The new Huns: a view from Russia
Relationships of China with the neighbours, based on the sinocentric concept, remained essentially unchanged through centuries. One of the mechanisms was suppression of the cultural identity of potential rivals. For this purpose, China pushed the nomads to the West: the Huns, the Mongols, who swept away entire civilizations. This is the light, in which the today's patriotic campaign in Russia should be seen. Some accompanying phenomena become clear: distortion by Russians of their own historic heritage, barbaric reconstruction of Moscow, falsification of history. All that is aimed at pushing our country farther to the East, into the Asian steppes. The movement in the same direction has been continued until today, contributing to Russia's transformation to a Chinese satellite, and Russians - into the new Huns devoid of cultural individuality, with aggressiveness directed to the West. China equipped the Huns and the Mongols with a totalitarian state apparatus and corresponding ideology, negating all kinds of liberalism and human rights, but did not share with them its ancient culture. A glance at a map shows that Russia is between the West and the East, between China and Europe. From the East we have indifference to personal freedom and human rights, intolerance of non-conformism, superiority of executive power over the law (so-called executive tyranny) and intimidation of a major part of the population. From the West - fundamental sciences and ideas of liberalism, that are persisting in the thin layer of intelligentsia. Today we are losing it. Our science does not reject falsification and plagiarism; and even medicine ceased rejecting charlatanism. Moscow is losing its European appearance: pseudo-traditional kitsch, second-rate high-tech and post-modernism, like in middle-sized Chinese cities. The skyline of the newly built business centre Moskva-City is borrowed from Kuala Lumpur. Some building materials of Chinese origin, used in the course of Moscow reconstruction, have low strength and provoke allergic reactions. Low quality of products on sale, most of them originating from China, becomes more and more remarkable. A perfect illustration of these tendencies is the Russian custom-house: unparalleled bureaucratic procedures, bribes and other obstacles to the importation of medical and other products. Another example is the Russian postal service remaining notoriously slow and unreliable. So far, aggressiveness of the new Huns is manifested only in rhetoric or as violation of the copyright. Intellectual property, professional literature, computer programs are often misappropriated. Remarkably, proprietors of intellectual values have no tools of defending their rights. Accustoming a neighbour to violation of his rights means subordinating him. Why not, somebody must be the leader.
The Challenge in Europe
Only unified can the West defend itself. But first it must heal the transatlantic rift.
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Of all the international issues that will demand President Barack Obama's attention, two will be increasingly urgent: restoring the still-fragile relationship with Europe and addressing the collapse of the continent's post-1991 security architecture. (Story continued below...)
Washington will have to figure out a way to continue defending the liberal democratic values that ended the cold war while working with a resurgent, authoritarian and resentful Russia. Balancing these objectives won't be easy, and it will be tempting to give in to realpolitik, simply conceding to Russia a sphere of influence along its borders. Indeed, this idea already has strong purchase in some quarters of the West. Some don't see defending democratic principles as a high priority when countries are worried about securing foreign markets or ensuring their energy supplies.
But the United States must not abandon its principles and should proactively restore its close ties to Europe. Otherwise, 2008 could go down in history as the year when the fundamental assumptions of the post-cold-war world ceased to apply. These assumptions include the ideas that aggression is unacceptable, that borders cannot be changed by force and that democratically elected governments and the rule of law should not be forsaken for pragmatic concerns. Such ideas represent a commitment to the advance of liberal democracy in the post-communist world.
The past seven years have been a difficult time for U.S.-European relations. For a while—as long as economies did well and Europe seemed secure—the transatlantic rift looked like a luxury we could afford. Some even begin to talk about Europe becoming a middle ground between a democratic America and an autocratic Russia.
The second half of 2008 changed all that. We now find ourselves in a new security situation, one that threatens to reverse the advances of the past two decades. This world is one where authoritarian capitalism and massive oil wealth could become a plausible alternative to liberal democracy.
Obama need not accept that world. He has the opportunity to start anew, restoring ties with Europe that were damaged by the Iraq War and the economic crisis. He will also, however, have to face several realities.
The most important of these is the new, economically powerful and assertive Russia. This Russia showed the world on Aug. 8 that it is willing to use force to change borders and demand regime change in a democratically elected government on its border.
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