Translated material
Under the blue sky there is a golden city. Dreams of a “Russian Taiwan”
Garry Kasparov, a member of the “Russian Democratic Platform” in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, prepared an appeal for the next session of this organization, in which he called on Western countries to help formalize the “political subjectivity” of Russians who are opponents of the current Russian regime.
This idea is not new - the former world chess champion and one of Vladimir Putin's most radical opponents has expressed it before. The manifesto of the Free Russia Forum directly speaks of a quasi-state formation that would shelter all the “good Russians.” Some laugh bitterly at yet another utopian project, others wince at yet another attempt by Russian emigration to defend their interests in the context of Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
Some posts have been shortened.
Appeal of the Free Russia Forum to European countries
The great war in Europe is already in its fifth year. And the free world still does not have a clearly formulated strategy to counter Putin’s fascism.
Putin's Russia is not just a dictatorship. This is a war machine. War is not a remedy for her. War for her is a form of life. Today it is destroying Ukraine. Tomorrow will bring further death and destruction - wherever it encounters weakness and unpreparedness for confrontation. Talking about a truce with Putin's Russia is cowardice and self-deception. As long as this regime exists, the war will continue and grow. The only thing that can bring peace to Europe is the complete elimination of the Putin regime.
But we need to clearly understand something else: without an alternative to Putin’s power, no free future for Russia is possible.
Such an alternative should arise now - from Russian citizens who have broken all ties with the regime and are ready to create a new political matrix to fight the dictatorship. It is this force that must become a political subject capable of taking on historical responsibility for the country after the collapse of the current government.
Today, anti-Putin Russians find themselves in a strange and humiliating position. For the Kremlin they are enemies, and for the West they are second-class citizens. Russians who have broken with the Putin system have literally nowhere to go today. But the war should not be waged against the Russians as a people, but against the source of war, terror and aggression. The free world must finally see the difference between Putin's state and those Russians who have broken with it and are ready to actively resist it.
The war should not be waged against the Russians as a people
We are still in the minority. But there are millions of us. And we are a huge force.
This force needs political subjectivity. We need a kind of “Russian Taiwan” - an extraterritorial quasi-state entity that will become an assembly point for all Russian citizens who do not want to identify themselves with Putin’s fascism.
It is this “Russian Taiwan” that can become a key success factor - both for countering Russian aggression today and for rebuilding post-Putin Russia tomorrow.
If Europe really wants victory over Putin's fascism, it must recognize and support a political alternative to it - an organized, institutionalized force capable of uniting all Russian citizens who want to end Putin's nightmare and build a new, modern and free country from the ruins of the empire.
The best of everything possible.
It's just a pity that it's not feasible.
Idealism is not applicable to the Russian Federation.
What prevented the creation of this “Russian Taiwan” in that part of the Kursk region that was liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for six months?
I admit, I was slightly puzzled by the statement of my respected Garry Kasparov regarding the creation of “Russian Taiwan”, set out in the “Address of the Free Russia Forum to the countries of Europe”, which will be read today at PACE.
The idea is clear. In the age of the Internet and social networks, the idea of a virtual state is an antidote to the revenge of the anachronism of conquest and chronic aggression, and the idea of extraterritoriality is close and attractive to me. Like the idea of rhizomes and horizontal structures instead of hierarchies
Even if I personally don’t want to be part of anything newly formed “Russian”, this is my personal position. I know many adequate and decent people who strive for such unification
But what will unite these people? Common enemy? Ideas put into words?
Actually, it was the linguistic aspect of this text by the respected Garry Kasparov that confused me most of all.
Words always say more than the speaker.
To begin with, I was very puzzled by the adjective “Russian” in the title. "Russian Taiwan".
Well, ok, let's assume that when translated into English and other languages this distinction is lost. But we are talking about Russia, and here the replacement of “Russian” with “Russian” is read quite clearly.
Secondly—and this is directly related—in the entire long text I never saw the word “colonies” or any other cognate word.
Nor have I encountered any hints of other nations living on the territory of the current aggressive KGB/FSB empire of the Russian Federation, which Kasparov, like all oppositionists, prefer to call “Putin’s regime.” As if, by switching on a different regime, decolonization and replacement of the mentality of the population automatically occurs.
In the last paragraph of the text the word "empire" suddenly appears. After its collapse, something beautiful should emerge from the rubble. Either they will write our names, or “out of an unkind heaviness I will someday create something beautiful.”
But there is nothing in the text about the empire and the colonial nature of the current Russian aggression and its previous aggressions.
It says "Putin's Russia is not just a dictatorship. It is a war machine. War for it is not a means. War for it is a form of life."
What kind of “machine” is this if not an empire in its main function of conquest and suppression?
And further - a call to Europe "But the war should not be waged against the Russians as a people, but against the source of war, terror and aggression."
And again - we follow the words - we see the word “Russians” when talking about the 200 peoples inhabiting this territory. Every fourth resident of the current Russian Federation is NOT RUSSIAN.
“The war should not be waged against the Russians as a people, but against the source of war, terror and aggression. The free world must finally see the difference between Putin’s state and those Russians who have broken with it and are ready to actively resist it.”
From the text I didn’t understand where this “source of war, terror and aggression” is located, if not in the heads and mentality and, accordingly, the actions or lack thereof of those same Russians?
Where is the “source of war, terror and aggression” if not in the heads of those same Russians?
Or Russians?
Please explain.
How will the world understand this difference if even the most adequate opponents of the regime continue to confuse basic concepts and operate with an imperial picture of the Russian world?
(even if not consciously - the more symptomatic is the depth of this subconscious)
And no, I don't mince words. Behind every word is an iceberg of unprocessed history in one’s own mentality. And the time bomb - “we can repeat it.”
My doubts are connected precisely with this. Without this hard critical work of self-reflection and reinvention of ourselves, no future is possible.
And before talking about what Europe and the world owe to the Russians, I propose to talk about the responsibility of Russians to the world for what Russia does not only in Ukraine, but with the world and in the world as a whole. Boris Romanov
I note some change in the position of Kasparov and the forum. At first, they drowned only for the supply of weapons to Ukraine, without recognizing any subjectivity in the Russians for changes.
Now they talk about support for anti-war Russians and a clear separation between Russians and the Putin regime.
I think this is a positive trend. In this regard, positions in the Russian opposition are beginning to smooth out.
It is indeed very important to clearly separate Putin from the Russians.
The Putins are leaving, but Russia and the Russians will continue.
New Taiwan
I first heard this idea from Kasparov. If more than a million Russians have left Russia since the beginning of the Northern Military District, they have not ceased to be Russians because of this, and would like to have their own “base” abroad. They categorically do not like what is happening today in their homeland, but, as I wrote above, this does not stop them from being Russian.
Like everything new, the idea at first seemed absolutely exotic to me, but hearing this phrase again, today I don’t think so. If, for many years to come, Russia remains in the ideology of today, then in the version of 20% of the “liberals” this policy is alien to them. And, as soon as it becomes possible, they will look for ways to leave the country and Russian Taiwan, of course, can increase Russian emigration. And if someone is interested in this, or they are concerned about the presence of these people in Russia, their ideas about life in the homeland of these people should correspond to their aspirations. Otherwise, it will not be surprising that the population of Russian Taiwan could grow.
Will the original Russia become stronger from the loss of 20-25 million people who are not at all the worst - the big question?!
Although the latest statement by the “Russian platform in PACE” about “Russian Taiwan” was adopted collectively, it is no secret that the original author of all this nonsense is Kasparov.
All together, this creates an amazing picture: a person who in no way connects his destiny with Russia (why not, it’s his right) and does not represent anyone in Russia (well, it happened, for objective and subjective reasons), nevertheless wants for himself the status of a certain “leader of the Russian opposition” and “Russian politician in exile,” and for this he invents a speculative construction that has neither legal basis nor historical analogies (in fact, the analogy he uses is only emphasizes the meaninglessness of all this - Taiwan has never, not for a single second, been “China for good Chinese”).
Taiwan for one second was not "China for good Chinese"
Since, on the one hand, Harry Kimovich also does not represent anyone in exile, and on the other hand, in the Western offices where he belongs, no one will give him any institutional grounds for this “Taiwan”, all this is an empty shake of the air.
What I, however, have no doubt is that if something happened, they would skin you a hundred times more ruthlessly for admission there than all the immigration services of all European countries combined.
Kasparov dreams of a Russian Taiwan, Rogov and others say that Putin wants peace, Shelin cries out about the insanity of Trump and Putin - well, just Soviet punitive psychiatry. Kashin on the “Voice of Berlin” admires Bonya, from whom the glamorous segment of mass culture in the diaspora is peeing.
No, I have never been anyone's contemporary,
I can't afford such honor. (known who, 1924)
Kasparov’s “Free Russia Forum” issued an appeal to European countries with a proposal to create “an extraterritorial quasi-state entity that will become an assembly point for all Russian citizens who do not want to identify themselves with Putin’s fascism.”
Taiwan:
a) Achieved a lot in economics and technology
b) Chopped off part of the territory from China as a result of defeat (!!!) in the civil war from the communists.
c) Recognized by 11 countries of the world
What does Kasparov want for his “Russian Taiwan”?
1. There will not be and cannot be any “Russian Taiwan”.
2. Citizen of Croatia G. Kasparov himself understands this very well, but continues to talk this nonsense
3. It is difficult to discredit the platform under PACE further, but by telling this nonsense to the Europeans, Kasparov will cope with this. And yes, creating Taiwan is very simple - you need, being an internationally recognized power, to lose the civil war, evacuate to some island and, with the support of the United States, to dig in there. There are no other ways.
For the first 40 years of its existence, Taiwan was a brutal military dictatorship.
I’m just too lazy to talk about other traps of “Taiwan”. For example, about the fact that for the first 40 years of its existence it was a brutal military dictatorship, without any elections or democracy. However, Kasparov may also dream of becoming a dictator for several thousand (he fantasizes about several hundred thousand) unfortunate people who are forced to use the paper given to them instead of documents. Another thing is that the idea of allowing some emigrants to issue internationally recognized documents to another emigrant is absurd for any official and diplomat of both the EU and each country separately.
This is beneficial to the Putin regime and it is wrong. It is beneficial for Putin that the opposition recognize his subjectivity within the Russia occupied by his gang. He wants those who have the opportunity to coordinate the struggle within the country to wash their hands and abandon the fight. Therefore, the primary task of the intelligence services will be the formation of such “Taiwans”. Today, as part of a successful strategy to combat the opposition regime, it is necessary to hold remotely legitimate elections, elect a parliament operating in exile, an alternative government to the Putin regime, and precisely declare itself to the world and Russians as the legitimate Russian government, which will definitely win in the historical perspective.
After the “appeal,” Garry Kasparov published a “declaration of citizens of New Russia,” which actually answers the claims of many commentators about the fixation of Russian emigrants on their fate and their lack of empathy for Ukraine.
We, citizens of the Russian Federation, who have broken with the Putin regime, nevertheless recognize our responsibility for the aggressive war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine. We are convinced: today on the battlefields in Ukraine the fate of not only Ukraine itself, but also the fate of the entire free world is being decided. If the Russian occupying army is not defeated, a new round of escalation and expansion of the war will become inevitable.
We declare our complete political and moral break with the Putin state, its criminal war and imperial ideology. We reaffirm our solidarity with Ukraine, which is fighting for freedom, independence and a European future, and consider its victory a necessary condition for peace in Europe.
Our goal is the transformation of imperial Russia into a modern democratic state or several democratic states. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to ensure Ukraine's victory over Putin's criminal regime.
We declare our commitment to the following principles:
1. Russia is waging a criminal, aggressive and imperialist war against Ukraine.
2. Ukraine must receive all the necessary weapons, technology, financial resources and other means to defeat the occupiers and restore its territorial integrity.
3. The democratic world must use all available mechanisms of sanctions pressure to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian regime.
4. Armed resistance to the Putin regime is a legitimate and justified form of struggle.
5. The moral duty of every responsible citizen of Russia is to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine by all available means.
6. The criminal terrorist regime established in Russia must be destroyed.
7. The military defeat of Russia is the primary condition for the fall of the dictatorship and the only chance for the creation of a modern, free and democratic state.
8. All territories of Ukraine and other states seized by Russia must be liberated.
9. All Russian war criminals must be brought to justice and punished for their crimes.
10. Russia is obliged to pay reparations to Ukraine in accordance with international law.
11. National republics and peoples now part of the Russian Federation have the right to self-determination.
The military and ideological defeat of Putin's fascism is impossible without creating the basis of a new Russian state structure. Such a political reality is already spontaneously emerging today under the white-blue-white flag. To implement our program, it is necessary to create an international legal mechanism that will consolidate the status and rights of Russian citizens who signed this declaration and declared their readiness to become full participants in the pan-European coalition and defend the values of the free world from Putin’s aggression.
It is this new political subjectivity that should become a springboard for the transformation of Russia from a constant source of a global threat into a responsible and constructive part of the free world, participating in solving the common problems of humanity.
Under the blue sky there is a golden city. Dreams of a “Russian Taiwan”