Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 5 – The one constant
of Vladimir Putin’s time in office, the exploitation of terrorist incidents to
impose tighter control on Russian society and to boost his own power, must be
recognized, condemned and resisted both at home and abroad, according to two
prominent Moscow commentators.
Any leader of a country can be
expected to impose tighter security in the wake or even given the threat of
terrorist actions, but Putin has set himself apart by his exploitation of that
accepted pattern by taking actions that do less to prevent any new attacks than
to promote his own power – and that is
the case whether or not he was the organizer of any of them.
In a comment for the Forum-MSK
portal, Yakov Azimandis writes that “the single stable thing which has occurred
throughout the entire Putin period are terrorist actions” in Russia, despite
his claims to have brought stability and security to its population (forum-msk.org/material/politic/13031284.html).
Putin’s modus operandi is to
frighten defectors and members of the elite with “targeted political murders” and
to fright the masses with “terrorist actions,” Azimandis says. He may but does
not have to organize them because for such actions it is always possible to
find “free radicals” who are prepared to do so.
What matters is that each terrorist
incident, the analyst continues, is “an occasion for the further toughening of
control and increasing the authority of the siloviki and a means of uniting the
people around the leader with the help of sacred victims,” much in the same way
that human sacrifice gave primitive peoples “a certain illusion of catharsis”
by uniting their participants.--
“If there weren’t these human
sacrifices,” Azimandis continues, “would the leader have been able to maintain
himself until now?” The answer is “no” because such sacrifices alone give the
leader “new powers and strengthen his legitimacy.” The problem is that with each repetition,
such sacrifices become less effective as people begin to see what it happening.
They are becoming tired “even not
from the deception involved but from the fact that it is necessary to give the
impression that you believe in this latest lie from the screen.” That is why,
he suggests, the main message of the latest protests is that the authorities
must stop lying and being hypocritical.
The Russian people have already
given up freedom in change first for well-being and then for security. What they have given up is gone, but “where
is the security?” And they are beginning
to organize on their own and ask questions about the powers that be that the
powers can’t answer.
After this terrorist action, the
authorities have shown their “bankruptcy.”
Instead of immediately launching into a powerful counterattack, they
worked first and foremost to “defend themselves,” asking people not to believe
those who say the leader is manipulating the situation (cf. vk.com/raddream?w=wall-78356606_11165).
That is, Azimandis
continues, “while playing in this field with their accustomed instruments, the
authorities unexpectedly suffered if not a defeat then at least proved that
they couldn’t outplay their opponents.” As a result, the St. Petersburg events
undermined the image of the powers that be and led to “the latest crack in the
Kremlin wall.”
“People have ceased to see in Moloch
a defender,” he concludes. “They see ein him simply a wooden idol covered with
dried blood and flies. And that means
that in a short time they will throw him in the river.”
In the second, Vladimir Kardail is
even more blunt: he says that world leaders should be offering their sympathies
not just to the direct victims of the terrorist action as they have done but to
the Russian people who clearly have “fallen under the boot of a corporation of
siloviki, bureaucrats and bandits who have usurped power (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=58E3E74A10B22).
This power began
its rule with the apartment bombings in 1999 and has not stopped at any crime
to maintain its power. Now, after the March 26 protests and the long-haul
truckers’ strike, it is frightened of losing power and so has gone back to its
“’tried and true’ measures” of outrageous lies and violence.
But the actions of the corporation
now ruling Russia in the case of the St. Petersburg bombing show that it is
completely “bankrupt” and “is working not for out security but against it. Not
for the first time, the powers are using terrorist acts – whoever committed
them – for its own purposes” that have nothing to do with the security of the
population.
“The earth must burn under the feet
of such ‘powers,’” he says. The people
must not wait until the next elections: they must devote all their efforts to
“overthrow the usurpers.” And despite what some think, there are many things
they can do. Kardail offers a list of
seven suggestions:
·
Boycott
the authorities because they have been illegitimate since the fake elections of
1996.
·
Don’t
have any contacts with is leaders or appeal to them. To do otherwise is “shameful.”
·
Don’t
be afraid to speak out against the crimes of Putin’s corporation. When there
are “dozens” of Voronenkovs,” the authorities won’t be able to save their own
skin by shooting them all.
·
All
opposition groups must cooperate to bring in to the streets the greatest
possible number of protesters against this regime.
·
Don’t
play by the authorities’ “’rules of the game.’” By violating them, Russians may
be able to save Russia.
·
Foreign
leaders must stop dealing with Putin and his associates as if they were leaders
of a normal state. All of these leaders
must recognize that “the power of the corporation [in Russia] is fascism by
definition.” Leaders now say they
wouldn’t have dealt with Hitler in the 1930s.
Why are they dealing with his revenants now?
·
All
means are suitable in this situation. “Let each think for himself” what to do.
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