FROM OUR REPORTER
MOSCOW – In Vladimir Putin’s worldview, the source of danger has always been a constantly moving target. It could have been Chechen terrorism, pedophilia, it could have been gays, it could have been Ukraine and of course the United States maneuvering behind the scenes against the welfare of Russia. But it always had to be a threat. In the recent past, this has been the way of generating a sense of belonging among citizens without certainties, perhaps for fear of the decline in their purchasing power, of the deterioration in everyday life. I can’t make you richer, but I can make you feel part of something bigger. And I’m the only person who guarantees that.
With Tuesday’s speech, one of the most eagerly awaited of recent years, which was also broadcast on the screens of the university’s lecture halls for those who could not watch TV, this bond became even closer and gave the impression of having become inseparable. The overview of Gostiny Dvor, the courtyard of the guests, an exhibition building converted into a meeting hall not far from St. Basil’s Cathedral, said a lot before one heard a single word. Almost all of the people who were talked about so much during that tragic year were there. Politicians, hawks, doves, oligarchs, intellectuals, artists. This unprecedented lineup, ready to applaud on command, to listen without batting an eye to highly questionable statements such as that about the US and NATO building nuclear and chemical laboratories in Ukraine, is already the sign of an implicit one Surrender. There are no possible alternatives, not now, not here.
SPECIAL Ukraine: a year of war
Now it’s just a matter of rallying around the figure who, over the last twenty years, has risen from being the quiet force that guaranteed stability to being the man of destiny. There are not many enemies left, there is only one, large and well-defined. “You,” the word Putin repeats several times, occasionally waving his hand outward in a gesture as if he were unconsciously pointing outward. “They” are the past. He never talks about it in the present, the former world no longer exists, the collective West is a hostile entity plotting to annihilate Mother Russia. With the “unscrupulous lies and lies of the elites”, who would also make pacts with the Nazis, terrorists or with the “bald devil”, a Russian expression for the highest evil, in order to damage his country. But also with the corruption of morals.
Yesterday, as usual, the passage about the lifestyle of the enemies “who celebrate same-sex marriages and are in the process of legalizing pedophilia” caused a stir mixed with outrage. But he really believes it, as evidenced by the expression on his face and the disgusted tone with which he uttered those sentences. From 2013, after the major protests of the previous year that united the main opposition leaders, it was the fight against the “other and perverted” that allowed him to reunite his electorate, to give it a purpose, to create one new enemy within, another collective obsession.
Angela Merkel was right, Putin thinks what he says and vice versa. There were no major surprises in the speech to the United Chambers, if any, the emphasis on a status quo, the affirmation of a method and a direction on a path of no return. Every bridge behind you has been burned down, there will be no more thoughts. Victimizing the Russian people, oppressed by the West, is a lever that pays well for the older population, their strongest ally. In a speech that was primarily aimed at internal parties, the invitation to unity was rejected with the verbs into the future, we will do, we will build, we will provide, and promises and projects were listed, “for which I am committed have already consulted with the government”. Progress under the banner of absolute self-sufficiency. The usual references to multilateralism were also absent, just a brief mention, no mention of key allies like India or China. As if Russia were wrapping itself around itself and its own beliefs. We do it ourselves and we make it, is the message. Even the decision to suspend participation in the NPT is symbolic of this desire to burn all bridges and redefine a New World Order. It was the last remaining arms control agreement between the United States and Russia.
But maintaining this balance requires another element, the crucial one. In calm tones, without any proclamation, between one announcement and another of economic support for the company, the President introduced into his speech the concept of existential war on which the fate of all Russia depends. A master of allusive speaking, he has hinted that the Military Special Operation will last a long time, renewing his implicit pact with the people, partial welfare in exchange for support centered only on himself. With that, all formalities were settled. Putin is free to follow the idea that seems ingrained in his mind: peace against “you” can only be a fragile anomaly. And so war becomes an inevitable fate.