I’ve recently returned from my second trip to Russia. I was invited to participate in the Immortal Regiment March on May 9th. My travel and lodging was paid for by the Immortal Regiment Committee. May 9th is perhaps the most important holiday in Russia because in celebrates Russia’s victory of the Nazi Army which cost the lives of 27 million Russians. The participants in the Great Patriotic War are known as the Immortal Regiment, and each year marches are conducted. The one in Moscow, in which I participated and carried a poster with my father’s picture, set a record with more than 1 million people carrying poster pictures of the parents and relatives who died and participated in that war.
I’m working feverishly on several short videos that I will share as soon as they are completed. I also went as a representative of our US Veterans for Peace organization to visit the Executive Director of the Russian VFP in the far northern republic of Komi. It is the desire of both organizations to formalize a relationship at this time when relations between our two countries are so fragile. While in Siktivkar, a city of some 300,000, I was featured on Komi TV. The short video is embedded here.
The film crew did their research on me and included clips from some of my films including Thirty Seconds to Midnight. Oliver Stone was also included in this show speaking about his interviews with Vladimir Putin.
The title of one of my short films will be “Who Are These Russians?” It will be a commentary on why America and the West demonize all things Russian with a particular focus on Mr. Putin, and will show several interviews I made with Russian students, university professors, former military, and ordinary Russians. They will speak directly to the American people, who they consider friends. All encourage more Americans to come to Russia to see for themselves what Russians and Russia are like. They also, to a person, distinguish between the American people, whom they like and admire, and the U.S. government, which they fear and do not trust.
I’ve repeated this many times since my 2016 visit to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Crimea, “do not believe ANYTHING you hear, read, or see from the media and government here in the US.” I will attempt to show why the mindset of the “foreign policy experts” in America have considered Russia as an adversary for many decades, and why it is categorically wrong headed and false. Sadly, the American public has been brainwashed for decades about Russia as an evil, murderous country. My hope is to keep trying to tell anyone who will listen, Who These Russians really are.
