5/1/2023 0 Comments Imperial glory definition![]() ![]() And closer to home, it marked the collapse of a moral order, the death of belief in the future, the end of dignity. It marked an unconditional surrender to Western enemies without even the semblance of a fight. marked the breakup of a great family of nations with whom many Soviet citizens had close emotional, familial and cultural ties that transcended the new borders. But in Russia the twin forces of fatalism and apathy meant that the country reacted with little more than a collective, resigned shrug and slogged on with the painful business of staying alive.įor millions of Russians the collapse of the U.S.S.R. In other countries a trauma of this magnitude has ripped society apart and plunged it into decades of soul-searching. And yet, with so many jeopardies inwardly stalking them, most Russians still lived their outward lives on spec, on spiritual credit. Others, who would soon become the country’s new masters, ignored the scraps and went for the treasures. Some, possessed by aimless frenzy, thrived on looting trinkets and scraps from the ruins. Others rediscovered the stern and ancient Orthodox God of All the Russias. Blinking like earthquake survivors, some quickly found their new god in money, nationalist fantasies, mysticism, charismatic religious sects. They had nothing but their Russianness to fall back on, the intense experience of being Russian that pulled them together like straggling soldiers in a blizzard. But now they were hit by something entirely inexplicable – not an enemy, but a vacuum. Both those horrors, at least, had easy-to-understand narratives. For Russians the shock of the implosion of the system that had sustained their every physical, spiritual and intellectual need was far more profound than anything the Soviet system had ever thrown at them - even Stalin’s purges, even the Second World War. But suddenly, almost without warning, the whole rotten edifice collapsed under the weight of its own hypocrisy and dysfunction. Russia in the early 1990s caught a viral dose of the century’s chaos. The humiliation of 1991 and the 10 chaotic years that followed cast the foundation of modern Russia - the wellspring of all the aggression, resentment and paranoia that the world has to deal with today. And the key to understanding Putin, the Russia Putin has created, Russians’ continued support for Putin and Putin’s entire foreign policy rests on comprehending the toxic personal and political legacy of the fall of the U.S.S.R. Understanding what Putin actually means when he talks about Russian-Ukrainian “brotherhood” or Russia’s “security interests” is crucial if the world isn’t to slide into an accidental war based on fundamental misreadings by both sides. is a shorthand for an era of lost stability and respect? Is Putin just tactless, or actually dangerous? But could it be that Putin means something quite different – and that for him and his generation of Russians the U.S.S.R. just an unhelpful distraction? When Putin talks of the Soviet Union in glowing terms, his nervous neighbors infer a yearning for restoring the empire by force. House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, warned that Russia is “very likely” to invade Ukraine.īut is Russia’s saber-rattling a signal that Putin truly intends to reimpose imperial control over parts of the post-Soviet space? Or is Putin’s nostalgia for the U.S.S.R. Nathalie Loiseau, head of the European Union Parliament’s security and defense subcommittee, called “the Russian threat as a very immediate threat for our continent.” And the Biden administration has been sounding alarm bells since late November apparently based on intelligence pointing to concrete Russian plans for a military incursion. Putin “shows a determination to carry out the scenario of rebuilding the Russian empire,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told his Parliament in November, “a scenario that we, all Poles, have to forcefully oppose.” Many Europeans, too, are convinced that Putin’s plans include territorial expansion. Since last October he has massed 100,000 troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border, and last month he demanded that NATO provide formal guarantees that it will not expand any further eastward. In 20 Putin occupied and annexed parts of Georgia and Ukraine. It’s also the most misunderstood.ĭoes that mean that Putin really yearns to rebuild the U.S.S.R.? Seen from the point of view of Russia’s neighbors - all former subjects of Moscow with painful memories of centuries of Imperial rule – it certainly could look that way. ![]() For Vladimir Putin the end of the Soviet empire was “the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.” This is probably the Russian leader’s best-known quote. ![]()
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