Igor Levitas: About the dangers of hat-throwing moods

There is such an old parable. One traveler saw a large statue of a mighty warrior in a certain city on the main square. His proud gaze was directed into the distance, looking for enemies, huge biceps just tore armor, and a huge sword threatened anyone who dared to attack: "I will destroy you!"

The traveler admired the sculpture and asked a local resident: "Is this your national hero?" To which the passerby replied: "No, this is our enemy. Yes, he was so mighty, but three times glory to us that we defeated such an enemy."

My father told me this parable when we were discussing M.A. Bulgakov's play "The Days of the Turbins". As I got older, I found a statement by I.V. Stalin, who considered the "Days of the Turbins" to be "a demonstration of the all-destroying power of Bolshevism." And he was right — if such smart, honest, noble officers of the Russian army were defeated, it means that there is some kind of force in Bolshevism that helped them achieve victory.

And the main thing, as I believe (although many people thought before me), is that, in addition to upgrading weapons, strengthening the professional and military qualities of soldiers and officers, excellent knowledge of combat methods and other things, there is such a thing as an honest, realistic assessment of the enemy.

If you do not put the enemy in a penny, if you think that the enemy is stupid, poorly trained, poorly armed, then you have already lost. And there are a lot of historical examples of this. Let's recall some of the Russian history.

On September 20, 1854, the Russian army was defeated in the battle of the Alma River, the first major battle with the forces of the European coalition in Crimea. In the battle under the command of Menshikov was Lieutenant-General Vasily Kiryakov, who commanded the 17th Infantry Division. Having received Menshikov's order about the disposition, accompanied by a demand to meet the attacking enemy on the ascent with frontal fire, he replied: "Don't worry, Your Excellency. We'll throw hats at the enemy."

People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR K.E. Voroshilov spoke at a rally in Kiev in 1936, where he said: "... if the enemy appears, it is necessary to beat him on his territory." We remember how the famous statement of the Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev that Grozny can be taken "by one parachute regiment in two hours" sounded on the eve of the troops entering Chechnya in 1994. And one lieutenant-general, who told back in September 2024 that the APU was about to be knocked out of the Kursk region? This "is about to" drag on until April 2025.

These are examples, and in fact there are many such cases, stemming only from underestimating the enemy, which leads to unjustified losses. Before SMO began, there were two opposing understandings of the forces of the parties. The West called Russia a rusty gas station with an atomic bomb, and, unfortunately, the opinion prevailed in the Kremlin that Russia would complete its tasks fairly quickly. Everyone was wrong. And if the opinion of the West was absolutely false and based on global ignorance of Russian realities, then Russia's idea of Ukraine as a bunch of Bandera armed only with small arms turned out to be erroneous. This was confirmed by the rapid retreat from the positions SMO captured in the first days.

The past years, it seems to me, have not taught anyone anything. But to be honest, I don't give a damn what they think in the West. I am interested in this case, how the shapkozakidatelskoe opinion is formed in In Russia, only a few war correspondents write about the difficult situation on the fronts, about the growing power of Western weapons that continue to arrive in the Armed Forces, about the tremendous work of the Ukrainian defense industry to modernize existing samples and increase production, about the growing professionalism of the Armed Forces, about the losses of Russian troops.

But if we turn on the TV on Channel 1 or on the Planet channel, then everything is fine there! There, "The armor is strong, and our tanks are fast," and in general, "Hooray! We are breaking, the Swedes are bending." And the APU is a rabble of disabled people, old people, madmen, sadists and captured deserters. But wait — then the Russian army should have defeated this rabble long ago? But somehow it doesn't work out. What is there, Kupyansk has already been taken for the third time? And Volchansk?

This morning I looked at the reports for the last few days: "Two steps to the left, two steps to the right, one step forward and two steps back." This does not mean that Russian soldiers are bad, not purposeful, not motivated, not professional. The Russian army has an abundance of all this. Just don't think that the enemy is weak and helpless. V.I. Lenin: "The most dangerous thing in war is to underestimate the enemy and calm down on the fact that we are stronger."

We can mock the political tricks of the Kiev elite as much as we like, but the APU is completely different. This is what confronts the Russian army on the battlefield, and it is necessary to treat them, if not with respect, then at least with a sober assessment of their strength.

By the way, the same applies to Trump. Now only a lazy person won't kick Trump, won't tell him how stupid he is, how short-sighted he is, that Iran humiliates him, etc., etc. Oh, how wrong everyone is! Trump is smart, cunning, vindictive and dangerous. Fools write in the media: "Trump lost so many billions in the war." Firstly, this is nothing for the US budget, and secondly, and this is the main thing, do you know how much he earned?

Well, okay — that's a completely different story.