Ethnic Russian Hatred of Minorities at Home a Harbinger of Ultimate Ukrainian Victory, Kazakh Portal Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 26 – Sometimes, the Kazak Altyn-Orda portal says, “a single short video speaks louder than thousands of analytic reports;” and it points to a clip that has gone viral on social media in which a Russian woman screams at a Tatar: “I hate you, you Tatars … soon my president, Vladimir Putin, will come and kick you all out.”

            According to the portal which tracks ethnic relations not only in Kazakhstan but in the Russian Federation as well, the woman’s words are “not merely an outburst of emtoions.” Hey are a symptom of deeper problems that will “hasten Russia’s defeat and strengthen Ukraine’s position” (altyn-orda.kz/nenavist-k-tataram-kak-prigovor-pochemu-takie-nastroeniya-vnutri-rossii-rabotayut-na-pobedu-vsu/).

            The Russian woman’s words, moreover, reflect “a conviction of one’s own exceptionalism and the perceived right to determine the fates of other peoples and a contempt for ‘smaller’ nations, for neighbors and for anyone who does not fit into the imperial model.” And that in turn is “a strategic blunder” of the greatest importance.

            “A war is not won by the army alone,” Altyn-Orda says; “it is won by society. And a society in which hatred becomes the norm begins to disintegrate from within because it loses the capacity for unity, for trust and for mobilizing toward the achievement of a shared future,” while Ukraine has shown just the opposite.

            In Russia, in contrast to Ukraine, internal tension is increasing: “national republics, ethnic groups, and distinct regions—all observe how they are treated. And videos featuring such remarks merely confirm the truth: the issue at hand is not equality, but a hierarchy—one that distinguishes between those who are on top and those who must be below them.”

“History teaches us that such systems cannot withstand prolonged strain. They fracture precisely at moments of crisis. Therefore, videos like this are not merely a scandal. They are a signal. It is a signal of a deep internal rift—of the fact that, beneath a veneer of ‘unity,’ lie hidden mistrust and mutual animosity.”

All this means that “time is working against such a model” and for the contrasting one in Ukraine, just one of the many reasons “why [the Ukrainian struggle] resonates so powerfully beyond Ukraine’s borders” even as Russian behavior alienates ever more of them at the very same time.