TV threatened to cut down the "cherry orchard" of the West

Sergey Mitrofanov

The West is like an aging cherry orchard; indistinct meeting of two leaders of the Union and Lukashenko's son Kolya; Russia's benefit from loans from Belarus and Shoigu's "signal" on the eve of the meeting between Biden and Putin - all this made up the topical agenda of TV.

But first about The Cherry Orchard. This is a kind of "explanation" invented by the dean of the Higher School of Television, Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov, V. Tretyakov (pictured) and of whom, apparently, he was terribly proud.

The essence of the "explanation" is as follows: Chekhov's play, written in 1903, provides an excellent metaphor for the political atmosphere of 2021 and, incidentally, explains what caused the discord between Russia and the West.

It turns out that it did not even arise from a conflict of interest that political scientists are looking for and cannot find, but rather because of a conflict of ambition and self-perception. The West perceives itself as a kind of world aristocracy, which peoples should respect, and democratic peoples, to which Russia counts itself, yearn to sit with the West at the same table on an equal footing and have equal representation in world issues.

But at the same time, the West thinks of the "peoples" as such an old unkempt "cherry orchard", which is time to either cut down, or sell, and give the estate of worthless aristocrats to business people. So in Chekhov's play. And sooner or later this will happen, - Tretyakov prophesies, - and Russia should lead this process ahead of time. In other words, the hour of aristocratic property is approaching and a world anti-Western revolution is coming with the displacement of the West in all international institutions.

It is not difficult, however, to see that this analogy is lame on both legs. First, the West is not at all an aristocratic slacker. Not only is it from the West that science, technology and anti-vaccines still emanate, but it is also the only guardian of the liberal rules that are shared by all "Westerners" and very many from the "non-West", the so-called "Westernizers." There will be no West - there will be one big Walk-field.

Secondly, it is not very clear who can theoretically be headed by Russia from the “non-West”, even if it does get together. If China, then this is hardly possible. China itself will lead whoever you want, and sitting there at the same table will not work either.

And finally, the image of the non-Western business world is purely fantasy. Russia has 2% of world GDP and, rightly, with this it is very problematic to come to cut the “cherry orchard” of the western aristocracy. Moreover, if it were not for the tragic turn of the helm in 2014, Russia itself would have been the West and would have fought off the “democratic peoples”.

However, this time Tretyakov did not say anything that his fellow propagandists would not have stated in parts. It's just amazing that this time they decided to ridicule him. Doubts were raised both by the link to the “ancient” play by Chekhov and the image of the “democratic people” of non-Western countries - that they can be united under the Russian flag. Also, the representation of the West by the aristocracy of the world, even if it is decrepit, was not to the liking of colleagues. They have long outgrown such self-deprecation. What aristocrats they are there, the same chmoshniks, like everyone else! As a result, Tretyakov was laughed at, and Tretyakov was outright angry. Apparently, his shares as a TV guru began to fall.

The many hours meeting of the leaders of the ghostly existing Union - Putin, Lukashenko and for some reason the latter's son - Kolya - gave food for many long talks on TV. But two points are emphasized. There is zero information from this long meeting. And TV has mastered a new format of material presentation. When Putin and Lukashenko talked on the yacht, the TV “eavesdropped”, catching snatches of phrases in the wind, and then pasted them with subtitles. Pretty absurd propaganda know-how, if you think about it.

If the conversation is private or secret, is it decent for accredited television to eavesdrop on it? And if the leaders wanted to portray something to the public through "eavesdropping", then why such theatricality? However, the overheard always looks more reliable than the official one.

TV also drew attention to a huge suitcase, in which Lukashenka brought documents, allegedly proving that the Ryanair plane, which was landed in Minsk, was in fact slipped into the simple-minded Lukashenka by Western special services. At the same time, the suitcase was never opened, and Putin did not even seem to show interest in looking at what was in it, only smiled mysteriously.

A small discussion was launched by TV about the loan again received by Belarus. The critical point of view was voiced by the deputy head of the foreign policy department of the publishing house “Kommersant” Alexei Naumov. The editorial position is diligence. According to him, a better use could be found for the money, since Belarus will not return the loans anyway.

Alexey Dzermant, director of the center for the study and development of continental integration "Northern Eurasia", opposed Naumov. According to him, loans are taken by Belarus at favorable interest rates for Russia, and Russia, thus, not only does not lose, but also earns well. “And she gives this interest back with our next loans,” Naumov mutters, as if to himself, not calming down, and, by the way, there is really a lot of incomprehensible things here. We hear quite often about the fact that Belarus receives loans, but never about the fact that they are returned. If Belarus is able to give loans with good interest, then why does it need loans at all? It means that it has an excellent developed economy!

However, those present, reproaching Naumov, agree that there are values that are more valuable than money (* which means that Russia is still losing money). These are fraternal commitments and the defense of Kaliningrad from the offensive forces of NATO, which is being carried out by Belarus lying in their path. Belorussia will fall off (to the West), Kaliningrad will fall off next, and Russia decided: not to give anything to anyone else!

As for the reproach why, when receiving a loan, Belarus does not recognize Crimea, and Belavia does not plan to operate flights to Crimea, Dzermant replied logically again: we need to give loans to Russia with good interest, and for this we must minimize Western sanctions. That's how everything is tied up!

On the eve of the meeting, Putin and Biden Shoigu sent a signal - he announced the deployment of 20 new military formations and military units to the West in order to resist NATO aggression. That is, they see there directly tank battles. The signal was illustrated by the volleys of Katyushas, apparently flying over the NATO soldiers hiding in the bushes. Whether they hit someone or again in Voronezh remains unclear.