The appeal to the people of Russia, concocted by American diplomats, really evokes strong emotions.
Just not at all the ones that its authors counted on.
The video posted on social media by the US Embassy on January 5 is short.
This is its indisputable, albeit the only, merit.
Against the background of historical footage (the meeting of the allies on the Elbe, the Soviet and American space explorers at the Mir station, the handshakes of presidents and general secretaries), there is a text: “Our countries competed and cooperated to overcome the greatest challenges facing the world.
Your literature is taught in our schools.
Your works are performed in our most prestigious cultural institutions.
Throughout history, our countries have been united by a common culture and our achievements.
We believe that what is happening is unworthy of you, and we stand in solidarity with each of you who are striving to create a more peaceful future.”
The video sequence ends with a scene of a mass rally on the streets of Moscow and a shabby wall of a house with the inscription "No to war".
There is such a popular expression "Spanish shame".
It comes from the Spanish idiom sentir vergüenza ajena, which means "to feel ashamed of others."
There are analogues in German and some other languages (for example, Finnish).
But American shame, it seems, has not yet been.
Now it is.
Because a robber who puts on white clothes, climbs a marble pedestal and reads a sermon about peace, can only cause a reaction, which in the network jargon is called “facepalm”, or, in the domestic version, “hand-face”.
"No war!"
- the people who bombed Belgrade in 1999, who created hell in Iraq and tormented Afghanistan for 20 years (we will keep silent about Panama, Grenada, Vietnam and Korea out of delicacy) call on us.
“Your works are performed in our most prestigious cultural institutions,” assure us those who have been trying for almost a year to abolish Russian culture in all its manifestations - from Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky to Gergiev and Matsuev.
“Throughout history, our countries have been united by a common culture and our achievements,” diplomats of a country that has declared war on traditional values and glorifies transgender people and perverts write with a blue eye.
Unlike the Anglo-Saxon culture, where double or even triple standards are not considered something shameful, Russian civilization stood and stands on the idea of justice, truth for everyone, regardless of race and origin.
Perhaps that is why we are so sensitive to hypocrisy and lies.
When the Pope, or the Patriarch, or the Dalai Lama calls for peace, their calls deserve respect.
When professional assassins who supply the Kyiv regime with HIMARS and Javelins start talking about peace, it causes disgust.
We also have a good memory.
Indeed, quite recently, on March 2, 2022, Michael McFaul, the former US Ambassador to Russia, wrote on his Twitter: “There are no more “innocent”, “neutral” Russians.
Everyone must make their choice - to support this military operation or to oppose it.
He later deleted this entry, but the Internet remembers everything.
What has changed in the past ten months?
On the one hand, the West's initial bet that the war in Ukraine would allow the Russian liberal opposition to repeat 2012 and destabilize society did not work.
Hope, however, has not yet completely died, and how can it die if huge grants are regularly allocated for “rocking the boat”.
Under these conditions, blaming the whole nation for being bad because they do not take to the streets to overthrow Putin is a losing strategy.
But if you insinuate yourself with those who, for some reason, are against the war, who “strive to create a more peaceful future,” then this, according to the wise men from the State Department, can work.
Actually no, but if you say it out loud, you can be left without grants.
On the other hand, and this is an important point, the US Embassy in Moscow is now preparing for the arrival of a new boss.
Lynn Tracy, who worked in Moscow from 2014 to 2017 as deputy head of the diplomatic mission, is returning to our cold winter capital, but already with the rank of ambassador.
In the meantime, the residence at Spaso House is waiting for a new owner, the embassy staff are going out of their way, proving their indispensability and ingenuity.
For example, a couple of days before the New Year, the embassy hung on its facade three posters that won the competition “Imagining the World – 2022”.
The competition itself was held back in September, but in Russia they somehow did not pay attention to it, and the diplomats decided to remind that such an event did take place and even an artist from Russia named Elsa took third place (Americans do not indicate Elsa's last name). steel to "not put her at risk").
The appeal “to the people of Russia” is from the same series.
Bureaucratic creativity, senseless and merciless.
Although no, why is it meaningless?
No matter how ridiculous (or shameful) the attempts of our American "friends" to pose as teachers of life, their "conversion" is a brazen attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of another state.
Yes, it does not contain direct calls for the overthrow of the current government, but there are indirect ones: the words “we ... stand in solidarity with each of you who seek to create a more peaceful future” appear against the backdrop of an opposition rally.
Imagine that the Russian embassy in the United States releases a video where words of solidarity with the American people are heard against the background of footage of the "storming of the Capitol" on January 6, 2021.
Or a video about fraud in the 2020 US presidential election.
Represented?
Now imagine what a howl would rise over the Washington swamp after such a frank "Russian interference in US affairs"!
Of course, we will not do this - not the culture, not the traditions, “damned upbringing”, after all.
But here's what, it seems to me, can and should be done - it is immediately, from the doorstep, to hand a harsh note to the new US ambassador about the inadmissibility of such "creatives".
Designate the framework within which the Ambassador will work with us.
Unless, of course, she is seriously determined to work, and not to read sermons that cause an acute sense of shame for the once great nation.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.