Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 20 – “The Far East
suffers from all the problems which every other part of the country has,”
Aleksandr Zhelenin says, but these are compounded by the fact that that region
is “another Russia” in the sense that “although the people there speak Russian,
they are ‘other Russians.’”
But “Moscow has not learned to
understand the mentality of residents of the Far East and remains certain that
it can dictate to them how they should live,” a shortcoming, the Rosbalt commentator says, that has
left “the Kremlin in a historical dead end,” it doesn’t know how to get out of
(rosbalt.ru/blogs/2020/07/20/1854346.html).
Zhelenin recounts his own
experiences visiting the region and says people there are characterized by two
thing not found as frequently in other parts of Russia: a deep commitment to
justice that leads to anger when injustice is found, and a self-reliance which both
leads them to take responsibility for themselves and to oppose anyone telling
them what to do.
Among the examples of these qualities,
he says, was the reaction of people in the Far East to Moscow’s decision to ban
the importation of cars from Japan with steering wheels on the right. The Far
Easterners saw no problem with having cars from nearby. Moscow responded by
sending officials who refused to discuss the matter but simply gave orders.
The attitudes of the people in the
lands east of the Urals reflect their clear understanding of and willingness to
speak out on behalf of what they believe is good and bad and their view that
Moscow is not the solution but the source of most of their problems, something
to be avoided if possible and opposed if necessary.
The Kremlin doesn’t understand this
and so constantly gets itself in trouble with those east of the Urals and
reinforces their view of Moscow, Zhelenin says.
“A significant part of the Far Easterners
trace their origins to those who in pre-revolutionary or Soviet times were sent
to the region as prisoners or exiles,” the journalist continues. And unlike those in other parts of Russia,
people here know that there is no place further they can be sent, something
that gives them a sense of self-confidence.
In these ways, he continues, “by
their origin and mentality, Far Easterners are like the first settlers of the
Wild West of America or the first Europeans in Australia and New Zealand, a
significant part of which also consisted of adventurists of various kinds and
political prisoners whom the British empire sent away from the metropolitan
center.”
“The spirit of freedom,
independence, and deep suspicion of the imperial metropolis affects the first,
the second and now the third.”
What has just happened in Khabarovsk
could easily be repeated “in any far eastern region,” Zhelenin argues. “In the 1990s,
Moscow through the region to the winds of fate.” Some fled it, but others began
to look more to China, South Korea and Japan than to Moscow. European Russia
became even further away than it was.
That spirit is understood by people
who live there and by those who visit Siberia frequently. But it is not
understood by those in Moscow who never go there and view the region as a
source of raw materials for their enrichment rather than an important place
self-standing in its own right.
And the people of the region are
responding. As one visitor put it, “the Far East goes to South Korea for medical
treatment, to China for shopping, and to Thailand for vacations.” It doesn’t go
to Moscow for any of these things.
Because Moscow doesn’t understand,
it constantly makes mistakes and makes the situation worse. Its power allows it
tactical victories but its ignorance guarantees strategic defeats. It doesn’t understand that Khabarovsk is not
a special case and but an example of a much bigger problem – and so it is
making that problem bigger still.
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