Sentimental Education

The Kremlin's charge of "Russophobia" against those in the outside world who question or challenge its policies continues to resonate. Just where Moscow stands in the present world scene in the run-up to the May 9 commemorations was made abundantly clear not long ago by a RIAN correspondent, discussing - and encapsulating - the Kremlin's view of Poland. It appears that neither Poland nor the United States hold much appeal for the present Russian leadership:

While the European Union is successfully preparing for a summit with Russia on May 10, some new EU members consider it good form to occasionally demonstrate their anti-Russian sentiments.

Poland particularly excels here. A country with a large population, no small economic potential and a rich culture, it could be a key partner in developing a united Europe. Instead Polish diplomats have recently concentrated on two fundamental ideas. One is total orientation toward the U.S. and the other, rabid Russophobia. Adam Michnik, a well-known Polish author and editor of a newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, admits:

"Poland is the most pro-American country in the world. It is more pro-American than America itself." Warsaw's servile support for the American military invasion of Iraq prompted Jacques Chirac to publicly censure the "uneducated" young EU members from Eastern Europe "who missed a good chance to keep quiet."

The rest can be read here.

Desafuero - II

From Mexico, news that Mexico City Mayor Manuel Lopez Obrador could be pardoned by President Vicente Fox, thus keeping him in the race for the 2006 presidential election.

An Assault Upon Difference

In the Education Guardian, Luciana Berger outlines the reasons for her resignation - together with two colleagues - from her position as a National Executive member of the UK's National Union of Students:

To my dismay, for all the talk about the values of equality, diversity and respect at last week's NUS conference, in practice nothing could be further from the truth, in relation to anti-semitism. A leaflet was readily available on the GUPS stalls at the conference for two days. The text was the typical anti-semitic work; the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Once again, complaints were met with unacceptable delays and silence.

Many people claim that being anti-Israel/Zionist isn't being anti-semitic. But why does hatred of Israel lead them to turn a blind eye to the Protocols on a GUPS pamphlet? Furthermore, while the UJS has always preached a two-state solution and peace, time and time again we see others reject it. This is evident in the attack on a UJS peace stall at the European Social Forum. University authorities are also dismissive of these issues - look at the Israeli boycott motions put to this month's Association of University Teachers conference.

Via Harry's Place

The Anniversary

From a correspondent:

"May 9 marks not the end of World War II in Europe, but the beginning of the Cold War."

See No Evil

In the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Leopold Unger discusses Reconciliation According to Putin:

"Let this be a day of reconciliation," said Vladimir Putin, as he sent out the invitations to the May 9 commemoration in Moscow. Putin had the best of intentions. But a misunderstanding arose. The word "reconciliation" is understood differently in the countries to the east and west of the former Iron Curtain.

In the East - in the view, for example, of citizens of Poland and the former "Pribaltika" - reconciliation means repentance and truth. Therefore, independently of this decision" to go or not to go" to Moscow, the Poles and the Balts see this dilemma in moral categories and wait for some Russian "mea culpa" on the issue of the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement, the crime at Katyn, the interpetation of Yalta, and so on.

The political attitude of the West (in general terms) towards Moscow's invitation is a different one, not so much immoral as amoral. Firstly, it is rare that anyone knows or understands what the Poles are talking about, what Katyn was, what the Nazi-Soviet agreement meant for the Poles and Balts. Here the war began not in September 1939, but in May 1940. Yalta, which sealed the Soviet domination over there in the East was here in the West the beginning of stabilization (the Marshall Plan) and prosperity.

Secondly, here in the West they know (and if they don't know, then the Kremlin will explain this to them) that May 9, after the liquidation of November 7, is the only one great true holiday of Russia, the ally that shed most blood in the war with Hitler, and is today the most important partner in the fight against terrorism. After all, they say here, we keep silent about the present massacre in Chechnya, so as not to grieve over some episodes dug up from 65 years ago. Poland is a member of EU and NATO, whose members need the best relations with Russia, the main provider of energy to the West. For Putin, as Schroeder has just said, there is no alternative.

Thirdly, what’s all the fuss about? Everyone has had their 60th anniversary. In Normandy, in the summer of 2004 the West had its reconciliation, it was a solemn occasion, everyone was crying. The Poles have already had their two 60ths, in 2004 – the Warsaw Uprising, in 2005 the Liberation of Auschwitz, and those were also solemn occasions, everyone cried. So now it’s the turn of Russia and her 60th. When they call for truth and repentance, the Poles are morally in the right, but they shouldn't spoil this party, either for the Russians or for the invited guests. However, it's hard to expect and demand that the Russians specially on this occasion of their biggest holiday should open before the world the horrible pages of their recent history, in which many Russians, who are still alive, took part.

Fourthly, the banal observation that absentees aren't in the right is not always correct, but, as could been seen from the distance, the absenteeism of the Poles might have even suited the Russians. The Kremlin is anxious to see a few heads of the really big states legitimizing the Putin’s world-wide status and shoring up his diminishing prestige. On the other hand, for Putin and his Chekists, the arrival of the Poles or, devoid of any complexes, the Lady President of Latvia, brings the risk of a scene, and possibly also qualms of conscience (if a such thing exists in this profession).

Obviously, it could be wondered why the Russians haven't been able, as for example, the Germans and also to some degree the Church have, to settle accounts with their dark past. Why, far away from moral considerations and the imperative of historical truth, didn’t Putin - a pragmatic and skillful player – just unload it all on Stalin and close this reckoning of wrongs? Why? Perhaps because he doesn't consider Stalin a criminal, and can’t see any wrong?

(tr. by Marius, my minor editing)

Criminals' Contract

Vytautas Landsbergis, the first post-communist president of independent Lithuania, now a Euro MP, on a tribute to evil.

(Hat tip: Leopoldo)

"Revolution-in-Russia"

At Neeka's Backlog, Veronica Khokhlova writes from Moscow about the student rally held outside the "White House" (government building) there yesterday, and comments:

I'm really sick of all this revolution-in-Russia talk. You know, stuff like this:

"Orange spirit" creating sense of unrest in Russia

By Peter Finn
The Washington Post

MOSCOW — Suddenly in Russia, everybody's talking about a revolution.

In a country with a popular president, a growing economy and a fragmented and weak opposition, Russia does not seem ripe for the kind of revolt that toppled governments in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan over the past 17 months.

But as Lenin once said, "a revolution is a miracle," and the Kremlin and its political opponents seem bewitched by the possibility of one.

"There is an Orange spirit in Russia," said Andrei Sidelnikov, the young head of the new Russian youth group Pora! (It's Time!), which took its name from the young activists at the heart of the street protests late last year that ultimately brought Viktor Yushchenko to power in Ukraine.

"We are living through a new era of street politics. Our young people are becoming more and more active. ... They might explode when they can't take it any longer."

[...]

The blog continues:

I wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle of a revolution in Moscow. I'd rather watch it on TV from Kyiv - or read about it on someone else's blog. It'd be safer that way - and more fun.

War Criminals Again

It seems that in spite of reports to the contrary, Ramzan Kadyrov did after all show up in Putin's Hanover entourage with "President" Alu Alkhanov. Le Monde has the details.

Britain 2005 - III

The Telegraph has a disturbing report on an incident in East London, when the MP Oona King was pelted with eggs as she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead:

Miss King, 37, the black Jewish Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, was attacked as she joined mourners to commemorate 60 years since the Hughes Mansions Disaster, when 134 people, almost all Jewish, were killed by the last V2 missile to land on London.

Oona King has enraged her Muslim constituents by supporting the war in Iraq. The eggs missed her, but one hit a war veteran, Louis Lewis, 89, in the chest and an onion struck Richard Brett, a bugler from the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade who sounded the Last Post at the ceremony.

Chechnya and Wales

Chechenpress reports that Chechens and the Welsh are the first to join "The Union of Small Nations of the World":

The Application of the ADS CRI and the CR

In spite of the fact that we are parted with language, geography, culture, and religion, we, representatives of the Chechen and Welsh people - on behalf of two organizations "The Assembly of Defense of Sovereignty of the CRI" (ADS CRI) and "Cymru Rydd" (CR), declare the beginning of cooperation and partnership in defending of independence of our people, and establishment of the organization "The Union of Small Nations of the World" (USNW).

The USNW rejects all forms of imperialism and colonialism. The necessity of such a Union is natural for identity of our purposes: a political fight for independence of small nations and people all over the world and for their right for this struggle.

The initiative of the USNW is aimed at achievement of equality of people, progress of Freedom and validity all over the world. The USNW is sure, that its initiative will become an important step for consolidation of all oppressed small people all over the world.

The USNW hopes to direct the partnership between small peoples into the channel of true friendship and trust. The new organization intends to achieve execution of the principles declared by the United Nations Organization fixed in the Charter of this organization. The USNW is guided with three items from the Charter of the United Nations, defining its activity:

1. Each nationality has the right for self-determination: the right to take their destiny into their own hands.

2. Each nation has the right for creation of an independent state.

3. No nation in the world has the right to impose its laws to another
nation and to interfere with its natural desire.

The ADS CRI and the CR declares the agreements concluded between the
organizations:

1. The organizations protect the Sovereignty of the peoples, their
rights and cultures, from imperial aggression.

2. The organizations intend to render political, financial and
information help to each other in the common struggle against
imperialistic claims.

On behalf of the members of the USNW

The Head of the "Cymru Rydd" Chris Davis

The Head of the ADS CRI Sardali Ahmad

Information of the Chechenpress:

The Welsh are the people of the Celtic origin; they are the native
population of the Wales Peninsula (the Great Britain ). The Welsh total
about 900 thousand people. More than 100 thousand Welsh live in the USA,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They speak the Welsh language (of
the Celtic group); believers basically are adherents of the Anglican Church.

Chechenpress, the Department of operative information

11.04.05

AUT Boycott

Normblog has reproduced the text of a communication by Eve Garrard, sent to AUT colleagues at Keele University, on the subject of the proposed AUT boycott of Israeli academics.

Of Modern Inventions

"You can learn something from everything," the rabbi of Sadagora once said to his disciples. "Everything can teach us something, and not only everything God has created. What man has made has also something to teach us."

"What can we learn from a train?" one hasid asked dubiously.

"That because of one second one can miss everything."

"And from the telegraph?"

"That every word is counted and charged."

"And the telephone?"

"That what we say here is heard there."


- Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim

Looking in the Mirror

Writing in Yezhednevnyi Zhurnal about the statement by Alexei Mitrofanov of the LDPR faction in the Russian State Duma, who suggested on Wednesday that the parliamentary policy committee should limit the coverage the Pope’s death receives in the Russian media, saying that the Russian media paid “excessive attention to the Vatican’s mourning for the death of Pope John Paul II,” Leonid Radzikhovsky comments:

Alexei Mitrofanov explained that since we are an Orthodox country, there was no reason to get so worked up about the death of this pontiff: after all, the Pope was senile, a Russophobe, and there was no reason to send our prime minister, let alone a Jew, to the funeral of such a personage. Our media need to be brought into line: they’ve done enough talking about this Pope.

"It seems to me,” Radzikhovsky writes, “that the ardent desire to insult the deceased Pope John Paul II has a very weighty underlying psychological cause.” The argument, he suggests, goes something like this:

“All human beings are swine. (There are also some simpletons. But they are just unsuccessful swine). There are no others. Nobleness is a game. Kindness is a fake. Love of God is hypocrisy. There are no decent people, because they don’t exist anywhere, and never have done. What lies behind everything is money (dirty politics, the CIA, Freemasons, a conspiracy, etc., etc,).”The reasons for thinking this way are the most solid ones imaginable: people first take a look at themselves in the mirror, and then judge others by themselves. You will agree that it’s just too insulting to admit that there may indeed be people of quite a different sort, not like yourself. So they vote for Zhirinovsky, Mitrofanov & Co, who prove that everything is indeed like that, that it all comes down to money, that everyone is a scoundrel, and that it can’t be any different.

Ultimately, Radzikhovsky asserts, the central question needs to be asked of the Russian Orthodox Church:

Why, as its “physical” strength and political importance grow (it’s clear that today the Orthodox Church is the most influential force in the country after the Kremlin, and the Kremlin is constantly taking it into consideration), are the aggressive manifestations of “Orthodox public opinion” growing more and more widespread, while the Church itself does nothing to counter them?

(via Marius)

The Process

"No one but a total madman could have wished to drag Russia into any kind of war, let alone a war in the North Caucasus. As if Afghanistan had never happened. As if it weren’t clear in advance what course such a war would follow, or just what would be the outcome and the consequences of a war declared within the confines of a multinational state against a proud, vengeful, and warlike people. How could Russia possibly have become embroiled in one of its most shameful wars during the very period of its development which was most democratic in form and most liberal in spirit? This war required the mobilization of resources and increased budgets for agencies of coercion, government departments, and ministries. It enhanced the importance and increased the influence of men in uniform and sidelined or rendered irrelevant the efforts made by supporters of peace, democracy and liberal values to maintain the impetus of pro-Western economic reforms. This war resulted in the isolation of the Russian state from the community of civilized nations, since the rest of the world did not support it and could not understand it. A previously popular, well-loved president, therefore, sacrificed the support of both his own public and the international community. Once he had fallen into the trap, he was left with no option but to resign before the end of his term, and hand over power to the FSB in return for a guarantee of immunity for himself and his family. We know who it was that benefited from all this – the people to whom Yeltsin handed over power. We know how the result was achieved – by means of the war in Chechnya. All that remains to be discovered is who set the process in motion."

- Yuri Felshtinsky and Alexander Litvinenko: Blowing Up Russia: Terror from Within, 2002

Britain 2005 - II

In her diary, Melanie Phillips quotes from a statement by Luciana Berger, co-convener of the Anti-Racism/Anti-Fascism Campaign of Britain's National Union of Students (NUS), accusing the union of standing passively by in the face of rising anti-Semitism:

This year, I have suffered baseless accusations of NUS being pro-Jewish and therefore biased because I tackled antisemitism where it stood. There was no defence of Jewish students by NEC members who heard those claims. This year, a comment was made in a Student Union meeting saying that burning down a synagogue is a rational act; when asked to comment NEC members could not even bring themselves to condemn that statement.

'Over five months ago serious complaints were lodged about antisemitic comments made by an NEC member in a public meeting; there is yet to be any form of official response to these complaints. When it was rumoured that I, a Jewish student, was standing for the NUS Presidency - whispers of antisemitism were used as a political football...At the beginning of this conference I stood here and warned you against the BNP presence in Blackpool. But it is within these walls I feel most afraid. We have talked for the past three days about NUS' values of equality, diversity and respect. In practice this could not be further from the truth.'

Comments

Comments are off for a while - while I do some spring cleaning.

Humanism

"Over the word humanism hovers the scholarly dust of four centuries... To grasp the intimate meaning of humanism, let us conduct an intellectual experiment. Let us suppose that social and scientific progress has reached its height. Imagine a society without war, without class struggles, without any struggle for existence. Social and sexual problems have been solved. Sickness has disappeared and the prisons are closed. There are no governmental or economic restrictions. Production increases without obstructions. The terrors of death have been eradicated by officially approved euthanasia. In this ideal society there is nothing for socialism to do, nor for pacifism, nationalism, or imperialism. In this society, however, men will continue to be born and to die. All the technical problems of society are solved; the only problem remaining is this: to find out the meaning of human existence. How should I live? How should I love? How should I die? These questions will always be asked and perhaps now with more anxiety than ever. This utopian man, who exists in the best of all possible worlds, will wonder in anguish and sorrow: What am I? What is humanity? How can we make life into something more radiant and profound?... But it's unnecessary to await this imaginary humanity of the future. Those questions persist today just as they have persisted throughout history, because they are questions born with the being and nature of man."

- Ernst Robert Curtius

Celebration

From today's RFE/RL Newsline:

AIR DEFENSE COMMANDER PROMISES TO SHOOT DOWN THREATENING AIRCRAFT.

Colonel General Yurii Solovev said on 7 April that his forces will shoot down any suspicious aircraft near Moscow during the upcoming celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, even if the planes have passengers onboard, newsru.com and other media reported. Solovev is responsible for the air defense of Moscow. He said: "I will not allow anything to crash into Moscow. Besides, if I do not shoot down an aircraft with terrorists [and passengers], they will put me in handcuffs, and if I do do it, they will [also put me in handcuffs]. So, I already made my choice." He added that during the celebration, more than 20 fighters will patrol the skies. Meanwhile, Duma Defense Committee Chairman Vladimir Vasiliev said on 7 April that the possible destruction of a passenger aircraft with terrorists onboard will soon be incorporated into the Russian law on terrorism. VY

Desafuero

Discussing the so-called "desafuero" action, in which Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador was stripped of his official immunity so he could stand trial in a minor land dispute, the New York Times commented yesterday, before the result of the vote was announced:

Last week, a congressional panel voted along party lines to strip Mr. López of his immunity as an elected official. Congress's lower house is expected to take up the issue today and to confirm the decision. Then he'll probably be indicted - and by law, no one facing a criminal trial can run for president.

Mr. López has taken full advantage of the situation, which has distracted attention from serious charges of corruption against his top aides. He has compared himself to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and vowed to campaign from jail. Certainly, he is no Martin Luther King. A longtime PRI official who moved to the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, he has built a machine in Mexico City modeled on the PRI nationwide. He is increasingly a demagogue, and he has fought reforms like making information available to the public. He responded to a huge march against a crime wave by calling it an attempt by dark forces to attack him.

But since the powerful can still get away with anything in Mexico, few people believe his opponents' pious claims that they are just trying to uphold the rule of law by indicting him. He may not be the right man for the presidency, but that issue should be for Mexico's electorate to decide.

With the result now confirmed - 360 in favour of lifting the immunity, 127 opposed and 2 abstentions - the paper's correspondents note that it "casts doubt on the strength of Mexico's fledgling democracy":

Political analysts said that the proceedings were a critical test in this country's transition to a full-fledged democracy that began just five years ago when Mexicans broke seven decades of single-party rule with the peaceful election of Vicente Fox, the first president to come from an opposition party.

The protests, which had largely ended by late Thursday, brought comparisons to the recent pro-democracy demonstrations in the Ukraine that helped lift Viktor A. Yuschenko to power. But while Mr. Lopez said support for him would grow, his adversaries seemed confident the protests would die out soon.

GoLeech points to the obvious dangers to Mexican society that the result of the vote presents:

El problema de fondo es político. Las pasiones se pueden desatar. Las tentaciones heroícas, la calentura, el descontento, las malinterpretaciones, el oportunismo, etc. son ingredientes para que estalle un conflicto social. Ya ni hablar de la imagen que damos al mundo, de las inversiones, de la supuesta construcción de la democracia. El capricho de unos cuantos se les puede salir de las manos.

Por eso desde aquí desapruebo y denuncio el acto antidemocrático que se ha orquestado. Pero también denunciaré y desaprobaré las actitudes malintencionadas y/o manipuladoras que puedan ser usadas para agitar a la sociedad, de parte de quien sea.

Suspected War Criminals To Visit Hanover

A DPA report quoted on chechnya-sl states that

A leading German human rights group on Thursday protested plans for a visit to the upcoming Hanover Fair by Chechnyan President Alu Alkhanov and Deputy Premier Ramsan Kadyrov, calling the two men "suspected war criminals".

The Goettingen-based Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) sent an open letter to Lower Saxony Premier Christian Wulff demanding that he make it clear to the public that the two Chechnyan leaders were unwelcome in the state. Hanover is the capital of Lower Saxony.

The GfbV protest came three days before German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian president Vladimir Putin were due to open the Hanover Fair, with both Alkhanov and Kadyrov also due to attend.

The group said Schroeder and Putin were permitting themselves "to be accompanied by two suspected war criminals".