukroboronprom enterprises. Due to the help and investment of our American partners, this system significantly improves the effectiveness of the response. Early detection system is unique as it scans air, water, land at once, and can follow and determine the behavior of up to 200 goals".
Pasternak's company operates under the auspices of the Pentagon innovation corporation DARPA. Replacing the Kalashnikovs with hybrid M4 machines, adapted both for NATO and old Soviet bullets, is another piece of the market that the war gave to Pasternak, the graduate of Lvov Polytechnic University.
"Ukroboronservice state corporation together with the American Aeros company are planning to launch a large-scale production of this weapon M4-WAC47 assault rifle at Ukroboronservice enterprises, Ukraine. Depending on the combat task, this weapon can be used as an RPG."
kyivpost.com:
"The task is to ensure that the Ukrainian army switches from the Soviet ammunition to the bullets under the NATO standard, which Ukraine expects to fully comply with by 2020. As entrepreneur Igor Pasternak said, "when you see a Ukrainian soldier with a NATO weapon in his hand, it'll be a strong political message to Russia".
It's hard to imagine how an expensive and gentle rifle, demanding special skills, can replace the weather- and soldier-proof Kalashnikov. But this doesn't seem to be the point. After the collapse of the USSR, the Maidan and the uprising in the Donbass Ukraine lost its bullet factories. The only one was in Lugansk. Last summer, $50 million was allocated to build a new one, but nobody has heard about its construction so far. Meanwhile, Ukrainian ammunition depots stubbornly keep burning and exploding. And although Polish and Lithuanian partners compensate for this by sending old ammunition, one day they'll run out of it too.
And NATO, as we know, does not have this problem. Senior partners are slowly and carefully preparing Ukrainian Batkivshchyna, created on the ruins of the socialist fatherland, to its historical mission.
nytimes.com:
"Looming large in this system is Ukroboronprom, a sprawling state conglomerate comprising 130 defense companies and employing around 80,000 people. Last week the resignation of its CEO, Roman Romanov was announced without explanation. Last year's report by the Independent Defense Anti-Corruption Committee revealed abuse in purchasing military ambulances from a private supplier. Each vehicle, whose chassis is Chinese made, had cost the Ukrainian Defense Ministry $32,000, much pricier than an ambulance imported from China, and was designed for urban roads, not for off-road. As many as 19 of the 50 vehicles so far delivered to the Donbass were out of service. The Ministry of Defense recently decided to buy 100 more ambulances".
Of course, the future passengers of these ambulances are not the only defenders of the North Atlantic fatherland.
The news landscape, against which the100th anniversary of the Red Army is celebrated, painfully resembles the situation that preceded its creation.
marinecorpstimes.com:
"In the past year the Corps has upped the ante in their preparation for a major cold weather confrontation with a power like Russia or North Korea — a fight likely to prove more physically taxing and hellish than the Middle Eastern climes. 2 rotations have been deployed in Norway to foster cold weather fighting and survivability skills. "We haven’t been in the cold-weather business for a while,” said Gen. Robert Neller. It was he who made a controversial comment about a looming “big ass fight” that the Marine Corps must prepare for".
The anticipation of a “big ass fight” is what the world is trying to cover by getting distracted by talk-shows, fashion shows, presentations of gadgets, awarding cinematographic elephants or sports competitions.
rbc.ru:
"The US does not rule out a military solution to the conflict in Syria, and reserves the right to air strikes against the forces of government forces of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, said Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN".
digi24.ro:
"The number of Moldovan municipalities that signed the symbolic Declaration of Association with Romania reached 34. On Friday, the document was signed by the authorities of the village of Chetrosu, Moldova".
What do Moldovan villages have to do with it? It's easier to understand it, considering that recently the ex-president of Romania and leader of the revanchist party of the Popular Movement Traian Basescu stated literally the following: "We are approaching an important historical date. As President, I have already announced the denial of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. But now we will submit to the Parliament a draft resolution on its full denunciation and recognizing all its consequences as illegitimate.”
Actually, this is what the West-Moldovan peasants who turned out to be quite shrewd are talking about. Here is a list of those who are seeking unconditional accession of Moldova to Romania. Thus, almost all state borders in Eastern Europe must be recognized as illegitimate, to be followed by the whole post-war order.
To remind you, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was called a nonaggression pact. Nonaggression turned into an attack. Antonescu's pro-fascist Romanian government took an active part in the aggression against the USSR, which followed the denunciation of the Pact.
The Yassko-Kishinev operation of the Red Army of the workers and peasants put an end to that revision. This Army doesn't exist anymore. Alas, there are no fewer revisionists today. But there is much less ability to show, catch up and show again. New times. A new fatherland. New defenders.
nakanune.ru:
"An interesting poll was presented by sociologists of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Civil Service. It shows that the majority of men say that they are ready to bear the responsibility for what is happening in the country only to a small extent, or do not have such a feeling at all. Of all the men interviewed, only slightly more than 11% answered affirmatively, other 13% say they have this feeling to a large extent. Instead, 37.5% deny their own involvement in the events taking place in the country. Other 30% said they had this feeling to a small extent".
Aleksei Serebryakov, actor: "The national idea is force, insolence and rudeness".
Could it have been different? Shall we be surprised at an uneasy revelation made on the eve of the holiday by the actor who emigrated long ago? These uninvolved 37.5% were brought up on the revealing films starring him.
Aleksei Serebryakov, actor: "I doubt that Russia will remain how it is now. Border will blur. There will be no military profession. War will be waged by a boy sitting in front of a PC and pressing one button".
The difference between what it was and what it has become almost equals to the difference between the modern Canadian Mr. Serebryakov and the Serebryakov of the 1980s, who played a military student Volodya Kovalev in the Soviet TV series Scarlet Straps.