Ukraine is fighting for our free future and security too

Question: In your last post, which aroused great interest on the social network, you write that Russia may find itself in a very difficult situation in the near future. You even called it the collapse of the last empire. Why did you come to this conclusion?

Answer: Because when Russia attacked Ukraine, it, perhaps without realizing it, put itself to the test in the first place. This test largely revealed the level of military training, the socio-political situation and economic potential in the country, and it turned out that Russia is in a deplorable state in all three of these components. Despite the fact that the 4th week of the war has not yet ended, the Russian army, having suffered heavy losses and failed to achieve serious successes, showed only extreme cruelty towards the civilian population. The war is not over yet, but most likely, the Russian army will not achieve decisive success.

At the same time, this war will also plunge the country into a severe socio-political and economic crisis. The fact that Russia, openly violating all international legal norms, unleashed an aggressive and disgusting war against an independent country, led to the fact that fair criticism and protests began to be heard in the country. This opened the way for the country to become an increasingly brutal military-police and political dictatorship to suppress them. And outside the country, Russia, having earned the hatred of the world community, was subjected to unprecedented economic and political sanctions from the countries of the world.

Thus, Russia found itself isolated from the world, severed ties with the progressive world in almost all areas and, thus, found itself in an extremely difficult political and economic situation. As a result of these total sanctions, or rather as a result of 1-2 weeks of sanctions, a number of Russian cities are already experiencing food shortages, high inflation in the country, and mass layoffs. The crisis is already being felt in many important areas, including transport, trade, high technology, medicine, tourism, industry, and so on. And although the government and the media, which are under its total control, hide this, it is obvious that the country will not withstand such a situation for a long time, it will gradually enter into a recession, and after a while it will completely collapse.

If before this disgusting war, some considered Russia (and how it presented itself) as a superpower with all the attributes inherent in a superpower, that is, a strong, developed economy, a strong, modern, high-tech army, high authority in the world, a progressive and wealthy state, then during this war and they saw that it was not so. The presence of nuclear weapons, of course, does not yet make the country a superpower, but only a "deterrent", "frightening" force. And these are different things.

With this war, Russia tested itself in front of the whole world and, as expected, failed the exam.

As for what I call Russia "the last empire" and why the model of "neo-empire" chosen by Russia cannot be successful in the modern world, I will make it clear.

Question: Why do you compare Russia with an empire? Where and how did Russia's imperial policy manifest itself?

Answer: After the First World War, Russia, unlike all other classical empires, extended its life by “modernizing” the tempting social democratic ideas that were widely spread in the world at that time and, having transformed into the Soviet Union, was able to survive as an empire. Although Soviet Russia proclaimed a new concept and socio-economic relations (Bolshevism), the classical empire retained its essence - the same aggressive historical origin (forcible unification of the union republics into councils, for example, April 28, 1920 in Azerbaijan, etc.), total political and economic hegemony over the peoples united by it.

Thus, despite the fact that some still do not realize it, the Soviet Union was the last empire of the 20th century. His theory, invented in the last century, scientifically erroneous, was a historical anachronism that arose as a result of an unprecedented, insane socio-political experiment on known peoples. The Soviet Union, which was a continuation of the Russian empire, which deserved the name of the "gendarme of Europe", and this time awarded the name of the "evil empire", for some time gained strength and was inspired by the collapse of another ugly and monstrous ideology - Nazism and fascism, cherished the dream of becoming a center of world power . However, Russia could offer nothing progressive to the neighboring peoples it had captured, except for violence and ugly and backward relations between the mother country and the colonies. As well as the mother country, the colonies began to decline more and more, lagging far behind the free and democratic countries.

Two issues should be singled out here: 1. The ideology of Bolshevism itself was erroneous and harmful. 2. This ideology was introduced in a country that was the successor of the Russian Empire.

Thus, it should be understood that the USSR was a renewed continuation of the Russian Empire.

After the official collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russia had a chance to finally get rid of the imperial consciousness and system, which has been going on for hundreds of years and has become an anachronism. But even this time, Russia did not take advantage of the chance given to it by history to build a progressive and democratic, modern state - as before, imperial ideas and the ideas of Russian chauvinism prevailed in society and leadership. Russia has not been able to renounce violence against only those who have gained freedom and want to create their own independent state of the peoples and their pitting. Karabakh, Transnistria, Ossetia, Abkhazia, Crimea, Donbass - these are the bloody results of this policy. In Azerbaijan, for example, the coup d'état on June 4, 1993 took place because of Russia's desire to put an end to the independence that had just been achieved and the young, making the first steps of democracy, to turn our country into a colony again. We have also witnessed how Russia pursued the same policy towards other former republics.

Russia's aggression against Ukraine in 2022 was the crowning achievement of imperial policy. Russia showed Ukraine - its former colony and the Ukrainian people, striving for freedom and democracy - its brutal face, unimaginable hatred and jealousy.

Question: Is imperial policy acceptable in the modern era? Isn't imperialism obsolete? Doesn't Russia understand this?

Answer: Of course, it is outdated, but for a long time. In today's world, where the majority of people and nations strive for freedom, independence and democracy, the imperial structure is unacceptable. Those who profess this ideology can unleash wars, arrange humanitarian catastrophes, but they cannot win. In history, progressive forces have always won.

The will to freedom is in human nature. There are people in Russia who understand this, but there are also those who do not understand. However, recent events show that the number and influence of progressive, humane, international (and not carriers of false Soviet internationalism), ready for healthy competition, sane people are inferior to those who sing of Russian chauvinistic and “glorious” imperial consciousness. It would be naive to believe that Putin and a group of Russian chauvinists have seized power in Russia and are pursuing their current policy of expansion against the will of the people. I'm afraid the situation is more frightening. Of course, Putin and his repulsive entourage are skillfully using state resources, inciting and exploiting this false "patriotic" passion of Russians and accumulating untold wealth. But if this situation lasts for decades, it means that Putin's words resonate in the hearts of people. And it's scary. Once Hitler's speeches were also enthusiastically perceived by the German people. It seems that humanity has not yet been able to invent a vaccine against chauvinism and will be forced to get rid of this serious social disease in the old way - by surgery, by military operation.

Question: Do you really think that the Russian-Ukrainian war will put an end to this "empire"? So far, there is no feeling that Russia is ready.

Answer: Yes, I am sure that the final will be like this. Finally, the end of this last empire will come, the end of the Russian Empire will come. This will be the end of the process, incomplete in 1917 and later in 1991. It will finally end. But how long this process will last, and most importantly, how many human lives it will absorb - this is still in question.

If before the war with Ukraine Russia had some authority in the region as a large and strong state, then this war finally undermined it. Now everyone could see for themselves that Russia is a "colossus with feet of clay."

Russia now has only one "argument" left - nuclear weapons. In other words, today Russia looks like a demon-possessed maniac with nuclear weapons frightening the world. In a sense, this is an asocial and dangerous killer. The Joker is the main character of the film of the same name.

Let's hope that economic and political sanctions will put an end to this evil empire with relatively little bloodshed. But it is very difficult to predict what step the Joker maniac will take. Let's hope that nuclear weapons will not be used.

Russia may achieve certain military successes in this war, but these successes will be transient, because even if the Russians physically capture the Ukrainian cities, the heroic Ukrainian people will never accept this. They will fight until the final release. The whole world saw their valor.

On the other hand, the total sanctions imposed on Russia will sooner or later reach their goal. Being isolated from the world, Russia will eventually be defeated, and the current system of this country will collapse. Russia will have a new chance for broad democratic changes. The question is: Will she miss another such chance again?