... of "trophies" from VSU in Kursk.
Take Britain for example. At the moment London is the principal actor in the anti-Russia/pro-Ukraine camp; before that Cold War opponent; then ally against Hitler; then variable; then ally against Germany; then opponent in the Great Game; then enemy in the Crimean War; then ally against Napoleon and back and forth we go until the first and reasonably amicable trade contacts in Elizabeth’s time. From one to the other as interests dictated. But a month ago I read something that made me wonder if maybe the Russians had a point. It was Orlando Figes’ book on the Crimean War and I was astounded to see the same anti-Russia tropes that we see today.
Remarkably, it was Crimean War where the United States stood firmly behind Russia.
... with scarcely a dissenting voice, the American press and public appeared to conclude that the world was picking on its overseas friend, Russia. President Franklin Pierce… all but went to war with Britain and France on Russia’s behalf. U.S. Navy crews rescued the crew of the Russian ship Diana in the Far East. The U.S. Government furnished Russian forces with arms and sent a whole shipload of gunpowder to the defenders of the Siberian coast. Three hundred Kentucky riflemen offered to go to the Crimea, where volunteer American surgeons were already serving with Russian forces. The Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. was flooded with requests for letters of marque from American citizens who wanted to enter the service of the tsar as privateers against Britain. Frank Golder, no Russophile, would later write of the Crimean War, ‘By the time it was over the United States was the only nation in the world that was neither ashamed nor afraid to acknowledge boldly her friendship for Russia.’ The behavior of the United States during this war unquestionably impressed the Russians and strengthened the goodwill between two nations.”
But I also stress in my Disintegration book:
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and glass structure which was erected in Hyde Park in London to house the 1851 Great Exhibition, a forerunner of international Expo events, which would serve as a place to showcase the achievements of participant nations. The Queen opened this 1851 exhibition, emphasizing that it was above all a “peace festival” intended to promote friendly competition between nations. But as Alan Palmer noted:
But Victoria and (prince) Albert were out of touch with the public mood, for the thousands who flocked to Crystal palace delighted in specifically British achievements and were content to cast curious glances of patronizing approval on what had come from overseas…The exhibition was also marked with growing Russophobia, which was spurred by Tories and Whig businessmen who deplored the incursion of Russian traders into the areas which Britain considered her traditional markets, specifically in the Far East and Eastern Mediterranean, among others. In the end, British suspicions and displeasures with Russia, sublimations of their imperial policies, resulted in the Crimean War, which initiated a sequence of events which inextricably contributed to the Russian revolution and influenced the outcome of World War II—a defining event of both the 20th and to a large degree the early 21st centuries.
It was always there. It merely went to Eleven after WW II with USSR emerging as the superpower while Britain losing her empire and finding herself reduced to the America's vassal state. Today, UK is fast becoming a third world country and is confined to a small island off the western shore of Europe. With the exception of Rolls Royce and English Premier League, it is the nation which is simply insignificant in military and economic terms. They support 404 Nazis and this is only natural for the UK. Some exceptions merely confirm the rule. Per Canada--you saw everything you needed in Canada's Parliament--this is who they are as a country.
