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Eurosibérie ou Eurasie ? Ou comment penser l’organisation du « Cœur de la Terre »…
par Georges FELTIN-TRACOL
Europe Maxima met en ligne la conférence de Georges Feltin-Tracol prononcée le 17 mai 2014 à Lyon dans le cadre du colloque « Réflexions à l’Est » à l’invitation de l’association Terre & Peuple.
Mesdames, Mesdemoiselles, Messieurs, Chers Amis,
Avec les développements inquiétants de la crise ukrainienne, la presse officielle de l’Hexagone insiste lourdement sur l’influence, réelle ou supposée, d’Alexandre Douguine, le théoricien russe du néo-eurasisme, sur les gouvernants russes. Ainsi, Bruno Tertrais l’évoque-t-il dans Le Figaro du 25 avril 2014. Puis c’est au tour du quotidien Libération du 28 avril d’y faire référence. Toujours dans Le Figaro, mais du 20 avril, c’est la philosophe catholique, libérale et néo-conservatrice Chantal Delsol de le citer… mal. Mieux, Le Nouvel Observateur du 1er mai lui consacre quatre pages sous la signature de Vincent Jauvert qui le qualifie de « Raspoutine de Poutine ». Même la livraison mensuelle de mai du Monde diplomatique en vient à traiter de l’eurasisme (1).
Cette notoriété médiatique tranche avec leur discrétion habituelle sur le sujet. Jusqu’à ces dernières semaines, et à part les périodiques de notre large mouvance rebelle, Alexandre Douguine était parfois évoqué par les correspondants permanents du journal Le Monde à Moscou (2). Certes, si ses œuvres complètes ne sont pas accessibles aux lecteurs francophones, ceux-ci disposent néanmoins de quelques ouvrages et textes essentiels traduits (3).
L’engouement des plumitifs du Système altantique-occidental pour le penseur polyglotte du néo-eurasisme témoigne en tout cas de l’intérêt qu’on porte à ses idées. Plus largement, la question de l’Eurasie suscite une réelle curiosité. Outre le n° 59 du magazine Terre et Peuple de ce printemps 2014, signalons que le dossier du nouveau trimestriel de géopolitique animé par Pascal Gauchon, Conflits, concerne « L’Eurasie. Le grand dessein de Poutine ».
Fins connaisseurs des thèses eurasistes, les rédacteurs du Terre et Peuple n° 59 préfèrent pour leur part se rallier à la thèse de l’Eurosibérie. De quoi s’agit-il donc ? C’est en 1998, soit plus d’une dizaine d’années après avoir quitté la métapolitique, que Guillaume Faye y revient avec un essai magistral, L’archéofuturisme. Cet ouvrage qui fit date dans nos milieux, bouscule maintes certitudes tenaces et balance quelques bombes idéologiques dont le fameux concept d’Eurosibérie. Guillaume Faye écrivait qu’« il faudra bien un jour intégrer la Russie et envisager l’avenir sous les traits de l’Eurosibérie. Les déboires actuels de la Russie ne sont que d’ordre transitoire et conjoncturel. Il s’agit simplement de contrer la (naturelle et explicable) volonté des États-Unis de contrôler l’Eurosibérie et de placer la Russie sous un protectorat et une assistance financière, prélude à sa vassalisation stratégique et économique (4) ».
Le concept d’Eurosibérie se réfère explicitement à la « Maison commune » du Soviétique Mikhaïl Gorbatchev exprimée en juillet 1989, et de la « Confédération européenne » esquissée le 31 décembre 1989 par François Mitterrand (5) avant que ces deux projets soient torpillés par les nouveaux agents de l’atlantisme en Europe centrale et orientale parmi lesquels le déplorable théâtreux tchèque Vaclav Havel.
L’Eurosibérie correspond à un espace géographique déterminé. « Notre frontière est sur l’Amour. Face à la Chine. Sur l’Atlantique et le Pacifique, face à la république impériale américaine, unique super-puissance mais dont le déclin géostratégique et culturel est déjà “ viralement ” programmé pour le premier quart du XXIe siècle – dixit Zbigniew Brzezinski, pourtant apologiste de la puissance américaine. Et, sur la Méditerranée et le Caucase, face au bloc musulman (moins divisé qu’on ne le pense) qui ne nous fera surtout jamais de cadeaux et peut constituer la première source de menaces mais aussi, si nous sommes forts, un excellent partenaire… (6) » Alors, éventuellement, « demain, poursuit Faye : de la rade de Brest à celle de Port-Arthur, de nos îles gelées de l’Arctique au soleil victorieux de la Crète, de la lande à la steppe et des fjords au maquis, cent nations libres et unies, regroupées en Empire, pourront peut-être s’octroyer ce que Tacite nommait le Règne de la Terre, Orbis Terræ Regnum (7) ».
En lisant L’archéofuturisme, on remarque que Guillaume Faye écarte la notion même d’Occident. Rappelons qu’il fut l’un des premiers en 1980 à dissocier et à opposer l’Occident – dominé par Washington -, de l’Europe dont nous sommes les paladins (8). Préoccupé par la montée démographique rapide des peuples du Sud, Faye imagine l’Eurosibérie intégrer une « solidarité globale – ethnique, fondamentalement – du Nord face à la menace du Sud. Quoi qu’il en soit, la notion d’Occident disparaît pour céder la place à celle du Monde du Nord, ou Septentrion (9) ». Après l’avoir combattu (10), il se rallie en fin de compte à l’avis de Jean Cau. Parce que « nous ne pouvons pas compter sur les États-Unis pour s’opposer à un mondialisme dont le monde-race blanc ferait seul les frais (11) », son célèbre Discours de la décadence n’excluait pas « ce qui me paraît essentiel pour notre salut : un nationalisme (et donc par là même un refus du mondialisme) qui, quelles que soient les rigueurs qu’il implique et les répugnances qu’il peut inspirer aux décadents que nous sommes (et qui ont lié les idées de liberté à la réalisation de ce mondialisme en lequel elles n’auront plus de contenu et de sens) est notre seul possible Destin (12) ». En effet, « par son action, continue Jean Cau, la Russie a plus le souci de défendre son empire que de “ libérer ” les peuples. C’est en vertu d’une vocation impériale, afin de rester intacte et non par idéalisme moralisant et mondialiste qu’elle agit (13) ». « Telle est, en ces années 70 – et bientôt 80 – ma “ vue de l’esprit ”, poursuit-il. Ô paradoxe n’est-ce pas, que de déclarer qu’une Russie nationale, de par sa résistance à l’Américanisme mondialiste, est peut-être la seule chance de nos nations et de notre monde-race blanc ? Paradoxe apparent, je le crains. Et vérité d’Histoire, je le crois (14). »
Dans Pourquoi nous combattons, publié en 2001, Guillaume Faye revient sur l’Eurosibérie qu’il définit comme un exemple d’« ethnosphère (15) ». Bloc continental à l’économie auto-centrée, c’« est l’espace destinal des peuples européens enfin regroupés, de l’Atlantique au Pacifique, scellant l’alliance historique de l’Europe péninsulaire, de l’Europe centrale et de la Russie (16) ». Il s’agit, dans son esprit, d’une « forteresse commune, la maison commune, l’extension maximale et l’expression naturelle de la notion d’« Empire européen ». Elle serait véritablement la “ Troisième Rome ”, ce que ne fut jamais la Russie (17) ».
Relevons en revanche l’absence dans ce manifeste du Septentrion. Est-ce parce qu’en 1989, on évoquait déjà une communauté euro-atlantique de Vancouver à Vladivostok ? Le 25 septembre 2001, Vladimir Poutine s’adressa en allemand au Bundestag. Il voyait alors la Russie comme un pays européen et occidental. C’était le temps où Moscou tentât d’adhérer à l’Alliance Atlantique. Aux États-Unis, certains cénacles de pensée stratégique proches des paléo-conservateurs, ces adversaires farouches du néo-conservatisme, approuvaient cette démarche destinée in fine à contrer l’ascension chinoise. L’auteur de thriller-fictions, Tom Clancy, en fit un roman, L’Ours et le Dragon (18). Une approche assez similaire se retrouve chez l’écrivain Maurice G. Dantec dans les trois volumes de son Journal métaphysique et polémique. Ainsi écrit-il dans Laboratoire de catastrophe générale que « l’O.T.A.N. doit donc non seulement intégrer au plus vite toutes les anciennes républiques populaires de l’Est européen, mais prévoir à moyen terme une organisation tripartite unifiant les trois grandes puissances boréales : Amérique du Nord, Europe Unie (quel que soit son état, malheureusement) et Russie, plus le Japon, au sein d’un nouveau traité Atlantique – Pacifique Nord, qui puisse faire contrepoids à l’abomination onuzie et aux menaces sino-wahhabites. […] La seule issue pour l’Occident est donc bien de définir un nouvel arc stratégique panocéanique, trinitaire, avec l’Amérique au centre, l’Europe du côté atlantique, et la Fédération de Russie, assistée du Japon, pour l’espace pacifique – sibérien (19) ».
Dénoncé par le national-républicain Régis Debray (20), l’option pan-occidentaliste a trouvé en Maurice G. Dantec son chantre décomplexé. Toutefois, à part l’implication du Japon, le cadre pan-occidental (ou Hyper-Occident) correspond déjà à l’O.C.D.E. (Organisation de coopération et de développement économique) et à l’O.S.C.E. (Organisation pour la sécurité et la coopération en Europe). « Issue en 1994 de la transformation de la Conférence sur la sécurité et la coopération en Europe d’Helsinki (1975), note Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, l’O.S.C.E. est une organisation régionale de sécurité juridiquement reliée à l’O.N.U. Ce forum regroupe les États d’Europe (Russie comprise), d’Asie centrale (les anciennes républiques musulmanes d’U.R.S.S.) et d’Amérique du Nord, soit 51 États membres. L’O.S.C.E. est tournée vers la maîtrise des armements et la diplomatie préventive (21). » Aujourd’hui, l’O.S.C.E. compte 57 membres ainsi que six partenaires méditerranéens pour la coopération (Algérie, Égypte, Israël, Jordanie, Maroc, Tunisie), et cinq partenaires asiatiques (Japon, Corée du Sud, Thaïlande, Afghanistan et Australie). Par ailleurs, l’orientation nord-hémisphérique que préfigure imparfaitement l’O.S.C.E., ne se confine pas au seul cénacle littéraire. « J’ai aussi été l’un des tout premiers, à l’époque de l’effondrement soviétique, à lancer l’idée de la construction politique d’un “ continent boréal ”, de Brest à Vladivostok, affirme Jean-Marie Le Pen (22). » En 2007, son programme présidentiel mentionnait de manière explicite une « sphère boréale » de Brest à Vladivostok.
Dans son dernier tome du Journal métaphysique et polémique, Maurice G. Dantec, converti, suite à ses lectures patristiques et philosophiques, au catholicisme traditionaliste, vomit l’Union européenne, l’O.N.U., le multiculturalisme, et en appelle à l’avènement d’« États continentaux – fédéraux, vagues souvenirs des empires d’autrefois (23) ». Exigeant une « Grande Politique » pour le pâle mécanisme européen qu’il surnomme « Zéropa-Land », il croit toutefois que « véritable fondation politique du continent, car seule capable historiquement de fonder quelque chose, l’O.T.A.N., ce vénérable Anneau de Pouvoir, est seule habilitée à le refondre. Elle va s’auto-organiser dans le développement tri-polaire de l’Occident futur : Russie/Europe de l’Est – Grande-Bretagne + Commonwealth – Amérique hémisphérique (24) ». Enthousiasmé par l’American way of life, l’auteur de Babylon Babies prétend que « les Américains, sous peu, auront encore plus besoin des Russes que ceux-ci des Américains; un peu comme avec la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, la Quatrième Guerre mondiale, qui est le régime international – pacifié de la guerre comme continuation du terrorisme par d’autres moyens, va fournir le décor pour un basculement d’alliance stratégique comme jamais il n’y eut dans l’histoire des hommes. Le dollar U.S. intronisé monnaie en Sibérie. Les ressources humaines et naturelles de la Russie, les ressources humaines et financières des États-Unis. À elles deux, ces deux nations l’ont montré, elles seraient capables de mettre en place un véritable condominium planétaire, basé sur les technologies de la conquête spatiale et un partage des responsabilités qui équivaudraient à une win-win situation, comme aiment le dire ces salauds de capitalistes yankees (25) ». Acquis à l’Occident génétiquement survitaminé, Dantec balaie sans aucune hésitation toute Eurosibérie possible. « Poutine devrait y réfléchir à deux fois avant de s’engager avec les Franco-boches, contre le Nouvel Occident, avertit Dantec. Malgré les délires de certains “ penseurs ” de la “ droite révolutionnaire ”, les Sibériens n’ont strictement rien à battre des pantins qui s’agitent à Strasbourg ou à Bruxelles, c’est-à-dire à leurs antipodes sur tous les plans. Quand je lis, de-ci de-là, de telles avanies sur une sorte de bloc euro-continental qui s’étendrait de Paris – Ville lumière jusqu’à Vladivostok, et sous le nom d’Europe, rien ne peut retenir mon rire d’éclater à la face de ces bidules prophétologiques dérisoires, et même pas vraiment criminels. Imaginent-ils donc qu’un marin russe qui pêche dans les eaux du Kamtchatka puisse se sentir en quelque façon “ européen ”, à quelques encablures du Japon? Anchorage sera toujours plus près d’Irkoutsk que n’importe laquelle des capitales de l’union franco-boche (26). »
Bien que réfractaire au concept eurosibérien, Dantec n’en demeure pas moins le défenseur d’un monde – race blanc, d’un Septentrion sous une forme déviante et identitairement inacceptable. D’autres font le même constat mais en lui donnant une formulation plus convaincante. Co-fondateur du site Europe Maxima, mon camarade et vieux complice Rodolphe Badinand promeut un Saint-Empire européen arctique. « La maîtrise du pôle Nord est une nécessité géopolitique et mythique, note-t-il. Outre qu’il est impératif que l’Empire s’assure du foyer originel de nos ancêtres hyperboréens, le contrôle du cercle polaire revêt une grande valeur stratégique. Si le réchauffement planétaire se poursuit et s’accentue, dans quelques centaines d’années, la banquise aura peut-être presque disparu, faisant de l’océan polaire, un domaine maritime de toute première importance. En s’étendant sur les littoraux des trois continents qui la bordent, le Saint-Empire européen arctique, dans sa superficie idéale qui comprendrait […] l’Eurosibérie et les territoires septentrionaux de l’Amérique du Nord (Alaska, Yukon, Territoire du Nord-Ouest, Nunavut, Québec, Labrador, Terre-Neuve, Acadie, Provinces maritimes de l’Atlantique), le Groenland et l’Islande, détiendrait un atout appréciable dans le jeu des puissances mondiales. C’est enfin la transposition tangible dans l’espace du symbole polaire. Comme l’Empereur est la référence de l’Empire, notre Empire redeviendra le pôle du monde, le référent des renaissances spirituelles et identitaires de tous les peuples, loin de tout universalisme et de tout mondialisme (27). »
Guillaume Faye, Jean Cau, Maurice G. Dantec, Rodolphe Badinand réfléchissent au fait politique à partir du critère géographique de grand espace. Ils poursuivent, consciemment ou non, les travaux du philosophe euro-américain Francis Parker Yockey (28), du géopoliticien allemand Karl Haushofer et du théoricien géopolitique belge Jean Thiriart (29). Dès la décennie 1960, ce dernier pense à un État-nation continental grand-européen qui s’étendrait de Brest à Vladivostok. Puis, au fil du temps et en fonction des soubresauts propres aux relations internationales, il en vient à soutenir dans les années 1980 un empire euro-soviétique. La fin de l’U.R.S.S. en 1991 ne l’empêche pas d’envisager une nouvelle orientation géopolitique paneuropéenne totale. Influencé, au soir de sa vie, par son compatriote Luc Michel, Jean Thiriart suggère « une République impériale allant de Dublin à Vladivostok dans les structures d’un État unitaire, centralisé (30) ». Le fondement juridique de cet État grand-européen reposerait sur l’« omnicitoyenneté ». « Né à Malaga, diplômé à Paris, médecin à Kiev, plus tard bourgmestre à Athènes le seul et même homme jouira de tous les droits politiques à n’importe quel endroit de la République unitaire (31). » Mais quelles frontières pour cet espace politique commun ? « Les limites territoriales vitales de l’Europe “ Grande Nation ”, écrit Thiriart, vont ou passent à l’Ouest de l’Islande jusqu’à Vladivostok, de Stockholm jusqu’au Sahara-Sud, des Canaries au Kamtchaka, de l’Écosse au Béloutchistan. […] L’Europe sans le contrôle des deux rives à Gibraltar et à Istanbul traduirait un concept aussi risible et dangereux que les États-Unis sans le contrôle de Panama et des Malouines. Il nous faut des rivages faciles à défendre : Océan glacial Arctique, Atlantique, Sahara (rivage terrestre), accès aux détroits indispensables, Gibraltar, Suez, Istanbul, Aden – Djibouti, Ormuz (32). » La Grande Europe selon Thiriart intègre non seulement l’Afrique du Nord, mais aussi la Turquie, le Proche-Orient et l’Asie Centrale, Pakistan inclus ! La capitale de cette Méga-Europe serait… Istanbul !
On doit reconnaître que les thèses exposées ici dépassent largement ce que François Thual et Aymeric Chauprade désignent comme des « panismes ». « On appelle panisme, ou pan-idée, une représentation géopolitique fondée sur une communauté d’ordre ethnique, religieuse, régionale ou continentale. Le “ ou ” ici n’étant pas exclusif. Le concept forgé dès les années 1930 par la géopolitique allemande de Karl Haushofer sous le vocable Pan-Idee, est repris et développé par François Thual dans les années 1990 (33). »
Nonobstant l’inclusion de l’Afrique du Nord dans l’aire politique grande-européenne, l’ultime vision de Jean Thiriart correspond imparfaitement à l’eurasisme dont Alexandre Douguine est l’une des figures les plus connues. Or la réflexion eurasiste ne se réduit pas à cette seule personnalité.
Pour faire simple et court, car il ne s’agit pas de retracer ici la généalogie et le développement tant historique qu’actuel de l’eurasisme (34), ce courant novateur résulte, d’une part, du panslavisme, et, d’autre part, du slavophilisme. Inventé à la Renaissance par un Croate, Vinko Pribojevitch, le panslavisme entend restaurer l’unité politique des peuples slaves à partir de leur héritage historique et linguistique commun retracé par des philologues et des poètes. Le panslavisme se politise vite. En 1823 – 1825 existe en Russie une Société des Slaves unis liée au mouvement libéral décabriste. Contrairement à ses prolongements ultérieurs, le premier panslavisme est plutôt libéral, voire révolutionnaire – l’anarchiste Michel Bakounine participe en 1848 au Ire Congrès panslave à Prague. Cette réunion internationale en plein « Printemps des Peuples » est un échec du fait de son éclatement en trois tendances antagonistes :
— un courant libéral et démocratique représenté par la Société démocratique polonaise, fondée en 1832, qui s’oppose surtout aux menées russes et veut rassembler les Slaves de l’Ouest catholiques romains ou réformés;
— une tendance plus attachée à la foi orthodoxe et donc plus alignée sur la Russie impériale, qui agite les Slaves du Sud (Monténégrins, Serbes, Macédoniens, Bulgares) vivant dans des Balkans soumis au joug ottoman et qui rêve d’une libération nationale grâce à l’intervention de Saint-Pétersbourg, le seul État slave-orthodoxe indépendant (c’est le « russo-slavisme »);
— une faction austro-slaviste prônée par des Tchèques, des Polonais de Galicie, des Slovaques et des Croates qui essaye de fédérer des Slaves de l’Ouest, des Balkans et de l’espace danubien sous l’autorité des Habsbourg.
La postérité du panslavisme dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle suit des prolongements inattendus. Le « russo-slavisme » vire en un « pan-orthodoxisme » impérialiste qui n’hésite pas à exclure Polonais et Tchèques jugés trop occidentaux et « romano-germains » quand il ne les russifie pas. Encouragé par de brillants publicistes dont le Russe Nicolas Danilevski, ces panslavistes pro-russes approuvent la guerre russo-turque de 1877 – 1878 dont la victoire militaire russe se solde au Congrès de Berlin en défaite diplomatique à l’initiative des puissances occidentales.
Opposé à la présence russe, les panslavistes polonais évoluent vers des positions nationalistes plus ou moins affirmées. La Démocratie nationale de Dmovski œuvre avant 1914 pour un royaume de Pologne en union personnelle avec le tsar tandis que le militant socialiste et futur maréchal polonais, Joseph Pilsudski, récuse toute collaboration avec la Russie. Ayant en tête l’âge d’or de l’Union de Pologne – Lituanie entre les XIVe et XVIIIe siècles, ce Polonais natif de la ville lituanienne de Vilnius envisage un glacis anti-russe de la Baltique à la Mer Noire, soit la Pologne, la Lituanie, la Biélorussie et l’Ukraine : la Fédération Intermarum ou Fédération Entre Mers. Cette aspiration fédéraliste demeurera le cœur nucléaire du prométhéisme de Pilsudski. Ce projet de Fédération Entre Mers (avec les États baltes) vient de réapparaître dans le programme électoral présidentiel du mouvement ultra-nationaliste ukrainien Pravyï Sektor (Secteur droit) de Dmytro Yaroch (35).
Le conservatisme de la Double-Monarchie déçoit l’austro-slavisme qui laisse bientôt la place à des panismes partiels (ou panslavismes régionaux). En 1914, la Serbie encourage l’irrédentisme des Serbes de Bosnie au nom du yougoslavisme. Mais ce yougoslavisme, orthodoxe et russophile, à forte tonalité panserbe, diffère tant du yougoslavisme de l’archevêque croate Joseph Strossmayer qui souhaite rassembler autour des Habsbourg les peuples slaves du Sud que du yougoslavisme libertaire et socialiste favorable à une large fédération balkanique, concrétisé en août 1903 par l’éphémère république socialiste macédonienne de Kroutchevo. On sait que l’archiduc François-Ferdinand, époux d’une aristocrate tchèque, préconisait une Triple-Monarchie avec un pilier slave, ce que ne voulaient pas les Hongrois d’où peut-être une connivence objective entre certains services serbes et quelques milieux républicains magyars…
Faut-il pour autant parler du naufrage du panslavisme ? Sûrement pas quand on examine la politique étrangère de l’excellent président du Bélarus, Alexandre Loukachenko. Depuis 1994, date de l’arrivée au pouvoir de cet authentique homme d’État dont l’action contraste avec la nullité des Cameron, Merkel, l’« Écouté de Neuilly » ou notre Flamby hexagonal !, le président bélarussien a à plusieurs reprises encouragé le renouveau panslaviste. Permettez-moi par conséquent de m’inscrire ici en faux avec l’affirmation d’Alain Cagnat qui qualifie le Bélarus de « musée du stalinisme. [… Cet État] n’a aucune existence internationale. Quant au pseudo-particularisme linguistique ou culturel biélorusse, cela tient au folklore. On peut logiquement penser que, une fois refermée la parenthèse Loukachenko, les Biélorussiens se hâteront de rejoindre le giron russe (36) ». Que le russe soit depuis 1995 la langue co-officielle du Bélarus à côté du bélarussien n’implique pas nécessairement une intégration future dans la Russie sinon les Irlandais, tous anglophones, demanderaient à rejoindre non pas la Grande-Bretagne (ils ont largement donné), mais plutôt les États-Unis, ou bien les Jurassiens suisses la République française. La présidence d’Alexandre Loukachenko a consolidé l’identité nationale bélarussienne qui s’enracine à la fois dans les traditions polythéistes slaves et l’héritage chrétien. Lors du solstice d’été, le Bélarus célèbre la fête de Yanka Koupali. Ce rite très ancien témoigne de l’attachement de la population à ses racines ainsi qu’à la nature. Il s’agit d’invoquer les éléments naturels pour que les récoltes soient bonnes. De nombreuses danses folkloriques sont alors exécutées par des jeunes femmes aux têtes couronnées de fleurs.
Par ailleurs, membre du Mouvement des non-alignés et allié du Venezuela de feu le Commandante Hugo Chavez, le Bélarus se trouve à l’avant-garde de la résistance au Nouveau désordre mondial propagé par l’Occident américanomorphe. Les projets d’union Russie – Bélarus sont pour l’heure gelés. Pour s’unir, il faut un consentement mutuel. Or le peuple bélarussien se sent autre par rapport à ses cousins russes. La revue en ligne, Le Courrier de la Russie, rapporte une certaine méfiance générale envers le grand voisin oriental. Une esthéticienne de Minsk déclare au journaliste russe : « Si la Russie et la Biélorussie se réunissent, ce sera du grand n’importe quoi. En Biélorussie, il y a de la discipline et de l’ordre, mais en Russie, il y a trop d’injustice, c’est le désordre (37). » Quelques peu dépités par les témoignages recueillis, les auteurs de l’article soulignent finalement que « pour les Biélorusses, la langue russe n’est pas associée directement avec la Russie », que « la Russie est perçue plutôt comme une force politique, du reste à l’esprit impérial assez désagréable » et quand « nous avons proposé à des étudiants de passer une sorte de test projectif – dessiner leur pays sur la carte du monde en s’orientant non sur les connaissances géographiques mais sur les associations personnelles, la majorité des Biélorusses ont fourni une image très semblable. Leur pays au centre et, autour, comme des pétales de marguerite et avec une importance équivalente, la Russie, la Pologne, la Lituanie, le Venezuela… (38) »
Sur la crise ukrainienne, le Président Loukachenko rejette toute fédéralisation du pays. Il a aussi reconnu et reçu le gouvernement provisoire de Kyiv et condamne les tentatives de sécession. Déjà en 2008, ce fidèle allié de Moscou n’a jamais reconnu l’indépendance de l’Abkhazie et de l’Ossétie du Sud. Mieux, il n’hésite pas à contrarier les intérêts russes. Le 26 août 2013, un proche de Poutine, Vladislav Baumgertner, directeur général d’Uralkali, une importante firme russe spécialisée dans la potasse, est arrêté à Minsk et incarcéré. « Quels que soient les sentiments qu’il inspire, le président biélorusse Alexandre Loukachenko entretient avec le Kremlin des relations qui sont plus d’égal à égal que celles des Grecs avec Merkel : imaginez ce qui se passerait si le patron d’une grosse entreprise allemande était arrêté en Grèce (39). » Minsk peut donc se montrer indocile envers Moscou qui respecte bien plus que les donneurs de leçons occidentaux la souveraineté étatique. En outre, contrairement encore à l’État-continent, le Bélarus n’appartient pas à l’O.M.C. et applique encore la peine de mort.
À la fin des années 1830 apparaissent en Russie les slavophiles (Alexis Khomiakov, Constantin Léontiev, Ivan Kireïevski, Constantin Aksakov, Fiodor Dostoïevski, etc.) dont la dénomination était à l’origine un sobriquet donné par leurs adversaires. Si ces romantiques particuliers ne sont pas toujours panslavistes, ils s’accordent volontiers sur l’exaltation des idiosyncrasies de leur civilisation, en particulier sa foi orthodoxe, sa paysannerie et son autocratie. Hostiles aux occidentalistes qui célèbrent un monde occidental romano-germanique hérétique en constante modification, les slavophiles s’associent trop au pouvoir tsariste et s’étiolent à l’orée de la Grande Guerre.
On a pu dire que leur dernier représentant fut Alexandre Soljénitsyne. Quand sombre l’Union Soviétique, l’ancien dissident envisage une « Union des peuples slaves » avec la Russie, l’Ukraine, le Bélarus et les marches septentrionales du Kazakhstan fortement russophones. Cependant, Soljénitsyne ne nie pas la réalité des langues, cultures et identités bélarussienne et ukrainienne. Il les admet et veut même les valoriser ! Il prévient néanmoins que « si le peuple ukrainien désirait effectivement se détacher de nous, nul n’aurait le droit de le retenir de force. Mais divers sont ces vastes espaces et seule la population locale peut déterminer le destin de son petit pays, le sort de sa région (40) ».
La Première Guerre mondiale, les révolutions russes de 1917, le renversement du tsarisme et la guerre civile jusqu’en 1921 bouleversent les héritiers du slavophilisme. C’est au sein de l’émigration russe blanche qu’émerge alors l’eurasisme. Exilés à Prague et à Paris, les premiers eurasistes, Nicolas Troubetskoï, Pierre Savitsky, Georges Vernadsky, Pierre Suvchinskiy, redécouvrent le caractère asiatique de leur histoire et réhabilitent les deux cent cinquante ans d’occupation tataro-mongole. Saluant l’œuvre des khan de Karakorum, ils conçoivent l’espace russe comme un troisième monde particulier. S’ils proclament le caractère eurasien des régions actuellement ukrainiennes de la Galicie, de la Volhynie et de la Podolie, ils se désintéressent superbement des Balkans, du Caucase et de la Crimée. Parfois précurseurs d’une troisième voie, certains d’entre-eux approuvent le renouveau soviétique sous la férule de Staline si bien que quelques-uns retournent en U.R.S.S. pour se retrouver envoyés au Goulag ou exécutés.
Pensée « géographiste », voire géopolitiste, parce qu’elle prend en compte l’espace steppique, l’eurasisme ne dure qu’une dizaine d’années et semble disparu en 1945. Remarquons que le numéro-culte d’Éléments consacré à la Russie en 1986 ignore l’eurasisme pourtant présent en filigrane dans certains milieux restreints du P.C.U.S. (41). Cependant, la transmission entre le premier eurasisme et l’eurasisme actuel revient à Lev Goumilev qui sut élaborer un nouvel eurasisme à portée ethno-biologico-naturaliste. Le néo-eurasisme resurgit dans les années 1990 et prend rapidement un ascendant certain au sein du gouvernement. Dès 1996, un eurasiste connu, l’arabophone Evgueni Primakov, devient ministre des Affaires étrangères avant d’être nommé président du gouvernement russe entre 1998 et 1999.
Aujourd’hui, le néo-eurasisme russe se structure autour de trois principaux pôles. Activiste métapolitique de grand talent, Alexandre Douguine ajoute aux travaux des précurseurs et de Goumilev divers apports d’origine ouest-européenne comme l’école de la Tradition primordiale (Guénon et Evola), de la « Révolution conservatrice » allemande, des « Nouvelles Droites » françaises, thioises et italiennes, et des approches marxistes hétérodoxes d’ultra-gauche (42). Un autre « courant, autour de la revue Evrazija (Eurasie) d’Édouard Bagramov, est plus culturel et folkloriste, explique Marlène Laruelle. Son thème central est la mixité, l’alliance slavo-turcique, qu’il illustre par la réhabilitation de l’Empire mongol et des minorités turco-musulmanes dans l’histoire russe, par une comparaison entre religiosité orthodoxe et mysticisme soufi : la fidélité à la Russie serait ainsi le meilleur mode de protection de l’identité nationale des petits peuples eurasiens. Sur le plan politique, Evrazija appelle à la reconstitution d’une unité politique et économique de l’espace post-soviétique autour du projet du président Nazarbaev, qui finance en partie la revue. Le troisième et dernier grand courant eurasiste, celui d’Alexandre Panarine et de Boris Erassov, est le plus théorique puisqu’il tente de réhabiliter la notion d’« empire » : l’empire ne serait ni un nationalisme étroit ni un impérialisme agressif mais une nouvelle forme de citoyenneté, d’« étaticité » reposant sur des valeurs et des principes et non sur le culte d’une nation. Il incarnerait sur le plan politique la diversité nationale de l’Eurasie et annoncerait au plan international l’arrivée d’un monde dit “ post-moderne ” où les valeurs conservatrices, religieuses et ascétiques gagneraient sur les idéaux de progrès de l’Occident (43) ». Treize ans plus tard, en dépit du décès de Goumilev et de Panarine, cette répartition théorique persiste avec l’apparition d’« un courant néo-eurasiste sinophile, incarné par Mikhaïl Titarenko, le directeur de l’Institut d’Extrême-Orient de l’Académie des Sciences (44) ». Quoique balbutiante, cette orientation tend à s’affirmer progressivement. « Les cinq cents ans de domination de l’Occident sur le monde sont en train de s’achever, assurait en 2007 Anatoli Outkine, historien à l’Institut des États-Unis et du Canada de l’Académie des Sciences, et, in extremis, la Russie a réussi à prendre le train des nouveaux pays qui montent, aux côtés de la Chine, de l’Inde et du Brésil. […] L’Europe aurait pu être le centre du monde si seulement la Russie avait été acceptée dans l’O.T.A.N. et l’Union européenne. […] En 2025, c’est Shanghai qui sera le centre du monde, et la Russie sera dans le camp de l’Orient. Aujourd’hui, nous n’attendons plus rien de l’Occident (45). » « L’Extrême-Orient est systématiquement valorisé dans les discours officiels russes comme une région d’avenir, signale Marlène Laruelle. Son évocation participe en effet de l’idée que la Russie est une puissance asiatique ayant un accès direct à la région la plus dynamique du monde, l’Asie – Pacifique dont elle est partie intégrante. Si tel est le cas sur le plan géographique – bien que l’Asie du Nord soit marginale, économiquement, comparée à l’Asie du Sud, qui concentre le dynamisme actuel -, il n’en est rien au niveau économique. Le commerce transfrontalier avec la Chine est bel et bien en pleine expansion, et des projets de zone de libre-échange entre la Russie, la Chine et la Corée du Sud sont à l’ordre du jour. Mais, globalement, l’économie russe est encore peu tournée vers l’Asie et peu intégrée à ses mécanismes régionaux (46). »
L’eurasisme n’est pas propre à la Russie. Le Kazakhstan de Nursultan Nazarbaïev assume, lui aussi, cette idéologie. Inquiet des revendications territoriales de Soljénitsyne, il a transféré la capitale d’Almaty à une ville créée ex-nihilo, Astana, dont l’université d’État s’appelle officiellement Lev-Goumilev… Dans le n° 1 de Conflits, Tancrède Josserand traite avec brio de l’eurasisme turc (47). L’eurasisme est aussi présent en Hongrie via le pantouranisme dont le Jobbik se veut le continuateur. Mais, dans ce dernier cas, l’idéocratie eurasiste exprimée en Mitteleuropa apparaît surtout comme un cheval de Troie pro-turc. Le Jobbik souhaiterait que l’Union européenne s’ouvre à Ankara. Avec lucidité, Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier estime que « lorsque ce type de production n’est pas destiné à promouvoir la candidature turque à l’Union européenne, l’« eurasisme » européen accorde une place centrale à l’alliance russe, la mission historique de la “ Troisième Rome ” consistant faire de l’Asie du Nord le prolongement géopolitique de l’Europe. Aussi serait-il plus adéquat de parler d’« Eurosibérie » (48) ».
Existe-t-il en Chine une pensée eurasiste ? Impossible en l’état de répondre à cette question. Ces derniers jours, les médiats ont rapporté que Pékin aimerait construire une ligne à grande vitesse de 13 000 km qui relierait le Nord-Ouest de la Chine aux États-Unis en deux jours par un train roulant à 350 km/h. Cette hypothétique L.G.V. traverserait la Sibérie, l’Alaska et le Canada et franchirait le détroit de Béring par un tunnel de 200 km (49). En revanche existe au Japon jusqu’en 1941 une mouvance eurasiste. Entre 1905 et 1940, les milieux cultivés de l’archipel débattent avec vigueur de deux orientations géopolitiques contradictoires : le Nanshin-ron ou « Doctrine d’expansion vers le Sud » (l’Asie du Sud-Est et les îles du Pacifique, ce qui implique d’affronter les puissances européennes et étasunienne) et le Hokushin-ron ou « Doctrine d’expansion vers le Nord » (à savoir combattre l’U.R.S.S. – Russie afin de s’emparer de la partie Nord de Sakhaline, de la Mongolie, de Vladivostok, du lac Baïkal et de la Sibérie centrale). Adversaire de la Faction du contrôle (Toseiha) de Tojo, le Kodoha (ou Faction de la voie impériale) du général Sadao Araki a en partie défendu l’Hokushin-ron. La synthèse revient à Tokutomi Sohô qui se prononce en faveur d’une invasion simultanée du Nord et du Sud, d’où l’affirmation dans un second temps d’une visée pan-asiatique. On sait cependant que la poussée vers le Nord est brisée lors de la défaite nippone de Khalkin-Gol en 1939 (50). Cette digression extrême-orientale n’est pas superflue. Robert Steuckers rappelle que le Kontinentalblock de Karl Haushofer a été « très probablement repris des hommes d’État japonais du début du XXe siècle, tels le prince Ito, le comte Goto et le Premier ministre Katsura, avocats d’une alliance grande-continentale germano-russo-japonaise (51) ».
Éclectique au Japon, en Turquie, en Hongrie, l’eurasisme l’est aussi en Russie. « L’idéologie néo-eurasiste, précise Marlène Laruelle, peut ainsi se présenter comme une science naturelle (Goumilev), une géopolitique et un spiritisme (Douguine), une intégration économique (Nazarbaev, organes de la C.E.I.), un mode de gestion des problèmes internes de la Fédération (eurasisme turcique), une philosophie de l’histoire (Panarine), une “ culturologie ” (Bagramov), un nouveau terrain scientifique (Vestnik Evrazii) (52) », d’où une multiplicité de contentieux internes : Panarine et Bagramov ont par exemple critiqué les approches biologisantes, ethnicisantes et métapolitiques de Goumilev et de Douguine.
L’eurasisme reste un pragmatisme géopolitique qui, à rebours de l’idée eurosibérienne, prend en compte la diversité ethno-spirituelle des peuples autochtones de Sibérie. Quid en effet dans l’Eurosibérie ethnosphérique de leur existence ? Le territoire sibérien n’est pas un désert humain. Y vivent des peuples minoritaires autochtones tels les Samoyèdes, les Bouriates, les Yakoutes, etc. Il ne faut pas avoir à ce sujet une volonté assimilatrice comme l’appliquèrent les Russes tsaristes et les Soviétiques. La nature de la Russie est d’être multinationale. Entre ici les notions complémentaires d’ethnopolitique et de psychologie des peuples. « Il convient d’attacher la plus grande importance à l’étude de ces unités secondaires qu’en France on appelle régions et pays, déclare Abel Miroglio […]. Une bonne psychologie nationale ne peut se dispenser de s’appuyer sur la connaissance des diverses régions; bien sûr, elle la domine, elle ne s’y réduit pas; et pareillement la psychologie de la région exige, pour être bien conduite, l’étude de ses divers terroirs (53). » Par conséquent, si la société russe adopte une solution nationaliste telle que la défendent des « nationaux-démocrates » anti-Poutine à la mode Alexeï Navalny, elle perdra inévitablement les territoires sibériens. Or ce vaste espace participe pleinement à la civilisation russe. « La civilisation est un ensemble plus large qui peut contenir plusieurs cultures, juge Gaston Bouthoul. Car la civilisation est un complexe très général dont les dominantes sont les connaissances scientifiques et techniques et les principales doctrines philosophiques. Les cultures, tout en participant de la civilisation à laquelle elles appartiennent, présentent surtout des différences de traditions esthétiques, historiques et mythiques (54). » La civilisation russe est polyculturaliste qui est l’exact contraire radical du multiculturalisme marchand.
Voilà pourquoi Douguine assigne à l’Orthodoxie, au judaïsme, à l’islam et au chamanisme – animisme le rang de religions traditionnelles, ce que n’ont pas le catholicisme et les protestantismes représentés dans l’étranger proche par une multitude de sectes évangéliques d’origine étatsunienne. C’est ainsi qu’il faut comprendre son fameux propos : « Le rejet du chauvinisme, du racisme et de la xénophobie procède d’abord chez moi d’une fidélité à la philosophie des premiers Eurasistes, qui soulignaient de façon positive le mélange de races et d’ethnies dans la formation et le développement de l’identité russe et surtout grand-russe. Il est par ailleurs une conséquence logique des principes de la géopolitique, selon lesquels le territoire détermine en quelque sorte le destin de ceux qui y vivent (le Boden vaut plus que le Blut) (55) ». Rien de surprenant de la part d’Alexandre Douguine, traditionaliste de confession orthodoxe vieux-croyants. Il ajoute même que, pour lui, « le traditionalisme est la source de l’inspiration, le point de départ. Mais il faut le développer plus avant, le vivre, le penser et repenser (56) ».
Alexandre Douguine, en lecteur attentif de Carl Schmitt, systématise l’opposition entre la Terre et la Mer (57), entre les puissances telluriques et les puissances thalassocratiques. Alors que triomphe une « vie liquide » décrite par Zygmunt Bauman (58), sa démarche nettement tellurocratique est cohérente puisqu’elle s’appuie sur le Sol et non sur le Sang dont la nature constitue, en dernière analyse, un liquide. Et puis, en authentique homme de Tradition, Douguine insiste sur le fait, primordial à ses yeux, qu’ « un Eurasiste n’est donc nullement un “ habitant du continent eurasiatique ”. Il est bien plutôt l’homme qui assume volontairement la position d’une lutte existentielle, idéologique et métaphysique, contre l’américanisme, la globalisation et l’impérialisme des valeurs occidentales (la “ société ouverte ”, les “ droits de l’homme ”, la société de marché). Vous pouvez donc très bien être eurasiste en vivant en Amérique latine, au Canada, en Australie ou en Afrique (59) ». Marlène Laruelle considère néanmoins que « si l’eurasisme est bien un nationalisme, il se différencie des courants ethnonationalistes plus classiques par sa mise en valeur de l’État et non de l’ethnie, par son assimilation entre Russie et Eurasie, entre nation et Empire, et emprunte beaucoup au discours soviétique (60) ». Il est évident que les eurasistes pensent en terme d’empire et non en nation pourvue de « frontières naturelles » établies et reconnues. Guère suspect de cosmopolitisme, l’écrivain Vladimir Volkoff fait dire dans son roman uchronique, Alexandra, à Ivan Barsoff, l’un des personnages principaux qui emprunte pas mal des traits de l’auteur, qui est le Premier ministre de cette tsarine, que son empire russe « n’a pas de limites naturelles (à moins que ce soient les océans Arctique et Indien, Pacifique et Atlantique), il n’a pas d’unité linguistique, ni raciale, ni même religieuse : il est tissu autour d’une triple colonne torsadée constituée par l’orthodoxie, la monarchie et l’idéalisme du peuple russe servant de noyau aux autres (61) ».
Par-delà les écrits de Guillaume Faye, de Jean Thiriart, de Maurice G. Dantec, des eurasistes ou des officiers nippons, tous veulent maîtriser le Heartland, ce « Cœur de la Terre ». Correspondant à l’ensemble Oural – Sibérie occidentale, cette notion revient au Britannique Halford Mackinder qui l’écrit en 1904 dans « Le pivot géographique de l’Histoire ». Pour Mackinder, le Heartland est un espace inaccessible à la navigation depuis l’Océan. Pour Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, « le concept de Heartland et celui d’Eurasie […] se recoupent partiellement (62) ». Il entérine ce qu’avance Zbignew Brzezinski à propos de cette zone-pivot : « Passant de l’échelle régionale à l’approche planétaire, la géopolitique postule que la prééminence sur le continent eurasien sert de point d’ancrage à la domination globale (63) ». Le grand géopolitologue étatsunien se réfère implicitement à la thèse de Mackinder pour qui contrôler le Heartland revient à dominer l’Île mondiale formée de l’Europe, de l’Asie et de l’Afrique, et donc à maîtriser le monde entier. Cette célèbre formulation ne lui appartient pas. L’historien François Bluche rapporte qu’en novembre 1626, le chevalier de Razilly adresse à Richelieu un mémoire dans lequel est affirmé que « “ Quiconque est maître de la mer, a un grand pouvoir sur terre ”. [Cette trouvaille] poursuivra le Cardinal, l’obsédera, inspirera directement le Testament politique (64) ». « L’Eurasie demeure, en conséquence, l’échiquier sur lequel se déroule le combat pour la primauté globale (65). » Il faut toutefois se garder des leurres propres au « géopolitisme ». Ce dernier « est venu combler le vide provoqué par les basses pressions idéologiques. Il ne s’agit pas de recourir à la géographie fondamentale – comme savoir scientifique et méthode d’analyse – pour démêler l’écheveau des conflits et tenter d’apporter des réponses aux défis des temps présents, mais d’une vision idéologique qui se limite à quelques pauvres axiomes : la Russie est située au cœur du Heartland et elle est appelée à dominer (66) ».
Attention cependant à ne pas verser dans le manichéisme géopolitique ! Toute véritable puissance doit d’abord se penser amphibie, car, à la Terre et à la Mer, une stratégie complète s’assure maintenant de la projection des forces tout en couvrant les dimensions aérienne, sous-marine, spatiale ainsi que le cyberespace et la guerre de l’information. C’est ainsi qu’il faut saisir qu’à la suite de Robert Steuckers, « l’eurasisme, dans notre optique, relève bien plutôt d’un concept géographique et stratégique (67) ».
De nouvelles études sur les écrits de Mackinder démontrent en fait qu’il attachait une importance cruciale au Centreland, la « Terre centrale arabe », qui coïncide avec le Moyen-Orient. Et puis, que se soit l’Eurosibérie ou l’Eurasie, l’autorité organisatrice de l’espace politique ainsi créé doit se préoccuper de la gestion des immenses frontières terrestres et maritimes. Actuellement, les États-Unis ont beau avoir fortifié leur mur en face du Mexique, ils n’arrivent pas à contenir les flux migratoires clandestins des Latinos. L’Union pseudo-européenne est incapable de ralentir la submersion migratoire à travers la Méditerranée. Même si toutes les frontières eurosibériennes étaient sous surveillance électronique permanente et si était appliquée une préférence européenne, à la rigueur nationale, voire ethno-régionale, il est probable que cela freinerait l’immigration, mais ne l’arrêterait pas, à moins d’accepter la décroissance pour soi, une économie de puissance pour la communauté géopolitique et la fin de la libre circulation pour tous en assignant à chacun un territoire de vie précis.
Vu leur superficie, l’Eurosibérie ou l’Eurasie n’incarnent-elles pas de véritables démesures géopolitiques ? Si oui, elles portent en leur sein des germes inévitables de schisme civilisationnel comme l’a bien vu en poète-visionnaire le romancier Jean-Claude Albert-Weill. Dans Sibéria, le troisième et dernier volume de L’Altermonde, magnifique fresque uchronique qui dépeint une Eurosibérie fière d’elle-même et rare roman vraiment néo-droitiste de langue française (68), on perçoit les premières divergences entre une vieille Europe, adepte du Chat, et une nouvelle, installée en Sibérie, qui vénère le Rat.
Le risque d’éclatement demeure sous-jacent en Russie, particulièrement en Sibérie. Dès les années 1860 se manifestait un mouvement indépendantiste sibérien de Grigori Potanine, chantre de « La Sibérie aux Sibériens ! ». Libéral nationalitaire, ce mouvement fomenta vers 1865 une insurrection qui aurait bénéficié de l’appui de citoyens américains et d’exilés polonais. Quelques années plus tôt, vers 1856 – 1857, des entreprises étatsuniennes se proposaient de financer l’entière réalisation de voies ferrées entre Irkoutsk et Tchita. La Russie déclina bien sûr la proposition. Pendant la guerre civile russe, Potanine présida un gouvernement provisoire sibérien hostile à la fois aux « Rouges » et aux « Blancs ». Ce séparatisme continue encore. En octobre 1993, en pleine crise politique, Sverdlovsk adopta une constitution pour la « République ouralienne ». Plus récemment, en 2010, le F.S.B. s’inquiéta de l’activisme du groupuscule Solution nationale pour la Sibérie qui célèbre Potanine… Il est à parier que des officines occidentales couvent d’un grand intérêt d’éventuelles séditions sibériennes qui, si elles réussissaient, briseraient définitivement tout projet d’eurasisme ou d’Eurosibérie.
L’Eurosibérie « est un “ paradigme ”, c’est-à-dire un idéal, un modèle, un objectif qui comporte la dimension d’un mythe concret, agissant et mobilisateur, annonce Guillaume Faye (69) ». Il s’agit d’un mythe au sens sorélien du terme qui comporte le risque de remettre à plus tard l’action décisive. Pour y remédier, faisons nôtre le slogan du penseur écologiste Bernard Charbonneau : « Penser global, agir local ». Si le global est ici l’idéal eurosibérien, voire eurasiste, l’action locale suppose en amont un lent et patient travail fractionnaire d’édification d’une contre-société identitaire en sécession croissante de la présente société multiculturaliste marchande avariée. Par la constitution informelle mais tangibles de B.A.D. (bases autonomes durables), « il faut, en lisière du Système, construire un espace où incuber d’autres structures sociales et mentales. À l’intérieur de cet espace autonomisé, il sera possible de reconstituer les structures de l’enracinement (70) ».
Les zélotes du métissage planétaire se trompent. L’enracinement n’est ni l’enfermement ou le repli sur soi. Soutenir un enracinement multiple ou plus exactement un enracinement multiscalaire – à plusieurs échelles d’espace différencié – paraît le meilleur moyen de concilier l’amour de sa petite patrie, la fidélité envers sa patrie historique et l’ardent désir d’œuvrer en faveur de sa grande patrie continentale quelque que soit sa désignation, car « l’enracinement est peut-être le besoin le plus important et le plus méconnu de l’âme humaine. C’est un des plus difficiles à définir. Un être humain a une racine par sa participation réelle, active et naturelle à l’existence d’une collectivité qui conserve vivants certains trésors du passé et certains pressentiments d’avenir. Participation naturelle, c’est-à-dire amenée automatiquement par le lieu, la naissance, la profession, l’entourage. Chaque être humain a besoin d’avoir de multiples racines. Il a besoin de recevoir la presque totalité de sa vie morale, intellectuelle, spirituelle, par l’intermédiaire des milieux dont il fait naturellement partie (71) ». N’oublions jamais qu’au-delà des enjeux géopolitiques, notre combat essentiel demeure la persistance de notre intégrité d’Albo-Européen.
Je vous remercie.
Georges Feltin-Tracol
Notes
1 : Cf. la tribune délirante, summum de politiquement correct, de Thimothy Snyder, « La Russie contre Maïdan », in Le Monde, 23 et 24 février 2014; « Poutine doit écraser le virus de Maïdan… Entretien avec Lilia Chevtsova par Vincent Jauvert », in Le Nouvel Observateur, 27 février 2014; Bruno Tertrais, « La rupture ukrainienne », in Le Figaro, 25 avril 2014; Chantal Delsol, « Occident – Russie : modernité contre tradition ? », in Le Figaro, 30 avril 2014; Jean-Marie Chauvier, « Eurasie, le “ choc des civilisations ” version russe », in Le Monde diplomatique, mai 2014; Vincent Jauvert, « Le Raspoutine de Poutine », in Le Nouvel Observateur, 1er mai 2014; Isabelle Lasserre, « Grande serbie, Grande Russie, une idéologie commune », in Le Figaro, 6 mai 2014, etc.
2 : Ainsi, dans Le Monde du 18 janvier 2001, Marie Jégo évoquait-elle le projet poutinien de restauration d’un ensemble néo-soviétique en se référant aux Fondements de géopolitique (non traduit) de Douguine.
3 : Sur les œuvres de Douguine disponibles en français, se reporter à Georges Feltin-Tracol, « Rencontre avec Alexandre Douguine », in Réflexions à l’Est, Alexipharmaque, coll. « Les Réflexives », Billère, 2012, note 5 p. 220. On rajoutera depuis la parution de cet ouvrage : Alexandre Douguine, L’appel de l’Eurasie. Conversation avec Alain de Benoist, Avatar, coll. « Heartland », Étampes, 2013; Alexandre Douguine, La Quatrième théorie politique. La Russie et les idées politiques du XXIe siècle, Ars Magna Éditions, Nantes, 2012; Alexandre Douguine, Pour une théorie du monde multipolaire, Ars Magna Éditions, Nantes, 2013.
4 : Guillaume Faye, L’archéofuturisme, L’Æncre, Paris, 1998, p. 192.
5 : Sur ce projet mitterrandien méconnu, cf. Roland Dumas, « Un projet mort-né : la Confédération européenne », in Politique étrangère, volume 66, n° 3, 2001, pp. 687 – 703.
6 : Guillaume Faye, L’archéofuturisme, op. cit., p. 192.
7 : Idem, p. 194.
8 : cf. Guillaume Faye, « Pour en finir avec la civilisation occidentale », in Éléments, n° 34, avril – mai 1980, pp. 5 – 11.
9 : Guillaume Faye, L’archéofuturisme, op. cit., p. 75, souligné par l’auteur.
10 : cf. Guillaume Faye, « Il n’y a pas de “ monde blanc ” », in Éléments, n° 34, avril – mai 1980, p. 6.
11 : Jean Cau, Discours de la décadence, Copernic, coll. « Cartouche », Paris, 1978 pp. 164 – 165.
12 : Idem, p. 175, souligné par l’auteur.
13 : Id., p. 182, souligné par l’auteur.
14 : Id., p. 183, souligné par l’auteur.
15 : Guillaume Faye, Pourquoi nous combattons. Manifeste de la résistance européenne, L’Æncre, Paris, 2001, p. 119.
16 : Id., p. 123, souligné par l’auteur.
17 : Id., p. 124.
18 : Tom Clancy, L’Ours et le Dragon, Albin Michel, Paris, 2001 (1re édition originale en 2000), deux tomes.
19 : Maurice G. Dantec, Le théâtre des opérations 2000 – 2001. Laboratoire de catastrophe générale, Gallimard, Paris, 2001, pp. 594 – 595.
20 : L’Édit de Caracalla ou Plaidoyer pour des États-Unis d’Occident, par Xavier de C***, traduit de l’anglais (américain), et suivi d’une épitaphe par Régis Debray, Fayard, Paris, 2002.
21 : Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, Dictionnaire géopolitique de la défense européenne. Du traité de Bruxelles à la Constitution européenne, Éditions Unicomm, coll. « Abécédaire Société – Défense européenne », Paris, 2005, p. 235.
22 : « Contre le communisme ou l’islamisation, je me suis toujours battu pour préserver notre identité. Entretien avec Jean-Marie Le Pen », in Minute, 28 décembre 2011, p. 5.
23 : Maurice G. Dantec, American Black Box. Le théâtre des opérations 2002 – 2006, Albin Michel, Paris, 2007, p. 174.
24 : Idem, p. 119.
25 : Id., p. 66.
26 : Id., p. 122.
27 : Rodolphe Badinand, Requiem pour la Contre-Révolution. Et autres essais impérieux, Alexipharmaque, coll. « Les Réflexives », Billère, 2009, pp. 123 – 124.
28 : Cf. Francis Parker Yockey, Le prophète de l’Imperium, Avatar, coll. « Heartland », Paris - Dun Carraig, 2004; Francis Parker Yockey, Imperium. La philosophie de l’histoire et de la politique, Avatar, coll. « Heartland », Paris - Dun Carraig, 2008 (1re édition originale en 1948); Francis Parker Yockey, L’Ennemi de l’Europe, Ars Magna Éditions, Nantes, 2011 (1re édition originale en 1956).
29 : cf. Jean Thiriart, Un Empire de quatre cents millions d’hommes, l’Europe. La naissance d’une nation, au départ d’un parti historique, Avatar, coll. « Heartland », Paris - Dublin, 2007 (1re édition originale en 1964).
30 : Jean Thiriart, « Europe : l’État-nation politique », in Nationalisme et République, n° 8, 1er juin 1992, p. 3.
31 : Jean Thiriart, art. cit., p. 5.
32 : Idem, p. 6, souligné par l’auteur.
33 : Aymeric Chauprade, Géopolitique. Constantes et changements dans l’histoire, Ellipses, Paris, 2003, p. 475.
34 : Sur l’histoire et les principales lignes de force de l’eurasisme, on consultera avec un très grand profit de Marlène Laruelle, L’idéologie eurasiste russe. Ou comment penser l’empire, L’Harmattan, coll. « Essais historiques », Paris, 1999; Mythe aryen et rêve impérial dans la Russie du XXIe siècle, C.N.R.S. – Éditions, coll. « Mondes russes. États, sociétés, nations », Paris, 2005; La quête d’une identité impériale. Le néo-eurasisme dans la Russie contemporaine, Petra Éditions, 2007; Le nouveau nationalisme russe. Des repères pour comprendre, L’Œuvre Éditions, Paris, 2010; de Lorraine de Meaux, La Russie et la tentation de l’Orient, Fayard, Paris, 2010; de Georges Nivat, Vers la fin du mythe russe. Essais sur la culture russe de Gogol à nos jours, L’Âge d’Homme, coll. « Slavica », Lausanne, 1982, en particulier « Du “ panmongolisme ” au “ mouvement eurasien ” », pp. 138 – 155; Vivre en russe, L’Âge d’Homme, coll. « Slavica », Lausanne, 2007, en particulier « Les paradoxes de l’« affirmation eurasienne » », pp. 81 – 102.
35 : Cf. sur le blogue de Lionel Baland, « Secteur droit entre en politique », mis en ligne le 6 mars 2014.
36 : Alain Cagnat, « Europe, Eurasie, Eurosibérie, l’éclairage géopolitique », in Terre et Peuple, n° 59, Équinoxe de Printemps 2014, p. 18.
37 : « La Russie vue par les Biélorusses », mis en ligne sur Le Courrier de la Russie, le 13 décembre 2013, cf. http://www.lecourrierderussie.com/2013/12/la-russie-vue-par-les-bielorusses/
38 : « La Russie vue par les Biélorusses. En coulisses… », mis en ligne sur Le Courrier de la Russie, le 13 décembre 2013, cf. http://www.lecourrierderussie.com/2013/12/la-russie-vue-par-les-bielorusses/2/
39 : Alexandre Baounov, « Entre Kiev et Moscou », in La Russie d’aujourd’hui, supplément du Figaro, le 18 décembre 2013.
40 : Alexandre Soljénitsyne, Comment réaménager notre Russie ? Réflexions dans la mesure de mes forces, Fayard, Paris, 1990, traduit par Geneviève et José Johannet, p. 23, souligné par l’auteur.
41 : cf. Éléments, « La Russie : le dernier empire ? », n° 57 – 58, printemps 1986, pp. 19 – 41.
42 : cf. Alexandre Douguine, « Evola entre la droite et la gauche », collectif, Evola envers et contre tous !, Avatar, coll. «Orientation», Étampes - Dun Carraig, 2010.
43 : Marlène Laruelle, « Le renouveau des courants eurasistes en Russie : socle idéologique commun et diversité d’approches », in Slavica occitania, n° 11, 2000, p. 156.
44 : Marlène Laruelle, « De l’eurasisme au néo-eurasisme : à la recherche du Troisième Continent », in sous la direction de Hervé Coutau-Bégarie et Martin Motte, Approches de la géopolitique. De l’Antiquité au XXIe siècle, Économica, coll. « Bibliothèque Stratégique », Paris, 2013, p. 664.
45 : in Libération, 15 août 2007.
46 : Marlène Laruelle, « L’Extrême-Orient russe : la carte asiatique », in Questions Internationales, n° 57, septembre – octobre 2012, pp. 67 – 68.
47 : Tancrède Josserand, « L’eurasisme turc. La steppe comme ligne d’horizon », in Conflits, n° 1, avril – mai 2014, pp. 62 – 64.
48 : Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, Dictionnaire géopolitique de la défense européenne, op. cit., pp. 135 – 136.
49 : cf. Cécile de La Guérivière, « La Chine veut faire rouler un T.G.V. jusqu’aux États-Unis », in Le Figaro, 10 et 11 mai 2014.
50 : Jacques Sapir, La Mandchourie oubliée. Grandeur et démesure de l’art de la guerre soviétique, Éditions du Rocher, coll. « L’art de la guerre », Monaco, 1996.
51 : Robert Steuckers, La Révolution conservatrice allemande. Biographies de ses principaux acteurs et textes choisis, Les Éditions du Lore, Chevaigné, 2014, p. 131.
52 : Marlène Laruelle, « Le renouveau des courants eurasistes en Russie », art. cit., p. 159.
53 : Abel Miroglio, La psychologie des peuples, P.U.F., coll. « Que sais-je ? », n° 798, Paris, 1971, p. 7, souligné par l’auteur.
54 : Gaston Bouthoul, Les mentalités, P.U.F., coll. « Que sais-je ? », n° 545, Paris, 1952, p. 76, souligné par l’auteur.
55 : « Qu’est-ce que l’eurasisme ? Une conversation avec Alexandre Douguine », in Krisis, n° 32, juin 2009, p. 153.
56 : « La quatrième théorie politique d’Alexandre Douguine. Entretien », in Rébellion, n° 15, mars – avril 2012, p. 16.
57 : cf. Carl Schmitt, Terre et Mer. Un point de vue sur l’histoire mondiale, Le Labyrinthe, coll. « Les cahiers de la nouvelle droite », 1985, introduction et postface de Julien Freund, traduit par Jean-Louis Pesteil.
58 : cf. Zygmunt Bauman, La vie liquide, Éditions du Rouergue / Chambon, coll. « Les incorrects », Arles, 2006.
59 : « Qu’est-ce que l’eurasisme ? », art. cit., p. 127.
60 : Marlène Laruelle, « De l’eurasisme au néo-eurasisme : à la recherche du Troisième Continent », op. cit., p. 681.
61 : Jacqueline Dauxois et Vladimir Volkoff, Alexandra, Albin Michel, Paris, 1994, p. 444.
62 : Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, La Russie menace-t-elle l’Occident ?, Choiseul, Paris, 2009, p. 100.
63 : Zbignew Brzezinski, Le grand échiquier. L’Amérique et le reste du monde, Fayard, coll. « Pluriel », Paris, 2010 (1re édition originale en 1997), traduction de Michel Bessière et Michelle Herpe-Voslinsky, pp. 66 – 67.
64 : François Bluche, Richelieu, Perrin, Paris, 2003, p. 136.
65 : Zbignew Brzezinski, op. cit., pp. 59 et 61.
66 : Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, La Russie menace-t-elle l’Occident ?, op. cit., pp. 97 – 98.
67 : Robert Steuckers, « Eurasisme et atlantisme : quelques réflexions intemporelles et impertinentes », mis en ligne sur Euro-Synergies, le 20 mars 2009.
68 : Jean-Claude Albert-Weill, L’Altermonde, Éditions Gills Club La Panfoulia, Paris, 2004.
69 : Guillaume Faye, Pourquoi nous combattons, op. cit., p. 124, souligné par l’auteur.
70 : Serge Ayoub, Michel Drac, Marion Thibaud, G5G. Une déclaration de guerre, Les Éditions du Pont d’Arcole, Paris, 2012, p. 18.
71 : Simone Weil, L’enracinement, Gallimard, coll. « Folio – Essais », Paris, 1949, p. 61.
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Rusia y China resistirán la injerencia extranjera en los asuntos internos de otros Estados y las sanciones unilaterales, dice un comunicado conjunto emitido este martes por los presidentes Vladímir Putin y Xi Jinping.
El mandatario ruso, Vladímir Putin, ha llegado en visita oficial a China, donde mantiene conversaciones con el presidente Xi Jinping y asistirá a la cumbre de la Conferencia sobre Interacción y Medidas de Construcción de Confianza en Asia. Asimismo, se reunirá con representantes de los círculos de negocios de China y Rusia.
"Las partes subrayan la necesidad de respetar el patrimonio histórico y cultural de los diferentes países, los sistemas políticos que han elegido, sus sistemas de valores y vías de desarrollo, resistir la injerencia extranjera en los asuntos internos de otros Estados, prescindir de las sanciones unilaterales y del apoyo dirigido a cambiar la estructura constitucional de otro Estado", puntualiza el documento acordado durante el encuentro de los mandatarios ruso y chino.
Al mismo tiempo, tanto Pekín como Moscú subrayan su preocupación por el perjuicio a la estabilidad y la seguridad internacional y el daño a las soberanías estatales que infligen las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación hoy en día. De esta manera, exhortan a la comunidad internacional a responder a estos desafíos y elaborar normas que regulen el comportamiento en el espacio informativo. Puntualizan, además, la necesidad de internacionalizar el sistema de gestión de Internet y seguir principios de transparencia y democracia.
El comunicado aborda además el tema del conflicto ucraniano e insta a todas las regiones y movimientos políticos del país a lanzar un diálogo y elaborar un concepto común de desarrollo constitucional.
Acuerdos militares
Moscú y Pekín se comprometen, además, a llevar a cabo la primera inspección conjunta de las fronteras comunes. Detallan que la medida estará destinada a combatir la delincuencia transfronteriza. Según ha destacado Putin, intensificar la colaboración militar "es un factor importante para la estabilidad y seguridad, tanto en la región como en todo el mundo". El presidente ruso ha acentuado que Moscú y Pekín tienen proyectos conjuntos de construcción de un avión de largo alcance y fuselaje ancho, y de un helicóptero civil pesado. El año que viene los dos países realizarán, además, maniobras militares conjuntas a gran escala con motivo del 70 aniversario de la victoria sobre el fascismo en la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Acuerdos económicos
En cuanto a la cooperación económica entre los dos países, el presidente ruso detalló que en 2013 los volúmenes del comercio bilateral llegaron a un total de unos 90.000 millones de dólares y pronosticó que para el año 2015 alcanzará los 100.000 millones de dólares. Las partes acordaron profundizar, sobre todo, los lazos en el sector energético y aumentar los suministros del gas, petróleo, electricidad y carbón rusos a China.
En el marco de las reuniones entre delegaciones comerciales de los dos países, la compañía rusa Novatek y la china CNPC han firmado ya un contrato para la entrega de 3 millones de toneladas anuales de gas natural licuado ruso. Rosneft, por su parte, comunica que ha estipulado con sus socios chinos los plazos exactos de construcción de una planta de refinado de petróleo en la ciudad de Tianjín. Está previsto que la planta empiece a operar para finales de 2019 y que la parte rusa se encargue de suministrarle hasta 9,1 millones de toneladas de crudo. Además, se está negociando un contrato histórico con Gazprom: según detalla el secretario de prensa del presidente ruso, Dimitri Peskov, las partes ya han avanzado con la negociación de los precios y actualmente siguen trabajando sobre los detalles del acuerdo.
"Tenemos una larga historia de buenas relaciones. Ambos países se desarrollan muy rápidamente. Creo que China está muy interesada en crear más oportunidades en el ámbito de los negocios utilizando los recursos únicos de los que dispone Rusia. Moscú también busca trabajar con China en muchos sectores económicos. Por eso creo que sus relaciones bilaterales tienen un gran futuro", comentó a RT el empresario chino Wei Song.
El Banco de China, uno de los cuatro mayores bancos estatales del país, y el VTB, el segundo grupo bancario más grande de Rusia, han firmado este martes un acuerdo que incluye realizar los pagos mutuos en sus divisas nacionales.
El presidente ruso, Vladímir Putin, se encuentra estos días de visita oficial a China, donde mantiene conversaciones con el presidente Xi Jinping y se reúne con representantes de los círculos de negocios de China y Rusia. El histórico acuerdo interbancario firmado en presencia del mandatario ruso y su homólogo chino estipula la cooperación en el sector de las inversiones, la esfera crediticia y las operaciones en los mercados de capital.
El Banco de China es el prestamista número dos en China en general y es uno de los 20 más grandes del mundo. El total de sus activos en 2011 llegó a unos 1,9 billones de dólares. Opera tanto en China como en otros 27 países del mundo. El 60,9% de las acciones del grupo VTB pertenecen al Estado ruso, el grupo funciona en 20 países y el total de sus activos llega a unos 253.300 millones de dólares.
Según el comunicado estipulado en el marco del encuentro entre los dos presidentes, Moscú y Pekín aumentarán el volumen de pagos directos en divisas nacionales en todas las esferas y estimularán las inversiones mutuas, sobre todo en las infraestructuras de transporte, la exploración de recursos naturales y la construcción de viviendas de clase económica. El presidente Putin subrayó que especialistas de ambos países están considerando también la posibilidad de elaborar nuevos instrumentos financieros.
En 2013 los volúmenes del comercio bilateral entre Rusia y China llegaron a un total de 90.000 millones de dólares. Se pronostica que para el año 2015 alcanzará los 100.000 millones de dólares.
Rusia y China están a punto de cerrar un contrato de suministro de gas que supondrá 30.000 millones de dólares de inversiones y en un futuro podría cubrir el 40% de las necesidades del gigante asiático.
El propio presidente ruso, Vladímir Putin, en vísperas de su visita a China, que se celebrará los días 20 y 21 de mayo, dijo que el acuerdo sobre la exportación a China de gas natural ruso está en un "alto grado de preparación", recuerda la página web de la cadena estatal rusa Vesti.
El gigante estatal de gas ruso Gazprom lleva negociando esta transacción los últimos 10 años. El empuje más activo a estas negociaciones se dio en 2006, cuando Vladímir Putin anunció planes para organizar los suministros de gas a la segunda mayor economía del mundo.
¿Por qué las negociaciones han durado tanto?
A pesar de la gran cantidad de reuniones bilaterales, el cierre del 'acuerdo del siglo' había fracasado hasta ahora. El problema han sido los parámetros económicos, ya que China está peleando por muy fuertes rebajas de precio, mientras que Rusia quiere que el megaproyecto sea económicamente rentable.
El contrato que se negocia supone las exportaciones de gas a China durante 30 años, por lo que las partes deberían tener en cuenta todos los riesgos a largo plazo ya que reconsiderar los parámetros del contrato ya firmado sería muy difícil.
Por otra parte, los suministros de gas ruso no eran muy urgentes para China, país que hasta hace poco se conformaba con el gas que recibía desde Turkmenistán, vía Uzbekistán y Kazajistán. Sin embargo, el consumo de gas en China ha crecido tanto que el gigante industrial ya empieza a temer la insuficiencia de suministros.
Precio del gas ruso para China
El precio del gas para China ha sido un punto importante de la pelea durante varios años. Pekín ha insistido en que, dado el gran volumen y la duración del contrato, el precio mínimo no deberá ser superior al que Rusia tiene establecido para Europa.
Tradicionalmente, el precio del gas centroasiático ha sido más barato para China que el precio del gas ruso para Europa, mientras que para Rusia es importante que el precio del gas se coloque a un nivel de 360-400 dólares por 1.000 metros cúbicos ya que cualquier precio que sea inferior colocaría estos suministros por debajo del límite de rentabilidad.
Por ahora los especialistas hablan de precios en torno a los 350-380 dólares, es decir, se trata de un nivel de precios equivalente al europeo.
Los ingresos y volúmenes de suministros previstos
En marzo de 2013 las partes firmaron un memorando de entendimiento en el cual figuraba la enorme cantidad de 38.000 millones de metros cúbicos por año a partir de 2018, con un posterior aumento hasta 60.000 millones de metros cúbicos.
Considerando el precio estimado del gas y el plazo del contrato, Rusia podría ingresar 400.000 millones de dólares.
El costo de la construcción del gasoducto bautizado Sila Sibiri (Fuerza de Siberia) se estima en 30.000 millones de dólares.
La importancia del gas ruso para China
China necesita volúmenes adicionales de gas debido al aumento de la demanda interna. La demanda de gas en la segunda economía del mundo está creciendo rápidamente. En el primer trimestre de este año las importaciones de gas a China crecieron un 20% respecto al mismo periodo del ejercicio anterior.
Expertos chinos calculan que en 2020 el consumo de gas en el país será en torno a 300.000 millones de metros cúbicos, mientras que en 2030 esta cifra podría subir a 600.000 millones.
En otras palabras, el contrato con Rusia es imprescindible para una perspectiva a largo plazo.
La importancia del proyecto para Rusia
Las exportaciones de gas ruso a China son de suma importancia para Rusia en términos de diversificación de los suministros, sobre todo ahora de cara a posibles sanciones por parte de la Unión Europea, hoy en día el principal consumidor de gas ruso.
Dada la competencia de Turkmenistán, así como la de proveedores de gas natural licuado, Gazprom debe estar presente en el mercado chino.
Se calcula que mientras el contrato esté en vigor, Rusia reciba unos 400.000 millones de dólares de ingresos. Además, el fortalecimiento de las relaciones con China supondrá el aumento de las inversiones mutuas.
Moscú: Rusia y China realizarán ocho proyectos estratégicos
Moscú y Pekín crearán un cuerpo especial para la supervisión de la ejecución de ocho proyectos estratégicos, anunció el viceprimer ministro ruso Dmitri Rogozin.
"En Pekín, junto con el viceprimer ministro chino Wang Yang, firmamos un protocolo sobre el establecimiento del grupo de supervisión de los ocho proyectos estratégicos", publicó Rogozin en a través de su cuenta en Twitter.
Rogozin agregó que estos proyectos están relacionados con el espacio y con la creación de una infraestructura fronteriza mutua. "Entre ellos: la cooperación en el espacio y en el mercado de la navegación espacial, en la ingeniería de aviones y helicópteros, y la construcción de una infraestructura fronteriza y de transporte común", escribió el viceprimer ministro en Facebook.
"Ampliar nuestros lazos con China, nuestro amigo de confianza, es definitivamente una prioridad de la política exterior rusa. Actualmente la cooperación bilateral está entrando en una nueva etapa de amplia asociación y cooperación estratégica", declaró el presidente ruso, Vladímir Putin, en una entrevista a los principales medios del país, en vísperas de su visita a China.
Merkel confirma el interés de Europa por mantener buenas relaciones con Rusia
La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, entrevistada por el periódico Leipziger Volkszeitung, dijo que Rusia es un socio cercano de Alemania y que las buenas relaciones con Moscú responden a los intereses de Europa.
“Para nosotros, los alemanes, Rusia es un socio cercano. Existen numerosos contactos fiables entre los alemanes y los rusos, así como entre la UE y Rusia. Estamos interesados en mantener buenas relaciones con Rusia”, indicó.
La canciller confesó que debate regularmente con el presidente ruso Vladímir Putin la crisis en Ucrania y no descarta una reunión personal.
Durante la última conversación telefónica, Mérkel y Putin analizaron este tema con vistas a las elecciones presidenciales que Ucrania planea celebrar el 25 de mayo.
“A los comicios ucranianos asistirán observadores de la OSCE. Si la OSCE reconoce que su celebración se efectuó según normas universales, espero que Rusia, como miembro de esta organización, también reconozca sus resultados”, dijo la canciller.
La Oficina para las Instituciones Democráticas y los Derechos Humanos de la OSCE abrió el 20 de marzo su misión en Kiev para monitorear las presidenciales en Ucrania.
La misión está integrada por 18 expertos que permanecerán en Kiev y 100 observadores con mandato a largo plazo que trabajarán en todo el territorio del país. En el día de las elecciones, otros 900 observadores con mandato a corto plazo seguirán su desarrollo.
Merkel señaló que durante los últimos años Alemania se planteó el objetivo de “cohesionar a Rusia y Europa”. Al recordar que el presidente ruso promovió la idea de crear una zona de libre comercio desde Lisboa hasta Vladivostok (Lejano Oriente ruso), dijo que existen buenos argumentos a favor de la realización de este plan.
En Rusia y crece la satisfacción con la vida
Los rusos cada vez están más satisfechos con la vida y no tienen ganas de protestar, según se desprende de las encuestas conjunta del Centro Levada y el Centro VTsIOM.
De acuerdo al sondeo del VTsIOM, en abril el 46% de los rusos estaban contentos con su vida, frente al 43% en marzo y el 40% en febrero.
La mayoría de los satisfechos con la vida tienen entre 18 y 24 años de edad. También están contentos con su nivel de vida los ciudadanos con altos ingresos.
Al mismo tiempo, el 80% de los rusos, según Levada, no participarían en actos de protesta si estos llegasen a celebrarse en su localidad. Además, el 95% de los encuestados manifestaron no haber participado en huelgas durante un año.
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Leader of Hungarian political party "Jobbik" about Eurasian ideas
"Actually, the truth is that the West really is in great need of »defense«, but only against itself and its own tendencies, which, if they are pushed to their conclusion, will lead inevitably to its ruin and destruction; it is therefore »reform« of the West that is called for instead of »defense against the East«, and if this reform were what it should be---that is to say, a restoration of tradition---it would entail as a natural consequence an understanding with the East."
– René Guénon[1]
1. Euroatlantism and anti-traditionalism
Today's globalized world is in crisis. That is a fact. However, it is not quite clear what this crisis is. In order to get an answer, first we need to define what globalization means. For us, it does not mean the kind of public misconception, which says that the borders between the world's various economic and cultural spheres will gradually disappear and the planet becomes an organic network built upon billions of interactions. Those who believe in this also add that history is thus no longer a parallel development of great spheres, but the great common development of the entire world. Needless to say, this interpretation considers globalization as a positive and organic process from the aspect of historical development.
From our aspect, however, globalization is an explicitly negative, anti-traditionalist process. Perhaps we can understand this statement better if we break it down into components. Who is the actor, and what is the action and the object of globalization? The actor of globalization - and thus crisis production - is the Euro-Atlantic region, by which we mean the United States and the great economic-political powers of Western Europe. Economically speaking, the action of globalization is the colonization of the entire world; ideologically speaking, it means safeguarding the monopolistic, dictatorial power of liberalism; while politically speaking, it is the violent export of democracy. Finally, the object of globalization is the entire globe. To sum it up in one sentence: globalization is the effort of the Euro-Atlantic region to control the whole world physically and intellectually. As processes are fundamentally defined by their actors that actually cause them, we will hereinafter name globalization as Euroatlantism. The reason for that is to clearly indicate that we are not talking about a kind of global dialogue and organic cooperation developing among the world's different regions, continents, religions, cultures, and traditions, as the neutrally positive expression of "globalization" attempts to imply, but about a minor part of the world (in particular the Euro-Atlantic region) which is striving to impose its own economic, political, and intellectual model upon the rest of the world in an inorganic manner, by direct and indirect force, and with a clear intention to dominate it.
As we indicated at the beginning of this essay, this effort of Euroatlantism has brought a crisis upon the entire world. Now we can define the crisis itself. Unlike what is suggested by the news and the majority of public opinion, this crisis is not primarily an economic one. The problem is not that we cannot justly distribute the assets produced. Although it is true, it is not the cause of the problem and the crisis; it is rather the consequence of it. Neither is this crisis a political one, that is to say: the root cause is not that the great powers and international institutions fail to establish a liveable and harmonious status quo for the whole world; it is just a consequence as well. Nor does this crisis result from the clashes of cultures and religions, as some strategists believe; the problem lies deeper than that. The world's current crisis is an intellectual one. It is a crisis of the human intellect, and it can be characterized as a conflict between traditional values (meaning conventional, normal, human) and anti-traditionalism (meaning modern, abnormal, subhuman), which is now increasingly dominating the world. From this aspect, Euroatlantism - that is to say, globalism - can be greatly identified with anti-traditionalism. So the situation is that the Euro-Atlantic region, which we can simply but correctly call the West, is the crisis itself; in other words, it carries the crisis within, so when it colonizes the world, it in fact spreads an intellectual virus as well. So this is the anti-traditionalist aspect of the world's ongoing processes, but does a traditionalist pole exist, and if it does, where can we find it?
2. Eurasianism as a geopolitical concept
Geographically speaking, Eurasia means the continental unity of Europe and Asia, which stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As a cultural notion, Eurasianism was a concept conceived by Russian emigrants in the early 20th century. It proved to be a fertile framework, since it has been reinterpreted several times and will surely continue to be so in the future as well. Nicolai Sergeyevich Trubetskoy is widely considered as the founder of Eurasianism, while Alexandr Dugin is referred to as the key ideologist of the concept. Trubetskoy was one of the greatest thinkers of the Russian emigration in the early 20th century, who attempted to redefine Russia's role in the turbulent post-World War I times, looking for new goals, new perspectives, and new meanings. On the one hand, he rejected Pan-Slavism and replaced the Slavophile ideology with a kind of "Turanophile" one, as Lajos Pálfalvi put it in an essay.[2] He tore Russian thinking out of the Eastern Slavic framework and found Genghis Khan as a powerful antetype, the founder of a Eurasian state. Trubetskoy says that it was the Khan's framework left behind that Moscow's Tsars filled with a new, Orthodox sense of mission after the Mongol occupation. In his view, the European and Western orientation of Peter the Great is a negative disruption of this process, a cultural disaster, while the desirable goal for Russia is to awaken as a part of Eurasia.
So Eurasianism was born as a uniquely Russian concept but not at all for Russia only, even though it is often criticized for being a kind of Great Russia concept in a cultural-geopolitical disguise. Ukrainian author Mikola Ryabchuk goes as far as to say that whoever uses this notion, for whatever reason, is basically doing nothing but revitalizing the Russian political dominance, tearing the former Soviet sphere out of the "European political and cultural project".[3] Ryabchuk adds that there is a certain intellectual civil war going on in the region, particularly in Russia and also in Turkey about the acceptance of Western values. So those who utter the word "Eurasianism" in this situation are indirectly siding with Russia. The author is clearly presenting his views from a pro-West and anti-Russian aspect, but his thoughts are worth looking at from our angle as well.
As a cultural idea, Eurasianism was indeed created to oppose the Western, or to put it in our terms, the Euro-Atlantic values. It indeed supposes an opposition to such values and finds a certain kind of geopolitical reference for it. We must also emphasize that being wary of the "European political and cultural project" is justified from the economic, political, and cultural aspects as well. If a national community does not wish to comply, let's say, with the role assigned by the European Union, it is not a negative thing at all; in fact, it is the sign of a sort of caution and immunity in this particular case. It is especially so, if it is not done for some economic or nationalistic reason, but as a result of a different cultural-intellectual approach. Rendering Euro-Atlantic "values" absolute and indisputable means an utter intellectual damage, especially in the light of the first point of our essay. So the opposition of Eurasianism to the Euro-Atlantic world is undeniably positive for us. However, if we interpreted Eurasianism as mere anti-Euro-Atlantism, we would vulgarly simplify it, and we would completely fail to present an alternative to the the anti-traditionalist globalization outlined above.
What we need is much more than just a reciprocal pole or an alternative framework for globalization. Not only do we want to oppose globalization horizontally but, first and foremost, also vertically. We want to demonstrate an intellectual superiority to it. That is to say, when establishing our own Eurasia concept, we must point out that it means much more for us than a simple geographical notion or a geopolitical idea that intends to oppose Euro-Atlantism on the grounds of some tactical or strategic power game. Such speculations are valueless for me, regardless of whether they have some underlying, latent Russian effort for dominance or not. Eurasianism is basically a geographical and/or political framework, therefore, it does not have a normative meaning or intellectual centre. It is the task of its interpretation and interpreter to furnish it with such features.
3. Intellectual Eurasianism - Theories and practice
We have stated that we cannot be content with anti-Euro-Atlantism. Neither can we be content with a simple geographical and geopolitical alternative, so we demand an intellectual Eurasianism. If we fail to provide this intellectual centre, this meta-political source, then our concept remains nothing but a different political, economic, military, or administrative idea which would indeed represent a structural difference but not a qualitative breakthrough compared to Western globalization. Politically speaking, it would be a reciprocal pole, but not of a superior quality. This could lay the foundations for a new cold or world war, where two anti-traditionalist forces confront each other, like the Soviet Union and the United States did, but it surely won't be able to challenge the historical process of the spread of anti-traditionalism. However, such challenge is exactly what we consider indispensable. A struggle between one globalization and another is nonsensical from our point of view. Our problem with Euro-Atlantism is not its Euro-Atlantic but its anti-traditionalist nature. Contrary to that, our goal is not to construct another anti-traditionalist framework, but to present a supranational and traditionalist response to the international crisis. Using Julius Evola's ingenious term, we can say that Eurasianism must be able to pass the air test.[4]
At this point, we must look into the question of why we can't give a traditionalist answer within a Euro-Atlantic framework. Theoretically speaking, the question is reasonable since the Western world was also developing within a traditional framework until the dawn of the modern age, but this opportunity must be excluded for several reasons. Firstly, it is no accident that anti-traditionalist modernism developed in the West and that is where it started going global from. The framework of this essay is too small for a detailed presentation of the multi-century process of how modernism took roots in and grew out of the original traditionalist texture of Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian thinking and culture, developing into today's liberal Euroatlantism. For now, let us state that the anti-traditionalist turn of the West had a high historical probability. This also means that the East was laid on much stronger traditionalist foundations and still is, albeit it is gradually weakening. In other words, when we are seeking out a geopolitical framework for our historic struggle, our choice for Eurasianism is not in the least arbitrary. The reality is that the establishment of a truly supranational traditionalist framework can only come from the East. This is where we can still have a chance to involve the leading political-cultural spheres. The more we go West, the weaker the centripetal power of Eurasianism is, so it can only expect to have small groups of supporters but no major backing from the society.
The other important question is why we consider traditionalism as the only intellectual centre that can fecundate Eurasianism. The question "Why Eurasia?" can be answered much more accurately than "Why the metaphysical Tradition?". We admit that our answer is rather intuitive, but we can be reassured by the fact that René Guénon, Julius Evola, or Frithjof Schuon, the key figures in the restoration of traditionalist philosophy, were the ones who had the deepest and clearest understanding of the transcendental, metaphysical unity of Eastern and Western religions and cultures. Their teaching reaches back to such ancient intellectual sources that can provide a sense of communion for awakening Western Christian, Orthodox, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist people. These two things are exactly what are necessary for the success of Eurasianism: a foundation that can ensure supranational and supra-religious perspectives as well as an intellectual centrality. The metaphysical Tradition can ensure these two: universality and quality. At that moment, Eurasianism is no longer a mere geopolitical alternative, a new yet equally crisis-infected (and thus also infectious) globalization process, but a traditionalist response.
We cannot overemphasize the superior quality of intellectual Eurasianism. However, it is important to note here that the acquisition of an intellectual superiority ensured by the traditionalist approach would not at all mean that our confrontation with Euroatlantism would remain at a spiritual-intellectual level only, thus giving up our intentions to create a counterbalance or even dominance in the practical areas, such as the political, diplomatic, economic, military, and cultural spheres. We can be satisfied with neither a vulgar Eurasianism (lacking a philosophical centre) nor a theoretical one (lacking practicability). The only adequate form for us is such a Eurasianism that is rooted in the intellectual centre of traditionalism and is elaborated for practical implementation as well. To sum up in one sentence: there must be a traditionalist Eurasianism standing in opposition to an anti-traditionalist Euroatlantism.
The above also means that geopolitical and geographical positions are strategically important, but not at all exclusive, factors in identifying the enemy-ally coordinates. A group that has a traditionalist intellectual base (thus being intellectually Eurasian) is our ally even if it is located in a Euro-Atlantic zone, while a geographically Eurasian but anti-traditionalist force (thus being intellectually Euro-Atlantic) would be an enemy, even if it is a great power.
4. Homogeneousness and heterogeneousness
If it is truly built upon the intellectual centre of metaphysical Tradition, intellectual Eurasianism has such a common base that it is relevant regardless of geographical position, thus giving the necessary homogeneousness to the entire concept. On the other hand, the tremendous size and the versatility of cultures and ancient traditions of the Eurasian area do not allow for a complete theoretical uniformity. However, this is just a barrier to overcome, an intellectual challenge that we must all meet, but it is not a preventive factor. Each region, nation, and country must find their own form that can organically and harmoniously fit into its own traditions and the traditionalist philosophical approach of intellectual Eurasianism as well. Simply put, we can say that each one must form their own Eurasianism within the large unit.
As we said above, this is an intellectual challenge that requires an able intellectual elite in each region and country who understand and take this challenge and are in a constructive relationship with the other, similar elites. These elites together could provide the international intellectual force that is destined to elaborate the Eurasian framework itself. The sentences above throw a light on the greatest hiatus (and greatest challenge) lying in the establishment of intellectual Eurasianism. This challenge is to develop and empower traditionalist intellectual elites operating in different geographical areas, as well as to establish and improve their supranational relations. Geographically and nationally speaking, intellectual Eurasianism is heterogeneous, while it is homogeneous in the continental and essential sense.
However, the heterogeneousness of Eurasianism must not be mistaken for the multiculturalism of Euroatlantism. In the former, allies form a supranational and supra-cultural unit while also preserving their own traditions, whereas the latter aims to create a sub-cultural and sub-national unit, forgetting and rejecting traditions. This also means that intellectual Eurasianism is against and rejects all mass migrations, learning from the West's current disaster caused by such events. We believe that geographical position and environment is closely related to the existence and unique features of the particular religious, social, and cultural tradition, and any sudden, inorganic, and violent social movement ignoring such factors will inevitably result in a state of dysfunction and conflicts. Intellectual Eurasianism promotes self-realization and the achievement of intellectual missions for all nations and cultures in their own place.
5. Closing thoughts
The aim of this short essay is to outline the basis and lay the foundations for an ambitious and intellectual Eurasianism by raising fundamental issues. We based our argumentation on the obvious fact that the world is in crisis, and that this crisis is caused by liberal globalization, which we identified as Euroatlantism. We believe that the counter-effect needs to be vertical and traditionalist, not horizontal and vulgar. We called this counter-effect Eurasianism, some core ideas of which were explained here. We hope that this essay will have a fecundating impact, thus truly contributing to the further elaboration of intellectual Eurasianism, both from a universal and a Hungarian aspect.
[1] René Guénon: The Crisis of the Modern World Translated by Marco Pallis, Arthur Osborne, and Richard C. Nicholson. Sophia Perennis: Hillsdale, New York. 2004. Pg. 31-32.
[2] Lajos Pálfalvi: Nicolai Trubetskoy's impossible Eurasian mission. In Nicolai Sergeyevich Trubetskoy: Genghis Khan's heritage. (in Hungarian) Máriabesnyő, 2011, Attraktor Publishing, p. 152.
[3] Mikola Ryabchuk: Western "Eurasianism" and the "new Eastern Europe”: a discourse of exclusion. (in Hungarian) Szépirodalmi Figyelő 4/2012
[4] See: Julius Evola: Handbook of Rightist Youth. (in Hungarian) Debrecen, 2012, Kvintesszencia Publishing House, pp. 45–48
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por Alfredo Jalife-Rahme
Ex: http://paginatransversal.wordpress.com
A diferencia de Alemania y Rusia, la prensa china ha otorgado mucho vuelo a la “nueva ruta de la seda”: un proyecto geoeconómico de primer orden de Pekín que lo conecta geoeconómicamente con Berlín y Moscú, pero que, a mi juicio, tiene un transcendental trasfondo geopolítico (emsnews, 30/3/14). Durante su visita al emblemático puerto alemán de Duisburgo –el mayor puerto interno del mundo en la región siderúrgica y comercial del Ruhr, además de ser la encrucijada de transporte y logística de Europa–, el mandarín chino Xi Jinping exhortó a construir el cinturón económico de la ruta de seda.
Mientras Estados Unidos (EEUU) realiza cuentas alegres con los dos brazos de sus ominosas tenazas geopolíticas/geoeconómicas –tanto de la Asociación Transpacífico (ATP) como de la Asociación Trasatlántica de Comercio e Inversión (TTIP, por sus siglas en inglés), los cuales supuestamente captarían las dos terceras partes del comercio global–, las tres grandes geoeconomías de la proyectada “nueva ruta de la seda” conectarían a la hoy segunda geoeconomía global, China –a punto de desbancar a EEUU–, Alemania (primera en Europa y la cuarta a escala global) y Rusia (octava economía global).
La osadía geoeconómica/geopolítica del mandarín chino puede acelerar los planes de guerra de EEUU y Gran Bretaña, ya que ha sido un axioma inmutable de la geopolítica anglosajona desde sir Halford Mackinder (creador conceptual de la OTAN), en el intermezzo de las dos guerras mundiales a inicios del siglo XX: impedir a cualquier precio una alianza entre Alemania y Rusia en Europa. Hoy China y Alemania están conectadas por la red ferroviaria internacional Chongqing/Xinjiang/Europa.
Según Xinhua (28 y 30/3/14), la red ferroviaria “Yu Nueva Europa”, bautizada como la “nueva ruta de la seda”, se ha convertido en la “más importante ruta de comercio del mundo (¡supersic!) al conectar la relevante metrópoli sur-occidental de Chongqing (China) con Duisburgo”, que entró en operación en 2011 y recorta cinco semanas de transporte marítimo a sólo dos –lo cual fue seguido en 2013 por la conexión ferroviaria de cargo de Chengdu (capital de Sechuan y santuario de los legendarios Pandas)/Lodz (Polonia) que atraviesa Kazajistán, Rusia y Bielorrusia: mercados emergentes donde pasa la ruta de carga, que toma 12 días de transportación (http://www.alfredojalife.com/?p=1075 ).
Se vaticina que China se convertiría en el mayor socio comercial de Alemania en los próximos cinco años, cuando los principales socios de Berlín, tanto Francia como EU, “carecen de un poderoso potencial de crecimiento”.
En medio de las sanciones de Occidente a Rusia, la prensa iraní destaca el acercamiento de China con Alemania, publica una entrevista con el investigador estadunidense-alemán William Engdahl, muy versado en geopolítica de los energéticos, las finanzas y los alimentos, además de ser catedrático de universidades en China y Alemania (http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/04/06/ 357386/china-uses-economy-to-avert-cold-war/). A juicio del entrevistador iraní, el presidente chino, Xi Jingping, dio un golpe maestro de “diplomacia económica” para contrarrestar el “esfuerzo de la facción neoconservadora de Washington para propiciar una nueva confrontación entre la OTAN y Rusia”.
Para Engdahl, la proclama de Xi en Duisburgo comporta “implicaciones asombrosas de crecimiento económico en Eurasia”. Resulta y resalta que Alemania y China representan “dos locomotoras económicas” a cada lado de la ruta de la seda y rememora que el término de “ruta de la seda” describe “la antigua ruta comercial y cultural entre China, Asia Central y el Sur de Asia, Europa y Medio Oriente, que fue creada durante la dinastía Han, 200 años aC”.
Tanto la “ruta de la seda económica” como la “ruta de la separada seda marítima (sic)” fueron mencionadas por Xi durante la tercera sesión plenaria del Partido Comunista chino. Para Xi la ruta euroasiática representa una “prioridad estratégica”, ya que “China necesita encontrar nuevos mercados de exportación y preservar los existentes, así como disminuir las brechas de desarrollo entre las áreas costeras bien desarrolladas como Shanghai y la parte menos desarrollada al interior del país”, lo cual servirá para “preservar la estabilidad al interior de China y en su vecindad”.
La provincia efervescente de Xinjiang (China) se encuentra a lo largo de la ruta de la seda, donde prevalecen los islámicos uigures: centroasiáticos de origen mongol.
Engdahl destaca que “el camino del corredor de la nueva infraestructura pasa por Rusia (¡supersic!)”, por lo que “no existe alternativa económica” y hace inevitable la profundización de la cooperación entre Alemania y Rusia y, por ende, de China con los dos. A Engdahl no se le pasa por alto que una semana antes de su periplo por varios países de Europa, Xi recibió en Pekín al príncipe heredero de Arabia Saudita, Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a quien invitó unirse en la construcción del cinturón económico tanto de la ruta eurosiática de la seda y como de la “ruta marítima de la seda” del siglo XXI que promuevan la “conectividad del transporte y la cultural”.
Llama la atención que Xi siempre acompañe la cuestión cultural en sus intercambios comerciales, como dejó entrever en su histórica visita a Yucatán: el “espíritu de Chichen Itzá”. El mandarín chino no deja nada al azar y, al unísono de su primer ministro, ha realizado visitas a varios países centroasiáticos a lo largo de la ruta de la seda: Turkmenistán, Kazajistán, Uzbekistán y Kirguizistán.
La elusiva estabilidad en Asia Central será fundamental para el éxito de la nueva ruta de la seda que comporta una propuesta visionaria y muy ambiciosa de cinco puntos del Xi: 1) la cooperación económica conjunta (¡supersic!); 2) el fortalecimiento de las conexiones de ruta para construir un gran corredor de transporte del Pacífico al mar Báltico y de Asia central al océano Índico (¡supersic!); 3) la facilitación comercial mediante la eliminación de barreras comerciales; 4) el fortalecimiento de la cooperación monetaria (¡supersic!), lo cual, a mi juicio, desplazaría gradualmente al dólar e impulsaría al renminbi chino, la rupia de India y al euro “alemán”, y 5) el estrechamiento de las relaciones de sus poblaciones: 30 mil (¡supersic!) miembros del Consejo de Cooperación de Shanghai estudiarán en las universidades chinas en los próximos 10 años.
Detrás de la decisión de China de enfocarse en dirección de su “occidente”, se encuentra un componente mayúsculo de seguridad, a juicio de Engdahl, cuando China es “muy vulnerable a la interrupción del estrecho de Malaca, donde pasa 85 por ciento de sus importaciones que incluyen 80 por ciento de sus necesidades energéticas”.
Con la mirífica “nueva ruta de la seda”, en sus componentes terrestre y marítimo, China intenta dar la vuelta al virtual bloqueo del estrecho de Malaca.
¿Dejará la dupla anglosajona, muy versada en balcanizaciones y desestabilizaciones, prosperar el eje euroasiático tripartita Berlín-Moscú-Pekín, que puede definir el nuevo orden multipolar?
Twitter: @AlfredoJalife
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Introduction
Four major components delineate the overall security approach that the United States has adopted in its international relations. They include recognition of the enemy and the risk posed by “others” (including the former Soviet Union, Communism, Muslims, China, and so forth), geopolitics, strategy, and realism.[1] These components have been highlighted by a great number of experts in international relations.[2] They construct a framework for the United States’ international relations in which such principles as the definitive existence of the enemy and the need to confront it on the basis of the formulated laws of the United States and the West, in general, create the bedrock for the establishment of relations with other countries.[3] At the present time, the United States, in particular, and the West, in general, are moving their strategic focus toward the main heartland of the earth, or Eurasia. However, in its core, this sensitive region is host to two major perceived enemies of the United States, i.e. China and Russia, as well as smaller enemies, including India and the World of Islam.
Eurasia accounts for more than 70% of the population, gross national product (GNP), and economic exchanges of the world.[4] This region also contains what is being described in economic and security arguments as the new Silk Road. It is also home to different routes used for economic exchanges, transfers of energy, and the establishment of security, as well as promoting cultural and tourism exchanges, especially with Asia tourism as its main axis.[5] In view of the specific conditions that currently govern this region, it is expected in less than 10 years from now to become the main focus of international politics and take the center stage in future political conquests by the West.
US Presence in the Region: Reasons and Tools
The Eurasian region has been gaining in importance due to a variety of reasons. These reasons can be divided into the three main categories of economics, military – security (including strategic and geopolitical), and the international environment. Here is a list of the reasons behind this and the tools being used to promote the US presence in Eurasia:
1. BRICS: The group of countries known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is considered to be one of the most securitized areas of political economics in the world, as its member states are collectively expected to account for 20% of the economic output of the world during the next 20 years. Three of the countries that constitute the BRICS group, i.e. India, China, and Russia, are located in Eurasia.[6]
2. Oil reserves: The United States has started to boost its domestic oil and gas production. As a result, it will have no need to import exogenous oil in the future and, as a result, future fluctuations in global energy prices will not be able to have a rapid and direct impact on the US economy.[7] As a result, the United States will have a winning trump card in its hand and will certainly use it against the European Union and China.
3. NATO: Continued expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Eurasia will further increase the influence of the United States in the heartland of the world and, thus, pave the way for an increased military presence of the United States and the European Union in this region.
4. Islamism: After Samuel Huntington and a number of other Western thinkers offered their theories in the 1980s about the ideological threats posed to Western civilization by Islam and other Eastern rites and religions, especially the Chinese Shinto[8], the West, in general, and Europe, in particular, started to pay more attention to this part of the world. As a result, the Western countries have been waging military conflicts in the Middle East while getting engaged in an economic confrontation with the countries of East Asia. The popular uprisings in the Arab world have led to the establishment of national states in many Islamic and Arab countries in the Middle East and triggered new waves of the institutionalism of political Islam. Therefore, at the moment, the modern and secular states in Eurasia are not solely faced with the liberal-democratic model of the West, but see in front of them a complete set of various models of governance. The political developments that followed the Arab Spring and, finally, the crisis in Syria have shown that instrumental use of religious radicalism can work as a double-edged sword that may even target the national interests of the European countries as well. This is why the West has been making revisions in its previous plans to use fundamentalism against China in the Eurasian region.
5. Russia: The ability that Russia has for knocking major international equations off balance, especially in continental Europe, has caused that country to be perceived by the West as a major threat against the new international order.
Military and Security Issues in Eurasia
The United States implements its supervision over various countries in the world through an integrated network of military bases and their related facilities that are scattered all across the globe. The United States is currently running 737 bases in which its Air Force, naval forces, and the US Army, as well as Washington’s intelligence and espionage activities, are managed throughout the world.[9] On the whole, a total of 255,065 US military personnel are currently deployed to various countries. In Eurasia, the United States is running operational bases in the Middle East, Central Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan. Most of these bases are used for the purpose of espionage activities and collecting intelligence. The largest portion of the US’ military forces outside the United States is stationed in Washington’s military bases in Southeast Asia. In Central Asia, about 1,000 people are now posted at the US airbase in Manas(Kyrgyzstan), and 38 people are manning the US’Krtsanisi base in Georgia.
As put by the secretary of the World Peace Council (WPC), in Central Asia, the raison d’être for the establishment of the United States’ military bases is not to use them simply to achieve Washington’s military goals or directly intervene in other countries. These bases, on the other hand, have always been used to promote the economic and political goals of the capitalistic system that rules the United States of America, he added. The American companies, as well as the US administration, have shown keen interest in the establishment of a safe corridor for the transfer of oil from US-controlled reserves in order to guarantee that they will be taken advantage of in the long run. They have shown this interest by embarking on the construction of oil and natural gas transfer pipelines which are supposed to carry oil and gas resources of the Caspian Sea and Central Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistan onwards to the Arabian Sea. This region (Central Asia and Caspian Sea) is home to more than 6% of the proven oil reserves of the world, as well as about 40% of global natural gas resources.[10]
The distribution of the US military bases in the region is such that they have practically surrounded the Middle East region. Situated at the center of that siege is the Islamic Republic of Iran as the heartland of the Middle East. This deployment of forces is currently moving toward the mainland of Russia and China. If the existing US military bases in Eastern Asia were added to the above list, we would see that the US military has actually laid siege to an entire region, that is, Eurasia, which contains all the modern energy transfer and economic routes. The US Navy has also been used to support this siege.
Global Defense Expenses
The highest level of defense expenses in the world can be seen in the North America region, which accountsfor 42% of the total defense expenses in the world. Russia and Eurasia collectively account for only 4.4% of the world’s defense expenses.
Graphical representation of global defense expenses sorted by regions in 2013 (the military balance, 2013)[11]
North America 42%
Europe 17.6%
Russia and Eurasia 4.4%
Asia & Australia 19.9%
Top Countries of the World in Terms of the Number of Military Staff
In terms of the number of military personnel, China, the United States, India, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, Pakistan, Turkey, and Vietnam are the top nine countries of this ranking in the world. Also, in terms of the total number of military personnel, China ranks the first with a wide margin as compared to the next eight countries on the list. China is followed by the United States and India, which have almost similar numbers of military personnel and respectively rank the second and third in this regard.
According to figures released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States is credited for having the world’s largest military budget, which accounts for about 48% of the total money spent on military affairs in the world. According to the latest figures, the total annual military budget of the United States stands at $711 billion.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has announced that the United States, China, Russia, Britain, Japan, India, France, Germany, Italy, and Saudi Arabia are the world’s ten top countries in terms of the volume of their military budgets. However, the United States is still far ahead of the other countries in terms of military spending, as its military budget is four times higher than that of China and more than total military budgets of the next nine countries that succeed the United States on this list. Of course, the United States has been trying to reduce its military budget in recent years as a direct result of the budget deficit that has hit the country during the past few years. On the other hand, major European military powers such as Italy, France, and Britain have been also reducing their military budgets as well. On the contrary, however, the military spending in China has moved in an opposite direction to major global trends between 2011 and 2012. As a result, it has increased about 8% during that period and has risen more than 47% since 2008. The military budget of China saw an increase of 10.7% in 2013 to hit $119 billion. The country’s military budget had already seen an 11% increase in 2012 as well.[12]
New Military and Security Arrangements in Eurasia
A. Underlying Advantages of Big Regional Armies
The sharp increase in the military budgets of China, Russia, and other Asian countries is not only due to an economic factor, but it is also an outcome of their threat perception of their immediate neighbors. Another important factor that has prompted these countries to increase their military spending is the presence of superpowers, in addition to NATO forces, in their surrounding environment.
It should be noted that NATO and American forces rely more on naval and air forces, which are in turn backed by marine and land bases. Also, according to a prominent theory of international relations, one of the main reasons behind the rise of the Western powers since the 1400s has been the expansion of their naval forces and the subsequent rise in their power and ability to conquer new colonies. This was firstly true about the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Britain, followed by the United States, which greatly expanded its military might following the end of World War I. As a result, marine geopolitics has played a great role in the expansionist efforts of these governments. Therefore, in order to compare the military and strategic powers of different countries, especially with a futuristic approach, most analyses focus on the historical background of these countries and the tools that they use to enforce their maritime power.
It should be noted that during the recent wars it has waged in the region, the United States has scored military victories through the efficient use of its powerful Air Force, which enjoys strong logistical support, as well as the behind-the-scenes support of its advanced intelligence and espionage facilities and equipment. It was due to this heavy reliance on the Air Force that the US Army did not have to deploy infantry forces to engage in land wars. The US Air Force, for its part, is supported by the country’s naval ships and destroyers, which are positioned in free waters, as well as in common territorial waters and air bases. It also has the advantage of using advanced and heavy military equipment in its operations. It is well known that the American military is quite capable of scoring rapid victories in wars, but is not similarly capable of winning in peace, meaning that it is not capable of maintaining the territories it has conquered.
At the same time, the Russian and Chinese armies are more focused on land forces and, therefore, enjoy powerful infantry forces, as well as special equipment that has been engineered to perform well in land wars on both large and small scales (including guerrilla warfare). The main advantage of the Russian army is its extensive use of missile technology, which has posed a serious challenge to the military might of rival countries by producing some of the most modern air defense weapons. The main advantage of the US military is the use of integrated intelligence and reconnaissance systems which provide the ground for better management of the war theater. More than anything else, China is known for the great number of its military forces. As a result, and due to the renovation of the Chinese army and its equipment in recent decades, the country has been rising as a serious military force at the global level during the past years.
B. Reliance on the Navy
The Eurasian regional powers’ increased attention to the seas has been quite evident. There has been remarkable competition and differences between Japan and China over adjacent seas and disputed islands. Such competition and disputes have also existed between Japan and Russia, Russia and China, and among the Southeast Asian Tigers (which include South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia). Military experts and analysts of geopolitical issues are of the opinion that the extensive military activities by the powerful Chinese Navy in the South China Sea, as well as in the East China Sea, which contains the islands that are disputed with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, have prompted the United States to send more naval forces to this restive part of the world. The new tug of war between the two military superpowers of the world, i.e. the United States and China, has turned the Southeast Asian waters into a live and permanent exhibition of both countries’ naval forces.
During the past two decades, China has taken great strides to strengthen its national army, especially its naval forces, so that the Chinese Navy is now among the most powerful naval forces in the world.
Many analysts are now concerned that the US effort to establish its domination over the entire Southeast Asia region and the rivalry that exists in this regard between Washington and Beijing will finally lead to escalation of the situation in that region and even end in all-out naval warfare.
C. Regional Powers and Role of Regionalism
Modern international relations are more and more moving toward regionalism. The main outcome of this trend in Eurasia has been the increasing importance of regional powers. Apart from Russia and China, which have been established as dominant powers in this region, the roles played by such countries as India, Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey should not be easily ignored. The promotion of regionalism in Eurasia will be characterized with a dominant role for Russia as the main regional hegemonic power, which will also play a very important role in the formation of regional alliances. Iran will also play a prominent security and anti-security role, especially through the challenge that it poses to this regional hegemonic power, as well as to other regional and transregional hegemonic powers.
The regional role played by China has gone well beyond a purely economic role and has taken on serious security and military aspects, especially following the establishment of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). On the whole, regional countries will move toward the conclusion of a collective regional security treaty[13], which was previously hoped to be negotiated within the framework of the SCO. However, this organization has been already challenged by Russia and Turkey. Russia is of the opinion that a “collective security treaty” should be aimed to serve as a counterbalance to NATO. Unlike the SCO, which is characterized by the dominant role of China and is being managed according to this pattern, such a proposed security treaty would be based on the regional influence of Russia.[14]
In the meantime, the political activities of another major regional power, namely, Turkey, should not be ignored. Using various means, Turkey is trying to increase its influence on the geopolitical arrangement of Eurasia. Following the rise of the idea of Neo-Ottomanism, Turkey has been trying to organize its regional and transregional plans and strengthen them by encouraging the signing of pacts among various states.[15] The establishment of the Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status in 2013, which has Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, the Azerbaijani Republic, and Mongolia as its members; the establishment of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States in 2009, whose members are the Azerbaijani Republic, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey; as well as the introduction of the Eurasia Army, which includes the military forces of the Azerbaijani Republic, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia, and which is supposed to replace the Association of the European and Mediterranean Police Forces and Gendarmeries with Military Status, are among the major efforts made by Turkey in this regard.[16]
On the whole, Eurasia will experience a remarkable spurt in the military and security fields during the next decade. A collection of economic, military, and security forces have come together in this region, which is also seeing an increasing presence of the superpowers as well. The rise of the Eastern powers has also drawn more attention to the revival of the cultural and historical identities of the countries located in this region and, therefore, this region is expected to become a focus for international attention in the near future. Islamism, Orientalism, traditionalism, Indigenism, fundamentalism, native nationalism, and emerging identities, in addition to the continued growth of the middle class in the Eurasian countries, have given, and will continue to give, birth to powerful social and political currents. From the military and security viewpoints, under the influence of these issues and historical events, and as a result of the experiences gained in the past few decades, major regional powers such as the governments of Russia and China, as well as other regional powers like India, Turkey, and Iran, will be playing a more prominent role compared to the past and this will increase the need for the establishment of new regional security treaties.
[1]Dalby, Simon. American security discourse: the persistence of geopolitics. Political Geography Quarterly, Volume 9, Issue 2, April 1990, p. 171-188
[2]Acharya, Amitav, The Relevance of Regions, ASEAN, and Western IR’s false universalisms, August 10, 2011, www.theory-talks.org/2011/08/theory-talk-42.html; Grovogui, Siba.IR as Theology, Reading Kant Badly, and the Incapacity of Western Political Theory to Travel very far in Non-Western Contexts. August 29, 2013. www.theory-talks.org/2013/08/theory-talk-57.html
[3]Xuetong, Yan. Chinese Realism, the Tsinghua School of International Relations, and the Impossibility of Harmony. November 28, 2012. www.theory-talks.org/2012/11/theory-talk-51.html
[4] Brzezinski, Zbigniew. (1997) Geostrategy for Eurasia, 76 Foreign Affairs. p. 50
[5]Hosseini, S. M., New Silk Roads, Policy Paper; Institute for Humanities Research affiliated with Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research; 2011
[6] Jerry Cohen, Benjamin. Currency Wars and Reviving the ‘Political’ in International Political Economy. 5.9.2008. www.theotytalk.org
[7]Sieminski, Adam . International Energy Outlook . EIA, July 25, 2013
[8] Huntington, Samuel, Clash of Civilizations Theory: Huntington and His Critics, translated by MojtabaAmiriVahid, Tehran, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2005
[9]Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope (American Empire Project), Metropolitan Books, 2010
[10]www.yjc.ir/fa/news/4291513; Dufour, Jules. The Worldwide Network of US Military Bases, The Global Deployment of US Military Personnel. Global Research, December 24, 2013. www.globalresearch.ca/the-worldwide-network-of-us-military-bases/5564
[11] The Military Balance, 2013
[13]Allison, Roy. Regionalism, Regional Structures and Security Management in Central Asia.International Affairs. Volume 80, Issue 3, May 2004. pp 463-483
[15]Hosseini S. M. et al, European Union in Foreign Policy of Turkey under Justice and Development Party; Central Eurasia Research Center, Fall and Winter 2012-2013, pp. 21-38
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) visits Port of Duisburg of Germany March 29, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]
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DUSSELDORF, Germany - Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday called on China and Germany to work together to build the Silk Road economic belt.
Xi made the remarks during a visit to Port of Duisburg, the world's biggest inland harbor and a transport and logistics hub of Europe.
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The Chinese leader expressed the hope that Port of Duisburg will play a bigger role in the China-Germany and China-Europe cooperation.
Xi witnessed the arrival of a cargo train at the railway station in Duisburg from the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. The train had travelled all the distance along the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe international railway.
The Chinese president, accompanied by Vice German Chancellor and Minister of Economics and Energy Sigmar Gabriel, was warmly welcomed by Hannelore Kraft, premier of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Soren Link, mayor of the city of Duisburg.
Kraft and Link, in their speeches at the welcome ceremony, said the state and the city will grasp the opportunities that the initiative on the Silk Road economic belt brings to them, and step up the cooperation with China.
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The U.S. and its puppets, especially the E.U. and Nato, have been trying to weaken the rebuilding Russian empire as much as possible to contain it, while maintaining the U.S. Global Empire.
This has become a vital, crucial goal because of the rapid growth of Chinese power and the ever closer Alliance of Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Central Asia, Pakistan, etc.
The U.S. and E.U. are desperate to stop Russia from rebuilding its vast Central Asian states within the Russian Federation and this new Alliance, especially because of the vast Caspian Sea oil and gas. The E.U. is highly dependent on Russia for gas and on Russia, Iraq, Iran and the pro-Russian Caspian Sea powers, especially Kazakhstan. The Russian move into the Black Sea is another major step in that direction. Kazakhstan publicly supported the Russian move to reunite with the Crimea. Kazakhstan is the great prize, with 30% of its population Russian and a vast border with Mother Russia. Russia is probably not at this time trying to reunite Kazakhstan with Russia, since that would involve many more problems, but simply to keep it as a close ally, as the Ukraine was until the violent overthrow of the Kiev government by the U.S. supported coup.
Russia, Iran, Iraq, and their Central Asian allies are close to a vast oligopoly on the oil and gas exports of the world, especially to the E.U., U.K., China, India, etc.
Saudi Arabia is desperate to break the growing Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hizbollahp-Russian-Central Asian power block. Right now it is trying desperately to build its own military forces to offset the U.S. withdrawal from the region, but that is absurd. In the long term, Saudi Arabia will align with Russia-China-Iran-Central Asia or be overthrown from within by those who will become reasonable.
China, now firmly in the Russian-Central Asia-Iran-Iraq block with gas lines from Russia, etc., is moving forcefully into all of the South China Sea to control oil and gas there. The U.S. is desperate to stop that, but China keeps moving out.
All of that puts the dying U.S. Empire on a collision course with the vast Russian-Chinese-Iranian-Central Asian Alliance. Pakistan has become very anti-U.S. because of the U.S. attacks in Pakistan and is allying more and more with China. Even India is working more and more closely with Iran and its allies to get the gas they need. Just yesterday the president of Iran spoke in Afghanistan calling for a great regional entente, working together more and more closely. That is the likely route for Iranian oil and gas to India.
Ultimately, the U.S. Empire must withdraw from its vast over-stretch to save itself financially and economically, politically and militarily.
The E.U. knows that, so Germany’s Prime Minister talks privately with Putin in German and Russian about the American Global Crisis. [She knows Russian and he knows German, so it's easy.] Germany, the E.U. and Russia are moving toward a long run understanding once the crippled U.S. implodes financially or withdraws to save itself. The CEO of Siemens, the giant and vital German technology corporation, has just visited with Putin in Russia and made public statements of strong plans to continue working with Russia very closely. Other German CEO’s have done the same, acting as informal reassurances from the Prime Minister that her public words going along with the U.S. more or less do not mean any kind of break with the close relations with Russia.
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Ex: http://www.zeit-fragen.ch
von Willy Wimmer, Staatssekretär des Bundesministers der Verteidigung a.D., Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages 1976–2009
Die Nachrichten wegen der Ukraine überschlagen sich und der schöne Schein von Sotschi mit den glänzend gestimmten Sportlern ist schneller zerstoben, als das allen lieb sein konnte.
Dennoch sollten wir in der Flut der Nachrichten über Ereignisse gut 700 Kilometer von Berlin entfernt die Meldung über ein fürchterliches Massaker in der chinesischen Stadt Kunming nicht übersehen oder falsch einordnen. Kunming als Hauptstadt der chinesischen Provinz Yünnan beeindruckt eigentlich durch seinen Charme, der an lebenslustige Gebiete am Mittelmeer erinnert. Am letzten Wochenende kam der Tod nach Kunming, als fast 30 Menschen ermordet und mehr als 100 Menschen schwer verletzt wurden. Weit weg?
Erinnern wir uns an den Vorabend des völkerrechtswidrigen Krieges gegen die Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien, dessen Beginn sich in diesen Tagen zum 15. Male jährt. Über Monate hatte es im chinesischen Westen Anschlag über Anschlag gegeben. Tote und Verletzte waren die Folge. Prominente Schauspieler aus Hollywood eröffneten eine Kampagne wegen Tibet. Es war so dramatisch, dass eine kriegerische Auseinandersetzung wegen Tibet erwartet wurde. Nicht nur im Spiegel konnte jeder lesen, dass wohl amerikanische Dienste hinter den Ereignissen im Westen Chinas stünden.
Das, was losbrach, waren die Bombenangriffe auf Belgrad, mitten im europäischen Kerngebiet, und das Vehikel war die albanische Terrororganisation UÇK, auf die die Vereinigten Staaten und später die gesamte Nato gesetzt hatte, um ihre Ziele in der Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien durchzusetzen.
Zeichen an der Wand sind häufiger zu sehen, als uns lieb sein kann. Das bedeutet für uns, dass wegen der gleichzeitig stattfindenden Umbrüche in der Ukraine das Gesamtbild nicht aus den Augen gelassen werden darf.
Es ist etwas ganz Grosses im Gange, das uns alle zerreissen kann. Wer heute Russland aus den G 8 schmeissen will, der hat keine Hemmungen, morgen China mit dem Rauswurf aus der Welthandelsorganisation zu drohen und die Drohung auch wahrzumachen. Es ist Endspiel-Zeit, und es ist geradezu spektakulär, wie der amerikanische Aussenminister John Kerry sich als Schutzengel des Völkerrechtes aufspielt.
Dennoch ist das amerikanische Verhalten seit dem völkerrechtswidrigen Krieg gegen Belgrad und die folgenden, ebenfalls klassischen Aggressionskriege gegen den Irak u. a., keine Ausrede für andere, in amerikanische Muster der letzten Jahrzehnte zu verfallen. Aber tun sie das? Man ist heute schnell bei der Hand, den russischen Präsidenten Putin mit Adolf Hitler zu vergleichen, wie es in diesen Tagen ein ehemaliger tschechischer Aussenminister getan hat. Fürst Schwarzenberg hat gut reden, waren es doch die Russen, die gnadenlos unter Adolf Hitler ihr Blut vergiessen mussten. Peinlicher geht es nicht mehr.
Aber die Ukraine wird uns um die Ohren fliegen, auch wenn es seit Joschka Fischer einen Nato-Modus zu geben scheint, wenn Ziele angeleuchtet werden. Janukowitsch ist weg, und wer will ihm eine Träne nachweinen? Bei den Protzvillen? Als wenn das bis zum Ringen um das Assoziierungsabkommen irgend jemanden in Brüssel, Berlin, London oder Washington gestört hätte. In der Staatskasse noch knapp 300 000 Euro? Wo waren die peniblen Brüsseler Schlaumeier bei der Überprüfung der Kiewer Daten vor dem angepeilten Abkommen zwecks grösserer Nähe der Ukraine zur Europäischen Union?
Von ganz neuer Qualität dürfte jedoch sein, dass nicht nur die US-amerikanische Staatssekretärin Nuland den Überlegungen zur Manipulation der neuen Regierung in der Ukraine freien Lauf gelassen hat. Hier wurde zum ersten Mal in der neueren Geschichte eine Regierung, die nach Bekundungen aller – von der OSZE bis zum Europa-Rat – durch faire und freie Wahlen zustande gekommen war, aus dem Amt geputscht, und alle Abkommen zur Krisenbeilegung wurden beiseite gefegt.
Das geschah wohlgemerkt auch und gerade durch Kräfte, die einen gesamteuropäischen Aufschrei der Abscheu hätten hervorrufen müssen. Noch in der Nacht der Machtergreifung wurde gegen die russischsprachigen Bewohner der Ukraine mobil gemacht. Man hatte nichts Eiligeres zu tun, als ihnen die Zerstörung ihrer Bürgerrechte in Aussicht zu stellen. Es war eben auch der politische Mob, der anschliessend drohte, durch die gesamte Ukraine zu fegen.
Wegen des unmittelbar drohenden Finanzkollapses der Ukraine droht sich dort ein Furor breitzumachen, der zwar heute nach dem Westen ruft, aber dem Heulen und Zähneknirschen drohen, wenn ihn die westeuropäische und amerikanische Realität erreicht.
Washington scheint zu den letzten Mitteln vor einer Kriegserklärung an die Russische Föderation greifen zu wollen, wenn man die Herren Obama und Kerry hört. Wäre es wegen der Dimension des von der Ukraine ausgehenden Urknalls für ganz Europa nicht sinnvoller gewesen, die Fäden zusammenzuhalten? Schliesslich war es Moskau, das der maroden Ukraine noch mehr Geld nachwerfen wollte, als der in diesen Dingen äusserst penible Westen.
Und Putin? Hätte er zuwarten sollen, bis die Kiewer Machtübernahme die russische Grenze erreicht hätte? Die Träger des neuen Geistes waren alle auf dem Weg. Was in Teufels Namen hat nach der Kiewer Machtübernahme die neuen Machthaber dazu veranlasst, nun jeden wichtigen Amtsträger im ganzen Land aus dem Amt zu jagen und durch eigene Günstlinge zu ersetzen? Der russische Präsident Putin hat durch die Form seiner Reaktion diesem Tun ein Halt-Signal gesetzt, für das man ihm vielleicht noch einmal sehr dankbar sein wird. Die Souveränität und territoriale Integrität auch der Ukraine stehen ausser Frage. Rechtzeitig die bereits brennende Lunte aus dem Benzinfass zu nehmen, wie es Putin gemacht hat, sollte dann als Chance begriffen werden, wenn das russische Handeln nicht als Gefährdung der eigenen westlichen Absichten gesehen wird. •
Offener Brief an die Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU zur Sitzung vom 6. März 2014
Sehr verehrte Damen,
sehr geehrte Herren,
nach den Standards, die in der Europäischen Union bei schwierigen Entwicklungen üblich sind, müssten die Staats- und Regierungschefs bei ihrem Treffen in Brüssel wegen der Lage in der Ukraine festlegen, dass
1. zu den neuen Machthabern in Kiew auf der Regierungsebene keine Kontakte stattfinden, solange es ernsthafte und begründete Zweifel an der Rechtmässigkeit der neuen Organe in Kiew gibt,
2. so lange davon ausgegangen werden muss, dass in hohen und höchsten Ämtern der neuen Organe in Kiew sich Personen befinden, deren politische Haltung in ganz Europa Abscheu wegen ihres Gedankengutes hervorruft, sollte ein Boykott der EU […] über die Organe in Kiew so lange verhängt werden, bis diese Personen nicht mehr den im Amt befindlichen Organen in Kiew angehören. Für die Bundesregierung in Berlin ist es nicht akzeptabel, dass vor dem Bundesverfassungsgericht in Karlsruhe ein Verbot der NPD durchgesetzt werden soll, während man gleichzeitig in Kiew mit denen unter einer Decke steckt, die engste Kontakte zur NPD pflegen.
Es ist in hohem Masse bedauerlich, dass in Westeuropa die Medien auf die krisenhafte Entwicklung so reagieren, als wären sie gleichgeschaltet und unterstünden amerikanischem Oberbefehl. […]
In der letzten Woche drohten die Flammen des Maidan in Kiew auf die ganze Ukraine überzugreifen. Eine im Bürgerkrieg versinkende Ukraine hätte ganz Europa mit in den Untergang gerissen. Diese Gefahr ist immer noch nicht vom Tisch, weil die wirtschaftlichen Gefahren erst noch auf alle zukommen. Das besonnene und deutliche Auftreten der russischen Regierung unter Präsident Putin hat Europa und der Welt eine Chance gegeben, Souveränität und territoriale Integrität der Ukraine zu erhalten und uns vor dem Furor eines Bürgerkrieges in der Ukraine zu bewahren.
Die Russische Föderation hat in den Jahren, die mit dem ordinären Angriffskrieg der Nato gegen die Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien vor fast genau 15 Jahren und zu einem friedensbedrohenden und völkerrechtswidrigen Verhalten der USA auch in anderen Teilen der Welt führten, sich zum Völkerrecht und seinen tragenden Grundsätzen bekannt. Ohne dieses Völkerrecht und vor allem die Charta der Vereinten Nationen wird das Schicksal Europas mehr denn je ungewiss sein. […]
Willy Wimmer, Staatssekretär des Bundesministers der Verteidigung a.D., Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages 1976–2009
00:05 Publié dans Actualité, Affaires européennes, Eurasisme, Géopolitique | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Tags : politique internationale, europe, affaires européennes, géopolitique, ukraine, russie, chine, états-unis, allemagne | | del.icio.us | | Digg | Facebook
00:05 Publié dans Actualité, Affaires européennes, Eurasisme, Géopolitique | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Tags : alexandre douguine, polémologie, russie, europe, affaires européennes, politique internationale, géopolitique | | del.icio.us | | Digg | Facebook
Ex: http://aucoeurdunationalisme.blogspot.com
00:05 Publié dans Actualité, Affaires européennes, Eurasisme, Géopolitique | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Tags : politique internationale, géopolitique, eurasisme, allemagne, russie, europe, affaires européennes | | del.icio.us | | Digg | Facebook
Ex: http://www.dedefensa.org
Notre estimé MK Bhadrakumar attire notre attention sur une intervention du conseiller de sécurité nationale du gouvernement indien Shivshankar Menon (notamment rapportées par le Times of India de ce 7 mars 2014). Menon estime que la Russie a des “intérêts légitimes” en Crimée, ce qui revient, pour le moins, à “comprendre” avec une nuance presque approbatrice la position russe en Crimée et vis-à-vis de la crise ukrainienne.
Cette position indienne est doublement surprenante, d’une part parce qu’elle marque un engagement inhabituel de ce pays dans une crise majeure, contre le bloc BAO et les USA, d’autre part parce qu’elle surpasse largement le “soutien” ambiguë de la Chine à la Russie. La Chine favorise en général les coups d’arrêt à l’hégémonie du bloc BAO, ce qui implique un certain soutien à la Russie, mais se montre intraitable sur la question du principe de la souveraineté, ce qui porte une ombre sur ce soutien dans la circonstance présente, – et bien qu’il reste à savoir qui est investi et protecteur de ce principe lorsqu’on mesure les circonstances ayant mené à la chute de Ianoukovitch ... (Selon MK Bhadrakumar, «China is indulging in doublespeak. Its propaganda apparatus queers the pitch for the West’s confrontation with Russia and, in fact, blatantly admits that Moscow is also fighting China’s cause by resisting western hegemony, while at the same time, Beijing’s diplomacy marks a careful distance from the Russian stance and takes to the high ground of ‘principles’.»)
La position indienne est une marque de plus des bouleversements en cours dans la situation internationale, avec surprises et désordre à mesure... Voici comment Bhadrakumar salue cette prise de position de son pays, lui qui est rarement tendre pour l’équipe au pouvoir, le 7 mars 2014 sur son Indian PunchLine) :
«The National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon’s remark to the effect that Russia has “legitimate interests” in the Ukraine developments, as much as other interests are involved, is a statement of fact at its most obvious level.
»Russia’s interests in a stable, friendly Ukraine are no less than what India would have with regard to, say, Nepal or Bhutan. Delhi simply cannot afford to have an unfriendly government in Kathmandu or Thimpu, and it is hard to overlook the gravity of Russian concerns that ultra-nationalists staged a violent coup in Kiev. But Menon’s statement inevitably becomes a big statement, not only because he is a profoundly experienced and thoughtful scholar-diplomat but also given the high position he holds and his key role as an architect of India’s foreign policy in the recent years. Simply put, he is India’s voice on the world stage.
»To be sure, what Menon said will reverberate far and wide and would have been the content of many coded cables relayed by the antennae atop the chancelleries in Chanakyapuri to the world capitals yesterday. The point is, what Menon said is one of the most significant statements made by Delhi in a long while regarding the contemporary international situation. No doubt, the Ukraine is a defining moment in the post-cold era world politics and by reflecting on its templates, Menon voiced India’s concern over the dangerous drift in world politics...»
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Craignant un coup d'Etat comme à Kiev, les habitants de Crimée ont créé des comités d'autodéfense et pris le commandement des unités militaires locales. Le Conseil suprême de Crimée avait déjà décidé, fin février, de tenir un référendum sur l'élargissement des pouvoirs de la république autonome ukrainienne de Crimée. Initialement fixée au 25 mai, la date du référendum a depuis été avancée au 30 mars. Par ailleurs, le premier ministre de Crimée, Sergueï Aksenov a renouvelé sa demande d'aide légitime et légale au président russe Vladimir Poutine. L’Otan quant à elle ne devrait pas intervenir en Crimée, mais selon le politologue russe, Alexandre Douguine, une filiale d’Academi (les ex-Blackwater d'Irak), Greystone Limited, aurait déjà débuté son déploiement en Ukraine. Les mercenaires arriveraient par groupe, en civil, avec de lourds paquetages, à l’aéroport de Kiev, d’où ils seraient envoyés vers Odessa. C'est eux que l'on évoquait hier.
Petit à petit, l'unanimité européenne face à la Russie se lézarde. Londres est de plus en plus eurosceptique et pense aussi à son économie : qui paiera la partition de l'Ukraine ? Londres tient un double langage. Alors que David Cameron menaçait Vladimir Poutine il y a quelques jours de «conséquences économiques, politiques, diplomatiques et autres» (sic), une note confidentielle du Ten Downing Street a fuitée permettant réellement de douter de sa sincérité. On y lit que le Royaume-Uni «ne doit pas, pour l'instant, soutenir de sanctions commerciales contre la Russie ou lui bloquer la City». Le texte recommande également de «décourager» toute discussion de représailles militaires notamment à l'Otan !
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By Sergey Duz
The Voice of Russia
Ex: http://www.lewrockwell.com
25 years ago, the almost 10-year long deployment of the limited contingent of Soviet forces in Afghanistan drew to a close. Experts have since been at variance about the assessment of the Afghan campaign, but they invariably agree that it was the biggest-scale (and actually quite ambiguous, obviously for that reason) foreign policy action throughout the post-war history of the Soviet Union.
The last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan on February 15th 1989 as part of the Soviet 40th Army, which was the backbone of the limited contingent. The Soviet troops withdrew under the command of the 40th Army legendary commander, Lieutenant-General Boris Gromov. He managed to brilliantly carry out the withdrawal, with the US now trying to use his experience to more or less decently pull out of Afghanistan following the more than 20 years of actually useless occupation of that country. This is what an expert with the Centre for Modern Afghan Studies, Nikita Mendkovich, says about it in a comment.
“The Americans will have to rely heavily on intercontinental delivery means, because the troops are being evacuated to another region, to another continent. Back in 1989, it was largely a ground-force operation. The Soviet troops pulled out by land via Central Asia. The basic problem of any operation of this kind is security. Huge masses of troops and a great number of military vehicles are moving along the roads, so they should be guaranteed against likely attacks. To attain the objective, one can either reinforce local garrisons that will remain deployed in Afghanistan after the pull-out of the bulk of the troops and will cover the withdrawal, or reach agreement with the enemy not to attack the leaving troops, because this is not in the enemy’s interests”.
There are both similarities and numerous differences between the Soviet and American campaigns in Afghanistan. The main difference is that the Soviet Union did manage to achieve its goal, whereas with the United States it is no go. The Soviet troops were to render assistance to the Afghan government in settling the home policy situation. Secondly, the Soviet troops were to prevent external aggression. Both objectives were fully attained.
The Soviet political leadership felt that the revolution of April 1978 had no right to lose. Ideological reasoning was reinforced by geopolitical considerations. This predetermined Moscow’s decision to send troops, says editor-in-chief of the National Defence magazine, Igor Korotchenko, and elaborates.
“The Afghan campaign was inevitable if seen from the perspective of defending the Soviet Union’s national interests. It may seem odd, but Afghans are still nostalgic about the times when Soviet troops were deployed in their country. Even former field commanders can’t help but show some sort of liking for the Soviet Union, for the Soviet Army. We were no invaders; we helped build a new Afghanistan. The Soviet troops built tunnels, ensured the operation of water-supply systems, planted trees, built schools and hospitals, and also production facilities. The Soviet troops were indeed performing their international duty, they accomplished quite a feat. When the Soviet troops pulled out, Najibullah had a strong Afghan Army under his command. He remained in control of the situation in Afghanistan for 12 or 18 months. His regime fell when the Soviet Union cut short its material supply for Kabul. The current Afghan regime of Karzai will certainly prove short-lived; it’s no more than a phantom. The US troops will hardly pull out with their heads held high, the way the Soviet soldiers did”.
But then, some people disagree that all Afghans were happy about the Soviet military presence. The Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin pointed out the danger of the Soviet troops getting drawn into guerrilla warfare. He said in late 1979 that the invasion of Afghanistan “would trigger drastically negative many-sided consequences”. “This would essentially become a conflict not only with imperialist countries, but a conflict with the proper Afghan people. Now, people never forgive things like that”, Kosygin warned, and proved correct. This is what the chairman of the Common Afghan Centre in St. Petersburg, Naim Gol Mohammed, says about it in a comment.
“The people of Afghanistan have their own traditions, mentality and culture. The belligerent Pashtun tribes have never taken orders from anyone. These tribes never take to foreign troops. The locals revolted against the Soviet troops. The Soviet troop withdrawal in 1989 was followed by a period of anarchy. Government agencies were non-operational. The Soviet Union supplied Afghanistan with whatever was required quite well. But once the Soviet troops were out, the supplies were brought to a halt. That was bad. But the Soviet Union made the right decision, for it is impossible to defeat Afghans on their own soil”.
Quite a few experts insist that however tragic or pointless the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan may seem, it had largely influenced the shaping of the new Russia’s optimal foreign policy. Moscow is perfectly aware today that no use of force can help resolve political problems, that these can only have a negotiated settlement. Moscow is trying to put the idea across to the main geopolitical players today. This is the most important lesson that should be learned from what experience the Soviet Union gained in Afghanistan.
Reprinted from The voice of Russia.
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10:36 Publié dans Actualité, Affaires européennes, Entretiens, Eurasisme, Géopolitique | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Tags : géopolitique, entretien, ayméric chauprade, ukraine, europe, politique internationale, affaires européennes, états-unis, russie | | del.icio.us | | Digg | Facebook
Ex: http://www.eurasi-rivista.org
È uscito il numero XXXII (4-2013) della rivista di studi geopolitici “Eurasia” intitolato:
IL SECOLO CINESE?
Ecco di seguito l’elenco degli articoli presenti in questo numero, con un breve riassunto di ciascuno di essi.
EDITORIALE
IL SECOLO CINESE? di Claudio Mutti
GEOFILOSOFIA
HEGEL E IL FONDAMENTO GEOGRAFICO DELLA STORIA MONDIALE di Davide Ragnolini*
All’interno delle «Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte» del grande filosofo tedesco la riflessione sulla base geografica della storia mondiale trova una significativa collocazione propedeutica alla stessa storia filosofica del mondo, la cui importanza non è stata ancora sufficientemente colta. Hegel poneva a fondamento dello svolgimento storico mondiale il rapporto tra i popoli e la condizione naturale nella quale questi hanno localizzazione. Secondo l’impostazione storico-idealistica di Hegel, tempo e spazio hanno nella storia e geografia universale il loro correlato fenomenico dal quale i popoli avviano la propria esistenza. Da un punto di vista filosofico il rapporto tra spirito e natura costituisce la struttura teoretica portante su cui Hegel basa l’emancipazione di un popolo dalla condizione di mero «ente naturale» a soggetto storico all’interno della storia mondiale. Dal geografo e collega Carl Ritter,il filosofo tedesco ha tratto i princìpi interpretativi per la comprensione delle possibilità di sviluppo che le differenze geografiche offrono ai popoli, la rappresentazione geologica della superficie terrestre, la sua divisione in continente euroafrasiatico ed aree insulari, e infine la contrapposizione tra terra e mare. Questi rappresentano solo alcuni dei molti aspetti della geografia hegeliana, forieri di sviluppi successivi per la teoria geopolitica.
DOSSARIO: IL SECOLO CINESE?
LA REPUBBLICA POPOLARE CINESE: PROFILO E RISORSE a cura della Redazione
La Cina oggi: una panoramica dei dati essenziali e delle dinamiche in atto contribuisce alla comprensione della più grande realtà asiatica.
LA NUOVA VIA DELLA SETA di Qi Han
La signora Qi Han è incaricata d’Affari dell’Ambasciata della Repubblica Popolare Cinese in Italia. “Eurasia” la ringrazia per aver gentilmente concesso di pubblicare il testo del discorso da lei pronunciato in occasione del Forum Eurasiatico di Verona (17-18 ottobre 2013).
RITORNO ALLA VIA DELLA SETA di Giuseppe Cappelluti
Dal mito alla realtà. Dopo secoli di oblio la Via della Seta, storico ponte tra l’Occidente e la Cina, sta tornando ad essere una direttrice primaria del commercio internazionale. Lungo i suoi itinerari si è tuttavia prefigurata l’ennesima disputa tra eurasiatismo ed euro-atlantismo: da un lato il percorso attraverso Russia e Kazakistan, più rapido e stimolato dal rafforzamento dell’integrazione eurasiatica, dall’altro quello attraverso il Caucaso e il Mar Caspio voluto dall’Unione Europea.
LA CINA PER UN ORDINE MULTIPOLARE di Spartaco A. Puttini
L’ascesa della Cina si è imposta come una realtà della quale tener conto, in tutte le dimensioni proprie della geopolitica. Ma per coglierne la portata e le conseguenze per la vita internazionale occorre collocarla in un contesto preciso: quello attualmente attraversato dalle relazioni internazionali e caratterizzato dal braccio di ferro in corso tra il tentativo statunitense di imporre al mondo il proprio “dominio a pieno spettro” e l’emergere di un equilibrio di potenza multipolare. Nelle righe che seguono cercheremo di dare sommariamente conto dell’azione politica della Cina popolare su diverse scacchiere (dall’America Latina all’Africa) evidenziandone finalità ed effetti. Di particolare rilievo risulta l’impulso dato allo sviluppo dei rapporti economici Sud-Sud con mutuo beneficio, che promettono di erodere il potere ricattatorio esercitato dalle centrali finanziarie legate all’Angloamerica nei confronti dei paesi in via di sviluppo. Si accennerà al complesso rapporto che viene a stabilirsi concretamente tra l’aspirazione cinese ad una crescita armonica e pacifica e il vincolo sistemico indotto dagli Stati Uniti con la corsa agli armamenti e con il susseguirsi di gravissimi crisi regionali che contribuiscono ad attizzare le tensioni tra le Potenze.
LA SECONDA PORTAEREI CINESE di Andrea Fais
La crescita della potenza economica cinese ha avuto principalmente due ripercussioni internazionali. L’una, di carattere commerciale, sta già modificando le dinamiche dei flussi di capitale nel pianeta ed è quella più dibattuta dalla stampa europea ma troppo spesso accentuata, se non deformata da giudizi raramente in sintonia con la realtà dei fatti. L’altra, di carattere strategico, mantiene ritmi di trasformazione più lenti, non tanto per il ritardo con cui la Repubblica Popolare Cinese è giunta ad affrontare nel concreto i temi salienti della guerra informatica e della modernizzazione militare quanto piuttosto per l’enorme potenziale accumulato dal Pentagono nel decennio compreso tra il 1998 e il 2007. Eppure dal momento che le dimensioni commerciale e militare sono interdipendenti, all’inversione di tendenza nella prima potrebbe presto seguirne un’altra nella seconda. Il debutto della prima portaerei cinese, la Liaoning, nel settembre 2012 aveva lanciato un dado sul tavolo: la sfida a quello strapotere aeronavale statunitense che, assieme al primato internazionale del dollaro, costituisce l’architrave dell’egemonia nordamericana sul resto del mondo.
LA TRIADE NUCLEARE DELLA REPUBBLICA POPOLARE CINESE di Alessandro Lattanzio
L’arsenale strategico cinese è oggetto di varie congetture. Qui viene presentato un quadro sintetico delle varie stime relative all’arsenale nucleare, dovute ai più importanti enti occidentali di analisi strategica.
GLI ALTRI PARTITI NELLA CINA POPOLARE di Giovanni Armillotta
Le origini, la storia e l’organizzazione dei partiti democratici. Le lotte comuni assieme ai comunisti nell’epopea della liberazione contro i giapponesi, e nella guerra civile nel periodo della dittatura del Guomindang. La collaborazione di essi col Partito Comunista Cinese nell’amministrazione del Paese e le rappresentanze dei partiti indipendenti nelle alte istituzioni statali. Paralleli col sistema partitico della nostra Italia 1945-1994. Nell’articolo è adottato il sistema di traslitterazione Pinyin di nomi e toponimi.
LA QUINTA GENERAZIONE AL POTERE di Sara Nardi
Negli ultimi anni il problema dell’informazione e dei mezzi di comunicazione di massa si è fatto stringente anche in Cina. Come seconda potenza mondiale e come nazione pienamente inserita nel processo di globalizzazione economica e digitale, il colosso asiatico è ormai entrato sotto la lente d’ingrandimento della famigerata osservazione internazionale. Si tratta di una realtà complessa, che spesso risente delle contraddizioni o delle forzature che il punto di vista politico e geografico dell’osservatore reca necessariamente con sé. Tuttavia, è stato lo stesso Xi Jinping ad annunciare un piano di riforme che risolvano in modo più efficace le complicate questioni legate alla corruzione, agli intrecci impropri tra politica e stampa e alla regolamentazione della rete multimediale. Una sfida da cui dipende l’immagine della Cina nel mondo e, dunque, la sua capacità di guadagnare legittimazione e consenso internazionali.
HUKOU. LA RESIDENZA IN CINA di Maria Francesca Staiano
La RPC è caratterizzata da un sistema di registrazione permanente della residenza (Hukou) che esclude i residenti non regolari, soprattutto i lavoratori migranti, dal godimento delle prestazioni sociali, come l’accesso ai servizi di istruzione, di sanità, di previdenza sociale e di sicurezza sul lavoro. Ciò ha generato una divaricazione netta tra la popolazione urbana e i migranti che provengono dalle zone rurali. Il sistema dello Hukou deriva da una tradizione storica-culturale antica ed è stato modificato varie volte dal Governo cinese. Oggi, la questione dello Hukou è nell’agenda del terzo plenum del Partito Comunista della RPC e quanto mai attuale. La Cina si trova ad affrontare la sfida di un esercito di lavoratori migranti che, sostenendo l’economia cinese, pretendono gli stessi diritti dei cittadini urbani.
MYANMAR: UNA PARTITA ANCORA APERTA? di Stefano Vernole
Lo “sdoganamento” del Myanmar apparentemente favorisce l’intrusione occidentale nell’area del Sud-Est asiatico, ma la stabilizzazione dell’ex Birmania è funzionale agli interessi di sicurezza della Cina. La strategia geoeconomica del PCC appare ancora una volta vincente. Il secolo asiatico vedrà Pechino protagonista?
LA CINA IN ROMANIA di Luca Bistolfi
La Cina è vicina, e molto, anche in Romania. Da anni ormai, semplici cittadini, operai, imprenditori e multinazionali di servizi e infrastrutture provenienti dalla Città Proibita hanno adottato il Paese carpatico quale meta di investimenti a lunga durata. Nel bellum omnium contra omnes i romeni se ne vanno dal loro Paese e ad esser assunti sono i cinesi, sempre più a basso costo e non meno sfruttati. Un risultato, fra i tanti, è che anche le aziende italiane, andate per suonare, sono state suonate. Sempre dai cinesi. E la Romania, ancora una volta, piange.
IL TURISMO CINESE DEL XXI SECOLO di Ornella Colandrea
Negli ultimi tre decenni, la Repubblica Popolare Cinese ha adottato politiche e misure che, modificando fortemente la struttura socioeconomica del paese, hanno inaugurato una fase di costante crescita economica. La Cina rappresenta oggi un interessante mercato in crescente espansione in cui il turismo costituisce uno dei fulcri centrali dell’industria nazionale. Il mercato turistico cinese rappresenta una grande opportunità per l’Europa e per il sistema di offerta italiano in particolare. L’articolo analizza i dati, i ritmi di sviluppo, le tendenze, i profili dei turisti cinesi, individuando criticità e opportunità.
IL TURISMO CINESE IN ITALIA di Elena Premoli
Affari, ma non solo: anche più tempo libero, voglia di esplorare il mondo, curiosità sempre crescente, desiderio di evasione, necessità di staccarsi dalla frenetica vita delle grandi megalopoli asiatiche. E, soprattutto, maggiore disponibilità economica. Sono questi alcuni fattori che stanno alla base di un fenomeno sempre in crescita e che sta raggiungendo cifre davvero importanti. Si tratta del turismo cinese, dei viaggi interni alla Cina o all’estero che sempre più abitanti della Terra di Mezzo decidono di compiere per piacere. Dove si posiziona il nostro Paese all’interno di questa filiera? Quali passi sono stati già compiuti, da quali sbagli è bene trarre insegnamento e quali piccole accortezze sono richieste agli operatori del settore per accogliere al meglio gli ospiti in arrivo dalla Repubblica Popolare? L’articolo offre un breve excursus sull’evoluzione del fenomeno turistico, andando alle radici della pratica del viaggiare per poi arrivare velocemente ai giorni nostri. Espone alcune cifre che definiscono un’idea generale del fenomeno e si chiude con uno sguardo particolare su quanto è possibile fare per trarre maggiori guadagni da tale tendenza, impossibile da trascurare.
LA RICEZIONE DI CARL SCHMITT IN CINA di Davide Ragnolini
La recente traduzione in cinese delle opere del giurista tedesco e la crescita delle pubblicazioni dedicategli in Cina rappresentano un elemento di novità sotto un duplice punto di vista. Da un lato contribuiscono sul piano ermeneutico ad arricchire la storia della ricezione della filosofia schmittiana del diritto sotto un più generale aspetto teoretico-dottrinale nel dibattito scientifico mondiale; dall’altro, queste pubblicazioni sono rilevanti come inedita introduzione di un autore europeo ormai classico all’interno della specificità politico-culturale della più grande nazione asiatica. Un recente saggio di Qi Zheng fornisce una panoramica su questo dibattito scientifico in Cina e al contempo ci dà la possibilità di intravedere i limiti attuali della ricezione cinese di un pensatore che, come spiega la stessa Qi Zheng, come nessun altro ha causato tante controversie in Cina.
CONTINENTI
GLOBALIZZAZIONE: DEFINIZIONE E CONSEGUENZE di Cristiano Procentese
La globalizzazione costituisce il fenomeno più rilevante degli ultimi decenni: ingrediente ormai irrinunciabile di ogni riflessione, rimane, ciononostante, un concetto ancora generico e impreciso. Tuttavia, dopo le apologetiche profezie dei sostenitori della globalizzazione, il risultato degli ultimi anni è stato un modello di sviluppo che ha come componente intrinseca l’accentuazione delle diseguaglianze, la precarizzazione del lavoro ed il senso d’insicurezza dei cittadini. La crescita incontrollata della speculazione finanziaria, la delocalizzazione delle imprese, che diventano multinazionali o transnazionali, e l’impotenza dei governi nazionali nel gestire un fenomeno così complesso, sono le priorità cui la politica, riappropriandosi delle proprie prerogative, dovrebbe cercare di dare una risposta.
LA LETTONIA VERSO L’EURO di Giuseppe Cappelluti
Il 1 gennaio 2014 sarà una data storica per la Lettonia: il Paese baltico, infatti, diventerà il diciottesimo membro di Eurolandia. Per ragioni sia economiche sia geopolitiche (la volontà di sancire l’appartenenza all’Occidente in funzione antirussa) l’adozione dell’euro è stata uno dei principali obiettivi del governo di centrodestra, ma il Paese è tutt’altro che entusiasta. L’accettazione della Lettonia nell’Eurozona, dopo tutto, è stata vincolata all’adozione di rigide misure di austerità, e non manca chi, memori dei cinquant’anni di occupazione sovietica, teme per la propria sovranità nazionale. Alcuni economisti, d’altro canto, non vedono di buon occhio alcuni provvedimenti recentemente approvati in materia fiscale e temono che il Paese si trasformi in un ponte verso i paradisi fiscali, o peggio che diventi esso stesso un paradiso fiscale.
LE MANI SULL’ASIA CENTRALE di Giuseppe Cappelluti
La Cina è oggi uno dei maggiori interlocutori commerciali degli “stan” dell’Asia Centrale, e i suoi interessi nell’area sono in forte crescita. Emblematici delle strategie geopolitiche di Pechino verso il Centrasia sono i rapporti con Kazakhstan e Kirghizistan. Se fino a poco più di vent’anni fa la Cina era totalmente assente dagli orizzonti kazachi, la sempre più massiccia presenza cinese nell’economia dell’Aquila della Steppa, non più limitata al tradizionale settore degli idrocarburi, ne ha fatto uno dei più importanti partner commerciali e strategici. Inoltre, pur non mancando timori per un possibile boom dell’immigrazione cinese, gli interessi tra i due Paesi sono reciproci, a partire dalle questioni legate alla sicurezza e dalle nuove infrastrutture che collegheranno Cina e Russia attraverso il Kazakhstan. Il Kirghizistan, al contrario, interessa essenzialmente per la sua posizione geografica, mentre la sua futura adesione all’Unione Doganale non è propriamente una buona notizia per quello che un tempo fu il Celeste Impero. Ma nei due Paesi le mosse cinesi suscitano non pochi sospetti: legittimi interessi o espansionismo geoeconomico?
LA GUERRA CIVILE DEL TAGIKISTAN (1992-1997) di Andrea Forti
Nonostante la durata, cinque anni, e l’elevato numero di vittime (dai cinquanta ai centomila morti) la guerra civile del Tagikistan rimane, agli occhi del grande pubblico occidentale (e non solo), uno dei conflitti meno conosciuti del convulso periodo immediatamente successivo alla fine della Guerra Fredda, oscurato dai contemporanei ma ben più mediatici conflitti nella ex-Jugoslavia, in Algeria o in Somalia. La guerra civile tagica, nonostante l’oblio che ormai circonda questa drammatica pagina di storia, è di grande interesse sia per lo studio dei conflitti nati dal dissolvimento dell’Unione Sovietica che per eventuali comparazioni con conflitti attualmente in corso, come quello in Siria che oppone le forze governative alla ribellione islamista.
COMUNITÀ RELIGIOSE IN SIRIA di Vittoria Squillacioti
La Siria odierna è un paese complesso dal punto di vista etnico e religioso. Per comprendere quali siano effettivamente le differenze che caratterizzano la sua popolazione è necessario tenere presente le variabili della lingua, della confessione religiosa e dell’eventuale collocazione geografica delle diverse comunità, tre variabili che agiscono profondamente nella definizione delle diverse identità e appartenenze. Nel variegato mosaico siriano riscontriamo così la presenza dominante dei musulmani, ancorché suddivisi tra sunniti, sciiti, ismailiti, alawiti, drusi e yazidi, ma anche diverse varietà del cristianesimo ed una comunità ebraica.
ARABIA SAUDITA: ALLEANZE ESTERE E DINAMICHE INTERNE di Sara Brzuszkiewicz
In seguito al deciso rifiuto da parte dell’Arabia Saudita del seggio nel Consiglio di Sicurezza delle Nazioni Unite, per il quale era stata eletta come membro non permanente, ci si interroga sugli attuali rapporti del Regno dei Saud con storici alleati, rivali di sempre e timido dissenso interno, per scoprire che, nonostante a prima vista possa sembrare il contrario, il vento del cambiamento è ancora lontano dalla Culla dell’Islam.
IL TAGLIO DELL’ISTMO DI SUEZ di Lorenzo Salimbeni
Nel novembre del 1869 venne inaugurato il Canale di Suez. Ci era voluto quasi un decennio di massacranti lavori per portare a compimento quest’opera ciclopica, dopo che già in fase di progettazione non erano mancate le polemiche. La necessità di mettere in collegamento il Mar Mediterraneo ed il Mar Rosso era chiara a tutti, ma la modalità con cui conseguire tale obiettivo era oggetto di discussione. Vi fu chi propose di aprire un canale fra il Mar Rosso ed il delta del Nilo (come era già stato fatto all’epoca dei Faraoni e della dominazione araba dell’Egitto), chi insistette per un collegamento ferroviario Alessandria-Il Cairo-Mar Rosso e chi spinse per tagliare l’istmo di Suez, anche se si riteneva che fra i due mari vi fosse un dislivello di alcuni metri che avrebbe richiesto la costruzione di complesse chiuse. La Compagnia Universale del Canale di Suez presieduta dallo spregiudicato Ferdinand de Lesseps, il genio ingegneristico di Luigi Negrelli e l’iniziale opposizione britannica furono i soggetti più importanti nella fase iniziale dell’ambiziosa opera di scavo.
INTERVISTE
TUCCI IN ORIENTE. L’AVVENTURA DI UNA VITA. INTERVISTA A ENRICA GARZILLI (a cura di Andrea Fais)
Enrica Garzilli è, dal 1995, direttrice delle riviste accademiche “International Journal of Sanskrit Studies” e “Journal of South Asia Women Studies”. È stata quindi Research Affiliate al P.G.D.A.V. College, una delle più antiche istituzioni dell’Università di Delhi. Dal 1991 al 2011 ha vinto la Senior Fellowship presso il Center for the Study of World Religions dell’Università di Harvard (1992–94), ha compiuto quattro anni di studi post-laurea in storia, informatica e giurisprudenza, ha insegnato come Lecturer di sanscrito all’università di Harvard e servito come direttore editoriale della Harvard Oriental Series-Opera Minora, è stata Visiting Researcher alla Harvard Law School (1994–96) e docente presso le università di Macerata, Perugia e Torino. Collabora in qualità di esperta alla RSI – Radiotelevisione Svizzera e a riviste e giornali italiani.
“GLOBAL TIMES”: UNO STRUMENTO DI DIALOGO. INTERVISTA A LI HONGWEI (a cura di Andrea Fais)
Li Hongwei è caporedattore dell’edizione in lingua inglese del quotidiano di approfondimento cinese “Global Times”. Fondato nel 1993 dall’editore del “Quotidiano del Popolo”, il “Global Times” ha raggiunto una popolarità internazionale a partire dal 2009, quando fu lanciata l’edizione in lingua inglese che ha raggiunto i lettori di tutto il mondo, accreditandosi come riferimento imprescindibile per conoscere analisi e opinioni della società cinese. La presente intervista è stata rilasciata ad Andrea Fais, collaboratore di “Eurasia” e di “Global Times”.
RECENSIONI
Luciano Pignataro, La Cina contemporanea da Mao Zedong a Deng Xiaoping (1949-1980) (Andrea Fais)
Tiziano Terzani, Tutte le opere (Stefano Vernole)
Carlo Terracciano, L’Impero del Cuore del Mondo (Andrea Fais)
Massimo Cacciari, Il potere che freno (Claudio Mutti)
00:07 Publié dans Actualité, Eurasisme, Géopolitique | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Tags : chine, asie, affaires asiatiques, géopolitique, politique internationale, claudio mutti | | del.icio.us | | Digg | Facebook
Milestones of Eurasism
By Alexander Dugin
Ex: http://www.counter-currents.com
Eurasism is an ideological and social-political current born within the environment of the first wave of Russian emigration, united by the concept of Russian culture as a non-European phenomenon, presenting–among the varied world cultures–an original combination of western and eastern features; as a consequence, the Russian culture belongs to both East and West, and at the same time cannot be reduced either to the former or to the latter.
The founders of eurasism:
Eurasism’s main value consisted in ideas born out of the depth of the tradition of Russian history and statehood. Eurasism looked at the Russian culture not as to a simple component of the European civilization, as to an original civilization, summarizing the experience not only of the West as also–to the same extent–of the East. The Russian people, in this perspective, must not be placed neither among the European nor among the Asian peoples; it belongs to a fully original Eurasian ethnic community. Such originality of the Russian culture and statehood (showing at the same time European and Asian features) also defines the peculiar historical path of Russia, her national-state program, not coinciding with the Western-European tradition.
Foundations
Civilization concept
The Roman-German civilization has worked out its own system of principles and values, and promoted it to the rank of universal system. This Roman-German system has been imposed on the other peoples and cultures by force and ruse. The Western spiritual and material colonization of the rest of mankind is a negative phenomenon. Each people and culture has its own intrinsic right to evolve according to its own logic. Russia is an original civilization. She is called not only to counter the West, fully safeguarding its own road, but also to stand at the vanguard of the other peoples and countries on Earth defending their own freedom as civilizations.
Criticism of the Roman-German civilization
The Western civilization built its own system on the basis of the secularisation of Western Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), bringing to the fore such values like individualism, egoism, competition, technical progress, consumption, economic exploitation. The Roman-German civilization founds its right to globality not upon spiritual greatness, as upon rough material force. Even the spirituality and strength of the other peoples are evaluated only on the basis of its own image of the supremacy of rationalism and technical progress.
The space factor
There are no universal patterns of development. The plurality of landscapes on Earth produces a plurality of cultures, each one having its own cycles, internal criteria and logics. Geographical space has a huge (sometimes decisive) influence on peoples’ culture and national history. Every people, as long as it develops within some given geographical environment, elaborates its own national, ethical, juridical, linguistic, ritual, economic and political forms. The “place” where any people or state “development” happens predetermines to a great extent the path and sense of this “development”–up to the point when the two elements became one. It is impossible to separate history from spatial conditions, and the analysis of civilizations must proceed not only along the temporal axis (“before,” “after,” “development” or “non-development,” and so on) as also along the spatial axis (“east,” “west,” “steppe,” “mountains,” and so on). No single state or region has the right to pretend to be the standard for all the rest. Every people has its own pattern of development, its own “times,” its own “rationality,” and deserves to be understood and evaluated according to its own internal criteria.
The climate of Europe, the small extension of its spaces, the influence of its landscapes generated the peculiarity of the European civilization, where the influences of the wood (northern Europe) and of the coast (Mediterraneum) prevail. Different landscapes generated different kinds of civilizations: the boundless steppes generated the nomad empires (from the Scythians to the Turks), the loess lands the Chinese one, the mountain islands the Japanese one, the union of steppe and woods the Russian-Eurasian one. The mark of landscape lives in the whole history of each one of these civilizations, and cannot be either separated form them or suppressed.
State and nation
The first Russian slavophiles in the 19th century (Khomyakov, Aksakov, Kirevsky) insisted upon the uniqueness and originality of the Russian (Slav, Orthodox) civilization. This must be defended, preserved and strengthened against the West, on the one hand, and against liberal modernism (which also proceeds from the West), on the other. The slavophiles proclaimed the value of tradition, the greatness of the ancient times, the love for the Russian past, and warned against the inevitable dangers of progress and about the extraneousness of Russia to many aspects of the Western pattern.
From this school the eurasists inherited the positions of the latest slavophiles and further developed their theses in the sense of a positive evaluation of the Eastern influences.
The Muscovite Empire represents the highest development of the Russian statehood. The national idea achieves a new status; after Moscow’s refusal to recognize the Florentine Unia (arrest and proscription of the metropolitan Isidore) and the rapid decay, the Tsargrad Rus’ inherits the flag of the Orthodox empire.
Political platform
Wealth and prosperity, a strong state and an efficient economy, a powerful army and the development of production must be the instruments for the achievement of high ideals. The sense of the state and of the nation can be conferred only through the existence of a “leading idea.” That political regime, which supposes the establishment of a “leading idea” as a supreme value, was called by the eurasists as “ideocracy”–from the Greek “idea” and “kratos,” power. Russia is always thought of as the Sacred Rus’, as a power [derzhava] fulfilling its own peculiar historical mission. The eurasist world-view must also be the national idea of the forthcoming Russia, its “leading idea.”
The eurasist choice
Russia-Eurasia, being the expression of a steppe and woods empire of continental dimensions, requires her own pattern of leadership. This means, first of all, the ethics of collective responsibility, disinterest, reciprocal help, ascetism, will and tenaciousness. Only such qualities can allow keeping under control the wide and scarcely populated lands of the steppe-woodland Eurasian zone. The ruling class of Eurasia was formed on the basis of collectivism, asceticism, warlike virtue and rigid hierarchy.
Western democracy was formed in the particular conditions of ancient Athens and through the centuries-old history of insular England. Such democracy mirrors the peculiar features of the “local European development.” Such democracy does not represent a universal standard. Imitating the rules of the European “liberal-democracy” is senseless, impossible and dangerous for Russia-Eurasia. The participation of the Russian people to the political rule must be defined by a different term: “demotia,” from the Greek “demos,” people. Such participation does not reject hierarchy and must not be formalized into party-parliamentary structures. “Demotia” supposes a system of land council, district governments or national governments (in the case of peoples of small dimensions). It is developed on the basis of social self-government, of the “peasant” world. An example of “demotia” is the elective nature of church hierarchies on behalf of the parishioners in the Muscovite Rus’.
The work of L. N. Gumilev as a development of the eurasist thinking
Lev Nikolaevic Gumilev (1912–1992), son of the Russian poet N. Gumilev and of the poetess A. Akhmatova, was an ethnographer, historian and philosopher. He was profoundly influenced by the book of the Kalmuck eurasist E. Khara-Vadan “Gengis-Khan as an army leader” and by the works of Savitsky. In its own works Gumilev developed the fundamental eurasist theses. Towards the end of his life he used to call himself “the last of the eurasists.”
Basic elements of Gumilev’s theory
An ethnos is in general any set of individuals, any “collective”: people, population, nation, tribe, family clan, based on a common historical destiny. “Our Great-Russian ancestors–wrote Gumilev–in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries easily and rather quickly mixed with the Volga, Don and Obi Tatars and with the Buriates, who assimilated the Russian culture. The same Great-Russian easily mixed with the Yakuts, absorbing their identity and gradually coming into friendly contact with Kazakhs and Kalmucks. Through marriage links they pacifically coexisted with the Mongols in Central Asia, as the Mongols themselves and the Turks between the 14th and 16th centuries were fused with the Russians in Central Russia.” Therefore the history of the Muscovite Rus’ cannot be understood without the framework of the ethnic contacts between Russians and Tatars and the history of the Eurasian continent.
The advent of neo-eurasism: historical and social context
The crisis of the Soviet paradigm
In the mid-1980s the Soviet society began to lose its connection and ability to adequately reflect upon the external environment and itself. The Soviet models of self-understanding were showing their cracks. The society had lost its sense of orientation. Everybody felt the need for change, yet this was but a confused feeling, as no-one could tell the way the change would come from. In that time a rather unconvincing divide began to form: “forces of progress” and “forces of reaction,” “reformers” and “conservators of the past,” “partisans of reforms” and “enemies of reforms.”
Infatuation for the western models
In that situation the term “reform” became in itself a synonym of “liberal-democracy.” A hasty conclusion was inferred, from the objective fact of the crisis of the Soviet system, about the superiority of the western model and the necessity to copy it. At the theoretical level this was all but self-evident, since the “ideological map” offers a sharply more diversified system of choices than the primitive dualism: socialism vs. capitalism, Warsaw Pact vs. NATO. Yet it was just that primitive logic that prevailed: the “partisans of reform” became the unconditional apologists of the West, whose structure and logic they were ready to assimilate, while the “enemies of reform” proved to be the inertial preservers of the late Soviet system, whose structure and logic they grasped less and less. In such condition of lack of balance, the reformers/pro-westerners had on their side a potential of energy, novelty, expectations of change, creative drive, perspectives, while the “reactionaries” had nothing left but inertness, immobilism, the appeal to the customary and already-known. In just this psychological and aesthetic garb, liberal-democratic policy prevailed in the Russia of the 1990s, although nobody had been allowed to make a clear and conscious choice.
The collapse of the state unity
The result of “reforms” was the collapse of the Soviet state unity and the beginning of the fall of Russia as the heir of the USSR. The destruction of the Soviet system and “rationality” was not accompanied by the creation of a new system and a new rationality in conformity to national and historical conditions. There gradually prevailed a peculiar attitude toward Russia and her national history: the past, present and future of Russia began to be seen from the point of view of the West, to be evaluated as something stranger, transcending, alien (“this country” was the “reformers’” typical expression). That was not the Russian view of the West, as the Western view of Russia. No wonder that in such condition the adoption of the western schemes even in the “reformers’” theory was invoked not in order to create and strengthen the structure of the national state unity, but in order to destroy its remains. The destruction of the state was not a casual outcome of the “reforms”; as a matter of fact, it was among their strategic aims.
The birth of an anti-western (anti-liberal) opposition in the post-Soviet environment
In the course of the “reforms” and their “deepening,” the inadequacy of the simple reaction began to be clear to everyone. In that period (1989–90) began the formation of a “national-patriotic opposition,” in which there was the confluence of part of the “Soviet conservatives” (ready to a minimal level of reflection), groups of “reformers” disappointed with “reforms” or “having become conscious of their anti-state direction,” and groups of representatives of the patriotic movements, which had already formed during the perestroika and tried to shape the sentiment of “state power” [derzhava] in a non-communist (orthodox-monarchic, nationalist, etc.) context. With a severe delay, and despite the complete absence of external strategic, intellectual and material support, the conceptual model of post-Soviet patriotism began to vaguely take shape.
Neo-eurasism
Neo-eurasism arose in this framework as an ideological and political phenomenon, gradually turning into one of the main directions of the post-Soviet Russian patriotic self-consciousness.
Stages of development of the neo-eurasist ideology
1st stage (1985–90)
In these years eurasism shows “right-wing conservative” features, close to historical traditionalism, with orthodox-monarchic, “ethnic-pochevennik” [i.e., linked to the ideas of soil and land] elements, sharply critical of “Left-wing” ideologies.
2nd stage (1991–93)
3rd stage (1994–98): theoretical development of the neo-eurasist orthodoxy
4th stage (1998–2001)
5th stage (2001–2002)
Basic philosophical positions of neo-eurasism
At the theoretical level neo-eurasism consists of the revival of the classic principles of the movement in a qualitatively new historical phase, and of the transformation of such principles into the foundations of an ideological and political program and a world-view. The heritage of the classic eurasists was accepted as the fundamental world-view for the ideal (political) struggle in the post-Soviet period, as the spiritual-political platform of “total patriotism.”
The neo-eurasists took over the basic positions of classical eurasism, chose them as a platform, as starting points, as the main theoretical bases and foundations for the future development and practical use. In the theoretical field, neo-eurasists consciously developed the main principles of classical eurasism taking into account the wide philosophical, cultural and political framework of the ideas of the 20th century.
Each one of the main positions of the classical eurasists (see the chapter on the “Foundations of classical eurasism”) revived its own conceptual development.
Civilization concept
Criticism of the western bourgeois society from “Left-wing” (social) positions was superimposed to the criticism of the same society from “Right-wing” (civilizational) positions. The eurasist idea about “rejecting the West” is reinforced by the rich weaponry of the “criticism of the West” by the same representatives of the West who disagree with the logic of its development (at least in the last centuries). The eurasist came only gradually, since the end of the 1980s to the mid-1990s, to this idea of the fusion of the most different (and often politically contradictory) concepts denying the “normative” character of the Western civilization.
The “criticism of the Roman-German civilization” was thoroughly stressed, being based on the prioritary analysis of the Anglo-Saxon world, of the US. According to the spirit of the German Conservative Revolution and of the European “New Right,” the “Western world” was differentiated into an Atlantic component (the US and England) and into a continental European component (properly speaking, a Roman-German component). Continental Europe is seen here as a neutral phenomenon, liable to be integrated–on some given conditions–in the eurasist project.
The spatial factor
Neo-eurasism is moved by the idea of the complete revision of the history of philosophy according to spatial positions. Here we find its trait-d’union in the most varied models of the cyclical vision of history, from Danilevsky to Spengler, from Toynbee to Gumilev.
Such a principle finds its most pregnant expression in traditionalist philosophy, which denies the ideas of evolution and progress and founds this denial upon detailed metaphysical calculations. Hence the traditional theory of “cosmic cycles,” of the “multiple states of Being,” of “sacred geography,” and so on. The basic principles of the theory of cycles are illustrated in detail by the works of Guénon (and his followers G. Georgel, T. Burckhardt, M. Eliade, H. Corbin). A full rehabilitation has been given to the concept of “traditional society,” either knowing no history at all, or realizing it according to the rites and myths of the “eternal return.” The history of Russia is seen not simply as one of the many local developments, but as the vanguard of the spatial system (East) opposed to the “temporal” one (West).
State and nation
Dialectics of national history
It is led up to its final, “dogmatical” formulation, including the historiosophic paradigm of “national-bolshevism” (N. Ustryalov) and its interpretation (M. Agursky). The pattern is as follows:
Political platform
Neo-eurasism owns the methodology of Vilfrido Pareto’s school, moves within the logic of the rehabilitation of “organic hierarchy,” gathers some Nietzschean motives, develops the doctrine of the “ontology of power,” of the Christian Orthodox concept of power as “kat’echon.” The idea of “elite” completes the constructions of the European traditionalists, authors of researches about the system of castes in the ancient society and of their ontology and sociology (R. Guénon, J. Evola, G. Dumézil, L. Dumont). Gumilev’s theory of “passionarity” lies at the roots of the concept of “new eurasist elite.”
The thesis of “demotia” is the continuation of the political theories of the “organic democracy” from J.-J. Rousseau to C. Schmitt, J. Freund, A. de Benoist and A. Mueller van der Bruck. Definition of the eurasist concept of “democracy” (“demotia”) as the “participation of the people to its own destiny.”
The thesis of “ideocracy” gives a foundation to the call to the ideas of “conservative revolution” and “third way,” in the light of the experience of Soviet, Israeli and Islamic ideocracies, analyses the reason of their historical failure. The critical reflection upon the qualitative content of the 20th century ideocracy brings to the consequent criticism of the Soviet period (supremacy of quantitative concepts and secular theories, disproportionate weight of the classist conception).
The following elements contribute to the development of the ideas of the classical eurasists:
The philosophy of traditionalism (Guénon, Evola, Burckhardt, Corbin), the idea of the radical decay of the “modern world,” profound teaching of the Tradition. The global concept of “modern world” (negative category) as the antithesis of the “world of Tradition” (positive category) gives the criticism of the Western civilization a basic metaphysic character, defining the eschatological, critical, fatal content of the fundamental (intellectual, technological, political and economic) processes having their origin in the West. The intuitions of the Russian conservatives, from the slavophiles to the classical eurasists, are completed by a fundamental theoretical base. (see A. Dugin, Absoljutnaja Rodina [The Absolute Homeland], Moscow 1999; Konets Sveta [The End of the World], Moscow 1997; Julius Evola et le conservatisme russe, Rome 1997).
The investigation on the origins of sacredness (M. Eliade, C. G. Jung, C. Levi-Strauss), the representations of the archaic consciousness as the paradigmatic complex manifestation laying at the roots of culture. The reduction of the many-sided human thinking, of culture, to ancient psychic layers, where fragments of archaic initiatic rites, myths, originary sacral complexes are concentrated. Interpretation of the content of rational culture through the system of the ancient, pre-rational beliefs (A. Dugin, “The evolution of the paradigmatic foundations of science” [Evoljutsija paradigmal’nyh osnovanij nauki], Moscow 2002).
The search for the symbolic paradigms of the space-time matrix, which lays at the roots of rites, languages and symbols (H. Wirth, paleo-epigraphic investigations). This attempt to give a foundation to the linguistic (Svityc-Illic), epigraphic (runology), mythological, folkloric, ritual and different monuments allows to rebuild an original map of the “sacred concept of the world” common to all the ancient Eurasian peoples, the existence of common roots (see A. Dugin Giperborejskaja Teorija [Hyperborean Theory], Moscow 1993.
A reassessment of the development of geopolitical ideas in the West (Mackinder, Haushofer, Lohhausen, Spykman, Brzeszinski, Thiriart and others). Since Mackinder’s epoch, geopolitical science has sharply evolved. The role of geopolitical constants in 20th century history appeared so clear as to make geopolitics an autonomous discipline. Within the geopolitical framework, the concept itself of “eurasism” and “Eurasia” acquired a new, wider meaning.
From some time onwards, eurasism, in a geopolitical sense, began to indicate the continental configuration of a strategic (existing or potential) bloc, created around Russia or its enlarged base, and as an antagonist (either actively or passively) to the strategic initiatives of the opposed geopolitical pole–“Atlantism,” at the head of which at the mid-20th century the US came to replace England.
The philosophy and the political idea of the Russian classics of eurasism in this situation have been considered as the most consequent and powerful expression (fulfilment) of eurasism in its strategic and geopolitical meaning. Thanks to the development of geopolitical investigations (A. Dugin, Osnovye geopolitiki [Foundations of geopolitics], Moscow 1997) neo-eurasism becomes a methodologically evolved phenomenon. Especially remarkable is the meaning of the Land – Sea pair (according to Carl Schmitt), the projection of this pair upon a plurality of phenomena – from the history of religions to economics.
The search for a global alternative to globalism, as an ultra-modern phenomenon, summarizing everything that is evaluated by eurasism (and neo-eurasism) as negative. Eurasism in a wider meaning becomes the conceptual platform of anti-globalism, or of the alternative globalism. “Eurasism” gathers all contemporary trends denying globalism any objective (let alone positive) content; it offers the anti-globalist intuition a new character of doctrinal generalization.
The assimilation of the social criticism of the “New Left” into a “conservative right-wing interpretation” (reflection upon the heritage of M. Foucault, G. Deleuze, A. Artaud, G. Debord). Assimilation of the critical thinking of the opponents of the bourgeois western system from the positions of anarchism, neo-marxism and so on. This conceptual pole represents a new stage of development of the “Left-wing” (national-bolshevik) tendencies existing also among the first eurasists (Suvchinskij, Karsavin, Efron), and also a method for the mutual understanding with the “left” wing of anti-globalism.
“Third way” economics, “autarchy of the great spaces.” Application of heterodox economic models to the post-Soviet Russian reality. Application of F. List’s theory of the “custom unions.” Actualization of the theories of S. Gesell. F. Schumpeter, F. Leroux, new eurasist reading of Keynes.
Source: Ab Aeterno, no. 3, June 2010.
Article printed from Counter-Currents Publishing: http://www.counter-currents.com
URL to article: http://www.counter-currents.com/2013/12/milestones-of-eurasism/
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TWO STUDIES ON NEO-EURASIANISM
by Martin A. Schwarz
Ex: http://www.eurasia-rivista.org
Marlene Laruelle: Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Press/Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, 288 p.
Alexander Höllwerth: Das sakrale eurasische Imperium des Aleksandr Dugin. Eine Diskursanalyse zum postsowjetischen Rechtsextremismus. Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, Vol. 59. Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag 2007. 735 p.
Different strands of Russian Eurasianism (Laruelle, part 1)
Marlene Laruelle, a young but prolific French-American scholar, who has already published books about the classic Eurasianism and about its precursor in the 19th century, has now written “Russian Eurasianism. An ideology of Empire”, one of the first comprehensive academic studies of Neo-Eurasianism, or at least in the West. In difference to other works of this kind, the author sticks to her principles of impartiality, which does not mean that she does not present her own theories about history and function of Eurasianism as an “ideology of Empire”, but, in her own words “this book analyzes Neo-Eurasianism without judging it, for two reasons. First, I do not think one may, either methodologically or ethically, judge and analyze at the same time. Knowledge is a prerequisite of argument, but the former must precede the latter. Second, as Pierre-André Taguieff has remarked, ‘There is no need to put words into an author’s mouth or demonize him in order to critically examine theses that one believes must be opposed.’” (Laruelle, p. 13)
After a brief introduction in which she points to the relevance of the subject, her different approach (as mentioned), and the specific weight of the personalities she choose for presentation, the first chapter is devoted to the original Eurasianism from 1920-1930. This is a rather brief outline, as she has already written a book on the subject (L’Idéologie eurasiste russe ou comment penser l’empire, Paris 1999) , and brings not many new or original informations about a movement, which was the “conservative revolution” á la Russe, borrowing from Fascism and Bolshevism, but denouncing their short-comings and “Western” features. Two things though seem to be central for Laruelle’s understanding of the Eurasianists: the notion of a “geographic identity” for Russians, instead of the Western self-understanding of a “historic” and therefore progressive understanding of the identity of nations (which of course was transferred as “historical materialism” to Russia, and also was promoted by liberals and – inverted – by nostalgic monarchists). Therefore the geographic orientation of Eurasianism lies at the core of the movement, but was paradoxically developed in the Western exile: “The Eurasianist doctrine must be grasped in its fundamentally provocative character. It was born of the malaise of young nationalists who were reluctant to integrate into the host culture and who refused to resign themselves to the thought that links with homeland were definitely broken. Their rejection of Europe can only be understood if we remember that it was elaborated in the West by those Russians who, culturally speaking, were the most Europeanized.” (p. 25) While it is undeniable true, that Eurasianism as self-affirmation could only become self-knowledge in the encounter and subsequently (at least partial) rejection of Western ideologies, Laruelle shows a tendency to psychologize the phenomenon: “(Eurasianism) attempts to theorize what is above all an experience and a feeling: the experience of young men in exile who feel humiliated by the defeat of the Whites and try to understand the reality of the motherland and stay in touch with it.” (p. 47)
Another paradox or ambiguity can be found in the Eurasianist re-evaluation of the Far Eastern part of Russian history and culture, the Mongolic and Islamic one. „(…) before Eurasianism in the 1920s, no Russian intellectual movement displayed a real openness to the Turko-Mongol world. Asia was only ever highlighted under the aspects of Aryanism; it was a mere detour to reinforced claims of Europeaness.“ (p. 4) While this heritage was now used by the Eurasianists as an argument for the distinction of Russia not only to Western Europe but also to Pan-Slavism, the religions and cultures of Buddhism and Islam as such were denigrated in favor of a militant Orthodox Christianity. As the final parts of this book are dedicated to the relation between (neo-)Eurasianism and Islam, this question has not to be answered at this point.
After this brief, not very differentiated presentation of the original Eurasianists, Laruelle looks more in detail in the thinking of the three most influential neo-Eurasianists. These are, in her words “the theories of ethnogenesis elaborated by the Orientalist Lev N. Gumilëv (1912-92); the fascistic geopolitics of the fashionable theorist Aleksandr Dugin (1962-); the philosopher Aleksandr Panarin’s (1940-2003) defense of a multipolar world.” (p. 2)
Lev Gumilëv, the missing link – or rather: not missing link – between “old” and “new” Eurasianism enjoys nearly universal popularity in Russia. His theories of Ethnogenesis are generally excepted and taught in schools and universities, often without reference to the Eurasianist Weltanschauung, although they are deeply connected with their organic understanding of peoples and societies. While Gumilëv shares with the Eurasianists the idea that the individual draws the meaning from the totality, Gumilëv’s theory of ethnos is definitively on the more biologistic and deterministic side of possible variations of this idea. One that, as I must say, does not fit well with the ideas of an supra-natural origin of culture, which is the normal religious concept, and also especially stressed by the representatives of integral traditionalism (René Guénon, Julius Evola, and others), whose ideas were introduced to neo-Eurasianism by Aleksandr Dugin and Geidar Dzhemal. As Laruelle writes, “he [Gumilëv] takes up the original Eurasianists’ organicism and radicalizes it, using numerous biological or even genetic metaphors with far-reaching political implications”, although “he does not, strictly speaking, develop a political theory; and […| he cannot be considered a partisan of conservative revolution.” (p. 82) Instead he stressed (as must remembered: in the time of Soviet stagnation of the Brezhnev era) very social conservative norms: endogamy, family life, respect for the elderly, the nation, and rejection of any challenge to the powers that be, all necessary for the survival of the ethnos. Laruelle considers him – understandably – “the least intellectually relevant and the least original (Neo-)Eurasianist.” (p. 82) As Gumilëv was neither in touch with Western intellectuals nor in tune with Soviet science , “his thought, the product of intellectual solitude, was fundamentally autistic” (p. 82), This result, if true, is by the way in striking contradiction to his notion of the supremacy of the collective ethnos as a sovereign whole, and also a total contrast to the very mercurial and alert ideologue of Neo-Eurasianism, Aleksandr Dugin, well-known in the West and very present in Russian media.
Before devoting space to Dugin, Laruelle discusses Aleksandr Panarin, whom she clearly favors. She calls him intellectually superior to Dugin and Gumilëv, or to be exact: she writes that “many”, but unnamed “Russian scholars” (p. 86) did consider him to be. Be this at it may, Panarin was in the Yeltsin era a promoter of “people’s capitalism” (p. 87) and in the Putin era an advocate of “the restoration of both Orthodox spirituality and Stalinist statehood.” (p. 88) Maybe he could be considered as flexible or opportunist as Dugin? Nevertheless he presented a “civilized Eurasianism”, “civilized” here being the indicator of “the exact opposite to Dugin’s variety.” (p. 88) Nevertheless Panarin became a member of the Central Council of Dugin’s Eurasian Party in 2002, and planned to write a foreword to a book by Dugin, but as Laruelle writes, “death put an end to this unlikely cooperation.” (p. 89) Panarin’s work was marked by the search for a third way, “between the West’s egalitarian universalism and the ethnic particularism of the non-European world.” (p. 93) Panarin’s model for an Eurasian Empire in his words, as quoted by Laruelle: “The principle of cultural pluralism, as well as attention and tolerance for different ethnocultural experiences are combined with a monist political authority that tolerates no opposition.” (p. 97) One of the intriguing but also problematic ideas of Panarin was the need for a combination of the Eurasian religions into something, what he calls the “Great Tradition” (p. 98), especially a fusion between Orthodox Christianity and Islam. In his quoted words: “We need a new, powerful world-saving idea that would ensure a consensus between Orthodox and Muslim culture for the benefit of a common higher goal.” (p. 99) Later he seemed to have abandoned this attempt in favor of an Orthodox supremacism and a renewed pan-Slavism, according to Laruelle in reaction to the NATO bombardment of Serbia. (p. 100)
The chapter on Aleksandr Dugin in titled “Aleksandr Dugin: A Russian Version of the European Radical Right?“ and was published before as a study by the Woodrow Wilson Institute in Washington, DC. While the title indicates the direction and the somewhat limited approach to the multi-faceted Dugin, it can be said that this attempt to analyze the influences of the New Right and the „Traditionalist school“ on Dugin’s theories is of much superior quality than the ramblings of the ubiquous Andreas Umland and his school of Dugin bashing. Like the New Right in Western Europe Dugin has attempted to adopt the teachings of Carl Schmitt, Karl Haushofer, Ernst Niekisch and Moeller van den Bruck, the so-called “Conservative Revolution” in Germany’s Weimar period, to the present situation of Russia, which largely means the attempted forced Westernization through Globalization and the counter-measures of the re-establishment of state power. This “conservative revolution” intellectual heritage is accompanied by two more currents, the New Right or rather: Nouvelle Droite, and the „integral Tradition“, both not so much of German but French and Italian origins, although the thinking of Alain de Benoist not only has a strong „Conservative Revolutionary“ foundation, but was also influenced by Armin Mohler, the personal link between Ernst Jünger and Carl Schmitt, and Alain de Benoist. Additionally and largely unrelated to Benoist was the Belgian European activist Jean Thirirat, whose model of an „European nation“ has preformed Dugin’s „Eurasian nation“ as much as the French Nouvelle Droite’s think tank GRECE and their meta-political approach did for the somehow fluctuating style of Dugin’s intellectual enterprises. Therefore Laruelle is not mislead, when she writes: “Dugin distinguishes himself from other figures in the Russian nationalist movements precisely through his militant Europeanism, his exaltation of the Western Middle Ages, and his admiration for Germany. All these ideological features contrast strongly with the ethnocentrism of his competitors.“ (p. 128)
Even more on the point is her acknowledgment of the influence of René Guénon and Julius Evola, and their minor intellectual allies and successors, on Dugin. She calls „Traditionalism“ the „foundation of Dugin’s thoughts“. While it can correctly be said, that the notion of a primordial Tradition as the common origin of all the religious-cultural traditions of Eurasia, can not be found in the writings of the „founding fathers“ of Eurasianism and was directly alien to some of their ideas – the rambling against the „Roman-Germanic civilization“ - , nevertheless Dugin could find only here the organic and integral solution to some of the most urgent problems of Russia’s Eurasian (com)position between Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and other more minor elements: the transcendent – esoteric - unity of the exoteric different heirs of one primordial Tradition. Which is why – in our not Laruelle’s view – and without considering possible personal idiosyncrasy and political opportunism, his brand of neo-Eurasianism must be considered superior to those of his „competitors“, take for example the ill-fated attempt of Panarin’s Islam/Orthodoxy „melting pot“. Dugin’s claim of post-Guénonism because of his attempt to „Russify“ Guénon and to criticize the lack of references to Orthodox Christianity (p. 123), should be seen rather as a complementary effort. Similar is his attempt to reconcile Evolian „paganism“ (p. 123), or rather Aryanism, with Russian Christianity, with its strong national element. And not only of theoretically value is the distinction between Traditional Islam – as represented in the Sufi traditions and in Shiite Iran – and the Western-allied Wahhabite branch. In this context Laruelle makes reference to the important symposium “Islamic Threat or Threat against Islam?” (p. 118) which intended to establish a Russian-Muslim strategic partnership.
A „discourse analysis“ of Aleksandr Dugin (Höllwerth)
Alexander Höllwerth’s doctor thesis in Salzburg (Austria) on the „sacred Eurasian empire of Alexander Dugin“ impresses by it sheer quantity of more than 700 pages. The reader expects to gain access to fundamental texts of Russian neo-Eurasianism, otherwise only available in Russian. This expectation is fulfilled only partially because the author does give way to much space to his own objections, considerations and assumptions. A part called „contextualisations“, which brings nothing new, but gives an oversight of the historical Eurasianist movement, follows the book’s methodological reflections (reaching from Foucault’s discourse notion to Buruma’s occidentalism model).
Höllwerth then summarizes the literature from Stephen Shenfield („Russian Fascism“) to Andreas Umland (who is the editor of this volume and wrote its preface) on the biography of Aleksandr Dugin. He gives his estimation of the relationship between the subject of the book and the current Russian regime. Höllwerth states that Dugin is one of the few prominent intellectuals in Russia whom it is allowed to criticize the Kremlin without being banned from public discourse into the small niches of opposition media (which are rather the domain of Dugin’s enemies, the Western orientated liberals). Dugin has written in 2005 that the “acting of Putin can be evaluated as an artificially masked continuation of the pro-American, liberal, pro-oligarch strategy of Yeltsin, as a camouflage of the decline of Russia and its geopolitical spheres of influence.” (Höllwerth, p. 182) But this harsh assessment was followed by a phase of “reconciliation”. One could consider this as an evaluation of differing politics by a principled intellectual, the changes being on the side of the Kremlin and not on the side of the commentator. Höllwerth tends to mystify this point of view, but with the help of Dugin himself or rather his edition of Jean Parvulesco’s book “Putin and the Eurasian Empire” which differentiates between “Putin-1”, the real Putin, and “Putin-2”, the metaphysical Putin, the “mysterious builder of the Great Eurasian Empire of the End” (p. 184), the agent or tool of the great Eurasian conspiracy, a vulgarized or at least popularized variation of the initiation as described by René Guénon, but assuming in the sketch of Parvulesco rather counter-initiative features.
But what is the real and not “metaphysical” influence of Aleksandr Dugin, according to Höllwerth? “The attempt to estimate the ‘real political influence’ of Dugin is confronted with the difficulty to separate the plane of staging from the plane of factuality. This difficulty, with which the external scholar is confronted, seems to be part of a conscious strategy: the meaning of Dugin’s staging does, metaphorically put, not be to let the viewer look behind the scenery of the staging, but to focus his attention on the staging itself. (…) ‘Behind the scenery’ activities in connection with the Dugin phenomenon (secret services, political string-pullers, etc.) can not be excluded, are even probable, but should not lead to ambitious speculations based on few evidences.” (p. 194 f.) By the way, a sensationalist piece of work, based on such “ambitious speculations based on few evidences” was published by the same publishing house, which did not dare to include it in their scientific series and did flank it with cautious remarks. (Vladimir Ivanov: Alexander Dugin und die rechtsextremen Netzwerke. Fakten und Hypothesen zu den internationalen Verflechtungen der russischen Neuen Rechten. Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag, 2007) And of course also with a preface by the inevitable Andreas Umland. A work to be put on the same shelve with Jean Parvulesco’s political fiction, but one has to admit that it has better entertainment value than Höllwerth’s rather sour work.
With page 197 starts the real discourse-theoretical body of the book, being also the real achievement of Höllwerth: „Dugin’s construction of world and reality“. Which is itself parted into three: Space, Order, Time, or also: Geopolitics, State, and History. But through these 500 pages goes one leitmotif: Höllwerth tries to reduce the complexity of Dugin’s system of synthesis and distinction to simple dualisms; we and the other, Eurasia (=Russia) against the West, Empire against democracy, etc., which are in return recognized as redundant repetitions of one and only mantra of power. After Dugin’s philosophy and policy has passed through Höllwerth’s mechanism of discourse analysis we arrive at exactly the same result, a more temporizing genius like Andreas Umland did achieve with one piece of paper and only two quotes of Dugin out of context: the exposure of a dangerous enemy of freedom and democracy. Vade retro, Dugin! But with Höllwerth’s help the Western reader can uplift himself by dining from a broad protruding self-affirmation of Western values with a more than saturating scientific apparatus.
The most compelling aspect of Höllwerth’s de- and reconstruction of Dugin’s discourse is its stringent structure. Also the obvious inclusion of the most important Western and Eastern authors must be noted. The confrontation with the matadors of Western liberalism (Jürgen Habermas, Sir Karl Popper, Bassam Tibi, Jean-François Lyotard) could be seen as helpful. But the extensive reproduced arguments of Dugin’s counter-parts are put on the same level of discourse with Dugin, even where Höllwerth notes the metaphysical character of Dugin’s traditionalists argument. The resulting impossibility of a dialogue between equals is construed by Höllwerth as a deficit of Dugin’s discourse.
Another example of Höllwerth’s inadequate approach: Höllwerth did indeed – and this is rather remark- and laudable - read the French metaphysician René Guénon. But only to point out the deviations of Dugin from the Guénon traditionalist “standard”, which is rather pointless, because Höllwerth himself has already classified Dugin correctly as Russian Evolianist (p. 355 ff.) and most of Höllwerth’s arguments seemingly advocating Guénon could also been directed against Julius Evola, and on this subject a large intra-traditionalist discussion could be cited. More than once Höllwerth argues that Dugin postulates a metaphysical dichotomy of East and West, while Guénon did stress the common original unity and only accepted a difference East-West since the decline of the West beginning with the modern era. But the West is the Occident, the sphere of sunset, by definition, and essential before the temporal decline began. So Dugin and Guénon are both correct, if they are read correctly!
Not unrelated is another important objection, which may indeed be problematic if true. This is the dependency of Dugin not only from Western authors in general, but also in his understanding of Eastern, meaning mainly Russian-Orthodox authors. Höllwerth tries to argue this in detail in some examples (for example: p. 664 ff.), this unfortunately cannot be assessed by me, due to my lack of knowledge of the Russian sources. But one thing is clear, this argument of Western influence can cut in two directions. Höllwerth points out that in one of Dugin’s best known texts “The metaphysics of national-bolshevism” Dugin does refer to Sir Karl Popper’s view of Platon, (p. 320 ff.) but everything the ideologue of the “open society” does characterize negatively is affirmed by Dugin, therefore he arrives at the holistic, total state of the philosophical rulers and the caste of watchers, this not through an adequate study of Platon, but as the reverse of an one-sided caricature made by Popper. If we see the Western history of philosophy not as a footnote to Platon, as was famously said, but as the decline from Platon to Popper, which really was the case, we can still see a partial truth in Höllwerth’s criticism of Western dependency by Dugin, but we have also to recast it into a much greater blame against the West, not to have remained true to its origin.
The adherence of Dugin to a kind – and which kind - of nationalism or a nation-transcending form of Eurasianism would be another question which would need a deeper consideration than Höllwerth provides. The question of nation can in the East not be separated from the confession. From the point of view of metaphysics and tradition (in the sense of René Guénon) most of the values attributed to the Russian nation should be rather connected with the Russian-Orthodox church. The formulation of the “angels of peoples” by the great Russian philosophers and theologians are thought from the premise of the identity nation=religion and correct for all authentic traditions but certainly not for nations in the modern Western sense, where Evola’s and Guénon’s critique of nationalism is totally applicable. Höllwerth’s attempt to find a contradiction between Dugin and the different strands of thought which convene in his own – traditionalist, conservative revolutionary, Orthodox and Russian – can therefore not be followed so easy.
Russia’s Eurasian mission, which lies in the simple fact to be Eurasia in the excellent sense (there is a incomplete Eurasia possible without China or India or Western Europe, but without Russia it makes to sense to speak from Eurasia), is not necessarily a chauvinism of thinking of itself as the hub of the world, but a fact of geopolitics, which can be confirmed by a look at the world map. If the space called Russia would be not be populated by Russians, there would be another people populating this space, and it would have to adopt to the stated property of large space, and would become exactly “Russian” in this way. Thus it becomes clear, why Höllwerth can quote Dugin’s definition of the being (Wesen) of the Russians as space (extension) (p. 401). All this is to keep in mind, when Höllwerth agitates himself on Dugin’s corresponding affirmation, that Russia is the whole (of Eurasia).
The difference between land (Eurasia) and sea (Anglo-America), coincident with rise and decline, Orient and Occident (in the afore mentioned sense of temporal difference by same origin in the metaphysical North, p. 212 ff.) would demand another thorough study. Höllwerth makes a lot out of the seemingly different use of the term “Nomos of the earth” (Nomos der Erde) by Carl Schmitt and Aleksandr Dugin. While Schmitt did mean the search for a new principle of international law for the whole globe, Dugin exclusively uses the phrase as synonym with “Nomos of the land” as contrasted with “Nomos of the sea” (p. 249). This dichotomy of laws according to the different Nomos is not the only problem of mediation, the intra-Eurasian and therefore more urgent is the juristic mediation of the different tradition, when according to Dugin the law is not universal but traditional (for each tradition) (p. 475 ff.). The “integral traditionalism” is exactly the only possible foundation to preserve the differences of the traditions while acknowledging their common and in this sense universal origin (the primordial Tradition). The “universalism” of traditionalism allows to stress the discerned internally and the common ground externally. Especially Hindu tradition and Islam have traditionally absolutely no problems in recognizing the other traditions as varieties of the one Tradition. (But Dugin may not evaluate these two as much as would be desirable, especially in their function of beginning and closing the cycle of mankind.) Finally it becomes absurd when Höllwerth in his “discourse analysis” regards the universalism of all traditions as structurally equivalent to the arrogant “universalism” of Western liberalism. On the one hand, favored by Dugin, the land-bound traditions take all part in the whole of Tradition (analogue to the classic model of idea by Platon), on the other hand, the Western universalism, championed by Höllwerth, is nothing more than a particular, very late development deviation from one specific tradition, the rejection of Western Christianity in its own boundary, and its violent expansion on the way of the world’s seas, postulating itself as the only valuable, and this exactly because it is anti-traditional (“enlightened”)!
Coping with Dugin’s philosophical and geopolitical notion of sacredness, Höllwerth seems to misled by a point of view, which he seems to have adopted from Mircea Eliade, a founder of the modern science of comparative religion (p. 209, p. 529 f.). A partial truth, the difference of profane and sacred, is been used as absolute segregation. There exist sacred places (and times), and on this the sacred geography (and sacred history) is founded, whose importance for Dugin’s geopolitics Höllwerth does carve out – much to his credit, as this level of argument is overlooked to often as pure rhetoric. But are there also in a strict sense profane things? “Come in, here do dwell Gods, too”, Heraclitus did say. Or, speaking with Guénon: there exists no profane thing, but only a profane point of view. Dugin seems to look at all questions also – certainly not only – in a metaphysical perspective, and in general he is able to explain why a certain political action is seen as necessary in this metaphysical perspective by him. This opens here the possibility of misuse through the sacralization of the profane, as on the other hand the profanization of the sacred in the West. The Western man is the one who takes the utilitarism as the measure for all things. The pure action – of which Julius Evola speaks - , which principle of not-clinging to the fruits of action has been affirmed by Dugin, the exact opposite of utilitarism, can only be seen as measure for the validity of Dugin’s decisions. To say, that he may not always be in the right in his metaphysical decisions is a different thing than saying he is guided by profane utility, as the sacred point of view does not make a saint. Höllwerth´s grasp of this problems is flawed because of his attempt to arrange the perceived oppositions into mirrored congruencies, instead of acknowledgment their structurally inequality, which would lead to the necessarily conclusion of the metaphysical superiority of the Eurasian tradition over its Western descent and rival.
Eurasianism and Islam (Laruelle, continuation)
In the last two chapters of her book Marlene Laruelle gives attention to the Muslim Eurasianists, first between the Muslim minorities of the Russian federation and then outside. This topic, though well-known by specialists, did not grasp the attention of a broader public as much as for example Dugin’s role in relation to the Kremlin. Therefore Laruelle’s retelling of the sometime short-lived organizational and personal development is very helpful, but can obviously not been retold in this review. In general there are two kinds of involvement of the Muslim minorities, one in specific Islamic Eurasianist parties, and the other the involvement of Islamic representatives in the general Eurasianist movement. There are two rival organizations representing the Muslim citizens of the Russian Federation, who were headed by two personal rivals, Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, who died shortly ago, and Mufti Ravil Gainutdin. The first was a member of Dugin’s party, close to the Kremlin, and a friend of the Russian patriarch Alexis II (p. 156), who coincidentally also died shortly ago. Gainutdin on the other hand keeps more distant to the Orthodox Church and the Kremlin (p. 158), and supports one of the more important Eurasianists rival of Aleksandr Dugin, Abdul-Vakhed V. Niizaov and his Eurasianist Party of Russia. (p. 161) The author summarizes the differences of the Muftis, which also reflect the differences of Dugin and Niizaov: “Tadzhuddin and Gainutdin embody two poles of traditional Russian Eurasianism: on the one hand, Russian nationalism and Orthodox messianism; and on the other hand, a more secular patriotism, which combines great-power ambitions with an acknowledgment of Russia’s multiethnic and multireligious character. Thus Eurasianism has become one of the crystallization points between the various Islamic representative bodies (…)” (p. 161 f.) Alongside these two mainstream bodies of Islam in Russia, there exist many smaller groups. One deserves special mention, the Islamic Commitee of Russia, lead by a former ally of Aleksandr Dugin, who broke with him on several issues, Geidar Dzhemal. The philosopher Dzhemal is an Azeri Shiite (Shiism being the dominant branch of Islam in Azerbaijan), with a close relation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, what separates Dzhemal from the other mentioned Muslim representatives. Strangely this fact is not mentioned by Laruelle. What she stresses, is the importance Dzhemal gives to Islam for securing Russia’s future: “Dzhemal […] states: ‘Russia’s only chance to avoid geopolitical disappearance is to become a Islamic state.’ Thus the movement remained on the borderline of Eurasianism, because it talked of conversion rather than cultural symbiosis ” (p. 147) Dugin’s apparently strong opposition to any conversions on the other hand is self-contradictory given his heavy reliance of his “Traditionalist” foundation on the teaching of René Guénon, also known as Sheikh Abd al-Wâhid Yahya. But it cannot neglected that the Orthodox-Islamic tension in the Eurasianist movement is as much ethnic as religious. The Turkic people can claim to represent “Eurasia” even more than Russians do. “In this view, the Russian people are European and party alien to Eurasia, as opposed to the Turkic people, who are considered to better illustrate the great meeting between Europe and Asia. Russia is no longer understood as a great power but as the most backward part of Europe, by contrast with the dynamism of the Far East and China.” (p. 169) A certain ambiguity in this question goes back to the classic Eurasianist movement of the Twenties of the last century, as Laruelle earlier in a different context has already stated: “Eurasianism’s place within the Russian nationalist spectrum has remained paradoxical due to the fact that it can be interpreted in either a ‘Russocentric’ or a ‘Turkocentric’ way. However, the paradox is not simply in the eye of the outside beholder; it has also divided the Neo-Eurasianists, who have accused each other of advocating the supremacy of one people over another.” (p. 5)
Naturally there is no question on which side the Eurasianist interpretation leans in the cases of Turkish Eurasianism outside of Russia, which is the final topic of this manifold book. In Kazakhstan one can state a “Eurasianism in Power” (p. 171), but a pragmatic Eurasianism this is, without any of the eschatological or traditionalist features of Dugin’s world-view. But Kazhakh Eurasianism as a whole is a multifaceted movement: “’Eurasianist’ Kazakh nationalism has several embodiments: a literary tradition introduced by Olzhas Suleimenov; a highly pragmatic variety used by the presidential administration; and a type of Eurasianist rhetoric that merely masks a much more traditional view of the nation and its right to exist, and mentions Russia only in the negative.” (p. 172) Suleimenov being a friend and ally of Lev Gumilëv (p. 175) and an apologist of “multiethnicity, tolerance, and diversity”, as characteristics of Eurasia. (p. 175) Also present in this intellectual Eurasianism seems to be a religious syncretism, “embracing all the religions that have ever (co)existed in the steppe. For example, the Kazakh Eurasianists make a great deal of archaeological traces of Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Shamanism, trying to go beyond the classic Orthodox-Islamic dualism.” (p. 176) President Nazarbaev proposed a “Union of Eurasian States” already in 1994 (p. 177) and embodies a mainly “economically based Eurasianism, whose integrationists ideas are popular among those who have suffered from the breakdown of links between the former Soviet republics.” (p. 177) But Nazarbaev is nothing less than an ideology-free technocrat, he has written even a book “In the stream of history”, in which he claims the Aryan and sedentary origin of Kazakhstan, predating the Mongol nomadic arrival. (p. 186) Additionally, the country’s Muslim character of the country is stressed, and Nazarbaev is proud of the global Islamic relevance Muslim scholars of Kazhakh origin like Al-Farabi and Al-Buruni.
Finally the only example of Eurasianism beyond the border of the former Soviet Union, studied by Laruelle, is the case of Turkey. Here the Eurasianist claim of the Turkish people goes along with the implication, “that Russia and Turkey are no longer competing for the mythical territory of Inner Asia – which both Eurasianists and pan-Turkists claim as their people’s ancestral homeland – but are Eurasian allies.” (p. 171) Laruelle starts by postulating common ideological roots of Eurasianism and Turkism, the “official Turkish state discourse on the nation’s identity” (p. 193), in romanticism and “Pan-“Ideologies (p. 188), but this seems to be rather a feature of Pan-Slavism than of Eurasianism with its re-evaluation of the non-Russian strands of the Empire. A similar development in the development from Turkism to Avrasyanism seems to be lacking. Rather it can be seen as a turning the back to the West, to which Mustafa Kemal, the so-called Atatürk (Father of the Turks), wanted to direct the aspirations of the Turks. The author states the original competition between the Turkish Avrasyian tendency and the Russian Eurasianist movements, similar to the natural antagonistic relation of nationalisms. But the interesting developments are the recently “attempts (…) to turn the two ‘Eurasias’ into allies rather than competitors” and parallel “a Dugin-style ideologization of the term in response to American adcendancy.” (p. 198) The few pages Laruelle dedicates to these developments are rather brief, and she has in the mean time published a more extensive study (Russo-Turkish Rapprochement through the Idea of Eurasia: Alexander Dugin’s Networks in Turkey, Jamestown Foundation, Occasional Paper, 2008), which itself has been overtaken by the dismantling of large parts of these „networks“ through the Ergenekon affair, but which is definitively outside the scope of this review.
The different manifestations of Eurasianism in this book leave the author and the reader with the question of the unity of Eurasianists idea. Laruelle states that Eurasianism is “a classic example of a flexible ideology. This explains its success, its diversity, and its breadth of coverage.” (p. 221) Without arguing about sheer words the author cannot be followed in her strict subsumption of Eurasianism under the term nationalism. At least a more nuanced view of nation in a more traditional sense, common to both Orthodox and Islamic thinking, in difference to the Western concept of nation-state (as I discussed in the part on Höllwerth) would have to be considerated instead of stating that the Eurasianists “concept of ‘civilization’ is only a euphemism for ‘nation’ and ‘empire.’” (p. 221).
Article printed from eurasia-rivista.org: http://www.eurasia-rivista.org
URL to article: http://www.eurasia-rivista.org/two-studies-on-neo-eurasianism/19891/
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El 16 de octubre de 2013 se publicaba esta entrevista en el prestigioso medio italiano BARBADILLO, laboratorio di idee nel mare del web. Alfonso Piscitelli entrevistaba a Adolfo Morganti, presidente de la asociación italiana IDENTITÀ EUROPEA, que estudia y promueve la construcción de una Europa fiel a sus raíces clásicas y cristianas. El tema central que aborda la entrevista es Rusia, pero la cultura del entrevistador y del entrevistado logran que sea todo un diálogo ameno y provechoso. Hemos creído oportuno traducirla y publicarla en RAIGAMBRE para el público hispanohablante.
La asociación Identità Europea tiene en los históricos Franco Cardini y Adolfo Morganti, editor del “Il Cerchio”, a sus exponentes más importantes. Hace años que promueve iniciativas que reclaman una reflexión sobre las raíces del continente europeo (raíces clásicas y cristianas) y sobre su destino. Recientemente “Identità Europa” ha organizado en San Marino un Congreso sobre “Europa en la época de las grandes potencias, desde 1861 a 1914”, en el ámbito de ese discurso se ha abordado también la naturaleza compleja de las relaciones entre Italia y Rusia. Replanteamos el argumento a menudo descuidado por los historiadores contemporáneos, con el presidente de Identità Europea, Morganti.
Alfonso Piscitelli.: En la segunda mitad del XIX se articulaba una red compleja de alianzas entre naciones europeas continentales: la Triple Alianza (Alemania, Austria, Italia) y por un cierto tiempo el Pacto de los Tres Emperadores (Alemania, Austria, Rusia). ¿Fue el intento de superar los nacionalismos en orden a una cooperación continental?
Adolfo Morganti: Era la tentativa de superar los límites y los conflictos cebados por el nacionalismo jacobino, pero al mismo tiempo eran fuertes las tensiones estratégicas que se localizaban en el área balcánica con Rusia, que patrocinaba los movimientos nacionalistas del pueblo eslavo y Austria que contenía estas pulsiones subrayando el aspecto supranacional del Imperio de los Habsburgo. Sarajevo no fue una sorpresa, como localización del foco de la primera guerra mundial.
A. P.: E Italia, ¿cómo se movía sobre el plano internacional?
A. M.: Todos conocemos el impulso profundo que el arte italiano dio a Rusia: un impulso evidente en San Petersburgo. Menor fue la intensidad de las relaciones marítimas entre Italia y el Mar Negro, que han plasmado la estructura económica misma de aquellas regiones. Sobre el plano diplomático, después de la intervención piamontesa en la Guerra de Crimea, las relaciones con Rusia indudablemente tenían que recuperarse: en efecto, por largo tiempo, Rusia representó algo extraño y distante, en los mismos años en los que Italia establecía una alianza con Austria y Hungría.
A. P.: Con el enemigo por excelencia de la época del Risorgimento [Austria].
A. M.: Más tarde, con el viraje que supuso 1914, obviamente la situación cambió las tornas: los rusos vinieron a ser aliados en el curso de la Primera Guerra Mundial, pero las relaciones gubernamentales y diplomáticas no fueron tan frecuentes y orgánicas como lo fueron, en cambio, las relaciones económicas.
A. P.:: ¿Crees que hoy Rusia deba ser incluida en la identidad europea, a la que alude el nombre de tu asociación?
A. M.: Con seguridad, la parte europea de Rusia debe ser considerada un elemento importante en el discurso sobre la Europa contemporánea. A partir de su conquista de Siberia, relativamente reciente, Rusia ha adquirido una vocación más amplia: la de Eurasia; pero Europa es impensable sin su área oriental, así como la identidad cristiana del continente es impensable sin contemplar el papel de la ortodoxia. Rusia, por una parte es Europa y reconocida como tal (y desde un punto de vista existencial hoy defiende los valores europeos incluso más que muchos estados de la Comunidad Europea), por otra parte, se atribuye una misión y una identidad que rebasa los confines de la misma Europa.
A. P.: El diálogo ortodoxo se ha reanudado a lo grande en los años sesenta con Pablo VI, con la recíproca retirada de excomuniones y el abrazo con el patriarca Atenagoras.
A. M.: Generando entusiasmos y resistencias a las dos bandas: resistencias que en el ámbito ortodoxo amenazaron con producir un cisma, que más tarde se hizo realidad.
A. P.: Y el hecho de que Juan Pablo II fuese un eslavo, un polaco (no extraño al “humus cultural” del nacionalismo polaco), ¿ha facilitado o ha creado alguna fricción y malentendidos entre las dos partes?
A. M.: Ciertamente, cuando la primera jerarquía católica de la Rusia post-soviética fue elegida por Juan Pablo II, la presencia de prelados polacos fue relevante y esto creó notables problemas de coexistencia con los ortodoxos. La misma acción de los franciscanos en Rusia era vista como una fuerza de penetración católica en el área del cristianismo ortodoxo. Ahora, con el cambio de jerarquía, en que la presencia de Italia está representada autorizadamente por el actual Obispo de Moscú, estos problemas casi se han disuelto.
A. P.: Si recuerdo bien, fue Ratzinger quien determinó una nueva relación, promoviendo el cambio de jerarcas.
A. M.:: Exactamente.
A. P.: Un recordatorio siempre es útil… ¿por qué se originó y por qué persiste la división entre cristianos católicos y cristianos ortodoxos?
A. M.: Hay toda una serie de diferencias dogmáticas que dividen a católicos y ortodoxos: la cuestión del “filioque” (de la procesión del Espíritu Santo), la diversas valoraciones de ultratumba (los ortodoxos no conciben el purgatorio), el diverso modo de entender la confesión. Son diferencias importantes, pero en la historia del cristianismo tales divergencias no han impedido necesariamente la unidad de las iglesias: por caso, pensemos que, durante una época en la historia, el cristianismo irlandés calculaba la Pascua de manera diferente al cristianismo continental. Ya hemos tenido otras situaciones de diversidad, que no afectan a la unidad subyacente. En el caso ortodoxo vino, en cambio, una separación profunda, pero no ocultemos que el cisma maduró sobre la cuestión del primado del Obispo de Roma, primado de honor, según los ortodoxos; primado jerárquico, según los católicos.
A. P.: También hay temas fuertes que unen a los dos mundos espirituales, pensemos en la gran devoción a la Madre de Dios; y en lo que atañe al tema mariano no podemos olvidar que al inicio del siglo XX, la profecía de Fátima está estrechamente ligada al tema de Rusia. ¿Qué ideas te has hecho a propósito de esto?
A. M.: La profecía de Fátima veía en Rusia el centro de una gran apostasía, que luego se verificó con el comunismo; pero las profecías son un terreno resbaladizo. Sin lugar a dudas, el gran gigante ruso constituye un escenario fundamental para la articulación de las fuerzas en la confrontación entre tradición y modernidad, entre el cristianismo y la tentativa ilustrada de disolverlo o reducirlo a la esfera privada, está a los ojos de todos.
A. P.: ¿Es verdad o solo es una simplificación decir que el espíritu cristiano de Rusia está atraído particularmente por el Evangelio de San Juan y por el Apocalipsis?
A. M.: Es un enfoque para la escatología en general. Pero este enfoque es compartido con la milenaria tradición católica: en el ámbito católico hasta lo que no ha mucho se hacía en las llamadas meditaciones sobre los “Novísimos” (muerte, juicio universal, infierno y paraíso) era intensa; después (por usar un eufemismo) no ha sido valorada al máximo…
A. P.: Y el tema típicamente ruso de la Tercera Roma, ¿puede todavía jugar el papel de idea movilizadora en el ánimo de Rusia y en el ánimo de los europeos que miran con atención a Rusia?
A. M.:: Rotundamente: sí. Rusia es la Tercera Roma, tanto para los rusos creyentes como para los laicos. Los laicos ven en el poder de Moscú la continuación efectiva de una autoridad imperial a través de todas las modificaciones históricas posibles. Para el creyente, el concepto de Tercera Roma tiene una resonancia ulterior, pero todos los sujetos político-culturales rusos comparten el sentido de esta misión histórica, sean comunistas o nacionalistas, religiosos o laicos.
A. P.: Sin embargo, en el inmenso territorio ruso existen también otras tradiciones religiosas: el ministro de defensa Shoigú es un budista de la zona siberiana.
A. M.: También hay regiones de la Federación Rusa de mayoría hebrea y zonas en las que se arraigó el islam chiíta (principalmente en la parte ocupada por población turcófona) o sunnita. Desde los tiempos del imperio zarista, la multiplicidad de tradiciones religiosas no ha creado problemas de convivencia.
A. P.: ¿Podría decirnos su valoración personal de la figura de Vladimir Putin?
A. M.: ¡Putin es un ruso! En cuanto tal, él continúa encarnando esta misión de Rusia, cristiana e imperial. El hecho de que Putin sea más creyente o menos es indiferente. Su misión personal es la de proteger a Rusia y Rusia tiene esta identidad (imperial y cristiana) y no otra alguna…
(Traducción al español por Manuel Fernández Espinosa)
Fuente original en italiano: L’intervista. L’editore Adolfo Morganti: “Mosca è ancora la Terza Roma”
Fuente: Raigambre
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The Eurasian Union has come to the present stage in its evolution within a remarkably compressed time-frame. Although the idea was first mooted by the Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbaev in 1994, it hibernated for long years.[1] It was only in late 2011 that Vladimir Putin revived the idea; visualised it as one of the major centres of economic power alongside the EU, the US, China and APEC; and initiated the process of its implementation. In November 2011, the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed an agreement to establish the Eurasian Economic Space (EES) that would graduate towards the Eurasian Union. The EES came into existence on 1 January 2012. The paper proposes to examine the origin of the idea and assess its implementation todate with an analysis of the substance and subtext of the organization.
Eurasian Union: The Origins
On 3 October 2011, Vladimir Putin published a signed article in the daily newspaper Izvestia titled “New Integration Project in Eurasia: Making the Future Today.” Putin was the Russian Prime Minister at that time and set to take over the Russian Presidency. The article can thus be interpreted as the assignment he set for himself in his second tenure. On the ground, the “Treaty on the Creation of a Union State of Russia and Belarus” already existed. The Treaty envisaged a federation between the two countries with a common constitution, flag, national anthem, citizenship, currency, president, parliament and army. On 26 January 2000, the Treaty came into effect after the due ratifications by the Russian Duma and the Belarus Assembly. It provided for political union of the two, creating a single political entity. Whether the Treaty laid down a proto Eurasian Union remains to be seen.
The European Union (EU) announcement in 2008 of its Eastern Partnership Programme (EPP) may also have inspired the Russian drive towards reintegration of the Eurasian space. The EPP was initiated to improve political and economic relations between the EU and six "strategic" post-Soviet states -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine -- in the core areas of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, the promotion of a market economy, and sustainable development.[2] There was much debate over whether to include Belarus, whose authoritarian dictatorship disqualified it. The eventual invitation to Belarus was the concern over an excessive Russian influence in that country.
The US plan to deploy the NATO missile defence system in Poland and Czech Republic was already a source of concern for the Russians. China was emerging as a serious player in the region through its heavy investments in energy and infrastructure. The Russian determination to keep the post-Soviet states away from the US, the EU and China made the Eurasian project a priority in its foreign policy. The Treaty between Russia and Belarus intended to keep the latter into the Russian fold.[3]
Eurasianism: The Idea
Eurasianism as an idea predates the Soviet Union. The Russian identity has been contested by the Occidentalists, the Slavophils and the Eurasianists. The latter claim Russia as the core of the Eurasian civilization. Today, the former Soviet states accept the Russian centrality but not the core-periphery division bet Russia and the rest.
Within Russia itself, the Eurasianists always considered the Soviet Union to be a Greater Russia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eurasian political project is to reunite the Russians from the former Soviet territories and ultimately to establish a Russian state for all the Russians. Aleksander Dugin is an ideologue and activist for neo-Eurasianism in Russia. His political activities are directed at restoring the Soviet space and unification of the Russian-speaking people. The South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity is a sworn Eurasianist himself and eager to make his country a part of Russia.
Organization and Accomplishments
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the governing body of the EES is set up in Moscow for the time being. Kazakhstan has already staked its claim to host its permanent headquarters. The formula under which the 350-member body would be filled allots Russians 84 percent of staff, the Kazakhs 10 percent and the Belarusians a mere 6 percent. The formula has been worked out on the basis of the population in the three countries. The expenses towards accommodation and infrastructure would be borne by Russia.
The EEC will be eligible to make decisions with regard to customs policies, as also the issues relating to macroeconomics, regulation of economic competition, energy policy, and financial policy. The Commission will also be involved in government procurement and labour migration control.[4] The right of the EEC to sign contracts on behalf of all of them is contested.
The Supreme Eurasian Union Council will be the apex body of the group. The vice- premiers of the three countries would be leading their countries’ delegations in this body. There are differing opinions on the powers of its apex body.
Eurasian Union is an economic grouping. Its objective is to expand markets and rebuild some of the manufacturing chains destroyed by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus had set the process toward this goal and the Eurasian Union is a continuation of the same process.[5]
The EEC has made some progress, in the meantime. It has simplified the trade rules, eliminated border customs and facilitated free movement of goods, services and capital. It has also encouraged migration of labour among its signatories. The trade among the three is estimated to have gone up by forty percent last year alone. Russia has benefitted from cheaper products and labour force from the rest of the two and several hundred Russian enterprises have re-registered in Kazakhstan to avail cheaper tax rates. Kazakhs and Belarusians have found a large market for their products in Russia.
Major hurdles still remain. A common currency has not been agreed to. The pace of economic integration is yet another point of debate among the three. Belarus would not be comfortable with market integration, which would require economic reforms. Eventually, the economic reforms could lead to political reforms and even changes in political system. Belarus is least prepared for such an eventuality.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan
Within Russia, the Eurasianism still holds an appeal; and not just among the marginal groups. The Eurasian Union is perceived as an expression of Eurasianism that would lead to the state of Russia for all Russians. There are calls to invite countries like Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland and even China and Mongolia to join the Eurasian Union. At the leadership level, Putin may also prefer ruling over an expanded space encompassing the entire or most of the former Soviet territory.
The Russian raison d’état for the Eurasian Union cannot be traced to such feelings alone. The missionary zeal to reach out to the neighbours involves subsidizing them. As a general rule, economic integration must necessarily involve mutual benefits for all the parties - even when the benefits are not in equal measure. An economic arrangement does not only eliminate tariffs and other restrictive trade barriers among the signatories, it also formulates and implements tariffs and trade barriers against the non-signatories. Facilitating trade among themselves and restricting trade with the outsiders is the dual track of any economic group.
As regional integration proceeds in much of the world (not just through the EU but also via NAFTA, ASEAN and Washington’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, among others), the post-Soviet space remains largely on the sidelines. A lack of horizontal trading links and isolation from global markets contribute to the region’s persistent underdevelopment. By reorienting members’ economies to focus on the post-Soviet space, a Eurasian Union would create new barriers between member states and the outside world.[6] Russia is particularly worried about the Chinese forays into its neighbourhood. And the EU Eastern Partnership Programme threatens to encroach into the space that Moscow considers its own sphere of influence.
A second powerful reason for Russia to reach out to its neighbours is that the neighbours are steadily making Russia their home. The influx of migrants from the former Soviet territories has generated a lot of resentment and will soon become a serious political issue. In the circumstances, helping to improve the economic situation beyond the Russian borders and assimilate the new arrivals in a common citizenship is being considered. The then president Dmitry Medvedev explicitly linked the issue of immigrants to the expansion of the state borders. He spoke of the time when the giant state had to comprise different nationalities that created “Soviet People”. "We should not be shy when bringing back the ideas of ethnic unity. Yes, we are all different but we have common values and a desire to live in a single big state," he said.[7]
Russia is not single-mindedly committed to the Eurasian Union. It has initiated and nurtured several other multi-lateral organizations and become a member of scores of others initiated by others. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) consisting of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan[8] is one such. So is the Commonwealth of Independent States comprising most of the post-Soviet countries. It is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that is clearly a China-led group. The Quadrilateral Forum comprising Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan is a Russian project.
It has not shied away from making deals with the EU, either. In 2003, it entered into an agreement with the EU to create four common spaces: 1. of freedom, security and justice; 2. cooperation in the field of external security; 3. economy; and 4. research, education and cultural exchange. Since the formalisation of the Customs Union, Putin has insisted that the EU formalise its relations with the Customs Union before a new basic treaty between the EU and Russia could be formalised. At the EU-Russia Summit in June 2012, he also sought the EU support for the Kazakh and Belarusian bids to join the WTO.[9]
Kazakhstan has formulated and pursued a “multivector” foreign policy since independence. It seeks good relations with its two large neighbours as also with the West. Its operational idiom, therefore, is “diversify, diversify and diversify”.
Its relations with the US are centred on counter-terrorism. In Central Asia, it is now the most favoured US partner in the war on terror. It has welcomed the US-sponsored New Silk Road. The Aktau Sea port is expected to emerge as the capital city on this cross-Caspian Road as the central point for transportation, regional educational cooperation and tourism. The Transportation and Logistics Centre is being developed in the city. Aktau hopes to play a role within the New Silk Road that Samarkand played in the Old Silk Road.[10]
Its relations with Europe are as good. Its bilateral cooperation with the EU dates back to 1999, when it entered into the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with it. The European Commission has agreed to support its application for membership of the WTO. On 1 January 2010, Kazakhstan became the first post-Soviet state to assume the chairmanship of the 56-member Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Its trade with the EU accounts for as much as the trade of all the Central Asian countries put together. France has a trade agreement with it that is worth $2 billion under which France would help build a space station and cooperate on nuclear development.
It is its close ties – in fact, too close ties – with China that explains its active membership of the Eurasian Union. China’s presence in the country is pervasive. In 2005, the Asatu-Alashanku oil pipeline between the two countries went into use. The second stage of the same from Kenkyiak to Kumkol is already in works. A gas pipeline is being discussed. In the same year, China bought Petrokazakhstan that was the former Soviet Union’s largest independent oil company. At $4.18 billion, it was the largest foreign purchase ever by a Chinese company. In 2009, it gained a stake in the MangistauMunaiGas, a subsidiary of the KazMunaiGas, which is the Kazakh national upstream and downstream operator representing the interests of the state in the petroleum sector. Even as economic ties get stronger, there could be a point of friction between the two regarding the Uighur-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the Xinjiang province of China. There are 180,000 Kazakhs of Uighur descent, which is a source of discomfort to China.
Belarus is a landlocked country and dependent on Russia for import of raw materials and export to the foreign markets. Its dependence on Russia is aggravated by the fact that the US has passed the “Belarus Democracy Act”, which authorizes funding for pro-democracy Belarusian NGOs and prevents loans to the government. The EU has imposed a visa ban on its president Alexander Lukashenko. Even as the Belarus’s dependence on Russia is overwhelming, their bilateral relations have gone through severe frictions. In 2004, there was a gas dispute as Russia stopped the gas supply for six months before a compromise on the price was worked out.
In 2009, the two fought what has come to be called “milk wars”. Moscow banned import of Belarusian dairy products, claiming that they did not meet Russian packaging standards, a non-tariff measure allowed under the common customs code. The disagreement cost Belarus approximately $1 billion. The real problem was that Belarusian farmers were heavily subsidized, meaning that the cost of milk production in Belarus was substantially lower than that in Russia. As a result, Russian dairy producers were on the verge of bankruptcy and looked to their government for support. In response to Russian action, Belarus introduced a ban on the purchase of Russian agricultural machinery, accusing Russia of not providing leasing for Belarusian tractors (a major source of income for Belarus).[11]
Destination Ukraine?
Ukraine is the raison d’être for the entire Eurasian project, according to many. “Once past the verbal hype, it becomes clear that in fact it [Eurasian Union] has nothing to do with Eurasia and has everything to do with a single country, which, incidentally, is situated in Europe of all places: Ukraine,” according to an analyst.[12] Its key task is to draw Kiev into the integration project.
The primary reason for Russian stake in Ukraine is the Ukraine-Russia-Turkmen gas pipeline. Till the break-up of the Soviet Union, it was a domestic grid. Today, the gas trade between Turkmenistan, Russia and Ukraine is not just a commercial proposition, but an illustration of triangular dependencies of the three countries. The key issues in terms of transit are that all Turkmenistan’s gas exports outside Central Asia pass through Russia, which puts the latter in complete control of around three-quarters of Turkmenistan’s exports. Russia’s position vis-à-vis Ukraine is extremely vulnerable in that more than ninety percent of its gas exports to Europe pass through that country.
Thus, Ukraine is the transit point as well as the choke point of the Turkmen and Russian exports. It has also been a leaking point of the deliveries. In early 1990s, there were serious disruptions as Ukraine pilfered the gas for its own domestic use. Since then the gas deliveries have become an important issue in the political and security relationship between Russia and Ukraine, having featured in the package of agreements which have included issues such as the future of the Black Sea Fleet and Ukrainian nuclear weapons. There was a serious stand-off between the two in 2009, when the Russians cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine over price dispute. A compromise was reached only after Ukraine agreed to pay more for the gas that was, till then, subsidised.[13]
The second most important Russian stake in Ukraine is that Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula hosts a Russian navy base whose lease term was extended for twenty-five years in 2010 by a special agreement between Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Viktor Yanukovych, despite an unresolved gas dispute. This facility provides Moscow with strategic military capabilities in an area that Russia once considered crucial for the security of its southwestern borders and its geopolitical influence near the “warm seas.”[14] In return for the extension of the lease, Russia agreed to a thirty percent drop in the price of natural gas it sold to Ukraine.
A third reason for Russian interest in Ukraine could be that the latter represents a promising market of 45 million potential consumers, in the context where Russia seeks to diversify its own economy and export destinations.
Russian diplomacy to retain control over Ukraine and the US diplomacy to extend its control over the same have repeatedly to come to a clash. Till recently, Ukraine was pointedly excluded from both the EU and the NATO expansions[15]; as also from the list of possible invitees. Since the “Orange Revolution”, the situation has radically changed. How the energy pipeline politics plays out in the changed circumstances remains to be seen.
For its part, Ukraine has not closed its options between the EU and the Eurasian Union. Its prime minister Mykola Azarov, speaking at a meeting to discuss “Ukraine at the Crossroads: The EU and/or the Eurasian Union: Benefits and Challenges” said, “Ukraine has never contrasted one economic organization with the other and we cannot do that from many points of view. We are in ‘between’ and we must have friends both here and there.”[16]
Conclusions
There is no Eurasian Union todate. And yet, it has been the subject of intense scholarly scrutiny as also of prescriptive analysis. Its future membership, the direction of its evolution and the gamut of its activities must remain speculative in the meanwhile.
In lieu of the final conclusions, some tentative recapitulation of the above is in order. The Russians aim to retain the former Soviet space within their own sphere of influence, seeking to diminish the US, Chinese and the EU presence out of it to the extent possible. The Kazakhs are keeping all their options open: seeking a central role in the US-sponsored war on terror and the New Silk Road, permitting pervasive Chinese presence in their economy, promoting bilateral and institutional ties with the EU, and becoming a member of the Eurasian Union. “Diversify” is the name of the Kazakh game. Belarus is landlocked and dependent on Russia for its trade exports and imports, and the Belarus president is persona non grata in much of the West. Under the circumstances, the Eurasian Union is a solution to much of its problems.
Ukraine has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on trade cooperation with Eurasian Economic Commission. Much will depend on whether and when Ukraine decides to join the Eurasian Union.
[1] The Kazakh people like to point out that Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazabaev was the first leader to propose the Eurasian Union in 1994. Chinara Esengul, “Regional Cooperation”, March 27, 2012. http://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2012/03/does-the-eurasian-union-have-a-future/
[2] Kambiz Behi and Daniel Wagner, “Russia’s Growing Economic Influence in Europe and beyond”, 23 July 2012.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kambiz-behi/russias-growing-economic-influence_b_1696304.html
[3] On 30 September 2011, Belarus withdrew from the EU initiative citing discrimination and substitution of the founding principles. Three days thereafter, it refuted its decision to withdraw. The EU-Russia competition was obviously at work in quick turnarounds in Belarusian position.
[5] The Customs Union came into existence on 1 January 2010. Removing the customs barriers among them, the countries took the first step towards economic integration.
[6]Jeffrey Mankoff, “What a Eurasian Union Means for Washington”, National Interest http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/what-eurasian-union-means-washington-6821
[7] Gleb Bryanski, “Putin, Medvedev Praise Values of the Soviet Union”, Reuters, 17 November 2011, http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/17/idINIndia-60590820111117
[9] http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/putin-promotes-eurasian-union-eu-news-513123 “Putin Promotes Eurasian Union at the EU Summit”, 5 June 2012
[10] “Kazakhstan: U S Interest in Global Hub on the Caspian”, http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/kazakhstan-aktau-united-states-caspian-sea-caucasus-trade-afghanistan-silk-road-strategy
[12] Fyodor Lukyanov, gazeta.ru. 17 September 2012. Quoted in http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/opinion/9548428/eurasian-union-explanation.html
[13] The Ukrainian prime minister at that time, Yulia Tomashenko, has since been sentenced to seven years in prison for abusing the authority and signing the deal.
[14] Georgiy Voloshin, “Russia’s Eurasian Union: A Bid for Hegemony?”, http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/russias-eurasian-union-a-bid-for-hegemony-4730
[15] Putin was reported to have declared at the NATO-Russian Summit in 2008 that if Ukraine were to join the NATO, he would consider annexing the Eastern Ukraine and Crimea in retaliation.
[16] http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/azarov-ukraine-never-contrasted-eu-with-eurasian-u-1-127756.html Kyivpost, 17 May 2012.
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