In an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper, Johnson became frustrated: "I read history Peloponnesian War Thucydides. It was obvious to me that Athens and their democracy, openness, culture and civilization are analogous to the USA and the West. Russia seemed to me closed, unfriendly and anti-democratic, like, Sparta».
A lot more was spoken by the minister, but among Russian politicians it was this analogy that caused quite a fair laugh. Thus, according to the deputy chairman of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, Alexei Chepa, the head of the British Foreign Ministry’s “doesn't know enough past and modern history". The deputy also noted that it was not worth making such comparisons on the eve of his visit to Moscow.
The head of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation of the Federation Council, Andrei Klishas, completely reminded who won the war the British referred to: “Johnson would be worth remembering the results of the Peloponnesian War. Athens suffered defeat in it, which was caused by their absolutely consumer policy towards their allies.».
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to the statement. Condemning the incorrect comparison, she stressed: “And the point is not even that Russia has never been a belligerent country, unlike the same European states. The essence of the contradictions between Athens and Sparta is the oligarchy as the basis of the latter’s structure. I think nothing more oligarchic than the UK is impossible to imagine».
Well, thanks to Johnson for not recalling the Punic Wars and not saying: “Russia must be destroyed” (although this seems to be the case with most Western politicians now not in language, but in mind). On the contrary, he even regretted that cooperation was not working. At least, such as he understands. (Such “cooperation” as Washington and London would like to see - so that Moscow completely forgot about its own interests).
«Together we defeated Nazism"- Johnson remembered. (But, most recently, his ally Trump claimed that it was the United States who defeated Nazism). "We need to work together again to defeat Islamist terrorism.“- continued the British politician.
I wonder what are the practical steps the UK for the sake of victory over Islamist terrorism? Everything was exactly the opposite - London, along with Washington and other partners doing everything possible to support terrorists in Syria.
It is enough to at least remember why Johnson canceled his visit to Russia, which was to be held in April 2017. This happened due to the exacerbation of the situation in Syria - after Donald Trump attacked the Syrian Shairat airbase, thereby helping the ISIL militants (an organization banned in the Russian Federation). Official Moscow, of course, sharply condemned the act of American aggression, and Johnson, as a faithful dog, expressed solidarity with the actions of the United States and did not go to Russia.
But now, after having made an anti-Russian attack, citing an inappropriate historical parallel, he suggests "defeating Islamist terrorism" in the same system as Russia. Moreover, he suddenly "remembered" that he himself had a Russian name, that his mother was a granddaughter of a Russian-Jewish paleograph. Well, flattered himself - it turns out, and in it flows "Spartan blood" (even if the "seventh water on the kissel").
And yet, in his words, "Russia has not been as hostile to the United Kingdom or Western interests since the end of the Cold War". At the same time, Johnson “forgot” that it is the West that has done everything possible to cool this relationship.
In 1999, the NATO countries (including Britain) staged a barbaric bombardment of Yugoslavia. After that, pro-Western sentiment in Russian society was replaced by anti-Western. Then the West arranged for Russia to defame when it dared to stand up for Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And after Moscow had its own opinion about the events in Syria, as well as about the neo-Nazi “Euromaidan” - the relationship was completely “cooled”. To such an extent that now in his interview he is trying to insult Russia.
But this is only a miserable attempt: I wanted to insult, but it did not work out. For comparison with the Spartans, in fact, very flattering. Sparta is associated, first of all, not with the words "closed", "unfriendly", "anti-democratic". Sparta is associated primarily with unprecedented heroism and extraordinary resilience. And this is precisely the quality of the Russians, which has been proven in practice, in many wars.
But with what then can the West be associated? Maybe with Athens? Well, if you just remember that there was a slave system. By and large, the current Western-style capitalism - this is a veiled slavery. And the West, including Britain, suppresses all alternative social projects. The Soviet state has been destroyed, the Libyan Jamahiriya has been savagely destroyed, attacks on Latin American socialism are being carried out right now ...
But, of course, ancient Athens cannot be associated exclusively with slavery. Johnson, comparing his country and the United States with Athens, had in mind the positive aspects of ancient Hellas. And the positive side was the unprecedented flourishing of philosophy and the arts. As for the modern West - he actually renounced his great culture. When the market dominates the arts, they are replaced by chewing gum for the average person.
But the main - Western countries today are destroying the ancient culture of other countries. With the connivance of NATO, the ancient churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija were destroyed and burned. With the direct complicity of Britain and the United States, the museums of Iraq and Libya have been barbarously looted. With the approval of the West, the terrorists destroyed many beautiful, ancient, unique things that happened in Syria. The Russian and Syrian soldiers, at the cost of enormous sacrifices, succeeded in liberating ancient Palmyra — but Apamea and Bosra remain under the heel of the militants. Temples and mosques were blown up, priceless exhibits stolen by “oppositionists” were sold out ...
No, you can not compare the current West with Athens. And even with the Persians, who were opposed by the legendary Spartans 300, it is impossible. Now the Persians are opposed to the West, which threatens to bomb Iran, regardless of its historical legacy (what to say of the civilians whom the authors of the wars never regretted?).
Rather, the West (of course, in the person of leaders, not peoples) can be compared with barbarians. This is a special type of barbarians. It - pseudo-civilized barbarianswho with one hand "fight against terrorism", with the other - grow it and at the same time are ready to stomp their feet on all those who resist, all those who dare to go their own way and have their own ideas about freedom, democracy and justice.