Friday, June 15, 2007

On the Russian Front Today

I seriously wonder if individuals in Russia will ever be able to overcome the horrors of their forced collective past.  There are times when I think events are going the individuals’ way, but mostly that thought is crushed by the seemingly lackadaisical attitude the majority of the Russian people exhibit toward current attempts to consolidate power at all levels into a new collectivism, which is simply the old collectivism, albeit in better suits.

Matthew Omolesky has an interesting piece up at The Spectator, regarding recent events in Russia, titled A Dangerous Historical Myopia, which cautions against ignoring recent events by referencing past events.  From the piece.

But these absurd claims of a Russian struggle against contemporary fascism are more than just historical myopia and incoherent bellicism. They are clear indicators of the failure of Russia after the initial promise following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and serve as a warning of worse to come. Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation has perspicaciously described these aforementioned appeals to anti-fascism first as “part of classical Soviet political-warfare techniques (undoubtedly studied by the KGB alumni who are now in charge of Russia) to singularize a designated opponent while attacking it, so as to inhibit general solidarity with that targeted opponent.” What is more, Socor ominously notes, “by stirring up enmity within Russia against Estonia over the Bronze Soldier, the Kremlin seeks to immunize the public against any Russian form of Vergangenheits-Bewaeltigung (Germany’s post-Nazi comprehension of its history) so as to avoid internal challenges to the Soviet-successor ruling elite.” More evidence, in other words, for Pyotr Chaadaev’s famous assertion that Russia’s universal lesson to the world is that its example is to be avoided at all costs.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/15 at 01:11 PM
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