Stupid waiting

The whole world was plunged into dull waiting…

The Russian army in Ukraine is on the offensive. The pace is minimal, but progress is being noted — kilometers, sometimes even hundreds of meters of “liberated territory.” The Ukrainians later manage to recapture back some territories. At this rate, Russia’s victory is years and years away. Every day of fighting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation get more than a thousand dead. Those who previously were lured to the army by unreal generous salaries – they never dreamed of such amounts in their poor villages and settlements. That is right – in villages and settlements: Moscow and St. Petersburg, large industrial centers are not particularly burdened with mobilization measures, so that they do not break out.

In the rear they try not to touch on the topic of the war: everyone is very tired of it, but they can do nothing, so they brush it off, pretending to be an indifferently calm, detached layman. “Something is happening somewhere, but it is far away, it is not about me. Whoever is supposed, will think about it and take care of it, let the bosses have a headache – they know better.” Some people have a thought in the background, “And maybe HE will die soon and everything will somehow calm down by itself?”

Prices have risen, but not to astronomical heights, so it is possible to bear it for the moment. Taxes are rising – this is bad, but there is more work, military production requires workers, they pay normally. Ukraine, in general, is of no use to anyone, we just need to save face, crush the Armed Forces of Ukraine… There are more of us, we have industrial potential, friends from the “wild” countries are helping little by little… We will be able to survive, although the quality of life, of course, will decrease! You cannot go abroad on vacation anymore; now the beaches of Turkmenistan and North Korea are already offered in travel agencies! And all manufactured goods are replaced with Chinese ones. Indian and Korean movies will soon be shown in cinemas (but, unfortunately, from that totalitarian Korea that is for us). But this is not the main thing; you can exist without all this.

The war is truly felt only in the border areas – in the Kursk, Belgorod regions, in Crimea… But Crimea is more and more remembered (not out loud, just to oneself) as not completely Russian… it may “go away like children to school.” Look how heavily the Ukrainians started bombing. They are bombing military targets, and what if they attack civilians “by accident.” We, of course, will get terribly angry, and Medvedev will intimidate everyone with a nuclear response, but… Crimea may still float to the Ukrainian shore – many people have some kind of bad feeling about this.

It seems that Alabuga was hit only once, and the oil refinery was hit also… But, in general, Tatarstan did not have much of a hard time, we live as before, we do our job, we conscientiously strengthen what is supposed to be strengthened there. As in that joke: it does not matter for us: if we attack, we run, if we retreat, we run…

For Ukrainians, the situation is hardly better; they also expect their swans from fate: white ones with hope (America and Europe will understand and really help, they will give them missiles and planes), black ones with fear (America and Europe will not cope with their phobias, they will not help and will force to surrender). But I understand, for example, more Ukrainians. It is absolutely clear to me what Ukraine wants! To live in Europe and in a European way: freely, prosperously; travel around the world, choosing where it is better to work, study, get treatment, create, and compete. To feel an equal citizen under the protection of European laws.

“Our Mother Russia” and my native Tatarstan are a mystery to me. Where is the Russian bird – three birds rushing at the moment to? Here it is Russian, because I cannot figure out where they are driving Tatarstan and why does it need such a route? We are clearly not on the same path… I am a Tatar, a Muslim, but a person of European culture, for me a turn from the Eurocentric path, accepted even in king`s Russia, and then in the Russian Empire, means a complete restructuring, no, even a breakdown of consciousness. Reading Chinese authors, seeing Indian faces in monies instead of European ones, being imbued with the North Korean Juche ideology, thinking as the Iranian ayatollahs suggest… I will not be able to do that! Thank Allah, I can avoid such a choice while in Poland. Or somewhere else in Europe. There are Polish “lipkas” in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Tatar diasporas are also found in other European countries. And if there are no, I can pray in the mosque next to other Muslims from Asian and African countries! Allah is one!

It is getting stuffy in Russia, and it is doubly stuffy for Muslims — they are driven into the ghetto with smiles and curtsies, and there is no visible path to equal rights and religious tolerance.

While the war is raging in Ukraine, important events are happening behind the scenes in the world. An “axis of evil” is being formed in world politics (Russia, China, North Korea, Iran), Russia is preparing to fight until the complete destruction of Ukraine, Europe is slowly overcoming its confusion, and the United States probably intend to pursue an isolationist policy, shifting the burden of military assistance to the Europeans.

It is difficult for everyone in their own way! But some people are fighting for compliance with the principles of international law, while others are fighting for the right not to comply with any principles and live according to the law of the strongman.

And they will spare no effort  for this …

Will the policy of stupid waiting become a saving grace for Russians in general and for my fellow Tatars?- for today – it is a mystery!