France sees no red lines in what it does to Russia: there will be consequences…
For more than a week now, the president of the Russian Union of Journalists, Vladimir Solovyov has been asking all French viewers tuned in to his television talk show which city they are prepared to see the Russians raze to the ground first: Lyon, Toulouse or Paris…?
The question is posed in the context of increasing discussion among Kremlin leaders of possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in the European theater. In his latest interview with Yevgeni Kiselyov, head of the state television news department, Vladimir Putin hinted strongly at using nuclear weapons to destroy any grouping of an ‘interventionist’ force from NATO member countries arriving in Ukraine to fight the Russians. This was in direct response to the recent public announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron that France does not recognize any ‘red lines’ posted by the Russians. Macron is offering to send French ground troops to Ukraine and is calling upon other NATO countries to join him in forming a military contingent of the willing to ensure that Ukraine does not lose its war with Russia.
In one sense the nervous, one might say hysterical speeches by Macron demonstrate that even the densest minds in the West have taken in the possibility, nay, the probability of an imminent collapse of the Ukrainian war effort and Kiev’s raising the white flag, as the Pope called upon them to do this past week.
It also should be mentioned here that in his latest interview with Kiselyov Putin said that the number of NATO country military men who have been killed in Ukraine over the past two years, approximately 5000, widely exceeds the 3500 NATO military who died in the 20 year long Afghanistan occupation by NATO. The numbers have been set out country by country, with the United States at the head of the list with approximately 1500 deaths. We may assume that these are mostly officers and highly trained operators of advanced equipment supplied to Ukraine like the Patriot air defense.
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Though Putin’s transparent threats are deadly serious, Russian elites find it hard to take Macron and his associates at face value.
Despite what Western publics think, Russians are very tolerant of gays. It is no secret that a large swathe of cultural life in Russia is dominated by gays. Not just ballet, but in other performing and plastic arts as well.
However, when it comes to war making, the explicit Russian logic is that war is a man’s profession. It is for Alpha males. Yes, there are super star female jet pilots, such as Putin visited a week ago at their training center. But in the main, Russians see women in the armed forces as nurses and doctors, not as killers.
Therefore, the fact that the wimpish Macron has recently appointed as his Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné, ex-husband (or was it wife?) of his Prime Minister Gabral Attal, and that they all are saber rattling in direction of Moscow elicits raucous laughter in Moscow and points east.
The threats of Kremlin insiders like Solovyov to raze to the ground Lyon, Toulouse or Paris with unstoppable Russian hypersonic missiles should encourage sobriety in Paris, if the ordinary citizenry value their lives.
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Today, Sunday, is the third and final day of balloting at Russian polling stations around the world and at 9.30 am I arrived at the Russian embassy in Brussels to accompany a friend to vote.
There was a Belgian police car stationed at the gates to the embassy compound to ensure order. Across the street someone had thoughtfully erected a one and a half meter high photo of Alexei Navalny to remind all comers of who the real Opposition to Putin was. But inside the gates, it was a different world, calm, gracious I might say. The embassy staff checked passports of everyone entering. Their demeanor was very friendly and welcoming.
On this score, please note that this pleasant atmosphere stands in stark contrast to the bad old days of the Soviet Union and even to the Yeltsin years, when diplomatic staff, like most all other Russian state employees were paid almost nothing and were always vexed and churlish.
Ambassador Tokovinin has put together a very good team of employees and their friendly disposition attests to their being properly taken care of and well managed.
Russians are late risers, especially on Sundays, and we were well rewarded for our early arrival at the embassy, because the line inside to register and then vote was only 20 minutes long. As we left, the throngs began to arrive.
Who came? A very mixed collection of people by age, though mostly in their middle years, with an admixture of the young generation. Not many oldsters. One celebrity stood out: Anastasia Popova, Brussels bureau chief of Russian State Television, came with several kids.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024