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| Ambassador Rogozin |
Reply to Dmitri Rogozin's Article on Russia and Europe
Ответ на статью Дмитрия Рогозина об отношениях между Россией и Европой
Risposta all' articolo di Dmitri Rogozin sui rapporti fra Russia ed Europa
Réponse à l'article de Dmitri Rogozin sur les rapports entre la Russie et l'Europe
Antwort zu Dmitri Rogozins Artikel ueber Russland und Europa
The
article of His Excellence Dmitry Rogozin "Repeating the abduction of Europe (in http://natomission.ru/en/society/article/society/artnews/42/) touches some themes which are at the
center of my blog http://www.europestwolongs.blogspot.com,
with a freedom of judgment which is appreciable in a diplomat.
Although
we completely subscribe to the central thesis of Mr. Rogozin, i.e., that “juxtaposing Europe and Russia” amounts
to “a profound delusion and
misinterpreting the whole is blind to history”, we have some precisions to
add as to certain aspects of the mutual relationships of these two areas, which
are dealt with in details in our blog.
1.Europe,
the West and the South
I
remark preliminary that the Straights of Bering and even Vladivostok
are much more “eastern” than Indonesia
proper and the island of Moro in the Philippines,
the more Eastern countries of Islamic Faith, and that Senegal and Morocco,
the most Western parts of Islam, are more “Western” than Iceland and Portugal.
In
practice, the “West” is in reality just the North of the Planet, and both
Europe and Russia, but also
the United States and Canada, belong
to it. At its turn, the Islamic town of Kazan is
on the same parallel of Moscow, Edinburgh
and Belfast, i. es., more “Northern” than Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels.
So, one has to be cautions in utilizing geographic metaphors for designating
cultural identities.
The
latter may be traced, and even with difficulty, thanks to historical,
philosophical and political concepts, more than to geographic ones.
Personally,
I find that “Western Civilizations” are characterized first of all by their
common descent from the Old Testament; hence, they include both Islam and
Western Secularism, but all of them differ from the “Eastern” traditions of San
Jião and from the “Southern” traditions of animism and pantheism.
Within
this broad “Western Cultural Area” there is a “tighter” “circle”of “European” culture,
which is characterized by the acceptance of the continuity of the Roman
tradition, through the “Translatio
Imperî” via the “Three Romes”;
hence, Western Europe, Russia and Turkey, whilst the USA, the Shiite Islamic
countries and Israel do not want to pertain to this “core Europe”, because they
reject a legitimization through the theory of the “Three Romes”, seeking their
own, messianic, forms of historical legitimation.
2.Russia
in Europe
The
whole of my blog is devoted to void the prejudice, which His Excellence very
appropriately calls “Repeating the
abduction of Europe”, according to which Europe and Russia are “completely distinct
civilizations with manifestly dissimilar values”.
My
blog tries to demonstrate this point of view by dealing with a lot of specific
historical and cultural phases, where the role of Russia
and of Europe is absolutely interchangeable
(migrations of the peoples, Eastern and Græco-Roman influences, Absolutism,
Enlightenment, European Federalism, Romanticism, Nationalism, Marxism, a s.o.).I
hope that my objective has been achieved, since statistics show that a growing
number of readers oall over Europe are
following attentively my posts.
3.West and South
According
to my point of view, the “South” of the World should not encompass Islam, which
is so similar to Europe that many if the characteristics of Europe
came even from it. When young, the present Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan used
to say that, should all Europeans convert to Islam, nobody would even perceive a
difference.
Let’s
mention the objective of the unification of the World which was anticipated in Dante’s
idea of the Christian Empire, but whose model was the Caliphate; the main
features of Catholic and Evangelic theologies (aristotelism, averroism, thomism);
the national characters of Spain, Southern Italy and the Balcanic States
(besides the ones of many Republics of the Russian Federation) which are deeply
impressed by mysticism, Islamic architecture and Arabic or Turkish linguistics.
It
is true that Islam participates, today, to an external pressure exerted on “the
West” by other parts of the World, for changing the present cultural and political balance of the
same. However, this pressure does not come, primarily, from Islam, which is
partially “internal” to the West, and is also politically weak, but, rather,
from the Far East. The changes which will
likely derive from these pressures are an open question, that needs to be
addressed attentively by public opinions, intellectuals and authorities.
However, some form of change is needed in Europe’s best interest, because the
present balance of the West is too much unbalanced Westwards, so that many
“typically European” values, like spirituality, culture, excellence, are
sacrificed to performance, economy, technology, profit, and this leads to that overall
cultural crisis of Western Europe that the Ambassador correctly denounces.
Such
balance shift would not not mean, according to us, a demise of the European
Identity, but, on the contrary, the re-discovery of its most deep-rooted
origins, which include the ancient Middle East, the Peoples of the Steppes, the
Arab Philosophy as well as the heritage of the German, Russian, Austrian and Ottoman
Empires.
According
to us, a Europe which would become more “Eastern and Southern” will be much
nearer to Russia than the Europe of today. At the end of the day, the Polovcy of the Slovo o Polku Igoreva, the Khazars,the Shagané, Hadji Murad, Chakovskij
and Diagilev are an integral part of Russian Culture, in the same way as Averroes, Suleiman the Magnificent and Orhan
Pamuk are full-fledged Europeans.
4.The Role of Russia
We
agree that, so as his Excellence affirms, Russia is exercising already now a
role as a guardian of European culture. That role was expressed very
appropriately, in his times, by Tjutchev,
by his expression “the Russian Arch”,
which has been utilized again by Sokurov,
for his film bearing the same name. This expression means that Russia has absorbed so much the culture of Europe, that it is in a condition to preserve such
culture inside itself even in these times, when it risks to be overwhelmed by globalization.
However,
it is globalization, not “the South”, that endangers Europe’s
culture and future.
As
outlined in our blog, we recognise a certain well-groundedness in the idea that Europe is
culturally in decadence, and Russia
is in the side of the future. This idea has not been invented either by Russian
nationalists, nor by the newly born Russian Federation, but, on the
contrary, has been a constant theme for a large part of European intelligencija,
from Križanić to Kühlmann, from Leibniz to Herder, from
Von Baader to Krüdener, from De Maistre
to Nietzsche.
In
the present days’ turmoil of the European Union, Russia is indeed the sole country
with a clear cut vision for the future of the whole Continent, and having the
means for implementing it.
However,
this extraordinary opportunity, that Russia
presently has, could be jeopardized easily, as it happened after the Congress
of Vienna, when Russia did
not succeed to have its proposals about the nature of the Holy Alliance
endorsed by Austria
and England,
and this brought about a continuous conflict between Great Powers and
nationalities.
Joseph De Maistre,
author of “Les Soirees de St. Petersburg”,
whilst leaving his long-term assignment as the Ambassador in Russia of the Kingdom
of Sardinia, affirmed: “Russia could have done so much for Europe but has done nothing”.
For
being able to exploit the present opportunities, both Russia and Europe
should focus much more on the study of their cultural traditions and on the
ways in which they could foster cooperation alongside such traditions.
5.From the Atlantic to Urals
It
is also true that today De Gaulle’s
slogan is outdated. First of all, De
Gaulle left the power more than 40 years ago, and the world has changed
dramatically, emphasizing large distances and brood spaces.
Secondly,
he was, unfortunately, no more successful, in implementing his vision, than
Tsar Aleksandr 1st in implementing his one.
It
goes without saying that Russia
is not limited to Urals, but includes also Siberia, Donji Vostok and a lot of Asiatic Republics.
A
project for a really united Europe should have
a consideration also for the future of such territories.
It
is also true that Russia is
doing very much in Siberia, and the visit of Nr. Barroso and Mr. Solana in Khabarovsk should have
been very instructive for them under this point of view.
It
is true, finally, that economic cooperation with West Europeans for Siberia will be the best way for assuring the European
character of that area. Very good examples exist, such as the collaboration
with the Italian Alenia and Pininfarina, for the production, in Komsomolsk na Amure, of
the “Sukhoi Superjet 100”.
However, long term problems for Siberia exist,
and they should become an item of Euro-Russian discussions.
6.Operational suggestions
We
hope that the article of Mr. Rogozin will be useful for persuading diplomatic,
political and cultural circles, that a further reflection on the theme of the
cultural interrelationships between Russia
and Europe is urgent, for being able to lay
the grounds of a necessary cooperation between the two areas in many and many
fields.
Our
blog cited above is a first tentative to find a ground where, by the
utilization of modern technologies, Europeans of the East and of the West may discuss about their common
problems.
We
would be happy to have also the Ambassador Rogozin and other Russian diplomats
on our pages.
