“Breaking news” from the Ministry of Truth in Moscow: Maria Zaharova has announced to us that NATO would be a “typical colonial empire” coming to “take resources, pit countries against each other, and leave behind chaos and military tension”. It is not the first time Russian officials make baseless statements, avoiding confronting the reality in their own country – a reality where foreign policy is not based on the principle of loyal cooperation between states, but on submission, aggression, and occupation.
1. When it comes to “empire” – let’s take it chronologically.
The Soviet Union DID NOT launch accession chapters; it sent the ultimatum of June 26, 1940, and occupied Bessarabia with its army, proclaiming the Moldavian SSR on August 2, 1940. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia had already been forcibly swallowed up as early as 1920-1922, under the umbrella of the Red Army. In contrast, in NATO you come if you want, after free elections, referendums, and 32 parliaments that have to ratify your request. Quite hard to confuse with tanks at 4 in the morning, isn’t it?
2. About “plundering resources” – let’s remember the original.
In the USSR, oil and gas were pumped from Azerbaijan, coal from Donbas, minerals from Armenia, fruits and vegetables from Moldova, tea and grapes from Georgia, but the added value and hard rubles were accumulated in Moscow. All high-ranking officials and enterprise directors were dispatched from Russia; most of them incompetent, they were nothing more than simple puppets of Moscow. This “colonialism” even bore the label “Made in Kremlin”.
3. And after independence, the “great peacemaker” came with even more “peace”.
– 1992: The Transnistria War, with the Russian army on the Dniester.
– 2008: The War in Georgia.
– 2014-2022: Crimea, Donbas and, ultimately, the large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
– Meanwhile, “peacekeeping missions” that invariably end with the Russian flag fluttering over the neighbor’s territory. But supposedly, NATO is the problem.
So, Mrs. Zaharova, thank you for the anti-colonialism lesson. When a country truly has a democratic choice, it flocks to Brussels, not Moscow. And if you’re still worried about the “risks” of cooperating with NATO, perhaps you can also explain the risks of cooperating with Russian tanks – we have already experienced them firsthand.
