Never again
The genocide of the Jewish people was happening while the Second World War was being fought, but it is already extensively known that it didn’t start with the official date of the conflagration. The roots of it were set in place way before that and I won’t be delving into the subject too much. From Friedrich Ratzel, to Kjellen, to Haushofer and finally to Rudolph Hess there were only 30+ years. From Lebensraum to Endlosung der Judenfrage there wasn’t much. The rhetoric was there and corroborated with the other important factors that came together towards the tragedy which the Holocaust was, everything was in place, publicly, academically.
When the US troops finally encountered the Nazi concentration camps, the horror of those sights made any man shudder. The logical step of asking the nearby population happened and the most common response was “We didn’t know that this (Genocide) was happening!”, which was, of course, a lie. The same goes for gulags, but that is another subject which has already been exhausted before, but does have importance for what is happening today.
“From Lebensraum to Endlosung der Judenfrage there wasn’t much. The rhetoric was there and, corroborated with the other important factors that came together towards the tragedy which the Holocaust was, everything was in place, publicly, academically.”
The incomplete fall of the USSR
The fall of the Soviet Union was incomplete since it possessed nuclear arsenal, which means that the necessary process to eliminate the genocidal mentality that, for example, Germany went through after WWII did not take place.
“Misunderstanding of the moment derived from the euphoria of freedom caused the monopolar world to ignore the signs that the “main inheritor” of the USSR was going to come back later with revanchist agenda.”
Perestroika and Glasnost were not measures meant for “modernizing” the USSR, but they were means to buy more time for Gorbachev to keep the situation under control until a more coherent plan can be implemented. The only reason Gorbachev was considered a hero is precisely because his plan had no success and, of course, the world went with it, the times were in such a way that further dissent was actually ignored. It was an end to a 44 year stalemate between Western Democracies and a repressive entity which threatened with nuclear war and, in some cases such as breaking down revolutions inside the Iron Curtain, invaded. Afghanistan was the nail into the coffin and the death timeframe of the Soviet Union was in place for a longer period of time before that.
Misunderstanding of the moment derived from the euphoria of freedom caused the monopolar world to ignore the signs that the “main inheritor” of the USSR was going to come back later with revanchist agenda. The `90s were great evidence to that, since any country that declared independence either suffered a war on its territory, or at least repression resulting with the killing of its citizens.
Hence Putin’s ascension was only normal after an intermediate period represented by Yeltsin. The second and third tier of soviets took over, mostly from the security apparatus. Again, the causes for this have already been explained countless times by experts way more competent than I am, so I won’t be repeating them here.
The present inception of ideas and exposure
What did happen throughout the `90s was the inception of what today can be regarded as Putinism, or to be more exact, this conceptualized “modern” fascism that is being heard and put into place in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And it is exactly that, fascism. Let’s just read a little fragment from Alexander Kramarenko’s “thesis” released more than a month after the invasion:
„Indifferent of the initial plans and intentions of the Russian side, the present conflict derives from a Special Operation in Ukraine and is transformed into something existential both for Russia and for the Historic Western Civilization. The latter does not hide the fact that it has decided to deliver us a “final and decisive” blow: this fact is indicated by their reactions to our actions in Ukraine, and by its unwillingness to solve this issue peacefully, either by the implementation of the MINSK II agreements or by following (the President`s) Russian Project documents from the 15th of December of last year (2021). The decisive manner of the hostilities and measures brought by the sanctions of the Westerners reminds us of the “Great Patriotic War”, to the incomplete character of it in what amounts to as the resurgence of the threat of Nazism/Neo-Nazism, which is rehabilitated in the West 3-4 generations later after “The Great Victory” (by the way, will they never forgive us for achieving it?) by the glorification of Nazis and their accomplices from the Baltic Countries and the EU Parliament resolutions.”
Those ill-conceived ideas were not solitary and there are many more other examples of such thought going around in Russia and the whole wide world (including Putin's Essay). Were they private? Were they not exposed all over the media and internet? The answer to those questions is, of course not. This propaganda and rhetoric was present and it would be absurd to say that it took place just in the last couple of years.
This brings us to our current dilemma - Should we believe the “We didn’t know this was happening in our country and onto others!” rhetoric that is being shaped in public?
I would argue that this is should not be the case. Of course the Russian population knew and there are a couple of reasons why they chose to ignore, in some cases, or support this behavior, in others:
Repression - it is well known that Putin has been crushing dissent for the past 23 years in Russia and he keeps a tight grasp around the “neck” of the general population. Assassinations and “accidents” happen all the time in Russia, some people have to be careful of what sort of tea or water they drink.
Incomplete transition from the USSR to a modern day democracy - this was, of course, “facilitated” by the ascension of the second and third tier of soviets, which in turn shut down the inception of a freedom mentality which is present in western democracies. On this subject I have a fine example of such an incomplete process, but an ongoing one, which is Romania.
Its own history stands evidence - from Ivan the Terrible to Putin, there is no single example of the Russian people being free, so, can we ask them to express something that they have never experienced? This last statement is not entirely true, if we consider that since 1991 they have had “free” access to Europe, the US and other western civilizations (and of course the internet). But, as it is always the case, 30 years of nation building and mentality-wise change is unfortunately not enough if a historical timeframe perspective is applied. In sociology it is often said that a change of mentality of a localized people takes place after 100 years, or after major shocks, and not always for the better, depending on the conditions and environment.
Propaganda, Populism, Brainwashing, Putinism - this one is the most obvious reason for the lack of response of the Russian people and for the more unfortunate support of today’s genocidal actions.
These are, of course, some of the reasons and they are insufficient to explain the apathy of the Russian population towards revolts against oppression and dictatorship. The subject requires a much more in-depth thinking and in my opinion the actual war has to end for us to really grasp why.
Past and actual revolts
Slowly, but surely, the creeping into this current conflict was taking place, even with all the evidence that was presented before us. Russian opposition organized rallies, protests, massive ones as such, which engaged millions of citizens in the past, but, once again, not enough in rapport with the population of the Russian Federation. The problem though is that even when speaking of Russian Opposition, we don’t really have a real one, since even some of them supported some sort of intervention or annexation in the past, or at least glorify in private what they perceive as great deeds from the past (others might beg to differ).
Were there protests in February? Of course there were. Were there people arrested and repressed? Yes, for sure. How long did they last when on the 24th of February Putin released the dogs of war? 1,2,3 days, or more, it doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things. Insufficient desire, insufficient people, a general appalling show. There were more people in Georgia or other smaller countries in the streets. We may never know, to be honest, what the Russian people think about this whole terrible war, but we can follow and observe what they have done.
Have actions which describe general dissent and resistance towards Putin and the Russian Federation’s genocidal war of territorial conquest taken place in Russia in these past 7 months since it started? We have seen, what was permitted and transpired through the fog of war and the tight control of information from within the Russian Federation, that this is indeed the case, but, again, not meaningful, insufficient to stop the sure downfall of the imperialistic dreams of the Russian leadership (which takes them with it). It has been 7 months, after 23 years of Putinism. The “enough is enough” sentiment is not there, at least not there in a sufficient number of people. To be objective about it, what the actual number of people required to topple a dictatorship is unknow to me, and I would be humbled if someone else did have an equation to figure this out.
Nevertheless, the final lines of thought have come: If they only rebelled and took to the streets only after the mobilization order was released and enacted (which basically translates to a desire to conserve their own lives, they were ok with others from within the country dying for them), then should the Russian population be exempted from the common fault of this illegal war? Should only Putin and his siloviks suffer alone the eventual consequences and judgement after this war has seen its final bullet released from a gun barrel? Is the Russian population innocent of this, or is there a collective fault? Is it correct to put everyone into the same boat?
For some of these questions I have a personal answer, for others I keep to myself for further judgement, for it would be unfair at this point to be decisive on such important matters.
Conclusions and future takes
In international relations, the moral part of it has been, generally speaking, put to the side in the past 20 to 30 years and compromises have been reached on most issues, on which again I won’t give judgement now (it isn’t my place to begin with) but, without abandoning the ideas that make us democracies, the international law, the humanity and all the concepts by which we stand by and enforce and that are the reasons why we assist Ukraine in the moment of speaking, there should, for the time being, be consequences such as banning Russian citizens from entering Europe, banning tourist visas and general isolation should ensue - it is the only way through which the Russian population can save itself. It is not our responsibility and it shouldn’t be. It is a war that they started, which they must finish and only they can do it. Ukraine might and will win this war militarily, but for negotiations to happen there must be at least two sides at the table for an agreement. And negotiations are the final steps to peace.
Regarding a future peace process, if it will be achieved, the steps which should be put into place are the ones that assure, as much as possible, that “never again” will not be in the future just a slogan as it has been in the past. To this extent I am not proposing a Versailles type deal, since past mistakes from which Europe (and the rest of the civilized world) has learned, ensures that this would be sufficient to avoid a similar ascension of a potentially defeated Russian Federation to the one that Nazi Germany had after the Great War. The irony is that the ascension of Russia after the Cold War, as I have already mentioned in this article, has brought this new genocidal war, but I have the faith that these mistakes too will be acquired in our deep bag of past decisions. Mistakes such as the war reparations/booty applied to a former German Empire from which territories like Saarland and Rhineland (and others) were “requisitioned” will not be repeated. No division of territory from the “enemy”.
Today, the European states are powerful through their unity, the European Union encompasses great values, prosperity and freedom, including that of thought (even though exceptions are present and the times look bleak in some cases). Hence, the only country that should have war reparations after this tremendous rapture is Ukraine. Just ones. This should be done with great care and with compromises.
Another extremely important point is that the Russian Federation, or more precisely its people (we can’t know in the present how this entity will look like in the future), should acknowledge the responsibility for its/their past actions and present mistakes. This will ensure that the process of transformation that has started more than 30 years ago will follow through. This, of course, means an international court, a Nurnberg II - the “rule of law” is supreme.