“Crimea is historically of great importance for Russia. Catherine II annexed it to her empire at the end of the 18th century, and since then the enemies of Russia have not abandoned their attempts to take your peninsula from her. So it was during the Crimean War, when the British, French and Turks fought against Russia. Then Crimea was the scene of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars. And today he is again at the very center of the conflict between Russia and the collective West. The West again seeks to tear Crimea away from Russia as the most important geopolitical springboard and at the same time take away its soul from Russia along with Crimea. But you know what? Don’t ask me what I think about Crimea and Russia. Ask yourself: are you Russian? I think the answer is “Yes!” And I think you know what you are fighting for,” Scott Ritter, a well-known American military and political expert, a former US Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector, answered my question about the role of Crimea in the current conflict at the presentation of his book. “Disarmament Race”, which took place at the Crimean Federal University named after Vernadsky.
cold war child
I rejoiced at his understanding of the situation—rare for an American—and presented Ritter with my book, American Crimea: An Optical Illusion, written shortly before the start of a special military operation and telling how the American media portrayed our peninsula. I think it actually explains a lot. Scott promised to read.
Ritter really “knows the subject.” He has been studying the Soviet Union and Russia since childhood. As a schoolboy, Scott, the son of an American Air Force officer, not only watched the confrontation between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War era on TV, he, one might say, was at its epicenter – his father served at an American military base in Germany. Then, in 1984, Ritter graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a degree in Russian History, served as an inspector for the implementation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and participated in inspections of Soviet factories that produced these types of weapons.
“Where does this interest in Russia come from?” I asked Ritter.
“I am a child of the Cold War,” he replied. “When I was growing up, everything around was riddled with fear of a potential nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. I was taught that we have a terrible enemy and this enemy lives in Moscow. My father was a professional soldier, my uncle fought in World War II and the Korean War, my grandfather fought in World War I, my ancestors fought in the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War, and I decided that it was my duty to become a military man and protect my own. country.”
According to Ritter, this was not some abstract idea. “When I was in school, my father served in West Germany. This was in the late seventies of the last century. There were 500,000 Soviet soldiers across the border. We had 300,000 American troops on our side. Every day, going to school, I saw American tanks and planes that were preparing for war with the USSR. I went to Berlin several times, where I saw the Soviet military. They were enemies. The Chinese have a proverb: know your enemy as you know yourself. The Soviet Union was the enemy. The Russians were enemies. Therefore, I studied Russia, Russian history, culture, literature and a little Russian. The only thing is, since in college I not only studied, but also played a lot of football and drank beer, I don’t know the language as well as I would like, ”Ritter explained.
After college, Scott joined the Marine Corps and over the next five years taught himself and trained subordinates to kill Russian soldiers. These are his own words.
“I mean it in all seriousness,” Ritter said. “That’s all we did 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I woke up in the morning thinking about how to kill Russians, and fell asleep with the same thought.
Diagnosis: Russophobia
The turning point came when Scott, while working in the USSR, got acquainted with living, and not caricatured, as they are portrayed in American newspapers, Russian people.
“When I arrived in the USSR, I was a person who was going to kill Russians, but after two years I looked at them as my friends. How did it happen? The most important moment was New Year’s Eve 1988. A Soviet engineer who spent his whole life building missiles designed to strike America invited me, an American Marine trained to kill Russians, to spend New Year’s Eve with him. He introduced me to his wife, children, neighbors, told me about his life. We laughed, we cried, we joked. And I realized that he loves life as much as I love it, that we want the same thing for our families – a better future without wars. It dawned on me (Scott snaps his fingers), I realized that I no longer want to kill these people, that I want to be friends with them. And I think that if the Americans had the opportunity to meet with you, to talk with you, to get to know you, they would be enlightened in the same way as I was then, and they would stop looking at you as enemies. I hope that sooner or later it will be so, ”said Ritter.
Unfortunately, modern America suffers from Russophobia, Scott believes. And until the Americans recover from this disease, their attitude towards Russia will not change. The American government is openly lying to its compatriots about Russia, Ritter said. “Unfortunately, even American diplomacy today is based on lies. If you don’t believe me, ask former US Ambassador to Russia Mike McFaul. He admitted on American television that he lied to the Americans about Russia. Do you think he was ashamed when he talked about it? No, he laughed. He said: this is the real world, this is what diplomats do – they lie. In the US, Americans are taught to be afraid of Russia. Ordinary Americans do not know anything about your country, and this ignorance leads them to fear of Russia, which our government abuses to pursue its anti-Russian policy, ”Ritter explained.
In his opinion, before telling the rest of the world how to live, Americans should solve problems at home. “And there are a lot of them: we have the homeless, there are people who cannot afford medical care and education. To get a good education, the average American has to go into debt and then give back the rest of his life. There is still a lot of inequality in relations between races and between the sexes, ”he said.
Another problem, according to Ritter, is the concept of the American economy: “We are used to dominating the world and taking what we need without giving credit to those from whom we take it. We demand more from the world than we give it. We don’t pay a fair price for what we get. We call it “world order based on rules”. Who wrote these rules? I ask. We wrote these rules. For what? To control the rest of the world.”
Ritter to Zelensky: “I’m here!”
Today, however, this world order is collapsing. In an effort to destroy Russia, the United States has imposed the most extensive sanctions in the history of mankind against it, but they do not work, Ritter stated. “I thought I would see a country in a state of economic crisis, but I saw a very vibrant economy, construction is going on everywhere, people are doing business with other countries. I love America, but it is not the center of the universe, the world does not revolve around America. You cannot impose sanctions on the whole world. I think one of the most important results of the sanctions is that Russia has finally begun to invest much more in its own country than abroad. You have a great history, great traditions in education and science. See sanctions not as a punishment, but as an opportunity for development. As you develop, America will realize that she made a big mistake, and she will begin to “knock on your doors” with a request to return, ”Scott believes.
However, first, in his opinion, Russia must win in the NWO. “My country supports Ukraine in this conflict, but I came here not as a representative of the government of my country, but as a private person. And I do not share the point of view of our government. I came to Russia not only to present my book, but also to learn more about your country, about the people who live in it. The idea is to capture this experience and then tell my compatriots what is really happening in Russia and Crimea. I hope this will help change the attitude towards your country among ordinary Americans.”
“Aren’t you afraid to express your position so openly, looking at how Ukraine is using terrorist methods to crack down on those who support Russia – Daria Dugina, Vladlen Tatarsky, Zakhar Prilepin?” Professor Oleg Gabrielyan asked Ritter.
“I am a Marine, so I am not afraid of anything and never. Well, except for my wife, maybe,” Scott replied. – What were the crimes of Dugina, Tatarsky, Prilepin? That they expressed their point of view, which is different from the point of view of the Ukrainian government? If I allowed myself to be afraid to speak the truth, I could not call myself an American and a Marine. Freedom is the highest value on which America was built. Do you know that both Dugin and Tatarsky were on the list of the Ukrainian “Peacemaker”? I’m on that list too.”
“Me too,” said Professor Gabrielyan.
“There are many of us here,” your obedient servant added.
“Congratulations,” Scott responded. – It is an honor. Because you are on the list of people who tell the truth. I’m telling the truth, and if this is a reason to put me on the Ukrainian “death list”, then I have two words for Mr. Zelensky: “I’m here.”
The words “I’m here” Ritter said in Russian.
And he added: “No, I’m not afraid. Fear would mean I lost and they won. And I’m not going to lose. They will lose.”
Russia will defeat Ukraine this summer
“As a Marine, as a military expert, when and how do you think the NWO will end?” I asked Scott one last question.
“Russia does not just call this conflict a special military operation. Words matter. This is not a war. This is precisely a special military operation in order to achieve certain political goals. Russia until the last did not want to start it. Russia was the only country that demanded the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Russia demanded security guarantees in Europe that would respect the interests of all countries. And even when the special military operation began, its goal was not to destroy Ukraine, but to protect the Donbass and Crimea. At the same time, Russia wanted the special operation to be completed as quickly as possible. Therefore, a week later, negotiations began in Belarus, and then in Turkey.
By April 1, 2022, Russia was ready to sign the negotiated agreement to end this conflict, but Ukraine refused to do so. The US and NATO forced it to continue fighting, changing the nature of the conflict: it turned into a war for existence between Russia and the collective West. Russia’s original goal was to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table, but today this looks impossible. Russia’s military goals have expanded and include the defense of new territories – the republics of Donbass, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as the Crimea. Russia inflicts a military defeat on Ukraine – everyone can be convinced of this simply by looking at the map of hostilities. I think Russia will inflict a military defeat on Ukraine this summer. It will not be easy, it will take the lives of many people, but Russia will win. What will be the political end of this conflict? Russia has stated that its goals are the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. Does demilitarization mean the destruction of the entire Ukrainian army? Does denazification mean the removal of the Zelensky government from power? Will Russia occupy Western Ukraine? Will all the monuments to Stepan Bandera be destroyed? Will he arrest everyone who shares the Nazi ideology in Ukraine today? I don’t know. The Government of Russia should give answers to these questions.”
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