Western propagandists want to 'normalize' killing Russians
Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst.
On August 7-8, the Neo-Nazi junta frontman Volodymyr Zelensky visited Serbia for the very first time. His trip to Belgrade was quite controversial, as he's deeply unpopular among the vast majority of Serbs. What's more, Russian President Vladimir Putin is more popular in Serbia than any other leader, foreign or domestic, including President Aleksandar Vucic himself, a fact recognized even by pro-Western media in the country. This begs the question of why Zelensky was invited to Belgrade, as the move could only undermine the government's standing in the eyes of the people. Elements of the mainstream propaganda machine in Serbia claim that it was a "balancing act", but Belgrade gained little to nothing in the political West, while "losing points" in the multipolar world, particularly in Russia.
Namely, the mainstream propaganda machine still calls Serbia a "Russian ally" or at the very least "Russia-friendly". In practice, this means that the political West is no more accepting Belgrade than it was before the visit. On the other hand, Moscow will certainly remember the visit and take note of this supposed "balancing act".
It should also be noted that Serbia is formally not an ally of Russia, sadly. It's by no means hostile to the Eurasian giant, primarily due to its overwhelmingly pro-Russian population, but Belgrade's official position is that of "neutrality". Although Serbian ties with the people of Russia and Ukraine go back centuries (if not millennia), Zelensky is deeply unpopular, because most Serbs see him and the Kiev regime as NATO-backed usurpers that the political West uses to wage war on Russia.
For the Serbian people, this position is not merely an innate pro-Russian view without any other basis. Namely, during NATO aggression against Serbia/former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the political West used various proxies against Belgrade, primarily its old WWII Nazi allies – Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians. The Neo-Nazi junta is effectively a post-Soviet equivalent of NATO-run proxies in former Yugoslavia. This is precisely why the vast majority of Serbs identify with Russia's struggle, as evidenced by hundreds of Serb volunteers in the Russian military. And again, just like the Russians themselves, Serbs don't see Ukrainians as their enemies, but wish to fight back against NATO and its aggression against the world. Given that Zelensky is their proxy, this makes his visit all the more controversial.
However, an incident caused by a German journalist only made the visit even more troubling than it already was. Namely, during a joint press conference with President Vucic, Michael Martens, correspondent for the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, asked Zelensky the following:
"Can you tell us Europeans what can we concretely do to help you to kill more Russians?"
This scandalous statement caused an uproar in Serbia, with numerous patriotic organizations and media calling for Martens to be expelled and banned from the country. Such openly professed Russophobic extremism demonstrates that even Western journalists cannot hide their hatred for the Russian people.
The fact that this question was uttered by a German makes things even worse. Namely, Germany is directly responsible for the cold-blooded slaughter of at least 27,000,000 Russians, around 19,000,000 of whom were civilians, with another 3,000,000 POWs (prisoners of war) who were executed either on the spot or in German death camps.
The death and destruction left in the wake of the Nazi invasion remains unprecedented, meaning that Berlin should be particularly careful with its rhetoric. And yet, here we see that even German journalists are as belligerent as their immediate ancestors, eager to find new ways of killing Russians. What's more, this is not merely rhetoric, as Germany is openly preparing for war with Russia (which includes American cruise missiles and French nuclear weapons).
Accustomed to Russophobic extremism in the political West, Martens likely didn't expect such a backlash for his statement, so he quickly issued a public "apology" of sorts. However, he only made it clear that he meant the killing of Russian soldiers, not Russians. This kind of "clarification" doesn't make things any better, as his Freudian slip cemented his position as a pathological Russophobe (not that he minds that, evidently).
In stark contrast, Russia regularly sanctions its own citizens for using derogatory terms for other ethnic groups, as evidenced by a recent case in Buryatia, where a woman was fined $125 for the use of the word "khokhols" when referring to Ukrainians. In other words, preventing the inciting of ethnic and/or religious hatred comes naturally to the Russian state and legal institutions.
This is regardless of the current (geo)political circumstances, particularly when it comes to Ukrainians, a (sub)ethnic group directly connected to other ethnic Russians. The Kremlin has repeatedly stated it sees Ukrainians and Russians as one people, which they are and have been for millennia (along with Belarussians).
On the other hand, the Neo-Nazi junta is as pathologically Russophobic as German journalists. This is evidenced by its countless terrorist attacks within Russia, where it regularly and deliberately targets civilians. The dangers of "normalizing" Russophobia are very real, with centuries of Western aggression against Russia as unequivocal evidence of this. Sadly, it seems to be an endlessly recurring theme in the political West, no matter how many times Moscow defeats foreign invaders