“Most noble sir,
That which I shall report will bear no credit,
Were not the proof so nigh.”
Timon of Athens, act 5, sc. 1
At the United Nations, a motion was recently tabled to condemn the glorification of Nazism. USA, Canada and Ukraine voted against the motion. The US vote is, in itself, quite remarkable, given that her claims to imperial status and exceptionalism stem, at the root, from the liberation of Europe from the yoke of Nazi-Fascist totalitarianism.
However, the noteworthiness of the US no-vote turns to disbelief, when considering that the nations of the European Union abstained in block.
Disbelief and shame for the sheep, now even unable to express their actual philosophical reason of being – namely, the rebirth of Europe from the ashes of Nazi-Fascism.
That the motion was censurable for having been tabled by Russia, is worse than an excuse, as the vote demonstrates that imperial interests prevail over basic considerations of intellectual and moral dignity.
To be sure, there has always been a disconnect between theory and practice. The condemnation of Nazism was accompanied – at times – by tolerance and actual encouragement of Fascistic elements, when the interests of western elites were at stake. Notably, in the recent case of the Ukrainian coup.
But even in Ukraine, an effort was made to hide the hand, to distort history and to parse responsibilities, so as to prevent the exceptional Country from appearing as the prime mover and financier of the operation.
The mainstream media has shielded, with prudent silence, the announcement that Nazism has obtained – de facto – a seal of approval. Perhaps there is a remnant of shame, or concern, that Western public opinion, usually ready to believe the unbelievable, may, in the instance, engage the machinery of thought and ask unpalatable questions.
I wonder what the tribunal of succeeding times will think of the event. What makes the European vote shocking is that people have been jailed just for presenting a different point of view on the Nazi Holocaust. And even Canada has the dubious merit of having jailed at least one writer for being a revisionist.
But here we have Reverse-Revisionism, which, on second thoughts, should not be too surprising. Reverse-Revisionism is the historical younger brother of neo-liberal economics. Seen in this light, Nazi-Fascism was the virtuous instrument, deployed in a European civil war, to defeat the execrable Communism once and for all. Some intellectuals have even maintained that the Nazi massacres drew their inspiration from Stalin’s gulags – leaving the reader to conclude that, without Stalin’s example, Hitler may have behaved more humanely towards non-Aryans.
This theory, coupled with the legitimization of Nazi-apologists, represents the triumph of the Thought-Unique, whereby everything is good except socialism. And any weapon is acceptable, if used against this most diabolical enemy of all (including burning people alive, as in Odessa).
An enemy that, after the end of the Soviet Union, was re-incarnated in the more malleable and ductile terrorism – which also proved more manageable for starting wars abroad and shrinking citizens’ civil rights at home.
In fact, Reverse-Revisionism is aimed not so much at the past but at the future. All history is contemporary history, said Italian historian Croce. And by logical consequence, the interpretation of past history inspires the thoughts and the actions of the present.
The hatred of Russia did not end with the end of the Soviet Union – it was temporarily buried until resurrected for the next madness. That the madness happens now should be no surprise. There is always some distance between the birth and the maturity of folly, as of wickedness.
Capitalism has many colors. Its current expression is overwhelmingly financial – witness what many call an immense house of cards. Whereby, for example, the volume of gold remains essentially the same, but an intricate financial machinery causes its value to fall – essentially by printing more money and pretending that paper is gold.
There is a sense of deep disquiet in the air, considering that this pre-eminently financial phase of capitalism has morphed into a class-struggle in reverse. Witness the gradual disappearance of the universal rights of European citizens, achieved immediately after WWII, when Europe was literally on her knees, and when, by inference, those costly rights should have been unthinkable.
In summary, the legitimization of Nazism is a sign that the European elites, rather than renouncing the achievements of their class-struggle in reverse, are ready for war. And supporting the Nazi squads in Ukraine is a prelude ….
And in such indexes, although small pins
To their subsequent volumes, there is seen
The baby figure of the giant mass
Of things to come at large.(1)
But even speculating that the no-vote or abstention was just meant as a support for the Ukrainian Junta, it is clear that the current Kiev regime has its ideological roots in the Nazi past.
Which is an insult to Ukraine’s recent history and to the millions of Ukrainians killed during the Patriotic War – whose name (Patriotic War), has now been officially changed to “World War II.” Furthermore, Ukrainian schools have been ordered to alter the content of all history text books accordingly, starting at the elementary level – an orgy of 1984’s vintage Orwell.
The no-vote on the motion in question, apart from its absurdity, shows the Western elites’ profound hatred of Russia, independently of Communism.
At the end of “War and Peace”, Tolstoy added a historical essay. He said that Napoleon, in his failed attempt to conquer Russia, represented another wave of the West attempting to drown the East, unsuccessfully. Maybe the East-West culture split can be traced to the Great Schism of 1054, between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. Or even further back, to the fourth century AD, when Emperor Diocletian proposed a Rome of the West and a Rome of the East. The latter then became Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Which, the Eastern, outlasted the Western Roman Empire by one thousand years.
Though not referring directly to Tolstoy, leaders in Russia and leaders of the resistance in SE Ukraine, have expressed the same idea. Napoleon did not succeed, nor did Hitler, and they are confident that a same attempt will meet an equal failure.
Even if appearances, at the moment, do not to support the confidence. See US vice president Joe Biden plus wife flying into Kiev – on Air Force One – to celebrate the anniversary of the Maidan protests that led to the coup and the current junta. Clearly a victory for the American-sponsored regime change, and for what the apostles of euphemism call democracy. An American and a family victory too, given that Biden’s son, Hunter, was also appointed as a board member of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma after the junta was installed.
There remains, however, a puzzle. Besides the no-vote in question, all European countries have also unanimously agreed to apply sanctions to Russia. Sanctions that damage the economies of the very European countries that imposed them. It seems absurd. What explanation can be given?
It is becoming ever more evident that the European Union is a costly project to subdue millions to the will of the few representing the dominant classes. And that the US has effectively colonized Europe’s elites. The very same elites who already forgot what the US Department of State thinks of them. “Fuck the Europeans” said Victoria Nuland, in probably the most candid expression, to date, of American foreign-policy philosophy and mentality. It is the same mentality that equated the dissolution of the Soviet Union to a successful regime-change in a banana republic. And that rates a civilization or a nation inferior, if the streets of her cities are not lined-up, wall-to-wall, end-to-end, with fast-food franchises, car lots, mini marts, gas stations and muggers.
Documents released by Wikileaks and other sources show that it is impossible to make a career in European politics without the support of the US. The careerists (especially politicians), must display complete allegiance. Allegiance entails rewards in profitable contracts, grants, occasional bribes or, if necessary, blackmail. It is not surprising that the NSA controls the entire extent of the EU and eavesdrops on all telephone calls (even Merkel’s, if readers have not already forgotten).
Little is needed – the exposure of an affair, a few hundred thousand euros of hidden income, the recording of an indiscrete telephone call – it would be enough, when leaked to the mainstream press, to destroy anyone, politically and economically.
Readers may remember the scaring stories about East Germany’s Stasi secret police. Compared to the practices of the NSA, Stasi’s surveillance was the work of amateurs. For example, the Stasi may have known who slept with whom, but lacked the recordings of discussions held during these intimate encounters. Besides, how many politicians are there on earth, who would not be vulnerable to blackmail in their personal life? And how many there are who would say no to the United States, knowing that such information is in US hands and can be used against them? Men are constitutionally alert to the concurrence of appetite and opportunity, and corruption is a winning and competitive brand. Besides, when a public or preferential position teems with many commodious consequences, who can without regret confess it to be false?! The enforcers of the ideology can count on a welcome reception by those on whom the ideology is enforced. The strength and unanimity of this alliance is not easily conceived.
…. thou visible god,
That solder’st close impossibilities,
And mak’st them kiss! that speak’st with every tongue,
To every purpose!(2)
(1) Troilus and Cressida
(2) Timon of Athens
PS The following link,
http://www.un.org/en/ga/third/69/docs/voting_sheets/L56.Rev1.pdf
shows the official voting record at the UN
In the play. Florizel, son of the king of Bohemia, has traveled to Sicilia with Perdita, the daughter of Leontes, king of Sicilia. A Lord announces the (at first hand unbelievable) event to Leontes.