Surkov Predicts End of ‘Ukrainian Fake State’ in 2024

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 30 – Vladislav Surkov, often described as Putin’s chief ideologist, says that next year will bring the end of what he calls “the Ukrainian fake” state, the result of both what he views as the fundamentally primitive nature of Ukrainian thinking and the major shift in Moscow’s approach to problems among its neighbors.

            According to Surkov, “a fabulous worldview, magical thinking, impressionability, and excessive poetry are the main features of the Ukrainian soul,” with the world of the Ukrians “literally teeming with sorcerers, witches, drowned women who have revived, and even devils” (actualcomment.ru/sumerki-na-khutore-2311290954.html).

            “From time to time,” he continues, “sorcerers and witches of the Maidan convince the population that if it just messes around in the square, life will get better;” but that doesn’t work, and when such efforts fail, “the ratings of the sorcerers and witches instantly collapse” but only to be replaced by “fresh crooks” offering the same prescriptions.

            Evidence of such magical thinking is all around, Surkov says. The much ballyhooed “’counter offensive’” was the product of such thinking. But it was doomed to fail, a classic example of those who make plans not on the basis of the real situation but in the hopes that something, perhaps a magic weapon, will turn up.

            Surkov says that “Ukrainians are beginning to become disillusioned with their sorcerers. And really who could possibly help them? Biden mummified alive? Decade Zaluzhny? Or the unhappy childless couple Ermark/Zalensky? Hardly … there won’t be a miracle,” despite the hopes of many in Kyiv.

            And a major reason for this, he argues, is that “Russia is no longer a mediator, patiently sorting out squabbles among the neighbors. Now, it is an impatient participant in the great struggle which will take its toll.” That is something “the pagans” in Ukraine need to recognize because 2024 “will be the year of degradation and disorganization of the Ukrainian fake state.”

            Such words undoubtedly reflect what many in the Kremlin believe, and his article is thus likely to be read by others in the Russian Federation as an indication of the way in which they should think because those above them do so. For that reason if for not other, Surkov’s unrestrained bigotry must be taken into account.