As the war goes on, a new paradigm emerges from the Anchorage summit
Patriarch Kirill praises the “expression of goodwill” by the two leaders of "the most powerful countries on the planet." Meanwhile, Russian bloggers and propagandists praise the “magnificent achievement” of peace with America “while in Donbass we continue to advance”. And for Moscow, Zelensky can come to the Kremlin to acknowledge his defeat.
The meeting in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, beyond the actual results and content of the negotiations, marked a shift in perspective in global geopolitical relations, much more than any possible solutions to the war in Ukraine.
The aim of both presidents was to rise above every other leader and country on the world stage, establishing themselves as emperors of the East and the West, builders of a new universal civilisation.
This is not just what many politicians, experts, and journalists are saying; it is an explicit proclamation by Moscow Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev), who backs the Kremlin leader in reviving the medieval dream of the great "Moscow as the Third Rome," and the "new Yalta" of world division.
Without waiting for the outcome of the Anchorage talks, Kirill led a moleben, a service of supplication on the morning of 15 August to accompany Putin on his flight to the "Orthodox land" on the border of the two worlds, which, he said, was heading toward "a fundamental change in the trajectory of relations between Russia and the United States."
The patriarch praised "the show of goodwill by the two leaders of the world's greatest nuclear powers”. In his address, he repeatedly emphasised the issue of nuclear weapons, not as a display of aggression, but as the "right condition" for those who truly want to establish universal peace, in the true spirit of Soviet-era rhetoric.
He mentioned "the dangers in the relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, which have persisted between Russia and America today," and therefore the new friendship forged between Donald and Vladimir “can influence the development of human civilisation as a whole more than anything else,” avoiding "coming close to anything less than the tragic demise of the human race," the apocalyptic dimension ever-present in the Russian soul.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church made no mention whatsoever of Ukrainian issues, not even the defence of the members of the pro-Russian Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), which Putin had cited as a condition for peace, along with the defence of the Russian language in Ukraine and the division of territories, an issue that has dragged on for centuries and which, in reality, does not interest the Russians.
According to Kirill, “our time is one that can open up new possibilities of development for all of human civilisation, in accordance with the right decisions of the leaders of Russia and the United States, as evidenced by the very fact that they decided to meet.”
This was the true purpose of the meeting; otherwise "they would not have risked ruining their reputations, and above all, the balance of international politics.” Instead, thanks to them, “the world can now breathe a sigh of relief.”
The purpose of the meeting was to “prevent any possibility of a real war between Russia and the United States," certainly not to intervene in the "special operation in Ukraine" that the Russians will continue in every possible way.
The patriarch insists, “we must ensure that all countries become allies in the best sense of the word, and full participants in practical and intellectual, political and cultural dialogue, to jointly decide the future destiny of the entire human family.”
This way, Russia will not limit itself to negotiations with America, but will “open itself to relations with the entire Western world,” emphasising that “the negotiations between the two heads of state are not directed against anyone else, but are intended to benefit many other peoples and states throughout the world.”
The concluding invocation of the patriarchal prayer was addressed to “Our Lord, that He may direct His benevolence to the leaders of the two most powerful states on the planet, to remove the threat of any conflict and to support friendship among all peoples.”
In addition to the revival of the great Soviet slogans about the "struggle for universal peace," which the young Bishop Kirill has been repeating since the 1970s at every international gathering, his words clearly demonstrate an apodictic interpretation of Orthodoxy, in which affirmation and denial are considered necessary: "true faith" cannot exist without the manifestation of an "other faith", Orthodoxy/Heterodoxy (Pravoslavie/Inoslavie, Православие/Инославие); there can be no East without West, in a more spiritual than geographical sense, meaning Light and Darkness, certainly not Asia and Europe, with which Russia has been confused since the Baptism of Kyiv.
The days following the Alaskan drama have indeed seen an uninterrupted continuation of Russian attacks in Ukraine, with drones and missiles coming from all sides as if nothing had happened.
The logic of war requires a continuation of the aggression in the summer version, as in the previous three years, deploying reserves of men and weapons until the colder months arrive. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side is still defending its positions in Donbass, where the Russians are advancing at a rate of about a hundred metres a day, and is trying to hit military and energy targets in various parts of Russia with drones, including around Moscow and St Petersburg.
Universal patriarchal ideals do not mesh well with the local reality of the disputed lands, even on a religious level: pro-Russian Orthodox Christians in Ukraine are waiting for Russia to prevail, while the civil authorities in Kyiv are threatening to ban them permanently, knowing full well they will never succeed.
The war continues. This is the true message of the Trump-Putin alliance: it will be a new version of the Cold War, more technological and digital, in which, in addition to missiles and tanks, messengers and social media will count, Russia's Max versus the West's WhatsApp, competing to see who can best control people's minds.
The West of America and Europe is pitted against the East of Russia and China. While the real economic power is in Beijing, the military knife is in Moscow; indeed, Russian soldiers are training the Chinese in invasion tactics, anticipating a possible new episode of the truly "hot" war on the island of Taiwan. For their part, Europeans are wondering how many weapons and soldiers they need to deploy on the Ukrainian border, perhaps invoking NATO's Article 5, pretending it is not NATO.
The emperor of Washington now demands the Nobel Peace Prize, so the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia have decided to jointly sign the request, even though they have not yet signed the peace treaty as pledged in the other American charade.
Trump constantly repeats that he has already ended at least six wars, when the only real agreement signed in his presence was between Congo and Rwanda, which, moreover, continue to calmly fight each other like Russia and Ukraine.
Trump's "seventh seal" will eventually take place in the Kremlin, which the American dreams of visiting far more than Putin dreams of entering the White House, even considering his visits to the UN headquarters in New York.
Meanwhile, many Russian bloggers and propagandists continue to repeat that the war goes on, all very enthusiastic after the Alaska summit.
As Yegor Kholmogorov writes, “Putin has achieved a fantastic diplomatic victory, without giving up on anything,” while Akim Apachev notes that “Putin is no longer a scoundrel for the West; Trump has restored his status as a world-class politician, one to shake hands with... this does not prevent us from continuing to wage war, even if it is a new starting point."
Orthodox oligarch Konstantin Malofeev states that “we must acknowledge that Putin is, as always, the best in the world at negotiations: there is peace with America, while in Donbass we continue to advance,” and Eurasianist ideologue Alexander Dugin sums up the situation saying: “we must congratulate everyone on this magnificent summit, winning on everything and losing on nothing, something only Tsar Alexander III knew how to do... There is still much to do, but we must not be afraid of peace negotiations like Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Putin knows how to get to the bottom of things.”
Now we wait for Putin's decisive meeting with Zelensky, provocatively proposed at the Kremlin, implying that the defeated subject must prostrate himself at the feet of the victorious tsar.
Both Russian and international commentators doubt that Putin will agree to see the Ukrainian “Nazi” on neutral territory, even in Viktor Orban's friendly Hungary; at most, he will send a delegation slightly more authoritative than the “working group” at the meetings in Istanbul, continuing to stall negotiations in favour of theatrics, because “the war must go on”.
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20/03/2021 11:50
19/03/2021 16:01
