Tunes For Tuesday – Waterboys “Red Army Blues”
A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Waterboys – Red Army Blues
I changed my mind about this week’s tune. I kept the Russia theme – inspired by a comment by John Fleming about Stalin in last week’s tune post:
“That evil demon Stalin used Russian patriotism to keep himself in power. May he reside in the nethermost circle of Hell where Satan chews his bones with that of Judas Iscariot for all eternity.“
A 17yo Russian joins the army in 1943 as a patriot, is part of the conquest of Berlin – and after the war, is sent to a gulag by Stalin because he might have become Westernized for having mingled with Americans.
When I left my home and my family
My mother said to me
“Son, it’s not how many Germans you kill that counts
It’s how many people you set free!”
*******************
“Dressed in stripes and tatters
In a gulag left to die
All because Comrade Stalin was scared that
We’d become too westernized!“
“Used to love my country
Used to be so young
Used to believe that life was
The best song ever sung
I would have died for my country
In 1945“
Two books, “The Forgotten Soldier” written of the German view, and “The Day of Viktenty Angarov“, the account of a Russian soldier, inspired Scotland’s The Waterboys‘ Mike Scott to write the song.
We didn’t win the European war, the Russians did – but our help shortened the effort.
I hope Trump and Putin can finally put an end to this century-long mess. It’s not the Soviet Union anymore.
Hell, if we can be “friends” with Japan and Germany (maybe). And China and Saudi Arabia …
DT
Thanks for this timely reminder. Thanks for the setting up the new meeting place in anticipation of the old site going dark. Still get a little apprehensive when I click to check if “today is the day” for AD to go dark. Gerard knew that we must move on. We must remember and learn from the past, but we “shouldn’t live in it”. Hope and pray that we, as well as the US and Russian Federation can do the same.
Thanks, and G_D bless you, Neo and the “gang”.
Jim Reibel
Thanks. I’ve had no more word from Neo than you about that “last day” and I have that same feeling every time I check the site. I hope this site keeps that “comradery” feeling; I may be the “more equal than equal” out of necessity but I think of this site as “our” site.
I’m pleased to say that the Russo-Ukrainian War is now in a monthlong ceasefire.
Which I had nothing to do with. coughs.
Looks like Trump roughed up Zel. and this happens. Either that, or all of those blue and yellow flags on everybody’s Facebook profile did it.
Let’s not get too far ahead of things: As of this writing, Russia has yet to agree to anything.
Yes, but now that he has been called “a nice fella” it may be harder for him to continue his assault on the Ukrainians. Especially now that those comments are public and negotiators are working with that description of him in the conversation. It’s just really hard to misbehave in the open when people are calling you “Mr. Nice Guy”. I think.
The world has dumped billions of dollars into one of the most corrupt countries in the world. There are going to be a gob at the top over there that will come out like bandits on US taxpayer money. Can’t spend it in hell though. I wonder how the Biden’s look at their corrupt criminal selves in the mirror? Possibly no reflection. They got theirs and probably think the rest of us are just chumps.
All of them took advantage of a corrupt system and there is no shame in that.
The world has a lot of corrupt countries, and I would have phrased that as Ukraine being one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, but if you want to go global, then I won’t quibble.
Moreover, I cede that after 20 years of the GWOT, America and much of the West is tired of being at war. War is expensive and unproductive. Further, the Euros have depended too heavily on the US for their defense needs. They should be doing more on their own. And finally here, America is damned near broke and we have some very important domestic needs that we ought to attend to.
These are all arguments for staying out of Ukraine, and I cede them all.
But I still don’t think that we can get out of Europe quite so easily.
As I noted above, Russia has yet to agree to this ceasefire…a period designed to give some breathing room during which they can negotiate a peace. As I see things, Russia can’t agree to a ceasefire nor can they negotiate a peace. They began their aggression against Ukraine with the sneer that Ukraine was full of Nazi’s and that Russia was in Ukraine to liberate their slavic brothers from them. Given that they’ve failed to take the whole country, how can they negotiate with a Nazi, and then go back to their countrymen and tell them that this was the best that could be done? Putin is stuck. It’s all or nothing for him.
But let’s say that I’m wrong here, and that Russia has looked at her empty military warehouses and the flower of her youth having been killed or maimed in Ukraine and is now willing to end the hostilities there. Is that it? Do we see sunshine and rainbows from here on out?
I don’t think so. Firstly, I’m a bit suspicious about this “mineral deal” that Ukraine has been strong-armed into agreeing to. What minerals, exactly? Where are they? How useful are they? If these minerals are in the east, it will be a decade before any money can be made there. The place has to have tons of unexploded ordinance, mines, miles of fiber-optic cables strung all over, all through the villages and towns which are largely left as rubble. It will all have to be cleaned up and rebuilt before a mine can be profitable.
And then there are the neighbors. Finland sees an end of Russia’s war in Ukraine as an opportunity for Russia to begin hybrid warfare against them. Poland is considering acquiring nuclear weapons.
Is that the Europe that America will just sit on her hands and ignore? Like it or not (and I don’t), America will need to offer Western Europe our leadership and assistance. The Russian problem isn’t going away, and I think that we should accept that with clear eyes and strong arms.
It will come out, I believe, that The Big Guy took half of the Ukrainian aid in secret kickbacks. He and the demoncrats.
As of my writing, the news had it as both sides to pause, but of course I expect lots more shit to come. But, this is major. Today I watched the NATO secretary at the White House glad handing Trump. It’s all fatal to Russia’s war – just a matter of when it actually stops.
Here is what happened: Biden wanted the war, and supported both sides against the middle (the soldiers and citizens of the war zones, and all of us on Earth wanting no war), and then Trump came in and said he wanted it to stop. That’s the most important part.
No matter how bad Putin is, he wants to cease the war and refit for future Russia bullshit.