May 9 is designated by Russia as "Victory Day" to mark the defeat of Germany in World War II. It's a day of Russian military parades, and aggressive chest beating about Mother Russia, fueled no doubt by plenty of vodka. This year, however, with Russia's criminal invasion of Ukraine going nowhere fast, Russian thug and war criminal Vladimir Putin is cancelling events in several locations, per the Atlantic Council:
"With Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations less than one month away, the Kremlin has taken the highly unusual step of canceling a number of military parades in regional capitals. Scheduled parades to mark the World War II Soviet victory over Nazi Germany have been called off in Kursk and Belgorod oblasts, which both border Ukraine. Victory Day celebrations in Russian-occupied Crimea have also reportedly been scrapped.
The cancellations are officially due to security concerns related to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, numerous commentators have speculated that Moscow is also increasingly short of tanks and is understandably eager to avoid highlighting the scale of the losses suffered by the Russian army in Ukraine. Whether the real reason is security issues or equipment shortages, the decision to cancel this year’s Victory Day parades represents a painful blow for Vladimir Putin that hints at the grim reality behind Moscow’s upbeat propaganda portrayals of his faltering Ukraine invasion." (our emphasis)
It's hard to maintain the propaganda that things are going well with the "special military operation" when hundreds of thousands of Russians are being mobilized and tens of thousands are coming home in body bags -- if coming home at all.
For Putin and Russia's imperial fascist movement, "Victory Day" has been elevated to unequaled status as a national holiday, almost like was witnessed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s after Germany's defeat in World War I:
"Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations are closely associated with Putin personally. Throughout his reign, he has placed the Soviet World War II experience at the heart of efforts to rebuild Russian national pride following the perceived humiliations of the 1990s. Putin has transformed traditional Russian reverence for the Soviet war effort into a quasi-religious victory cult complete with its own dogmas, feast days, and heretics."
Given that, it must be an especially hard pill for the Russian thug to swallow, with more Russians realizing that he blundered into a catastrophic war:
"The significance of Victory Day for national identity in Putin’s Russia and the holiday’s close associations with the war in Ukraine make this year’s parade cancellations especially embarrassing. Other public celebrations could be postponed or abandoned without much fuss, but failure to mark Victory Day points to serious problems that are difficult to disguise even in Russia’s tightly controlled information environment." (our emphasis)
Perhaps some day, Russians will celebrate a different victory day, one that celebrates the end of Putin's long, fascistic tyranny once and for all.
(photo: Ivan Sekretarev / AP)
