EDITORIAL
Putin’s ardent supporters, as the exponent and originator of USSR-2, even though they have long since realised that the power of a Russia with feet of clay is actually LIES.
Aleksandr Dughin, Vladimir Putin’s so-called ideologue, also joins those who are beginning to openly criticise the would-be new Tsar of USSR-2. While it is understandable that the grief of losing his daughter in an attack, perhaps prepared for him, makes him increasingly radical, his solutions and exhortations are far from politically correct. His anger after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Herson has even gone so far as to call for the Russian leader to be toppled from power and perhaps even executed, according to the post on his Telegram account. Although the post was later deleted, it remains in the collective mind (https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1591308229333905409).
Aware of his blunder, he comes back the next day with a message of “supporting the military operation to the end”. Too late. The blunder has already been made! “The West (…) started spreading false information that I and Russian patriots have distanced ourselves from Putin since the surrender of Herson and demanded his resignation,” Alexander Dughin said on his Telegram account on Saturday evening. An outspoken and ardent supporter of the Russkiy mir doctrine, one who is mentored by the German existentialist thinker Martin Heidegger with his German istine, adapted his claims, saying: “We have our own special Russian truth”, “Herson is surrendered. A Russian city has surrendered, the capital of one of Russia’s regions – like Belgorod, Kursk, Donetsk or Simferopol. If you don’t care, then you’re not Russian. Russians are now gritting their teeth in pain, weeping and suffering as if their hearts have been ripped out, their children, brothers, mothers and wives murdered before their eyes. If you are not hurting now, you are nothing. The authorities are responsible for this. Which is the meaning of autocracy: we give the ruler absolute full power to save us all, the people, the state, the people, the citizens, at a critical moment,” Dughin wrote. “Autocracy also has a downside. The completeness of power in case of success, but also the completeness of responsibility for failure,” giving the example of the “rain king” in Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough. The man leading Russian troops in Ukraine, General Surovikin, has the advantage of not being a politician. So the decision is not his. At the same time, as he has known since his appointment to command Russian troops, he is aware of his position as that of a future guilt-sacrificer. The decision was not his to make, he only succeeded in arguing the necessity of withdrawal from Herson. It was like professional suicide, but a necessary personal sacrifice. No one will be able to save him, the politicians won’t want to, and his career, marked by actions in Syria, will soon be over. General Surovikin said the move would preserve the lives and combat capability of his forces. Above politics and military action, only history remains. It is history that speaks today. Slowly the conditions of the West, a supporter of Ukraine and characterised by Russia as unacceptable, are beginning to take shape for Moscow. Despite the calls for Armageddon by the ultranationalist philosopher Dughin, perhaps as an exponent of Russia’s elite groups, the decision to use tactical and strategic nuclear weapons will remain as an argument to soften the blow of possible defeat. How true and accurate is the claim that Putin has been offered terms of surrender by the West remains to be seen. In the diplomatic game of negotiations, Putin may have been offered the, shall we say honourable, chance to relinquish all annexed territory in Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea becoming a demilitarised zone, and its status will not be discussed again until 2029. How true is this proposal? Or is it an unacceptable option for Russia that could lead to Putin’s downfall? The offer initially discussed by Western officials with the Ukrainian side led to a change of heart by Volodimir Zelenski, who published a list of five conditions that would have to be met for any peace talks to take place. These conditions include punishments for Russia, restoration of Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity and security guarantees, creation of a special tribunal for Russia and a compensation fund. They also call for the UN to override Russia’s veto. Ukraine’s neutrality is not up for negotiation either. On the other hand, former Moscow Institute of International Relations analyst Professor Valeri Solovei argues that this would avoid criminal charges for war and allow Putin to stay in power. The claim could not be verified. Vladimir Soloviov, considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favourite propagandist, has erupted into a fit of rage after the Russian army withdrew from Herson. “Too many scum lied. They lied from top to bottom. About what they had in their warehouses. About the state of the vehicles. About how many militiamen were on the front. And not one of them was shot. Not a single bastard was caught by the ears,” are some of the heavy words conveyed in a radio broadcast and online by the Moscow propagandist. The Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group (DShRG) or “Rusici” (described as neo-Nazi), right-wing combat detachments of the Russian army, called the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from Herson a “betrayal of the Russian people” and wondered, “What is the next gesture of goodwill? Berdiansk or Melitopol? But Putin cannot escape the consequences of the withdrawal, seen as a massive geopolitical defeat for Putin and Russia. The Russians lost confidence in the Defense Ministry long ago, and now trust in the president will drop dramatically. In this context, it is understandable that President Putin is distancing himself from this military failure and the impotence of the Ministry of Defence. Seeking to protect the president, it was the generals who made the announcement that Russian forces would be withdrawn, thus putting themselves on the “black” list. The Kremlin is letting the military decide on this issue, which is really a military-political decision, and it was President Putin who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in what he called a “special military operation”. Putin’s lack of reaction and sheltering will unequivocally lead to a change in the domestic perception of the Tsar, previously seen as an all-conquering master strategist and portrayed as “Mr Stability”. Now, Nietzsche’s and then the same Heidegger’s relativisation of the truth-faith relationship leads us to the principle that “there are no facts, only interpretations”.
Maritime Security Forum
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