Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 20 – Hajimurat haji
Gatsalov, the mufti of North Osetia, says Russia and Osetia must “not miss the
historic chance” created by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and more quickly to
unite the two Osetias into a single federal subject of the Russian Federation
as because “the national and cultural social-unity of the people must
correspond to one territorial space.”
In a 4400-word interview published
today by APN.ru, the mufti says that those who oppose what Moscow has done in
Crimea are not just “geopolitical” opponents but “ideological” ones as well,
who are offended by the very existence of Russia, “a self-evident moral defect”
(apn.ru/publications/article31608.htm).
Gatsalov said that what is taking
place in Ukraine is nothing less than a battle between “the forces of Good and
Evil”and that “our opponents are outside of time and outside of geography.” Consequently, the mufti said, “there cannot
be peace” between Russia and those who are working against it.
In his words, “Russia is not simply
a state and its people; it is an idea ... Russia experienced the most difficult
times and rose again. And our ideological opponents understand” what is
happening. “The awakening of Russia generates hysteria and fear among them” because”Russia
by definition and history is a Victor Country.”
NATO’s actions lack “any manifestation
of human sympathy,” Gatsalov says. “The actons of Ukrainian politicians,
ultras, and part of the citiens of a disintegrating country are defined by one
word – the rule of the possessed ... [Such a society] does not have any
prospects just like the state which gave birth to this society.” Behind Ukraine
are “dark forces.”
After continuing in this same vein,
the mufti asks whether the time has not come for Russia to stop supplying gas
to Europe. And he suggests that if now “Russia will be able to refrain from
direct interference” in Ukraine now, “then in the second act, it will have the
chance to take under its control all the regions adjoining it,” a step both “correct
and historically just.”
Asked about what his interviewer
calls “the Crimean precedent,” Gatsalov says that it very much should be for
the now divided people of Osetia. The
mufti says that “the issue of unifying Osetia and the question of including
South Osetia in the Russian Federation” should now be addressed and a positive
answer should be given in both cases.
The mufti adds that “the Crimean
precedent is putting into motion many forces including those which are not
noticed at first glance,” and that will continue to be the case. Moreover, he says, “the political system of
Ukraine will continue to be in a state of agony regardless of who wins the
elections, if in fact they take place.”
While that is happening, Gatsalov
continues, the Greater Caucasus will be “drawn into the conflict of the two
world systems. This is already a fait accompli, and the conflict cannot be
avoided. What will be the situation of South Osetia is difficult to predict.
[And] therefore the chance of its inclusion into the Russian Federation must be
realized as quickly as possible.”
Its current state of independence is
still “all the same quite dependent,” the mufti says, and its inclusion into
the Russian Federation as part of a greater Osetia is the best way to end this
because “the national and cultural-social unity” of the Osetians must correspond
to and be supported by “a single territorial space.”
“We must acquire a national Osetin
idea, which will consolidate the entire people from South to North and from
East to West ... The resolution of the problems of demography and depression”
in both parts of Osetia will thereby “receive a powerful positive push forward.
In fact, he says, “there are no alternatives” to such a move.
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