 So Thomas Schubatum sent me an email Linking to an interview Thomas Schubatum was often on the super chat on the chat and super chat who is a conductor a conductor in the Bay Area and a cellist really good cellist and Thomas sent me this interview with a pianist a very very well known One of the best pianists of his generation certainly by the name of I'm gonna butcher the name if Jenny kissing if Jenny kissing Russian pianist Born in Russia trained in Russia. Got his musical breakthroughs in Russia His first concerts as a teenager were with the With orchestras in Moscow. So this is a this is a Russian trained pianist Well, one of the greats at least of this generation trained in You know, if you go back and you think of all the great pianists in history Many of them a significant majority of them. I think we're Russian Russia has Certainly in the in the 20th century. Russia's had this amazing Program of teaching piano That has just been stunning and has generated From you know, Vladimir Horowitz the other Rubenstein. I think Rubenstein was a Russian To many many many other great Russian pianist and and if Jenny kissing is in that tradition anyway Jenny kissing is doing a concert in Canada and before the concert. He was interviewed About music and about the concert and about everything else and as part of the interview He was asked about Ukraine one of the policies that this Canadian I can't remember if it's Toronto or Vancouver but but one of the policies that this That this Canadian orchestra has is they won't right now invite a Russian To play with them unless the Russian has spoken out against the war So if the Russian to stay silent or is pro the war this Russian orchestra will not invite them to come and and play so They asked if Jenny if you would be willing to make a comment on On Russia and on the war with Ukraine and if Jenny jumped at the opportunity and actually wrote a substantial essay about Russia about Some Russian history going back to the Soviet Union which he grew up under and About the attitude of the West towards Russia and I have to say it's rare that I read something and The attitude of the person writing it is the right attitude The details might we might not agree on every single detail, but the attitude is So in line That I said I got to read this to you guys and comment on it because it's so good it's just So good and again, it's not The philosophical aspect of though. It's strong philosophically. I think It's the sense of life attitude That he projects you If Jenny is became an Israeli citizen I think he's got one of the citizenship and he lives today in Prague so he's not in danger of Putin hopefully although Putin has murdered people outside of Russia, but he's not in Russia He's probably not gonna go back to Russia anytime soon given what he wrote But it truly is an extraordinary statement I encourage you I'll read it, but I encourage you to go and find it and read it for yourself Because of how powerful it is and and let me before I finish this. Let me just say I Was at a concert last night in London and the violinist was Ukrainian also lives in Israel Israeli citizen Travels the world and plays the violin Gave an extraordinary performance. I don't think the orchestra was very good with the Philharmonic Orchestra in London But he was very good. I thought of Brahms violin concerto or concerto. I highly recommend to all of you But afterwards he was you know, he gave an encore He was called back on stage and gave an encore and he played this beautiful very very very sad piece By some Ukrainian composer. I don't know who it was and I was not familiar with the piece It was it was a piece new to me But very sad very moving very touching and he said something about Ukraine and about the war so Musicians standing up Against this war against Russian aggression Good thing thumbs up So let me read it to you that's long so be patient with me and it starts off with some discussion of something out of Alexander Solzhenitsyn out of Solzhenitsyn novel really it's a quote from Solzhenitsyn's novel So it's a quote within a quote I think the Solzhenitsyn novel brings out something very important That I think is author worth you Thinking about me commenting on So I'm going to read the whole thing again. It's if Jenny kissing It was published recently. You can probably find it online and you can read along But but hopefully you have the patience for this. I think it's worth it Just to see that there are people out there russians out there people raised in russia who get it Who get it who not just get russia But get the west get the corruption of the west get the decadence of the west get the weakness of the west And I titled this episode Russia the monster of the west created because that's exactly what he describes He describes how the west created the monster we have today and he goes further back than I did so kudos to ever Jenny, but we will start with a quote From alexander solzhenitsyn. So this is uh, you've gotten a kiss in uh in his essay I'll start with a quote from alexander solzhenitsyn novel if you haven't read solzhenitsyn I don't know if you have the patience, but but I read him in the in the 70s And it was very powerful stuff, particularly super anti Super super anti Communism anti-soviet union stuff. He's a bit of a mystic Certainly, uh, certainly more conservative than free market. It turned out But his his novels depicting life in the soviet union are very powerful. Anyway, this is a quote from the novel in the first circle the end of the chapter called Spiridon's criteria and I'm butchering the name so I apologize for that the story of the novel takes place in so-called Shorashka A special place in the outskirts of moscow We're technically qualified political prisoners. This is under the soviets We're working on various projects for the government in Stalin's time and where solzhenitsyn himself spent a few years One of the main characters of the novel the young prisoner glab nezen whose prototype was the author himself is going through a period of soul searching And becomes close to another prisoner an old peasant by the name of spiridon Finally nezren expresses the spirit in his thoughts and doubts And ends with the following question and now he's going to quote the question and the continuation almost until the end of the chapter Quote Can anybody on earth possibly make out who's right and who's wrong? Who can tell us that? Spiridon's fown had disappeared and he answered as readily as if he'd been asked which god would be in duty next morning I can tell you Killing wolves is right Eating people is wrong What? What's that you say The simplicity and certainty of spiridon's answer took nezren's breath away Just that spiridon said The wolf killer is in the right The man eater is not Gleb's face felt warm Felt warm breath from under that mustache a spiridon leaned close to whisper Gleb If somebody told me right now There was a plane On the way with an atom bomb on board Do you want it to bury you like a dog here under the stairs? Wipe out your family and a million other people Only old daddy whiskers And their whole setup will be pulled up by the roots so that up people won't have to suffer anymore in prison camps And collective farms and logging teams Spirited and braced himself Pressing his tense shoulders against the stairs as though they threatened to collapse on him with the roof itself and all Moscow to follow Believe me Gleb I'd say I can't take it anymore I've run out of patience and I'd say he looked up at the imaginary bomber I'd say come on then Get on with it Drop the thing Now before I continue reading um Kissen's Rest of his article just the rest relates to this, but it's not it's not directly What is he saying? The character is basically saying Life is so bad under communism These camps The lack of freedom What our families have to go through That I am willing to die I want Somebody to drop an atom bomb on Moscow So that it ends So that at least people outside of Moscow In future generations can live under freedom Now that is the attitude of a true freedom fighter If you think about the the underground in france under german occupation They often Encourage the west to bomb even though they knew they were putting their own lives at risk If you think about freedom fighters throughout history Putting their life on the line for what? Knowing that they would probably not to live to see freedom But knowing that life under slavery was not worth living knowing That freedom was a cause worth fighting for Worth risking life for C.S. Solzhenitsyn in communist Russia Expressing the idea That for us russians It's better that you drop the bomb. It's better that you drop the bomb It's better that you end This horror that is the soviet union That kind of moral certainty in the evil of the regime you live with Is maybe only possible For the people not only possible Maybe is only prevalent among the people who actually live in that regime Because from the outside People don't and this is what kissin writes In continuation He says I understand it and maybe surprising and even shocking from many pacifist westerners But at the time when millions of useful idiots in the west were demonstrating for disarmament of their own countries In the face of the communist monster Believing that the americans in the free world in general were at least as bad as the soviets if not even worse I'll note that people like marie rothbard Fall into that camp believing that the american America in the free world in general were at least as bad as the soviets. It's not even worse at that very time We In the evil empire behind the iron curtain Was secretly reading the above lines in some some of that We remember spirit and criteria to this day And it has always been clear as daylight to us Who the wolf killers were and who the man eaters were in the world? Not so not so long ago. I learned this is kissin The Winston Churchill after the victory of the nazi germany Wanted to do exactly what so jinnitsen and other prisoners of the gulag were dreaming of At that time To drop an atomic bomb on moscow and kiev and to invade the ussr In order to liberate 200 million of its people and save the world from the red threat But everybody else the other western leaders as well as church's own military were against it as a result More than 100 million people were killed not only in the soviet union and other communist countries But also in the rest of the world because as we now know The kremlin bandits During dozens of years were supporting terrorism on the entire planet even in africa and south america Here's a russian I'll put site comments once in a while Here's a russian saying you should have taken out the communist in 40 45 when he had a chance Many russians would have died Using a nuke would have destroyed some major cities But the world would have been a freer place Fewer people would have died ultimately I mean think about the courage to write that the courage to write that today The courage to express such a view And the courage that we see so little love in the west today Of calling Of calling communism The evil empire Calling communism responsible for over 100 million deaths This is a russian writing And expressing these ideas when so many of us so many people in the west Oh communism that noble ideal Oh america america the imperialist america america built on slaves america the evil country no With all its flaws with all its problems with all its challenges america is a shining beacon of goodness As compared to a country like the soviet union Kissin understands that we Do not Sadly many of our libertarian Friends and quotes certainly don't That's why many of them are supporting rusher right now Kissin goes on Later If the west had not pursued the disgraceful and suicidal policy of detente The evil empire would have collapsed much earlier And millions of human lives all over the world would have been saved I don't know I have a feeling and and maybe somebody can get to kissin and ask him But I have a feeling That kissin is reading iron man because that's exactly what iron man said That it was that Soviet union would have collapsed if not for detente If not for the compromising west for the weak west for the negotiating west We started sending weeks to the russians during the 1960s and 70s Let them starve Let them suffer the consequences of their own actions Maybe the regime would have fallen a decade or two earlier I agree completely with kissin that it would have i ran agreed with kissin that it would have I mean he agrees with her because she wrote it much before he did I had always thought That we had nothing to fear from communism because it would implode it would self destruct it would go away It was a failure and it would never be successful and she was absolutely right So he's going back to world war two. We could have gotten rid of the soviets. We didn't the west was weak Then we negotiated with the soviets. We gave them food. We engaged in a taunt The west was weak and bolded them millions of people died as a consequence He continues I'm saying all this because it's perfectly clear to me and other people are my circle If the west had applied the same sanctions against Putin's regime It is as it is applying now eight years ago after the annexation of Crimea There would have been no war in the ukraine in ukraine now I'll tell you even more hand the west applied such sanctions in 2008 In response to Putin's invasion of georgia and the de facto annexation of south Assetia Putin would not have annexed Crimea five and a half years later and maybe By the time he would have he would be no longer in power and more If the west had applied some sanctions back in 1999 2000 in response to the genocide in Chechnya There would definitely have been no invasion of georgia and ukraine So note that what he understands kissing understands and what almost nobody else understands Is the extent to which the west in its weakness in its pretense of moral equivalency In its meekness Has emboldened the russians have emboldened the fascist regime of Vladimir Putin To ever mourn greater military adventures to ever mourn greater violations of the rights of its neighbors Kissing again in his speech that was broadcast on russian tv just before the invasion of the of ukraine Putin claimed that the west had been very unfair towards russia quote even under the extreme openness of russia in the 1990s That statement did not surprise me because i know very well who Putin is and what would you expect from him however But this surprised me a lot is that there are people in the west some on this chat There are people in the west I once said i lost my place That there are people in the west people affirm democratic convictions who share this view That the west behaved too much like the winner of the cold war For me and this is so cool for me and my friends the exact opposite is the obvious The west did not behave like the winner of the cold war and that's why we are having all these problems and tragedies now After the soviet union ceased to exist why on earth did russia inherit its seat in the u.s. Security council? I understand that after world war two it was probably difficult to avoid giving that seat to the soviet union. I disagree with that I don't think there should be a u.n. Or The soviet union should have never been in the u.s. Security council, but okay, but why was it given to russia after the evil empire collapsed? It should have been given to a deserving democratic country like for example canada or australia or japan And now we all see what problems are rising from it after the fall of communism the west should have done to russia what it did to germany after the fall of nazism communist leaders should have been tried by an international tribunal The west should have forced russia to outlaw the communist ideology Literature and symbols to build dozens of memorials to the victims of communism to append constantly And to pay reparations to the numerous victims of the kremlin bandits jews, ukrainians, estonians, latvians, latvanians, georgians Poles checks and many others the fifth columns In ukraine and the belting state should have been transferred to russia in the same way As the germans of student land and celestia were transferred to germany after world war two The west didn't do any of that in other words. It didn't penalize russia russia for the soviet union And the post-communist russia under the ex-secretary of of a regional committee of the cps u baris yeltsin Immediately starting pursuing a foreign policy country to that of the west by supporting milosevic you remember in Soviet less than a year after the collapse of the soviet union when russia was in ruins its font minister andrey Kuzyev whatever who was considered to be a great liberal in quotes had the chutzpah to state in an interview to the frankfurt newspaper quote the language of lecturing is inappropriate in conversation with mosca and the west swallowed all of that It just swallowed it deemed russia as its equal Then he says then there quote democratic russia perpetrated the ethnic cleansing of georgians in abhazia Took away abhazia from georgia and the west allowed yeltsin to do that and continue to support him Even after the first war in chechnya, which killed 80,000 people the west didn't go beyond verbal criticism Didn't subject russia to any sanction. These are facts sad and shameful facts How come the experience with hitler almost a century ago has still not taught western politicians? The dictators and murderers should never be appeased That is worth reading again from kissing. How come That the experience with hitler almost a century ago has still not taught western politicians the dictators and murderers Should never be appeased but confronted more decisively and by all possible means That it is not only the right but the moral duty of the west to do so Otherwise it becomes responsible for the crimes. It encourages dictators to perpetrate When the foreign minister of putans russia Desk to say to the british prime minister who are you to fucking lecture me the latter should response Watch your language. So i'm the foreign minister of great britain the eldest democracy of the world a great democratic party Where's you unofficial of a criminal authoritarian regime? And if for you and your cronies should be grateful that we are only lecturing you and not destroying you wow after all The experience of the 20th century Which demonstrated almost most clearly where any deviations for freedom and democracy communism nazism fascism Colloquialism lead to does it still need to be explained that the west with all its faults and imperfections Is the best society on the planet and that everybody who dares to oppose it let alone counter the west The scared Principles of the sacred principles of freedom and democracy is a shit Which like every shit deserves only one thing to be flushed down the toilet as quickly as possible So it would not stink and not spoil good people's lives This is a classical musician This is brilliant I must say That it became a grave disappointment for me when i realized the number of years ago that the western principles the western ideals The western international politics Are not the same thing That most western politicians for dozens of years have been betraying their own ideals and principles another striking example of this Is that since the democratic state of israel has created Opportunistic western politicians have been forcing their natural ally To make concessions to anti-democratic enemies who have always been determined to destroy you Now I can only say to them If you don't do everything To help the brave ukrainian people to win this war to drive the aggressors and murderers out of their country History will never forgive you standing ovation I mean that is amazing powerful True stuff and again, I don't agree with everything Not everything is on the same level But the answer of Of of what the what the fond minister of great britain should have said to the russian Who are you to lecture me? I'm the fond minister of great britain the oldest democracy in the world a great democratic party party Where you are an official of a criminal authoritarian regime and therefore you and your cronies should be grateful That we are only lecturing you not destroying you. I mean That's What the west needs That's what it needs When he writes after all the experiences of the of the 20th century which demonstrated most clearly that any deviation for freedom communism, nazism fascism clericalism, which is What do you call it? Anyway, clericalism that's iran lead to Does it still need to be explained that the west with all its faults and imperfections is a best society in the planet? And that everybody who dares to oppose it let alone counter the west The sacred principles of freedom and democracy is a shit Which like every shit deserves only one thing to be flushed down the toilet as quickly as possible Said that it would not stink and spoil good people's lives Oh god If we had politicians who understood this who had the balls the courage to stand up To the shits of the world To the authoritarians of the world to the dictators of the world It wasn't by the way only Churchill who wanted to Read the world of communism after world war two was general Patton as well Who wanted who was commanding the allied forces in europe at the time and it was obvious while he was in berlin that he was trying to instigate A war with russia because he knew he knew the politicians wouldn't allow it So he thought that he could maybe get russia to do something horrible that would force their hand To fight on but at every opportunity The west has appeased that every opportunity the west expresses the fact this is multiculturalism That the west is no better and Again, they are libertarians that people in this chat who believe that who think russia is just another country Who believe that there is no that the west is no better That fda was no better than stalling as critical as mffdr He was much better than stalling A million light years better than stalling Soviet Union was not instrumental in beating the nazis and the soviet union was bad as the nazis The soviet union was not a threat to the united states at that point Why would you be having a Yoda a drop of sympathy towards the soviet union No, the united states isn't as great as it once was but it's greater than anybody else still on the planet Why why any sympathy to russia why any sympathy to soviet union Soviet union was nazis Putin's russia is a nazi regime. Maybe not nazi nazis, but fascists So I you know, I think that was brilliant. I am looking forward to going buying a bunch of music um played by Yvonne Kissen Because I'm sure I enjoyed but more than that But also because I want to support him now. I become a fan a fan of his His ability to play the piano, but also now a fan of his intellect a fan of his passion a fan of his understanding Of of of the west and the value that it represents and and the evil Every single alternative out there to the west represents Thank you for listening or watching the iran book show If you'd like to support the show We make it as easy as possible for you to trade with me. You get value from listening. You get value from watching Show your appreciation You can do that by going to iran book show dot com slash support by going to patreon subscribe star locals And just making a appropriate contribution On any one of those uh, any one of those channels also if you'd like to see the iran book show grow Please consider sharing our content and of course subscribe Press that little bell button right down there on youtube so that you get announcement when we go live and for you Those of you who are already subscribers and those of you who already supporters of the show Thank you. I very much appreciate it