Ruthra decided that he had wasted this time, too. The theme was familiar, and there was nothing surprising about it, in the sense that it could be heard among "truth-telling" intellectuals in a decent (or not so decent) bar. The obvious point here was to mark its cohesion and secrecy, and of course – some stimulation of the existing struggle with a superpowerful opponent. Like the previous ones, this speaker spoke at length about secret conspiracies and "those who want to enslave mankind".
– …Banks, intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, and Google are working in close conjunction. They are building an electronic gulag in which there is no place for the state, national sovereignty, or individual freedom. Everything they deal with is just a means for them to achieve their main goal – absolute power. That's the way it is, like-minded people. If anything, I am always ready to answer your questions. Write to me on e-mail. The address and method will be voiced to you individually by my assistants. Thank you for your attention.
The hall applauded again approvingly.
– Dear friends, I would like to give the floor to Comrade Gorbatov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an honorary member of many international scientific communities. He called his report "Colossus with a clay head". May I have your attention, please? You have the floor, Zinovy Theodorovich.
– Good afternoon," the academician began his speech.
He was a man with a stern, clear gaze, military or athletic in appearance, smooth-shaven and neatly dressed. He was above middle-aged, with a slightly husky voice, which had a distinctive regional or ancestral accent.
– Dear friends, comrades-in-arms, I will begin my speech with the words of Gorbachev, the destroyer of the Soviet Union.
The topic was a beaten one as well. Ruthra tried to stay awake, occasionally listening to the topic.
– …And as a natural outcome of "perestroika" – the collapse of the USSR, the collapse of the Soviet Army, the hasty withdrawal of many of its units and formations from Eastern Europe and the Baltics to the open field, and so on… in his time, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence for several years published a number of his aphorisms. Among them, in addition to "shock democracy", there is such a one: "A colossus with a clay head"… this aphorism, as it seems, very accurately characterizes the Soviet Union in the last 6 years of its existence… In the preface to his book "Special Operations. The Lubyanka and the Kremlin. 1930-1950 years" Pavel Anatolievich wrote: "Whether we want it or not, but time passes, and what yesterday was a Great State Secret loses its exclusivity and secrecy due to major turns in the history of the state and becomes common knowledge – if only there was a desire to know the truth. Observing my military oath, I kept silent as long as the Soviet Union existed. When the activities of Soviet intelligence and a number of aspects of Soviet foreign policy ceased to be secret after the famous events of 1991 and all that I had faithfully served ceased to exist, I could not and had no right to remain silent.
About 20 minutes later and that topic was over.
– …Let me conclude my speech. Thank you for your attention.
Then the floor was given to two "former" top officers of the special services, who were now professors at the Slavic World Institute.
