Russia in Its Current Borders Will Never Cease to Be ‘an Empire of Permanent Evil,’ Zaidman Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 13 – Many Russian commentators want to believe that after Vladimir Putin leaves the scene, Russia can become a free and democratic confederation because they do not find it easy to face the fact that the situation with regard to Russia is as hopeless as it is, Vadim Zaidman says.

            But it is time to face that reality instead of deceiving others and oneself with the notion that somehow everything will miraculously change “after Putin,” the commentator adds.  Russia was “offered a chance to convert itself into a good country” after the collapse of communism and everyone can see how it has used that (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5E6A556A8B9AD).

            Instead of turning into an eastern variant of the Federal Republic of Germany, Russia “somehow” became the land of the Kalashnikov, he continues. “Why should anyone think that this time something different will happen? That after the next short thaw, Russia once again will not fit into the galleries of the next putin?”

            “Russia in its current-great power borders is incurable,” Zaidman says. “Because in these borders, it always will be, according to the apt expression of Aleksandr Yanov, be inclined to accept the size of its country as a measure of its greatness.” And it will certainly not be able to follow the course of FRG.

            That state arose on the ruins of the Third Reich not by itself and not by the passing over it of a magic wand but only after the reich was reduced to ruins and after and not without the help of the Western allies was carried out the difficult and long-term work of de-Nazification in the country and in the heads of Germans.”

            There was nothing similar in Russia after the collapse of the USSR, Zaidman continues. “There was no process of de-communization.” And as a result, “only a third, final disintegration of the Russian Empire and the destruction of its imperial matrix will give hope that on the fragments of this ruin will arise something worthwhile and in no way connected with ‘Putin.’”

            The USSR was gone but not its fundamental nature as “an evil empire,” the Moscow commentator says. Instead, that not only arose from the ashes but showed that it could do so again and that in its current borders, Russia would remain “the empire of permanent evil,” a threat to itself and to the world.

            This history should dispel any chimerical thoughts “about some ‘good and just Russia’ in its extensive borders.” The territory of the current Russian empire must be divided up for everyone’s sake. And fortunately Putin is doing everything he can to make sure that its demise will be “’the geopolitical catastrophe of the 21^st century.’”

            Russians who want to be hopeful about the future must hope for Russia’s disintegration, Zaidman argues.  They should not be afraid to face this. It must be recognized “as an objective reality and as a positive development of events – and then the cognitive dissonance which afflicts those who sincerely want good for Russia and Russians will be overcome.”

            To try to block the disintegration of this empire is to “prolong its agony” and to harm Russia’s neighbors, the world and “above all, the Russians themselves.”