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why ? There is no reason when the East-West-conflict thinking is gone.
Just only forget history
What ? nevel heard of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 ? if Communism wasn't the enemy (US rhetoric from 1945 to 1991), what was it then ? the Russian people? say it openly then!
It's more interesting for me to find what Ukraine want to do with that 2 regions. Imagine that the war stops, there are no rebels there. I want to see, how the government will reform its ecomomy, how they think they can win the hearts of local people.
These are all good questions. Particularly taking in consideration how the locals in East Ukraine greet the "liberating" Ukrainian Army.
You and your friends are so actively quoted "real Solzhenitsyn" probably never read "The Archipelag GULAG" and his other works and do not know anything about his fate.
You know my friends? How interesting.
Quote:
Your Russian propaganda does not even have logic) you use the name of the person themselves repeatedly arrested, tried, and even sent into exile.
It was impossible to use another "big name", that it is more logical?))
Ridiculous.
Was Solzhenitsyn arrested by the current Russian government?
If he were, I could see your logic that it's silly of them to use his statement.
But since it's not the case - try to address what Solzhenitsyn was saying regarding the stupidity of Ukrainian nationalism, instead of incessantly pointing at "Russian propaganda."
I'm not so uncomfortable with USA as world gendarm, now that Bush is gone.
UN gives the orders to the gendarms.
Russia is just anti for historical reasons.
There is no more fundamental, lasting potential for East-West konflict.
Like religion between Sunnites and Shiites.
Or water as in the middle east.
To the contrary : Europe wants Russian gas, Russia wants Western technology.
Why does Russia not join the EU ?
For the same reason why the US can't join the E.U.
As much as the US is the offshoot of Europe, with British culture modified in order to be inclusive of other people ( of non-European descent including,) so Russia is the off-shoot of European culture ( continental to be more specific) modified with the purpose of inclusion of many people, of non-European descent including. So both the US and Russia are European offshoots, but different from Europe entities.
And what is EU itself? A conglomerate born on purely political/economic ground.
Not on the cultural ground - far away from it.
Yes very interesting. But I think a simple observation blocks that. Rossiya is not a 'European' country.
Then what do you do with everything what's defined as "Russian culture" - the classical Russian writers, musicians, painters. If all their cultural icons are not European, then what are they?
And if they are European after all, then how can you say that Russia is not "European" country?
why ? There is no reason when the East-West-conflict thinking is gone.
Just only forget history
What ? nevel heard of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 ? if Communism wasn't the enemy (US rhetoric from 1945 to 1991), what was it then ? the Russian people? say it openly then!
You know it's not going to be said in the open for a number of reasons.
I'm not so uncomfortable with USA as world gendarm, now that Bush is gone.
UN gives the orders to the gendarms.
Russia is just anti for historical reasons.
There is no more fundamental, lasting potential for East-West konflict.
Like religion between Sunnites and Shiites.
P.S That's a very good comparison - a very good parallel.
But think about it - is this difference between Sunnies and Shias in the name only, or does it make a practical difference throughout history, affecting international ( and internal) conflicts?
It sure does, and so is the difference between Russia and the rest of Christendom.
Russia may keep her culture. (as long as it's not aggressive)
It's not, Russia is not that different from others in that respect, there is nothing to worry about from that end.
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Let's just do the political/economical thing.
una in diversitate
OK, I see your point ( after all Spain and Germany ( and the rest) are of different cultural background, yet they stay in the same union.
So let's look at things from political/economic point of view.
In order to stay in political/economic union, most European countries, (in spite of their differences) share couple of things in common - they are all of Christian background and all have long history of established middle class and hence - institution of private property. In Russia, in spite of shared Christian background, these institutions were notably absent both during Tzarist times and throughout Soviet times.
The first real opportunity to fix this major difference with the rest of Europe came in the nineties, after the fall of the Soviet system. But interestingly enough, with the help of "economic advisers" from the US, this logical step of creating middle class, ( and hence such thing as known in Western world as pluralism of opinions in political sphere, aka "democracy,") has been abolished, and a very conscious decision has been made to concentrate yet again all the wealth of the country in few hands - the way it basically has been during Tzarist Empire. The political consequences of this economic decision didn't wait to follow; the political power became concentrated in few hands as well, not allowing the plurality of opinions in practical sense of it ( after all, different parties must be supported with money of different voters of mentioned above "middle class" which again, was non-existent in Russia.) So here again you have an utterly corrupt conglomerate, with people in power that create the laws only suited for their own interests, a country that doesn't have either sizable middle class or political plurality, that would help to establish civil society, the way it's established in Europe. And with these drastic differences you can't really establish a common economic/political union with the country, as beneficial as this union could mutually be. Because you are correct about the interest in technology from Russian side, as much as huge market for European goods in Russia ( after all the country shares common Christian background with Europe, as I've already mentioned.) The only party that would feel as a "loser" from such union would be the US, because of the increased economic competition received from EU, reinforced by Russia.
So were their actions back in the nineties justified in the long run? That remains to be seeing.
Last edited by erasure; 08-20-2014 at 06:39 PM..
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