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The English version is at the end of this text.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGOHxKln538
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4I7Cnpirw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGOHxKln538
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4I7Cnpirw8
February 2019
The Western Schism, almost a thousand years ago, contributed significantly to the isolation of the Eastern Empire, at a time when its immense extension prevented the currents of Western thought from permeating Russian thought. Thus, in Holy Russia the union between Church and State has been petrified, much more so than in Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries, in the Middle Ages. Making a leap to the last century, after the bloody persecution of the Christian faith from 1917 to 1989, the faith and the splendor of its churches have reemerged among the Russian people and their rulers – above all in Putin himself.
In the history of the world, in the last five centuries, various hegemonic powers have alternated: in the 16th century Spain, then England, which, when it was extinguished by the Second World War, gave rise to the emergence of the United States, in competition with communist Russia from 1945. But if we turn the pages of history much further back, for some forty centuries, we find the Chinese empire, humiliated in the nineteenth century by the English. We find the civilizations of Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Holy Roman Empire, whose greatness has lasted more than a thousand years because it was bound primarily by the Christian faith and not by political decisions or weapons.
It is interesting to note how, in history, the great powers are subject to the inexorable law of ‘rise and fall’ of civilizations, except for the kingdom of the Judeo-Christian faith, which has been consolidated since the time of Abraham, two thousand years before Christ, because it is not identifiable with a people or a territory.
Putin’s Russia
In this context, it must be acknowledged that Putin’s personality is enigmatic, and perhaps that is why it is so interesting. He is the man who has made the Russia of today through strategic, military and political games, which have much of the proverbial Eurasian cunning. After the downfall of overcoming communism as the official state ideology, Putin is the man who is succeeding in putting Russia back in the concert of world powers. The events in Ukraine and Syria are his latest tactical moves, creating a ‘status quo’ that the West has no choice but to accept as a starting point for future political strategies. Russia is now more aware of its own strength, supported by the sale of gas and oil. Russia’s authority is making itself increasingly felt in the former Soviet republics that have gained independence from the USSR in the 1990s and beyond.
An unexpected aspect of Putin’s work is the diametrical shift towards the Christian faith. Under his order and government hundreds and even thousands of churches have been rebuilt and he has no qualms about publicly claiming to be the defender of the faith, and even on more than one occasion he has harshly criticized the West for betraying its Christian roots, for giving itself body and soul to atheistic materialism.
Putin is looking for a new world order that favors him, in which his ability to make rapid operational decisions – including military movements – gives him a huge advantage in contrast to the slowness of decisions made, for example, by the EU. Putin’s tactics can be summed up in the so-called ‘controlled destabilization’, which is basically the same as always in history: England, at the time, had the formula of the balance of power, which meant concretely not allowing any other world power to be superior to itself, as the ultimate world referee. It is the somewhat Machiavellian application of that of ‘thesis-antithesis and synthesis’, thought out by German idealism two centuries ago, a precursor of Marxism, in direct line with the philosophers Fichte, Schelling, Hegel and Feuerbach. This same tactic has been applied precisely by Hernan Cortés when he took advantage of the divisions among the Indians, in the conquest of Mexico, who has always been considered the best military strategist of all times.
Russia’s weaknesses
Firstly, the USA and China are much more relevant powers, to such an extent that the Russians cannot overcome a certain complex of understandable inferiority before them. Another problem is that Russian politicians still see the West – the US, NATO and Europe – as their common enemy, so Russia is inclined to strengthen itself through alliances with China and the Arab world. But at the same time, Russia is dependent on petrodollars and imports from the West. Interestingly, Russia has not managed to mobilize its economy in the style of China, in order to compete commercially in world markets. However, great progress has been made at least in agricultural production and in the sale of gas and minerals.
Estas reflexiones están inspiradas en los escritos alemanes de Stefan Meister, Director del Centro de Estudios Robert Bosch, centrado en Europa Central y Oriental, en Rusia y Asia Central. Aparecieron publicadas en la Neue Z. Zeitung del 1.2.18
