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It is not just ingratitude… If only it were! The actual causes of the disdain, misunderstanding, rejection, and repugnance displayed by the political elites of the U.S. and the EU toward the commemorations of Victory Day—the day the USSR put an end to one of the most heinous regimes born from the depths of human history, undoubtedly a testament to the peak of Western brutality fueled by the socio-economic roots of capitalism and imperialism—run much deeper.
Thus, Victory Day should also be called “Day of Shame,” the day when an anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist state, attacked at its very core with the most aggressive weapon Western capitalism could produce—Nazi-fascist terror—lost 27 million of its finest sons and daughters to save us all from a problem it did not contribute to in the slightest. Western shame does not end with the crimes it committed against humanity; Russia forces the West to live and relive, year after year, the acknowledgment that it, too, was saved—from itself—by the victim of its aggression.

In the spring of 1944, the Red Army began liberating Europe from the Nazis. The mission lasted a year. https://rodina-history.ru/2025/04/29/vse-svobodny.html
This duality explains much of the publicly displayed resentment, the hidden shame of some, and the anguish of others regarding the history of World War II. How is it that the regime most hated, demonized, and vilified by the most advanced form of capitalism —Western capitalism (which is understandable) — was also the one that contributed the most to the fight against an oppressive force produced within the very Western regimes that presented themselves as “moderate, democratic, civilized”?
It remains a historical irony that humanity felt so threatened by one of the most emblematic products of Western fanaticism and, at the same time, was saved by a regime that the same West claimed sought to destroy it. It is the story of the diabolical criminal who, in the end, became the most selfless and altruistic savior. It is the perfect epitome of the saying, “The truth is like oil; it always rises to the top.” How could the greatest criminal of all—the most vilified of regimes—be capable of such immense altruism, not merely expelling the aggressor from its home but going to the limits of its strength to definitively defeat it? And how could the kindest and most humane of regimes produce, support, and nurture such a heinous being, proving not only incapable of destroying it alone but also having to witness its destruction by those it claimed could do no good?
How can modern Germany, governed by the descendants of those who formed the claws of the Nazi monster, coexist with the traumas we are forced to confront when faced with ghastly images of piled human remains, desiccated and stripped of all dignity? Images that now reach our TVs, broadcast from Gaza, and which the West — the entire West — sweeps under the rug that hides its countless historical crimes?
How those who support the second iteration of the Third Reich, revived from the historical remnants of the 14th Galicia Division and preserved in some of the most privileged and “civilized” metropolises of the great liberal civilization, would love to erase from history the vivid portraits that should evoke nothing but immense shame and remorse—just as they do with the dead of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, or the live, color reproduction of Nazi terror in the 21st century, this time perpetrated by those known to be the victims of the first?

People lay wreaths on the remains of the tortured at the Majdanek extermination camp Ano de 1945. Temin Viktor Antonovich. https://russiainphoto.ru/exhibitions/1042/#5
Accustomed to choosing their heroes and hiding their demons—when not under the light of recovery provided by infamous historical revisionism—Western Europe, the fertile womb of fascism in the first half of the 20th century, created and nurtured under the auspices of the most prominent Anglo-Saxon elite and fed by the proudest American progeny, is forced to coexist with those who will not let it hide its crimes, its immense guilt.
After all, considering only the demographic weight of Soviet deaths in World War II, it is estimated that the country lost about 26.6 to 27 million people during the war, representing approximately 13.7% of its population in 1940. These losses included both military and civilians, with about 8.7 million soldiers killed in combat, while the rest were due to massacres, famine, disease, forced labor, and other direct consequences of the conflict—mostly innocent civilians, like those dying today in Gaza at the hands of those vehemently defended by the grandchildren of those who practiced such vile terror against the USSR.

On the corpses of relatives. Western Front. September – November 1941. Troshkin Pavel Artemyevich. https://russiainphoto.ru/exhibitions/1042/#9
Perhaps this is indeed the way. With 13.7% of the population lost, it should not be hard to imagine that there was not a single Soviet citizen, not a single former Soviet citizen, and certainly no Russian or Belarusian who did not carry in their mental, familial, social, and physical structure the weight of the drama that reached its conclusion on May 9, 1945. None. And if anyone struggles to visualize such destruction and slaughter, they need not look far in time. Once again, any of us today has the dark privilege of witnessing, live and in color, in a small territorial sample, what the Nazi terror must have inflicted on the then-USSR. With nearly 100,000 deaths and as many missing, about 10% to 15% of Gaza’s population has already been decimated by the Zionist army. Can anyone ask a citizen of Gaza not to feel such a great tragedy? For those who struggle to understand what Nazi terror cost the Russian and Soviet people, turn on the TV!

Corpses of Soviet prisoners of war. Location and date unknown. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/ru/gallery/mosaic-of-victims-an-overview-photographs
The problem is that Nazi terror, the favored child of fascism and brother of Zionism—as Cynthia Chung and Matthew Ehret have profoundly demonstrated in their works—is just one chapter, the most horrendous, of the suffering with which the Western imperialist bloc sought to punish a people who dared to produce something as grand as the Russian Revolution and not rest with it but carry forward the deepest social transformations the world had seen in such a short time.
For daring to challenge the Western imperialism that gagged and shackled pre-revolutionary Russia, the Russian and Soviet peoples were forced to endure successive invasions of their territory by 14 imperialist powers (1917–1922). Having survived this mortal threat and all that followed, disguised in many forms, the Nazi-fascist threat was the one prepared with the most fervor.
The hatred, rage, arbitrariness, and violent voluptuousness with which the Nazi army “rewarded” the Soviet population can only be understood in light of the frustration and humiliation with which the West was forced to feed the Nazi monster, only to hurl it at the young Soviet homeland then. The threat of losing a coveted prize was transformed into hatred as deep as that which now seeks to isolate the Russian Federation and label its leader — Vladimir Putin — as the most bloodthirsty tyrant in human history. Nazism, like Banderaism, are both children of this greed, both children of this hatred.

The bodies of hanged Soviet partisans and a sign saying, “No photos!” (“Fotografieren verboten!”). Another sign contains text in German and a Russian translation: “We are bandits; we kill and rob not only German soldiers but also Russian citizens”. https://xn--80aabgieomn8afgsnjq.xn--p1ai/fotografii-poveshennyh-kak-trofei-naczistskie-kazni-sovetskih-zhitelej/
Hence, the furious rage with which the West, through the eyes of mindless figures, looks at the solemn commemorations of Victory Day is as injurious as it is justified. Year after year, the Russian Federation prevents the West from forgetting the evil it has done, the evil it has done to the world and humanity. With this reminder, the Russian Federation, the current anchor of this ancestral struggle against imperialist tyranny, no matter how it is labeled, also reminds the West of its inherently criminal nature.
When historical repetition is a characteristic of Western crimes (plunder, slavery, world wars, sanctions, embargoes, proxy wars, color revolutions, destruction of countries), it means that crime is not an accident in the history of the West dominated by Anglo-Saxon culture. It is an inherent trait that must be remembered.
As we observe Zelensky’s threats against those who participate in Victory Day commemorations, Kaja Kallas’s threats of punishment for leaders of candidate countries who attend Moscow’s celebrations, we see that this Europe wants to forget its crimes, erase the facts, the history that causes it such great embarrassment. It is interesting to note how Ursula von der Leyen and company, when confronted with such a significant date, behave like someone who, reminded of their shameful roots, instead of showing humility and deserving forgiveness, tries to free themselves from them in the worst way possible: through the forgetfulness of others and attacks on the victims!
But how can they do this when the one reminding them is not only the largest, richest, and most powerful European countries but also the one that suffered the most from the offense? How to resist—and fight—an opponent that repeatedly insists not only on honoring its martyrs and their descendants but also on showing the world, far and wide, the shameful conduct to which the oligarchic, capitalist, neoliberal West is capable of stooping to defend its illegitimate interests?
And how could Russia forget such an offense? The Soviet Union alone was responsible for more than half of all deaths in World War II, which totaled about 50 million globally. Russia, by itself, accounted for over a third. How could Belarus not participate in Victory Day when it lost about 25.3% of its population?
An example of the infamous forgetfulness that the EU and U.S. seek to impose on the past is Ukraine. Having lost about 16.3% of its population, this country, which would not exist without the USSR, is now used in a dual sense. On one hand, betrayed by its oligarchic elites, it is once again armed and fanaticized, just as Nazi Germany was, to be hurled at the Russian Federation. Drawing on the historical remnants of Nazi collaborationism—the same that fuels the re-emerging Nazi-fascist madness in Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, and even Germany—the U.S., aided by the ever-obliging EU, has not only recreated the Banderaist environment of World War II but also transmitted the virus to a significant part of the Ukrainian population and, worse still, to the entire EU.
In today’s Ukraine, we witness everything the EU would like to do to Russia if it could: ban patriotic parties, as Banderaism did in Ukraine; shut down media outlets; and persecute its language, religion, and culture, as the Banderaist Ukraine and von der Leyen’s EU have done.
Ukraine is also the living laboratory of historical revisionism and rewriting. Victims have become aggressors, and aggressors have become heroes. Statues of war criminals and genocidaires, including those of Ukrainians and Jews, now stand tall in the country. Nazi symbols have been engraved in gold letters for all to see, met with total Western uncritical acceptance. Germany, which criminalizes the use of Nazi symbols, forgets its shameful past when it goes to Kiev. In Kiev, instead of being held accountable and reminded of its crimes to ensure they are never repeated, it is idolized, and its history is rehabilitated.

The Fall of Berlin https://rodina-history.ru/photo/2024/05/05/3ce5c63c4d13b0a.html
The mechanism is simple and has been used repeatedly. First, equate Nazi-fascism with communism, demonizing the latter to normalize the former. Then, compare the USSR to Nazi Germany, demonizing the former to rehabilitate the latter. From there, the path is open for historical rewriting and collective amnesia.
The system is so perfected that it is no longer only in Ukraine that the crimes suffered at the hands of Western imperialism are forgotten. It is in Japan itself, a victim of two atomic bombs dropped by the U.S., of two different technologies, to leave no doubt about which would best serve the warmongering designs pursued from then on. In this Japan, forgetful of its past, its history, its suffering, the prime minister can speak for an hour about Hiroshima and Nagasaki without ever mentioning who dropped those bombs and, in the end, speak only of those who did not drop them: Russia.
If there were any doubts about the effectiveness of this method, see how the EU today erases Gaza from its memory, as von der Leyen offers to help Israel put out fires that, reportedly, were spread by the settlers forcibly occupying Palestinian territory. See how a true-blooded German, who supports the vilest historical rebirth of Nazism in Ukraine, is so eager to “help” a people who were among the main victims of the ideology she now supports and tries to hide from watchful eyes.

Nazi Atrocities in Ukraine During the Great Patriotic War. https://rodina-history.ru/photo/2025/01/21/c7a0c4b76fabb47.html
And what to say of a West that supported apartheid in South Africa, only to later idolize Mandela, and then support another apartheid in Israel? How wonderful it is to commit crimes and, instead of being punished, punish and blame the victims, proclaiming oneself a heroic savior. How fantastic to destroy entire nations, sanction, embargo, and accuse others of doing so, appearing as the savior. How marvelous to meddle in others’ electoral processes in plain sight (as in Georgia, where high-ranking EU officials marched in opposition rallies) and accuse others of doing what one claims not to have done. How delightful to annul elections, bar candidates from running, and, without a shred of shame, call a leader elected by their people a dictator while labeling those who cling to power beyond their mandate as liberators.
This West, which believes itself the master of history, absolves itself in one stroke —not to learn from its sins but to feel free to commit, again and again, the acts that should shame it. It cannot, does not want to, seeks to escape the repeated reminder of its crimes. This is what the U.S. and EU seek every time they show discomfort with the commemoration of May 9 as Victory Day. After all, with each commemoration, Russia reminds the entire West, the entire world, that it not only knows who committed the crimes but also demonstrates its strength and resolve to ensure such crimes are never repeated.
With each Victory Day, it is as if the Russian people say to their tormentors: I know who you are, I know what you think of me, I know what you want, and I warn you—if you come here again, you will get the punishment you deserve. Look at this parade, look at this victorious army, look at this pride… See what awaits you if you try to make us your slaves again.
This is why the EU is so filled with hatred and so sunk in the Ukrainian Titanic. The instrument it created to silence this “misbehaved” Russian student, this insubordinate slave, this undisciplined apprentice of the glorious liberal civilization, is failing spectacularly. While Trump’s U.S. tries to escape by emulating itself as “mediators” 2.0 (the 1.0 is in Palestine), the EU has nothing left but victory or defeat. Just as the original nearly brought Russia to defeat, the Ukrainian Yeltsin is almost succeeding.
And this is where these people become dangerous. Spoiled, accustomed to getting their way, “educated” in the best schools and universities money can buy, parading in media outlets, the oligarchy can dominate, and benefiting from the manipulation the best PR agencies can sell, they have seen all their strategies to destabilize their most coveted prize—Russia—dismantled. But Russia did not just dismantle the trap set for it; Russia reassembled the trap in reverse! And how! Unable to dismantle it, it is their existence that is at risk. How interesting to see the spell turned against the sorcerer. The EU may destroy itself with the trap it created to break Russia into pieces.
But the affront does not end here. When we see Ibrahim Traoré, like a hero of a young Africa, traveling to Moscow to participate in Victory Day commemorations, we cannot help but think that once again, the Russian homeland sticks a bone in the throat of those who thought they could commit all evils without penance. By receiving the young and promising head of state of Burkina Faso, who has done more for his people in one year, like nationalizing gold and paying the sovereign debt, than the puppets financed by France, Vladimir Putin once again affronts the same elites responsible for Nazi-fascist terror. In this case, the “national hero” of France, Napoleon.
Though not the same country as the USSR, this affront, accompanied by other resisters of imperialism and the most impune and inhumane repression — Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea (which suffered at the hands of the U.S. levels of terror similar to what the USSR suffered from Nazi-fascism), Iran, and many others — Russia once again asserts itself as the bastion and refuge of peoples oppressed by neocolonial greed. Russia once again tells the West: as long as I exist, you will be forced to live with and remember your shame!
And it is this shame that the U.S. and EU do not want to live with. Victory Day for Russia is the Day of Shame for the West!