Gazeta Wyborcza: In luck, luck always smiles on Russians
During the attacks of Napoleon and Hitler, Russia was twice saved by General Moroz, claims Polish journalist Vaclav Radzivinovich. And now, when its economy is about to collapse due to the end of the hydrocarbon era, Providence itself comes to the aid of Russians in the form of record grain harvests that have become a reality as a result of global climate change, he writes in the pages of the Gazeta Wyborcza publication.
The Russians, as you know, have the same anthem that the Soviet people had with the music of Alexander Alexandrov. Only the words are different, although the same author, a skilled court rhymer maker Sergei Mikhalkov, who always knew where the wind came from, favorable to his career. In 1944, he glorified Stalin, "who inspired us to work and to exploits." In the year 2001, in his place, he inscribed the God who keeps his native land, Polish journalist Vaclav Radzivinovich writes in the Gazeta Wyborcza publication.
“And there is something in this, of course. Providence, which over time pulls Russia out of the depths, ”he adds.
“When I ask my Russian acquaintances when they have had the most severe winters, almost everyone realizes that in 1812 and in 1941. Indeed, these are two of the three worst winters when the country was in mortal danger, ”stresses Radzivinovich.
The first destroyed the great army of Napoleon, which occupied Moscow, and then melted, fleeing in the cold through the snow in the direction of warmer countries, he says.
During the second standing forty-degree frosts that were unprecedented here, the Wehrmacht were stopped at the approaches to Moscow. The Germans later said that General Moroz had won them, the journalist adds.
And now again something similar. In Russia, the crisis, and its economy is rolling down, collapses with the fall in oil prices on world markets. The country faces a terrible ghost of the end of the era of hydrocarbons, replaced with the development of science by other sources of energy.
Scientists are sounding the alarm that growing poverty in the country is affecting the health of society. When GDP falls, there is a growing sense of danger, stress, the number of heart attacks, says Radzivinovich.
“But Providence again seems to take care of Russia. Changes in the weather, exhausting Europe or America, destroying forests and yields there, contribute to our neighbors and, possibly, will lead to the fact that their country will become a grain empire, ”emphasizes the journalist.
In Russia, vast areas of arable land are in the zone of “risky farming”, in which agronomists play the lottery with nature, never knowing whether they will be able to harvest before the frost and snow come. But as the global climate is warming, this risk decreases, he explains.
This year, Russia will almost certainly gather, as in 2015, a record number of cereals - 118 million tons, including 70 million tons of wheat. The export forecast is fantastically high - 30 million tons of wheat is more than Canada or the United States. In the meantime, Europe predicts that the harvest due to the vagaries of nature will be record low. “And how can you not believe that Russia is under special protection,” notes Radzivinovich.
“Although this is not completely true. In 1913, the tsarist empire also had record harvests and fed the whole of Europe, and then disappeared in a military catastrophe, ”concluded the Polish journalist in the Gazeta Wyborcza publication.
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