Even as I write, Manny Macron is talking to Putin in the Kremlin, trying to avert war. A man of far-reaching intellect, Manny knows that this peace mission can only succeed if an equitable balance is found between the interests of both Russia and the rest of the world.
Russia’s, or more specifically Putin’s grievance is, according to Manny, not getting enough respect. Manny doesn’t specify what it is about Putin that’s truly respectable. As far as he is concerned, that’s self-evident.
Putin’s problem, as diagnosed by Manny, is the trauma of not being loved. Perhaps all he needs is a hug – although I don’t think Manny is in Russia strictly to administer this well-known deterrent to aggression.
As he himself explains, “We must protect our European brothers by offering a new balance that can preserve their sovereignty and peace. At the same time this has to be done while respecting Russia and understanding its modern traumas…
“The security and sovereignty of Ukraine or any other European state cannot be a subject for compromise, while it is also legitimate for Russia to pose the question of its own security.”
So it’s not just psychological trauma. Russia also has legitimate security concerns. What if those beastly Ukies, supported by the 82d Airborne, British paras, the French Foreign Legion and the Wehrmacht sweep across the border? The way Napoleon and Hitler did? Harrowing thought, that.
Anyway, I was about to write a cutting, factual and well-reasoned retort, when I realised there was no need. The job has already been done by Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, head of the All-Russian Officers’ Assembly.
I don’t think the good general is a household name for many of my readers, but he has been one of Russia’s top commanders for decades. And throughout that time he hasn’t been exactly known as a dove weaned on the milk of human kindness and pacifism.
Gen. Ivashov is the hawkiest hawk ever to fly across the firmament. He is a confirmed Stalinist, whose feelings about all ethnic groups other than simon-pure Russians aren’t always informed by a commitment to internationalism and racial equality.
Nor is he a friend of the United States. In fact, Gen. Ivashov has on numerous occasions stated that his dearest wish is, and Russia’s strategy should be, to ensure that Canada is separated from Mexico by “the Stalin Strait”, which geographical rearrangement wouldn’t bode well for the inhabitants of the land currently occupying that space.
And it’s this worthy individual who issued a petition on behalf of the Officers’ Assembly, demanding Putin’s resignation. This document makes my efforts superfluous in any capacity other than that of a translator.
Though it pains me to say this, Gen. Ivashov’s reading of the situation is rather different from Manny’s. Perhaps he’s too close to the problem to be as objective as Manny, and neither does he have the benefit of education in France’s grandes écoles. One way or the other, here’s what he wrote:
“What exactly threatens the existence of Russia, and do such threats exist? One can confidently state that they do – the country is facing the end of her history. All the vital areas of life, including the demography, are steadily degenerating, and the population is dying out at a record-breaking speed…
“This, we believe, is the main threat to the Russian Federation. But this is an internal threat, springing from the state’s model, the quality of its governance and the social situation. The threat has appeared for internal reasons: invalid model of the state, complete incompetence and unprofessionalism of the system of government and management, the passivity and inertia of society…
“The situation escalating around the Ukraine is artificial, reflecting the venality of certain internal forces, including those in the RF. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, in which Russia (Yeltsyn) played a decisive role, the Ukraine has become an independent state, a UN member that, according to Article 51 of the UN Charter, has the right to individual and collective defence.
“It is natural that, for the Ukraine to remain Russia’s friendly neighbour, Russia should have set an example of an attractive state model and system of government. That has not been done.
“Using military force against the Ukraine will, first, bring into question the very existence of the Russian state and, second, will for ever turn Russians and Ukrainians into mortal enemies.
“We, Russian officers, demand that the president of Russia abandon his criminal policy of provoking a war in which Russia will find herself alone against the united forces of the West – and that he create conditions for complying in practice with Article 3 of the RF Constitution and resign.”
If you aren’t intimately familiar with the Russian constitution, Article 3 specifies that all sovereign power belongs to the people and: “Nobody may usurp power in the Russian Federation. The seizure of power or usurpation of State authority shall be prosecuted under federal law.”
Contextually, one can infer that Gen. Ivashov and the Officers’ Assembly in general believe that Putin is in breach of Article 3. Because he has seized power and usurped state authority he must resign and face prosecution under federal law.
One has to conclude that Gen. Ivashov and his brother officers are virulent Russophobes and paid agents to the CIA, MI6 and Mossad. This conclusion is inescapable for anyone who sees the situation unfolding in Eastern Europe in the terms set by Messrs Macron, Zemmour and Hitchens.
P.S. Every couple of years someone puts my photograph on Facebook. Since it invariably draws more ‘likes’ than my articles, I have to think I missed my true calling. I should have become a male model, rather than a writer. Perhaps it’s still not too late to re-train.
Finally, some internal opposition! Perhaps it is the Russian military’s time to displace the FSB as the governing body of the Federation?
Or maybe it’s just another ‘nothing-burger’ for the news addicted masses….
Traditionally, the Russian army has at times been a king-maker, but never the king. But the last time it acted even in the former capacity was in 1957.
Methinks the members of the Officers’ Assembly best be on the lookout for jealous husbands firing machine guns from speeding cars! (What little I know about Russia, I learned here – January 31, and others.)
“But this is an internal threat, springing from the state’s model, the quality of its governance and the social situation. ”
This general officer sounds like Donald Trump.