Putin sends greetings on night of Soviet nostalgia
NewsAlexandra Pakhmutova, composer of ‘Nadezhda’ and other Soviet schlaggers, turned 95 last week.
Her biggest fan, Vladimir Putin, sent a message. The Bolshoi was packed with acolytes. Yuri Bashmet conducted, just about. Ildar Abdarazakov, Hibla Gerzmava and other fellow-travellers chimed in.
For an evening, Moscow felt like nothing had changed.
The complete show:
The greatest creation of Russian culture is to live in a fake reality, and to continue to believe in its fairytale also if everything around is crumbling into ruins. It’s quite an achievement, since it is extremely difficult, but the country has been practicing for ages.
Yes, and Russian soldiers are fighting with only shovels, having been ‘running out of ammo’ since 2022, and yet somehow constantly advancing, the economy has been ‘about to collapse’ for 10 years due to sanctions, and yet mysteriously experiencing unprecedented growth, none of us have indoor toilets, our nuclear weapons don’t even work, and we are all constantly drunk. Keep kidding yourself.
Well, de facto nothing has changed. First they had a Zar, second they got Stalin, third Putin came along. All with a lot of pomp and propaganda and oppression.
Whatever it takes to survive…
You’re missing out a lot of Russian history there, particularly the 90s when Russia tried Western ‘democracy’, and it was a disaster. Millions died in the lawless, impoverished, war-torn hell that American economic advisors created with their “shock therapy” strategy. This is why Russians look jealously at China, which narrowly avoided a similar collapse in the early 90s but instead kept the party structure, embraced capitalism, and rocketed forward economically. Given all that, I think a bit of nostalgia for the late Soviet era is understandable.
I remember watching this on Soviet TV almost 50 years ago. (Where the time has gone?) Muslim Magomayev is the singer – with the “help” of two cosmonauts, Vitaly Sevastyanov and Pyotr Klimuk).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fpXuBmRWXM
As to “nadezhda” (“hope” in Russian)… Unfortunately, the hope that after the collapse of the Evil Empire in the 1990-s Russia learned its lessons and would finally be able to become a true democracy all but disappeared by now. Seemingly inevitably that country somehow slides back to same old, same old – a brutal dictator who usurped the power and intends to keep it as long as he lives and by any means it takes, the periodic outbursts of aggression toward its neighbors, the destruction of political opposition and free press and independent judiciary. No wonder they started to erect monuments to Stalin again over there. History teaches them nothing. More like hopeless…
Like, history had taught YOU anything. Just leave Russia alone finally, will you? First you spend billions to convert Russia’s neighbors into your puppet states, then complain of her “outbursts of aggression” towards them. It’s not Russia who has 750 military bases in 80 countries and participated in 12 armed conflicts and wars in XXI century alone.
And as we have seen for all that oil and gas money, @654,000 Russian soldiers dead in the Ukraine. Putin used to brag about his army and was considered a military chess master. Some army.
Did you just invent this number?
Found the Rustroll.
Wind your neck in, we’ve heard (read) these same Kremlin talking points to death.
Endlessly repeating them across every platform doesn’t make them true. That being said, it’s worked on Russians.
What exactly isn’t true? The $5B spent in Ukraine that Toria Nuland bragged about or the 750 US bases in 80 countries?
Such joy in playing and singing that great classic standard “Cuba – My Love” all day today. Well, Pakhmutova is entitled to a few propagandistic clinkers. Многая Лета!
Speaking of fake reality and belief in a fairytale, the link below has a crazy Russian appointing a pianist of some high repute as King in his own fairytale:
https://youtu.be/Zaqv3321D4Y?si=IUYP2qwy8oawpA82
Not one smile from him in four minutes!!!
Very curious to see the Yale-educated head of the Russian Central bank there. Many expect that head to roll in the near future.