Russia’s moral struggle in Syria: civilisation against Jihadist barbarism

Russian forces continue to play a vital role in helping the Syrian Arab Army to free Aleppo from Islamic terrorists.

Russia is the first non-Middle Eastern nation to strike a decisive battlefield victory against Islamic terrorism, something the Western media have totally ignored.

Under Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, America has acted as everything: from financial conduit of Islamic terrorism, to the unofficial air force of ISIS –  the latter being made clear when the US Air Force bombed the Syrian Arab Army for over four hours in September as they were about to advance on ISIS held positions near Deir ez-Zor.

The dangers and horrors of ISIS, AL-Qaeda and their lookalike organisations are well known. Their online videos are testament to the fact they wear barbarism on their sleeves. Throughout the propaganda onslaught by Islamists, the mainstream media in the West continue to overlook the fact that Russian culture, widely consumed and beloved in the West, presents a crucial civilisational contrast to the terrorist enemies of humanity in Syria.

Beyond the logistical realities of securing territory from terrorists, there is a more long lasting psychological element of the war.

Syria’s government represents the last bastion of secular, sovereign Arab dignity. Syria is a country that will not lie down before terrorist dogs, refuses to bow before the Gulf’s sword of medieval Wahhabism, and simultaneously won’t cave in to Western pressure to surrender its independence.

Russia’s ethos and history also play a part in the wider psychological war against Islamic terrorism.

Russia represents the poetry of Pushkin and Mayakovsky; the music of Tchaikovsky and Scriabin; the novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy; and the painting of Kandinsky and Malevich. Russian inventors gave the world radio and the first televisions. Yuri Gagarin inspired millions to pursue lives devoted to science, after he secured his place in history as the first man in space.

The US under Barack Obama has failed to provide moral leadership and inspiration in the fight against terrorism. The political and cultural nihilism which runs through the Democratic Party is not enough to galvanise people into understanding what is at stake if Islamic terrorism is not destroyed.

Russia has provided this moral leadership, but must do a better job relating this to people in the West who fear ISIS-style terrorism yet are simultaneously disillusioned by the post-modern/post-cultural morass in which their governments dwell.

When Russia liberated the ancient Hellenistic city of Palmyra from ISIS in the Spring of 2016, the renowned conductor Valery Gergiev led members of his Mariinsky Orchestra in a solemn concert, dedicated to the memory of all of those who gave their lives in the fight to reclaim the ruins of a majestic city from the whip hand of savages.

The performance, held on a stage that just months prior hosted a mass execution at the hands of ISIS, is testament to the victory of civilisation over medievalism.

When the sounds of Russian orchestral music ring out through the streets of Aleppo, it is clear that there is more to civilisation than the empty words of John Kirby and Barack Obama.

Russia’s culture will live on, long after Obama is remembered only as a failed president. and long after the ISIS/Al-Qaeda reign of terror is over.