Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Does salvation of Russia (and the world) require suspension of critical reason and thought?

The political and ideological situation (crisis?) on the part of the Russian political and ideological elites (as distinguished from the live and heated debates by the people) in the face of the unfolding Drang nach Osten by the Empire has advanced to a peculiar, paradoxical point at which all the major players and forces categorically demand and insist on suspension of "criticism" directed towards themselves exclusively only (not as a whole, but solely in particular). Criticism of oneself (in whatever form or content) is defined as assistance to the enemy--whether conscious or unconscious.

Opening a question whether such a categorical demand is rational or irrational would also seem to fall under the absolute prohibition. The prohibition amounts to a demand that thought be suspended ... under the conditions of continued deliberate ambiguity, vagueness and evasions.

Under the optics of objective diagnosis, such demands could be seen either as one of the symptoms of ideological, political or even strategic weakness or as a part of a project of "voluntary dictatorship."

A wholesale, absolute ban of criticism would mean a ban on thinking. Any good thinking discriminates and is willing to think not only about a priori assumptions, but also about "taboos." To assume that critique as such is one's enemy regardless of what the critique actually says, regardless of its character and direction, is to replace reason with faith.

In this regard, the basic poles in this debate, boils down to these both exclusive and interrelated positions:

1. Russia is Putin. Putin knows best and always knows best.
2. Russia is (and ought to be) the Fourth (previously Third) Wave (Dugin). Dugin knows best. Or Heidegger. Or Carl Schmitt.
3. Russia is Novorossiya, and Novorossiya is Russia. People devoted an idea and with conscience know best ("ideynye lyudi").
4. Russia is (and ought to be) a Czarist Empire again. Patriotic authorities with a noble character know best.
5. Russia ought to be a USSR 2.0. Only social justice and equality can save the country.
6. Russia ought to be finally and irreversibly Westernized. The West knows best and always knows best.

***

"Any criticism [against us] needs to be stopped immediately," Dugin demands. Any criticism of the "clever plans" needs to be stopped immediately, for the government knows best, is, however, also the demand of those whom Dugin calls supporters of Russian Caesarism and whom he criticizes as not adequate in the current situation.

A.G. Dugin: "Geopolitics is the only method of truth. Whoever is doubting the absolute meaning of geopolitics is either an unconscious or conscious enemy." Dugin expects a color revolution in Russia in the next six months. But he also thinks that the Russian government does not understand the terrible threat of the West's attack and is trying to treat the situation with technical measures in a conservative way in order to delay the finale. According to Dugin, this approach ("Caesarism"), which wavers between liberalism and patriotism (or playing one against the other),  does not work and cannot work. If this approach is to continue, "we will kill ourselves." The main agent of the color revolution in Russia will be liberals who will use (ultra)nationalists for their own/US goals. The situation in Russia is analogous to what happened to Milosevic, but also to the rose revolution in Georgia and the Maidan in Kiev. Russian Caesarism (Putin's system) and Eurasianism are not the same. Certain criticism of Russian/Putin's Caesarism by the patriots is justified. This Caesarism is inherently inconsistent and self-contradictory. Who is against Eurasianism is the enemy of Russia. Eurasianism is the only way for preserving Russia. The color revolution in Russia in inevitable, but its success or failure is not. According to Dugin, any critique of Eurasianism (i.e. Dugin), therefore, needs to be stopped immediately for such criticism is assisting only the enemy.

Dugin also says that he lost his position at the Moscow State University because of his support for Novorossiya. At this round table, Dugin speaks in Russian and, at the same time, he also translates himself into English.

According to Evgeny Fedorov, what can save Russia in this existential confrontation can only be giving to Putin extraordinary powers. Putin and Fedorov are only waiting for the people to clear their brains and grant the former these needed powers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJj4rkOV6qI&index=7&list=UUZnUvWIiTV-KRM_zZyUmqow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-jKDOwwDZ8&index=1&list=UUZnUvWIiTV-KRM_zZyUmqow

No comments:

Post a Comment