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Canada Free Press
March 8 2014
The Return of "The Horror of History"
By Alexander Maistrovoy
While condemning the actions of Russia in Crimea, John Kerry said that
the time of Empires is long gone; we live in the "21st century, and
not in the 19th century". After speaking with Putin, Angela Merkel
said that he lost touch with reality and that he lives "in another
dimension".
In my opinion the time of Empires has not passed yet and Putin is in
full harmony with reality.
The United States, and with their assistance a significant part of
Europe have created an isolated civilization: extremely successful and
advanced, but isolated. Geography played a great role in it, because
the U.S. and Britain are island states and mainland Europe is a
peninsula. From a cultural stand point, this civilization has been
based on ancient models of Greek democracy and Roman law; ethnically -
on a relatively homogeneous population in a very limited space.
For millennia giant Eurasia had existed in a completely different
position that has never changed. Mircea Eliade wrote with bitterness
that his people, Romanians, like other Balkan peoples consistently
lived in fear of the "The Horror of History". It's difficult to create
and develop sustainable forms of democracy when you live in perpetual
state of hordes, intrusions and tyrannies. Meanwhile, leading Eurasian
powers - Russia, China, Turkey and Iran - were formed exactly in such
an ominous environment: endless open borders, limitless vastness,
mixed, diverse and often hostile to each other and its governments
population dispersed over an infinite space.
Only through harsh centralized power it was possible to maintain such
population, these areas and these boundaries. This was a natural
prerequisite for creation of the Empires. Every Eurasian state - from
Persian's Achaemenids and ancient China (Tianxia) to Ottomans and
Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union, Communist China and Islamic
republic of Iran - desired to expand its boundaries to resist its
rivals and hostile, spontaneously emerging entities (such the Mongols,
The Mughal Empire, the state of Tamerlane), to keep rebellious
population and augment the resources. In the 19th-20th centuries these
common threats were supplemented by the expansion of the West: The
British Empire and the United States. No one, not even modern powers,
had forgotten the "surprises", in the face of nomads or Islamist
gangs, by constantly bustling steppe spreading from the Caspian Sea to
Mongolia.
The ruling power could not afford itself to discuss issues of law and
justice in a state of permanent external hazards, especially when a
significant part of population looked forward to enemy invasion. Any
resistance must be crushed by an iron fist, troops ought to be
mobilized as promptly and as quickly as possible to launch an attack
on the enemy on his own territory. Such tactic, with different degrees
of success, was used equally by Sassanids and Sultans after Ottoman
defeat at the Battle of Ankara; Empire of the Great Ming in China and
Shahanshah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after the invasion of Iran during
World War II by Soviet and British forces; Stalin, Chinese Communists
and Putin now.
Democracy in such circumstances was not just impossible - it was fatal.
It was perfectly clear to Montesquieu when he wrote that democratic
societies are possible only in relatively small isolate ethnic
homogeneous communities that existed in Europe, and utterly impossible
and implausible in vast spaces of the continent with restless masses
and heterogeneous populations.
Modern passionate supporters of democracy have completely forgotten
about it although the situation has not changed a bit. Russia, China,
Turkey and Iran are huge conglomerates with diverse populations,
bordering with other aggressive and powerful nations. As it occurred
many times before - lightly loosened reins would cause a state to
collapse: during the unrests in Iran in the late 18th century; in
Turkey in the early 20th century; in China in the era of the Three
Kingdoms (AD 220-280), during the Boxer Uprising and unrests in the
late 19th - early 20th century; in course of Russian Provisional
Government in 1917 and after the dismantle of the USSR.
Rigid ruling demanded clear game rules. In order to survive, a full
submission of peoples of empires to the regime was required -
otherwise, a catastrophe would incur upon them similar to the one
happened to the Armenians and Assyrians in Turkey, Chechens,
Circassians and Tatars in Russia.
Small independent entities immediately become the object of
confrontation: obviously, not being a part of one Empire, they
automatically become part of other and subsequently a place of arms
for further offenses. This happened with the Kurds, occupied by the
Turks, Iran and Iraq; with Tibet, which lies on the border of India
and China; with Caucasus, which divide the Ottoman and Russian
empires; with South Azerbaijan, which occupied by Russians, Turks,
Soviet Union and eventually by Iran in 1946, and with Armenia.
This is exactly what's happening now with Ukraine and especially
Crimea peninsula with massive Russian population and strategically
important base for Russia's naval fleet in Sevastopol which Russia
wouldn't give up to anyone - neither NATO, nor Turkey. A land without
an owner is doomed to become an enemy outpost and threat to the
Empire.
Ayatollahs, Communists in China and Islamists in Turkey are carefully
following the developments around Ukraine
These principles were, are, and will always be eternal for mainland
Eurasia. This is why, first of all, there will never be strong liberal
democracy, similar to the island civilizations, and secondly, fighting
for territory will never stop. It is the very essence of survival, and
not a whim of Putin, the Chinese Communists, the actual Turkish rulers
(no matter, army or Islamist) or the Iranian regime, either Shah or
Ayatollahs.
The natural aspiration of Eurasian Empires for expansion can only be
restrained vigorously. West fears any serious interference; eternal
mechanisms are at work, as in nature, with full force, and any
moralizing by Obama, Kerry, Merkel and Cameron becomes a reason for
mockery in Kremlin, Beijing and Tehran.
Ayatollahs, Communists in China and Islamists in Turkey are carefully
following the developments around Ukraine. They want to see what
actions the West will take next, in order to make their own
conclusions. They have all the reasons to believe that the West would
limit itself by verbal reprimand.
The West has voluntarily left the stage of History. So it is not
surprising that History returns bringing horror to world.
Alexander Maistrovoy, a journalist with the Russian-language Israeli
newspaper Novosty nedely.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/61640
March 8 2014
The Return of "The Horror of History"
By Alexander Maistrovoy
While condemning the actions of Russia in Crimea, John Kerry said that
the time of Empires is long gone; we live in the "21st century, and
not in the 19th century". After speaking with Putin, Angela Merkel
said that he lost touch with reality and that he lives "in another
dimension".
In my opinion the time of Empires has not passed yet and Putin is in
full harmony with reality.
The United States, and with their assistance a significant part of
Europe have created an isolated civilization: extremely successful and
advanced, but isolated. Geography played a great role in it, because
the U.S. and Britain are island states and mainland Europe is a
peninsula. From a cultural stand point, this civilization has been
based on ancient models of Greek democracy and Roman law; ethnically -
on a relatively homogeneous population in a very limited space.
For millennia giant Eurasia had existed in a completely different
position that has never changed. Mircea Eliade wrote with bitterness
that his people, Romanians, like other Balkan peoples consistently
lived in fear of the "The Horror of History". It's difficult to create
and develop sustainable forms of democracy when you live in perpetual
state of hordes, intrusions and tyrannies. Meanwhile, leading Eurasian
powers - Russia, China, Turkey and Iran - were formed exactly in such
an ominous environment: endless open borders, limitless vastness,
mixed, diverse and often hostile to each other and its governments
population dispersed over an infinite space.
Only through harsh centralized power it was possible to maintain such
population, these areas and these boundaries. This was a natural
prerequisite for creation of the Empires. Every Eurasian state - from
Persian's Achaemenids and ancient China (Tianxia) to Ottomans and
Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union, Communist China and Islamic
republic of Iran - desired to expand its boundaries to resist its
rivals and hostile, spontaneously emerging entities (such the Mongols,
The Mughal Empire, the state of Tamerlane), to keep rebellious
population and augment the resources. In the 19th-20th centuries these
common threats were supplemented by the expansion of the West: The
British Empire and the United States. No one, not even modern powers,
had forgotten the "surprises", in the face of nomads or Islamist
gangs, by constantly bustling steppe spreading from the Caspian Sea to
Mongolia.
The ruling power could not afford itself to discuss issues of law and
justice in a state of permanent external hazards, especially when a
significant part of population looked forward to enemy invasion. Any
resistance must be crushed by an iron fist, troops ought to be
mobilized as promptly and as quickly as possible to launch an attack
on the enemy on his own territory. Such tactic, with different degrees
of success, was used equally by Sassanids and Sultans after Ottoman
defeat at the Battle of Ankara; Empire of the Great Ming in China and
Shahanshah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after the invasion of Iran during
World War II by Soviet and British forces; Stalin, Chinese Communists
and Putin now.
Democracy in such circumstances was not just impossible - it was fatal.
It was perfectly clear to Montesquieu when he wrote that democratic
societies are possible only in relatively small isolate ethnic
homogeneous communities that existed in Europe, and utterly impossible
and implausible in vast spaces of the continent with restless masses
and heterogeneous populations.
Modern passionate supporters of democracy have completely forgotten
about it although the situation has not changed a bit. Russia, China,
Turkey and Iran are huge conglomerates with diverse populations,
bordering with other aggressive and powerful nations. As it occurred
many times before - lightly loosened reins would cause a state to
collapse: during the unrests in Iran in the late 18th century; in
Turkey in the early 20th century; in China in the era of the Three
Kingdoms (AD 220-280), during the Boxer Uprising and unrests in the
late 19th - early 20th century; in course of Russian Provisional
Government in 1917 and after the dismantle of the USSR.
Rigid ruling demanded clear game rules. In order to survive, a full
submission of peoples of empires to the regime was required -
otherwise, a catastrophe would incur upon them similar to the one
happened to the Armenians and Assyrians in Turkey, Chechens,
Circassians and Tatars in Russia.
Small independent entities immediately become the object of
confrontation: obviously, not being a part of one Empire, they
automatically become part of other and subsequently a place of arms
for further offenses. This happened with the Kurds, occupied by the
Turks, Iran and Iraq; with Tibet, which lies on the border of India
and China; with Caucasus, which divide the Ottoman and Russian
empires; with South Azerbaijan, which occupied by Russians, Turks,
Soviet Union and eventually by Iran in 1946, and with Armenia.
This is exactly what's happening now with Ukraine and especially
Crimea peninsula with massive Russian population and strategically
important base for Russia's naval fleet in Sevastopol which Russia
wouldn't give up to anyone - neither NATO, nor Turkey. A land without
an owner is doomed to become an enemy outpost and threat to the
Empire.
Ayatollahs, Communists in China and Islamists in Turkey are carefully
following the developments around Ukraine
These principles were, are, and will always be eternal for mainland
Eurasia. This is why, first of all, there will never be strong liberal
democracy, similar to the island civilizations, and secondly, fighting
for territory will never stop. It is the very essence of survival, and
not a whim of Putin, the Chinese Communists, the actual Turkish rulers
(no matter, army or Islamist) or the Iranian regime, either Shah or
Ayatollahs.
The natural aspiration of Eurasian Empires for expansion can only be
restrained vigorously. West fears any serious interference; eternal
mechanisms are at work, as in nature, with full force, and any
moralizing by Obama, Kerry, Merkel and Cameron becomes a reason for
mockery in Kremlin, Beijing and Tehran.
Ayatollahs, Communists in China and Islamists in Turkey are carefully
following the developments around Ukraine. They want to see what
actions the West will take next, in order to make their own
conclusions. They have all the reasons to believe that the West would
limit itself by verbal reprimand.
The West has voluntarily left the stage of History. So it is not
surprising that History returns bringing horror to world.
Alexander Maistrovoy, a journalist with the Russian-language Israeli
newspaper Novosty nedely.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/61640