Anti-Civilization

The world is changing rapidly. Humanity once again craves for another technological revolution, radically changing the way of life and the way of people’s thinking. Time is accelerating. The concentration of events is growing exponentially. Global civilization, led by the West, switches to new energy sources, communication platforms, information transfer and data processing technology, ways of controlling and optimizing the use of resources.

But there is one country that is too large and too packed with lethal technologies to ignore its behavior. It decided to turn back the clock. This is the modern Russian Federation with its self-perpetuating leader Vladimir Putin. Russia decisively counters civilizational transition of mankind into the 21st century. Its path is a reverse development vector, the New Middle Ages and the new “Oprichnina” [policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, involving secret police and mass repressions]. The Russian World and “spiritual ties.” Anti-Civilization.

Guised under the mask of brotherly love for the past 20 years, Russia started a war against Ukraine, bombing its cities and killing its defenseless citizens (including the Russian Orthodox ethnic Russians), only to stop the civilizational development vector of the Ukrainians, who gained it at the cost of blood, struggle and self-sacrifice. Ukraine has chosen a civilization, and Russia just could not take it. Moreover, the Kremlin saw this as a direct threat to its own existence. The practical proof of a possibility of civilized development in an ex-Soviet state is able to deliver a knockout blow to legitimization of the Russian authorities.

Putin's Russia of today is a black hole of Eurasia. It brings devastation, death and degradation to the space within and around its borders.

We can just take a look at the new global challenges: the war in Ukraine (Central Europe), ISIL, large-scale immigration in Europe (the new "Great Migration"). Putin’s Russia has been and still is involved in creating all these challenges.

The attack on Ukraine which started with Crimea in February, 2014, was a complete surprise to everyone, for it has broken and splintered the existing global security order and international law. There’s just no such thing now. The global community has nothing left to do but pretend that the international legal system is still there, but it doesn’t change things, unfortunately. Until the new system of global security and international relations supported by fully functional international organizations is established, the world will remain in the border zone between order and chaos, facing new global risks and threats.

As for ISIL, it’s no secret that the Russian security services participated in creating this organization, sending hundreds of Russian citizens to join its ranks. Putin’s recent proposal to the West on the joint fight against terrorism in Syria was nothing but an attempt to present fighting with his own shadow as a real solution to the problem of the ISIL-led terrorism in the Middle East. Not surprisingly, U.S. President Barack Obama did not rise to the bait.

The refugee problem is also directly related to the Russian Federation. Artificially fueling the conflict in Syria (by helping ISIL and supporting Bashar al-Assad), Russia provoked a flow of millions of Syrian refugees to Europe, also creating a corridor through its allies (the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe, and Turkey). A new wave of Syrian refugees has merged with the stream from North Africa, slowly drowning the European Union. At the same time Europe keeps playing a suicidal game of preserving "close ties" with Russia, not realizing that there will be no flow of "dirty" money from Russia to the EU ever again.

Thus, Russia is an active player in plenty of today’s global challenges of mankind. The very Russia, along with Putin’s regime, has become the most significant challenge. Neither the West, nor the East will be able to reach a new level of development in the 21st century without addressing this threat.

Especially contrasting is the current behavior of the Russian elite and of its citizens. While the Western world switches to 3D-printing food, weapons, and even human organs, Russia bulldozes and incinerates embargoed products from the much-hated Europe and the U.S. While Western corporations develop solar energy, electric vehicles and plans for the colonization of Mars, Russia actively distributes budget money among state-owned corporations, which are close to or related with the top-officials, trying to syphon as much money as possible from costly and inefficient infrastructure projects.

Modern Russian is voluntary self-marginalizing, plunging into a state of "besieged fortress," sealing the lines of communication with the outside world with wax, sanctified by the Russian Orthodox Church. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is dynamically changing its appearance. There will be a day when Russian will once again try to open up the world. But it risks not recognizing this world. The difference between Civilization and Anti-Civilization will become overwhelming.

Roman Rukomeda