It’s those “Baggy Pants Russian Peasants” Again(!), By Scipio

On October 4, 1957 the USSR shocked the world when they announced it had launched the word’s first satellite, Sputnik, into space. The US was having trouble getting its post WW II rockets off launch pads, and then we find out the Soviets had a satellite in space spying on us. The Soviets followed that up a month later by sending a dog, Laika, in space and then bringing the dog safely back. In the meantime, our rockets were still ground bound. The Cold War was heating up and the US found itself in a “Missile Gap” and the “Space Race” was on. President Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon was a direct response to the “missile gap” and was designed to show the US was now back on top. That was achieved in 1969, twelve years after Sputnik.

It was obvious after WWII that Germany’s “wonder weapons”; jet fighters, V-1 and V-2 rockets were technologically leap years ahead of the Americans and the Soviets. Any military would want them. In the closing weeks of the war there was a scramble by the Americans and Soviets to “detain” as many of the German scientists working on those “wonder weapons” as possible so they could work on their own respective rocket projects. It was assumed that with the US capturing Germany’s Dr. Wernher von Braun, technical director of the German “wonder weapon’s” development, that the US had taken the top plum of those scientists. Both sides also absconded as many left over V-2 rockets possible. Some were brought to the US for reverse engineering, and they were the primary boosters for our early space exploration.

The launch of Sputnik October 4, 1957 proved the assumption we were ahead in the “space race” horribly wrong. It seems “No name” former German “wonder weapon” scientists working with the Soviets had obviously got the jump on America in the “space race”. “The Evil Empire” now had deliverable nuclear teeth. The military implication of such a feat was obvious, and the world now found itself on the cusp of facing ICBMs (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) for the first time. The world was now staring down the barrel of new “wonder weapons”.

I was in the 8th grade at the time of Sputnik, and even at that young age I could sense the fear and sense of American vulnerability. We had those “duck and cover” drills in school, which were always unsettling because we were never told if they were a drill or the real thing. Heavy structure buildings in central business districts had their base floors designated as “Fall Out Shelters” stocked with caches of survival supplies. Little triangle signs were posted at the entrance of dedicated shelters so they could be easily identified. The Civil Defense Department (FEMA now) was revitalized and provided citizens with brochures (I still have one) of how to build bomb shelters in their homes. Everyone was a “prepper” back then.

The continued TV broadcasts of modified V-2 rockets blowing up on launch pads didn’t give any assurances to the public. Comedians had a field day with the material provided by the government. The jokes helped mollify our fears by focusing our minds on what we were trying to do rather than what the Soviets had already done. BTW that was terrible PR for the government to allow those horrible images of failure after failure parade across the nation’s TV screens almost weekly.

I discovered years later in college, there never was a “missile gap”, it was instead a “culture gap”. My Russian History professor made a startling statement in class one day, that made me think of the whole “missile gap” missive differently. The Prof said, “If American had not thought of Russia filled with baggy pants uneducated peasants, but with as many top scientists (thank you Mr. Sikorsky) as the US, then America wouldn’t have been caught with its pants down. (Pardon the pun). Having at the time recently come from a third world country I was aware of how Americans (as well as other nationalities) have a stereotype concept about people “over there”.

Well, those baggy pants peasant Russians are at it again. Now we have a “hypersonic missile gap”. While the US just recently successfully test fired its first hypersonic missile, Russia’s first successful test was in 2016. They are now fully operational and The Russian Federation has deployed them successfully in Ukrainian battlefields. It has been confirmed by Ukrainian officials. More worrisome, those hyperbaric missiles are mounted on Russian cruisers, Yasen-Class submarines, TU-160 long range heavy bombers, and ICBMs in the form of (MIRVs) Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles.

This hypersonic missile development forced the US to change for the first time its long-held policy of a nuclear response only in the case of a nuclear attack. Now America’s military doctrine says it can mount a nuclear response based on non-nuclear attacks (aka hypersonic missiles) as well as nuclear threats. https://thefreethoughtproject.com/antiwar/in-stunning-strategy-reversal-pentagon-will-no-longer-rule-out-use-of-nuclear-weapons-against-non-nuclear-threat.
America is defenseless against these missiles. To bring that point home the Russians mounted “aircraft carrier killer” Zircon Mach 8 hypersonic missiles with an operational range of 620 miles on a Russian frigate, the Admiral Gorshkov. It is currently on tour of the world’s open seas, rattling its Sabre. Notice the missile platform is not on a heavy cruiser, the backbone of the Russia Navy or even a destroyer, but positioned on a lowly frigate. That’s trash talking right there.

According to Pew Research the US ranks internationally 39th in science and The Russian Federation ranks 24th. In the 2021 International Academic Olympics China placed 1st, Russia 2nd and the USA 3rd. Since the start of Russia’s SMO (Special Military Operation) in February 2022, Russia has a President who has approval ratings from the mid 70% to low 80%. He had a sit-down meeting with about 20 mothers of current Russian soldiers fighting in the Ukraine or who have been killed there, and listened to what each of them had to say. Not all the mothers were complementary to Vlad to his face, but they all supported him. Russia is unified, the USA is not. Recently when Vladimir Putin was questioned about the apparent stalemate in Ukraine, he responded, “we haven’t done anything yet”.

Its time to rethink Russia and the Russian people and jettison Russophobia. We have illegally seized Russian citizen’s private property, we have banned private citizen athletes from international competition, banned Russian literature and classical music. Sounds like the old USSR doesn’t it? This is not your father’s old Soviet Union. Roles have been reversed. The former Evil Empire has been replaced by the current Empire of Lies. Russians are not baggy pants uneducated peasants.

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About the Author: Patriotman

Patriotman currently ekes out a survivalist lifestyle in a suburban northeastern state as best as he can. He has varied experience in political science, public policy, biological sciences, and higher education. Proudly Catholic and an Eagle Scout, he has no military experience and thus offers a relatable perspective for the average suburban prepper who is preparing for troubled times on the horizon with less than ideal teams and in less than ideal locations. Brushbeater Store Page: http://bit.ly/BrushbeaterStore

7 Comments

  1. Centurion_Cornelius February 2, 2023 at 09:29

    Agree to what you’ve said!

    Seems like the REAL ENEMIES of America reside or have resided in Mordor-on-the-Potomac.

    Any country that can kick the crap out of invading Mongol hordes, Napoleon, and Hitler’s Wehrmacht has got to be respected. One battle–Stalingrad: 400,000 troop NAZI 6th army capitulated; out of the nearly 91,000 German prisoners captured in Stalingrad, only about 5,000 returned to Germany.

    Their artists–especially in the visual arts–nonpareil. Check The Hermitage Museum, Saints Peter and Paul on Hare Island. Thrill seeing the Bolshoi or listening to Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, and Stravinsky.

    Work? Suffering? It’s in the RUSS gene pool:

    https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/3/1-barge-haulers-on-the-volga-1870-1873-ilya-repin.jpg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wDai9s4Hmc&ab_channel=LeonidKharitonov%28%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%A5%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%29

  2. boss21 February 2, 2023 at 10:08

    Good article. Von Braun was more a master administrator than engineer. Hitler wisely put him in charge of the more autistic types with brilliant results in Germany and later here.

    This guy was the Russian equivalent https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev . Did six years in the gulag and was unknown even in USSR till he died. The only contemporary footage was him shaking hands with Gagarin before the launch.
    Traveling in Russia is like traveling in USA. Two mighty nations built for and by giants who the inbred , feudal transhumanists are obsessed with taming and binding to the ‘garden’ of Europe and their fucked up soap opera.

  3. Oughtsix February 2, 2023 at 11:31

    Very good essay. Necessary course correction and painfully true.

    We are of an age…I remember those d&c drills in grade school, looking at those great big glass windows and thinking, “Those will not stop the blast wave.” The early indications of a long journey of struggle between fondest hopes and beliefs and based reality.

    Cry the beloved country….

  4. sixalpha February 2, 2023 at 12:01

    Very well written and insightful. I have a different take. Putin and the Russian Oligarchs are part of the globalist elite that will try to destroy the Hoi Polloi. A peace will be brokered by Herr Klaus Schwab and the WEF. Ukraine will be turned into the digital gulag and dystopia the WEF has been planning for over 50 years. Once this is in full swing the globalists will turn on the broken and looted U.S. with the Wagner Group and the Chinese People’s armed Police and try to do the same. Key operative word: Try.

    • Scipio February 2, 2023 at 14:07

      This is the most convoluted Russian phobia statement I have ever heard. The heart of your statement is Russia is the prime bad guy, with the Chinese thrown in as an aside. Thank god with have Blackwater to counter Wagner.

  5. Dan February 2, 2023 at 17:50

    I also remember the d&c drills during grade school. I think that Boeing was the assumed target. Students kept a white pillowcase and a luggage tag with a string with our name and our parents names written on the tag. At the sound of the alarm we students were to put the string around our neck move to the wall with the windows, duck down and put the pillow case over our heads. It took a couple of years for me to figure out the purpose for the tag and pillowcase. That was a time when our parents (veterans of wwii) our teachers, and the students loved this country. My dad thought being patriotic was an expression of profound gratitude.

  6. Sixalpha February 2, 2023 at 20:42

    Thank you sir! May I have another? I’m of the school that Putin is one in a long line of communist dictators. That’s all.

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