Cold War II
by John Armaos
America and the rest of the western world persevered and eventually won a Cold War against the insidious tyranny of the Soviet Union, while enduring a great deal of adversity and suffering along the way. Unfortunately, we are now headed towards a second Cold War. No, not with China, as you may think - considering China’s growing economic dominance - but with Russia. As has been reported, Russian President Vladamir Putin has seriously curtailed individual liberties, consolidated government power, and sought to expand Russian influence (a euphemism for Russian tyranny) over the former Soviet republics. But this time we are facing a weaker - and more pathetic - Russian people.
No one wants another cold war, but if we are to have one it would be better against this current round of Russian imperialism. During the first Cold War Russia was armed with the ideology of communism. Albeit a pseudo-ideology, but nonetheless an ideology with the appearance of a well-thought-out philosophy, with pseudo-intellectuals to arm it. Russia today has no ideology. There are no rallying cries for the common man, just the rallying cry of Russian heritage which will only succeed in winning approval with ethnic Russians. Russia could never hope to successfully impose its tyranny on non-Russian populations without some political ammunition. It has none - no philosophy, no ideology, no pseudo-intellectuals to arm it. It’s a pathetic, nihilistic Russia. The Russian people have no principles and not even a desire to understand the intricacies of governance - nothing.
In addition to its lack of ideology, Russia is also a far weaker military power. With the loss of its former satellite countries, which encompassed not only the former Soviet Republics but also the eastern bloc of European states, Russia is at a far worse geo-political stance than it has ever been. It is completely surrounded by pro-Western countries. The entire continent of Europe is almost completely a NATO alliance. What could Russia possibly do short of outright military invasion - which would surely result in NATO retaliation?
What appeared to be an assassination attempt on pro-Western Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko before the Ukrainian elections, and an obvious attempt to rig the elections so that a pro-Russian candidate would win, not only was a miserable failure but also backfired on Vladamir Putin to the extent it succeeded in angering the ethnic Ukrainians, who were sick of a century of Russian crimes against humanity inflicted upon them. The elections were overturned and the entire Western world acted as a protective watchdog for the will of the Ukrainian people. We will undoubtedly see more of this in Georgia, Latvia, and a host of other former Soviet republics. But we give too much credit to the ex-KGB agent-turned-Russian President. Putin is an incompetent fool, a product of the non-meritocracy of socialism. We can clearly see his incompetence with the failed Russian war on Chechnya, the botched hostage rescue attempt and inept cover-up in the Moscow theatre tragedy, clumsy interference in the Ukrainian elections, his inability to bring law and order by reining in the Russian mafia, and his adversarial yet childish rants against American and NATO interference in former Soviet republics.
Perhaps the Russian people are really to blame. For it is the people that ultimately can change a country overnight from a tyranny to a democracy. Alas, it appears the Russians just don’t care. There were pathetic attempts of protest when individual liberties were curtailed, but only a tiny fraction of the Russian population gave a damn. The Ukrainian people took their country back from the throes of tyranny, yet the Russian people are content with dictators ruling them (as is evident by the recent V-E day festivities in Russia that included an homage to Stalin, the worst criminal of human history). The Russian people deserve nothing less than misery and totalitarianism. Let them wallow in desolation. The western world will prevail against this new round of Russian imperialism. This new Cold War will be an easy one to win.
Discuss this Article (5 messages)
|
