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BOILING WITH RAGE: HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY: THE BROTHERHOOD OF NATIONS
by Boris Tumanov
Translated by Elena Leonova
Source: Novoe Vremya, No. 34, August 25, 2006, p. 6
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
August 28, 2006 Monday
Russia goes further than the West in everything it does; While
receiving Armenian President Robert Kocharian in Sochi last week,
President Vladimir Putin congratulated him on the successful progress
of the Year of Azerbaijan in Russia. Kocharian ventured to remind
Putin that he is the president of Armenia, not Azerbaijan - and Putin
was forced to agree.
While receiving Armenian President Robert Kocharian in Sochi last
week, President Vladimir Putin congratulated him on the successful
progress of the Year of Azerbaijan in Russia. Kocharian ventured to
remind Putin that he is the president of Armenia, not Azerbaijan -
and Putin was forced to agree.
Mixing up the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan - it's almost as
if Putin had mistaken Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Observers are still wondering how Putin
could have made such a faux pas.
Did the resort atmosphere of Sochi make him too relaxed? Has the
well-trained memory of an intelligence officer started to fail him?
Perhaps he's been bad at geography all his life? Or maybe the slip of
the tongue wasn't accidental at all - was it Putin's way of hinting to
Kocharian that Russia is changing its priorities in the South Caucasus?
In our view, none of these suggestions are accurate - since Putin's
slip of the tongue actually indicates something completely different.
Back in the days when the world was multipolar, thanks to the existence
of a great power that called itself the Soviet Union, Soviet leaders
didn't consider it necessary to burden themselves with knowledge of
details about all Soviet republics. Suffice it to note that some
Politburo members were sincerely convinced that the Armenians and
Azeris were fellow Muslim peoples.
Until now, Putin had never permitted himself any carelessness
with regard to former Soviet republics. He never confused Latvia
and Lithuania, Tajiks and Uzbeks, or even Russia and Ukraine. But
times have changed. Russia, as Putin himself pointed out, has risen
from its knees and is now talking to the rest of the world in the
tough language of oil and gas pipelines. And the fact that Russian
politicians have started mixing up Armenia and Azerbaijan again is
the best evidence of Russia's new-found greatness.
Last week, the Our Own (Nashi) youth movement picketed the British
Embassy in Moscow - demanding that British Ambassador Anthony Brenton
apologize immediately for having dared to attend the Other Russia
opposition conference on July 12, shortly before the G8 summit in St.
Petersburg. Judging by the statements of the picketers, they believe
that Brenton insulted the entire Russian people by attending a
conference that was also attended by such hellspawn as Eduard Limonov
and Viktor Anpilov.
Our Own's picket outside the British Embassy says a great deal. Most
immediately apparent is Our Own's delay in demanding an apology
from Ambassador Brenton - six weeks after he allegedly insulted all
Russian citizens. There can be only one explanation for this delay:
the Kremlin brain center really has no idea how to keep its homuniculi
busy. Such pickets might actually become Our Own's sole occupation:
hanging around the embassies of Western states, demanding (like the
unforgettable Father Fedor) that governments repent publicly of their
sins against Russia.
True, some might point out that in no Western country would even
the most hopeless idiot think of demanding that foreign ambassadors
apologize for meeting with representatives of the opposition -
especially such a comical opposition as the forces represented by
Limonov or Anpilov. But that's why we're Russia, after all - to go
further than the West in everything without exception.
Last week, passengers on a British Airways flight from Malaga to
Manchester delayed take-off by refusing to fly with some Arabs who
might have been terrorists, according to the law-abiding Britons.
These suspicions were based on the fact that the Arabs were talking
amongst themselves in their own language and wearing dark jackets.
The plane didn't take off until the unfortunate Arabs were no longer
on board.
Such precedents have already happened in Russia, with Russian
passengers on domestic and international flights demanding that
persons of Caucasus ethnicity should be removed from the plane. This
used to be considered a phenomenon unique to our country, which is
not known for inter-ethnic tolerance. In the Malaga case, however,
the Arabs were ostracized by politically correct Europeans.
This is encouraging. When people from different countries, with
different national cultures and different social traditions, start
reacting to the same irritants in the same ways, this indicates that
the coveted progress of globalization is making great strides.
by Boris Tumanov
Translated by Elena Leonova
Source: Novoe Vremya, No. 34, August 25, 2006, p. 6
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
August 28, 2006 Monday
Russia goes further than the West in everything it does; While
receiving Armenian President Robert Kocharian in Sochi last week,
President Vladimir Putin congratulated him on the successful progress
of the Year of Azerbaijan in Russia. Kocharian ventured to remind
Putin that he is the president of Armenia, not Azerbaijan - and Putin
was forced to agree.
While receiving Armenian President Robert Kocharian in Sochi last
week, President Vladimir Putin congratulated him on the successful
progress of the Year of Azerbaijan in Russia. Kocharian ventured to
remind Putin that he is the president of Armenia, not Azerbaijan -
and Putin was forced to agree.
Mixing up the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan - it's almost as
if Putin had mistaken Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Observers are still wondering how Putin
could have made such a faux pas.
Did the resort atmosphere of Sochi make him too relaxed? Has the
well-trained memory of an intelligence officer started to fail him?
Perhaps he's been bad at geography all his life? Or maybe the slip of
the tongue wasn't accidental at all - was it Putin's way of hinting to
Kocharian that Russia is changing its priorities in the South Caucasus?
In our view, none of these suggestions are accurate - since Putin's
slip of the tongue actually indicates something completely different.
Back in the days when the world was multipolar, thanks to the existence
of a great power that called itself the Soviet Union, Soviet leaders
didn't consider it necessary to burden themselves with knowledge of
details about all Soviet republics. Suffice it to note that some
Politburo members were sincerely convinced that the Armenians and
Azeris were fellow Muslim peoples.
Until now, Putin had never permitted himself any carelessness
with regard to former Soviet republics. He never confused Latvia
and Lithuania, Tajiks and Uzbeks, or even Russia and Ukraine. But
times have changed. Russia, as Putin himself pointed out, has risen
from its knees and is now talking to the rest of the world in the
tough language of oil and gas pipelines. And the fact that Russian
politicians have started mixing up Armenia and Azerbaijan again is
the best evidence of Russia's new-found greatness.
Last week, the Our Own (Nashi) youth movement picketed the British
Embassy in Moscow - demanding that British Ambassador Anthony Brenton
apologize immediately for having dared to attend the Other Russia
opposition conference on July 12, shortly before the G8 summit in St.
Petersburg. Judging by the statements of the picketers, they believe
that Brenton insulted the entire Russian people by attending a
conference that was also attended by such hellspawn as Eduard Limonov
and Viktor Anpilov.
Our Own's picket outside the British Embassy says a great deal. Most
immediately apparent is Our Own's delay in demanding an apology
from Ambassador Brenton - six weeks after he allegedly insulted all
Russian citizens. There can be only one explanation for this delay:
the Kremlin brain center really has no idea how to keep its homuniculi
busy. Such pickets might actually become Our Own's sole occupation:
hanging around the embassies of Western states, demanding (like the
unforgettable Father Fedor) that governments repent publicly of their
sins against Russia.
True, some might point out that in no Western country would even
the most hopeless idiot think of demanding that foreign ambassadors
apologize for meeting with representatives of the opposition -
especially such a comical opposition as the forces represented by
Limonov or Anpilov. But that's why we're Russia, after all - to go
further than the West in everything without exception.
Last week, passengers on a British Airways flight from Malaga to
Manchester delayed take-off by refusing to fly with some Arabs who
might have been terrorists, according to the law-abiding Britons.
These suspicions were based on the fact that the Arabs were talking
amongst themselves in their own language and wearing dark jackets.
The plane didn't take off until the unfortunate Arabs were no longer
on board.
Such precedents have already happened in Russia, with Russian
passengers on domestic and international flights demanding that
persons of Caucasus ethnicity should be removed from the plane. This
used to be considered a phenomenon unique to our country, which is
not known for inter-ethnic tolerance. In the Malaga case, however,
the Arabs were ostracized by politically correct Europeans.
This is encouraging. When people from different countries, with
different national cultures and different social traditions, start
reacting to the same irritants in the same ways, this indicates that
the coveted progress of globalization is making great strides.