Kavkazcenter.com
Sun, 04 24 2005, 17:51 Djokhar Time

The Doomed Empire

Any empire arises on a messianic idea. It is a rule without exception. The
messianic idea is always aggressive, as the carriers of this idea a priori
consider it to be “sacred”, “fair”. Therefore imposing of this idea to
neighbor peoples, whole continents, and even the whole world in opinion of
adherents of the empire becomes “service to good”, “duty”, etc.

The USA believe that they have the mission to distribute values of democracy
and market liberalism for the whole world. The Great Britain , capturing
colonies worldwide, in opinion of ideologists of an empire, such as R.
Kipling, had a civilization mission, “the burden of a white person”. The
French empire justified the expansion by the slogan of Napoleon III: “The
Empire is the world”. The Austro-Hungarian Empire developed as an advanced
post against Osmanli Turks, as a stronghold of “the Christian world”.
Ottoman Empire arose under the motto of restoration of Halifat that is one
state for all Moslems.

If to go further deep into history it will be found out, that Romans
considered their laws to be the most fair and consequently worthy to be
imposed to the whole world with force of the weapon, so that the whole world
would become Pax Romana. The empire of Alexander the Great was created in
the atmosphere of the Sun as the Macedonian tsar considered himself to be a
descendant of solar deities and he perceived as his lawful property the
whole world shined by the Sun. Kir the Great, the founder of the Persian
empire, was an admirer of doctrine of Zaratushtra, according to whom
Ahuramazda (the center of light) by means of his true attendants should win
and subdue the lands of Ariman (elements of a gloom). Assyrian tsars, who
created the most ancient empire, left numerous inscriptions, in which the
gain and enthrallment of other people was declared to be “the will of
Ashur”, the most high deity.

Russia stepped onto imperial path in the XV century at Ivan III, who married
the niece of the last Byzantium emperor Sofia Paleolog. Sofia arrived to
Moscow accompanied by Greek court, which soon became the closest surrounding
of the Great duke. Then for the first time they began talking about Moscow
as about “the third Rome ” (“the second Rome ” was Constantinople , won by
Osmanli Turks, the old center of orthodox Christianity). The doctrine of
“the third Rome ” connected the idea of an empire to the idea of orthodox
sacral mission together. In other words, exile of Turks from Constantinople
and ruthless struggle against Islamic people became that “messianic idea”,
on the basis of which the Russian empire began to be built (first,
theoretically). Marriage of the Great duke with the Byzantine princess gave
necessary political legitimacy to this messianic idea.

Since then crosses on domes of Russian orthodox temples began to trample on
a Muslim half moon. And since then (instead of since the church split in
1666 or even later, since Peter’s I reforms) the orthodox religion turned to
an ideological instrument of the empire. We shall note, that the struggle of
adherents of “primordially Russian Orthodoxy” with supporters of “the Greek
innovations” is, as a matter of fact, a struggle of supporters of Russia as
a national state with newly appeared adherents of Russia as an empire.
Naturally, the imperial authority in every possible way supported the latter
and subjected the firsts to the most severe reprisals.

During subsequent centuries the doctrine of an empire was corrected,
modernized, acquired political and geopolitical (“expansion up to natural
borders”) terminology. But the initial anti-Turkish and, more widely,
anti-Islamic impulse incorporated in the messianic idea of “the third Rome”,
once and for ever defined the main vector of the Russian expansion – to the
south and southeast. And the cross, according to this idea, should have
trampled on a half moon not only symbolically on domes of churches, but also
in reality, with a gain of Muslim lands.

Peter I, dying, left his well-known Will to the future Russian emperors, in
which he designated a gain of Constantinople as the maximum sense of
existence of the Empire. Ekaterina II, according to her own recognition,
named one of her grandsons Constantine for the reason, that even at her life
she expected to give him the throne of Constantinople , revived as an
orthodox city. The whole history of imperial Russia is an infinite list of
Russo-Turkish wars. The Caucasus and the Balkans were the nearest approaches
to Turkey . These regions till now remain “powder kegs” of the planet owing
to that continuous waves of Russian expansion to the south was carried out
through these thresholds for centuries, sometimes rolling through them.

It will take a lot of time to tell this story. Therefore we shall be limited
with theses. Turkey was rescued by jealousy of other imperial “predators” –
England and France , which were not going to suppose that only Russia would
get the “Turkish inheritance”. Struggle for “the Turkish inheritance” or the
inheritance of “a sick person” (this expression is a publicist stamp of that
time) underlay the extremely confused “east problem”, in the atmosphere of
solving of which the majority of wars were waged in Europe of the XIX
century.

The Caucasian war is one of the “sectors” of this fierce struggle for “the
Turkish inheritance”. Then the West ( England and France) was extremely
interested in successes of the army of Chechen and Avarian myurids battling
against Russia , but the whole support of this struggle was reduced, as well
as today, to creation of “Chechen committees” in European capitals. Turkey
also stayed idle, causing fury of imam Shamil, and though they perfectly
realized in Istanbul , that a long war of Russia in the Chechen Republic and
Dagestan was, basically, a fight for destruction of the last barrier in the
way of intrusion to Turkey .

The revolution in Russia . Lenin’s union with Ataturk. Then – Stalin’s
accession. Overcoming of distempers. And again Turkey , as a delusion,
emerges in geopolitical plans of the USSR . Today it is precisely known,
that Stalin had plans of occupation of Turkey , the lands of which ground,
as it follows from memoirs of the son of Beria, were decided to attach
partially to Armenia and Georgia . It was not realized, for the Second World
War though began according to Stalin’s plans, but was waged according to
Hitler’s plans, and came to the end according to plans of the Anglo-American
alliance. The moment of revival by Stalin of an orthodox patriarchy and
imperial military attributes of old Russia is also interesting here. Again,
already during the war, churches with crosses placed on a half moon began to
operate, and officers and generals of the Soviet army received grades, gold
shoulder-strips and lampas of period of the Empire. And a gain of Turkey
again was in plans.

The communistic idea of an empire also, certainly, was messianic, and,
accordingly, aggressive. “World revolution”, “releasing of the oppressed
mankind”, “the great emancipating campaign of the Red army” was the slogans
coding of global plans to capture the whole world. But the Soviet Union was
ruined.

What is now? Now the successor of the USSR – the Russian Federation – has
remained. The Russian Federation is an empire by definition, as an empire is
when one people (according to the Russian terminology – the “title” one)
subordinate to themselves one or several other peoples. Certainly,
submission of the people is carried out not by the Russian people
themselves. It is carried out by the president of the Russian Federation ,
the government, the army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and so
on. Russian people finance these structures by taxes and provide them with
their support. If Russians and even representatives of other people vote
against separation of any national formation from the Russian Federation ,
for example, the Chechen Republic , they vote for preservation of an empire.
And on the contrary. But we are speaking not about it.

For the first time in its history the Russian empire has remained without
messianic idea. Certainly, there are Russian geo-politicians, who realize
how much it is dangerous to an empire to remain without a sacral, offensive,
aggressive idea. Without such an idea the empire is doomed to fail, for its
political form (enthrallment of other people) is deprived of the
corresponding ideological content (“the sacred idea”, which would motivate
this submission in opinion of Russians). But these “realizing” geopolitics
remain a small group of intellectuals, who do not have much influence on the
Kremlin.

If the Russian empire is kept, we shall say so, in a political formation,
but is deprived of “the offensive messianic idea”; “the pragmatic defensive
idea” will inevitably be used instead of it. And this idea is already used –
“preservation of integrity of the Russian Federation “. The words said by
Putin after Beslan are remarkable, “There is an intervention of the
international forces against Russia “. These words and the policy of
preservation of the “integrity of the Russian Federation ” prove that the
empire has finally passed to defense. That is, it has passed to the idea,
opposite to that on the basis of which it was built, developed, extended and
became stronger.

The popular today nationalist idea in Russia can not rescue the empire, as
the nationalism of one people pushes away from them other people and does
disintegration of an empire faster and more catastrophic. Nationalism is a
centrifugal idea, as the centripetal idea is necessary for stable existence
of an empire. The nationalism can sometimes be a constructive idea for a
mono-national state; however this ideology is always destructive for
multinational empires. But there are no other ideologies in modern Russia .
The sub-national communistic idea is compromised by shattering defeat of the
USSR in the cold war, and the religion in Russian people is eradicated by
communism (Stalin advances with Orthodoxy came to an end with Khrushchev’s
coming to power).

The defending empire perishes, breaks up, and ceases to exist. It is the
same insuperable law of life, as sea inflow and ebbs. It is a question not
of a defensive war, but about “ideological defense”. The USA has a
messianic, offensive idea: export of democracy and consequently the USA can
become an empire (or if someone likes another term, “the center of
globalism”). Russia does not have such an idea any more. And an empire
becomes senseless without such an idea, people will not be at war for its
safety with sincere belief in sanctity of the mission, believing, that they
bear “happiness for the mankind”.

However there is a variant of shattering falling of the empire, and there is
a variant of its peace dismantle. The Kremlin has chosen the first variant.
Therefore we shall see the Apocalypses show in the nearest future.

Idris Maigov ,
Chechenpress