Lose it good and hard, in an utterly humiliating fashion.
Because nothing less will suffice to destabilize Putin's regime.
More importantly, nothing less will suffice to realign Russia towards the West.
This actually goes back to he 19th Century. Among the literate minority of Russians who could take any meaningful interest in politics at all, there was a divide between "Westernizers" and "Slavophiles."
The Westernizers wanted Russia to abolish serfdom, adopt constitutional parliamentary government, and generally to modernize, to get in step with the rest of Western civilization.
The Slavophiles said waitaminnit, Russia isn't part of Western civilization. We are our own civilization. And our civilization is based on absolute monarchy, feudal aristocracy, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. We need to stay true to ourselves.
I'm sure nobody here will deny that, in hindsight, the Westernizers were right and the Slavophiles were wrong.
Eventually, Russia took a third option, Marxist Communism -- a Western idea, from a German philosopher, but not what the Westernizers had in mind.
Ever since they scrapped Communism, Russia seems to be headed in a Slavophile direction -- which is exactly the wrong way to go. They need a course correction. One that would make Russia a potential member of the European Union and NATO.
And they won't get one while Putin rules. What Putin wants is to make Russia a world power of the first rank once again. Like it was when the Communists ruled. Like it was when the tsars ruled. And the international community cannot afford to tolerate that possibility.
Because nothing less will suffice to destabilize Putin's regime.
More importantly, nothing less will suffice to realign Russia towards the West.
This actually goes back to he 19th Century. Among the literate minority of Russians who could take any meaningful interest in politics at all, there was a divide between "Westernizers" and "Slavophiles."
The Westernizers wanted Russia to abolish serfdom, adopt constitutional parliamentary government, and generally to modernize, to get in step with the rest of Western civilization.
The Slavophiles said waitaminnit, Russia isn't part of Western civilization. We are our own civilization. And our civilization is based on absolute monarchy, feudal aristocracy, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. We need to stay true to ourselves.
I'm sure nobody here will deny that, in hindsight, the Westernizers were right and the Slavophiles were wrong.
Eventually, Russia took a third option, Marxist Communism -- a Western idea, from a German philosopher, but not what the Westernizers had in mind.
Ever since they scrapped Communism, Russia seems to be headed in a Slavophile direction -- which is exactly the wrong way to go. They need a course correction. One that would make Russia a potential member of the European Union and NATO.
And they won't get one while Putin rules. What Putin wants is to make Russia a world power of the first rank once again. Like it was when the Communists ruled. Like it was when the tsars ruled. And the international community cannot afford to tolerate that possibility.
