SINTEZA 8/AUGUST 2014

The Loneliness of the East and the Sadness of the Rag Dolls

In a study that became famous, back in the year 2000, Samuel Huntington spoke about the loneliness of a great power in a unipolar world, and I personally, not being specialized in geopolitics, believed that it was more of an ideological matter meant to propell some sort of American politics on arming, something ideological, such as the writings produced by Rand Corporation. “Lonely Superpower” seemed to be a concept that could be used to make goosy nations fall asleep. But I was wrong then, I didn’t anticipate, although there were still a few months left, the September 11 event and a few other events that were evolving. The awakening of the Eastern BEAR was also hard to anticipate. Huntington observed rightfully so that USA was not to be helped by partners, except for Great Britain, in its attempt to exert hegemony or to put into practice the harmonious, utopica pax americana, that brings harmony without conflict and confrontation.

Europe’s dance with its secondary powers (France, Germany) was and still is a dance of the wolves. They are afraid of the expansion of the alpha male, and therefore try to limit the territories. Evidently, with the grace and astuteness that can be refined in an exceptional way by a millenary culture. NATO is a good structure, any German will tell you so, it delivers public goods, security or trust, but it does not have gas resources. The Supermega power, The Great Sheriff of the World Order, has reasons to feel the loneliness. Of course, a form of loneliness manifested way up high.

But the loneliness of the East is even greater. The Eastern countries, “the territory between Germany and Russia”, as many people say, have reasons to feel a greater loneliness. It is not hard to become conscious of it, for it already is a historical loneliness. People have been feeling it for hundreds of years and maybe they even found defence mechanisms to help them escape the paralysis generated by fear.

The historical loneliness of these countries made them develop neurotic survival mechanisms in the desert without horizon.

They lobotomize themselves by making cut-outs that are not permitted in the collective memory of their people. Out of fear and loneliness the Eastern countries don’t have the courage to talk, or at least of saying things out loud regarding “the treason of the West”. Their history books lack important episodes, especially the great treasons that occurred at the end of the Second World War. Even if a lot of time went by, authorities in the eastern countries rarely address the Keelhaul Operation, the “Polish corridor” (“the Polish corridor doesn’t deserve the bones of a single British grenadier” - Chamberlain), and even if they decided to address it, they would do it in a quiet voice. The Munich Conference does not constitute a political subject, nor does the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, or the crimes that took place in Katin, or the treasons of Europe and America at Yalta.

Servility and self-mutilation was another reaction. In order not to kill the dream of every generation, that of being able to step into the world with the head up, accompanied by the big brother, it was accepted that there was a need to privatize the resources with the help of the

Greek state, although a bankrupt state (the Romanian state, for instance, is poorly managed), or with the help of the Austrian state, such states were supposedly worthy enough to take our telecommunication and oil. They believed that they heard a voice saying to them that democracy is more important than economy and they end up killing their capital every day for the sake of foreign capital.

Aberrant leadership models were promoted. Their leaders believed that they had to become strong regional leaders in order to be noticed by the bigger or smaller leaders of Mister Superpower. They strengthened the central power to the detriment of the autonomy of the communities, gave away country resources to trans-national companies and avoided making courageous decisions for they wanted to do is please the Big Brother. They tried to mutilate democracy and ride the justice, in the name of the principle according to which the vote of the masses is the only way of justifying different political reasons, such approaches became reason of state.

They preferred to pretend to be pro-Americans, but at feasts and celebrations, or when the media wasn’t there, enough words were found to state that if the masses vote, London and Washington have no say in it.

Some Eastern countries are already tired, and out of fear or loneliness, start to negotiate with Russia. More or less discretely this is happening. A few things were apprehended from what happened in 1940, and during the years that followed, and consequently they stepped on principles, and ignored the will of the people.

Although it might seem that it is a resembling loneliness, it is in fact just a deceiving similitude. The loneliness of the East is neurotic, dysfunctional and dissolutive. It’s been active for over 100 years as a way of justifying abomination, treason, aberrant internal domination and the exploitation of the lowest passions of the masses. Plus the illusion that our suffering is original therefore we can create original democracies and mended constitutions.

The Eastern countries discovered another simple aspect: the antidote to their historical loneliness is the construction of some intelligent states. Instead of some neighbouring strategic aggressive defence ideology meant to hide the internal weaknesses, one would better prefer to plan ahead an internal systemic stability that facilitates the connexion to the politics of the Lonely Universal Sheriff. An intelligent state must be neither a slave, nor an applauder of the great powers, but a state that can build an inner moral force that would provide internal force and external respect. This state respects principles and doesn’t obey interests, not even partner interests, and therefore it becomes predictable and easy to integrate into a defence system. An intelligent state continuously accumulates resources, doesn’t function only as a consumer, but plans its future, makes strategic changes only in accordance with the way things evolve rather than according to minor interests or government changes.

The intelligent state keeps people alive, creative, with initiative and trust in the future, and the leaders can only be the same way.

In the slops of the East politicians get drunk, slam the tables and declare that they are independent of Europe and of the American hegemony. In the early hours they sing in tongues adapted to nation expectancies: we are Romanians, we are Hungarians, we are Bulgarians… Early in the morning, they reach their offices and desperately seek Uncle Sam’s messages in order to know what they are supposed to do that day. They find nothing, the fax machines are empty and the mail boxes are empty. If they woke up, they would be aware of the disaster, of the one hundred years of solitude that never seem to end transforming them into rag dolls. The Americans are not coming anymore, as they didn’t arrive when our grandparents were lighting

fires on hills while waiting for them. The Americans do pass by from time to time, but they encounter the loneliness of some rag dolls waiting to be moved by somebody. But these Americans are selective, they know no history or geography, feel no pity and don’t show understanding, they want to become friends with people that are alive.