buruma188_Julian FinneyGetty Images_russian tennis player banned

Slutt å legge skylden på den russiske folkesjelen

Jun 7, 2022 Ian Buruma

NEW YORK – I en interessant artikkel som nylig ble publisert i Times Literary Supplement, lekset den ukrainske romanforfatteren, essayisten og poeten Oksana Zabuzhko opp for vestlige lesere at de ikke forstår hvor barbarisk Russland er. Ifølge Zabuzhko er det for mange mennesker som tror at de store russiske forfatterne, som Fjodor Dostojevskij, ga uttrykk for humanistiske europeiske verdier. Men de har ikke sett dypt nok inn i den barbariske russiske folkesjelen.

Zabuzhko mener at russisk litteratur representerer «en eldgammel kultur der mennesker kun puster under vann og har et banalt hat mot de som har lunger i stedet for gjeller». Russlands invasjon av Ukraina kan kun forstås gjennom det «dostojevskiske» prismet, definert som «en eksplosjon av ren, destillert ondskap og lenge undertrykt hat og misunnelse».

Denne formen for kulturell analyse lyder ganske gammeldags. Det var tidligere vanlig å tolke Det tredje riket som et resultat av en syk tysk folkesjel: «fra Luther til Hitler»-tesen. Implikasjonen var at Luthers antisemittisme sådde de første nazistiske frøene 350 år før Hitler ble født. Men det er få som har et så forenklet syn på tysk historie i dag.

To continue reading, register now.

As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free.

Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.

Already have an account? Log in

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

Enjoy unlimited access to the ideas and opinions of the world’s leading thinkers, including long reads, book reviews, topical collections, short-form analysis and predictions, and exclusive interviews; every new issue of the PS Quarterly magazine (print and digital); the complete PS archive; and more. Subscribe now to PS Premium.

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 24 Comments on this article

Elizabeth Pula Jun 30, 2022

An 8 year old article from NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/ukraine.html
A pamphlet from Lenin 1916:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/imperialism.pdf
- Elizabeth Pula Jul 1, 2022
  
  Russia's soul has been a throbbing wound for quite a while:
  excerpts from same pamphlet from Lenin:
  "The export of capital thus becomes a means of encouraging the export of commodities. In this connection, transactions between particularly big firms assume a form which, as Schilder3 “mildly” puts it, “borders on corruption”."
  
  Today in 2022, the more appropriate phrase may just be this one:"borders on extortion", especially throughout Europe.
  
  "France, when granting loans to Russia, “squeezed” her in the commercial treaty of September 16, 1905, stipulating for certain concessions to run till 1917. She did the same in the commercial treaty with Japan of August 19, 1911. The tariff war between Austria and Serbia, which lasted, with a seven months’ interval, from 1906 to 1911, was partly caused by Austria and France competing to supply Serbia with war materials."
  
  I question just what deep seated animosities aroused Serbia (Kosovo) a few years ago, and of course others, like any Russians, Ukrainians, and whatever labels are applied to name any of the affected groups in that part of the world.
  
  Now in 2022, the wound is raw and infected again.
  
  " Just count the dead when convenient." the unclaimed global TM for 2022.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
- Elizabeth Pula Jul 1, 2022
  
  A couple of paragraphs from that second link written back in 1916 by Lenin gives a "glimmer" to the actions occurring in Ukraine in 2022:
  "IV. Export of Capital
  Typical of the old capitalism, when free competition held undivided sway, was the export of goods. Typical of the latest stage of capitalism, when monopolies rule, is the export of capital.
  Capitalism is commodity production at its highest stage of development, when labour- power itself becomes a commodity. The growth of internal exchange, and, particularly, of international exchange, is a characteristic feature of capitalism. The uneven and spasmodic development of individual enterprises, individual branches of industry and individual countries is inevitable under the capitalist system. England became a capitalist country before any other, and by the middle of the nineteenth century, having adopted free trade, claimed to be the “workshop of the world”, the supplier of manufactured goods to all countries, which in exchange were to keep her provided with raw materials. But in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, this monopoly was already undermined; for other countries, sheltering themselves with “protective” tariffs, developed into independent capitalist states. On the threshold of the twentieth century we see the formation of a new type of monopoly: firstly, monopolist associations of capitalists in all capitalistically developed countries; secondly, the monopolist position of a few very rich countries, in which the accumulation of capital has reached gigantic proportions. An enormous “surplus of capital” has arisen in the advanced countries.
  It goes without saying that if capitalism could develop agriculture, which today is everywhere lagging terribly behind industry, if it could raise the living standards of the masses, who in spite of the amazing technical progress are everywhere still half-starved and poverty-stricken, there could be no question of a surplus of capital. This “argument” is very often advanced by the petty-bourgeois critics of capitalism. But if capitalism did these things it would not be capitalism; for both uneven development and a semi- starvation level of existence of the masses are fundamental and inevitable conditions and constitute premises of this mode of production. As long as capitalism remains what it is, surplus capital will be utilised not for the purpose of raising the standard of living of the masses in a given country, for this would mean a decline in profits for the capitalists, but for the purpose of increasing profits by exporting capital abroad to the backward countries. In these backward countries profits are usually high, for capital is
  scarce, the price of land is relatively low, wages are low, raw materials are cheap."
  
  That last sentence is a pretty accurate synopsis to very clearly "paint" what Ukraine really is, exactly "where it's at", getting cheaper by the millisecond, in 2022.
  - Elizabeth Pula Jul 1, 2022
    
    Does this ring a bell of familiarity? (another little tidbit from wayback in 1916 about monopolies and exporting capital as "product". same source)
    "The capital-exporting countries are nearly always able to obtain certain “advantages”, the character of which throws light on the peculiarity of the epoch of finance capital and monopoly. The following passage, for instance, appeared in the Berlin review, Die Bank, for October 1913:
    “A comedy worthy of the pen of Aristophanes is lately being played on the international capital market. Numerous foreign countries, from Spain to the Balkan states, from Russia to Argentina, Brazil and China, are openly or secretly coming into the big money market with demands, sometimes very persistent, for loans. The money markets are not very bright at the moment and the political outlook is not promising. But not a single money market dares to refuse a loan for fear that its neighbour may forestall it, consent
    to grant a loan and so secure some reciprocal service. In these international transactions the creditor nearly always manages to secure some extra benefit: a favourable clause in a commercial treaty, a coating station, a contract to construct a harbour, a fat concession, or an order for guns.”2
    
    Of course, Russia would need to be omitted, and substitute the names of any of the nations at will.
    - Elizabeth Pula Jul 1, 2022
      
      A jewel from Lenin, 1916:
      "The capital-exporting countries have divided the world among themselves in the figurative sense of the term. But finance capital has led to the actual division of the world."
      A new reply to this comment has been posted.
    A new reply to this comment has been posted.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
alex Finch Jun 21, 2022

Russian culture is different to the West. The leaders behind the disastrous Irak war, Bush, Blair and Howard, were all kicked out of office by the system. By contrast the majority of Russians continue to support their murderous leader, even while tens of thousands on both sides die in vain. The West will stop blaming the savage Russian soul once Putin and his thieving cronies have been removed. Till then, Russia will remain a pack of Stone Age savages for the rest of the world, no matter what excuse Putin comes up with.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Zrado Gonta Jun 20, 2022

It is ridiculous to read the arguments of an amateur from the country of the eternal show about high matters. America has no values other than the dollar, so it will fundamentally not be able to understand not only the Russian soul, but also the Afghan, Iranian, Chinese and even Turkish. Arrogance and vanity is all America has, but it won't last long.
- Mirek Fatyga Jun 20, 2022
  
  you know, this is what Hitler said way back when. "America is all about the Dollar". And look what happened.
  - Zrado Gonta Jun 26, 2022
    
    And if it wasn't Hitler who said it (I doubt it was), would you gladly agree with this statement? ))
    - Mirek Fatyga Jul 4, 2022
      
      US is a about lot of things, and the dollar is one of these things. There is nothing wrong with that. This is why US has contributed so many things to the world that the Russians are now losing, while Russia contributes oil, gas, maybe vodka with some pickles, and military aggression.
      
      Obviously, US is not a perfect country. In many ways it is not even a good country. The thing is, everyone else tends to be so much worse. This has been the case for the last 200 years and continues to be the case today. US wins by comparison, which is a sad commentary on this evolutionary experiment called Homo Sapiens.
      
      Let me explain to you in simple terms what is the difference between the US and Russia. It can be summed up in these two sentences: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed".
      
      When these sentences were put to paper they were something of a sick joke. The "founders" of this Republic were ,after all, slave owners. And yet this sentence endured, even causing a civil war that finally freed the slaves. The US Republic is suffering some reversals today but I am still confident that the magic sentence will ultimately prevail. And it has spread well beyond US borders, which is really what Putin is afraid of.
      
      In contrast, Russia is founded on the principle that you, Zrado Gonta, amount to nothing. You and 140 million of your fellow Russians. For Putin, you are just a tiny speck of paint on the canvass of the new Great National Achievement painting to be hung on the wall of the National Hall of Russian Horrors. He just threw 35,000 + Russian lives into a meat grinder, which typically means another 50,000 wounded, for nothing but his own ego. He leveled whole cities, executed civilians and turned the infrastructure of Ukraine into rubble. If any of this gets rebuilt ,it will be rebuilt by a little army of Russian slaves that will work for food and praise their Great Leader.
      
      Have I explained adequately what US is about ,and Russia is not?
      - Zrado Gonta Jul 9, 2022
        
        You are too ignorant of both the achievements of Russia and the "exclusivity" of the United States. The USA is a country of migrants and without them it would be no stronger than Ethiopia. The dollar is the support that does not allow this colossus to fall on clay feet. The green paper is worth nothing because the US debt exceeds its GDP, and you can't paper debt.
        
        A new reply to this comment has been posted.
      A new reply to this comment has been posted.
    A new reply to this comment has been posted.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Павел Селезнев Jun 20, 2022

Can you tell me what right the US army had to kill civilians in Grenada, Panama, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia?
- Mirek Fatyga Jul 4, 2022
  
  you are expressing here the principle of moral equivalence, well known to anyone who lived through the Cold War. It was wrong then and it remains wrong now.
  
  US is not a perfect country. I strongly disagreed with the war in Iraq. Nonetheless, US military does not purposely massacre civilians and level whole cities. Public opinion in the US does not allow for this. This is because US has free media and genuine elections. No President for Life who first kills or imprisons domestic opposition and then (predictably) starts foreign wars.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Piotr B. Jun 10, 2022

Let's celebrate the masterpieces of German culture! Would you say that in 1940 Europe? C'mon Ian, what do you know about Russian history, culture? Your musings about Dostoevsky and Russian Enlightenment are good (for the high school students). Do you know what Brodsky wrote about Ukraine and Ukrainians, what kind of derogatory language he used? (in the 90's), or Navalny for that matter, just couple of years ago? Have you spoken with avg. Russians in Russia, and asked what they think about Ukrainians?
For real change Russia must be defeated and must be humiliated, the same way Japan and Germany were.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Mirek Fatyga Jun 9, 2022

I am not sure how one arrives at the picture of the "Russian Soul". I will leave it to deep thinkers. One can, however, arrive at a summary of Russian history which is a nearly unbroken chain of murder, mayhem, atrocities and extreme violence ,for centuries on end. Anyone who was born into any country neighboring Russia is aware of this.

As far as Russian culture is concerned, the best I can say is that there are two kinds:

The Potemkin Culture of St Petersburgh and Moscow. This is the culture of the corrupt, rapacious court of the Russian Tsars. It has a thin veneer of actual civilization ,both for show and for personal amusement. Periodically, well meaning Westerners get seduced by this Potemkin Culture, thinking that Russia is actually a part of Europe.

The real culture of the Russian Empire, which is the culture of the Mongol Horde. The sole preoccupation of the Horde is rape and pillage. For the young men born into the Horde, participating in an invasion of rape and pillage is the greatest life chance they will ever experience. And so, they participate enthusiastically and excel in brutality, cruelty, rape and pillage. You can see this on graphic display in Ukraine.

Can the true Russian culture be suppressed one day and turned into something better? Maybe. One should remember though that it took 20+ years of foreign occupation to turn around the Nazi culture of Germany. War crimes trials did not happen in Germany until 1960-ies, which means that it took a nearly complete generational turnover before Germans were willing to confront their past and (maybe) repudiate it.

In the meantime, while we are waiting for a chance to change Russian soul we should always remember what we are dealing with: nuclear armed Mongol Horde. Lets act accordingly.
- Zrado Gonta Jun 20, 2022
  
  Does the representative of the failed empire, marked by atrocities against the civilian population of neighboring countries at the beginning of the last century, dare to blame others? Poland is the hyena of Europe, as W. Churchill said.
  - Mirek Fatyga Jun 20, 2022
    
    or maybe one should answer this seriously, for the benefit of other readers.
    
    Poland emerged from WW1 as a newly independent country after ~150 years of partition by the three empires that fell as a result of that war. Two years after 1918, (1920 - 21) Poland had to fight a war with the Soviet Union in which she was not particularly supported by the Western Powers, including Winston Churchill.. This war nearly destroyed the Polish state. The Soviet Army reached the line of Vistula river but the Polish Army finally succeeded in pushing the Soviets back, half way into what today is Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania.
    
    There were two consequences of this war. First, Poland stopped the march of Soviet Communism into Europe for 20 years, until Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty and the joint Hitler-Stalin aggression. More importantly for Ukraine, there was no Holodomor in Western Ukraine. Nationalist Ukrainians may not have liked Polish jurisdiction, but they lived and mostly in peace.
    
    Now, nationalism is rarely pretty and I include Polish nationalism in this assessment. This is why we have the European Union today and I am very glad that Poland is a part of this Union. I am also very glad that the European nations, supported by the United States, drew some lessons from history and are actively supporting Ukraine in her fight for survival. One hundred years ago Poland had to fight alone, twice. Once in 1920-21 and the second time in 1939.
    - Zrado Gonta Jul 9, 2022
      
      Poland did not disappear into the ruins of WWII only thanks to the Soviet Union. However, the ingratitude of the former Soviet countries is a characteristic feature of all limitrophs, who betray with the same ease as they swear eternal friendship.
      - Mirek Fatyga Jul 9, 2022
        
        actually, Hitler and Stalin started the WW2 together. I am not sure why Poland should be grateful to the Soviet Union for conspiring with Hitler to execute the fourth partition of Poland. If you look at countries that feel threatened by Russian aggression today, so called Eastern flank of NATO, these are all victims of the secret annex to the Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty. The differences between today and then are that, so far, there is no Ribbentrop to partner with Lavrov-Molotov in the West and the West has not fully disarmed as was the case before WW2. NATO was gradually weakening and disarming, but (fortunately) remained strong enough and cohesive enough to aid Ukraine and re-arm to check the Russian aggression. At least I hope so.
        
        If there was a trace of rational, strategic thought in Russia, Ukraine would be an unmolested, independent country serving as a bridge between Russia and the rest of Europe. Europe and NATO was not a military threat to Russia, except perhaps in the feverish minds of Kremlin demagogues. As long as there was peace, NATO was weakening and disarming. China, on the other hand, is a natural threat, just like Hitler's Germany was ultimately a mortal threat to Stalin's Russia. All you need to do is look at the map. Russia holds 25% of Eurasian landmass with great natural resources while having ~5% of Eurasian population, most of it west of the Ural mountains. China has 10 times the population of Russia and few resources of her own. Either Russia will give China her resources in return for transfer Juan, or China will try to take them. Any agreement between dictators is not worth the paper it is written on, just like the Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty.
        
        The real threat that Ukraine posed to Russia was a potential for an example of a successful, more prosperous and at least somewhat democratic country in the Russian speaking world. This was not a threat to the people of Russia but a threat to the thieving, autocratic clique that took over Russia yet again, repeating the never ending human tragedy that seems to define Russia for centuries.
        
        Make it your goal to create a better Russia, rather than to support that clique. As of today you are not actually supporting your people but rather supporting the deepening tragedy of Russia in yet another century.
        
        A new reply to this comment has been posted.
      A new reply to this comment has been posted.
    A new reply to this comment has been posted.
  - Mirek Fatyga Jun 20, 2022
    
    absolutely, Comrade. What is the weather today in Petrograd?
    A new reply to this comment has been posted.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
alex Finch Jun 8, 2022

Russians seem to be a society where the strong pick on the weak. Domestic violence is not a crime in Russia (many women get bashed by their husbands), there are no real property rights (the mafia simply takes), political opponents get shot in the back or poisoned, there is torture in the prisons and bashings in the army. Is this the Russian Soul you are referring to?
- Zrado Gonta Jun 20, 2022
  
  That truth-seeker who dared to hint at the crimes of the American military in countries subjected to US aggression is now being extradited from one Anglo-Saxon country to another, where he faces almost two centuries of imprisonment for the truth. You should keep quiet about human rights in "reference democracy".
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Adrian Wu Jun 8, 2022

It is because the English media dominates the narratives that we only hear about the atrocities of the Russians, the Germans, the Chinese communists, the Japanese imperialists. One hardly hear about the crimes and depravity of the British empire, and its extension, the US empire, which tops anything that came before and after.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Mark St. Angelo Jun 7, 2022

History has far more examples of “demonizing” the people of a country with which one’s own nation is at war than it has examples of blaming a war on another country’s leader without also blaming that country’s people.

I think the author’s argument might be more persuasive if he were able to provide an example where blaming an invader’s culture or people for the invasion made the situation worse than it otherwise would have been.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.

https://prosyn.org/NwF0798nb

Slutt å legge skylden på den russiske folkesjelen

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

New Comment

Contact us

Log in/Register

Slutt å legge skylden på den russiske folkesjelen

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification