politics

Victory Day in Russia isn’t about mourning or remembering the real tragedy of war. It’s a loud, staged show put on by those who had nothing to do with the victory. Not a day of memory, but a display of fake power. The government has turned the old victory into a national fetish.

This looks especially cynical against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. Russia, the aggressor, still talks about “fighting Nazism,” while its tanks roll into Ukrainian cities under the same flags seen in the parade. Three years into the war, no major Ukrainian city has been taken, but on Red Square everything still goes according to schedule:
music, flags, slogans. The show must go on, even when reality no longer fits the myth.
It feels like all this decorative might is there to cover up a weakness.
Because there is no real victory anymore. Only its imitation.