The Russian Offensive and the New World
This article was signed by columnist Petr Akopov for the Russian agency RIA Novosti. It was meant to be published only after the occupation of Ukraine by Russia would be complete. It was accidentally uploaded on February 26, 2022, then quickly deleted but the Internet Archive web service managed to save it. We translated it to English.
(Original Russian version available on the Internet Archive website).
A new world is being born before our eyes. The Russian military operation in Ukraine ushered in a new era, and did that in three dimensions (1) at once, as well as in a fourth dimension, this time internal to Russia. A new period begins today, both from an ideological and socio-economic point of view; but this subject is worth discussing later.
Russia is restoring its unity. Indeed, the tragedy of 1991, this terrible catastrophe in our history, this unnatural dislocation, has finally been overcome. And yes, This restoration comes at great sacrifices, through the tragic events of a quasi-civil war, where brothers, separated only by belonging to the Russian and Ukrainian armies, are still shooting at each other, but there will no longer be an anti-Russian Ukraine. Russia is restored to its historical integrity, bringing together the Russian world, the Russian people: the Great Russians (2), the Belarusians and the Little Russians (3).
Had we abandoned the idea of this reunification, had we allowed this temporary division to stick for centuries, we would have betrayed the memory of our ancestors and been cursed by our descendants for having let the Russian land disintegrate.
Vladimir Putin has assumed, without any exaggeration, a historic responsibility by taking the decision not to leave the Ukrainian question to future generations. Indeed, the need to resolve the Ukraine problem could only remain Russia’s priority, for two essential reasons. The lesser of which being Russia’s national security, that is, letting Ukraine become anti-Russian.
The main reason is an eternal complex of divided peoples, a complex of national humiliation due to the fact that the Russian hearth and home first lost a part of its foundations (Kyiv), and must endure the idea of the existence of two States, of two peoples. To continue to live like this would be to renounce our history, either by accepting the insane idea that “only Ukraine is the real Russia” or by remembering, helplessly and with gnashing of teeth, the time when “we lost the Ukrainian”. Over the decades, the reunification of Russia with Ukraine would become more and more difficult: the change of codes, the derussification of Russians living in Ukraine and anti-Russian propaganda among Ukrainian Little Russians would have increased. . Also, if the West had consolidated geopolitical and military control in Ukraine, the return to Russia would have become totally impossible, since the Russians would have had to confront the entire Atlantic bloc.
Now that problem no longer exists: Ukraine has returned to Russia. This return does not mean that Ukraine will lose its statehood. Simply, it will be transformed, reorganized and returned to its original state as an integral part of the Russian world. Under what borders? In what form? Will an alliance with Russia be established, through the CSTO and the Eurasian Economic Union or as a state that is part of the Union of Russia and Belarus? This will be decided once the anti-Russian Ukraine no longer exists. Be that as it may, the period of division of the Russian people is coming to an end.
Here begins the second dimension of the new era: it concerns the relations of Russia with the West, and not only Russia, but the Russian world, meaning three states: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, acting as a single geopolitical entity. These relations have entered a new phase, and the West sees Russia returning to its historical borders in Europe. It is loudly indignant about it, although in the depths of its soul it must admit that it could not have been otherwise.
Who, in the old European capitals, in Paris or in Berlin, could really believe that Moscow would give up Kyiv? That the Russians would forever be a divided people? And this, at the very moment when Europe is uniting, when the German and French elites are trying to regain control of European integration from the Anglo-Saxons and to build a united Europe! Forgetting that the unification of Europe was only made possible by the unification of Germany, which was achieved thanks to the good — albeit not very intelligent — Russian will. Any claim to Russian lands is more than the height of ingratitude, it is geopolitical stupidity. The West as a whole, and Europe in particular, had no power to keep Ukraine in its sphere of influence, let alone take over Ukraine. Not to understand this was geopolitical foolishness.
More precisely, there was only one option: to bet on the further collapse of Russia, that is, the Russian Federation. But the fact that it did not work should have been clear twenty years ago. And already fifteen years ago, after Putin’s Munich speech, even the deaf could hear that Russia was back.
Today, the West is trying to punish Russia for coming back, for preventing Westerners from getting rich at its expense, for stopping Western expansion eastward. Seeking to punish us, the West believes that our relationship with it is of vital importance. But that hasn’t been the case for a long time now.
The world has changed, and the Europeans as well as the Anglo-Saxons who rule the West understand this. Any Western pressure on Russia will be in vain. The damage from the escalation of the confrontation will be bilateral, but Russia is morally and geopolitically prepared for it, when a worsening of the opposition will entail significant costs for the West, the main ones of which will not necessarily be economic.
Europe, as the West, wanted autonomy. Indeed, the German project of a greater integrated Europe is strategic nonsense if the Anglo-Saxons maintain ideological, military and geopolitical control over the Old World. Moreover, this project cannot succeed since the Anglo-Saxons need a Europe they could control. However, Europe must seek autonomy for another reason: in case the United States isolates itself (due to its growing internal conflicts and controversies), or concentrates on the Pacific region, where the center of Geopolitical gravity is shifting today.
The Anglo-Saxons are leading Europe into a confrontation with Russia, thus depriving Europeans of any chance of independence. In the same way, Europe is trying to impose a break away from China. If the Atlanticists rejoice today that the “Russian threat” is unifying the Western bloc, Berlin and Paris must understand that having lost all hope of autonomy, the European project will collapse in the medium term. This is why independent-minded Europeans are not at all interested in building a new Iron Curtain on their eastern borders, realizing that it will turn into a bullpen for Europe. The era of Old World world leadership (more precisely, half a millennium) is over anyway. However, various options are still possible for its future.
The third dimension of current events is the acceleration of the construction of a new world order, the outlines of which are increasingly clearly due to the fact that Anglo-Saxon globalization is so widespread. A multipolar world has finally become a reality. In this operation in Ukraine, only the West opposes Russia, because the rest of the world understands it perfectly: it is a conflict between Russia and the West, it is a response to geopolitical expansion of the Atlanticists, it is the return of Russia to its historical space and its place in the world.
China, India, Latin America, Africa, the Islamic world and Southeast Asia, no one believes the West rules the world order anymore, let alone sets the rules of the game. Russia has not only challenged the West, it has shown that the era of global Western domination can be considered completely and definitively over. The new world will be built by all civilizations and all centers of power, and this, of course, in collaboration with the West (united or not), but the latter will no longer be able to impose either its terms or its rules.
Footnotes:
1. The author refers here to three dimensions: the desire for Ukraine to once again become a Russian territory, the redefinition of relations between Russia and the West, the acceleration of the construction of a new world order. -
2. Reference to Great Russia, the historical name of the territories of European Central Russia, and later, of all Russia. -
3. Reference to Little Russia, the historical name used under the Russian Empire for the majority of present-day Ukraine.
