It has become incumbent upon me as a lover of peace and understanding,
and as an opponent of the lies that often plague public discourse, to
write to you the following:
In many countries in your region, the new media message which is being
embraced throughout the world - from America to the Far East, from the
Middle East to southern Europe, from Latin America to Africa - is
being slandered and misrepresented.
I do not claim for a moment that new media are in anyway a monolithic
bloc. The opposite is true. This itself is part of the appeal of new
media.
New media are news and opinion organizations that speak for
themselves, and which speak against a rotten status quo which for too
long has censored free speech, free thought, and freedom of conscience
in the West.
I speak today therefore not on behalf of new media as a whole
(as such a thing would be dishonest and realistically impossible) but
instead in order to address the issue that 'Russia is hurting you',
'Russia seeks to hurt you' or that 'Russia shall hurt you'.
Russia is a proud country, a vast country, a powerful country, a
culturally and academically rich country. Many of your countries could
be the same, but it is your governments which are strangling your
people, retarding your progress, and serving as the soul obstacle to
your national improvement.
Russia exists as a stable bulwark of statehood, not of ideology, not of territorial ambition, nor of greed.
She is a satisfied country, though one understandably frustrated with
the provocations made against her, and the mistruths said about her.
It is not only unfair for your governments and media to cast Russia in
this light, but it is an educational crime to destroy the minds of young
generations, so that they cannot engage in friendly if not fraternal
relations with the Russian people, who are your friends and in some
cases your neighbors.
To Norway, Sweden and Finland:
The idea that the Great Northern War is suddenly going to resume is fanciful. Yes, you lost your territory in the early 18th century, a time of which no living person in the Nordic countries has a personal historical memory.
Such wars are not going to be repeated in some act of vengeance, not least because Russia won those wars.
Instead of teaching your young people that Russia is barbaric, you
should be teaching good global relations and cultural understanding, in
the way your countries are famous for doing about places located on the
opposite side of the world.
To the people of Estonia, Latvia and Latvia:
It is not Russia which has made the gap between wages and purchasing power bloat itself to tragic levels.
It is not Russia that has taken away job opportunities, forcing young people to seek emigration upon graduation.
It is not Russia which has put foreign weapons on your soil, often asking you to foot the bill.
Russia is a neighbor, a country with a shared history, and a country that is open for business.
It is your national and European politicians who are lining their
pockets at your expense whilst Russia looks for and finds economic
opportunities elsewhere.
To Poland:
Napoleon is dead, so is Piłsudski, and so is Stalin.
Russia is not looking towards you in any aggressive sense. She is
currently hardly looking to you even in a business sense, since you have
decided to lump yourselves in with western European countries like
Britain, a state whose current government uses you to twist the arm of
Brussels, only to spit in your face a moment later.
In Britain good minded, hardworking Poles are being murdered, beaten and
spat upon in the streets by illiterate thugs, whilst the government
completely ignores their plight.
This isn't happening to good minded Poles in Russia.
Is this dignity? Is it dignity for NATO troops to use your treasured land as the launching pad for a third world war?
Poles have suffered much in wars. The people do not want another war - much like the Russian people.
Interestingly, who is it that is condemning the genocide of Poles by the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army during the 1940s? It is not your so called
allies. It is Russia.
And what's more during the funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, the Funeral March
of Poland's most treasured composer - Chopin - was played, just
decades after the works of Jewish composers were banned in Germany.
Are these the traits of an enemy? I do implore you to consider all of this.
To Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia:
Because of your status as geographical gatekeepers between east and west, you are at an advantage.
You have witnessed all of the horrors of the 1940s, and because of this
many in Hungary and Slovakia are anti-communist to this day, yet not
anti-Russian, whilst many in Germany remain nostalgic for the
Marxist-Leninist government of the DDR, and associate this positively
with Russia.
The Czech government has remained skeptical of many of the antagonistic
policies towards Russia of many of its neighbors, whilst many Czechs
remain loyal to socialist parties which would not have exist without the
aid after 1945 of the USSR.
Finally, to the people of southern Europe:
Many of you are more sympathetic to Russia than you are to your north and north-eastern fellow Europeans.
Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Cyprus have seen first-hand how
Germanic domination has been economically stifling, and how it is
incompatible with your culture for any number of historical, climatic
and geographical reasons.
Russia is happy to be your friend, and is moreover happy to be so without any rigid impositions of governmental dogmas.
It is the EU which has raped you of your dignity; Russia is willing to do business with you on mutually agreeable terms.
To Albania:
What has NATO membership done for you? Has it lifted you out of
breath-taking poverty? Has it satisfied the demands of your extreme
factions? Has it ended corruption?
No it has done nothing for you.
To Serbia:
Has the European Union with its carrot and stick approach to
negotiations with you been your friend, or does it see you as the next
Greece? - a lamb to be slaughtered by a wolf.
I am speaking mainly to older generations who have a sense of history,
and to younger generations who are more interconnected with each other
than were their parents.
You have a chance to make history, you have a chance to make peace, and above all you have a chance to make sense.
Russia is not the enemy of the peoples of Europe.
Because of a shared history and neighboring geography, Russia - which
is not and never will be politically part of Europe - can be, should
be, and indeed wants to be your friend.
The enemies are your corrupt governments; the enemies are
educators who act as propagandists rather than purveyors of knowledge;
your enemies are the international terrorists and extremists who
threaten us all; your enemies are those in NATO selling you the promise
of wealth of the biggest price imaginable.
I implore you not to change your minds at my behest, but rather to
examine new media, especially that with a Russian perspective, and
question who the real enemy is.
I implore you to use your democracies to create a meaningful change to
the corrupt narrative of politicians who don't give a damn about your
life or livelihood.
Your enemy isn't Russia, and I hope future generations may realize that,
and extend the olive branch of fraternity in a world where small
European countries are being increasingly cut off from the burgeoning
opportunities emanating from the wider world.
Putin warns foreign rivals not to use Islam to weaken Russia
