Paul Goble
Staunton,
Oct. 23 – By restoring three features of Soviet political language – its
insistence on the complete opposition of Russia and the West, its
“whataboutism,” and its avoidance of topics via censorship – the Putin regime
is destroying the Russian language, something that will ultimately lead to the
destruction of Russia, Igor Chubais says.
The
Soviet leadership was unable to come up with solutions to real problems because
its own political language prevented it from being able to discuss them openly
and honestly, the Moscow philosopher and commentator says. As a result, it
failed. Vladimir Putin by doing the same thing is putting Russia on the same
course (echo.msk.ru/blog/i_chub/2925246-echo/).
Russians
and Russia need a language which is honest and which doesn’t deceive those who
use it, Chubais says. And without such a language, Russia is in effect
“erecting a new iron curtain” around itself, one that will hurt Russia and
Russians in the first instance and more than anyone else.
The
Putin regime “must stop the flow of lies and restore to words their true
meaning,” he continues. It must end the repressions against the healthiest part
of Russian society; and instead, it must have “a broad open dialogue between
the nomenklatura and the citizens” of the Russian Federation.
If
that doesn’t happen, and if the Russian language continues to be degraded, then
“the gap between the regime on the one hand and Russian society and the outside
world on the other will grow; and the degradation of post-Soviet
quasi-statehood will accelerate,” opening the way to “a repetition of the 1991
crisis.”
And
that crisis, Chubais warns, will be even more dangerous than the one of 30
years ago because this time around, it will have “completely unpredictable
consequences.”
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