Milley vs History

This year’s commemoration takes place at the lowest point in post-Cold War U.S.-Russia relations and the real danger of escalation into a nuclear Third World War.  The organizers of these celebrations hope that these memories might insert some sense of responsibility into the minds of those who make ultimate decisions about war and peace, but the words of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley during his recent testimony on Capitol Hill were not encouraging at all. Milley called Ukrainians “the sons and grandsons of the people who fought against Stalin and Zhukov for 10 years, from 1945 to 1955.”

What General neglected to say was that the majority of Ukrainians were fighting on Stalin’s and Zhukov’s side, both before and after 1945, but some of them, mostly Nazi collaborators, indeed continued fighting against the USSR until its communist leader Nikita Khrushchev declared their amnesty in 1955. This is the same Khrushchev who ordered the transfer of Crimea, which is at the center of current crisis, from the Russian Federation to Ukrainian Soviet republic a year earlier. 

Milley definitely is aware that after the end of World War II thousands of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators were given refuge in the U.S. In his book, The Nazis Next Door, investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau reports that thousands of these people managed to settle in the United States, often with the direct assistance of American intelligence services who saw them as potential spies and informants in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The U.S. government-funded Wilson Center has a story on its website about operation ANYFACE: “How the US Army Shielded a Ukrainian Nationalist from Soviet Intelligence”, but there are many other such stories.

As for the “Meeting on the Elbe” it has inspired many war veterans, public figures, and sometime even the U.S. and Russian officials to take part in the above-mentioned annual celebrations. In Washington they gather at the Arlington Cemetery and the World War II Memorial in downtown DC next to the plaques with inscriptions related to this event. In Moscow there are also two similar locations, and there is one in the city of Torgau, where people lay flowers, make speeches honoring veterans, and calling for the revival of the “Elbe Spirit.”

On that date in 2016 three former and current military attaches at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow Generals Kevin Ryan, Peter Zwack, and Bruce McClintock took part in this ceremony in downtown Moscow.  In 2020 Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin issued a joined statement saying that “The “Spirit of the Elbe” is an example of how our countries can put aside differences, build trust, and cooperate in pursuit of a greater cause.  As we work today to confront the most important challenges of the 21st century, we pay tribute to the valor and courage of all those who fought together to defeat fascism.  Their heroic feat will never be forgotten.”

Presently, at the time of major crisis that threatens the survival of our civilization, why not see what each of us can do to revive this spirit?  The major obstacle that prevents this approach is the deep state’s desire for the world’s hegemony. As Roger McKenzie explains correctly “the meaning of this hegemony is that Washington believes it has a right to inflict on the rest of the world its interpretation of democracy — which seems to essentially amount to agreeing with whatever course of action the United States wants to take.”  Some countries, mainly in the so-called collective West, accept this policy, but the majority of the planet’s population doesn’t.

However, where is the voice of the American people? Unfortunately, according to the recent polls, the number of Americans who share such traditional values like family, religion, and patriotism is in decline, but what about such values like “live and let others live” or “win-win international cooperation” that directly relate to the “Spirit of the Elbe?”  It seems like so far no polling agency is asking these questions but the revival of these particular values might provide the roadmap to survival.