RUSSIAN THEATRE

by Askold S. Lozynskyj

Feb 23, 2023 

Russia’s Aggression in Ukraine will bring about new theatre in the Russian Empire

Two events of recent production, United States President Biden’s unannounced visit to Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s Russian version of the “State of the Union” address, evoked different comparisons, yet strangely with similar apparent conclusions. A long time friend of mine from Russia (He is not Russian. There are more than 100 different nationalities in the Russian empire.) commented on the two productions: “And where do they give sausages?

Minister Sergei Lavrov called US President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv a spectacle.
‘… there is a performance. So it continues. Everything works in this way, from the point of view of our former Western colleagues and from the point of view of saving the Nazi regime.’

Let’s try to contribute our 5 kopecks.

We can agree to a certain extent about the performance with Lavrov.
As one of the world’s most famous playwrights, William Shakespeare, said, ‘The whole world is a theater.’ Long before Shakespeare and after him analogies were drawn between the world and the stage, people and actors. Everything is understood in comparison.

Biden’s visit is a spectacle, with a good direction, a wonderful performance by the actors.
In contrast to the performance on February 21 in Moscow, where the falsity was visible to the naked eye.

Joe Biden, who hardly ever flaunted his muscles to the public, did not fly with cranes, did not find ancient shards at the bottom of the sea, came to a warring country and assured to the sound of sirens: ‘I am with you.’

An anti-aircraft complex was installed near Luzhniki in Moscow. However, it did not reach the sirens. And then there is the impression that there is no war, and if there is, it has somehow turned into a patriotic accompaniment to the narratives of the ‘Russian world’. In Luzhniki there was an atmosphere of free porridge and sausages: ‘Where do they give sausages?’
Anti-aircraft fire and the actors’ rhetoric reminded us of the war.”

 

All is not well in Russia. Each day centrifugal forces are at play. Nations captive in Russia with governments in exile are joining forces, some even proclaiming independence. Letters were sent last week to United States Sentors by a new structure calling itself Americans against Russian Imperialism. The thrust of the letters was as follows:

 

“We are Americans representing ten nations that are either colonies within the current Russian empire, the Russian Federation, or nations with independent states that border on the RF and continue to suffer from Russian aggression. We are ethnically Armenians, Baskirs, Buryats, Cossacks, Erzya, Kalmyks, Kazakhs Sakha, Tatars and Ukrainians. We reside from New York to Hawaii.

 

The recent Russian aggression in Ukraine has opened the eyes of the world to the danger that Russian imperialism represents to the entire democratic global community. We have formed an alliance to strive for the legitimate independence of all nations affected today by Russian imperialism. We seek long-standing peace and security which can be achieved only through the

disintegration of the  Russian empire and the formation of independent states as desired by the nations within the RF today.

 

In order for peace to prevail, the world must recognize that Russia is an empire and that the people and nations within and on its borders have a right to be free. Our goal is in the interests of the whole world as peace and security can only be achieved by allowing for the self determination of all peoples and preventing aggression by its neighbor. A simple end to Russia’s hostilities against its neighbor Ukraine, is inadequate, as Russia has proven over centuries that it will cease aggression, only to fortify and begin anew.”

 

The disintegration of the Russian empire would be much more than a spectacle or theatre for Minister Lavrov and his boss. Yet that eventuality is very much within the realm of possibility. Russia’s next annual “State of the Union” will be much different most assuredly. Yes, it may highlight even an entirely different cast of actors and a new message. Even the sausages may taste different or there may not be any sausages.