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Apostles of war. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin


https://www.ipn.md/index.php/en/apostles-of-war-op-ed-by-victor-pelin-7978_1095052.html

”The evens in Ukraine have a major impact on the Republic of Moldova, which is believed to have the potential to become the next victim of the apotheosis of war in particular circumstances. And it does not go only to statements made by apostles of war in the imperial movement of the Izborsky Club. Things are much more serious as high-ranking Russian officials do not stop threatening the Republic of Moldova that it can follow the fate of Ukraine for the simple reason that it tries to defend itself somehow...”
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Apotheosis of war

It will be soon a year since Russia started the so-called special military operation in Ukraine. In this connection, the most ardent supporters of the Putinist war launched a real operation that can be called the apotheosis of war. Currently, Putin’s bellicose fans are conducting a bitter struggle for the title of the main ideologist of war. Evidently, the competitors for the title consciously ignore the very well-known consequences of wars, imprinted on one of the famous paintings of the renowned Russian painter Vasily Vereshchagin, who on the frame of his masterpiece wrote: Devoted to all the winners – from the past, the present and the future. We, those from the Republic of Moldova, are directly concerned about the mentioned events and their protagonists as the current ideologists and apostles of war constituted special organizations that aim to restore the Russian empire. These organizations include active politicians of the Republic of Moldova and this can have tragic consequences for our country if the necessary measures are not taken to counteract such approaches.

The head of the Izborsky Club Alexander Prokhanov, who several years ago opened a branch of his imperial organization here, in Chisinau, is an aspirant for the supreme title of apostle of war. Currently, the apostle of war is preoccupied with the revision of the Alphabet of war that, after a series of old letters of the Russian alphabet, not long ago also incorporated two letters of the Latin alphabet: Z and V. Respectively, according to this, the history of Russia returns to the history of the world through the roar of cannons and tanks, sighs of grieving mothers, in the footsteps of battalions that go to the front… . This bellicose approach would give birth to the new victorious elites of Russia…, which include the members of the Isborsk Club who plead for a Russia from Vladivostok up to Tiraspol, including the territories of Ukraine and Transnistria etc. To achieve these desiderata, the authorities of Russia should act exclusively through the angle of the war memory. A proof of the fact that the victory depends on the activation of the war memory is that: “After forgetting the war, Nicolas II lost the Empire and died a horrible death in the basement of the Ipatiev House. Stalin remembered the war and was preparing for the inevitable battle against fascism… and therefore won.

Is there a difference between My Battle and My War?

If we are urged to live with the memory of war, we should also remember: a) Stalin’s friendship with Hitler, the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Secret Protocol by which Europa was divided between the two tyrants; b) the parade of Hitler’s and Stalin’s armies in Brest, after the occupation and division of Central Europe; c) Molotov’s visit to Berlin and the discussions with Hitler about the division of the spheres of influence at global level, etc. At least this is what the memory of war requires for being complete and that turns out to be ignored by the Putinist apogee of the war, which underlies the given term. Prokhanov’s competition for the title of the main apostle of war was also joined by the famous Aleksandr Dugin, who eight years ago wrote his masterpiece – Ukraine: My War – that now puts him in the privileged situation of being able to firmly answer the Putinist propaganda’s question, where have you been the last eight years?

What impresses in Dugin is that he wasn’t afraid to be accused of plagiarizing Nazi leader Hitler who entitled his main work somehow evasively Mein Kampf (My Battle), while Dugin avoided subterfuges and titled his work My War in which he rendered homage to Putin for annexing Crimea and for inciting the war in Donbas. It is this way clear where Vladimir Putin drew his inspiration from when he formulated the powerful ideas based on which he undertook to build a new world order. Especially because Vladimir Putin even sincerely admitted that the reference person was Ivan Ilyin, the author of the work About Russian Fascism that impressed him so much: “I read Ilyin, I read him permanently… I have a book on the shelf and often take and read it”. In such a light, it is evident that Prokhanov and Dugin are just poor epigones of Ivan Ilyin. 

Reactions of Moldovan authorities...

The evens in Ukraine have a major impact on the Republic of Moldova, which is believed to have the potential to become the next victim of the apotheosis of war in particular circumstances. And it does not go only to statements made by apostles of war in the imperial movement of the Izborsky Club. Things are much more serious as high-ranking Russian officials do not stop threatening the Republic of Moldova that it can follow the fate of Ukraine for the simple reason that it tries to defend itself somehow.

We should now stay crooked and think right notwithstanding our attitude to the current government that is full of sins. Where the Moldovan authorities right when they decided to ban the symbols Z” and “V” of the Russian war against Ukraine? Currently, when the apostles of war themselves confirm that the given symbols are part of the Alphabet of war, we should all accept that they were right. Surely, any war propaganda should be banned. Who of the Moldovan politicians pleaded in favor of the symbols of war? Mainly those from the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) who form part of the Russian imperial movement of the Izborsky Club, which is not at all accidentally. They refuse to condemn the war, waiting tacitly for the Black swan. Respectively, not accidentally the PSRM slowly but definitively dismembers, without the involvement of the government.

The Moldovan authorities are right now that they introduced criminal punishment for promoting separatism? The apostles of war from the imperial movement themselves warned us long ago that they intend to annex parts of the territory of the Republic of Moldova, while Putin told us about the so-called presents of the Russian people that he intends to claim back, giving Ukraine as an example of how he intends to do it. Only now we realize that the criminal punishment for separatism should have been introduced back in 2014, when Russia’s methods of inciting separatism became clear and one of the apostles of war was writing his work My War... At least this is how Kazakhstan acted as in 2014 it introduced Article 180. Separatist Activity in the Penal Code. This stipulates harsh punishments not only for concrete actions, but also for declared intentions. Consequently, the authors of pro-separatist statements now have to apologize publicly when they are summoned.

In the context of the aforementioned, it is strange that the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah, who also took part in the constitution of the branch in the Republic of Moldova of the Russian imperial movement, distancing herself later from the PSRM, says now that “by the freedom of expression, Moldova is close to Sudan and Libya”. Missis Vlah probably has some debts owed to the sponsors in Russia to clear and this way dares to make inflated statements. Or she would have known that one of the most respected international organizations of journalists – Reporters with Borders – in 2022 ranked the Republic of Moldova 40th by the freedom of expression, while Russia took the 155th spot out of 180 states. Apropos, the situation in Sudan (151th place) and Libya (143rd) concerning the freedom of expression is better than that in Russia. Or maybe Missis Vlah is also an innocent victim of fake news spread by Sputnik-Moldova? Anyway, we should realize that if, as Missis Vlah considers, the situation in Libya and Sudan is absolutely condemnable, than it is even more condemnable in the case of Russia. Respectively, we should admit that the government acted correctly when it blocked, but only temporarily, the broadcasting in the Republic of Moldova of TV channels and portals from Russia. So, in the times of the apotheosis of war, it is absolutely right to adopt appropriate protection decisions.