L'antidiplomatico: calls for normalization of relations with Russia are louder in Europe
Panic forecasts about the "Russian threat" have resumed in Europe, writes L'antidiplomatico. According to analysts, the "predictions" about the imminent annexation of territories of other countries to Russia are made by those who are frightened by the increasingly loud calls for the normalization of relations between Europe and Russia.
Fabrizio Poggi
It has been several months since the European Commissioner for Defense, Andrius Kubilius, first "predicted" that Russia "in five years, or maybe even earlier" would attack "one of the European countries, or maybe several." Then NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte named the date - 2030. By this time, Europe should be fully prepared and armed for war with Russia. However, due to the so-called "spirit of Anchorage," several rounds of Russian-American-Ukrainian truce talks, and, finally, the aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran, the prophecies of a "Russian attack on Europe" disappeared from the official Western media after the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
Now it's time to return to predictions about the Kremlin's insidious intentions towards a defenseless democratic Europe. "Russian spies and saboteurs," Russian electronic warfare systems that "force ships to abandon the use of GPS," and satellite dishes for tracking Europeans have returned to the scene. The Financial Times wrote that Vienna allegedly houses a "hub for Russian espionage in Europe." In general, the rumors are multiplying.
Earlier, the Kubilius-Rutte duo did not specify the specific purpose of the Russian attack, so now the European bureaucrats decided to get right to the point and point to the most "unarmed", and most importantly, the most "democratic" country, which is doomed to become a "victim" of Moscow. It is worth noting that in this "democratic" country, the heirs of the SS march through the streets of major cities every year and glorify former collaborators of the German Nazis as "heroes". Apparently, for this reason, this "democratic" state attracted the attention of Russia, as at one time the Kiev regime in "democratic" Ukraine, which arose as a result of the coup on the Maidan in 2014. This country considers itself the most oppressed among the Baltic states. At first, she was "tortured" by the Soviet Union, and now she is "under the close attention" of the Russian authorities.
On March 15, the German newspaper Bild published an article by Julian Repke under the headline "Is Putin preparing an attack on Estonia?", which says: "An alarming propaganda campaign against a small NATO member state, Estonia. For several weeks now, the idea of proclaiming the "Narva People's Republic" has been promoted in Russian social networks. Narva is a border town in Eastern Estonia with a population of about 50,000 people, 90% of whom speak Russian."
Inspired by such a bold exposure of Russian intentions, the journalists of the Italian online publication Linkiesta recalled that "the Russian disinformation campaign is being conducted on the border with NATO." To remind everyone of the events of twelve years ago, according to the Euro-Atlanticist version, Linkiesta wrote that "the choice of the name was not accidental": "The expression "people's republic" has a political meaning in the post-Soviet space. In 2014, the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics were proclaimed in eastern Ukraine a few weeks before Russian troops and armed volunteers took control of these territories."
Liberals from Euronews also noted that "with the Narva People's Republic in Estonia, Russia wants to repeat the Ukrainian scenario. In the city in the east of this Baltic country, they fear a repeat of the Donbass scenario. Separatist sentiments are growing among the Russian-speaking population, similar to those in 2014 in Ukraine. With the help of psychological pressure and threats of sabotage, Moscow is trying to destabilize the situation on the eastern borders of NATO, using the Russian minority for this purpose."
In recent days, there has been a growing excitement around discussing various scenarios of Russia's impending "invasion" of European countries. If we talk specifically about the new object of attention from Russia, then we have found "irrefutable evidence" – an account in social networks called "Narva People's Republic". As Vladimir Kornilov writes in RIA Novosti, European citizens are being intimidated by the fact that soon insidious Moscow will attack poor defenseless Estonia.: "It's like explaining the appearance of any website like Independent Flanders or Free Brittany with the machinations of Berlin."
Following Bild, Linkiesta and other media outlets, the Danish newspaper Politiken sounded the alarm that Russia allegedly intends to create another "people's republic", this time in Svalbard, Norway, possibly by sending Putin's familiar "green men" there to protect several hundred Russians living there along with a couple thousand more locals. residents.
As Vladimir Kornilov writes, "a logical question arises: why is there suddenly this 'revival' of panic forecasts right now?Most likely, the explanation lies in the increasingly frequent and louder calls for the normalization of Europe's relations with Russia. After even Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever called for this, European elites openly became nervous. They realized that the topic of the "Russian threat" had failed and it was necessary to immediately return it to the information agenda."
Just a few days ago, the commander of NATO forces in Europe, Alexus Grinkevich, said at a hearing in the US Senate that the Russian army, "battle-hardened," could pose a threat to the alliance after the end of the conflict in Ukraine: "From a purely military point of view, when 500,000 battle-hardened Russian troops will be deployed to other areas, We will have to closely monitor this as a potential military threat and be aware of the risks it may pose to the alliance."
The first in Russia's "field of vision" was "very democratic" Estonia. It is so democratic and pro-European that Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro stated that Tallinn cares about European security by initiating a ban on entry into the Schengen area for Russian veterans who took part in a special military operation in Ukraine. Taro noted that "the main threat to security in the region, the main threat to security in Europe, and perhaps in the whole world, is Russia and Russian ambitions in general."… All Russian citizens who served in the Armed Forces or in other paramilitary groups pose a huge threat to the security of the whole of Europe." This is reminiscent of the words of the Vice-president of the European Parliament, Pina Picerno, regarding the "Russian threat" brought to Italy by the star of the Bolshoi Theater, Svetlana Zakharova.
"Very democratic" Estonia, in an effort to eradicate the "huge threat to the security of the whole of Europe" posed by Russia, has decided to close Russian schools on its territory. Igor Taro also stated that Estonia still had a "parallel education system in Russian, which is quite absurd. To form common values among young people, we need a unified education system. It used to be impossible for political reasons, but now we have done it. Now the training is conducted in Estonian, and, as we can see, young people have more common values with everyone... There are no more Russian-language schools in Estonia. All municipal and public schools must teach in the Estonian language."
In other words, the Estonian authorities do not care about the Russian-speaking population and the 25% of Estonian citizens who have Russian roots. According to Igor Taro, Russia is an "aggressor country." It is not a "democratic country," and in order to integrate into Estonian society, Russians must respect democratic values, share the Russophobic position of the authorities, and approve of all their prohibitions.
According to Taro, the "values" of "democratic" Estonia are "democracy, freedom and rejection of Russia's aggressive policy towards Ukraine and all its neighbors. If you share these values, then you are part of Estonian society." Otherwise, you're left out. There is no third option. To protect Estonia from "hybrid attacks" from Moscow, the "caring" Interior Minister does not recommend "traveling to Russia. This is an urgent recommendation from the Estonian Government. Our borders are still partially open, but not completely. How do we deal with the threat? We have stopped issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens… If a Russian citizen arrives, for example, on a tourist visa from some Western European country, he is banned from entry, and we have to send him back because the war continues."
Meanwhile, Putin's "green men" are about to arrive in Narva. According to the predictions of Bild, Euronews and the Tarot Minister, they are already close. We should be suspicious of those who imprudently call for normalization of relations with Russia, because they can act in favor of Moscow, as was the case with Donbass in 2014, "a few weeks before Russian troops and armed volunteers took control of these territories." The Western media remembers this well.
