Weltschau

Today, all eyes are on what the future awaits Ukraine, which is under Russia’s relentless attack. Of course, it is obvious that a bright future does not await her unless she can get rid of the Russian scourge that haunts her entire existence. But what kind of fate do you think awaits a Russia that is stuck in the mire of war and isolated? Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika were not enough to get rid of the cynical “Upper Volta with rockets” metaphor circulating in the West for the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev years, and the Russians thought that they would attain the riches and worldly blessings they deserved when they changed their system and switched to capitalism, as if shedding their skin. However, nearly 35 years have shown that they have very little to offer the world in competitive productivity. Russia still survives thanks to a predatory economy based on ruthless exploitation of nature. Even then, it is doomed to Western technology. Don’t pay attention to the fact that they occasionally unveil post-modern space weapons with poetic images à la française. These are at most tricks or quirks of information warfare, which is the only field in which they have a successful performance.

Today too, it is possible to make combinations of similar images to mention Russia. For example, the first thing that came to my mind was “Cultivated North Korea”. In a way that shows the paradox in reverse this time, it both highlights the literary-artistic aspects that made them so popular in the West, and on the other hand, it successfully points out the pariah state from which everyone runs away as if they saw the dead. What could be another metaphor that blends the new Russians (novye Russkie) as the nouveaux riches of our time, evoking their rawness and upstartness that is not accepted in the West, with images such as a failed state or a rogue state? Early petro-state or belated Pirates Republic? Choose, like, and take whatever you wish!

How happy do you think Russians are to be remembered with these adjectives? How long will they lament their dark future under the rule of a petty, bigoted tyrant?

Bülent Tanatar

Turkish citizen of Crimean Tatar origin. He studied economics. Retired from the private sector. One of the editors of Emel magazine.