Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 6 – At the end of September, Vladislav Surkov, who earlier had served as Putin’s chief ideologist, published an essay entitled “The Birth of the North” in which he predicted that the world would soon be dominated by countries in the northern hemisphere like the US, Europe and Russia (actualcomment.ru/rozhdenie-severa-2309262036.html).
Because he did not mention China with whom Putin has formed an alliance, he has been denounced by some Russian commentators on the right as having written “an anti-Chinese manifesto” (rv.ru/content.php3?id=14763) or even being an American agent working against Putin (gumilev-center.ru/vladislav-surkov-plagiator-ili-agent-amerikanskogo-chreva/).
The arguments advanced are hyperbolic, but they are a sign that many in Moscow want much tighter ideological control over what gets said than even that which Putin has imposed up to now and that any step to the right or to the left will for the moment attract withering criticism although perhaps in the future even more lethal consequences as in Stalin’s GULAG.
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