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THE END OF ILLUSIONS ABOUT RUSSIA
Adam Michnik
Gazeta Wyborcza
Aug 16 2008
Poland
Russia reverting to "Bolshevik aggressiveness"
It is obvious for an impartial observer that Russia is returning
today to its historically well-trodden path of tsarist autocracy
and Bolshevik aggressiveness. This means that the Russian state is
building its identity on a permanent conflict with its neighbours
and other international subjects.
This shift in Russia's policy is a result of its domestic policies. It
is just a historical regularity that Russia's aggressiveness outside
has usually been accompanied by a suppression of civil liberties and
terrorisation of the public opinion at home.
Irrespective of how you view President Mikheil Saakashvilli - and
many people in Georgia and elsewhere view him critically - it's
obvious that Georgia has the right to territorial integrity. The
manner in which Mr Saakashvilli has claimed that integrity this time
is a matter of debate. The Georgian people will surely judge it in
democratic elections.
What is alarming in Russia's strategy is not only its use of
exceptionally brutal and cruel force, but also the fact that the
Kremlin's political strategy is based on creating regional trouble
spots: Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. This
lets it resort to violence whenever it wants, and provokes violence
from those states that feel their territorial integrity to be under
threat.
My Russian friends will say that America also behaves this way from
time to time, but, while not willing to enter into a debate on US
policies, I can say that no US trespass justifies what happened in
Georgia. Just like none of Hitler's crimes can be a justification
of Stalin's.
In the present conflict, everyone's a loser.
The Georgian president and government are losers, because the operation
aimed at incorporating Ossetia ended in a fiasco.
The Kremlin is a loser, because no one can have any doubts anymore
about what Russia's true face is and what are the goals of her
military operation.
The Russian democracy is a great loser, because it's an old truth,
well known to the Russians, that no nation can be free if it oppresses
other nations. Alexander Herzen referred to the way Russian troops
behaved in Poland during the 1863 war as 'cannibalism'. Andrei Sakharov
called the Afghan war 'disgraceful'.
I believe that this is exactly how the Kremlin's latest imperial
affair in the Caucasus will be judged by the Russian democracy.
The most tragic thing in all this is that innocent people are suffering
from Moscow's imperial policy. Their plight, their pain, their loss
of loved ones -that's something the politicians playing this game of
chess failed to take into account.
Adam Michnik
Gazeta Wyborcza
Aug 16 2008
Poland
Russia reverting to "Bolshevik aggressiveness"
It is obvious for an impartial observer that Russia is returning
today to its historically well-trodden path of tsarist autocracy
and Bolshevik aggressiveness. This means that the Russian state is
building its identity on a permanent conflict with its neighbours
and other international subjects.
This shift in Russia's policy is a result of its domestic policies. It
is just a historical regularity that Russia's aggressiveness outside
has usually been accompanied by a suppression of civil liberties and
terrorisation of the public opinion at home.
Irrespective of how you view President Mikheil Saakashvilli - and
many people in Georgia and elsewhere view him critically - it's
obvious that Georgia has the right to territorial integrity. The
manner in which Mr Saakashvilli has claimed that integrity this time
is a matter of debate. The Georgian people will surely judge it in
democratic elections.
What is alarming in Russia's strategy is not only its use of
exceptionally brutal and cruel force, but also the fact that the
Kremlin's political strategy is based on creating regional trouble
spots: Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. This
lets it resort to violence whenever it wants, and provokes violence
from those states that feel their territorial integrity to be under
threat.
My Russian friends will say that America also behaves this way from
time to time, but, while not willing to enter into a debate on US
policies, I can say that no US trespass justifies what happened in
Georgia. Just like none of Hitler's crimes can be a justification
of Stalin's.
In the present conflict, everyone's a loser.
The Georgian president and government are losers, because the operation
aimed at incorporating Ossetia ended in a fiasco.
The Kremlin is a loser, because no one can have any doubts anymore
about what Russia's true face is and what are the goals of her
military operation.
The Russian democracy is a great loser, because it's an old truth,
well known to the Russians, that no nation can be free if it oppresses
other nations. Alexander Herzen referred to the way Russian troops
behaved in Poland during the 1863 war as 'cannibalism'. Andrei Sakharov
called the Afghan war 'disgraceful'.
I believe that this is exactly how the Kremlin's latest imperial
affair in the Caucasus will be judged by the Russian democracy.
The most tragic thing in all this is that innocent people are suffering
from Moscow's imperial policy. Their plight, their pain, their loss
of loved ones -that's something the politicians playing this game of
chess failed to take into account.