May 9: Russians remember 27 million dead in WW2

 

In 2019 I organized a Russia Study Tour for the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. I also made a trip to Russia before then in order to do the advance work for the trip.

Our visit took us to Moscow, Crimea and St. Petersburg. On May 9, 2019 we were in St Petersburg and joined the march to honor those who fought and died during WW2 to stop the German Nazi invasion of the former Soviet Union.

In the end 27 million people from the Soviet Union died at the hands of the Germans. To put this in some context, the US lost 500,000 people during WW2.

The 'March of the Immortal Regiment' in St Petersburg, that our 25 member tour group joined, drew more than 1.2 million people. It took hours to proceed through the city streets.

People held signs with photos of relatives who fought and/or died during the war. In the first photo above I hold a picture of my mother's two brothers who both served in the Navy and had their ships sunk by the Nazis. They miraculously survived.

Americans have been taught that the US-UK were largely responsible for defeating the Nazis in WW2. But the truth is that without the massive war effort by the Soviet Union the Nazis would have won the war.

Lately though I've begun to think that maybe the Nazis won anyway. Don't forget that the US brought well over 1,500 Nazis to the US after WW2 and seeded the entire military industrial complex (including the CIA) with these Germans. Today we see the US siding with the Nazi-backed government in Kiev. We see German tanks again inside Ukraine firing at Russian soldiers. We also witness the US re-arming the former Japanese fascists and turning them against China like in WW2.

When the Russians and Chinese see these moves today by the US to rearm and mobilize the WW2 fascists they know that the war never really went away. The Cold War followed WW2 and now we see the expanding NATO military alliance becoming a global war machine - the military arm of corporate capital. NATO is on steroids and rapidly moving into the Asia-Pacific.

Our delegation was proud to visit Russia in 2019 and to 'pick the forbidden fruit' - to learn about Russian history and to meet the people who we found to be loving, generous, smart and eager to be friends with Americans.

Sadly our government in Washington today is run by mean-spirited neo-cons who want endless war$ and regime change around the globe. They wish to remain King of the Hill - but the US empire is currently in free-fall collapse.

In this collapse the neo-cons are more dangerous than ever. They've repeatedly shown a lack of vision and a lack of humility. Many around the globe fear that the US will strike out against Russia and China with nukes in one last nuclear-fired Hail Mary.

Keep praying and speak out publicly. Hold a sign on a street corner - alone or with others. The public is seeking the truth and some sense of hope and movement. Help be the motivators for peace and real global justice.

And don't swallow the outrageous lies and distortions promoted by the corporate media.

Bruce